Land & Sea trip report Anchorage/Denali/Seward/Vancouver, BC

[scubamargie]

We just returned from our Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Millennium sailing south from Seward to Vancouver, BC  I have set up a blog with notes and pictures. Not sure if I can post the link here but I'll try. https://travelwordsandpictures.blogspot.com/

[stevejco]

1 hour ago, scubamargie said:

We just returned from our Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Millennium sailing south from Seward to Vancouver, BC  I have set up a blog with notes and pictures. Not sure if I can post the link here but I'll try. https://travelwordsandpictures.blogspot.com/

Thank you!  Wonderful blog! We are sailing Southbound on the Millie next month after our 9 day DIY land tour. Our itinerary is very similar and we will be walking in your footsteps. Can't wait for your next installment. 

[scubamargie]

13 minutes ago, stevejco said:

Thank you!  Wonderful blog! We are sailing Southbound on the Millie next month after our 9 day DIY land tour. Our itinerary is very similar and we will be walking in your footsteps. Can't wait for your next installment. 

Glad you liked it! You will have such an awesome trip. I've learned so much from others who post trip reports that I just had to return the favor. I think I'm done with the Alaska posts, but we have another trip coming in August to Bali so I'm sure I'll do one on that trip. 

[AuroraRose]

Thank you! We are doing the opposite way in August on the Millennium and I can't wait! Your blog renewed my excitement all over again :).

[Pepper0074]

Thanks for sneaking us into your suitcase so that we can enjoy this trip with you! We are just beginning to plan our next (second) trip to Alaska! (By the way, I am also a "Smith" from the Northeast.)

[ErLee]

Great blog! We leave in a week for a couple days in Vancouver, then a northbound cruise on Coral Princess, followed by 6 nights on land. We are going ahead with our floatplane in Ketchikan and also doing the Denali flight with K2. I hope that like you, we find it more fun than scary! Doing a whale watch in Juneau and the train/van combo to Bennett from Skagway.  

 

Super excited!

[MellyBell]

Thanks for posting.   We are going next year and I can't wait to try some of these places.

[QARandy]

Thanks for the report. We are starting to plan for next year and like hearing what others have done.

[Belle]

Just read your blog. Your pictures are beautiful. Thank you.

[AlohaBoundHK]

Thank you so much!  We will be following in your (almost exact) footsteps next July.  I have already begun trip planning (big part of the enjoyment as you noted) but still a bit too early. I have already changed our initial itinerary to include Alyeska (maybe 2 nights!) and 26 Glaciers instead of arriving a day or so early in Seward and doing Major Marine and Kenai Fjords tour.  I hate to miss MM but it will make car rental return so much easier!  Loved hearing your thoughts and plans...and I hung on every word!  Thanks again...I will be re-reading your blog many times before next July!!  

[atlast95]

Thanks so much for your blog! Lots of useful information for planning our upcoming cruise.

[Anita Latte]

I really enjoyed reading your blog. It's a lot of time and effort to do a blog...well done.

 

I did want to bring up the way that you talked about Google maps in Vancouver. We did a northbound sailing that departed Vancouver, flying in a couple nights before our cruise, staying downtown in a hotel, and taking a taxi from the airport to our downtown hotel. So the route was really odd because we never got on a freeway or highway...but we were enjoying driving through all the neighborhoods and seeing the town. Traffic was awful but our taxi driver kept taking a different side street and then rejoining what I would call a "main drag" as we made our way to downtown.

 

Our taxi driver explained that there aren't any freeways in and generally to or from downtown Vancouver (now this may have been just between the airport area and downtown)...but he said that the town fought against doing such a thing to save all the neighborhoods and not have the big road "wreck" the area.

 

So when you say that Google maps did one of those things...I believe that this is just the way that it is when you are traveling from around the downtown area to the airport area. There really isn't a "better" way to go...unless you are a taxi driver well familiar with the roads and know how to go on even smaller neighborhood roads to cut through and miss some of the traffic that may be building up on one of the few large roads that connect the two areas. 

 

I really don't want to come across as one of the cc people that has to be so critical all the time. So please don't take my post here in that light. It's more that I have found your blog to be so good...and you are striking me as a person that writes with a similar motivation as myself...you enjoy writing, it IS a wonderful way to solidify the memories of a vacation while the memories are still fresh, and if you can help people with your info all the better. So in the spirit of having more info to help people understand the road system in Vancouver...I offer you this feedback.

 

Your pictures are gorgeous. I wonder if you tried using any photo editing software? I used Adobe Lightroom CC to do some edits on mine. It was very easy to use. There is a free 7 day trial...so if you can gather all the photos that you would like to try editing, you can generally get it done within the trial period. I was so pleased with the edits to many of my photos with that software. I would definitely give it a shot for the glacier photos...just to see if you can make the photos reflect more of what you saw.

[scubamargie]

On 7/16/2019 at 9:22 AM, Anita Latte said:

I really enjoyed reading your blog. It's a lot of time and effort to do a blog...well done.

 

I did want to bring up the way that you talked about Google maps in Vancouver. We did a northbound sailing that departed Vancouver, flying in a couple nights before our cruise, staying downtown in a hotel, and taking a taxi from the airport to our downtown hotel. So the route was really odd because we never got on a freeway or highway...but we were enjoying driving through all the neighborhoods and seeing the town. Traffic was awful but our taxi driver kept taking a different side street and then rejoining what I would call a "main drag" as we made our way to downtown.

 

Our taxi driver explained that there aren't any freeways in and generally to or from downtown Vancouver (now this may have been just between the airport area and downtown)...but he said that the town fought against doing such a thing to save all the neighborhoods and not have the big road "wreck" the area.

 

So when you say that Google maps did one of those things...I believe that this is just the way that it is when you are traveling from around the downtown area to the airport area. There really isn't a "better" way to go...unless you are a taxi driver well familiar with the roads and know how to go on even smaller neighborhood roads to cut through and miss some of the traffic that may be building up on one of the few large roads that connect the two areas. 

 

I really don't want to come across as one of the cc people that has to be so critical all the time. So please don't take my post here in that light. It's more that I have found your blog to be so good...and you are striking me as a person that writes with a similar motivation as myself...you enjoy writing, it IS a wonderful way to solidify the memories of a vacation while the memories are still fresh, and if you can help people with your info all the better. So in the spirit of having more info to help people understand the road system in Vancouver...I offer you this feedback.

 

Your pictures are gorgeous. I wonder if you tried using any photo editing software? I used Adobe Lightroom CC to do some edits on mine. It was very easy to use. There is a free 7 day trial...so if you can gather all the photos that you would like to try editing, you can generally get it done within the trial period. I was so pleased with the edits to many of my photos with that software. I would definitely give it a shot for the glacier photos...just to see if you can make the photos reflect more of what you saw.

Thanks for the info on Vancouver. Yes, I did some photo editing in Photoshop, but not much. Mostly just to lighten the pictures because the camera kept wanting to stop down the light from the snow/glaciers. I didn't have a lot of time to play with the edits but I will once I get caught up with the rest of life!

[BeckyR]

I have just started planning a similar trip for early June 2020. We are taking our daughters and their families, so in total, 6 adults and 2 children (ages 5 and almost 2 when we travel).  Our plan is to fly into Fairbanks and work our way down. We are planning to do most of our traveling by train rather than by car, since that will be more kid-friendly since they won't be strapped into car seats as much.  Your blog has been so helpful.  You mentioned checking bags in Anchorage and not seeing them again until you were on the ship.  Did you purchase transfers from Anchorage too Seward?  

 

Thanks for your wonderful blog!

Becky

 

[scubamargie]

22 hours ago, BeckyR said:

I have just started planning a similar trip for early June 2020. We are taking our daughters and their families, so in total, 6 adults and 2 children (ages 5 and almost 2 when we travel).  Our plan is to fly into Fairbanks and work our way down. We are planning to do most of our traveling by train rather than by car, since that will be more kid-friendly since they won't be strapped into car seats as much.  Your blog has been so helpful.  You mentioned checking bags in Anchorage and not seeing them again until you were on the ship.  Did you purchase transfers from Anchorage too Seward?  

 

Thanks for your wonderful blog!

Becky

 

Hi Becky, to answer your question, no we did not have to purchase transfers to get our luggage taken directly to the ship. We purchased our train tickets (online) from Anchorage to Seward and then when we got to the station the porters seperated luggage according to cruise line. Then that luggage is trucked to the ship and processed as it would be if you'd delivered it yourself to the port. Remember to put your cruise luggage tags on your bags before you go to the train station. 

 

I think there's a cheaper way to get from Anchorage to Seward (by bus I think), but we had heard great things about the train trip and it did not disappoint. So glad you enjoyed my blog. If I can be of any further help just let me know!

 

Margie

[TeanneTX]

On 5/29/2019 at 2:08 PM, scubamargie said:

We just returned from our Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Millennium sailing south from Seward to Vancouver, BC  I have set up a blog with notes and pictures. Not sure if I can post the link here but I'll try. https://travelwordsandpictures.blogspot.com/

Wonderful blog and pictures.  I'm a fellow Texan-just up the road from you in Austin.  I'm taking this exact same cruise in May 2020 with my dear sister in law who hasn't been on a cruise in over 30 yrs.  My husband and I are big cruisers-we've been on about 18 cruises so far.  I love Celebrity-its my favorite cruise line.  You gave me lots of insight into this cruise.  My husband and I have already done this cruise on Holland but that was many years ago.  I want to make sure this is a cruise that my SIL will never forget.  So I'm starting the planning already.  Got lots of good ideas from your blog.  Thank you so much.

Teanne

 

[Mountaineer0313]

Loved your blog! We did northbound last year, but are doing southbound on Millennium next year. Last year we spent 2 nights at the Alyeska, and I agree, I could've spent the whole trip with Girdwood as our base camp. We also did the Wilderness Exploration and crab feast (wonderful!) and drove to Emerald Lake. We're so looking forward to going back next year!

[JSSpence]

Hi Margie, I love your blog - thank you so much for posting it! It is VERY similar to what we are hoping to do. Did you work with an agency to arrange the car and book the hotels, or did you do it all yourself? If you did it all yourself, how was the work to do so? Thanks!!!!

[gigito2]

We are also planning a land/sea trip around the same time.  May I ask if you're going thru a TA, or are you doing all the planning yourself?  I'm getting a little overwhelmed....  Thanks!

[rmandmm]

What a great blog. Thank you! I’m planning for a looooonnng time from now, maybe 2022, but I do love learning from those with experience. Alaska is probably once in a lifetime so I want to be prepared! 😊

[scubamargie]

On 11/24/2019 at 4:40 PM, JSSpence said:

Hi Margie, I love your blog - thank you so much for posting it! It is VERY similar to what we are hoping to do. Did you work with an agency to arrange the car and book the hotels, or did you do it all yourself? If you did it all yourself, how was the work to do so? Thanks!!!!

Just did it myself with the help of other posters here on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor. I love to plan trips so the work was fun to me, but i you are short on time I can see how a TA would help reduce the stress level. Thanks for the feedback!

[scubamargie]

On 11/26/2019 at 8:11 PM, gigito2 said:

We are also planning a land/sea trip around the same time.  May I ask if you're going thru a TA, or are you doing all the planning yourself?  I'm getting a little overwhelmed....  Thanks!

Just did the planning myself, whch was not difficult with the other posters on this board and tripadvisor. The best way to keep it from being overwelming is to just work on a little at a time, like just the Anchorage portion, or just one port at a time. I really love the planning so it's a pleasure to me. You'll find lots of great tips on the website.

[scubamargie]

12 hours ago, rmandmm said:

What a great blog. Thank you! I’m planning for a looooonnng time from now, maybe 2022, but I do love learning from those with experience. Alaska is probably once in a lifetime so I want to be prepared! 😊

Don't wait too long! Alaska is changing, like everywhere else in the world. See it before it's not "wild" or accessable anymore. Places change, as do service, etc., so be sure to re-check the reviews of hotels, etc. right before you go. Of course, whenever I'm not traveling I'm an armchair traveler. Just reading the travel reviews of others is exciting to me. 

[rmandmm]

3 hours ago, scubamargie said:

Don't wait too long! Alaska is changing, like everywhere else in the world. See it before it's not "wild" or accessable anymore. Places change, as do service, etc., so be sure to re-check the reviews of hotels, etc. right before you go. Of course, whenever I'm not traveling I'm an armchair traveler. Just reading the travel reviews of others is exciting to me. 

That’s a very good point but because I plan so far ahead we’re already booked for ‘20 and ‘21. Hmmm. I’ll have to think about this. Thanks again!

[Jimbo]

Not sure if this is smart or not, but I'm kind of reserving things backwards for our DIY land tour before our cruise.

 

Arriving Friday before the Friday we cruise, 

 

Car Rental Pick up Friday  3pm, Drop off Tuesday Night at 7pm in Anchorage  5 nights, at around $450

 

Wednesday, Thursday Night stay in Seward  Total Price $517 .......Breeze Hotel

 

Major Marine 6 hour tour    for two     $224

 

Now looking for 1 night hotel in Anchorage and then looking to make a plan heading toward Denaili and then backto Anchorage for a  Tuesday Night stay so we can catch the train to Seward on Wednesday Morning.

 

Ordered Toursaver book for  $90.90( got a discount by ordering it early) hoping to find some discounts on hotels and excursions, train ride, making the $90.90 well spent mony by getting some nice discounts.

 

Anyone have a views on what I'm doing, good or bad, suggestins welcome.