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

[scubamargie]

16 hours ago, Jimbo said:

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.

Sounds like a good plan to me, "beginning with the end in mind." We saved quite a bit using the Toursaver book:  $200 on the flight around Mt. McKinley with K2 (https://www.flyk2.com/ ), $70 on the dinner theatre in Denali (https://www.princesslodges.com/excursions/denali-music-dinner-theatre/), $150 on whale watching in Juneau ( https://alaska-galore-juneau-whale-watching.com/) and $15 off the Sealife Center (https://www.alaskasealife.org/) in Seward. We didn't find that much to see/do in Seward, but I would highly recommend staying one night in Alyeska, just 1 hr 45 min up the road in Girdwood. That's a lovely little town surrounded by mountain with some very nice hiking trails and a delicious bakery! (http://www.thebakeshop.com/the-menu/) . 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Jumbo, we are doing 5 or 6 nights on land before our cruise but will start in Denali and end in Seward so there is no need to backtrack. We are not planning on renting a car though. We'll use the train and a coach from Denali to Seward.

[Jimbo]

5 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Jumbo, we are doing 5 or 6 nights on land before our cruise but will start in Denali and end in Seward so there is no need to backtrack. We are not planning on renting a car though. We'll use the train and a coach from Denali to Seward.

How you going to get to Denali? I think we rather ride in a car on our won and stop where and when we want to.

 

What's your intineray look like with the way you are doing it?

[Jimbo]

9 hours ago, scubamargie said:

Sounds like a good plan to me, "beginning with the end in mind." We saved quite a bit using the Toursaver book:  $200 on the flight around Mt. McKinley with K2 (https://www.flyk2.com/ ), $70 on the dinner theatre in Denali (https://www.princesslodges.com/excursions/denali-music-dinner-theatre/), $150 on whale watching in Juneau ( https://alaska-galore-juneau-whale-watching.com/) and $15 off the Sealife Center (https://www.alaskasealife.org/) in Seward. We didn't find that much to see/do in Seward, but I would highly recommend staying one night in Alyeska, just 1 hr 45 min up the road in Girdwood. That's a lovely little town surrounded by mountain with some very nice hiking trails and a delicious bakery! (http://www.thebakeshop.com/the-menu/) . 

What hotel in Alyeska would you recommend? We want to take the train ride from Anchorage though to Seward............I think it would be difficult making the train on Wednesday Morning  with having to return the car too that early in the morning. Says its a 55 minute drive from Girdwood to Anchorage. How far from Airport(ANC) to the train station ?

[mapleleaves]

Jimbo,  if you would like more responses and input on your itinerary you may want to start your own thread.  Most of us don't re-open old trip reports.  I did, but totally by accident  :>)

The usual way is to start a thread titled "please review my itinerary" then lay out your plan, Day 1, Day 2, etc.  Most people hope to hear it's a winner, or get a few tweaks, or recommendations for lodging, activities, etc .

 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

55 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

How you going to get to Denali? I think we rather ride in a car on our won and stop where and when we want to.

 

What's your intineray look like with the way you are doing it?

Fly into either Anchorage or Fairbanks and spend the night.  Train from either city to Denali. 3 nights in Denali because we want to do the longest tour twice. Coach from Denali to Seward, all in one day. 2 nights in Seward before we board.  This will be our 4th time on an Alaska Cruise.  First two time with a cruise tour and saw a lot in Fairbanks and around Anchorage, also the 8 hour trip in Denali.  Our last cruise we did the land on our own and concentrated on Seward.  The next time we want to spend more time in Denali.  The coach from Denali to Seward will be a long trip but it is better than the train from Denali with an overnight in Anchorage and an early morning train to Seward. 2 nights in Seward will give us down time before we board. So a 6 night land trip and a 7 day cruise.

[scubamargie]

17 hours ago, Jimbo said:

What hotel in Alyeska would you recommend? We want to take the train ride from Anchorage though to Seward............I think it would be difficult making the train on Wednesday Morning  with having to return the car too that early in the morning. Says its a 55 minute drive from Girdwood to Anchorage. How far from Airport(ANC) to the train station ?

We stayed at the Alyeska Resort ( https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g31000-d73070-Reviews-Alyeska_Resort-Girdwood_Anchorage_Alaska.html ) but we were there in off season so the prices were reasonable. Train station is not far from the airport (7 miles ~ 17 minutes), however I believe the train leaves really early for Seward so you wouldn't have time.