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Help figuring best route?


JjC81
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I think we have our land/cruise figured out.

 

Now we just need to figure out our extra days if we get them. 

 

The things we miss on our cruise is:

 

College fjords, Seward, and mt aleyska. Fairbanks also. If we do fairbanks we may or may not do arctic circle tour and on drive down south wed love to stop at north pole and santas house for kids 🙂

 

We are planning on either flying to Fairbanks (big maybe) or even more likely anchorage. We need to end in anchorage to meet our cruise tour. 

 

So can you help me figure out best way to bring these spots together: fairbanks, seward, aleyska (we want to see turnagain arm), and whittier (college fjords excursion) 

 

Also above with: anchorage, aleyska, whittier, and seward? 

 

Any help is appreciated. 

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Without knowing how many days you have to work with it's impossible to plan a route. 

Also, what do you plan to do at each location, since that determines how much time you'll need.

Where does your ship depart from ?  And are you willing to spend long days in a car ? or do you have a limit of 5 hrs a day?

 

I've made a dozen land-only trips to Alaska.  I start my plan by deciding WHERE I want to go,  WHAT to do at each destination, TRAVEL TIME between each one, and the number of days available.   So you'll need to fill in the blanks before anyone can offer meaningful suggestions.

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3 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Without knowing how many days you have to work with it's impossible to plan a route. 

Also, what do you plan to do at each location, since that determines how much time you'll need.

Where does your ship depart from ?  And are you willing to spend long days in a car ? or do you have a limit of 5 hrs a day?

 

I've made a dozen land-only trips to Alaska.  I start my plan by deciding WHERE I want to go,  WHAT to do at each destination, TRAVEL TIME between each one, and the number of days available.   So you'll need to fill in the blanks before anyone can offer meaningful suggestions.

Sorry I thought I did include it all. Our land tour leaves from.anchorage (captain hook hotel). We are trying to figure out our days we need based on route. I'm gonna guess 4-5. If possible we would do one night each. Yes we do fine in the car. We do road trips often- 2.5 hrs each way in same day. And we have done longer. Kids can get restless but since just us we can deal 🙂

 

Seward: we would like to do kinai fjords NP tour, see sled dogs at kennel & maybe conservation center

 

Aleyska: want to go up tram and on drive want to see turnagain arm 

 

Whittier: college fjords tour since we miss that on tour. 

 

Fairbanks is the big maybe. That we would want to do tour to arctic circle and stop at santa's house in north pole. 🙂

 

we reversed our cruise itinerary to give us days at beginning to explore and to see hubbard glacier. 

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9 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Sorry, but I'm still confused....

What destinations and activities are included in the land tour ?  and the ship departs from Seward ?  No stop in Denali ?

 

With the travel times, you'd need almost a week to do what you've outlined above.

The land tour leaves anchorage and goes to denali 2 nights, mckinley a night, down to whittier where we cruise south. 

 

Ship leaves from whittier.

 

These are days we are flying out early before land tour starts. 

 

I imagine fairbanks will get dropped. But looking for feedback. 

 

Do we see kinai fjords NP or college fjords? 

 

 

Edited by JjC81
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with only 4 days, you'd need to skip Fairbanks.....  I don't know whether your're considering a drive tour to the Arctic Circle SIGNPOST, or a fly/drive to Prudhoe bay to see the Arctic Ocean but either way you don't have time.

 

When would you land in Anchorage ? and what time of day does the cruisetour start ?

 

Hopefully you land mid - late afternoon.  With only 4 days, It could look like this:

Day 1 arrive, Pick up rental car. Drive to Alyeska Resort (45 minutes) to overnight, stopping at sights long the way.  Maybe you ll have time for the (AWCC )Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center or do the tram (if the weather is clear)

Day 2  Morning along the Turnagain Arm, AWCC or the tram.  Drive to Whittier (in time for the 11:30am tunnel opening).   I assume youre looking at the Philips 26 glacier cruise at 12:30.   Cruise ends at 5:30.  Try to make the 6pm tunnel opening or else you'll have to wait until 7pm.   Overnight again at Alyeska, or drive 30 minutes south to Summit Lake Lodge.

Day 3 drive to Seward,  2 hr.  Do a  Kenai Cruise ... I think they leave around noon-ish.   Evening, explore the harbor, or visit Exit Glacier.  Overnight in Seward.

Day 4 sled dogs at Ididaride in the morning.  (or did you want to do a glacier landing/sled dog? )  Drive back to Anc (3 hrs ) .  Return car, overnight in Anc to meet the cruisetour.

 

If you dropped the cruisetour and did it on your own, you'd have extra time.  ie Talkeetna is a good stop if you want to do a Denali flight seeing trip otherwise it's a wasted night you could have elsewhere.

 

 

 

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Whittier tunnel info:

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/creg/whittiertunnel/index.shtml

 

Turnagain Arm stopping points:

https://www.alaska.org/guide/turnagain-arm-drive

 

If I remember correctly,  you have kids ...... the Turnagain Arm can be nice relaxing family day if you have the time.  Stopping at Potters Marsh boardwalk to look for birds (ocassionally moose),  gold panning, hiking to Byron Glacier to play in the snow,  Portage Lake/Glacier and Visitor Center., Wildlife Conservation Center,  looking for Dall sheep on the ridges by the hwy.   

 

 

 

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55 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Whittier tunnel info:

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/creg/whittiertunnel/index.shtml

 

Turnagain Arm stopping points:

https://www.alaska.org/guide/turnagain-arm-drive

 

If I remember correctly,  you have kids ...... the Turnagain Arm can be nice relaxing family day if you have the time.  Stopping at Potters Marsh boardwalk to look for birds (ocassionally moose),  gold panning, hiking to Byron Glacier to play in the snow,  Portage Lake/Glacier and Visitor Center., Wildlife Conservation Center,  looking for Dall sheep on the ridges by the hwy.   

 

 

 

 

Would you suggest kinai fjords or the Philip's 26 glacier tour? Is there one you'd suggest over the other? Or try to do both? 

 

And yes 2 kids- one will be 8, other 4 (will be 5 nov and we are there aug)

 

Our Anchorage flights would be night arrival 7 or 9pm, so that will just be a sleep night. 

 

Edited by JjC81
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I haven't done the Philips tour, but have done the 6hr Kenai tour twice (and 2 tours that were downgraded to Resurrection Bay tours when the seas were too rough for the full Kenai cruise ).

 

The cruises are very different  

Too bad Major Marine pulled out of Whittier.  I think Philips 26 Glacier is just that .... racing around to see all 26 glaciers with little time for stops for wildlife or anything of interest.  So to be honest I haven't been interested in that itinerary.  However the Sound is pretty sheltered so it's usually a smooth sailing.

 

The Kenai cruise has a little of everything ... wildlife plus an upclose and personal glacier visit.  As you first leave the harbor, going thru Resurrection Bay, you see otters, bald eagles and go past a eagles nest. Up in the mountains we saw a few mountain goats. Then as you get further away from Seward you see so many and various types of birds, plus sealion colony. Then you cruise thru 'bergy bits' and sit in front of the glacier for awhile where you  listen to it creak and groan, then eventually a chunk falls off and an iceberg is created.  

This cruise passes into the Gulf of Alaska so there's a stretch for about 15-20 minutes where the sea is pretty rough.  I was starting to turn green.  On a bad day, half the passengers will be heaving.  So taking this cruise might be weather dependent for your family .....

 

p.s.  I forgot to mention the whales.  On both cruises we saw a couple of whales.  Very up close and personal. 

Edited by mapleleaves
p.s.
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1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

I haven't done the Philips tour, but have done the 6hr Kenai tour twice (and 2 tours that were downgraded to Resurrection Bay tours when the seas were too rough for the full Kenai cruise ).

 

The cruises are very different  

Too bad Major Marine pulled out of Whittier.  I think Philips 26 Glacier is just that .... racing around to see all 26 glaciers with little time for stops for wildlife or anything of interest.  So to be honest I haven't been interested in that itinerary.  However the Sound is pretty sheltered so it's usually a smooth sailing.

 

The Kenai cruise has a little of everything ... wildlife plus an upclose and personal glacier visit.  As you first leave the harbor, going thru Resurrection Bay, you see otters, bald eagles and go past a eagles nest. Up in the mountains we saw a few mountain goats. Then as you get further away from Seward you see so many and various types of birds, plus sealion colony. Then you cruise thru 'bergy bits' and sit in front of the glacier for awhile where you  listen to it creak and groan, then eventually a chunk falls off and an iceberg is created.  

This cruise passes into the Gulf of Alaska so there's a stretch for about 15-20 minutes where the sea is pretty rough.  I was starting to turn green.  On a bad day, half the passengers will be heaving.  So taking this cruise might be weather dependent for your family .....

 

p.s.  I forgot to mention the whales.  On both cruises we saw a couple of whales.  Very up close and personal. 

 

Ok I think we cut stuff and this ow tentative plan: 

 

8/7 fly from boston, arrive 8pm, get rental car & drive to aleyska

8/8 aleyska tram in am then drive along turnagain arm, exploring, overnight in seward

8/9 kenai NP tour, not sure if there is time for cons center or kennel w/ summer sled ride (no glacier) 

8/10: seward if we miss stuff, then drive to anchorage (along turnagain arm again????)

8/11 free day, aleyska if we miss it, return car, check into hotel to start cruise/tour. 

 

Took out the Philip's. If we come up with more money between now and then we will maybe throw in a round trip, same day flight to barrow lol

 

Aleyska we might be able to stay free 1 night via timeshare

We will need 2-3 nights in seward, unless there is another area we should try? 

Then we check in for tour. I assume hotel check in means we have the day 🙂

 

is this doable and gives us chance to see and explore some? 

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Much better. Gives you breathing room, plus extra time if weather doesn't cooperate.

The tram is something for a clear day so don't schedule it. Weather might be better on the way back to Anc.

 

Check the Kenai cruise web sites frequently for specials, and Groupon.  I remember deals around Thxgiving.

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3 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Much better. Gives you breathing room, plus extra time if weather doesn't cooperate.

The tram is something for a clear day so don't schedule it. Weather might be better on the way back to Anc.

 

Check the Kenai cruise web sites frequently for specials, and Groupon.  I remember deals around Thxgiving.

I tried to incorporate back ups. Like a pseudo dog sled tour and meet puppies in seward in case our glacier dog sled gets canceled.

 

Then I think I left time to have 2 shots at aleyska. And time to see turnagain twice? 

 

And figure kenai chance for wild life and fjords. Cut the college fjords cuz we will see glaciers galore on cruise? 

 

No clue on lodging 🙂 if we come up with money we may need to do the arctic lol.

 

But then on land tour we do 2 nights in denali, a tundra wilderness cruise, and a night at mckinley lodge. cruise we see: hubbard, glacier bay, the 3 ports. 

 

I think we hit the main things??

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