When is the best time to search for an Alaska land sea cruise....

[Hoof Hearted]

We are planning an Alaska land sea cruise in 2021... I want to start in Anchorage and end in Vancouver with stops in Denali and Fairbanks (My wife really wants to see the Santa Clause House).... We have friends that live close to Anchorage and would like to visit them for a few days before the cruise... I notice that the 2021 land sea Alaska cruises are not listed yet.... Any suggestions would be appreciated.... We want to get freebies and discounted rate if possible...

Thank You

[Alphen]

Interested in the same, so following....

[PSR]

As far as I can tell, there are no HAL land-sea tours that start in Anchorage and go to Fairbanks. We went on a land tour this year from Anchorage and the farthest north they go from there is to Denali. Denali is between Fairbanks (the farthest north) and Anchorage; Seward is the farthest south. If you start in Fairbanks, you do stop in Anchorage going south to Seward, but only for 1 night.

 

The distances in Alaska are quite far. It is about 8 hours by bus from Denali to Seward. If you want to go to Anchorage before a land tour, and then go to Fairbanks, I think you would have to go to Anchorage on your own and then fly to Fairbanks to join a land tour.

 

Some others on CC may be aware of other options or have suggestions. We loved our triple Denali land tour; the 7-day cruise from Seward to Vancouver was fine, but too short!!!

[Hoof Hearted]

5 minutes ago, PSR said:

The distances in Alaska are quite far. It is about 8 hours by bus from Denali to Seward. If you want to go to Anchorage before a land tour, and then go to Fairbanks, I think you would have to go to Anchorage on your own and then fly to Fairbanks to join a land tour.

I was looking at the Vancouver to Fairbanks cruises (Which seem to be less expensive) and then at the end of the cruise fly from Fairbanks to Anchorage.. One option

I checked the train ride is very expensive and looooong

[calteacher]

I don't know about 2021, but check out

Y4L:12-Day Yukon+double Denali

for 2020.  From Anchorage to Denali by train, then flying to Fairbanks, followed by land to Dawson, Whitehorse, then train to Skagway, and finally a four-day cruise to Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and ending in Vancouver.  There are several varieties of this cruise depending the number of "extra" days in Denali, Dawson, and Skagway.

[kwb101]

31 minutes ago, calteacher said:

I don't know about 2021, but check out

Y4L:12-Day Yukon+double Denali

<snip>

This runs in both directions, and let's you pick to cruise first or last. Either way, Anchorage is either the beginning or end of the journey. We did the 14-day Alaska-Yukon-cruise one a couple of years ago, and loved it. 

Hope you're able to schedule something that gets you your stay in Anchorage.

[Hoof Hearted]

1 hour ago, calteacher said:

don't know about 2021, but check out

Y4L:12-Day Yukon+double Denali

Waiting for the 2021 land sea offerings, nothing as of yet..... Plenty of cruise only in 2021

[kwb101]

There was a thread on this board about when more itineraries will appear. I can't find it, but you may want to browse through the last week or so. I expect you'll have plenty of time to book. We booked our trip (beginning in May '17) in August '16, and had no trouble getting the date and stateroom we wanted.

Good luck. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

The 2021 Cruisetours will most likely be available for booking sometime in January if they hold consistent with the last few years. One notable difference for 2021 is all the cruises will begin/end in Whittier rather than Seward, which aligns with the operations of sister line Princess. Unlike the customary HAL options starting in Fairbanks Princess does not have an overnight in Anchorage as they offer "Direct to the Wilderness" train service between Denali/Talkeetna and Whittier.  I have a feeling this may become the same for HAL starting with the 2021 season. 

[Hoof Hearted]

16 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Unlike the customary HAL options starting in Fairbanks Princess does not have an overnight in Anchorage as they offer "Direct to the Wilderness" train service between Denali/Talkeetna and Whittier.  I have a feeling this may become the same for HAL starting with the 2021 season

If this is the case, we may have to fly to Anchorage for a several day visit then fly to Fairbanks to start the Cruisetour.... Santa Clause House must remain on the Itinerary (Happy wife, Happy life)

[Krazy Kruizers]

JMO -- but I would do the land portion first and then you have the cruise to rest up on before traveling home.

[SempreMare]

29 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

JMO -- but I would do the land portion first and then you have the cruise to rest up on before traveling home.

Seconded. 

 

 

[kwb101]

3 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

JMO -- but I would do the land portion first and then you have the cruise to rest up on before traveling home.

Absolutely: we needed a vacation from our vacation, and there's nothing finer than several days sailing. 

[PSR]

13 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

JMO -- but I would do the land portion first and then you have the cruise to rest up on before traveling home.

 

Fourthed (is that a word?)!

[Hoof Hearted]

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 4:01 PM, PSR said:

JMO -- but I would do the land portion first and then you have the cruise to rest up on before traveling home.

Awesomeness...... The simplicity of a cruise to rest and watch the glaciers pass by, sounds relaxing..... Great idea

Now I just have to wait for the 2021 Land/Sea cruises to post, hopefully with perks.....

[terrydtx]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:53 PM, Hoof Hearted said:

If this is the case, we may have to fly to Anchorage for a several day visit then fly to Fairbanks to start the Cruisetour.... Santa Clause House must remain on the Itinerary (Happy wife, Happy life)

This is a good idea and probably the only way to see your friends in Anchorage. We did Vancouver to Seward cruise with the land tour that stopped one night in Anchorage, 2 nights Denali and 1 night in Fairbanks in July. We loved the trip but we spent the one night in Anchorage at the HAL owned Westmark Hotel that was a total 2 star dump. I would NEVER do another cruise that has that hotel.  The McKinley Lodge resort in Denali was awesome and the Fairbanks Westmark was very nice and would stay at either one again. Alaska Airlines has several flights every day between Anchorage and Fairbanks and takes about an hour.

 

BTW, we booked our Alaska cruise in July 2018 in a SS cabin and the cost dropped 4 times until final payment this year. We ended up saving about $1000pp over what we originally booked last year. So book early get the cabin you want and when the price drops rebook, we rebooked 4 times.

Edited October 24, 2019 by terrydtx

[PSR]

11 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We loved the trip but we spent the one night in Anchorage at the HAL owned Westmark Hotel that was a total 2 star dump. I would NEVER do another cruise that has that hotel.  The McKinley Lodge resort in Denali was awesome

 

I guess we are in a VERY SMALL minority, but we enjoyed the Anchorage Westmark (once we figured out how to get our cruise packet one day earlier than the rest of our cruise mates...booked an extra day). Somehow, we ended up in a semi-suite room with a separate (walled off) bedroom, not a true separate room, but a nice large sitting area with a sofa bed, desk, and 2 large chairs, very comfortable.

 

Anyway, with the extra day, we did the Trolley Tour, walked around downtown and rested up from our flight. The first night we had a tasty dinner at the hotel, which had a great bartender who on the 2nd night made us a delicious favorite cocktail following our directions, that she had never made before. Went to ORSO across the street on the 2nd night for another good dinner with excellent service. And also, as a highlight, there was a minor (2+) earthquake as we got ready for bed!

 

Totally agree with terrydtx about the McKinley Lodge-4 stars!

 

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by PSR