Independant Alaska

[Cruise Arizona]

Anybody ever stay a few extra days on Alaska on their own, rather than with a cruise tour? I think we are going to have to do only a 7 day Alaska in June of 2007, and I was thinking of extending the trip either with a Cruise Tour or and Independant kind of thing.

 

First thing that came to my mind was a cabin near Denali and a Rental Car, but I also thought about maybe something near Seward.

 

Anybody ever done this to extend the time on a one way cruise???

 

Could be Me, DH and the two munchkins, or the 4 of us plus MIL, SIL, and BIL.

[Tricia724]

In 2004 we did 17 days....10 days touring Alaska on our own and then a 7-day southbound cruise on Summit. It's easy to make your own plans....the hard part is deciding what what you want to do! However, you have a different dynamic than we did....we were a couple and you have children and perhaps inlaws. If it's 4 of you, it will be a simpler task...one rental vehicle and perhaps one room...assuming the kids are youngsters. If the inlaws go, it gets a little harder transporting everyone around and coming up with a game plan that will please everyone.

 

We found that we were able to do a lot more on our own for a lot less money. We started researching it more than a year ahead of time and formulated a game plan which we kept refining as we went along. I locked in a vehicle rental 8 months before our trip and was glad I did....the rates doubled within three months of the trip. The biggest plus is that you can plan to go just where you want to go and make the maximum use of your time. Alaska is a big place and the attractions are spread out.

 

There is a lot of good information on independent touring on the Alaska Board if you haven't checked it out yet.

[Nancyquilts]

Go on your own - no waiting for the last person to get to the bus, and you can stop where you want. No down side to that. It's easy to drive around Alaska (qualify - when it isn't icy). We visit family in Anchorage every year and take several days to drive to interesting places - Seward, Homer, Denali, Fairbanks. The roads are generally pretty good. Nancy

[mii]

Cruise Arizona. On the Alaska board there is a couple of posters who know Alaska very well especially for independent tours specifically on land tours. Their names are Budget Queen and Yukon. There are also others but those two post alot about land trips. Hope thishelps.

 

Marilyn

[kelmac]

Cruise Arizona,

 

My wife and I took a northbound cruise to Seward, spent a week touring on our own, and then returned on a southbound cruise. Turned out to be a very cost effective way to go. First, gulf bound Alaskan cruises tend to be less expensive, second, we only had to buy round trip tickets to Vancouver (no expensive "open jaws" tickets back from Anchorage).

In addition, you get to experience two different cruise lines. I would match Celebrity (Summit) with HAL. We focused on the Kenai and Anchorage for our week long Alaskan travels. Our 23 day trip cost us about the same as a 12 day Cruise/Tour package.

 

Happy planning!:)

Kel

[kelmac]

CA,

 

Got me thinking about a good itinerary--How about this?

 

Vancouver--board the Summit (July 15) Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier, Seward

Alaska eight days on your own.

Seward--board the Veendam (July 30) College Fjord, Glacier Bay, Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, Vancouver.

 

Wow! Juneau would be the only return port!:rolleyes: :D Sign me up.

 

Kel

[Cruise Arizona]

What a great help all of you are.

 

 

I don't know why I didn't think of the Alaska board. I got tons of help with Hawaii from the Hawaii board, so Duh, I need to go to tha Alaska board.

 

Sounds like Alaska is pretty easy to do independantly. It looks like I need to start my research now. And figure out what we want to do and see.

 

 

Thanks you so much for all the information.