Has anyone done the Denali land portion of an Alaskan cruise

[Topdog52]

I am trying to find out what Hotel we start our land tour in Fairbanks just in case we fly up a day early. I know there is a good 

chance it will not be the same Hotel but I may take the chance. 

 

[quillwercruisers]

According to their website they are only showing hotels for Seward, Anchorage, and Vancouver.

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises#!#hotels and then scroll down and you will see what I am talking about.  You may have to call NCL.  Sorry I couldn't help more.

[julig22]

In 2019 we stayed at Bear Lodge in Fairbanks.

[The Traveling Man]

We booked the land portion on our own when we took our first NCL Alaska cruise several years ago.  That gave us the option to pick our own hotel in Anchorage, spend a extra day there if we wanted to, choose to ride the dome cars on the train, spend an extra day or two in Denali Park, etc.  It took a little more planning, but we actually saved a little money compared to NCL's pricing for the land package.  We flew home from Fairbanks on a red-eye flight, so we went straight from the train station to the airport.

[bonvoyagie]

I have also asked the same question several times here and on the AK ports board as well. It appears that there are either not that many takers of the cruise tours, or at least not that many here on CC, as I got very few answers. I did find a review of the Southbound 14 day Authentic Alaska using Google, It was a good review and I believe that the Bear Lodge was mentioned. They also mentioned that there was little to no information given in advance, everything was day to day. I read this as they adjust their tours based on how many people they have booked - even though they know as much as 2 years in advance as to how many tours they have sold. I may be off base, but they really don't go into much detail about the land portion of the tour, perhaps this is because they are the last line to offer land tours and don't have the infastructure in place as say RCCL, Princess and HAL.

[Topdog52]

10 minutes ago, bonvoyagie said:

I have also asked the same question several times here and on the AK ports board as well. It appears that there are either not that many takers of the cruise tours, or at least not that many here on CC, as I got very few answers. I did find a review of the Southbound 14 day Authentic Alaska using Google, It was a good review and I believe that the Bear Lodge was mentioned. They also mentioned that there was little to no information given in advance, everything was day to day. I read this as they adjust their tours based on how many people they have booked - even though they know as much as 2 years in advance as to how many tours they have sold. I may be off base, but they really don't go into much detail about the land portion of the tour, perhaps this is because they are the last line to offer land tours and don't have the infastructure in place as say RCCL, Princess and HAL.

Thank You. I am also curious if you have to pay for your luggage on the way down to Seattle seeing it is an economy flight. I would like to take 2 bags seeing I will be gone for about 12 days and I will need a little room for souvenirs.

[Topdog52]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

In 2019 we stayed at Bear Lodge in Fairbanks.

Thank You. I am also curious if you have to pay for your luggage on the way down to Seattle seeing it is an economy flight. I would like to take 2 bags seeing I will be gone for about 12 days and I will need a little room for souvenirs

[bonvoyagie]

I know that at least for the SB tour someone reccommend packing two suitcases, one for the land and one for the sea portion of the tour. I presumed that the cruise bag would probably have more dress up clothes. 

 

We are planning on doing a NB tour in June 23 and will probaby pack as if we were on a two week cruise. We are also Platinum so we will get laundry done before the cruise ends.

 

When we did our 14day Canada and New England cruise we had most of our purchases shipped to our home and will probably do the same in AK - if we can.

[bonvoyagie]

Most airlines do charge for each and every bag - empty or full.

[julig22]

32 minutes ago, Topdog52 said:

Thank You. I am also curious if you have to pay for your luggage on the way down to Seattle seeing it is an economy flight. I would like to take 2 bags seeing I will be gone for about 12 days and I will need a little room for souvenirs

Most likely you'll have to pay for luggage unless you're flying SW.

My trip was Anchorage to Seward, then on the ship to Seattle, so Fairbanks was in the middle.  They had laundry facilities at that particular hotel, so when you get your actual itinerary you can check to see what's available.  Ship usually does a "fill the bag" laundry special ($29.99 I think) above halfway.

I always pack an empty duffle bag in case of overflow.  Pack it full of clothes for the trip home, souvenirs in the suitcase but don't have to pay baggage fees on the way out.

 

[don't-use-real-name]

6 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

Most airlines do charge for each and every bag - empty or full.

True - only in Business or First Class are the luggage (baggage) charges waived on 2 bags

and the weight limits.

Weight limits per piece - 50# in Coach 70# in First - a tad over a wink of the eye waived.

 

Have a affinity frequent flyer account with the NCL selected airline - maybe the charges can be

waived - have a affinity credit card (American Express Capitol One) same here.

[don't-use-real-name]

8 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

We booked the land portion on our own when we took our first NCL Alaska cruise several years ago.  That gave us the option to pick our own hotel in Anchorage, spend a extra day there if we wanted to, choose to ride the dome cars on the train, spend an extra day or two in Denali Park, etc.  It took a little more planning, but we actually saved a little money compared to NCL's pricing for the land package.  We flew home from Fairbanks on a red-eye flight, so we went straight from the train station to the airport.

FYI -

Fairbanks

Denali Star Alaska RR train arrives Fairbanks about 8:00 pm and the red-eye flights depart

between 10 and 1:00 am - Train Station to Airport a 10 minute ride - Red-eye flights arrive

in the lower 48 around 6 am Central Time

Anchorage

Pretty much the same - Train arrives 8:15 pm - Red-eye flights leaving between 8pm - 1am

distance/time from Depot to airport about 4 miles - 15 minutes 

 

Train schedule fairly punctual - airlines variable

[The Traveling Man]

15 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

FYI -

Fairbanks

Denali Star Alaska RR train arrives Fairbanks about 8:00 pm and the red-eye flights depart

between 10 and 1:00 am - Train Station to Airport a 10 minute ride - Red-eye flights arrive

in the lower 48 around 6 am Central Time

Anchorage

Pretty much the same - Train arrives 8:15 pm - Red-eye flights leaving between 8pm - 1am

distance/time from Depot to airport about 4 miles - 15 minutes 

 

Train schedule fairly punctual - airlines variable

When we took this trip a few years ago, the train arrived in Fairbanks in broad daylight.  In fact, the sun was still up when our shuttle bus got us to the airport.  Our flight home, however, didn't leave until after midnight.  We changed planes in Seattle around breakfast time, and finally got home in the early afternoon.

[The Traveling Man]

22 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

Most airlines do charge for each and every bag - empty or full.

That's another of the reasons why we made our own arrangements rather than booking the NCL land and air package when we traveled to Denali.  My wife has Lifetime Platinum status with American Airlines and I'm Lifetime Gold.  We never have to pay extra for luggage on any flight booked through American.  They have an agreement with Alaska Airlines, so we booked our flight home with American.  Alaska Airlines honored the "bags fly free" benefit.  If we had booked through NCL we wouldn't have had that perk.

[Captain_Cruising]

July 2018 we did two days pre-NCL-land tour on our own in Fairbanks.  We stayed at the Bear Creek Lodge, booked our room direct with the lodge, and were able to keep the same room for our 2-day and the following first day of the NCL land tour.

 

I was able to ascertain the NCL lodging information by perusing the cruise critic board.   YMMV