Alaska Royal cruise tour question

[cruiselvr04]

We are thinking of booking one of these in the next few days.  Is there any difference in lodging on land if you book a suite on the ship or an ocean view?  In other words are you just paying extra for the suite on the ship?  Is everything on land the same for everyone?  Is the dome car included no matter what cabin you book?
 

Does anyone have any comments on Royals land tour portion?  We are thinking of doing the 6 night trip into Denali ( 2023 as we know it’s partially closed this year). Lodging is expensive and basic on your own.  The hassle of train tickets, Denali tickets, car rentals are high, it seems easier to have someone else organize it all.  It’s also harder to enjoy the scenery when you’re driving.  The DH will still be working so we are limited to 2 weeks.  This will be our first and maybe only trip to Alaska.  ( Big bucket list)  Will this give us a good overview?  We know you can never do or see it all.  

[reallyitsmema]

You are going to get some really strong opinions against cruisetours.  We did a cruisetour for the exact reasons you said and are glad we did.  We are glad we did the land portion first as they are very long days and it was nice to have the cruise to relax after.  Everyone gets the same type of rooms on the land portion, even if you have a suite on the ship.  You will get double points for both the land portion and the cruise if you have a suite.  Our tour did have the domed train to Denali and that was beautiful.  There are optional excursions that you can add to the land portion which we did for both nights we were in Denali.  You can't book those until you meet you tour guide the first day.  This link has the excursions to see though, so you can plan in advance.  You can find them under the resources tab.

 

https://www.royalcaribbeancruisetours.com/

 

 

[cruiselvr04]

This is VERY helpful.  Thank you.

 

[Ptroxx]

This is also something I’m interested in doing.   
And to have it all done for me is much easier I’d think.  
so I’d be interested in everyone’s thoughts as well.     
 

I’ve already done an Alaskan cruise.

And was planning of doing another last year but that was canceled. 
so this has been. A big interest to me.   

[STEVE-O]

Not to be a downer but... I'd be hesitant to book a cruise tour this year (and maybe next year).

 

The main/only road inside Denali is blocked for an extensive repair. The Tundra Wilderness tour won't be gging as deep into the park as normal.

I'd wait until I knew the entire TWT route was open.

 

Denali is truly the single most amazing part of the land tour.

 

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by STEVE-O
typo

[cruiseguy1016]

A couple comments. I know you're looking to have someone do all the planning and driving, I get that. But... if you're at all comfortable doing it on your own, I think you'll enjoy it more. You can stop where, when and for how long you want. You won't be tied to someone else's schedule. We planned our own 7 days on land before our cruise 5 years ago. As for your once in a lifetime trip, don't count on it. That's what we thought 5 years ago. We're going back this year and spending 2 weeks on land, no cruise. There is so much we didn't get a chance to see or do, we HAVE to go back.

[Nemomof3]

We went to an hour while on a ship about Alaska. Almost half of the people there said they had already been and were going back to do the cruisetour. Every one of them said if they had it to do again they would have done the cruisetour the first time. So that is what we are doing in May.