Alaska Cruisetour advice needed. Can we do our own thing!? Denali, Kenai Fords NP

[9286cinder]

I've read that the cruise tours are heavily booked but there is very little information available from Royal Caribbean.  Can I book my own thing to do while I am at Denali instead of staying with the tour, as long as we are ready for departure?  Is there one specific company that runs them that we could reach out to?   We would love to do an ATV tour in Denali, instead of going with the cruise tour.  In a hurry to find out so we can get something booked.  

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[capriccio]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!  There is lot of available information on the site but it can take awhile to figure where is the best place to get answers to your questions.

 

For whether you can book your own tours on a Royal Caribbean Alaska cruise tour, I would post on the Royal Caribbean forum (each cruise line has their own forum):  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/51-royal-caribbean-international/

 

For information on DIY and private excursions in Alaska check out the Alaska Ports of Call forum:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise. We've been on 3 Alaska cruises and everyone was fantastic but the first one is absolutely magical.

[Host Kat]

10 hours ago, 9286cinder said:

I've read that the cruise tours are heavily booked but there is very little information available from Royal Caribbean.  Can I book my own thing to do while I am at Denali instead of staying with the tour, as long as we are ready for departure?  Is there one specific company that runs them that we could reach out to?   We would love to do an ATV tour in Denali, instead of going with the cruise tour.  In a hurry to find out so we can get something booked.  

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Howdy @9286cinder and welcome to Cruise Critic! 

 

Thank you for your thread titled Alaska Cruisetour advice needed. Can we do our own thing!? Denali, Kenai Fords NP on the Ask a Cruise Question forum! 👍 

 

However, it is the forum for general questions regarding cruising & your inquiry is about a specific cruise line and Alaska tours. To help you out I have moved your thread to the Ports of Call - Alaska forum where it will be on topic. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have sailed to Alaska frequent this forum and provide feedback here. Browse through the thread titles on this forum l👀king for threads of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that will be of interest to you. 

 

Cruise Critic is a great resource for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you found us!  Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community Categories list. Read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads on the top of the first page of threads in a forum. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

And don't forget, after your cruise be sure to submit your review for publication. Many cruisers will benefit from your experience!  See How To: Submit a Member Review.

 

Hope this will be helpful and glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic! 

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat 

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 4/12/2022 at 9:25 AM, 9286cinder said:

I've read that the cruise tours are heavily booked but there is very little information available from Royal Caribbean.  Can I book my own thing to do while I am at Denali instead of staying with the tour, as long as we are ready for departure?  Is there one specific company that runs them that we could reach out to?   We would love to do an ATV tour in Denali, instead of going with the cruise tour.  In a hurry to find out so we can get something booked.  

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

I think your question is a little... open-ended? You're asking if you went on a cruise tour, if you could skip the "tour" part and do your own thing and just hop from hotel to hotel? Ultimately, the answer would be yes, but would be a pretty dopey move. First, you're paying for the tours and excursions on any cruise tour in the price, it's not just hotels/transportation. It would be a huge waste of money.

 

More importantly, you 100% can not ride an ATV in Denali National Park, despite what any tour operator says. You could ride an ATV in the area *near* Denali, but there's no way you'd get onto park grounds in an ATV. The park doesn't even allow private cars or trucks past mile 15 on the park road, just NPS tour busses, shuttle busses, and bicycles. It's very restrictive, which helps preserve the beauty. 

 

If you're going all the way to Denali, you would absolutely want to take whatever shuttle/tour you can get into the park. DNP is one of the most stunning places in the world, and to go all the way to interior Alaska and miss the park would be a poor choice.

Edited April 14, 2022 by AstoriaPreppy

[kennystwin]

I did a cruise tour with Celebrity a few years ago that included Denali. I remember our tour guide was arranging optional excursions for some of us (surely he was getting commissions) and no one was left behind. It may behoove you to wait to talk with your guide to finalize things. If you have a preferred excursion you want, you may call them and ask if they work with the tour companies and if it makes sense to pre-book. Keep in mind the excursion vendors may still be closed for the season or working minimal hours.

[AKStafford]

There's nothing available on a "cruisetour" that you can't book on your own. Instead of being herded around on the cruise line's buses, rent a car and put together your own great trip.

[disneyochem]

If you don’t want to be with the RCL tour, then you might want to DIY.  Sounds like you want the cruise tour for lodging and transportation?  You can get to Denali on your own—train, bus, car rental—and book your own rooms and excursions.

 

We took an ATV tour last summer before we went to Camp Denali.  We took a shuttle from Glitter Gulch to their place in Healy (as noted earlier, you do not ride in the NP) for the ride and then were dropped off afterwards at our lodging (Denali Cabins).  We used Denali ATV Adventures (https://www.denaliatv.com/).

[kochleffel]

For Kenai Fjords, you can definitely arrange your own tours with Major Marine and have more options for how long and how far you go, if your cruise starts or ends at Seward. However, it may not fit well with a cruise line's tour to Denali since you would go directly from your ship (if disembarking at Seward) to one or the other, or from the tour directly to the dock at Seward (if embarking at Seward).

 

If I were doing it, because I travel alone and renting a car for one person may not to be cost-effective, I'd also check on tours from Anchorage rather than from or to the port.