Alaska Land portion

[jinpasco]

For those that have gone on the land part of the cruisetour, how did you find things ?  I understand we will be staying at The Westmark in Fairbanks and not a Princess Hotel to begin with. Any insight and information on any part of the trip is appreciated. Things will understandably be different. 

[MudderBear]

We just did the land tour.  We stayed at The Captain Cook, which is (as far as Anchorage goes) a really nice hotel.  The Westmark was only about two blocks away, and I think it was closer to restaurants, shopping etc., (not that a few blocks really matter).  Our very first night was at The Marriott, which was just so so.  If you are only at The Westmark for one night, don't sweat it.  Enjoy!  Oh, plus the Westmark has balconies, the Cook doesn't.  Plus, the cook rooms are really in a need for a refurbishment....don't know what the rooms at the Westmark are like.

[jinpasco]

1 hour ago, MudderBear said:

We just did the land tour.  We stayed at The Captain Cook, which is (as far as Anchorage goes) a really nice hotel.  The Westmark was only about two blocks away, and I think it was closer to restaurants, shopping etc., (not that a few blocks really matter).  Our very first night was at The Marriott, which was just so so.  If you are only at The Westmark for one night, don't sweat it.  Enjoy!  Oh, plus the Westmark has balconies, the Cook doesn't.  Plus, the cook rooms are really in a need for a refurbishment....don't know what the rooms at the Westmark are like.

Yes, not too worried about one night but someone did say there was no heat in his room. I can't imagine a hotel in Alaska not having heat so my guess is it may have just been his room. Hope so, we Floridians will need heat, lol. In general how was the rest of the trip. Many closures ? Did you have the Denali tour included or the ( now shortened ) longer tour ?  Looking forward to our 3rd Alaska trip but realize we need to accept what we can not change. At this point we will be happy the airlines get us there! Thank you for reponding. Our friends are only doing the cruise portion and are staying at the Captain Cook.

[mtnesterz]

3 hours ago, jinpasco said:

...Any insight and information on any part of the trip is appreciated. 

You did say, "any." If I could offer any one piece of advice about an Alaska Cruisetour, it would be to highly recommend going the Connoisseur package. Paying for all meals on land was suprisingly expensive, with few options. It is the only thing I wish we had done differently.

Edited June 25, 2022 by mtnesterz

[Cali Viajera]

We just ended the land tour and board the Majestic today. Loved the land tour! The Gold Dredge 8 and Discovery riverboat trips were beyond amazing! Great narration and we learned so much. Even got to be by the pipeline. Denali Tundra tour was 5 hours, again great narration by the guide. We traveled until you could see off to where the landslide was. They still don’t even have a contractor to repair it. It will be another 3 years before redone. Saw moose, caribou, Dall sheep, the state bird and a bald eagle. Don’t worry about the hotel, it is just a place to rest your head. We were way out at the Riverside Princess. Enjoy your trip, Alaska is sooo vast and remote!

[jinpasco]

29 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

You did say, "any." If I could offer any one piece of advice about an Alaska Cruisetour, it would be to highly recommend going the Connoisseur package. Paying for all meals on land was suprisingly expensive, with few options. It is the only thing I wish we had done differently.

I understand that. We were there 5 yrs ago and it was high considering what we pay here. To be expected. I said it will be our " diet" portion of the trip !  We will do fine on 2 meals a day as on the ship we seem to average 5 ,lol.  Stocking up on protein bars too. We are hoping to keep it near 100.00 a day for food ???? Reasonable or should we allow for more ? 

[mtnesterz]

We were there in 2016. A hamburger was $25. Buffet breakfast was $19. 

Linking a menu:

https://restaurantguru.com/King-Salmon-McKinley-Park/menu

[jinpasco]

2 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

We were there in 2016. A hamburger was $25. Buffet breakfast was $19. 

Linking a menu:

https://restaurantguru.com/King-Salmon-McKinley-Park/menu

Thank you.....good to know !