Can you review my "new" tentative itinerary for one way land/sea?

[Meggie1129]

Hello! I posted yesterday comparing two different NB ships. Well, after researching doing the land portion ourselves, we are now most likely going to book the SB trip from Whittier and have approximately 4.5 days ourselves. I would rather have taken the Sapphire princess, by by taking the SB Grand Princess instead it allows us the following -

* Fly into Anchorage on an early Friday evening and have Saturday through Wednesday afternoon to explore Seward and Denali before the ship leaves Wednesday evening. (I may ask for further help in trying to fit in the train ride to or from Denali, but most likely we will rent a car for flexibility and then make sure we take the train as an excursion in Skagway)

* We can avoid having to fly a red-eye out of Anchorage back home and instead can depart from Vancouver that last day

* Our port time in Ketchikan is 10-6, vs. 6-2 (which will *hopefully* allow us the time to do the Deadliest Catch boat tour AND catch a Lumberjack show if we can time it right)

* We can have action packed days on land in Alaska, then have a bit of "relax" time while the ship cruises Hubbard and Glacier Bay, before 3 more days then in port with excursions. 

 

Again, I know the Grand is a bit more run down than the princess, but I am trying to think of it more as a hotel that allows us better flexibility with the rest of our schedule. 

 

 

[Tippyton]

Somewhere under my name you can find a TR I did in 2018 SB on Princess from Whittier.  We actually did a DIY land tour flying into Fairbanks, Gold Star train to Denali for 2 days, and Gold Star to Anchorage.  Booked a shuttle from hotel to Whittier that included the wildlife center.  Our best trip ever.