Princess Connoisseur Trip

[cusematt4]

Hi all - we are debating between a pre-cruise Alaska land tour for 3-4 nights vs a similar tour but that is the Connoisseur version (McKinley and Denali).  If pricing isn't too much more, is the Connoisseur much more worth it?  I know it includes most meals and a guide.  Is there anything else that makes this version and type of tour worthwhile?

 

Thanks so much.

[Thrak]

We have done 2 Connoisseur Cruise Tours to Alaska and loved them both. Before we decided to do the Connoisseur tours we checked out reviews. One that is now quite old but still a valuable resource was posted by @caribill back in 2012. It helped us to make up our minds and we were so pleased with our first Connoisseur tour that we booked another one later. We did a 13 night in 2016 and a 15 night in 2019.

 

LINK to caribill's review that helped us to decide.

Edited January 17 by Thrak

[beg3yrs]

Complete agreement with @Thrak here. We did the Connoisseur tour in Alaska, 17 days (10 land and 7 cruise) and it was fabulous. Our guide was great with narration and stories on the bus, making sure we all knew what to expect at every venue, arranging meal reservations and so on. We thought it was well worth the extra money and would do it again when the time is right.

[Tranquility Base]

10 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

arranging meal reservations

I hadn't thought about that as a service.

Was that just for dinner ?

Would the guide take your request on the train / bus on the way to a lodge and then arrange a reservation on arrival ?

Did it include whether you wanted a 2 top or to share ?

 

Edited January 18 by Tranquility Base

[leck57]

12 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Complete agreement with @Thrak here. We did the Connoisseur tour in Alaska, 17 days (10 land and 7 cruise) and it was fabulous. Our guide was great with narration and stories on the bus, making sure we all knew what to expect at every venue, arranging meal reservations and so on. We thought it was well worth the extra money and would do it again when the time is right.

 

Agree with you and @Thrak. Our Connoisseur tour was one of the best trips we have done anywhere. It was great having dinner included without having to look for a place in an unfamiliar location. Nothing was too much trouble for our guide.

@Tranquility Base arrangements were made which ever way you wanted. If you wanted to sit with people you just let them know. From memory times were staggered at a couple of places to even out the load on the kitchen. What we liked is that wherever we ate we could have whatever was on the menu. If it was a $30 steak or $55 crab, you just picked what you wanted and it was included in the cost.

[Worldtraveler 4727]

I posted a blog in 2018 of our Connoisseur trip. The photos have expired, but the information is 6 years newer than the one listed above.

Connoisseur is definitely worth the extra cost.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2560841-trip-review-connoisseur-land-amp-sea-rb8-june-19-july-4-2018/

 

 

[dickinson]

When we went in 2019 with a 6 day land tour we debated doing the Connoisseur.  We figured we would save a lot of money if we just did the Denali Explorer.  We were not disappointed.  We had no problems with dining at all.  While on the bus or train we had narration of what we were seeing.  I don't think I have ever read a negative review of Connoisseur and people who do the Denali Explorer don't seem to do a detailed review.  My personal opinion is that you can't go wrong either way so it depends on what you can afford and your preferences.

[georgetheblue]

Definitely worth it for me.  I did an Alaska cruisetour In 2018 and have another booked for mid August 2024.  Yes, it is expensive but to me the inclusions make it worthwhile. Having an exclusive tour guide to take care of the entire land portion is wonderful.  I love knowing nearly all meals are included and I can order whatever breakfast items or dinner items(appetizer, entree and dessert) that look good without thinking about price and tips.

This time I cruise first and the downside is I don’t meet my land mates until disembarkation.

Unfortunately last time my tour missed the rail ride due to floods on the tracks, darn.  This time, I’m happy the Music of Denali is not scheduled (corny and mass produced mediocre food).  I’m aware that the Tundra Wilderness Tour has been shortened due to landslides inside the park.  I will look at opting out of the gold dredge 8/riverboat excursion in Fairbanks.  Been there, done that.  Give me a credit and I will book another excursion that day.  

[TW6cruiser]

On 1/18/2024 at 3:06 AM, Tranquility Base said:

I hadn't thought about that as a service.

Was that just for dinner ?

Would the guide take your request on the train / bus on the way to a lodge and then arrange a reservation on arrival ?

Did it include whether you wanted a 2 top or to share ?

 

When we went in 2015 it did.  We alternated  dining alone  or sharing.  The guide made  the reservations as requested.  We'd recommend this level tour.  Additionally,  in Denali park you get the longer (better) park tour.  We  also saw  that we had premier views from our hotel rooms. 

[LibrarianMonroe]

We quite enjoyed the Connoisseur tour when we did it.  Meant we didn't need to worry or arrange anything, it was all done for u s.

[Tranquility Base]

On 1/21/2024 at 6:11 AM, TW6cruiser said:

Additionally,  in Denali park you get the longer (better) park tour. 

Currently, due to a landslip at Pretty Rocks, the park road is closed beyond Mile 43.

It is expected this to remain through summer of 2026.

[KYBOB]

We did the connoisseur 10 day land and 7 day cruise in August of 2023 and it was amazing. We enjoyed it so much that we still talk about it and enjoyed the people we traveled with in our group that we met. Our guide kept us entertained and informed as to when we had to be somewhere including our excursions. On the train our group had our own car which was more spacious and better seats than the non escorted groups. Also our rooms seemed to be the ‘nicer’ ones or better locations. She also like mentioned above made our dinner reservations for us at the ‘nicer’ restaurants at the larger lodges where our meals were included. At some stops for lunch she had maps for us showing restaurants or things to see and do during those stops. We found out through talking to some on the unescorted tours they could not get reservations at those restaurants. The non escorted tours the people did not seem to know were to go or what to do. To me it seems they are just provided transportation from each point and when you got off the bus a room key and when to meet for the next bus to the next lodge. To me our guide Rachel Moody was worth every penny it cost extra she made our trip so effortless and made it into an amazing trip. 

[voljeep]

6 hours ago, KYBOB said:

Also our rooms seemed to be the ‘nicer’ ones or better locations.

within your group, how were the cabins assigned at the lodges?  did cruise 'suite' guests get better cabins? 

[cruzrbachoua]

Also on the longer tour as Tranquility Base stated due to the rock slide it is closed...but also depending on when you go you still may not get it.  We went early September and due to early snowfall they dropped us back down to the shorter tour.  We did get refunded the difference.  We did see 2 moose while in the park, one was pretty close the bus guide said that was probably because it was mating season and he was heading to go find him a lady friend.  Sadly our main guide was not all that great as this was his last trip so I feel he was kind of tuned out and ready to go home.  But the savings on the food portion is worth it...never truly knew how expensive food was up there, so knowing you can just order any entrée was good..didn't have to think about that.   

[cruzrbachoua]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

within your group, how were the cabins assigned at the lodges?  did cruise 'suite' guests get better cabins? 

No suite guests did not...in our group we were in a full suite and our friends were in a balcony and another couple we met on the bus was also in a balcony...at the Hotel in Anchorage we had a room with 2 full beds our friends had a queen the other couple had  a suite, the first lodge again we had 2 full beds friends had a queen as did the other couple.  finally at the last lodge we had a queen bed.  the first 2 claimed we had 2 queens but they were not the size of our queen at home so that is why I think they were fulls the first 3 nights of our trip we slept separately...which was a bit frustrating as it was our anniversary celebration.   

[KYBOB]

4 hours ago, voljeep said:

within your group, how were the cabins assigned at the lodges?  did cruise 'suite' guests get better cabins? 

There was no difference in rooms among the group we all stayed together in the same building / floor. To make it easier for bag pickup in the morning. The difference was at Fairbanks we actually were in the Fairbanks Riverside lodge (some of the non escorted were in a hotel across town), Denali we were in the newer building at the top of the hill, at McKinley the building was just behind the theater.  Kenai we all seem to have the rooms with king size beds instead of doubles and Copper River which is a smaller lodge we were on all the second floor ( a win in my mind in that nobody walking on my head).

[Thrak]

On 1/18/2024 at 3:29 PM, georgetheblue said:

This time I cruise first and the downside is I don’t meet my land mates until disembarkation.

Unfortunately last time my tour missed the rail ride due to floods on the tracks, darn.  This time, I’m happy the Music of Denali is not scheduled (corny and mass produced mediocre food).  I’m aware that the Tundra Wilderness Tour has been shortened due to landslides inside the park.  I will look at opting out of the gold dredge 8/riverboat excursion in Fairbanks.  Been there, done that.  Give me a credit and I will book another excursion that day.  

 

The second time we did a connoisseur tour I had planned to have our TA remove the Music of Denali from our trip and get that portion refunded. Once was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than enough for that show/meal. As it turned out, it had been removed from the itinerary already. Definitely not a loss by any measure.

 

It's unfortunate about the big slide and road closure for the Tundra Wilderness tour. Both times we did that we had fairly rare sightings. The first time we had a wolf/grizzly sighting not far from the road. The grizzly was having nothing to do with sharing his meal and the wolf finally gave up and then trotted along beside the road where we were stopped and finally hopping up on the road behind the bus which the driver let slowly roll back down the hill following the wolf. There aren't really all that many wolves in the park and the park is huge. The second time the driver freaked out and yelled, "LYNX!!!" as he slammed on the brakes. A lynx ran across right in front of the bus and then "hid" (or so it thought) in the bushes right next to the bus. My wife and I were in the right hand front seats and had a perfect view of the lynx crouching there. The driver was able to focus his video camera on it nicely so others in the bus could see it clearly on the video screens throughout the bus. The driver was totally excited as, apparently, a lynx is a really big deal to see. A bit later he flagged down a bus going the other way and jabbered excitedly with that driver because it was so unusual to have that happen.

 

We did repeat the river boat excursion and enjoyed it both times. Yes, the gold dredge is included with that and once would have been plenty for us but we did it anyway. The gold "panning" portion is something we could definitely do without. (Somewhere my wife has an old plastic film can with the total aggregate of both of our gold collections from doing it twice. 🤪)

Edited January 23 by Thrak

[Tranquility Base]

Wine during dinner at the Lodges.

 

Does the wine by the glass menu have a reasonable selection ?

I know that alcohol is not included, only the meals.

If you purchase a bottle of wine on the 1st night, will they store it for you for the 2nd night as they do on the ship ?

( 2 night stays at each lodge )

Can you BYO and pay a corkage fee ?