alaska cruistour experience

[AftbalconyCouple]

we are currently looking into several itineraries for an Alaskan cruisetour. We want to go with Princess for this trip and would like any input you guys have. I have a few questions:

 

Ballpark price for a 11 to 13 day cruisetour?

 

What is the train like?

 

Do any of the itineraries call for an overnight train ride?

 

What time of year is best?

 

What is the "don't miss" part of Alaska?

 

I am looking forward to your replies.

[stired]

You would probably get a lot more responses if you posted your question on the Alaska boards - there is a wealth of information there.

[AftbalconyCouple]

I went to the Alaska board, thanks. I was hoping for some Princess specific answers here.

[stephenandrew]

Hi--

 

I can give you my thougts on a few of your questions:

 

Q: Ballpark price for a 11 to 13 day cruisetour?

A: Pretty variable depending on when you go---this is pretty simple to check out bu going to one of the online internet booking sites and getting a quote. One thing to keep in mind, that the excursion costs in Alaska are quite expensive, as are the meals in restaurants that you have to pay for on the land part of your tour (meals are not included there). If you want to do a Mckinley flight/glacier landing, whale watching, and/or a helicopter flight, I would expect to spend anywhere from $100 - $250 per person on each excursion alone. So factor that into your budgeting.

 

 

Q: What is the train like?

A: Princess train is ok, I guess---you are assigned seats and the seats are grouped in blocks of four---two face forward, two face backwards. The train does have nice sized windows so you can see out. There are alos platforms you can step out on in between the cars to get outside and take some pictures. They have a dining car, and if you have not been/dined on a train befoe, it is fun---food was pretty too. My recollection of the train ride from Fairbanks to Talkeetna was that it was less than scenic however---not much wildlife, and frankly the landscape on that part of the trip was not all that pretty.

 

Q: Do any of the itineraries call for an overnight train ride?

A: Not that I know of

 

Q: What time of year is best?

A: Hard for me to say--we went in July and had very cold, miserable weather. I have herad of others going in May and seeing a lot of snow, and some folks who whent in Septemebr were able to swim in the outdoor pools.

 

Q: What is the "don't miss" part of Alaska?

A: I would recommend taking a tour into Denali National Park---either take the Park Shuttle or the Tundra Wildlife TOur---do not take the Natural History Tour included in most (maybe all) Princess Tours---very short and does not go into the park far enough to see some of the most beautiful sites, and the wildlife. Most people rave about flights around Denali and landing on a glacier, and lots of people like the dog sledding excursions, as well as whale watching. My favorite part of the trip was actually inot Canada--the Yukon--we took a ride out to Emerald Lake and did some horseback riding. Very scenic ride.

 

Have fun planning your trip

[spongerob]

Stephenandrew pretty much covered all the bases. I thought the portion of the train ride between Denali and Fairbanks was spectacular.

 

One thing to note when budgeting the costs of a cruise/tour is that most meals are NOT included during the land portion of the tour. Optional excursions can also be quite pricey.

 

What's "don't miss"? All of it.

[stephenandrew]

Stephenandrew pretty much covered all the bases. I thought the portion of the train ride between Denali and Fairbanks was spectacular.

 

One thing to note when budgeting the costs of a cruise/tour is that most meals are NOT included during the land portion of the tour. Optional excursions can also be quite pricey.

 

What's "don't miss"? All of it.

 

 

Maybe you are right about the scenery between Fairbanks and Denali---after you made this statment I went back and checked a few photo albums I put together, and while I cannot recall the entire ride as being scenic, my photos do show that there were some very scenic, memorable spots on that ride, particuarly along the river getting close to Denali. I stand corrected---thanks for reminding me.

[mytime53]

I haven't cruised to Alaska, but live here, so can answer some of your questions.

No overnight train rides...we don't have enough rail here for that!

Best time of year depends entirely on what you want to do...If you want to fish for king salmon, you have to time your trip for that, plan your cruisetour around it, and don't wait too long to book the fishing part of your trip. It will fill up early.

To see wildlife, late May or early June. If you want to go into the Park, don't come too early...it will be closed (snow won't have melted). I'm not sure when the first cruiseship docks in the spring, but make sure you check to make sure the things you want to do are open before booking a cruise.

For weather, who can say? Normally, May and June are sunnier than July and August. But 2 of the last 3 years we've been praying for rain all summer (and then this year, every prayer for rain ever uttered got answered July 15-October).

What not to miss? I've lived here my entire life (over 50 years), I still haven't seen it all, and I love it all. What do you most love seeing/doing most when you travel? Learning history, seeing scenery, shopping (I assume you aren't planning a trip to Alaska if shopping is your favorite pastime!), outdoor recreation,...? Are you limited in time, or do you have the freedom to stay in Alaska a few more days?

People who haven't been to Alaska are sometimes shocked at how long it takes to get from one place to another. You will be spending hours getting from one of the cruisetour destinations to another; most are hundreds of miles apart. The scenery along the way is awesome, and will change dramatically from where you embark on the day's transportation to where you get off. There is no place where there is not a chance of seeing wildlife...even in Anchorage itself. Except for the Fairbanks Princess Lodge, the Princess lodges are situated in areas with magnificent scenery. Some of them are also located in places where, without a car, you will have no place to go except the lodge, the woods, or on a tour, so make sure you like that kind of thing.

I have talked to many people who have taken many cruises. Of those that have been to Alaska on one, they all say that is their favorite one. I'm sure you'll enjoy whichever cruisetour you take.

[cricketdog]

Aftbalconycouple,

take a look at the Escorted land tour. The ultimate escape #22E 2007.

Tour first 2 nights Fairbanks, 2 nights Denali,2nights Copper River and 2 hights Kenai. There are 2 meals provided per day. This leaves Aughts 5-20

8 day land then a 7 day southbound cruise. I have asked also on the Alaska Forum not much feed back as to others doing the land portion. Email me and I will tell you our cost. We have do the inside passage now want to see a little more of Alaska.

Cricketdog

[Joy2Day]

Here is a link to my review of a 2005 Princess landtour and cruise. We had 2 nights in Fairbanks, 1 at Denali, 1 at McKinley, and 2 nights at the Kenai Lodge. I hope this is helpful.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=199141

[NAS-KARR]

1. don't know

2. like any other

3. no

4. your decision

5. all of it.

 

 

You'll have a super experience e CIAO,

[dcl1710]

Here are some more suggestions:

1. Take the land tour first. It is a very hectic schedule and you won't want that after being pampered by Princess.

2. The Mt. McKinley lodge has a BREATH TAKING view of the mountain.

3. We went end of July-early August and had unseasonable weather: high 80's only rain in Kethican.

4. Do the snorkel in Kethican. It is different from warm water and fun.

5. The train ride is okay. The bigger the group the more fun you will have.

6. My husband and son fished in the ocean and caught 2 kings and we had them flash frozen. Unfortunately that meant salmon for MONTHS. :eek: Worth every penny.

7. No matter what anyone tells you GET A BALCONY. It is worth the price on this cruise particularly with the lecture on the inside passage - you can hear it from your TV and have your own private tour and room service!

Hopes this helps. We loved our Coral Alaska cruise.:)

[fti]

2. The Mt. McKinley lodge has a BREATH TAKING view of the mountain.

 

This is assuming you see the mountain at all - it is only visible 25-30% of the time on average.

[Genessa]

we are currently looking into several itineraries for an Alaskan cruisetour. We want to go with Princess for this trip and would like any input you guys have. I have a few questions:

 

Ballpark price for a 11 to 13 day cruisetour?

 

What is the train like?

 

Do any of the itineraries call for an overnight train ride?

 

What time of year is best?

 

What is the "don't miss" part of Alaska?

 

I am looking forward to your replies.

 

we went for 15 nights (in early July 2003) and spent about $8000 per couple. We had balcony cabins on the ship and added on an extra night in Fairbanks. We are from NY and took Princess air and did the land tour before the cruise. We took excursions both on the land portion and the cruise portion, including horseback riding, jet boat, float plane, fishing, snorkeling, and the White Pass RailRoad.

 

We all (6 of us) loved the train, but we are "train" buffs. When we go on vacations and they have a touristy train ride, we take it.

We took the train on 4 separate days (Fairbanks to Denali, Denali to Talkeetna, Talkeetna to Anchorage, Anchorage to Seward). We ate breakfast on the first leg, lunch on the second, dinner on the third - all meals were excellent, but I still remember the reindeer chili for lunch - best meal or second best we had on land in Alaska. We ate lunch on the train from Anchorage to Seward - barely edible, but the scenery made up for it.

 

 

As for what not to miss - we all wrote down what we wanted to see of Alaska, things we had thought of since grade school. We weren't able to see the northern lights, and didn't make it to Prudhoe Bay, but were very pleased, anyway.

 

We upgraded to the Tundra Wilderness tour instead of the Natural History and were very happy with it. I was especially happy, because I am a "mountain collector" and we were fortunate enough to be blessed with plenty of sightings of Denali.

 

Princess handled all the luggage and check ins to perfection. We loved Fairbanks Riverside Lodge - not set in the mountains, but alongside a river and a great place to see the midnight sun from the banks of the river or while having a drink on the patio. We also loved McKinley Princess Lodge, but thought Denali Lodge was a bit run down, noisy place.

 

Enjoy!

[Pam in CA]

I agree with the suggestion to do the land portion first. Unless you're flying in from the West Coast, it's a long flight from Alaska to other parts of the country. And, I'd fly into Fairbanks at least two days before you board the train. (We flew into Fairbanks from Boston, got to our room at about 10:00PM and had to be up and out by 7AM the next morning for our tour of Fairbanks before boarding the train. That was really tiring and we probably didn't appreciate Fairbanks as much as we should have.)

 

We were "lucky" and during our 2-day stay at the McKinley Lodge, Mt. McKinley was visible -- clear and spectacular -- from the train until we left by bus 2 1/2 days later.

 

As has been said, food is not included on the land tour. You don't get breakfast, lunch or dinner and it can be expensive even by Boston standards. You won't have a lot of options for restaurants at the lodges so budget accordingly.

[dcl1710]

Like I said in my post the weather we had was highly unususal for Alaska - my daughter was sun burned at the McKinley lodge. We have a picture of her in a halter top and the mountain behind her - no one who has gone to Alaska believes it.

One more suggestion: If you are stopping in Talketna(bad spelling), we ate at a restaurant that served outside and was FABULOUS. Was on a corner and was painted white at the time (2 years ago).This is really a great cruise even if the average age on the cruise is higher than the island cruises.