Start with land & end with cruise?

[gailc]

Has anyone 1st started with the land portion & ended with the cruise? We might be going to Alaska in the Summer of 2008 with a group.

 

Would like your opinions if you liked doing the tour this way

 

Gail

[Budget Queen]

Yep, several times. :) It's excellent!!!!!

 

Allow time in interior Alaska. I suggest at least a week, then you can include Denali Park and Seward. There are many touring options to consider. http://www.toursaver.com can offer significant discounts.

[NancyIL]

Doing the land trip first, followed by a southbound cruise, appears to be the more popular option. That's probably why southbound cruises generally cost more than northbound ones. We're doing a northbound cruise followed by 9 days on land this June, so it will be awhile before I can compare that to doing the land trip first. :)

[gailc]

NancyIL - I didn't realize that going Southbound was as popular as that! How far ahead would you need to book it to get a good cabin? You would need one on the Port side if going Southbound, wouldn't you?

 

Budget Queen - Thanks for the link.

 

So far this will be the hardest cruise to figure out with so many options including land.

 

Gail

[NancyIL]

NancyIL - I didn't realize that going Southbound was as popular as that! How far ahead would you need to book it to get a good cabin? You would need one on the Port side if going Southbound, wouldn't you?

 

Budget Queen - Thanks for the link.

 

So far this will be the hardest cruise to figure out with so many options including land.

 

Gail

 

If you are particular about your cabin, then you might want to book the cruise when it first becomes available in the next month or two. Then keep checking to see if the price has gone down.

 

In my experience, planning the land trip was much harder than picking the ship. The itinerary of our independent land trip evolved...a lot! :D

[vfb2girls]

We are spending 12 days doing our land tour and then sailing on the Spirit out of Whittier for our cruise. We are thinking tht by doing the land portion first we might be able to relax some on the ship.

[fti]

My land tour before my cruise last year was so much fun that I am doing only a land tour this year :D . It is probably more an issue of personal preference, itinerary, ship, etc. Both work fine though we did enjoy getting the longer flight "out of the way" at the beginning of the trip.

[Krazy Kruizers]

People who did the cruise first and then the land tour have reported on various boards that they flew home dead tired!!

 

Most agree that after doing the long day land tours, being to rest on the cruise is the best way to go.

[NancyIL]

People who did the cruise first and then the land tour have reported on various boards that they flew home dead tired!!

 

Most agree that after doing the long day land tours, being to rest on the cruise is the best way to go.

 

I imagine people on cruisetours do get pretty tired if a lot is crammed into a few days. However, based on our ship's time in ports, there's nothing relaxing about getting off the ship or viewing glaciers at 6 or 7 a.m. almost daily! I think we'll get more sleep on our independent post-cruise land trip. :)

[greatam]

Land first, then the cruise. Your land trip will be tiring trying to see everything. You can get on the cruise ship, not have to schlepp luggage, not have to find someplace to eat, not have to worry about driving, and just veg out if you want to.

 

The cruises we have done have been AFTER land trips. We go to Alaska every year for business and fishing. I just couldn't imagine trying to drive around, schlepp luggage, check in and out of hotels and sightsee after a cruise. I would be exhausted.

[dreamalaska]

after several days of land tour, it will be so relaxing to do one way cruise south.. soaking into the hotbub, dining in the formal dining room... I think that's why south bound is more popular

[SoCalGal]

By doing the land portion last we saved $1,000.00 this year. We would have preferred the other way around, but can use the savings for excursions.

[fti]

I imagine people on cruisetours do get pretty tired if a lot is crammed into a few days. However, based on our ship's time in ports, there's nothing relaxing about getting off the ship or viewing glaciers at 6 or 7 a.m. almost daily! I think we'll get more sleep on our independent post-cruise land trip. :)

 

I totally agree. With cruisetours, you are rushed from place to place. With an independent tour, you can plan your own day and not feel rushed or exhausted on your land tour. If you do, you are probably doing too much! And that goes for a land tour either before or after your cruise.

 

If you spend more than one night in a place that also really helps, even if not in every place you visit. Cruisetours, for the most part, tend to move you every night. We have three nights at Denali, two nights in Seward and three nights at Katmai. That will help a lot in not feeling rushed or always on the move. Another reason to book your land tour independently (though that was not the purpose of this thread).

[sea_u_onboard]

We are spending 12 days doing our land tour and then sailing on the Spirit out of Whittier for our cruise. We are thinking tht by doing the land portion first we might be able to relax some on the ship.

That's ONE of the reasons we are doing the land portion first. The first couple days on the ship (at least for us) is sea time so we will have time to rest up for the rest of the ports - because they are going to be crammed full.

 

I guess you could look at it the other way around to and have a day or two to relax before getting off the ship but have to say that I prefer "schelping" the luggage at the beginning, not at the end.

[TeeBuccs]

My land tour before my cruise last year was so much fun that I am doing only a land tour this year :D . It is probably more an issue of personal preference, itinerary, ship, etc. Both work fine though we did enjoy getting the longer flight "out of the way" at the beginning of the trip.

 

 

Would you mind sharing your plans with me? I am struggling trying to determine how my DH and I could return to Alaska and hit the spots we really want to see. We also did a "once in a lifetime cruise" last year to AK and now are planning on going back for our 10 year anniversary next year. As much as I loved the cruising, the ports are all the same and I am wondering if we could do this trip all ourselves via land for less money. I am curious what others are planning and finding out as they go through this same exercise.

 

Thanks!

[NancyIL]

Would you mind sharing your plans with me? I am struggling trying to determine how my DH and I could return to Alaska and hit the spots we really want to see. We also did a "once in a lifetime cruise" last year to AK and now are planning on going back for our 10 year anniversary next year. As much as I loved the cruising, the ports are all the same and I am wondering if we could do this trip all ourselves via land for less money. I am curious what others are planning and finding out as they go through this same exercise.

 

Thanks!

 

 

TeeBuccs - here's a thread that might give you some ideas: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=465998

 

For our 9-day land trip, we'll spend 2 nights each in Kennicott, Homer, and Seward. Our first and last night will be in Anchorage, and we'll have 1 night in Valdez in the middle. It's somewhere in the middle of hectic and relaxing. :)

 

I am sure we will be tired no matter when we do the cruise. If I wanted a relaxing trip - I would park my carcass at a resort somewhere, or on a Caribbean cruise with several sea days. :cool: Some cruise itineraries are quite port intensive (the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the southern Caribbean cruise I just booked on Carnival Destiny). I think Alaska is somewhere in the middle, but the combination of early arrivals in port for 3 days plus entering Glacier Bay at 6:30 a.m. isn't what I consider a relaxing cruise.

 

One other thing - if you want to cruise in May AND visit Denali - you'll see more of Denali if you cruise first and THEN do the land trip.

[halbfl2]

We are doing a cruisetour with Princess. Doing the land first and sailing south to Vancouver. Did this mainly as others have stated--hopefully getting more relaxation at the end of the trip. However, after reading these threads for months, my recommendation would be to do your own land part first, and then do the cruise southbound. That wasn't really an option for us as we had 6 couples, and that would be too hard to coordinate independently. Two or three couples, we would have done it. Now we are having to fly to Fairbanks which I would probably have skipped if doing on our own. Would rather fly to ANC and then drive to Denali for about 3 days coming back with the car to ANC and then doing Kenai before going to the ship. However, we haven't gone yet, so my opinions may change after we do the trip.:)

[Budget Queen]

I have done more interior Alaska trips than cruises, and my top recommendation is always- TIME. I am never rushing around or skipping my places of interest- this is a common problem some itineraries have- both cruisetours and independent. It can be a better option to see less and scale back if you don't have the time.

 

Distances are vast, 2 nights is really necessary if you are looking at a couple hundred miles between areas. It is also best to consider to be on the move, rather than considering basing out of one location- it really is not doable to look at a week in Anchorage and doing "day trips", since there are so many highlights.

 

I have cruised in both directions with excellent trips each time. Key is to do your homework and fully understand what is required for your touring priority. Alaska is simple to get around in, but allow time to enjoy it, don't figure on 65mph getting place to place and a tight timeframe.

 

My pleasures have always been the ad lib stuff that happens. :) No way do you want to have to be getting a big distance with not enough time, and have McKinley in full view, wildlife viewable from the road, a relaxing scenic hike available- great food to linger over etc etc etc.

 

It is a long distance and money consuming to visit Alaska, make the most of it.

[fti]

Would you mind sharing your plans with me? I am struggling trying to determine how my DH and I could return to Alaska and hit the spots we really want to see. We also did a "once in a lifetime cruise" last year to AK and now are planning on going back for our 10 year anniversary next year. As much as I loved the cruising, the ports are all the same and I am wondering if we could do this trip all ourselves via land for less money. I am curious what others are planning and finding out as they go through this same exercise.

 

Thanks!

 

Don't mind at all. I leave July 2.

 

Day 1 Arrive Anchorage in the early afternoon and drive to Denali, three nights in Denali.

 

Day 4 Drive to Talkeetna, flightseeing in Talkeetna, drive to Anchorage, overnight.

 

Day 5 Drive to Seward, two nights in Seward (Kenai Fjords cruise, Harding Icefield hike, other stuff around those two things)

 

Day 6 Drive to Anchorage (Portage Glacier, Girdwood?) , my friend flies out, I spend the night in Anchorage

 

Day 7 Fly to Katmai NP (Brooks Camp), three nights there

 

Day 10 return to Anchorage, repack, red eye to Minnesota

 

Advance planning really helped to keep the cost down - the campground at Katmai sells out VERY quickly for July. Also, the car rental was dirt cheap booking 8-9 months in advance, hotels in Anchorage were either free (best rate guarantee) or $50 through hotwire, hotel in Seward was using points. Used miles from central MN to Anchorage to King Salmon (jump off point to Katmai) all for only $20 round trip!

[TeeBuccs]

fti -

 

Once I pull together a little more information on thoughts, would you mind me running a possible itin by you? You sound very experienced with this. My goals is to focus on Homer, Soldotna, Kenai, Seward areas and mix in a little Anchorage. Not sure if we will do a cruise first or just really spend multiple days in each of these cities instead and go to Brooks Falls, Kodiak, etc. We want to maximize wildlife sightings, do some fishing, and if no cruise first - see some glaciers and marine critters.

 

Thanks a bunch!