Cruisetours - a positive view

[S&G]

After reading so much negatives about cruise tours, I wanted to give some positives. Late May/early June my partner and I took a Princess cruisetour (land tour to Prudhoe Bay, followed by a southbound cruise) and were thoroughly pleased. Yes, you do get herded from location to location, and the itinerary is not very flexible, but all the logistics are taken care of and you don't have to worry about anything.

 

The biggest plus of participating in a cruisetour is the people you meet on the tour. For the entire week of the land tour, we travelled with the same people and great friendships were made. It was incredible being able to share in the adventure with others, which would not have been possible if we travelled independently. Sure, we would have met people along the way, but it would not have been the same. The friends we made on the land tour made the cruise even more enjoyable, since we continued to get together on the ship for drinks, dinner and conversation.

 

I'm glad we participated in this land tour. We might choose to travel independently the next time we visit Alaska, but for this trip, I wouldn't have changed anything.

[fti]

I am very glad that you enjoyed your cruisetour and there is much positive to be said about them if you know what you are getting into - my biggest complaint is that most of them don't spend nearly as much time at Denali as they should (one night is ridiculous).

 

I do disagree with you however on the meeting people on a cruisetour vs. landtour. I have met some incredible people on my land tours to Alaska. Three nights at Wonder Lake is an experience in itself. But when you get so much snow in early September that it takes you 12 hours to get just one way from Wonder Lake to the park entrance, you certainly develop very real friendships. I am off on Monday for another land-only trip to Alaska and I won't regret for a minute that I am doing it independently.

 

Thanks though for your view - it does give the other perspective which is often downplayed here.

[S&G]

You are right fti -- 1 night is not enough at Denali. We were fortunate to be in a cruisetour with 2 nights there, and that still wasn't anywhere near enough.

 

I hope to go to Wonder Lake when I return - that sounds like a great experience, and I look forward to making some new friends when I do go.

[cjnky]

fti - Have a GREAT trip!! I've sure enjoyed following your plans, and can't wait for a trip report! Thanks for all the help you've given me in our trip planning. ;)

 

S&G - Very well put! I'm glad I'm going independent, but there certainly ARE advantages to a cruisetour.

[clarencebyer]

S&G, thanks for your post. I know what you mean about all of the negative comments regarding the cruisetours. In a perfect world, we would all have enough knowledge, time to plan, time off from work, and know how to do independent tours. Personally, we are pretty new to cruising and definitely have not done a tour along with a cruise before. This was also our first time to Alaska. The cruisetour gave us the opportunity to add a land portion to the cruise with the security of knowing that the major plans had been taken care of for us... travel, lodging, baggage handling, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love to plan family trips and have done what I felt was a great deal of research for this trip. In the future, I'm sure we will do a more independent version of the land tour.... possibly all independent. But this worked well for our group. Baby steps you know! ;)

 

I just know that as my cruise was getting closer and I was gathering information from this board, there were many posts that made me feel as if I was going to have a much inferior trip just because we had booked a cruisetour. We had a fabulous trip. So if you have a cruisetour booked and you are happy with it... just enjoy it! By all means, read the posts and consider all of the suggestions. These are wonderful, well-meaning people with much to offer and I have appreciated the sharing of information that these boards allow us to do. Hopefully someone can benefit from this post as well. Good topic, S&G!

[Host Caroline]

Thanks so much for these positive comments.. different things work well for different people for a variety of reasons... HAL has lots of "double denali" tours and even if you only get a "taste" of Denali on your first shorter trip you can go back.. I have lots of clients who prefer for whatever reason to to a tour and others who do not... there is no right or wrong. Whatever you have planned: have a wonderful trip.. the beauty of Alaska will dazzle you no matter how you see it:)

[40yearcruiser]

We also did a cruisetour and had a great time. We had a family group of 13 and the cruisetour seemed the best way to coordinate for a group our size. I'm sure we could have done it less expensively had we planned everything ourselves, but we all lead busy lives and it was worth it to us to let Princess handle the details so all we had to do was show up and enjoy! One thing we did change was to drop the NHT at Denali and schedule the park shuttle to Toklat on our own. We also pre-reserved shore excursions through independent vendors in the ports using advice we found here on the boards.

[Red Rox]

I too thank you for this post. We're leaving for our cruise/tour in 2 weeks and I must admit, I've been worried about missing things due to some of what I've read on these boards. Your message reminded me of the value of traveling with a smaller group of people for the land portion of the trip, and the opportunity to make new friends. I recall the friendships we made in our week on the Colorado River on a raft in the Grand Canyon.

I'm a 'people person', and I look forward to making new friends next month in Alaska. And I'm willing to bet that at some point either on land or on the ship, we will meet some who knows someone who we already know! I have yet to take a trip anywhere in the world where we haven't either met someone like that, or run into someone that we already know! It really is a small world.:)

[nextelcup]

S&G, thanks for your post. I know what you mean about all of the negative comments regarding the cruisetours. In a perfect world, we would all have enough knowledge, time to plan, time off from work, and know how to do independent tours. Personally, we are pretty new to cruising and definitely have not done a tour along with a cruise before. This was also our first time to Alaska. The cruisetour gave us the opportunity to add a land portion to the cruise with the security of knowing that the major plans had been taken care of for us... travel, lodging, baggage handling, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love to plan family trips and have done what I felt was a great deal of research for this trip. In the future, I'm sure we will do a more independent version of the land tour.... possibly all independent. But this worked well for our group. Baby steps you know! ;)

 

I just know that as my cruise was getting closer and I was gathering information from this board, there were many posts that made me feel as if I was going to have a much inferior trip just because we had booked a cruisetour. We had a fabulous trip. So if you have a cruisetour booked and you are happy with it... just enjoy it! By all means, read the posts and consider all of the suggestions. These are wonderful, well-meaning people with much to offer and I have appreciated the sharing of information that these boards allow us to do. Hopefully someone can benefit from this post as well. Good topic, S&G!

 

We also just recently enjoyed a cruisetour to Alaska. I couldn't agree more with your comments. First cruise and vacation of this magnitude for us. It was really much simpler for us not to have to stress too much about the details, let alone the time involved in doing all the research, bookings, etc. I, too, felt "inferior" by booking a cruisetour. For those of you in this same situation, I was very happy with the cruisetour experience. If we ever go back, perhaps we will do more things independently now that we have gotten our feet wet. (We did do a couple of independent tours...Harv and Marv whale watching and the new, longer train/bus excursion in Skagway with Chilkoot.) Everyone knows their own comfort level, time pressures, etc. Some prefer independent, some leave it in hands of the travel agent. I'm sure some people don't do much research so may be disappointed with a cruisetour, but as long as you know what you are getting and are happy with it...go for it and don't worry about not having a good time just because you aren't doing it independent. ENJOY YOUR TRIP, NO MATTER WHAT WAY YOU CHOOSE! Thanks to all the expert posters who have imparted their vast knowledge to us.

[wollenkv]

We too choose the cruise tour. Seemed the best fit for us. Although I'm envious of the independant travelers, that just wouldn't work for us for several reasons. To the indepentant experts - keep giving the good advice. But for the cruisetour folks - take what advice you can and enjoy your trip. Better to travel however you can than to miss out entirely.

[NancyIL]

I'm sorry some of you felt inferior because of choosing a cruisetour - and I'm sorry if my enthusiasm for doing it independently contributed to those feelings. While I am glad we went the independent route, I would recommend a cruisetour over just flying home any day! However, the scenery between Seward/Whittier and Anchorage is so pretty - I'd recommend doing a one-way just to see that - even if no land trip is chosen.

 

Some cruisetours are better than others, just as some cruise itineraries are better than others. The important thing is that you choose what works best for you and your traveling companions.

[thawan]

S&G Thanks for the positive post on cruise tours. I know when we can do a land trip it will be with a tour. DH has such a long commute, that the thought of driving on vacation, is just not something he wants to do. We've talked about next year going to Banif and Jasper, Alberta but we don't know if we want to do the drive, and that's with us sharing the driving. Cruising is sooo much easier lol

 

Nancy I don't think anyone's enthusiasm for doing an independent is the problem. It's if anyone asks about a ships land tour everyone seems to post that they should go independent. Independent is great, but not everyone wants to do it.

 

I think the best description I've read is when someone posted 'I just want them to tell me where to be' As they say whatever works :)

[Squirrel's Mom]

Nice thread.

[calbob]

Glad to see this subject discussed...After reading comments I too felt booking a cruise tour was the wrong thing to do....But when you think about it, Holland and Princess have been doing this for a long time, and if everyone disliked it, why do they still have them...It's because not everyone is as adventurous as others and they want someone to plan for them..Thanks for "going against the grain" so to speak...individual preference is a wonderful thing....

 

CALBOB

[Nananoonie]

I am doing a 12 day cruisetour leaving on 7/27. I am taking 2 grandchildren with me and there is no way I would drive around Alaska with two kids! I am looking forward to relaxing and looking out of the glass domed train windows maybe with a little drinkypoo. Someone else can take care of the luggage and travel details and I'll just get the kids and myself wherever they tell me to be and whatever time.