Denali - 4th of July or ???

[freddiebud]

Help! I am planning my dream trip. I thought I had it all planned out; fly to Vancouver, cruise to Seward 6/25 - 7/2 and then drive up to Denali for a few days before returning to Anchorage and home.

 

Then, I noticed two things - the cruise lines significantly dropped the rate for the 6/4-6/11 cruise and my planned visit to Denali would be over Independence Day.

 

So, here are my questions: 1) should I do Denali pre or post cruise? 2) will I get the same experience over Independence Day, i.e. will lots of things be on holiday schedules? 3) any advantages/disadvantages of going early June or late June?

 

If money and dates were not an issue, what would you do?

 

Thanks.

[Budget Queen]

If you want to get to Wonder Lake and go your June timeframe, you need a northbound cruise. It won't matter if it's 4th of July at Denali. Shuttle buses are still running, most if not all resturants open etc.

[freddiebud]

Can you explain to me why I need to go Northbound to see Wonder Lake? Is it the June time frame or the Northbound that determines that?

Thx.

[freddiebud]

Ooops - I think I might have answered my own question. Northbound cruise will get me there later and then we can go to Wonder Lake? Right?

[Budget Queen]

Ooops - I think I might have answered my own question. Northbound cruise will get me there later and then we can go to Wonder Lake? Right?

 

Correct. Wonder Lake shuttle bus doesn't run until 6/8

[fti]

Help! I am planning my dream trip. I thought I had it all planned out; fly to Vancouver, cruise to Seward 6/25 - 7/2 and then drive up to Denali for a few days before returning to Anchorage and home.

 

Then, I noticed two things - the cruise lines significantly dropped the rate for the 6/4-6/11 cruise and my planned visit to Denali would be over Independence Day.

 

So, here are my questions: 1) should I do Denali pre or post cruise? 2) will I get the same experience over Independence Day, i.e. will lots of things be on holiday schedules? 3) any advantages/disadvantages of going early June or late June?

 

If money and dates were not an issue, what would you do?

 

Thanks.

 

I found during this past week that the port towns don't have "holidays" during cruise season. Even the Skagway post office is open Sundays. One store said it would be closed on Sunday but open on Labor Day (I assume no cruise ships were going to be in port on Sunday but they would on Monday).

 

I was at Wonder Lake on July 4th. No fireworks but as BQ said, the shuttles run, pretty much everything is open.

 

John

[coffee39]

Does anyone know if Denalli had fireworks or celebrates July 4th in any way?