Suggestions for pre-cruise travel please

[SunnyCal]

Hi, this is my first post. My family of five (three kids 13, 12, and 9) will be on a southbound cruise June 2005 on the Sun Princess. We don't have time to do a weeklong cruise tour, but have 3-4 days we would like to spend seeing a bit of Alaska before boarding the boat. Can anyone offer advice? Is it possible to take the train to Denali, spend a couple of days, then return all the way to Whittier. Another possibility is going south to Seward/Kenai. Not sure what activities to do with kids (sea sickness is a fear here), and getting from Seward to Whittier seems like a lot of backtracking unless we rent a car. We are flexible and open to other suggestions also. Just want to make the most of our time, without the rigidity of a cruisetour.Thanks in advance.

[42trvl]

Hi -

 

We just did a similar trip this summer with our 9 & 11 year old kids. I did post a review of our trip on this board if you want to do a search under my user name. We spent 6 days pre-cruise, so we had a little more time, but some of the highlights included the day cruise into Kenai Fjords Natl. Park out of Seward. If you cannot make it down there and are sailing from Whittier, then the day cruise we did on Prince William Sound was also very enjoyable (but would not recommend using Phillip's 26 Glacier Cruise). Portage Galcier Visitor Center (on way to Whittier) was very interesting. The Alaska Railroad train ride from Anchorage to Seward the day before our cruise was beautiful - kids enjoyed. Further up north we stayed in Talkeetna - very pleasant, great views of Mt. McKinley and good flightseeing trips. Also, not that you asked, but worthy of mention;) - 2 excursions the kids loved while on the cruise were whale watching in Juneau and a helicopter glacier landing/dog sledding out of Skagway. Both of these were booked independently.

 

Have fun planning - it was a great family trip!:)

[jrask]

We just did a Northbound trip on Princess. We then took Princess transport to the Anchorage airport and rented a car. The car lets you stop off and cuts the travel time by quite a lot, which is nice when you are short on days. To give you a sense:

 

Day 1: AM - Disembark in Whittier & travel to Denali (5 to 5 and a half hours depending on stops). We stopped off in Talkeetna for a little touring.

 

PM - arrived in Denali with time to check in, explore the area around the hotel, have dinner, relax and go to bed early

 

Day 2: AM - Tundra Wilderness Tour (runs 6-8 hours). The other alternatives are a Natural History Tour (3 hours) but much lower chances of wildlife viewing. Or you can take the shuttle bus (preferably to Eilson or so)...cheaper but no guarantee of commentary. The early morning tours are preferable for wildlife spots.

 

PM - Short nap. Tour of Denali kennel & sled dog demo. Relax.

 

Day 3: AM - Hike around Denali. Quick lunch

 

PM - Drive back to Anchorage with some touring along the way.

 

Day 4: AM - Biked the coastal trail

 

PM - exploring, shopping & relaxing

 

Day 5: Drive to Seward for tour of Kenai Fjords National Park.

PM - drive back to Anchorage for late night flight.

 

 

The drive to Denali is on the long side, but pretty easy if you take turns at the wheel. Because the tour into the park is long and you typically get up pretty early, you really need 2 nights in the Park. You'll also have to figure out timing based on your flight into Anchorage and whether you will be up to the long drive immediately thereafter. The train complicates things by making the travel time longer and putting you on a fixed schedule, but its supposed to be beautiful.

 

On the positive side, you will see things in Denali that you won't see the rest of your Alaska trip. We saw caribou, moose, dall sheep and grizzly on or just off the road. And the topography is very different than what you will see elsewhere.

 

Seward is much closer and very worthwhile. The Kenai tour will get you closer to glaciers than the cruise and you will likely see otters, seals, eagles, whales, and puffins. Theres also an auarium in Seward. Kenai was great but I saw whales, seals, eagles and other sea life during the cruise and so my preference would be to take the trek into Denali for something really different.

[jrask]

PS. You mentioned sea sickness. This can be an issue in the Kenai tour. It was fairly choppy for us and the tour guide kept telling us how calm the seas were. We saw a fairly long line of people sick and had to be careful of where we stepped/sat while on deck. So, definitely take your full dosage of sea-sick meds 1 hour before boarding.

[Budget Queen]

3-4 days is not enough time- you need at least 5 in my opinion to make it worthwhile. 2 nights are needed for Denali Park- from Whittier you need to allow at least 7 hours to Denali Park as you are not likely to hit the tunnel perfectly and the most cost effect way would be shuttle service to Anchorage then a round trip car rental from there. I do NOT recommend the above Seward touring suggestion- it is NOT a day trip- allow an over night if taking a boat trip. I also disagree on taking ANY Denali Park tour bus. I have gone on the shuttle buses MANY times and always had an informative driver and extensive wildlife viewing. There is no reason to pay more than TRIPLE the cost for the tour buses that don't get far enough into the park. With 5 days- I would strongly reconsider the ship selection if Seward is a priority- HAL could be a good choice??? This would make much better use of your time? Arrive Anchorage- tour the city, drive to Denali Park- stop along the way, take the first shuttle bus to Eielson, overnight, back to Anchorage- stop in Talkeetna- if time allows- overnight. turn in car- train to Seward- arrive 11am, take 11:30am Kenai fjords tour- back at 5:30pm board ship. I again took a boat tour in Kenai Fjords and about 25% of the passengers were sea sick- rough seas. BUT- precautions were clearly recommended and I'm sure it was a very LONG and ENDLESS day for them, but bottom line- if prone to seasickness- take precautions on this tour. Request each city's visitor guide, head to your library and take out Alaska travel books including THE MILEPOST, don't under estimate distances and allow enough time.

[42trvl]

That is why we purposefully left out Denali on this, our first trip, to Alaska. We were more interested in exploring a few areas, getting familiar with, and definitely returning to Alaska. Even with 6 days, we felt we could have used more time, and we met up with other family on the cruise that did cover more ground, but also spent a heck of a lot more time driving than I would think preferable. I guess it's a personal thing, but it's a great state to explore and enjoy without driving yourself crazy. No matter where you go there are interesting/pretty things to see and do, so we did not feel that we had to see it all on one trip. I would also not want to have done Seward in one day, even though it is possible. Aside from the boat ride, which is 6 hours, we enjoyed hiking around Exit Glacier, visiting Seavey's Dog Sled camp (this one had no snow, but fun and informative nonetheless) and the Alaska SeaLife Center. We took the Celebrity Summit southbound out of Seward. In our experience, while we saw some marine wildlife from our cruise ship, it was very different seeing them from a small boat on our "day" boat rides. With the smaller boat, slower pace and captain and/or naturalist, it is a very different experience. Of course, with limited time, you need to decide with your family what your priorities are and choose your options accordingly. No matter what, you'll have a great experience though and planning is half the fun!:) (at least for me...)

[SunnyCal]

Thank you all for the advice. I was able to figure out the search feature and read the reviews from 42trvl. We also are spending 2 days in Vancouver post cruise. I was glad to hear you liked it. We will choose to go either the direction of Denali, or Seward, or a third location I haven't thought of yet. We know more than that is not feasible with our limited time. We were leaning towards taking the train to Seward, but the Whittier departure does complicate things. I want to minimize the number of different hotels and driving all over. My goal is to pick one area, explore it for a couple of days, then head for the cruise-a very brief introduction to Alaska, but better than nothing. Any additional comments will be appreciated.

 

I also had in mind the Coastal Bike Trail in Anchorage. Is it worthwhile?

[Budget Queen]

Yes the Coastal trail is worthwhile- 11 miles one way.

[mak49]

Just a comment on taking the shuttle buses in Denali. We recently had 2 days in Denali, with the 2nd day doing the scheduled Tundra Tour. Because wildlife was a priority, we did the 11 hour shuttle tour to Wonder Lake on the first day. Yes, it was alot of bus travel......and the Tundra tour was a "repeat of the first section of road. BUT, we had a great great driver, Gloria, with the shuttle service, she drove slower then the Tundra Tour did, we saw so much more, and I felt I saw so much more of Denali. In fact she gave us more commentary then the tour. We packed in preparation for mosquitoes and found out we didn't need anything. It was a wonderful day, and Wonder Lake is beautiful. We did the 7 day northbound cruise, with a 7 day land tour. We would not do an organized land portion again. We found we are just too independent for the structure. But, we are definitely coming back to Alaska. Enjoy your trip.