Newbie question

[coffee39]

We have booked a cruise/tour with Sapphire Princess. We will be doing a landtour and then taking the train from Denali to Whittier to board the ship. Can anyone tell me approximately what time we would get to Whittier? I believe the ship sails at 9:00 p.m. but would like to know what time we would actually get to the ship.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Budget Queen]

This is a 10 hour train ride. Will probably arrive late afternoon/evening.

 

As only a suggestion. Be certain you understand fully what you have purchased in your cruisetour, most do not.

[Beaniemom59]

This is a 10 hour train ride. Will probably arrive late afternoon/evening.

 

As only a suggestion. Be certain you understand fully what you have purchased in your cruisetour, most do not.

 

What kind of things are not usually included in the cruisetours? We are booked on a Celebrity Cruisetour (Fairbanks-Denali-Talkeetna-Seward). I understand that there are no meals included and that it includes the train from Fairbanks to Denali, El Dorado Gold Mine, Discovery Sternwheeler, Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour, and buss transportation from Denali to Talkeetna to Anchorage to Seward. Is there anything specific that we should be watching for? By the way, we live 120 miles north of Syracuse and are in and out of Syracuse frequently for work and visiting relatives in the area. Hope the blizzards don't hit you too hard this February!

 

Thank you for your help.

[Budget Queen]

Budget 50% more for meals then you would at home. My general comment was for review of the entire tour. Most people don't know the significant amount of time involved in the transit, and little time at destinations on some tours. More time has to be considered for waiting, loading/unloading, which unfortunately adds up significantly on cruisetours. I've seen people out standing by the tracks in Talkeetna over an hour before the train arrives. My point is to make the best use of your time, some cruisetours clearly do not.

 

I strongly advise you to get into Fairbanks, at least a day early and rent a car. You see little otherwise, and there is plenty to see and do there.

 

Only speculating, but I also would definately dump the cruisetour the last day in Anchorage, and get on the train and get into Seward at a decent hour so to enjoy some of their spectacular activies. The cruisetours, leave too early to enjoy Anchorage and too late for anything in Seward. You might want to take advantage of being there, rather than missing out on a great opportunity that is available to you.

[greatam]

What kind of things are not usually included in the cruisetours? We are booked on a Celebrity Cruisetour (Fairbanks-Denali-Talkeetna-Seward). I understand that there are no meals included and that it includes the train from Fairbanks to Denali, El Dorado Gold Mine, Discovery Sternwheeler, Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour, and buss transportation from Denali to Talkeetna to Anchorage to Seward. Is there anything specific that we should be watching for? By the way, we live 120 miles north of Syracuse and are in and out of Syracuse frequently for work and visiting relatives in the area. Hope the blizzards don't hit you too hard this February!

 

Thank you for your help.

 

It is not a matter of what is NOT included. It is what you miss. Most of the cruise tours spend an inordinate amount of time in transport/organization/checking in-out of hotels. You waste a LOT of valuable sightseeing time waiting for everyone to load, unload, get rooms, listen to the guides giving instructions, etc. etc.

 

Just as an example: I spend a lot of time for business in Alaska. But I had never done the Portgage Glacier cruise/visitors center. So two summers ago, I booked the cruise (they had a buy 1 get 1 free coupon on GrayLine). FIL was with us. Just when we got to the visitor's center there, the HAL bus showed up.

 

We had plenty of time to see what we wanted WITHOUT the HAL bus. But once the bus got there, every exhibit, every bathroom was full of HAL customers. So we decided we would come back to the visitor's center AFTER the little cruise. We got on board the boat and waited and waited and waited. The HAL bus finally showed up and everyone FINALLY got on board. About 30 minutes total PAST the boarding time. We got a VERY shortened Portage Glacier cruise. We missed a lot and so did the HAL passengers. Bad timing on our part, but this is an example of how much you can miss just because the tour guide is trying to "herd" 50 people who don't want to be "herded". There is ALWAYS someone who can't make it to the bus on time. So you loose some of YOUR very valuable sightseeing time waiting for someone to finish shopping in the gift shop (or putting on new makeup)

 

You generally will get a lot more out of your time in Alaska renting a car, booking your hotel rooms, booking the train if that is what you want, and doing it on your own. Cruise tours just CANNOT stop every place or you would NOT get anyplace. And they must ALWAYS wait for the dwaddlers.

[Chat Noir]

It is not a matter of what is NOT included. It is what you miss.

 

There is ALWAYS someone who can't make it to the bus on time. So you loose some of YOUR very valuable sightseeing time waiting for someone to finish shopping in the gift shop (or putting on new makeup)

 

Cruise tours just CANNOT stop every place or you would NOT get anyplace. And they must ALWAYS wait for the dwaddlers.

 

Very well put, and precisely the reason we rethought our land trip and chose to RV.

 

I'm certain some folks are happy with their cruisetours... for us, at this point in our lives, independent is wonderful!

[Great Sky Girl]

We have booked a cruise/tour with Sapphire Princess. We will be doing a landtour and then taking the train from Denali to Whittier to board the ship. Can anyone tell me approximately what time we would get to Whittier? I believe the ship sails at 9:00 p.m. but would like to know what time we would actually get to the ship.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I guess you can never tell exactly when you will get to Whittier. There wasn't enough time to do anything but board the ship from the train. We did this tour on the Diamond Princess last year. Our train trip was supposed to be 9 hours, but turned into 11 hours. The train slows down for wildlife sitings (we had many, including several grizzly sitings, moose, and much more...very exciting):) and also will stop for Alaska residents to board. I had exteme motion sickness after the 1st hour. The staff told me the tracks had not fully thawed and that made the train rock. I never knew a train could rock that much, the buxom passenger sitting across the table from us was a site to behold!! Enough said. I spent a lot of time in the lower car and the dramamine the crew got me helped a lot, but I could not eat. We arrived at the ship after 7:30 and I had had nothing since 6 am. Bummer! :( However, another tour group was delayed and we did not set sail on time. I think it was close to 10:30 pm.