Alaska Cruisetour Advice

[Embracedbylife]

I would choose princess with the 7 nights and 4 nights cruisetour. The ship tours are by far more interesting in my opinion than the land portion.

[Budget Queen]

I would choose princess with the 7 nights and 4 nights cruisetour. The ship tours are by far more interesting in my opinion than the land portion.

 

I disagree, 4 days is too short. Most all of it is in transit. You are far better off with a 7 day add on.

[Budget Queen]

This is the same cruisetour I'm booked for in September. What excursions did you take? I've already booked Juneau & Ketchikan, but would be interested in what you liked. I've already changed the NHT to the TWT in Denali due to comments on these boards. This tour is more expensive, but Kenai looks like it's worth the extra.

Thanks, Diane

 

You may want to find out what the Kenai Princess shuttle bus runs are, and get yourself there timely to enjoy full days. It is an hour shuttle each way, and if they run late, you can do my top tour recommendation- a Kenai Fjords boat tour, leaving 11:30am returning 5:30pm. Do NOT consider anything shorter, you need at least 6 hours on the water. There is little at the lodge, unless you are interested in fishing and going in season.

[momstime]

This is the same cruisetour I'm booked for in September. What excursions did you take? I've already booked Juneau & Ketchikan, but would be interested in what you liked. I've already changed the NHT to the TWT in Denali due to comments on these boards. This tour is more expensive, but Kenai looks like it's worth the extra.

Thanks, Diane

 

We took the riverboat and the gold mine tours in Fairbanks that were part of the cruise tour. We did the riverboat first and toured a native village exibit, then in the afternoon went to the gold mine and panned for gold. These were great excursions to do once. We stuck around the lodge the rest of the time, great trails, a dock on the river, and some exibits to look at. Next door was a hydoponic greenhouse which we visited.

 

We took the train to Denali (did not have breakfast on the train). At Denali we took the shortest tour (school bus--not tour bus) into the park. It was beautiful but we only saw a snowshoe hare and some birds (and someone saw a moose through a telescope!). We also had heard that the tours that go further in are better, but we were happy with the shorter tour. We never saw the mountain as it was clouded over the whole time. Also on the tour was a very interesting speaker who told about his life as a native alaskan. We did go to the dinner theatre and had a great time. We also visited a few of the shops accross the street from the lodge (bought Harley tee shirts).

 

We took the train to Talkeetna (which we did not stay and tour). We had reindeer chili on the train. It was very tasty. At McKinley Lodge we saw the northern lights light symphony. It was older and could have used some clean-up on the presentation but there were some beautiful pictures of the Northern Lights and it was not very expensive (we thought it was worth it).

 

We did not stay at Anchorage but stopped there for lunch on the bus trip from McKinley to Kenai Princess Lodge. The day we were in Kenai we took the excursion out of Seward to the Kenai Fjords park. We saw many, many whales and other wildlife. I highly recommend this excursion. The Kenai Lodge was by far the most beautiful. We are going back this year because I enjoyed it so much.

 

In Skagway we did the suspension bridge and salmon bake in Liarsville. I am afraid of heights, but walked the bridge! The salmon bake was delicious. I live in gold country, so I was not so interested in the gold history and brothels. This year we will check out the White Pass train ride.

 

In Juneau we did the combo tour of Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier. We saw many humpback whales up close on this excursion too! I was also glad that we saw the Mendenhall Glacier which is retreating and had retreated quite a bit since my sister had seen it several years ago. We did not have time to see much of the port/town on this day and we sailed out at 4:00 pm (a somewhat short port day).

 

In Ketchikan we did the Misty Fjords boat trip (we wondered why it was billed as the fastest sightseeing boat!?) Misty Fjords is a ways away from Ketchikan and this is purely sight-seeing/landscapes, we saw very little wildlife as we were zipping to and from the Misty Fjords. Which are definately beautiful--but this is not a wildlife viewing excursion!

 

Overall, even with the excursions, we had time to shop in Skagway and walk the town, no time to see port in Juneau, and a little time in Ketchikan. I understand that we could save money just getting a cab or a city bus and checking out the sights that way. The excursions that we chose tended to focus on wildlife/scenery rather than history and we were not disappointed. We did actually end up seeing a moose at the side of the highway one of the days that we were going to or from a lodge on a bus. We saw some sheep/goats far away on the mountains and we saw lots of eagles! I was most thrilled with the humpback whales and other sea mammels in Kenai and Juneau.

 

We also booked an excursion as we got off the ship in Vancouver and saw Capilano Canyon (fish hatchery and rainforest) and Stanley Park (totem pole exibits). As we spent the night in Vancouver we had time to visit the aquarium and explore Stanley Park on the free trolley. We are looking forward to seeing more of Vancouver this year.

[sayhello]

Last year my sister and I took the Princess cruise tour that started in Fairbanks (2 nights) then by train to Denali (1 night), then train to McKinley (1 night), then bus to Kenai Princess Lodge (2 nights); then cruising from Whittier to Vancouver (7 nights). .

momstime, I took the exact same cruisetour in 2006, and absolutely adored it! I agree, the Princess Kenai Lodge was the best, and absolutely fabulous.

 

Sayhello

[christee52]

I booked with Princess for a cruise tour in May. It did come highly recommended both on this board and others I have spoken with. It was strongly recommended that we do the tour first then cruise. This way you are not packing and unpacking at the end of the trip. Princess has a great offer right now where you stay 1 night in Seattle, then fly from Seattle to Anchorage, 2 nights at Denali and 2 nights at Mckinley Princess lodge, a nature tour at Denali (you can see about upgrading to the Tundra Wilderness Tour) This is recommended by many on these boards, as is taking just a shuttle at Denali national Park. The cruise is 7 days, ending in Vancouver. They will then shuttle you back to Seattle to catch your flight home. I am looking forward to this trip, first time to Alaska and first time with Princess.[/quote

 

:) We are going on the same trip but in August. There will be 3 couples. We are all so excited. We already upgraded to the TWT and have our Harv and Marv excursions booked and the Bering Sea Crab excursion. We rented a car in Skagway and will do our own sightseeing tour. Have not booked anything yet at McKinley but definitely thinking seriously about a flight over the mountain and a landing. So much to think about and then there is the packing!! We just want to have a great time! We are all in our 50s and 60s and we are all looking forward to this trip together.