Princess cruisetour question...

[DHndrsn]

We are leaving Saturday for our first cruisetour, and I have a question about the land portion. It sounds as though you are very restricted for train/bus carry-ons. We each have a backpack for photo equipment. If we bring our laptop, what would we do with it for this portion of the trip. I wouldn't want to pack it away in our luggage, but it doesn't sound like we'd have a choice. Does anyone have experience with this? Any info would be helpful.

 

Thanks,

Debbie

[caa]

We just got back from the Princess Arctic Explorer tour on Monday.

 

If you are on the train, the domed windows go overhead, so the only luggage storage is under your seat. On the buses, there is overhead space, but it's much smaller than an airplane has. We each had a day pack and they worked great for us.

 

We did not carry a laptop along, just brought a lot of memory cards for the cameras. If we'd had one, I would have felt safe putting it in our rolling luggage as long as it was well padded with clothing. I wouldn't put it in a soft sided duffel bag though.

[DHndrsn]

caa, thanks for your help. I do believe packing in the luggage might just be the way to go. Hope you had a wonderful trip!

 

Debbie

[taszmom]

We did the 5 day tour / 7 day cruise Southbound starting in Fairbanks. We did the rail car the whole way to Whittier before embarking on the ship. You can bring your laptop, there is storage under the seat, on the seat or on the table if you really want to carry it with you. I will tell you, there is no cell or wireless service in these remote areas so you might just want to pack it. they will put it in the luggage hold on the train or bus.

 

You will get 2 types of luggage tags : TAKE WITH ME which will travel on the train or bus with you and MEET ME ON THE SHIP which goes direct to the ship and you won't see until you get to your stateroom on the ship.

 

Enjoy....you're gonna love it. Bring binoculars!

[sbflcruiser]

I carried my laptop in a backpack for our recent trip and put under the seat when on the train. I did pull out my laptop and used this time to transfer pictures from their disk to a portable hard drive I took for extra back up. I had my camera out on the table during the train most of the trip anyway. My travel with me bag was not handled so gentle, I am not sure if it was on the bottom of the pile and all the weight was on top, but we had some prescription bottles inside the suitcase, when we got to our room and opened the luggage, everything had been crushed on the inside, including the plastic bottles, I had extra ziplock baggies, so I put the bottles and their contents inside. But I was really glad anything liquid was already inside ziplock baggies and only a small amount had leaked out. But had I had anything electric in that bag it would have been ruined.

 

Just my experience....:o

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I too carried my laptop with me the entire cruise tour. It was not a problem. Will it fit IN the backpack? Mine has a special laptop section.

 

My laptop was stuffed pretty full and it was never a problem.

[Stellaglide]

We just got back from the Princess Arctic Explorer tour on Monday.

 

 

cca,

 

We did the Arctic Explorer May 23rd. How did you like it? How many were on the actual tour to Prudhoe, we only had 19 on our trip plus Tyler, our driver/guide. Who was your driver to Prudhoe? Did you meet Jack R. in Wiseman? How did you like the trip?

[caa]

cca,

 

We did the Arctic Explorer May 23rd. How did you like it? How many were on the actual tour to Prudhoe, we only had 19 on our trip plus Tyler, our driver/guide. Who was your driver to Prudhoe? Did you meet Jack R. in Wiseman? How did you like the trip?

 

Hi Stella -- I remember seeing your posts about this tour back when we were both booking in December. Hope you had a good trip! Ours was fantastic too.

 

We went to Prudhoe Bay with our driver Danny and a group of 26. It was a nice group of people, all of whom enjoyed getting off the beaten track a little. I loved seeing how the land changed as we went north. That part of Alaska is so different from the southern part of the state and we enjoyed the scenery and endless open space.

 

Being there for the solstice was really something. No matter what time I woke up during the night, I could see brightness around the edge of the curtains and had to look at the clock to see that it was really 2:30 AM.

 

And the people were great. Everyone we met along the way was friendly and welcoming and fun to talk to. One of the summer staff at Coldfoot had actually spent the previous year working in our town, so we had a "small world" moment there.

 

The only disappointment was a lack of wildlife sightings on the road north. We saw a moose around the Inn at Coldfoot, a fox when we stopped for lunch on the second day, and a few caribou as we came into Deadhorse. I would have liked to see a musk ox, and I thought wildlife would just be more abundant all along the road. Obviously nobody can predict where the animals will be on any given day, so it was just the luck of the draw, and the great animal viewing days we had before and after certainly made up for it.

 

We did not go to Wiseman. We stayed the night in Coldfoot, but didn't do any excursions from there.

 

We're recording the "Ice Road Truckers" marathon on Discovery Channel this Sunday so we can see what the road is like in the winter. We heard so much about the show having been filmed up there, that we figured we should see it.

[Stellaglide]

Glad you enjoyed it. We had a great time as well!