The Best Vacation Ever......Alaska 6/6/09 - 6/20/09

[BACON227]

My wife and I have recently returned from the trip of a lifetime to Alaska. Our trip was 14 wonderful days in Alaska on Princess Cruise’s Copper River Explorer Tour. We flew into Fairbanks on June 6th, which was one day earlier than the official start of our cruise tour. I highly recommend arriving a day early, especially if you have to recover from a long day of traveling. We flew to Fairbanks from Miami, so that extra day to sleep in a little bit was much needed. We stayed three nights at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. The lodge is beautiful and is very nicely situated on the Chena River. The food in the restaurants was good (especially the blueberry pancakes), but the service was hit and miss. We rented a car on our arrival so that we could do some exploring before all of our Princess excursions started. We drove to North Pole, Alaska and visited the Santa Claus House. This is definitely worth the trip and is an interesting place to visit. All of the street lights look like candy canes and even the famous McDonald’s golden arches are decorated like candy canes. We also drove into downtown and visited the Yukon Quest building and Pioneer Park, both were nice stops. Our official cruisetour started with a visit to the El Dorado Gold Mine and the Discovery Riverboat Cruise. Both of these excursions were a lot of fun with lots of beautiful scenery. Overall, our stay in Fairbanks was very nice and we would definitely visit again.

From Fairbanks we boarded the Princess railcars on the Alaska railroad for our trip to Denali National Park. The train ride was absolutely beautiful, definitely have your cameras ready and don’t miss out on the exterior observation areas. We ate breakfast on the train, the food was good and we considered the price reasonable considering they were the only option. In Denali, we stayed two nights at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. The lodge is breathtaking, especially the outside seating that overlooks the river and snow capped mountains. Our dining experiences here were great both in terms of the food and service. One thing that I found interesting that I never heard mentioned on these boards is the fact there are two sections to the lodge. There is the original lodge and two new buildings that are a short walk from the main lodge. If you don’t mind the short walk, the newer buildings are much nicer than the original section of the lodge. Our room was in the newer buildings and had a great view of the river and mountains right from our window. The two highlights of our stay in Denali were the Tundra Wilderness Tour and a McKinley Summit Flight. In my opinion, you can’t go to Denali and not do the TWT. We saw so many grizzly bears we stopped counting. We also saw moose, bald eagles and several herds of caribou. The highlight of the tour was at our turnaround point where we were treated to a totally unobstructed view of Mt. McKinley. Denali in one word is awesome, two days was not long enough and we look forward to going back one day.

From Denali we took the Princess Coach to Copper River. This was a long travel day with a one hundred mile plus drive across the gravel coated Denali Highway. I actually dreaded this day, but all in all it was a very scenic drive and we saw lots of wildlife along the way. If I can suggest one thing here, grab yourself a Subway sandwich (located right across the street form the Denali Wilderness Lodge) for the trip. If not, your only option with be a stop which looks like someone’s home where your only option will be homemade bread and soup. Don’t get me wrong, since it was homemade the bread and soup was delicious, but the bill was almost twenty dollars……..I guess you can do that when you are the only gig in town. We finally made it to the Princess Copper River Lodge where we spent two nights. The lodge is very small compared to Fairbanks and Denali, but is very nice. Our meals and service here was excellent. To put it quite frankly, there is absolutely nothing to do in Copper River. We actually did not mind the fact there was nothing to do; we used our one full day in Copper River to relax after a very busy landtour and get ready to begin the cruise portion of our trip.

From the Copper River Lodge, we road the Princess coach to Valdez where we boarded a catamaran for our trip through Prince William Sound and our eventual arrival at the Diamond Princess in Whittier on June 13th. Prior to us boarding the Diamond, we took a glacier excursion which we booked independent of Princess. I highly recommend this; it was definitely a highlight of the trip. We were so close to the glaciers, the boat would rock when the huge pieces of glacier would calve into the ocean. We also saw lots of sea otters and sea lions, the excursion also included lunch in case you’re worried about missing out on your first visit to the Horizon court. We eventually boarded the ship at around 6pm. Embarkation was very smooth and we were onboard within about twenty minutes.

I don’t want to spend much time on this because most have probably experienced a Princess cruise ship, but the ship itself is beautiful. The ship is set up in the same exact way as all of the modern Princess ships. The crew was super friendly, the food was delicious and the service in all areas was outstanding. We had a naturalist on board named Sandy who was super friendly and always so eager to help you spot wildlife.

Our first destination on the cruise was College Fjord. College Fjord is beautiful, but we got a much closer view of it on the independent excursion we took prior to boarding the cruise. Glacier Bay National Park was the next scenic cruising area. Get up early for this one and go to the front of the ship on deck 7, this is a great area to spot whales. Prior to entering Glacier Bay you sail through an area named Icy Strait, humpback whales were everywhere. We actually saw two whales completely breach which was an amazing site. Glacier Bay is amazing, put on your winter gear, get your cameras and enjoy the views from deck 7.

Our first port of call was Skagway. In Skagway, we road the Whitepass/Yukon Rail to the Frasier stop and took a bus excursion to Carcross which is in Canada. The train ride was beautiful, but we probably didn’t get the full experience. The weather was not so good, it was very foggy with low clouds that obstructed what I’m sure were incredible sites. If I had to do it again, I would probably just stick with the train ride, the bus trip into the Canadian Yukon was nothing to write home about.

Our second port of call was Juneau. Here we had an extremely busy day which included a helicopter flighseeing tour with a glacier landing and dog sledding. After dog sledding, we squeezed in a whale watching trip and then quickly returned to the ship for sailaway. Our day in Juneau was extremely organized and booked independent of the cruiseline. Let me just say, the helicopter flightseeing with the glacier landing and dog sledding is a must do and was by far the highlight of our entire Alaska adventure. Being on the glacier was incredible and to make it even better, dogsledding, worth every penny, priceless!!!!!!!!

Our third port of call was Ketchikan. In Ketchikan, we took a boat trip to the Misty Fjords National Monument. Misty Fjords is beautiful, but after all of the sites we had seen throughout our trip this ranked pretty low. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, but after you’ve flown to the summit of Mt. McKinley, road the Princess rail to Denali, done the Tundra Wilderness Tour, the White Pass/Yukon Rail and boarded a helicopter to land on a glacier and go dogsledding………this doesn’t compare. If this would have been our first stop instead of our last I would have been more impressed. The one unexpected highlight of this excursion was bumping into a pod of killer whales, that was awesome!!!!!!!

While taking the long flight home to Miami from Vancouver I reflected on our 14 days in Alaska. I really think that everybody should experience Alaska at least once in their lifetime. It is truly an amazing place full of beautiful scenery and wildlife. I often found myself wondering how someplace so amazing actually existed. As I’m typing this review, I’m getting goose bumps reflecting on our amazing moments in Alaska, no trip we have ever taken has had such an effect on me. I hope that one day we can return to Alaska and once again experience nature at its finest. For those who still have their visit to Alaska ahead of them treasure every minute of it, take full advantage of the Land of the Midnight Sun, get out there and do things you never thought you would ever do, be adventurous and you will be rewarded like we were with memories that will give you goose bumps when you return home.

If anybody has questions, ask away and I will answer………………

[andynapril]

Sounds like you had an amazing time. I can't wait for my trip. My question is where did you book the Glacier helicopter & dog sledding? Was it through the cruise line or independent? What company? Were they one tour or two separate? Thanks! :)

 

April

[BACON227]

Sounds like you had an amazing time. I can't wait for my trip. My question is where did you book the Glacier helicopter & dog sledding? Was it through the cruise line or independent? What company? Were they one tour or two separate? Thanks! :)

 

April

 

 

We booked independent with Coastal Helicopters. It is all one tour, about a 20 minute flight to the dog camp, about an hour on the glacier sledding then the 20 minute flight back. It was truly outstanding. Orca Enterprises actually organized the whole thing for us because we wanted to squeeze in the whale watch, everything went like clockwork, I was very impressed.

[lsane2]

Thanks for your report! We're doing almost the same thing in 3 weeks. We're staying 3 nights in Fairbanks (arriving a day early) and 2 nights in Denali, also doing the TWT, but then go by train straight to Whittier to board the Sapphire.

 

How long did you need in North Pole? I haven't heard much about it, but DD7 would absolutely love that! Our cruisetour doesn't have the gold mine tour, so we were planning on doing that on our first day rather than the next day after the riverboat tour. Panning for gold is something she definitely wants to do!

 

How soon before your cruisetour did you find out which hotel in Fairbanks you were staying in?

[moosenaroundtheship]

Great report. Thank you. When you say to get up early to View Glacier Bay...how early did you get up?

[BACON227]

Thanks for your report! We're doing almost the same thing in 3 weeks. We're staying 3 nights in Fairbanks (arriving a day early) and 2 nights in Denali, also doing the TWT, but then go by train straight to Whittier to board the Sapphire.

 

How long did you need in North Pole? I haven't heard much about it, but DD7 would absolutely love that! Our cruisetour doesn't have the gold mine tour, so we were planning on doing that on our first day rather than the next day after the riverboat tour. Panning for gold is something she definitely wants to do!

 

How soon before your cruisetour did you find out which hotel in Fairbanks you were staying in?

 

It took about an hour to see the entire Santa Clause House and drive around the area.

 

We received our Fairbanks hotel assignment about 3 weeks before our departure. We booked the extra night on our own at the Princess Riverside Lodge and made a couple phone calls so they could see that we were also on a cruisetour that began in Fairbanks, I don't know if that helped us get Riverside or not.

[BACON227]

Great report. Thank you. When you say to get up early to View Glacier Bay...how early did you get up?

 

 

We didn't get to Glacier Bay until about 10am, but prior to arriving in Glacier Bay you go through the area I mentioned called Icy Strait. We were there at about 730am. There is no doubt you will see whales there. The humpbacks were everywhere. Like I said go to deck 7 all the way forward, it's the best place to see everything. Even if you have a balcony which we did, the viewing is even better from this area.

 

You will go through Icy Strait again on the way out of Glacier Bay, which is around 8pm, but you might not have the same oppurtunity as in the morning depending on your dining schedule.

[plenox]

excellent review. thanks for sharing the story

[Travel_Maven]

What Princess Ship were you on?

[Alan64]

Thanks for the great report.

[BACON227]

What Princess Ship were you on?

 

 

The Diamond..........

[themerle]

Thanks for sharing your review!

[TarheelGal]

Who did you book your helicopter flightseeing/dog sleeding in Juneau with?

[Sanpan]

Thanks for sharing. I was conflicted about whether to do the Misty Fyord tour by boat or just enjoy the city of Ketchikan. I think we can do both. Thanks again. Visiting AK early September.:)