Alaska - HELP

[snuzzo]

Hey everyone. We are planning an Alaskan CruiseTour vacation for September 2004. This is a once in a lifetime (well, for now) opportunity and we want to do it right, however, we still have to watch the cost. We have checked Princess and RCCL and each one of them has it's pros and cons.

RCCL - We can get a balcony on Level 9 and hit more ports (which is what we want to do) than Princess for about $500 less than them. However, they use the motorcoach instead of the train for the land portion.......which we would prefer to use the train. I've only been able to see one picture of a lodge and it's beautiful....but I'm not sure about the other lodging yet.

Princess - It will cost more for a standard outside room, highest floor is 4, they stop at less ports, but they use the Midnight Sun express train and you stay at the Princess Lodges.

I was thinking about planning the land portion myself. But I was worried about getting from the airport to the hotel, to the sightseeing expeditions, to the train and then from Anchorage to either Whitter (Princess port) or Seward (RCCL port)....depending on which we used, and so on......you get my dilemma. The train from Fairbanks to Anchorage is $225 per person. I figured with the train and lodgeing we would come in way under what the cost of a Cruisetour is compared to the Cruise only. But I don't want to get lost or have a terrible time....especially my family.

Does anyone have ANY suggestions at all? Any help is greatly appreciated. You can always e-mail me at my address listed.

Thank you,

Sue

 

[BarbaraK]

On our first crusie to Alaska in 1999 we took a 3 day land trip after the cruise on our own. We hired a SUV in Anchorage and drove out to Denali. We stayed at lodge on the outskirts and the one close to Denali park.
We saved a LOT of money by doing this compared to booking with the cruisline.

On another trip we took the train from Anchorage to Seward to board our ship. We booked that online also, it was a wonderful train ride which took about 2 to 3 hours.
http://www.akrr.com/passenger/seward.html

We also booked to stay in the Windsong lodge in Seward for the night prior to our cruise and they provided transport to the train station also.
http://www.sewardwindsong.com/

I hope this helps you a little.

 

[chirk]

Hi,
I'm curious what you ended up doing and what your recommendations would be for following your footsteps.

Thanks!

 

[AlaskaLivin]

Hi Sue,

Just a note to let you know I live in Alaska if you have any questions. Feel free to e-mail me at corky@1anchorsaway.com. The train runs along the road, so the scenery is the same either way. The train is 8 hrs and road is 5 hrs. I have my own thoughts on what you should consider, but everyone likes different things. I just find that the train is long and not flexible. E-mail me if you would like some other ideas. I htink there are much better cruise-tour combinations out there.

Plus I don't see you stopping in Talkeetna which is a must do. I also see you talking about how great the lodges are, but here in the summer, the lines are "long" to deal with. I suggest considering log cabin chalets along the way. Very Alaskana feel and no crowds. Anyway, feel free to e-mail with questions.

 

[shookdm]

We've booked on Carnival for 28 Aug cruisetour, through cruisesonly.com. Main reasons we choose Carnival is I wanted to go to Sitka, for the Russian history. Gave up Glacier Bay for that, but I've seen many glaciers before. They also offer the 2 nights in Denali. Ended up with an aft balcony cabin, since most in our price range were gone (port side, anyway). We wanted a balcony, and not just a window, and Carnival's balconies are often around the same price as Princess or RCL's Ocean Views - at least in my research. If you get an ocean view or balcony, get port side for southbound trip and starboard for north bound.

Additionally, we liked the interior pictures of the ship, and both of us enjoyed Carnival cruises before. We found that we hated freestyle cruising on Norwegian, since on our ship, everyone wanted to eat at the same time, resulting in 40 min waits for tables. Also thought the service suffered since they put all tips into a central fund, rather than having passengers tip each person individually. Practically never saw our cabin steward on Norwegian. Can't coment on Holland or Princess - haven't done those yet.

Having grown up in Alaska (6 years), I personally wouldn't miss McKinley (sorry, Denali now). But take binoculars and long distance lens for your camera. You may or may not see the mountain, since it makes it's own weather and seems to like hiding behind clouds most days.

 

[cruisegary]

I surely would read lots of reviews/ trip reports.

On the way TO the cruise, go at least a day early to avoid any glitches.

Getting from airports to hotels is usually never a problem. bigger hotels have shuttles. smaller ones you can taxi to? Depends on the city. Many tour excurisions will pick you up. they know you do not have a car


Good luck.

 

[joeysmom]

I too debated planning the land portion myself - this was after I had booked a cruisetour with RCL. (5 days land, 7 days ship). I considered renting a car, using Princess train and lodges, and buses. Also have a toursaver coupon book with many 2 for 1s including transfers and hotels. Bottom line was the price was very similar - a bit more with the cruisetour but not enough to make me to all the planning myself. When I considered the convience of having someone else tote my luggage and getting me from point A to point B tthe cruisetour won out - at least for this time. I think for a 2nd or 3rd trip I'd do alot more of the planning myself but for this 1st time, the cruisetour was a better deal in my case.
Sue

 

[Ham]

We are booked on the Diamond Princess for early August. Although we have traveled overseas often, this is our first cruise, one that my wife has always wanted.
I am unsure of the Personal Choice dining .. does this mean you may optionally dine in either the main dining or the other resturants .. or .. selection must be made .. main dining OR other resturants?

Will be watching for other general comments on the DIAMOND PRINCESS cruises.

 

[Salgal]

I just read you offer to help and suggest ideas for those of us traveling your direction........so I will take you up on it and ask you for your thoughts on several things.

We are traveling (7 of us) to Anchorage the end of July prior to going on a cruise. We will have 3 days to explore prior to our cruise. We considered going to the Denali area but question whether we should spend the time getting there or explore other areas a bit closer. I have read alot about Talkeetna which looks very interesting to me. We will have 3 children with us, so I want to be sure not to bore them with a tonof driving (that was my concern about going to the Denali area) Thoughts about the Talkeetna area? Places to stay and dine and activities to pursure.? We will not be hiking (my mother in law wll be with us) however she is up for some adventure....possibly rafting or other thoughts??? Being so "close" to Denali, are we overlooking anything if we don't go there? I appreciate your thoughts.