Luggage Storage-anchorage

I have booked a trip to Alaska in 2007 on the Coral Princess SB and wanted to do a pre-cruise land tour. We have 6-7 days for this. My original idea was to fly into Anchorage, rent a car & drive to Seward for 2 days, then drive back to Anchorage and hook up with the Princess cruisetour to Denali. Then take the Princess train to Whittier to board the ship.

I have, after reading these Boards for quite some time, just about decided to cancel the Princess land portion and do the land tour on my own, not only for more freedom, but to save money.

I have three MAJOR questions before I do this (I know I will have a lot of additional questions later but I have time!).

1st - we will be 4 people traveling together. I know we will probably have 2 suitcases each (1 with dressier stuff for the cruise and 1 with more casual attire for the land portion). I don't really want to spend money renting a huge SUV just to tote our luggage around. Can someone tell me if there is somewhere to leave some of our luggage in Anchorage? Will a hotel keep it for a several days?

2nd - if we do Denali 1st, which seems to make sense to me, would it be cheaper to go back to Anchorage, drop off our rental car, then take the train to Seward? I've heard the train ride to Seward is gorgeous and I like this idea. But would it be easier to drive from Denali to Seward to Whittier and drop our car off there? It seems the 1-way rental car would be expensive but may be more convenient.

3rd - if we take the train to Seward, what is the cheapest way for 4 people to get from Seward to Whittier? From what I've seen on the Boards, there doesn't seem to be a very cost-effective way to do this.

Thanks for your insights!

Although, many people do not, I do advocate packing light. Consider doing some laundry, greatly cuts down on bulk. You don't really need a lot of "dressy stuff" and not a suitcase full. Perhaps consider some mix and match attire? Again doing or having laundry done is your best bet in my opinion. Some hotels will store bags for extended time, perhaps place a post for that specific information if this is your preference.

With your timeframe, you have several options. You could head north to Anchorage, 2 nights at Denali Park, a night in Anchorage, then 2 each in Homer and Seward. I would suggest a one way rental car Anchorage/Whittier, with either Harley's or Avis. Harley's most likely would be your cheaper option. This routing has no time consuming back tracking. http://www.harleysrentalaska.com/ and offers the utmost freedom.

If you take the train to Seward, definately plenty to keep you occupied. Could add Fairbanks, or Talkeetna with an extra day in Anchorage. There are shuttles available direct to Whittier- again making the best use of time and eliminating back tracking. listings- http://www.sewardak.org

I suggest you may want to head to your library and take out Alaska travel books, Frommer's Alaska and Fodor's Alaska are especially concise. Figure out your area interests, then do your best routing and fill in the time/activies/lodging.

You have plenty of accurate help on this board for your planning if you need any. You have the potential for a fantastic trip!!!

Although, many people do not, I do advocate packing light. Consider doing some laundry, greatly cuts down on bulk. You don't really need a lot of "dressy stuff" and not a suitcase full. Perhaps consider some mix and match attire? Again doing or having laundry done is your best bet in my opinion. Some hotels will store bags for extended time, perhaps place a post for that specific information if this is your preference.

 

With your timeframe, you have several options. You could head north to Anchorage, 2 nights at Denali Park, a night in Anchorage, then 2 each in Homer and Seward. I would suggest a one way rental car Anchorage/Whittier, with either Harley's or Avis. Harley's most likely would be your cheaper option. This routing has no time consuming back tracking. http://www.harleysrentalaska.com/ and offers the utmost freedom.

 

If you take the train to Seward, definately plenty to keep you occupied. Could add Fairbanks, or Talkeetna with an extra day in Anchorage. There are shuttles available direct to Whittier- again making the best use of time and eliminating back tracking. listings- www.sewardak.org

 

I suggest you may want to head to your library and take out Alaska travel books, Frommer's Alaska and Fodor's Alaska are especially concise. Figure out your area interests, then do your best routing and fill in the time/activies/lodging.

 

You have plenty of accurate help on this board for your planning if you need any. You have the potential for a fantastic trip!!!

I hadn't considered going to Homer before. What fantastic things are there to do/see there?

We (family of 5) just returned from a 9 day land tour followed by a Princess cruise SB. I'm working on a trip review...look for it in a couple days. We flew into Anchorage and stayed at Hawthorne Suites for one night, Seward for 2 nights, Anchorage for 2 nights (Hawthorne Suites again), Denali for 2 nights and back to the Hawthorne Suites. Each time we left Anchorage, we left luggage at the hotel. They had a system and seemed to do it a lot. No charge. We had packed a couple suitcases with cruise clothes and also left stuff we wouldn't need for the next couple of days. They also had a guest laundry (3 washers/3 dryers). Used a toursaver coupon, too.

Not sure if other hotels store luggage, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did...

We (family of 5) just returned from a 9 day land tour followed by a Princess cruise SB. I'm working on a trip review...look for it in a couple days. We flew into Anchorage and stayed at Hawthorne Suites for one night, Seward for 2 nights, Anchorage for 2 nights (Hawthorne Suites again), Denali for 2 nights and back to the Hawthorne Suites. Each time we left Anchorage, we left luggage at the hotel. They had a system and seemed to do it a lot. No charge. We had packed a couple suitcases with cruise clothes and also left stuff we wouldn't need for the next couple of days. They also had a guest laundry (3 washers/3 dryers). Used a toursaver coupon, too.

 

Not sure if other hotels store luggage, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did...

Thanks for the information - it was very helpful! Looking forward to your review.

Having just returned from Anchorage after staying there for 3 days after our Princess cruise, I can tell you that a lot of Hotels in the city do not store luggage for you. When being taken on a brief tour around before taking us to our hotel, we were shown the "convention center" or hospitality center (I believe it was on 4th or 5th street) where all of the cruise lines are represented together and you can leave luggage there and it is watched 24/7. I am assuming that you would have to show tickets and ID to get your luggage back for security. I was not told how long you are able to leave it, but we were going to utilize this until we decided at the last minute to rent a car for the last day there. Hotel checkout was 12 and our flight was at 9:30 PM. Hope this has been helpful! Have a great time when you go.

Be sure to check out the Saturday/Sunday outdoor market with authentic Alaskan wares right there. If you have time, the Sourdough Mining Co. is a great place to eat. I had a terryaki chicken sandwich that was scruptious, and it came with a huge order of curly fries, corn on the cob, AND free ice cream sundeas that you make yourself. Right across the street is the Alaska Wildberry farm where you can touch and feed reindeer. They sell all kinds of chocolate there as well as other candies and gifts. They also have the wolds largest chocolate waterfall inside.

We stayed at the Comfort Inn at the creek and it was great. Very knowledgable staff, and if they don't know the answwer, they will find it fast. We found The Captain Cook hotel very snooty and condesending, and decided NOT to stay there.

Request their visitor guide- a wonderful community, filled with touring options, plus a nice ride there. http://www.kenaipeninsula.com http://akms.com/htguide