Why I Changed My Mind and Booked a Cruisetour

In 2000 I went on a cruisetour with my dad that included the longer school bus ride into the park. We saw lots of wildlife and we loved it. A week ago I was on a cruisetour with my husband (It's taken me 15 years to get back to Alaska with my husband but the wait was sooo worth it!) which included the Natural History Tour and he loved that one! He's natural history buff and had no desire to sit on a school bus for more that 4 or 5 hrs so it was perfect for him. To each his own, I guess! (:

Enjoy your cruise with your mom!

In 2000 I went on a cruisetour with my dad that included the longer school bus ride into the park. We saw lots of wildlife and we loved it. A week ago I was on a cruisetour with my husband (It's taken me 15 years to get back to Alaska with my husband but the wait was sooo worth it!) which included the Natural History Tour and he loved that one! He's natural history buff and had no desire to sit on a school bus for more that 4 or 5 hrs so it was perfect for him. To each his own, I guess! (:

 

Enjoy your cruise with your mom!

Wow! Your timing couldn't be better. I am currently researching whether I think upgrading to the Tunda Wilderness Tour is as mandatory for us as everyone on the boards thinks it is. The longer tour appeals to me for seeing a little further into the park and getting a better feel for the expanse along with a chance to see more wildlife (but wildlife is never guaranteed). But Mom is not convinced. She loves history, so I know she'd probably be like your husband and be perfectly happy with the Natural History Tour. The fact that it is shorter is a plus too so that she would have more time to do other excursions she wants to try.

Keep scrolling down the page to see "which bus should I choose" https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/visiting-denali.htm

Keep scrolling down the page to see "which bus should I choose" https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/visiting-denali.htm

Yes, I've perused this website thoroughly. My only concern about the TWT is the length in terms of hours. It is doable, but it might limit our ability to do other things that Mom has expressed interest in. I have even considered just doing the shuttle so that we could turn back at any time, but I think Mom prefers the narration and also the video screens available on the Tundra Wilderness tour. I have time to think about it...we'll be in Denali National Park taking our tour (or not) one year from tomorrow. :D

Enjoy and don't stress out. Have a great time! :)

We are just back from our DB4 Princess land and southbound cruise adventure. It was great --glorious sunny weather most days. I have taken notes that will be put together in a review once we are settled back home and hubby is over the "bug" he picked up post cruise.... To tease you all we saw Denali "out" for three days in a row :)

@txwriter Re the seats for your Mum. The ones we had on the Bennett Lake train in Skagway were well padded as was the one on the Eileson shuttle. I did use the Thermarest pad on the seat in our cabin-- so well worth taking. Hope to get review done by next week.

I'm so glad you had a great trip! Sorry to hear hubby got big afterwards. I'm looking forward to the trip report and will be looking into one of those cushions for Mom.

My husband and I also decided to do a cruise/land tour. I really wanted to go DIY but my husband actually participated in the planning for this trip (usually I'm the planner and he is the finance guy). He didn't want to drive and miss the scenery and drag luggage (including cruise luggage) in and out of hotels. I guess I can't blame him. I admit there are lots of things I wanted to do that we will miss but we figure we can go back and do a DIY land trip in a few years.

We had a great time on our cruise tour. Thanks to the info I got here, I was able to make the most of it. One of the best decisions was having our travel agent upgrade us from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali. When we compared what we saw with friends we made on the train ride, we were doubly happy that we had switched.

For us, the cruise tour was a lot cheaper than trying to do the land portion on our own. But that's because we got a ridiculous last-minute fare. We paid $2,000 less per person than the same time period next year is currently priced at.