Just back from the Denali tour today - June 25

Well, now in a hotel in Fairbanks at midnight (yes, it is still daylight outside). Went on the Shuttle to Fish Creek (mile 63) and saw 4 grizzly bears, 3 moose, 20+ dahl sheep, and other 4-legged creatures. We did the Kantishna tour last year, and we were scheduled on Cruisetour 24 (HAL), but when they sent us tickets that included the "Natural History Tour", I went on-line and booked my own 8 hour Shuttle tour to Fish Creek for $24 pp on the Doyon/Aramark site. VERY glad I did!!

We saw more wildlife from Mile 50 to Mile 63 than we did the first 50 miles into Denali (and the poor folks who were on the Natural History Tour to Mile 17 saw no wildlife at all). I highly recommend the Shutle to Fish Creek rather than any other tour. The Shuttle driver did an excellent narration as we went through Denali. We were literally 50 feet from a moose and two calfs.

Also, if you go, be sure to sit on the "valley side" (Driver going in, door going out). We saw 10X wildlife on the "Valley side" today. I am still reviewing the digital photos, but am in the process of booking another trip to Denali next year........

Ray

Sounds like you had a fantastic day!!!

Denali Park is a highlight isn't it? :) :) :) I repeat this over and over at the annoyance of many, probably. But it is a FACT- the shuttle drivers do an excellent job in Denali Park and it's the best bargain around.

Farther is definately better- ALWAYS.

According to the HAL website (and the 2005 brochure), Cruisetour 24 includes the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Sounds like mewste got shortchanged. Has HAL made changes without announcing it? :mad:

I'll definitely be looking at my docs when I get them since our Cruisetour 20 is supposed to include the Tundra Wilderness -- not the Natural History -- Tour.

For clairfication- The Tundra Wilderness TOUR bus goes to mile 53 and costs 3 times the shuttles. The Fish Creek SHUTTLE bus goes to mile 63, my min. recommended distance in with Wonder Lake, ALWAYS my route late August, mile 85.

It seems some people are getting tour bus refunds and booking the shuttles on cruisetours. BIG difference in pricing.

No caribou or wolves? Did you see any moose right outside of the park? Sounds like good trip. Who was your shuttle driver?

According to the HAL website, the Tundra Wilderness Tour is included in the Cruisetour that the OP bought. If his docs said "Natural History Tour", why didn't he contact HAL or his TA?

My family and I are on a different Cruisetour that, according to the HAL brochure and website, includes the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Are we also going to have to deal with a similar "change in itinerary"? Have others experienced this situation?

Can't argue with BQ about the distance into Denali. According to HAL we will travel "up to 62 miles" into the park. It may only go 53 miles. Who knows?

I am so confused. :confused:

We are on a Princess land tour before boarding the ship in Whittier. We are suppose to go on a "Natural History Tour" Should we try to get a shuttle and go on to Fish Creek instead? 8 hours? Is this round trip (I hope) Sounds like a long trip to me. Thanks for any info. Sharbro:) :)

Can't argue with BQ about the distance into Denali. According to HAL we will travel "up to 62 miles" into the park. It may only go 53 miles. Who knows?

 

I am so confused. :confused:

You go the extra distance IF McKinley is viewable which it rarely is. As for the pricing, The Tundra Wilderness tour is $84 and the Fish Creek Shuttle is $33.75 A big difference for a box lunch. :)

We are on a Princess land tour before boarding the ship in Whittier. We are suppose to go on a "Natural History Tour" Should we try to get a shuttle and go on to Fish Creek instead? 8 hours? Is this round trip (I hope) Sounds like a long trip to me. Thanks for any info. Sharbro:) :)

The Natural History tour is a complete waste of time. But you may NOT have the option for anything else if on a short land tour??? If you arrive early afternoon in Denali Park I strongly suggest you attempt to get a REFUND and book the Toklat Shuttle, at 3pm for $28.50 to mile 53- same as the Tundra Wilderness tour. For clairfication - you aren't likely to see any wildlife and only so so scenery if you don't go farther into the park. The buses are round trip on the timeframe. Binoculars are NECESSARY be sure everyone has a pair.

Just to clarify, the TWT is part of our land package -- not an added "shore excursion" -- just as it should have been for rnewste. So I still don't understand how he was stuck with the "Natural History Tour". I am also familiar with "box lunches" on buses, so I expect to be underwhelmed. :rolleyes:

I guess the bigger point is that you can save a bundle if you arrange the land tour on your own, independent of the cruise line. For us, it being our first trip to AK, we are obviously paying a premium letting someone else do the work. :o

Since we have never been there, I expect we will enjoy ourselves, regardless of the circumstances. :D I am also expecting that once we have been there, we will have the confidence to make our own land arrangements independent of the cruise line.

The Natural History tour is a complete waste of time. But you may NOT have the option for anything else if on a short land tour??? If you arrive early afternoon in Denali Park I strongly suggest you attempt to get a REFUND and book the Toklat Shuttle, at 3pm for $28.50 to mile 53- same as the Tundra Wilderness tour. For clairfication - you aren't likely to see any wildlife and only so so scenery if you don't go farther into the park. The buses are round trip on the timeframe. Binoculars are NECESSARY be sure everyone has a pair.

So this is a round trip eight hour tour on a schoolbus? Do we take food and drink with us ? Where can we get it. Do you have to have reservations ahead of time.? I don't think we can get a refund on the NHTour because it is part of our itenerary with princess. Thanks Sharbro

We also did the 8hr one to Fish creek. I totally agree with Rnewste! You definately see more on this one. We really didnt see much till after the 2nd hr. We saw loads of Carabou and 2 bears one that had 3 small babies with it, dahl sheep, red tail fox, and some small little ones that resembled parrie dogs cant remember the name. We took the bus that left at 11am and we were a party of 5 and only 1 other person was on the bus with us. It was great since we could stop when we wanted and as long as we wanted. Most of the buses we saw on the NTW tour were completely packed and looked very uncomfortable. We talked to a lot of people on our ship that did the shorter 2hr tour as part of the land package and didnt see very much at all. Definately go for the 8hr it is very worth it. Make sure you bring some lunch or snacks to eat. they dont have a problem with you eating on the bus (they actually prefer it) . The day we were there Mt McKinley was fully visable very beautiful!!!

We just returned from our HAL cruise/tour. Because the TWT was overbooked, HAL gave us an incentive to do the Fish Creek shuttle (binoculars and a lunch). DW and I took the bait, the rest of the group stayed with the TWT. Boy are we glad we did!

We didn't go significantly further (although you can easily upgrade to Wonder Lake when on the shuttle if it's a nice day) but had the opportunity to step off and grab a later shuttle. We really enjoyed a couple hours of wandering around and once we returned to the road, we quickly caught the first shuttle going by.

Other than maybe a headrest, I can't see what you're giving up by going on the shuttle instead of the TWT (as BQ said, the price difference will get you one heckuva lunch!)

If HAL offers the same thing when we are up there in late-July, and especially if the weather is clear, we'll jump on that Fish Creek shuttle. Thanks for the heads-up...:D

So this is a round trip eight hour tour on a schoolbus? Do we take food and drink with us ? Where can we get it. Do you have to have reservations ahead of time.? I don't think we can get a refund on the NHTour because it is part of our itenerary with princess. Thanks Sharbro

Your hotel probably will have a box lunch option. There is also fast food at the "gulch", Yes you need to take ALL your own food and drink on the shuttle buses, NONE available. You need to book this ahead unless you have the option 2 days before calling at 7am for the hold back seats. Contact your TA and request the refund, there have been posts here that people have gotten the refund. Don't let the TA talk you out of it, probably has no clue about Alaska anyway. Should be $57.50, with Park admission for the Natural History tour, Toklat shuttle will cost $28.50

We are booked on a 7:00 am Natural History tour as part of our Princess land package. As we dont' arrive the 1st day at Denali until after 4 and leave the next day at 1:00 it would seem impossible to take a longer tour. But since the reviews are so bad for this tour should we skip it and book an activity for ourselves that morning? And if so any recommendations? Thanks so much.

The school buses for all the tours are the same whether the Tundra Wilderness Tour, Natural History tour or the shuttles to various locations. The shuttles are light green and tundra tour buses are tan. Thats it---no headrests that I could see, and they get a reindeer sausage lunch!! Only one road, and I think all buses are now owned or operated by same company. The shuttles cost 1/3 as much and go further in to park. If you don't have time due to being on one night cruise tour, the natural history tour may be okay, and if lucky, could see moose or who knows. We saw cow and two calves right by railroad track as soon as we left the bus center.

Your hotel probably will have a box lunch option. There is also fast food at the "gulch", Yes you need to take ALL your own food and drink on the shuttle buses, NONE available. You need to book this ahead unless you have the option 2 days before calling at 7am for the hold back seats. Contact your TA and request the refund, there have been posts here that people have gotten the refund. Don't let the TA talk you out of it, probably has no clue about Alaska anyway. Should be $57.50, with Park admission for the Natural History tour, Toklat shuttle will cost $28.50

How do you book this ahead of time? Sorry so many questions. Also should we do the bus or shuttle? Thanks Sharbro:)

How do you book this ahead of time? Sorry so many questions. Also should we do the bus or shuttle? Thanks Sharbro:)

Here is the link for booking the shuttle bus http://www.nps.gov/dena/home/visitorinfo/bus/vts.html

How do you book this ahead of time? Sorry so many questions. Also should we do the bus or shuttle? Thanks Sharbro:)

Key considerations= request a refund for the Natural History tour from your booking agent. Then consider the SHUTTLE to Toklat. Verify that your park entrance fee is NOT refunded and state that when you go to book your shuttle so as to not pay for it again. It is $10. You can call them directly and book. I never recommend booking the Tundra Wilderness tour independently.

We are booked on a 7:00 am Natural History tour as part of our Princess land package. As we dont' arrive the 1st day at Denali until after 4 and leave the next day at 1:00 it would seem impossible to take a longer tour. But since the reviews are so bad for this tour should we skip it and book an activity for ourselves that morning? And if so any recommendations? Thanks so much.

I wouldn't skip it unless you can get a refund. If of interest, there is rafting, flightseeing etc. but it is better than nothing. :) Please consider a repeat trip down the road and get into the Park, a wonderment of scenery and wildlife. :)

As this is our 1st trip to Alaska I obviously didn't do my homework well enough. When choosing our Princess land tour I had no idea we would be in Denali such a short time. And then at McKinley for 2 nights. I guess I really want to know if the NHT is so worthless we shouldn't bother getting up at 6am for it. Hopefully we'll see some bears at Pack Creek with Butch.

Skip it--yes or no? Any suggestions for our time at McKinley?

Thank you I've learned so much from you. Better late than never.

If there is something you think you would rather do and it is available, then do that! But......

We were in much the same situation as you a few years ago; we did the NHT and enjoyed it. Could we have seen more on a longer tour, well, the "experts" on here indicate so, but we did see enough to whet our appetite for a return trip. From my personal research and reading these boards, I too have learned and made sure that at least the TWT was on our itinerary this time.

It would be lot better than just sitting in your hotel room waiting for the bus!!! You now have your expectations properly set and I hope some wildlife will be out for you! Don't fret-ENJOY!

We took the shorter tour two years ago with our then 8 and 13 year old boys. I had read about the longer tour, but didn't think our kids would enjoy such a long bus ride. We all enjoyed the tour very much. Another couple with children about the age of ours took the longer tour and described it as "very long!" To be honest, 8 plus hours on a school bus still doesn't appeal to me. Sure, the longer you spend looking for wildlife the better your chances. (We just spent 5 days on the Kenai Peninsula and the only place we saw moose was in downtown Anchorage! There are no guarantees.) On our Natural History Tour we saw moose, caribou, dall sheep, and eagles. It was cloudy that day so we wouldn't have seen Mt. McKinnley anyway. We certainly didn't consider it a waste of time.

To each his own, so don't let other people's opinion deter you from enjoying your vacation. You're in Alaska, no prettier place on earth...in my opinion!

On our Natural History Tour we saw moose, caribou, dall sheep, and eagles. It was cloudy that day so we wouldn't have seen Mt. McKinnley anyway. We certainly didn't consider it a waste of time.

To each his own, so don't let other people's opinion deter you from enjoying your vacation. You're in Alaska, no prettier place on earth...in my opinion!

Well said.. and I couldn't agree with you more.. there simply is not a "right" or "wrong" way to do it. Wildlife is simply a "no guarantee" thing -- we saw pods of orcas whale watching and a group that left right after us in the same area a few humpbacks... just can't predict.

How can you come back from Alaska, no matter what you do, and not have fallen in love with the place?? :)