Do it yourself Alaska cruisetour

So, DW's birthday is 08/12. Our anniversary is 09/03. I was hoping to cruise near one of those, hopefully the birthday. But I was looking at sunrise/sunset times. In August, Anchorage loses over 5 minutes of daylight a day. That's more than 35 minutes per week. From the day I land, to the day I get home, Anchorage will have lost an hour of daylight. Amazing.

Of course, the highest rates are in July and early August, so I'll have to weigh that. But I'd like more daylight while I'm up there.

HI, DW and I had such fun on our first Alaskan cruise for our 30th anniversary, that we are planning on going back for our 35th anniversary in 2018. We really want to do a cruise-tour this time.But adding that on really adds to the cost.

 

After reading an article on CC, I am interested in a do it yourself cruise-tour.

 

We were planning on a 4 day cruise-tour, and we want to spend most of it in Denali. I'm looking for all kinds of advice and suggestions. We could rent an RV, or a car and stay at places near Denali. We'd like to do some hiking. More interested in seeing nature than touristy spots.

 

For example, on last cruise, in Skagway we took White Pass Railway and then a 5 mile hike to a glacier. In Ketchikan, we rented a car and visited two state parks, saw salmon swimming upstream, and visited Totem Bight State park.

 

I've started doing some basic research. I've found some nice looking places to stay at near Denali, and some excursions/hikes/bike rides/kayak trips already.

 

I've got lots of questions, and some might seem minor. Such as:

What about taking the train? How do I get from airport to train station? How far is it from train station in Seward to the ship? How is taxi service?

 

If I'm going to talk DW into a do it yourself, I'll need to have my ducks in a row.

 

I appreciate all info.

Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

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Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

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Thanks. Jdspoehr@hotmail.com

I appreciate it

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Thanks. Jdspoehr@hotmail.com

I appreciate it

 

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Hi! Sorry for the delay. We had a sick household this week :) Should be in your inbox now.

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Hi! Sorry for the delay. We had a sick household this week :) Should be in your inbox now.

 

 

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I got it! I'll be able to review it Sunday/Monday

If you would be willing to share these in an email to me, I would be most appreciative: toniann17@cox.net

So excited to see more of Alaska!

Ok, I sent the my list to you today!

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My DH and I have a cruise booked for June, south bound Seward-Vancouver.

I am just now starting to look for info on planning our own land tour. Not sure where to look for information, so starting here...any information you care to share, would be very much appreciated.

What we're sure of is; land tour first, about 7 days, rent a car, and want to go as far as Denali.

Looking forward to any advise and/or suggestions you may have.

Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

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We are planning a DIY for June 2018, would you be willing to share your spreadsheet with us? jftyska at hotmail dot com

Thanking you for posting-can't wait to start hearing reviews from this year[emoji846]

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We are planning a DIY for June 2018, would you be willing to share your spreadsheet with us? jftyska at hotmail dot com

 

Thanking you for posting-can't wait to start hearing reviews from this year[emoji846]

 

 

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Hi! Sure, I'll be happy to share - will send this afternoon. Just a quick caveat: I haven't traveled yet, so these are just my plans. I can certainly give you reviews once we're back :)

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Hi! Sure, I'll be happy to share - will send this afternoon. Just a quick caveat: I haven't traveled yet, so these are just my plans. I can certainly give you reviews once we're back :)

 

 

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Thanks, got it! Sent you a return email- on way to Fl in the storm zone so not sure it went thru.........appreciate [emoji846]

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Snowbird Cruzer and kpd21800,

I've noticed that you've both offered to privately email some great info on planning your own DIY land tour. Would you be able to post it here so that you are not inundated with requests for this info?

Thanks!

.Snowbird Cruzer and kpd21800

Yes please, I would love to see what information you each have gathered.

Right now, trying to figure it out, is feeling very overwhelming! :confused:

You should check out this thread for some good ideas.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=766053

Snowbird Cruzer and kpd21800,

 

 

 

I've noticed that you've both offered to privately email some great info on planning your own DIY land tour. Would you be able to post it here so that you are not inundated with requests for this info?

 

 

 

Thanks!

I'm not sure how to do that. I have an Excel and a Word file. Is that possible to post?

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JanetAlice

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

I'm not sure how to do that. I have an Excel and a Word file. Is that possible to post?

 

 

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The Word file is easy. Just select All ( hold down 'CTRL' and 'A' at the same time). This will highlight your entire Word document. Then copy it and paste it into a post.

For the Excel file, highlight the section you want to copy, and again, do a copy and paste into a post. I'm not sure how the spacing will come out, but it's certainly worth a try.

I knew we could attach .jpgs, and/or .gifs (in other words pictures), but I just looked and it says you can post .doc (word files, as mentioned above) but also .xls (Excel) files.

Of course they have to meet the size limitations as well.

I'll try to attach a word doc of what I have. But what I have is just a list of websites for Denali lodging sites, Alaska Railroad sites, car rental sites, etc. If I tried to post those links, they won't come through. CC limits a lot of that stuff to keep advertising down. And I'm fine with that.

Well, this has turned out to be so much fun. And, knowing that others want to do the same thing that we do, I feel so much better.

Actually, the first thing I saw that suggested I could do this on my own was a Cruise Critic article, http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2577 (I hope they let that come through) It was about doing your own cruise-tour.

For those overwhelmed by all the choices, you need to do a couple of things:

1. Break it up into small tasks. (This will make a mountain of info manageable). Research them one at a time. For those not going until 2018, you've got lots of time. (Never as much as you think, but still, I'm not looking to make any reservations until I get to less than 365 days.
   
   1. 
      
   2. Look for lodging in/around Anchorage
      
   3. Look for things to do in/around Anchorage
      
   4. Look for transportation
      
   5. Look for things to do in Denali, etc., etc.
      

[*]Soon enough, you'll have to decide what you won't get to. If you are not one for hiking/biking/kayaking/whitewater rafting, etc, then don't look for that stuff. Look for museums, cultural enrichment opportunities, etc., or whatever else floats your boat. I've had lots of advice to do this, that, or the other thing. That's fine. Some have been great. But, for example, I don't have kids coming along so I don't need to visit a reindeer farm just for them. (Although, if I tell DW that there is such a place nearby, she'll want to go. She's quite the animal lover. Me, not so much.)

[*]You can also break it down by collecting websites and saving them as Bookmarks on your browser. (You can also make a folder of your Bookmarks and keep them all there, instead of all higgeldy-piggeldy.) Then you can go back to them for more in-depth research later.

I used Google to start my search. I know we want to go to Denali, so I started with Googling for lodging around there. I knew I'd need transportation to Denali, so I Googled car and RV rental sites. I Googled Alaska Railway for times and rates. Etc, etc.

It took me several tries (not sure why) to find out how far it is from the Seward train station to the cruise pier.

And another bit of advice. GO LOOK AT other chat threads here on Cruise Critic. But don't go nuts. Make a post so that it comes up in your list of threads you are watching.

Do it Yourself Tour list.docx

Right now, trying to figure it out, is feeling very overwhelming! :confused:

No need to feel overwhelmed.....you just need to do a liitle research There are no short cuts. Borrow an Alaska travel book from your library and determine what you want to see and do during your week on land. Then put an itinerary together to see if it all fits.

With your desire to see Denali, and the need to be in Seward by 7pm on Day 7, you don't have a lot of time to play with, so your options are limited. Seward is a common start/end point ...... look at past trip reports to see what other travellers did and which of their activities/itineraries meet your interests.

Some folks pick up their car and drive to Talkeetna for day 1, then go to denali for 2 nites. Others will detour to matanuska glacier first and independence mine.. Some will leave denali and drive to girdwood in order to visit the Wildlife Conservation center, alyeska, and hike Byron glacier,; then overnight in anc and take the train to seward the next day. Others go directly to anc from denalk and take the train so they have 2 full days in Seward. Or maybe you would prefer to pay a surcharge for a one way rental car in order to drive to Seward.. As i said, with only 7 days, it's not like you have dozens of options to choose from.

You will continue to feel overwhelmed until you do your research and determine what you want to see and do. THAT will be the basis for your itinerary. Reasearch is fun....enjoy!

This chart provides travel times between popular locations.

http://www.alaska.org/advice/mileage-chart

The only trouble is that the train leaves around 6 a.m. and arrives in Seward around 1:30, if I recall correctly.

For 2017, the train will leave Anchorage around 6:45 and arrive in Seward at 11:05. I have also found out that the Seward depot is about 0.5 miles to the cruise port. http://www.alaskarailroad.com is very helpful.

That will be perfect (except for departure, YUCK) arrival time.

We are planning on an Alaska cruise for June 2018. I saw that someone had a spread sheet of DIY cruise tour that they were willing to share. If its not a problem, can you email it to me?

Thank you

Denise

jdsargent89@gmail.com

First thank you all for sharing information on a Do It Yourself land tour.

This will be a first in Alaska and I have been anticipating this trip for quite a while. I still have not finalized my 4 day land portion. Because of time restraint your suggestions have probably convinced me to rent a car in Anchorage where we are staying 2 nights then to go spend 2 nights towards Denali.

Princess and the Coral Princess ship in particular was the only one I had in mind when booking. I have sailed on it's sister ship the Island Princess thru the Panama canal and thoroughly enjoyed the views from it's many public areas. The promenade deck, the public lounges, the top viewing decks, the front tip, 3 bow balconies and the aft balconies (without private rooms) are accessible and disperse the crowds. It is quite interesting to experience as many as possible even if you have a room with a balcony.

Louise

Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

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Yet another request for your Alaska ground tour info. We are planning something similar in August. Hotels and car rental up there sure cost a lot. Please send to:

pondhawkca at gmail dot com

I'm not sure how to do that. I have an Excel and a Word file. Is that possible to post?

 

 

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If you are willing, you could upload the Excel and Word files to Google docs and share the links to them here.