Stealthdog

There were some big difference between Kenai and McKinley lodges. The rooms in Kenai felt more like cabins, while in McKinley was more like hotel rooms. The lodge, restaurants, and outdoor spaces in McKinley were all larger to presumably support a larger number of guests at the lodge. We completed the Lodge Trail (where we saw the moose) and South Trail Park. We never had a chance to do the treehouse and treehouse trail because it was closed every time we checked - likely due to wildlife being seen on the trail. It seems Kenai was much quieter and quainter, but with much fewer activities and tours to participate in. From the observation deck at the McKinley lodge, at times we could see Mount Denali completely from the observation decks Attached are some pictures of the room and facilities around the lodge area.

Arriving at each lodge has the same experience. A Princess rep hands out a packet for each guest which includes room keys and number, map of the lodge facilities, information on hours and activities, and instructions on excursions purchased and details for transportation to the next lodge. Attached is what the package looks like (This is the McKinnley package). McKinnley also had a number of complimentary daily activities that they publish in the lodge near guest services. One additional difference between Kenai and McKinnley is McKinnley provides shuttles to the nearest town of Talkeetna. We traveled to Talkeetna today to take the rail to Denali, but didn’t see the town, so unsure what else is there.

lol yes - the driver offloaded us on the side of the road while he tried to troubleshoot the AC. We had a nice break of 20-30 minutes before we went back onto the sauna bus.

Thanks! Made it to Denali. We will be here 2 days. There was no Wi-Fi on the train, so I’m a little behind. I will post McKinley lodge info and photos and the train from McKinley to Denali when I get a chance.

Slight typo from last post and it’s too late to edit. There is no Essex Room - it was autocorrected. It should say they had an open reservation for 730.

This post will be called “The Moose Changed My Luck” With no clothes to change into, we didn’t want to shower, so we decided to just go out to no one of the trails and hopefully see some wildlife. When we left our room and moved back to the lodge, we saw a nice Horse and Buggy carriage outside the lodge that appeared to be taking passengers around the grounds. Eric texted guest services to see if there were any rooms with a queen/king bed instead of 2 twins, and we started the Lodge Trail. About 5 minutes into the trail we saw a big dark shape in the woods. At first I thought it was Bear. But it wasn’t shaped like a bear and Eric thought it might be a horse. There was no mane it had a furry coat and then we saw the little brown shape behind it. It was a momma moose and baby moose. We carefully moved away down the trail to leave Momma Moose alone and not get rushed. We went back to the lodge to let them know. They thanked us and told us not to tell anyone and then shut down the trail to prevent any encounter between Momma Moose and a guest. While we were chatting with the wildlife desk people Eric got a text to go to guest services. When he got there, they had new room keys for us - they moved us into a nicer room in the lodge building with a king bed and views of Denali! We collected our backpacks from the other room and headed back to the lodge, stopping by the restaurant to see if any reservations had opened. And what do you know…….they had an open Essex’s room at 730 for us. Got to the new room, luggage was already moved. Quick shower and change of clothes and we were seated at the restaurant! Ill post lodge information and pics later. The Moose Changed Our Luck!

This post will be titled “The Bus From Hell” - that is what a lot of people on the bus was calling it. I was about to comment on the age of the buses they use for the land tour portion and this experience kind of reaffirmed my thoughts. The buses are fairly low tech and old. The seats are comfortable and there is a bathroom on board. But there are no outlets for plugs or USBs to charge cell phones and there is no Wi-Fi on the bus. As we go through the Alaskan countryside there are stretches of 20 minutes to an hour where there is no internet service/dead zones, and when there is service it’s mostly 3G. So, make sure you are fully charged before leaving the lodge, or bring a battery charger on the bus. We boarded the bus at 125pm in anchorage and were supposed to be at McKinley lodge by 4pm. When we boarded, the bus was really hot but I thought once we started moving the AC would probably kick in. Within 5 minutes, the grumbling already started and people started yelling out to the poor bus driver to turn the AC on. It’s funny because you would think it’s Alaska, why do you need AC? It was low 70s and sunny yesterday. It felt like it was probably high 80s-low 90s on the bus. After about 30 minutes there was a coordinated attempt to close all the window shades to at least prevent the sun from entering the bus. For about 45 minutes the grumbling continued and people starting taking all their layers off. Eventually the bus driver announced he was going to make a stop to call Princess and see if they could trouble shoot the not working AC system. The bus stopped on the back side of a little hill and a passenger who is a firefighter got us all to move away from the bus because where the bus parked on the side of the road was unsafe and if any driver crossing over the hill wasn’t paying attention they could have rammed into the back of the bus. It turned out there was something wrong with the pressure and the the bus needed to go into maintenance to fix the AC system. We loaded back onto the bus and got to McKinley around 5pm, one hour later than we were supposed to get there. When we parked outside the lodge, the lodges Princess rep tried to board the bus to give us instructions of what to do. The passengers started to riot and told him we were all getting off and he could give us the information off the bus. I don’t have any recommendations on what side of the bus to sit on because no one was paying attention to the outside and all the window shades were down so we didn’t have views anyways. Everyone’s clothes were drenched of sweat from sitting on that bus for about 4 hours, and the riot moved inside the lodge to guest services where there was a steady berating towards all the reps at guest services. We didn’t wait to watch the show and immediately went to the restaurant try to make reservations, which there weren’t any because we were the last bus to get to the lodge and they were already seating for dinner. We were told we could be seated right then, or next available time was 845pm. Because our clothes were still wet, we probably smelled of BO, and just wanted to shower and change, we didn’t want to eat at 515 in our wretched state. It was also too late to sign up for any excursion tours at the lodge. We took our room key to check out our room and drop off the backpacks. The room was a lot different from Kenai - it was hotel style with 2 twin beds. We had no internet service in the room and were too far away from the lodge to get onto the lodges Wi-Fi. And of course our luggage wasn’t there - we called the lodge to ask and were told we may not get our luggage until 7pm. Morale was very low in that hotel room, but our luck was about to change! Bus impromptu stop pics below - got to see a Smokey the bear forest fire sign. Sorry for the upside down bus - my state of mind was so off I probably wasn’t taking pictures right.

Day 2 of the Land tour - will walk through Kenai to Anchorage with this post. We did not know we were going to have 2 hours in Anchorage so this was a pleasant surprise to us. We had to leave our luggage outside our door by 715 for collection and the departure was 9am. No check out is required for the land tour - they do a group checkout for everyone. You can either drop your room keys off at reception or give them to the driver on board the bus. For this portion the luggage was on the same bus as us. When traveling from Kenai to Anchorage you want to be on the left side of the bus. You will have nice views throughout the trip on the left, as it travels along some rivers and sea areas, while the right side will often have obstructed views because it passes along the base of a mountain/hill/cliff areas. There will be periods of nice views on the right. Total trip was about 2 hours and the bus stops outside the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. A Princess representative met us outside the bus and provided city maps of Anchorage and recommendations for lunch. We went inside the hotel and there was a Princess/Holland America help area inside - I’m not really sure what their purpose was. With 2 hours in Anchorage, we had a lot of time to explore and have lunch. We went down to the water, stopped by the Captain Cook monument to get some nice pictures of the harbor area and Denali, and had lunch at 49th State Brewing Company before heading back to Hotel Captain Cook to get back on the bus. The streets around the hotel are all flat and easy to walk. The area West that leads to the water turns into steep inclines/declines. 49th State was a really nice restaurant, with a lot of indoor and outdoor (which overlooks the water and towards Denali). I got the Yak Burger and Eric got the Crab Stuffed Jalepeos and Halibut Tacos. For a pub like restaurant they had some really good and unique food. They also had their own beers - we tried one each and they were great. We had about 10 minutes to spare until we had to board the bus. Everything from Kenai through Anchorage was great. Everything after leaving Anchorage through checkin at McKinley was a nightmare (until the moose changed our luck), which will be the next post.

Made it to McKinley Lodge. It’s been a day, but we just saw a moose so everything is great. Will give details on trip from Kenai to McKinley thru Anchorage later.

Left these off the hiking post for Kenai Lodge. They have information at the entrance to the trail on the map options and wildlife you could see in the trails. Earlier this month there were sightings of a Momma Moose and her two babies.

Kenai Princess Lodge has the Rod and Reel restaurant inside the lodge. Seating is available both inside and outside. It is nicely decorated with interesting things (such as antler lights). We had a very mixed experience. Last night for dinner, everything was great. Menu and dinner pics below - the bacon lollipops were awesome. We got some kind of goat cheese salad. Eric got the halibut and says it was cooked perfectly but was really salty. I got the lasagne with bison Ragu and it was pretty good. Food at this restaurant was better than anything on the ship except The Catch, and maybe the balcony dinner. The menu was great and they had a nice, extensive wine list. This morning for breakfast, we were one of the first there and asked to be seated by the windows, so we could see the great views of the mountains. We were told they were saving those seats for larger parties and were seated about as far away from the windows as possible. We watched several couples come in after us and get seated at the same windows that we asked to be seated at. A waitress came by and joked that we were hidden away - I replied no kidding and that we really wanted to be by the windows. She gave a blank look and then walked away. A little later our server came to ask if we wanted coffee. We asked him if we could move to one of the remaining window seats and were told no because it was different servers station. We stood up and just walked out and went to the Cafe to get coffees, something light to eat, and enjoyed them at a table outside (pic below). Land lodge customer service is certainly not the same standard as the ship customer service, at least not this morning. Last night service was great.

Here are some pictures from the nature trail and the river observation points. Some of the rafting excursions passed by. Sadly, the only animals we saw was Molly the labradoodle who at the river with her parents and butterflies. The lodge provides walking sticks for both the nature walk and river views. Going to the river is a very steep walk down and up. At the bottom they have a phone station where you can call the lodge and they will come down and drive you back up.

@CruzeQueen2 we have a pit stop in anchorage on our trip from Kenai to McKinnley so have a few minutes. Food is not included in the land portion - it’s out of pocket. I did overhear someone saying some packages may have vouchers, but I don’t know about them. I will post the rest of the Kenai (with food 😁) after we get back on the bus to McKinley or when we get there. Internet service is really spotty on land - we have periods of 30-45 minutes with no service.

When we checked in they handed us a packet that provided all the information for the lodge with a map for the hiking areas.

Our first land stop was Kenai Princess Lodge. The bus from the port to the lodge took about 2 hours. The views were nice, but nowhere close to what we saw on the tours from the port stops. We weren’t really sure what to expect at the lodges, but based on Kenai they are really nice. Big rooms with seating areas, outdoor patio, and a nice sized closet space. The best part was the wood fireplace, which we definitely used! Our suitcases were already in the room when we got there. The lodge had a full restaurant, bar, coffee stop, and people manning a tour excursion station if you wanted to add an excursion to the package. There was also 2 separate laundry facilities, a small gym, and outdoor cornhole and horseshoe games. Outside the back of the lodge was an awesome seatings area where there were great views of the river and surrounding area. There are two nature walks to do on your own - a 1.5 mile hike path and an area at the base by the river with several observation posts to watch the rafters go by.

when I get home, ill upload all the photos to my laptop and organize into folders. Will probably keep about 75-100 for the whole trip. Alot of the picture I take are similar so I can go back and choose the best ones. We use iPhones for photos so have to be careful about battery life for the phones.

We probably did - the train portion was just 4 straight hours of breathtaking views. I stopped paying attention to the narration and was just watching the nature we were passing, taking over 500 photos during the train portion alone. I think I remember the tour mention Emerald Isle, but don’t remember mention of Carcross desert.

For the train ride down, take the left side of the train for the same reasons as the ride up. It’s not as important because you can leave your car and stand on the platform between train cars to take some pictures. The train ride down was much better than the bus ride up, going through some tunnels, crossing bridges, and getting much more interesting sights. The train provided 1 meal and bottles of water. We rode past Lake Bennett and had about a 45 minute stop on Bennett. I need to correct the previous post - the video of the White Trail was in Bennett, not Carcross. There is also time to explore the area where the town of Bennett used to be. We tried to do both - watch the video and do the walking tour of Bennett and it hard to do both leisurely and not feel rushed. The highlight of Bennett is the old Church, but there are some nice nature views as well. The walking area around Bennett does have some steep inclines, particularly by the church and down to the lake area. After Bennett, the rest of the train ride continued all the way to Skagway with no more stops to get off. You will need your passports handy again for the US side of the border. When the train arrived back in Skagway, the same bus driver was there to take us back to the pier area. We elected to just walk it since we could see the ship from where the train dropped us off. The walk back to the tender was about 20 minutes. I’d highly recommend the White Pass to anyone stopping in Skagway that hasn’t done it before, with a preference towards the rail vs the bus. The views are stunning. Like in the ship, there are portions of narration where the tour guides point out wildlife and give history because the stops and the rail. One of the coolest things we saw were beaver dams along the way (though didn’t see beavers).

The bus ride from Skagway to Carcross made several stops along the way - one stop for Canadian Customs (Fraser BC) to check passports (we did not get off the bus) and two stops we got off the bus to get pictures, including the border between Yukon and BC. The bus did have a bathroom on if you need it. We sat on the right side of the bus, which seemed to be the better side to get views. The left side was often the base of obstructed terrain and the ride side often had the nice views of the mountains and the rail. One of the stops we made had views of mountain goats up the side of a small mountainous area, which we could see with binoculars, but couldn’t capture with the phone camera. Both stops were flat terrain, walking on a combination of dirt of paved areas, so really no issues with mobility. At Carcross, we got off the bus and had some time to explore the small little train area. There was a small building that showed a 10 minute video about the White Pass, some small gift shops and little stores, a cool bridge with views of old log cabins, and the train station. The whole area is fairly flat, but you may have to step over train tracks or other small obstacles to move around. I think we had about 45-50 minutes at Carcross before boarding the train which was plenty of time to check out the stores, explore the small area, and watch the video.

In Skagway we did our only Princess cruise line tour - White Pass and Bennett Lake. It was a full day event - 1.5 hour bus ride from Skagway to Carcross, and then the ~4 hour train ride back to Skagway. There are all kinds of variations of this type, including full train up and back. We had our meet up in the theater and waited for our tour (200A) to be called. Because tending was slowing down exit from the ship, the tours starting with the rail had priority for the tenders because the trains run on time and won’t wait. After we got off the tender it was about a 10 minute walk to the pickup point for the bus. I’ll split the tour into the 2 phases/posts just to make the posts smaller and easier to read. Below is a map of the pass - both the bus and rail portions follow the same route (roughly) and you could often see the road when on the rail, and the railroad when you were on the bus. We did not get this map until we were on the rail portion.

Left the ship around 1030 and walked right through the very small port building to our bus waiting for us. Luggage will be split - half going to Fairbanks and half following us from lodge to lodge. We had separate instructions (posted below) on how to identify the luggage that we don’t want with us for the lodges. Put all of our shoes, dress clothes, and dirty clothes from the ship in them. Next stop, Kenai Princess Lodge!

Enjoy the 7 day southbound! The Symphony Dining room is a madhouse right now and completely full. The servers keep trying to take my coffee cup away and I have to keep swatting at them. They have coffee, teas, and water stations in here for guests waiting for their disembark. Also, a lot of the seating spaces have outlets on the baseboards (probably used for vacuuming) so you can charge your phone while waiting.

No problem - I’m a compulsive planner (and worrier). So I hope this information is helpful for anyone out there planning their own trip. The breakfast spread looks great!

Last night we had our Balcony Dining experience. There was a little bit of confusion with Room Service. They told me dinner time was 6pm and they would be setting up the balcony at 530pm. What they didn’t tell me is they wanted me there at 530 for the setup - I just assumed they would go in and set up the balcony. We strolled up at 555 to 2 room service attendants waiting for us. Setup was really quick - a square table with table cloth, some nice roses, and the standard plating. The experience comes with a fixed menu, half bottle of Prosecco, and 1 other drink per person. We had crab cakes, goat cheese salad, surf & turf, and deserts. The food wasn’t as good as Rudys, but still pretty good and it was more about the experience. It ended up being perfect weather (perfect enough) - high 40s and sunny. As we had our meal, we listened to Mark the Naturalist narrate our passing through the College Fjords and watched the glaciers (and a few Black Bears). We couldn’t get a clear picture of the bears on our phone, but they were on appropriately named Bear Beach. Eric was quite happy with the experience. if you are going to have the balcony dining experience there is no better day to do it than the scenic College Fjord sailing. I packed the menu - will post it separately later. This is Alaska. This is why we are here.

All checked out of the room and in the Symphony Dining Room, for about a 2 hour wait for disembarkation. Below is the departure information. The College Fjords are very close to Whittier, so we actually got to and docked at Whittier before midnight, so shouldn’t be any delays in early disembarking for people with early flights. Looks like first transfers to Anchorage Airport is 610am. Not sure how long it takes to get to the airport.