kristieokc

Ahhh, thank you, this was exactly the sort of information I was hoping for, especially recommended hotel locations.  Much appreciated!!

I will agree with those who said the gardens alone are worth a trip to Blarney castle if you can get there .... no need to stand in line to kiss the stone.  But, I've also been to the Rock of Cashel and it is stunning, so I think you can't go wrong there.  Good luck with your transportation!

Booked on a British Isles cruise in and out of London for summer 2020.  Traveling will be me, my 20 -year old daughter, her best friend, and my 77 year old mother.   I am planning the trip for all, but not sure what is best for pre-cruise.  I want us to fly over at least a day or two before the cruise to get settled and see some sights.  Trying to balance the girls' desire to See! All! The! Things! with the fact my mom, while in decent shape, won't be able to keep up if we are walking the city, sight-seeing, for hours and hours on end.  I don't want to navigate our own travels around the city for that reason (up and down platform stairs would be tedious, if not impossible, and running for a bus would barely be "quick walking for a bus", ha!) and am considering making plans with a company like Toolkit or International Friends with arranged transportation to and from the airport/hotel/terminal and guided touring.  Looking for recommendations if anyone has done that or has another idea to suggest.  The other tack I am considering is arranging transportation from the airport to either Southampton or Salisbury and staying a few days there, pre-cruise, and arranging tours to sights like Stonehenge, Bath, etc.  I think that is more my and my mom's speed but I worry those locations might be too sedate for the younger two in our group.   Any suggestions or opinions would be much appreciated!

We rented a car from Avis in Whittier then drove to Seward for two nights. Then we drove up to Anchorage, stopping several times along the way. We stopped at the Anchorage airport and closed our contract with Avis then picked up a different car (at a way lower rate) and spent the night in Anchorage. We then drove up to Denali for a couple of days (stayed in Healy) then back down to Anchorage stopping in Talkeetna an other places. We flew out late that night.

 

We saved a lot of $ by dropping of the Avis car and switching to another car.

This is exactly what I plan to do. Thanks for spelling it out so it made sense in my own head. :)

Like Budget Queen, I have to value time over savings when I only have a week post-cruise and want to see a months' worth of sights!! I'll swap rentals in Anchorage to save some, but won't spend any extra time backtracking, except for Denali back to Anchorage, which sounds like it has plenty to see regardless. Oh, Mileposts, please get here soon ..... ha!!

Again, thanks to all for the help!

Kristie

The Seward Military Resort. It's on this list from the city's web site.

http://cmdev.seward.com/list/category/lodges-36

Yes, this is the one. Also, be aware that reservations open up 365 days in advance and as soon as you are able, I would reserve. I have my calendar marked for both the resort and the car rental places so I can reserve the first day it is available. :)

I never recommend driving Seward/Denali in 1 day. You are looking at having to invest at least 10 hours+++++ with a few brief stops.

 

A "budget" alternative for a rental car is to just have ONE person, get to Anchorage and then drive back to Whittier. Or, all stay in Whittier and take advantage of a Prince William Sound boat tour, stay the night in Anchorage, then head back to Seward. Especially keep the options open at this point, if you can add days.

 

With Denali Park- IF you want the distance into the park, then take the Wonder Lake shuttle.

 

When is this trip?

That's a great suggestion, to have just one of us go to Anchorage and get the car, then return to Whittier for the others. I will definitely check into that.

Sounds like I need to break up the drive from Seward to Denali and enjoy some stops along the way. I am excited to get my copy of Mileposts and really start researching this!

We will be cruising mid-July 2017 with the land portion afterwards. I'm always so excited to get started planning way in advance, but then that sure makes the waiting long and painful, doesn't it??? :)

Thanks again for any and all advice,

Kristie

Great, thanks so much for all the information! I just ordered a copy of Mileposts and will start my research in earnest once it arrives. In the meantime I'm going to rent a car and at least have that out of the way. :)

I appreciate all the help!

If budget is a factor, definitely do a cost comparison for the various options. And also look at the time lost factor .....

 

The Enterprise office on Airport Rd in Anc has one week rentals for $200 if you reserve now for 2017. Book it now .... you can always cancel it when you firm up your plans.

 

- all 4 of you could take a transfer from Whittier to Anc to pick up the car. Assuming you catch the 8:30/9am bus you'll be in Anc by 11-ish, a quick cab to the car rental office, then hopefully on the road by noon/1pm. Plenty of time for sightseeing along the way.

 

You don't indicate a definite time frame so it's hard to determine the timing of your itinerary. Is this your plan?

- arrive in Whittier on a Sat. Overnight in Seward for Sat, Sun and Mon. Drive to Denali on Tues and overnight there Tue and Wed. Fly home Thursday ?

 

This mileage/time guide might be useful for you. http://www.alaska.org/advice/mileage-chart

We disembark on a Saturday, plan to be in Seward Saturday night (leaning towards going on up to Anchorage to get car) stay in Seward for sightseeing Sunday and Monday, allocate all day Tuesday to drive from Seward to Denali, sightseeing in Denali Wed-Thur-Fri, then drive from Denali back to Anchorage on Saturday for an evening flight.

Does that sound do-able? I'm having trouble gauging distance in my head. (Which is typical for me, ha!!)

Thanks for any help, I really appreciate it! I will definitely go check out the mileage chart you suggested.

What we did was to take the Princess shuttle to Anchorage Airport to get the car. It was a cheaper rental because we returned it there. You will need to look at the cost of that for 4 folks vs an open ended rental from Whittier.

Look at the time it takes to get to and from Denali. Glorious place but make sure you have a full day or more in the park. Highly recommend the Eielson shuttle.

Great, thanks, that's what I was wondering about getting car rental from/to the same location. I am planning three full days in Denali, and know that won't be near enough.

Is this shuttle bus one you can hop on/off from? I would love to make it the full distance in, but am not sure if there is anything but a narrated tour bus going the full 91 miles. I will give up some of the distance for the freedom to get on/off the bus, sightsee, and hike a short bit. How much of the 8 hours was "free" time, or is the entire 8 hours driving?

I have been scouring the boards for the past several hours (and have gotten lots of great information that I wasn't even looking for, so thank you to everyone who shares on these boards!) but I do still have a logistical question about the best way to manage our DIY land tour after a north-bound cruise next summer. We will disembark in Whittier, and my plan initially was to rent a car in Whittier (very limited selection and must reserve well in advance, I know) ... drive down to Seward, spend 2-3 days there, then drive from Seward to Denali, spend 2-3 days there, then drive back to Anchorage, return car, and fly home. This is for a group of four of us. I realize that Seward is a bit out of the way, but we are military and can stay at the resort and really want to do some of the excursions in that area. We visited Seward almost 10 years ago after a NB cruise and it was a highlight, so we are excited about repeating.

I am wondering specifically:

1. Would it make for a cheaper car rental if we took the shuttle from Whittier to Anchorage, rented a car there, and then drove back down to Seward? Would it save enough money that back-tracking that drive would be worth it?

2. Is there any advantage to flying out of Fairbanks instead of Anchorage, and would that impact or benefit the car rental at all?

We are flying from home to Vancouver pre-cruise, so we're not buying a round-trip ticket to/from any one place ..... I'm guessing we could fly home from Fairbanks or Anchorage, whichever is easier/cheaper/more convenient.

Last time we rented the car in Whittier, drove to Seward, then returned the car in Anchorage before our flight home. We are super excited to add a few days in Denali this time, but I'm not quite sure the best way to work this out that is both cost- and time-efficient.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I realize I am almost a year out but some of the reservations for hotels/cars open up then and I want to get some decisions made. Thank you!!

Kristie

Excellent, thank you so much. That answers my question and will allow me to make more specific plans, knowing its better to do it on our own. I lurk on these boards more than I post when planning, and you have always been so gracious to help others ..... I sincerely appreciate it!

I realize I'm a few months later than everyone else, but I just starting researching my DIY land tour of Denali, and want to thank you for such a thorough, helpful review. And as everyone else has said, wonderful job on the photos!!

Twice before my husband and I have done the north bound (Vancouver to Whittier) cruise with Princess and loved it. Both times we disembarked in Whittier, rented a car, drove down to Seward for a few days, then drove ourselves back up to Anchorage for the flight home. We are able to stay in the military lodge in Seward and its a great add-on to the trip. This time, we want to add on a few more days up near Denali. My question is should we keep our rental car and drive ourselves all the way up, from Seward to Denali, or catch a later land tour with Princess (or another recommended tour company) from Whittier or Anchorage? We are comfortable driving ourselves, but are there advantages to having personal transportation in Denali? I worry we will be missing out by not taking the train ............. thoughts? Suggestions? We have a pretty flexible schedule so can consider about any option. Thanks in advance!!

Thanks for chiming in! I'm going to call tomorrow and book it .... I'm really excited and am happy to hear from someone else who loved it. :)

I should clarify in that above post, I wasn't tipping $100 for the entire group of 16 on the excursion ..... just our six. The other people tipped for themselves, I assume. After re-reading that I realize it might not have been clear.

I agree, tipping is pretty much expected (and usually well-deserved) on excursions, in my opinion. The amount I tip depends on the excursion itself, how many of us there are in our group (am I paying for just me and my spouse, or our kids, or sometimes my mom joins in as well ..... ) and how hard the guide(s) is working. When we zip lined in Roatan a few years ago, there were six of us. The guides were phenomenal with my 70 year old mom .... they helped her with the stairs and treated her like gold to make sure she could do everything safely. She said it was the adventure of a lifetime. :) They were also fantastic with my kids, ensuring it was a great adventure. There were four of them (we had about ten others with us) and I had no qualms handing them a $100 bill when it was over. Normally, though, its more like $10 per person for an "average" excursion ...... I hope if I'm being way cheap someone here will let me know!!

I have never snorkeled here so I can't compare the two, but our group did cave tubing a few years back and loved it. It does involve walking quite a ways and carrying your tube, so make sure everyone is pretty mobile. People who can't walk well or far should not do this. We went in March (spring break) so the water in the caves was pretty cool, but it was awesome. Our tour included lunch and my only complaint was that while the food was good, we ate it sitting on the bus, from plates on our laps. I think after eating on a cruise ship for several days I had gotten a little spoiled. ha!! :) Great day, highly recommend.

We are in port from 7am until midnight (New Years Eve) so I feel comfortable having enough time ... I'm a little worried it might be too cold that time of year. How much of this excursion is actually spent in the water, ie, snorkeling? I'm glad to hear you liked it. I'm leaning seriously towards booking it for me and my kids.

Thanks for the help!

In researching excursions for our day in Nassau during our upcoming holiday cruise, I am considering this excursion for me and my three teens. We are in port from 7 am until midnight so I'm pretty sure we have time for the 8-hour trip, and would still be back on board for whatever New Years Eve activities they have planned on the cruise ship.

My question is, I'm finding several different websites that advertise this excursion. Three, in particular, have almost the exact same wording, verbatim, on their websites: Best On Bahamas, Power Boat Adventures, and Majestic Tours Bahamas. Then, I've also read good reviews about Island World Adventures, although I'm not certain if they go to the exact same island in Exuma .... ??

Can anyone shed light on this, and give any pros or cons of one company over another? Recommendations for this trip, in general? I would really appreciate it. At $200 per person, it makes for a pretty expensive day and I want to be sure its something that will be (at least potentially) worth the money.

Thanks in advance!!

Well, that's encouraging, thanks!!

Thanks to both of you for replying .... that is pretty much what I expected, but I'm glad to have it confirmed. :)

Just booked a 5-day cruise through the Bahamas for the time period between Christmas and New Years, with stops in Cococay and Nassau ... I checked weather channels and it looks like average temperature that time of year is about 80 degrees. I'm now looking to plan some excursions but am wondering if anyone can advise if the water will be warm enough for snorkeling, swimming, wave runners, water playland, etc, or if I should perhaps be focusing on more inland activities? I'm kind of a pansy, and prefer my water fairly warm. :)

Any advice would be much appreciated ... thanks!!