masterdrago

We decided against spending the $4k on the cruise land tour when we discovered the same $4k would get us much more on a DIY. I posted somewhere else but..... Rent car in Anchorage, 2 nights at Talkeetna (Talkeetna Air Taxi - Grand Denali w/glacier landing), 2 nights at Denali (Jeep Excursion 100+ mile), maybe do the cheap non narrated bus up to mile 55 (non narrated), 2 nights Alyeska/Girdwood 5 hr Prince William Sound Glacier Cruise, drop rent car at Anchorage, bus trip to Seward - Seward Windsong then board on 24th. Having the rent car is much more freedom to explore our thoughts than the RCI land tours.That gives us 1 day between each excursion to do our own driving tours and sight-seeing. Cost the same as the ship land tour with deluxe accommodations.

Look at PJ's taxi

 

https://www.pjstaxi.net

Checked with them (her). Get your wallet ready. But I here she really knows the area and is a great wealth of information.

One more thing. If you are really set on spending some time in Denali, don't let the Eielson thing stop you.The drive from Anchorage to Denali is 5 hours if you don't sight-see. On May 27 you have 19:10 hours of daylight at Denali (Mt. McKinley) - you're young - who needs sleep?

If you do Radiance on May 24th, you will be spending your anniversary in Skagway 7am-8:30pm. Lots of great excursions there - scenic rail tours, glacier by helicopter or ATV, Zip-lining, etc. See https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/excursions/?port=AKSG&date=2019-05-27

We'll board Radiance on May 24th in Seward, cruise overnight (400 miles), then cruise Hubbard Glacier for a couple of hours on 25th. Then do Juneau, Skagway (still no excursions planned), Icy Straight Point (Glacier Winds Charters), Ketchikan (Island Wings), cruise inside passage, end at Vancouver. We had a pre-cruise land tour booked with RCI but after doing the math, $4,000 goes way, way farther with a DIY land tour. Rent car in Anchorage, 2 nights at Talkeetna (Talkeetna Air Taxi - Grand Denali w/glacier landing), 2 nights at Denali (Jeep Excursion 100+ mile), maybe do the cheap non narrated bus up to mile 55 (non narrated), 2 nights Alyeska/Girdwood 5 hr Prince William Sound Glacier Cruise, drop rent car at Anchorage, bus trip to Seward - Seward Windsong then board on 24th. Having the rent car is much more freedom to explore our thoughts than the RCI land tours.

Just looking at the small scale at https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseto/itinerary-1063/

Looks to me like a starboard side cabin gets to look at mostly water like the cruises in the Caribbean.

Am I looking at this from the wrong perspective? And yes, I know we are not "locked" in the cabin! But, you pay your $$ for a GS w/balcony for a reason.

If you have looked around the board here, you have heard from "real" cruisers, who frequently say, it really doesn't matter which side you book on. You aren't locked in your cabin, and the scenery is all around you.

Thanks for the feedback, cruiserbruce. I may have read it on the RCI blog but not sure. I was just curious what others have experienced since on other cruises we have enjoyed our time on the balcony but this is our 1st Alaska trip. Still, I've been looking at the map that RCI provides and was wanting more detail. I might try to run the plot on Google Earth myself but wanted to wait if someone else has already done the work.

I've read somewhere that the view while cruising from Seward to Vancouver is pretty much the same regardless of which side of the ship the cabin is on. I would like to hear from real cruisers about this.

 

 

Has anyone created a Google Earth file that we can view that plots the path of the cruise ship during the cruise? The itinerary is:

Seward

Hubbard Glacier (cruising)

Juneau

Skagway

Icy Strait Point

Ketchikan

Inside Passage (cruising)

Vancouver

We have found this very helpful..

http://www.alaska.org/assets/content/related_items_pdfs/The-Ultimate-Alaska-Road-Map-Book.pdf

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I did consider that early on but dropped the idea when I discovered that the rental charge would be $500-800 more than a mid sized car. Also have to factor in the difference in fuel cost - 18mpg vs 30 - gas for full trip would be ~$80 more. It's just money......

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Well, I managed to talk Joy into riding a Otter or a Beaver and do a 2 hour flight around Denali with a glacier landing!! http://www.talkeetnaair.com/

 

 

I also found a tour that will be giving us more freedom on a back-road. http://www.alaska.org/detail/denali-highway-jeep-excursions

 

 

So I know there is a lot to "see" but had not checked into any tours other than the TWT which only goes to mile 53 the week we are there. I was even finally to find a glacier watch that will fit into our calendar. Several in fact. It just took help from folks on the CC and detaching from the RCI pre cruise land tour. For the same $$, we will get much more bang for the buck.

You visit in May? You need to check the beginning dates for the Tundra Wilderness Tour, the shuttle and the (worthless) Natural History Tour.

 

You may be too early for the good tours.

That's one of the reasons we are considering dropping the RCI land tour week beginning 5/18 (too much fluff in tour). In our DIY thoughts, we would take the green bus as far as mile 53 (Toklat) which only consumes 1 day. But part of my question is what other part of Denali will we be able to "tour" other than view the great scenery of the range from I-4 from Talkeetna up beyond Healy? Since Joy will not set foot in a Cessna, we won't be taking any flight tours! It looks like we can take some time to ride the Alaska Railroad.

Doing a southbound from Seward on RCI next May. Right now we have a pre-cruise land tour attached. We are considering dropping it and doing DIY instead. I keep reading that the bus tundra tour only goes to mile 53 with some saying it is a big waste and to take the green bus DIY. Is going in May preventing us from seeing most of Denali? Any suggestions to help us see Denali in May at its best?

Just ran into a Grand Suite cabin 1554 next to our 1556 on deck 10 of Radiance that was not available when we booked in June for May 2019. So never too late. I would say balcony is great always. Others will not agree. We do not go into Glacier Bay. Wish we did. Also arrival time in port of Juneau is not good for glacier watching tours. Having to work that out with a DIY land tour that fits in Prince William Sound. May and August/Sept look lower cost. Good luck and have fun.

We often carry our Steiner 10x42 and Nikon 7x35 without case to save space in a backpack carry-on. It's padded fairly well and also carries some camera gear. If you'll be storing in a hardside carry-on, I would suggest wrapping in some clothing stuff. Most binoculars are amazingly stout and should not get damaged in any way inside a carry-on unless packed loosely with several bottles of wine and rocks picked up on the roadside;)

We want to take this tour so badly but their departure time does not work for our ship arrival time. 8:15 vs 9:00. We are looking at Glacier Wind Charters out of Icy Strait Point and True Alaskan Tours out of Juneau also known as Allen Marine Tours. Look them up. Looking hard for a long (7+ hours) glacier tour!!

The current rule is that all guests age 21 and over in the same stateroom must buy the Deluxe package if one buys it.

We get an exception on all our cruises. I don't drink alcohol. Never have. I do get the refreshment package. Wife gets deluxe.

I could be lured into a deluxe drink package with shakes added. Too bad Radiance has no Johnny Rockets!

If the OP took the shot near July 25th, it had to be during Nautical twilight - 10:29pm-3:36am. But he does not say what time in his post.

It could be dusk or dawn. I have several photos I've take of a sunset with the aurora out of Fairbanks. In May in Fairbanks, chances are about zero of seeing aurora.

How true but sad because when we will be there, daylight is 19h10m and civil twilight is 4h50m. There is simply no nautical or astronomical twilight. https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/fairbanks

Trouble with buying diamonds in a foreign country or onboard is how does on tell if they are real? And don't get me on the gemstone Tanzanite!

 

 

 

Here is my take after 2 Caribbean cruises. My wife is a huge jewelry wearer and spends big $$$ all the time. On our first cruise we were very careful and stayed away from most jewelry shops except for several small purchases on the ship last day. Second cruise I was not so lucky. Got talked into a nice looking Invicta watch. Retail $800, got it onboard for under $200. When I got back home, found it on AMZN for $107!! Then when Wife cruised a few shops in Roatan with all their sparkle, she got trapped on a complete set of Zultanite. Really pretty stuff. Bartered down to $1,200. Got it home to find one of the earrings had broke away from the hook. Took it to our jeweler friend and discovered that it was cold soldered. He replaced the ring and laser welded both of the pair. He also discovered that most of the post on the bracelet holding the Zultanite stones cracked. They had apparently replaced the original white stones and while doing so cracked them. Cheap ass Mexican jewelry that our jeweler said was most likely made in some 3rd world country.

 

 

We will never buy any type of jewelry on a cruise again. In the past all her jewelry is southwest from the same custom maker in Albuquerque and or Calvin Begay. Never again!

Use a search engine that allows you to compare flights each way on different airlines. We used one airline to Vancouver and a different airline from Anchorage since that offered the best overall price.

 

Also check flights to Seattle, since they can SOMETIMES be substantially cheaper, even factoring in transportation from Seattle to Vancouver.

 

 

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Ditto on this plan. When we head back from a southbound cruise next year, we are seeing the best plan is to rent a car in Vancouver, drive to Seattle, then a single nonstop 4 hour flight to Houston. Sometimes as low as $99. Also book ~90 days out

Pretty amazing. I would be interested in what time local the pix were taken. we will be in Fairbanks next May and I'm always monitoring the activity reports. Thanks so much for posting.