Denali explorer customization

In general, you can not customize tours - what you see or much more likely what they don't exactly tell you about is what you get. That is why many of us hate tours and only do DIY trips. If you feel that you must do AK off a cruise ship, why not switch from the cruisetour to a cruise and then design your own DIY trip either before or after your cruise.

DON

In general, you can not customize tours - what you see or much more likely what they don't exactly tell you about is what you get. That is why many of us hate tours and only do DIY trips. If you feel that you must do AK off a cruise ship, why not switch from the cruisetour to a cruise and then design your own DIY trip either before or after your cruise.

 

DON

Thank you to everyone for the great tips!!!

I decided to cancel the land part of the cruise. We will DIY. Contrary to what my TA led me to believe, it looks pretty easy to do... (The TA told us doing the land portion ourselves was near impossible unless we had an RV)

We will stay 2 nights near Denali and take the shuttle buses to Eielson. Hoping to do some hiking also while we're there :D

Thanks for the good info.

I originally boked the 5 day pre cruise tour, one of the last ones in Sep 2019. After reading your posts I changed it to the 6 day with 2 nights in Fairbanks, 2 nights in Denali and 2 nights in McKinley with the upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness tour.

Thank you to everyone for the great tips!!!

 

I decided to cancel the land part of the cruise. We will DIY. Contrary to what my TA led me to believe, it looks pretty easy to do... (The TA told us doing the land portion ourselves was near impossible unless we had an RV)

 

We will stay 2 nights near Denali and take the shuttle buses to Eielson. Hoping to do some hiking also while we're there :D

For a DIY land tour, I advise you to make a firm itinerary schedule and then make your hotel reservations as far in advance as you can. You can not count on finding a vacancy if you don't.

We have been to AK 6 times and just use the cruise line buses for transportation. We just tell the tour guide/coach commander that we will meet you in (fill in the blank). The first time we did it, it was a little unnerving to watch our paid for transportation drive off. Now we think it’s the only way to see AK.

We have been to AK 6 times and just use the cruise line buses for transportation. We just tell the tour guide/coach commander that we will meet you in (fill in the blank). The first time we did it, it was a little unnerving to watch our paid for transportation drive off. Now we think it’s the only way to see AK.

:o Actually, the second best way to see Alaska. If you really want an adventure, pull the plug and move "North, to Alaska". We lived there for 4 years...quite an adventure in deed.

:o Actually, the second best way to see Alaska. If you really want an adventure, pull the plug and move "North, to Alaska". We lived there for 4 years...quite an adventure in deed.

Yes! If I was 25 years younger, I’d be there too.

Going to Denali the end of June 2019. Planning on a Jeep excursion (guided)that leaves 6:30 pm. Has anyone ever done it, and what did you think