Alaska Cruise Tour O

I am considering booking this Cruise Tour with the post-tour cruise on the Coral Princess.

I'd appreciate opinions about the Cruise Tour part of the package, particularly. Opinions about the value of having a Tour Escort and opinions about the two Princess Lodges used are sought.

And, what was your experience using the Denali to Whittier rail service? Was the seating in the rail car with all seats facing forward or with seats at tables with two of those traveling backwards?

Many thanks for your help.

Which lodges are you asking about?

Rail service was very good. we had a connoisseur package. half of the seats faced backward

Not sure I remember which cruisetour we did, so apologies if I’m offering input on something other than “O.” Ours visited Fairbanks, Denali, and Mt McKinley Princess lodges. All were very nice places, but we’d probably skip Mt McKinley lodge if we had a second shot at the trip — not much to do there, and any activities available nearby were generally a long trip. We actually got bored at that particular lodge and were very eager to move on.

The train was nice (good food, great service), but it was table seating (2 forward facing seats, 2 backward per table) and there wasn’t much room to get comfortable — our 5 hour ride was more than enough of the experience. We’d ride the train again, but wouldn’t want one of the 8-9 hour journeys — too much.

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We have a different cruisetour booked for next June. Looks like booking in advance would be a good idea. Our tour sold out almost a year before departure.

We took a Coral cruisetour in August 2015 and had an excellent experience. We took the northbound cruise and then the train to Denali Princess Lodge for two nights and then on to McKinley. Our train seating was the traditional two seats facing forward. We enjoy trains so the length of the trip wasn't a problem for us. The crew on the train was very accommodating. At one point an Iditarod musher and her husband boarded the train and spoke to us. Very interesting. The lodges were clean and comfortable, but not fancy. I agree with the previous poster who said that there wasn't much to do at the McKinley Lodge. If I remember correctly there was a speaker who had climbed to the top of Denali. While we stayed at Denali Lodge we took the longer bus tour into the park. We had a skillful driver who shared a great deal of information about the park and wildlife and we saw a number of animals including several grizzlies.

We did not have a tour Escort and never felt the need for one. The train crew members and bus driver/guide that we had were excellent. Another aspect of our trip that we really enjoyed was our pre-cruise stay in Vancouver. What an interesting city. We're glad that we spent a few days there before our cruise.

I'm guessing that those who didn't enjoy the McKinley lodge didn't get to see the mountain. We were on a connoisseur tour and there was a couple in the group who were visiting for the fifth time. They had never seen the mountain. On our last morning there all the clouds rolled away and the mountain came out in all its glory. Fantastic. Simply fantastic. It's also the lodge from which one can visit Talkeetna. The Denali Brewing Company is right outside of town and there is a brew pub in town. Excellent beer. Truly excellent - and my wife and I are admitted beer snobs. We live in Chico where the original Sierra Nevada Brewery is located. I'd buy the Denali Brewing Company beer any day if we could get it here.

We had the train setup with the table and two couples facing each other. Of course since it was the connoisseur tour they were a couple we had been traveling with in the group. Our guide tried to mix it up with different couples. Meals were provided (my wife had the 3 kinds of crab legs one night. (Something like $60 or so.) We ate dinner with a nice couple of women from out of the country. We had lunch with a different couple and we shared a table (and lunch) with a different couple on the train. It was good.

While it definitely cost more for the connoisseur tour we thoroughly enjoyed it and felt we were well taken care of by the tour guide. I don't know if it mattered but we had good lodge locations. At the Denali lodge we had a nice view of the river from our window. There was a small island just below us and a cow moose and her calf came to that spot to feed both morning and evening. Very cool.

We plan to do another cruise tour to Alaska and would like to hit both Copper River Lodge and Kenai Lodge this time. We actually stopped at the Copper River Lodge last summer on a camping trip. It was raining and we decided to hit the lodge for a while. We had Irish Coffee then lunch and then more Irish Coffee sitting on a sofa by a nice fire and reading. It made for a very pleasant break from the rainy weather. I've looked and the only organized tours I see that include both lodges are also connoisseur tours so we may well go that route again. It certainly was easy.