Alaska Cruisetour Suggestions

DW and I believe our RT from Seattle cruise was our favorite cruise thus far (even though glacier Bay was a total foggy mess). We really wanted to do a longer trip and add on a land package as well. I’m thinking we will do a southbound cruise and was hoping someone could recommend one of the land portions as it looks like there are several options to choose from.

Thanks for the suggestions!

We did a connieussseur cruise tour and loved it. More expensive than doing it on your own but everything was taken care of for us. Totally loved the trip. We did 2 days in Fairbanks, 2 days at Denali lodge (with the Tundra Wilderness Tour which was included), and 2 days at McKinley lodge (where the mountain actually came out from behind the clouds!). We are hoping for our next one to hit both Copper River and Kenai lodges. I'd do the longest land portion you can swing.

Four years ago we did a cruisetour that started in Anchorage. We paid for our meals. This year we are going to Fairbanks first and then 4 nights in the Denali area. We chose the cruisetour that has a tour guide and most meals are included.(PB6) Princess does a wonderful job. Whichever one you choose you won't be disappointed. Joyce

We did a connieussseur cruise tour and loved it. More expensive than doing it on your own but everything was taken care of for us. Totally loved the trip. We did 2 days in Fairbanks, 2 days at Denali lodge (with the Tundra Wilderness Tour which was included), and 2 days at McKinley lodge (where the mountain actually came out from behind the clouds!). We are hoping for our next one to hit both Copper River and Kenai lodges. I'd do the longest land portion you can swing.

Thanks Thrak. A lot of the ones we are looking at are 1 day in each of the places you stopped for 2. Would we be doing ourselves a big disservice by not spending 2 days or can you hit the major items in just 1 day? We probably won’t get back up here for another 10 years or so as there are a lot of other places we want to head to in the coming years.

Four years ago we did a cruisetour that started in Anchorage. We paid for our meals. This year we are going to Fairbanks first and then 4 nights in the Denali area. We chose the cruisetour that has a tour guide and most meals are included.(PB6) Princess does a wonderful job. Whichever one you choose you won't be disappointed. Joyce

This will definitely be our plan, not so much for the food but for the guide. I just like knowing everything is taken care of and have always enjoyed the Princess excursions.

Thanks Thrak. A lot of the ones we are looking at are 1 day in each of the places you stopped for 2. Would we be doing ourselves a big disservice by not spending 2 days or can you hit the major items in just 1 day? We probably won’t get back up here for another 10 years or so as there are a lot of other places we want to head to in the coming years.

It depends. At Denali lodge the Tundra Wilderness Tour takes most of the day. Would you be able to do that? The shorter Natural History Tour only goes a little way into the park and most people say they don't really get to see the wildlife on that one. It's shorter duration and, of course, less expensive but most people recommend the longer one. That was included as part of the connoisseur tour. We didn't see the mountain (Denali) at McKinley until the second day. It's usually hidden by clouds and you only see a bit of it here and there. There was a couple in our group who were there for the 5th time and this was the first time they had actually seen the mountain. Had we been there only for one day we would have missed it but who can say that it won't be visible another day. There were folks working in the lodge who had been there most of the season and never seen the mountain!

Only you can decide what you are going to be able to do. We splurged on the connoisseur tour and were happy we did so but, like I said, it was a splurge. Like you, we thought we wouldn't be back for a long time Hah! We did a 7 week camping trip last year that took us through multiple Canadian provinces and up to Fairbanks. We camped in Denali Park and visited Kenai National Park and ate lunch at the Copper River Lodge. We are definitely planning to go back again. It kind of gets under your skin or something. (Our first cruise ever was a 10 day round trip from San Francisco to Alaska.) My suggestion is to do as much as you can - especially if you don't think you can go back for a long time.

Thanks Thrak. A lot of the ones we are looking at are 1 day in each of the places you stopped for 2. Would we be doing ourselves a big disservice by not spending 2 days or can you hit the major items in just 1 day? We probably won’t get back up here for another 10 years or so as there are a lot of other places we want to head to in the coming years.

I strongly suggest that you spend 2 nights at each lodge you go to. If you only spend one night, then every day is one-half travel leaving little time to really experience Alaska. With a 2 night stay, you travel every other day and have a full day in between to enjoy where you are.

My report of my tour several years ago is at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1727858

The picture hosting site may or may not allow the photos to be shown, but the text should be helpful even if the photos are not there.

Thanks caribill and thrak, this is a lot of help!

I agree with Thrak and Caribill that you should take the longest connoisseur escorted tour. We did the 15 day cruise tour in 2014 and greatly benefited from Caribill's very good review of his tour. On our tour we spent two days in Fairbanks with two included excursions. We then spent two days at Denali with the Tundra Wilderness tour of the park and a dinner theater included. We then spent one day at McKinley and 3 at Kenai. All lodges were great but my favorite was the Kenai lodge. All our breakfasts and dinners were included as well as some lunches. We were a group of 12.

Next year we have booked another 15 day connoisseur escorted tour. There are now 21 in our group.

It will be just like the one we took in 2014 as far as Fairbanks and Denali go but with going to the Copper River lodge for 2 nights and two nights at the Kenai lodge instead of the McKinley lodge for 1 night and Kenai for 3 nights.

If you make any trip to Alaska and do not become eager to do it again, you will be among the minority.

I think you may want to start with deciding your priorities of things to see and do, see which tours fit those best, and then figure out what your budget and vacation time (if applicable) will allow. Happy planning!

Sent from my SM-G930R6 using Forums mobile app

Only input I feel strongly enough to offer is taking the longer Tundra Wilderness Tour vice the shorter Natural History Tour from Denali Lodge (echoing Thrak). We didn't realize we were booked on the shorter one, managed to negotiate for the last couple seats on the longer one the night before departure. At the point where the guide told us the shorter one would've turned around, we hadn't yet seen a single animal -- everything we saw came in the second half of the trip, deeper into the park. Later in our land portion, we overheard a number of frustrated people who spent 4 hours on the Natural History Tour and didn't see any animals at all. I'd rather spend the extra time/money to increase the likelihood that I'm going to see some wildlife. Otherwise, I don't think there're many activities you could choose that you'd find dissatisfying.

If you like beer (real beer - not Bud or Coors) be sure to go into Talkeetna and try beer at the Denali Brewing Company Brew Pub in town. There's no way to know what they will have when you are there but they will have their staples and likely some seasonal specialty beers. It is very good beer. (The actual brewery is a few miles outside town and they sell beer there as well. They have a few tables outside.)

You MUST spend two nights in Denali and do the Wilderness tour or set up reservations with Park Service (which doesn't pick up at the hotel). McKinley lodge is in the middle of nowhere 40 minutes west of Talkeetna. While mountain view and northern lights are good we did one trip where you couldn't even see the river below the lodge due to fog - no mountain. Most expensive dinner we have ever had was there. While we would like to take a flight-seeing trip out of there it isn't worth our time to go back. Bus runs into Talkeetna every hour but costs after one trip. Lodge in Fairbanks is OK - very large rooms and good view of northern lights, but it is just a hotel.

Train is fun but you do spend a lot of time waiting for it. Did all train on first trip and McKinley to Denali leg on bus on second trip.

Third trip up there we did B2B Island from Vancouver and got to see Glacier Bay twice in four days and the 26 Glacier Cruise in Whittier.

I agree with Thrak and Caribill that you should take the longest connoisseur escorted tour. We did the 15 day cruise tour in 2014 and greatly benefited from Caribill's very good review of his tour. On our tour we spent two days in Fairbanks with two included excursions. We then spent two days at Denali with the Tundra Wilderness tour of the park and a dinner theater included. We then spent one day at McKinley and 3 at Kenai. All lodges were great but my favorite was the Kenai lodge. All our breakfasts and dinners were included as well as some lunches. We were a group of 12.

Next year we have booked another 15 day connoisseur escorted tour. There are now 21 in our group.

It will be just like the one we took in 2014 as far as Fairbanks and Denali go but with going to the Copper River lodge for 2 nights and two nights at the Kenai lodge instead of the McKinley lodge for 1 night and Kenai for 3 nights.

If you make any trip to Alaska and do not become eager to do it again, you will be among the minority.

we did this one last summer and absolutely loved it. Copper River was great . we went to kennicott

I would suggest flying there and back or at least fly out if Kennicott/st Elias is of any interest to you

We probably didn't eat our moneys worth since I had one adult and 2 kids and the kids don't eat much but it was fantastic having everything arranged, dinner reservations made for a time that suited us, etc.

Made travel super easy.

We have also done DIY Alaska--

love Alaska no matter which way -- you should have a great time

We did the connoisseur tour in 2014 but I felt I would rather have done a flight to the mountain and maybe some other stuff in Denali rather than spend 8 hours on a bus. Wildlife is really hit or miss just like seeing the mountain. We did have some good views but it’s a long day and not good for the bladder. The rest of the connoisseur especially the train was awesome.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Only input I feel strongly enough to offer is taking the longer Tundra Wilderness Tour vice the shorter Natural History Tour from Denali Lodge (echoing Thrak). We didn't realize we were booked on the shorter one, managed to negotiate for the last couple seats on the longer one the night before departure. At the point where the guide told us the shorter one would've turned around, we hadn't yet seen a single animal -- everything we saw came in the second half of the trip, deeper into the park. Later in our land portion, we overheard a number of frustrated people who spent 4 hours on the Natural History Tour and didn't see any animals at all. I'd rather spend the extra time/money to increase the likelihood that I'm going to see some wildlife. Otherwise, I don't think there're many activities you could choose that you'd find dissatisfying.

We just did the Tundra Wilderness Tour today. I highly recommend it! I just finished a blog post about it HERE.