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Your experince with cruise tour JB5 Denali Explorer out of Fairbanks


DESTINATIONCRUISER
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You wouldn't be on school buses for a Princess tour. They have nice comfortable buses. We only did a cruisetour once, but I certainly didn't find it tiring. They take excellent care of you.

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The cruise tour we took in 2012 was similar except that we traveled by train from Fairbanks to Denali and by bus the rest of the way. If you take this tour, check into seeing whether you can upgrade from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour. We were glad we did. The Tundra Wilderness goes much farther into the park. We saw lots of wildlife that our friends on the Natural History Tour did not get to see.

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The cruise tour we took in 2012 was similar except that we traveled by train from Fairbanks to Denali and by bus the rest of the way. If you take this tour, check into seeing whether you can upgrade from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour. We were glad we did. The Tundra Wilderness goes much farther into the park. We saw lots of wildlife that our friends on the Natural History Tour did not get to see.

 

Thanks

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Train and bus are on same route except for one canyon north of Denali that is only visible by train. We found seats on train less comfortable than the transport buses, but we were on the older dinette seating glass roof cars. You can get up and move around. Downside of train is you spend a lot of time waiting for it and it moves very slowly in Anchorage area.

 

Tours in Denali are on large buses similar to school buses but with much better seating. Good views and a zoom camera that the guide can get better viewing of animals. You spend most of the day with the windows down unless it is raining.

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We did a connoisseur escorted cruise tour in 2014. Our tour director always referred to our transportation as a motor coach. Someone asked him why he did not call it a bus. He explained that a motor coach has a rest room and a bus does not. The motor coaches we rode in were very nice as was the train car we took for one part of the tour. The bus we rode into the Denali park was not under the control of Princess. It was ok until it overheated and we had to stop and wait for a mechanic. The park keeps a spare bus to use in case of a break down but it was already in use. It was still a great tour and we missed very little. Princess, even though they were in no way responsible for the breakdown, still gave us all some form of compensation. I don't recall what that was.

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We are considering booking the JB5 cruise tour and we would appreciate your feedback on this tour.

 

How tiring is it with all the school buses and moving from lodge to lodge then the 5 hour train ride to port.

 

Thanks

Ken

 

We did this tour last May/June. Started in Fairbanks, took train to Denali (served a delicious bfast enroute); very comfy seats and excellent viewing from dome car. Next stop was McKinley, we did the motorcoach this time. Less room to move around but comfortable enough. Next stop on motorcoach was Kenai, probably my favorite spot! Finally, it was the motorcoach again to Whittier to join the Coral. Loved the itinerary. Would do it again.

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