LIVE from Fairbanks to Vancouver cruisetour 9/6/09

[Pia1913]

Since there are many CC folks who are also interested in the Princess land tours, I decided to do this LIVE starting in Fairbanks. We will be touring for eight days prior to boarding the Coral in Whittier on September 14th. So, come along with me as we start our journey at the Princess Riverside Lodge.

We actually arrived last night; three flights, but we and our luggage finally made it a little past 10 PM Alaska time. Our bodies knew it was really 2 AM. Stayed at Holiday Inn and checked into the Riverside Lodge early this morning. They gave us our room at 10:30; nice and big with a view of the river. We are travelling with Donna and Dennis from Hawaii and they were able to check in at 7:00 AM. We met our tour leader Gil, he gave us preliminary info and we will meet with the entire group at breakfast tomorrow AM. Meanwhile we wanted to pick up a few items; i.e. wine, Pepsi, etc. so we all hiked about 2+ miles to Fred Meyer, a large store like Super WalMart. Had lunch there too and bought salads for a quickie dinner tonight. We are not martyrs; took a taxi back to the hotel.

The lodge is big; very rustic; very nice. Our rooms are in the main building so no trudging outside. The weather right now is wonderful; probably 70ish. Sunny, no wind. We are very surprised and very happy. Hope it stays that way. And of course wifi; fast and free. I am typing this at the desk in my room, and I’ll be back when there’s more to report.

[mississauga]

Thanks Pia for taking us along with you. What is your itinerary for your landtours? Have you done this before or is this new for you too?

 

Enjoy and we will also enjoy along with you!:D:D:D

Edited September 6, 2009 by mississauga

[coo359a2]

Glad ya'll were able to get all the important things purchased. We will be waiting for further updates. Hi to Donna and Dennis:)

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy!! We will follow along. :D

[Tweedy]

Looking forward to reading your adventures over the next two weeks and then meeting up with you on the 21st.

[Starlaker]

Thanks for taking the time to post. We will enjoy doing the land part with you vicariously. We will be joining you on the 14th in Whittier. Can't wait!

[Francine]

Hi Pia,

This is the first time I am following someone's land tour. Thanks for taking us along with you.

Hi to Mike, Donna and Dennis, too.

Fran

[cruisingallover]

Hi Pia....can only follow along till Friday and then we are off to the Island Princess in Vancouver. Is it possible that we are always just missing each other :(

[Pia1913]

Thanks Pia for taking us along with you. What is your itinerary for your landtours? Have you done this before or is this new for you too?

 

Enjoy and we will also enjoy along with you!:D:D:D

 

Yes, this is all new for us. We have two tours scheduled for tomorrow. Early AM is called "El Dorado Gold Mine" tour and in the afternoon its a riverboat for several hours "M/V Discovery." All this is included in the tour price, including our meals. We chose to do the all inclusive tour and not

be concerned about where to eat and costs involved. Therefore, I won't be able to report on costs, but there is a sign here that says continental breakfast is $9.50 and I believe buffet breakfast is $14.95. I will take note of it and let you know.

[Jeff&Pam]

We are flying out on 9/9 to start our cruisetour, doing the FB5...then joining you on Coral... glad the weather is sooo nice! sounds like I might need to bring some short sleeve T's too!

[ellbon]

i stayed in this lodge 4 years ago. nice lodge. food was OK. never ate breakfast. paid for all meals. preferred getting what i wanted when i was hungry. food is expensive in Alaska.

 

also did the tours Pia is doing. riverboat was fun.. did lots of Cmas shopping at the store right there. I was bored at the gold mine.. took too long.

 

also flew over the Arctic circle- worth every penny to say i did it plus to see a real small town-20 people- mail can comes by dog sled in winter.

[Toto2Kansas]

Looking forward to the tour reports, glad to hear your weather is pleasent!

[Rockymountainsparky]

Thanks Pia, looking forward to all the posts.

[Lynda90]

Hi Pia, thanks for taking us along on your trip. Looking forward to the rest of your journey. :p

[JWJs]

Hi Pia. Your "live from" is absolutely delightful. As you know, we leave Wednesday for Anchorage for our land tour and will meet up with you on the 14th in Whittier for the cruise! :D

Yikes...is it really me typing this reply???? :D I can hardly believe DH and I will be meeting up with you and yours and everyone else from the 12/14/09 Coral roll call.

Really great reading about your stay and activities in Fairbanks! Looking forward to reading more before we head out on Wednesday. Maybe Continential will have free wifi on our flight from Kansas City to Houston and then on to Anchorage. Since you got free wifi on Delta, I will be looking for it on whatever airlines we fly from now on.

Hope the nice warm weather continues for you all....with no rain. I want to take a ton of pictures and rain kind of hampers getting good ones.

 

Continue having a fabulous time. See you all soon!

Jeanne J

Edited September 7, 2009 by JWJs

[Pia1913]

Good Morning from Fairbanks where it is currently quite chilly, but clear. Our group numbers 37 and we will depart for our first tour at 8:30. FYI, we are 4 hours behind EST

 

Our tour leader Guy (sorry, called him Gil yesterday) is 6'6" so we will have no trouble spotting him. He has been a Princess tour leader for 14 years. We all met for preliminary instructions during breakfast and it looks as if we will get additional info as the day goes on. We did get our special luggage tags. Pink says "join me on board ship" and Green says "travel with me." Also special tags just for Denali which will be our next hotel. So far it seems as if Princess has this well organized.

 

As an aside, the lovely young lady at the front desk, Megan, is the daughter of a CC member, so if you do get to this lodge stop by and say hello.

 

Off to the gold mine. More later.

[paul929207]

Thanks for posting about your trip. Have a great tour.

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy!

[Timbles]

Megan called me last night to say you had found her and introduced yourself. Very sweet of you! How about this beautiful weather and 'changing of the trees' that we ordered just for you?

[Jeff&Pam]

my last day of work before we head out...so excited! I have been so busy at work I have been unable to really 'get ready' mentally for this trip, but here it is! our first cruise!! we will be there on the 9th for our first day...

 

have a blast!

[Starlaker]

We did this same tour three years ago and at this same time. It was wonderful and I am reliving it with you.

When you get to Denali, and if you get on a bus going back into the park with a driver named "Gary" with a long pony tail, GET OFF IMMEDIATELY and get on another one. He stopped at the side of the road and held us hostage for at least 20 minutes to tell us his life story and give us a lecture on environment and pollution. We are environmentally aware and didn't need to hear his sermon. We just wanted to see scenery and wildlife. The only down part of the entire trip. We loved the gold mine trip and the riverboat trip. Enjoy!

Edited September 7, 2009 by Starlaker

[Woobstr112G]

Since there are many CC folks who are also interested in the Princess land tours, I decided to do this LIVE starting in Fairbanks. We will be touring for eight days prior to boarding the Coral in Whittier on September 14th. So, come along with me as we start our journey at the Princess Riverside Lodge.

 

We actually arrived last night; three flights, but we and our luggage finally made it a little past 10 PM Alaska time. Our bodies knew it was really 2 AM. Stayed at Holiday Inn and checked into the Riverside Lodge early this morning. They gave us our room at 10:30; nice and big with a view of the river. We are travelling with Donna and Dennis from Hawaii and they were able to check in at 7:00 AM. We met our tour leader Gil, he gave us preliminary info and we will meet with the entire group at breakfast tomorrow AM. Meanwhile we wanted to pick up a few items; i.e. wine, Pepsi, etc. so we all hiked about 2+ miles to Fred Meyer, a large store like Super WalMart. Had lunch there too and bought salads for a quickie dinner tonight. We are not martyrs; took a taxi back to the hotel.

 

The lodge is big; very rustic; very nice. Our rooms are in the main building so no trudging outside. The weather right now is wonderful; probably 70ish. Sunny, no wind. We are very surprised and very happy. Hope it stays that way. And of course wifi; fast and free. I am typing this at the desk in my room, and I’ll be back when there’s more to report.

 

Pia;

 

Thanks for taking the time to post the live from thread. Have a great land tour and a great cruise on the Coral.....:):):)

 

Bob

[canadiansnowbird]

Pia:

 

Will tag along with you this trip on this thread.

 

Great to see it all happening as you go. :D

 

Snowbird

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Thanks for the updates. We were on this tour 2 years ago and it's nice to see it relived again. How much gold did you pan ? Hope you get clear weather so you can see Mr McKinley.

[Contessa30]

Megan called me last night to say you had found her and introduced yourself. Very sweet of you! How about this beautiful weather and 'changing of the trees' that we ordered just for you?

I

 

I met Megan when I stayed there late May. She was so nice.