Royal Caribbean Cruisetour #1 schedule?

[milford_cruiser]

This one goes out to anyone who's already done Royal Caribbean's "Cruisetour #1" this year.

 

What time did you arrive in Anchorage on the bus from Denali?

 

My son has asked if we can do a Segway tour in Anchorage. I've found a tour that departs at 5pm, and I'm trying to find out how tight the scheduling is going to be.

 

I know the bus ride is about 6-6.5 hours, so as long as we're on the road by 9 or 10 am we shouldn't be TOO tight. And the tour company (SegTours of Anchorage) said they can be a little flexible with the time.

 

So can anyone give me an idea of the time?

 

I'd also appreciate the rest of the departure/arrival times for the land portion, but don't have any tight timing plans anywhere else, so they're not as critical.

[Budget Queen]

This one goes out to anyone who's already done Royal Caribbean's "Cruisetour #1" this year.

 

What time did you arrive in Anchorage on the bus from Denali?

 

My son has asked if we can do a Segway tour in Anchorage. I've found a tour that departs at 5pm, and I'm trying to find out how tight the scheduling is going to be.

 

I know the bus ride is about 6-6.5 hours, so as long as we're on the road by 9 or 10 am we shouldn't be TOO tight. And the tour company (SegTours of Anchorage) said they can be a little flexible with the time.

 

So can anyone give me an idea of the time?

 

I'd also appreciate the rest of the departure/arrival times for the land portion, but don't have any tight timing plans anywhere else, so they're not as critical.

 

Being your tour states an afternoon arrival in Anchorage, I would think you could schedule your tour.

 

As only a general suggestion- the cruisetour Anchorage/Seward transfer, is something I never recommend. It leaves Anchorage too early for much of any touring, late morning, and arrives in Seward way to late. Superior is just booking yourself on the Alaska RR and getting yourself into Seward late morning. This then gives you the opportunity for some of their superb touring options.

[milford_cruiser]

Being your tour states an afternoon arrival in Anchorage, I would think you could schedule your tour.

 

As only a general suggestion- the cruisetour Anchorage/Seward transfer, is something I never recommend. It leaves Anchorage too early for much of any touring, late morning, and arrives in Seward way to late. Superior is just booking yourself on the Alaska RR and getting yourself into Seward late morning. This then gives you the opportunity for some of their superb touring options.

 

That was my thought, too, BQ - afternoon arrival into Anchorage gave me plenty of time. My "worry" was that Royal Caribbean wouldn't confirm any particular times, or even ranges, so I'm still looking for someone who does this southbound cruisetour to confirm and/or estimate arrival times.

 

As to the Anchorage/Seward transfer, we *ARE* on the train. CruiseTour #1 takes the dome car from Anchorage to Seward, and I confirmed yesterday that we arrive into Seward about 10:30/11:00 am with the ship departing at 9pm. (I also checked the Alaska RR schedule, and that's about the right time - don't remember the exact detail). This particular train ride and Seward arrival was a key part of choosing this particular cruisetour.

 

Thanks for the advice!

[Budget Queen]

 

As to the Anchorage/Seward transfer, we *ARE* on the train. CruiseTour #1 takes the dome car from Anchorage to Seward, and I confirmed yesterday that we arrive into Seward about 10:30/11:00 am with the ship departing at 9pm. (I also checked the Alaska RR schedule, and that's about the right time - don't remember the exact detail). This particular train ride and Seward arrival was a key part of choosing this particular cruisetour.

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

Who did you confirm this with??? In the past RCI had their own cruise contracted train, that left later morning from Anchorage, since they use it to also transfer same day arrivals from Anchorage.

 

This is a very good, new change to their transfer.

[milford_cruiser]

Who did you confirm this with??? In the past RCI had their own cruise contracted train, that left later morning from Anchorage, since they use it to also transfer same day arrivals from Anchorage.

 

This is a very good, new change to their transfer.

 

Confirmed it directly with Royal's Cruise Tour department. They said the train leaves Anchorage around 6:30am.

[epixx]

Please post a review of the segway tour when you return. We are considering this tour when we arrive in August. Thanks.

[milford_cruiser]

Please post a review of the segway tour when you return. We are considering this tour when we arrive in August. Thanks.

 

Just back on Sunday morning from our trip. I'm working on sorting out pictures from the 2800 shots that my sons and I took, but the cruise was FANTASTIC!

 

To answer my own question here: Cruisetour #1 arrived in Anchorage at 3:15pm, dropped us off in downtown to spend an hour before picking us up at 4:30 to drive 3 blocks to the Marriott for the night. Our tourguide gave us the option to just stay off the bus at the 3:15 stop and walk to the Marriott to meet him that evening. We took him up on it, which gave us *PLENTY* of time to walk through downtown and we would have been able to meet up with a 5pm Segway tour.

 

When we got our original schedule (which I will post), we were scheduled to be at our hotel at about 4:45pm, so I called Alan at SegTours of Anchorage and we agreed to start our tour at 5:30pm. At the time, there were only the two of us booked, so it was no big deal for him. DS and I were at his front door at 5pm just in case, but he wasn't there, so we did another half-hour in the shops of Anchorage.

 

Alan arrived promptly at 5:30pm, along with 2 others who would be joining us. We quickly signed waivers, got fitted for helmets, and started our Segway riding lesson. The other 2 had previously done a Segway tour elsewhere, but DS and I needed more instruction to be comfortable on the Segways. For those who don't know, the Segway limits speed to about 8mph, 10mph, and 12mph based on the key you use to start it up. We started slow, but within the first 45 minutes of our 2-hour tour, we were at full speed.

 

It was really cool to tool around downtown Anchorage on the Segway. We got lots of looks from people who wondered about the Segways, and had the opportunity to see far more than we might have done if we were walking. The information we got from Alan was also very good, as he was able to tell us more about what we were seeing. We saw lots of downtown, plus the bay, and lots of people fishing for salmon - we even saw one get caught! I thought 2 hours would be a long trip, but before I knew it, we were finishing up back where we began, and saying good-bye to Alan.

 

One note: DS and I were originally going to do this trip just in our shorts & T-shirts (it was 70-ish in downtown), but were glad that DW talked us into wearing our windbreakers. We didn't think about how cool the breeze would be as we motored our way along. At one point we were climbing a hill directly into the wind and it was quite chilly.

[NorbertsNiece]

Would love to read a review of your trip if you have time to write up.... we head out next week for our cruise tour and then Southbound Radiance. Any tips with regards to hotels, well anything really, greatly appreciated!

[jeniferlyn]

I did a Segway tour in Puerto Rico...it was so much fun!!

 

Could you please post the different times from the cruisetour? I am looking at the same trip next summer. Did you feel like you had enough time or were you rushed? Thanks....

[milford_cruiser]

Would love to read a review of your trip if you have time to write up.... we head out next week for our cruise tour and then Southbound Radiance. Any tips with regards to hotels, well anything really, greatly appreciated!

 

Working on it, Linda! (just for you ;)).

 

I did most of my writing while traveling, so I should be able to get it posted tonight or tomorrow.

 

In answer to the couple of specific questions that have been posted:

 

1) No rush at all in the timing. And our tour director & bus driver took some pride in meeting the schedule, which helps greatly with planning!

 

We had enough time at each of our hotel stops to just get out and around without feeling like we were jumping from one thing to another. There were lots of local trails to just go walking, so we didn't book anything extra at any land stop except for the Segway in Anchorage. It seemed that only one or two families on our bus booked extras and had meeting times announced. We also traveled to Fairbanks 2 days early, so we had done a lot of touring on our own in those two days.

 

2) Hotel tip: The McKinley Village Lodge in Denali has free (yes, free) laundry machines for guests. You have to buy (or bring) your own soap. However, there are only 3 washers & 3 dryers to cover 7 buildings worth of rooms, so get there early. We were able to do a couple of loads in the afternoon after our Tundra Wilderness Tour and it allowed us to limit our packing somewhat.

[negc]

We did the later train to Seward that RCI offered us while we were on cruisetour #11. The cost was $25 per person and got us to Seward around 6pm, too late to do much in the way of touring in Seward. The rail cars all belonged to the Alaska railroad and were single level cars with huge windows that extended up and over the roof and down the other side and which offered us unobstructed views of the fantastically scenic ride between Anchorage and Seward, which IMHO was measurably better than the views on our trainrides from Fairbanks to Denali and Denali to Talkeetna.

I know our habits pretty well and because the weather forecast for Seward was not especially promising (overcast and rainy), I knew that an earlier arrival in Seward would only be followed by a check in at the ship and the rest of the afternoon spent on board, so the train schedule was not a negative factor for us. The price was an added attraction since I had investigated the possibility of our leaving the tour group in Anchorage and booking the train directly with Alaska RR. The cost to do so was $75 a person, so paying $25 even for the later train was a real bargain. As in most situations, there are tradeoffs, but in our case the later train was still our best option and we don't regret it in the slightest.

[Budget Queen]

We did the later train to Seward that RCI offered us while we were on cruisetour #11. The cost was $25 per person and got us to Seward around 6pm, too late to do much in the way of touring in Seward. The rail cars all belonged to the Alaska railroad and were single level cars with huge windows that extended up and over the roof and down the other side and which offered us unobstructed views of the fantastically scenic ride between Anchorage and Seward, which IMHO was measurably better than the views on our trainrides from Fairbanks to Denali and Denali to Talkeetna.

I know our habits pretty well and because the weather forecast for Seward was not especially promising (overcast and rainy), I knew that an earlier arrival in Seward would only be followed by a check in at the ship and the rest of the afternoon spent on board, so the train schedule was not a negative factor for us. The price was an added attraction since I had investigated the possibility of our leaving the tour group in Anchorage and booking the train directly with Alaska RR. The cost to do so was $75 a person, so paying $25 even for the later train was a real bargain. As in most situations, there are tradeoffs, but in our case the later train was still our best option and we don't regret it in the slightest.

 

This poster claimed the regular run of the Anchorage/Seward train was their schedule with their cruisetour, leaving 6:45am. The feature of this, in my opinion, is definately worth the added $50, to get in some touring in Seward- IF of interest (using your example on price). I don't see where this "$25" added fee is an "always" however?? And frequently have seen a much higher priced add on. Could have been you paid more for something else in your package? Who knows??? :)

[milford_cruiser]

This poster claimed the regular run of the Anchorage/Seward train was their schedule with their cruisetour, leaving 6:45am. The feature of this, in my opinion, is definately worth the added $50, to get in some touring in Seward- IF of interest (using your example on price). I don't see where this "$25" added fee is an "always" however?? And frequently have seen a much higher priced add on. Could have been you paid more for something else in your package? Who knows??? :)

 

Correct, the early train was included, arriving in Seward ~11am. We rode on the Wilderness Express domed cars with full views in every direction. IMHO, it was better to get to Seward early, and we did indeed get on ship before 2pm. THAT was more important to us, as we were traveling with some older family members that were getting tired. Others on our bus took the opportunity to take a tour in Seward.