Disembark time and self tour land portion

[TravelRookie]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm almost ready to book my late May 2013 Alaskan cruise (just waiting on return air fare prices to be uploaded for next June). It's a northbound from Vancouver to Anchorage and then hubby and I will do a land tour on our own to Denali etc.

 

Reading over the itinerary of the cruise details, I'm a bit confused. It says that we arrive in Anchorage at 12:30am. I looked at the cruisetours portion and it's the same arrival time, then says that on that day you disembark and hop on a rail to Denali. Am I safe to assume that this only happens later in the morning (ie. 8:30am) and not right when you get there after midnight? I've never done a cruise before so am unfamiliar with how disembarking works.

 

Also planning on taking 2 days in Denali and am wondering about the time frame needed to make it back to Anchorage. The morning we would leave Denali and head back, should we schedule the air fair the day after so we would have plenty of time to make it to Anchorage, spend the night and then leave the next day? I know some said you can rent a car from Anchorage to drive to Denali, what about doing the reverse; rent a car in Denali and drop it off to Anchorage?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[Ready 4 the next 1]

Not sure which cruise you are on, but the time sounds a lot like our itinerary on the Sapphire Princess. I called Princess and they start embarkation at 8:00. We have a 9:00 private transfer - also heading to Anchourage for the night on the way to Denali - and they said we could make it, but should carry our own luggage off with us instead of giving it to them.

[2little time]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm almost ready to book my late May 2013 Alaskan cruise (just waiting on return air fare prices to be uploaded for next June). It's a northbound from Vancouver to Anchorage and then hubby and I will do a land tour on our own to Denali etc.

 

Reading over the itinerary of the cruise details, I'm a bit confused. It says that we arrive in Anchorage at 12:30am. I looked at the cruisetours portion and it's the same arrival time, then says that on that day you disembark and hop on a rail to Denali. Am I safe to assume that this only happens later in the morning (ie. 8:30am) and not right when you get there after midnight? I've never done a cruise before so am unfamiliar with how disembarking works.

 

Also planning on taking 2 days in Denali and am wondering about the time frame needed to make it back to Anchorage. The morning we would leave Denali and head back, should we schedule the air fair the day after so we would have plenty of time to make it to Anchorage, spend the night and then leave the next day? I know some said you can rent a car from Anchorage to drive to Denali, what about doing the reverse; rent a car in Denali and drop it off to Anchorage?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

You can rent cars in both places. In Denali there is "Keys to Denali" rentals which will pick you up from the train depot and take you to the rental location. The prices are steep. I would not try to drive back from Denali and fly home the same day unless you have a late evening flight. It is certainly possible but perhaps not as enjoyable as a relaxed drive.

[TravelRookie]

Hi Ready 4 the next 1,

 

The May 27th sailing date on Princess' site shows the boat to be the Island Princess. My TA didn't specify so I just fired off a message to her to confirm.

 

Ok, that sounds reasonable that they would only start moving the people off in the morning and not expect them to start loading off as soon as they docked at 12:30am! Lol! I'm hoping to take the Princess domed rail to Denali (keeping the fingers crossed that it will be an item in the discount booklets for next year). Once I actually book with a cruise line (pretty certain it'll be with Princess), I can really pin down the times.

 

Thanks!

[Ready 4 the next 1]

Princess has several ships that run this itinerary.

 

The Dome train to Denali is not owned by Princess. You can get tickets lots of places.

 

We are heading out for our cruise on Friday, cruise first followed by the land portion. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm pretty psyched at this point.

[TravelRookie]

Thanks 2Littletime.

 

Any other options to make it back from Denali to Anchorage other than another train ride? I know in the cruisetours they mention motorcoach but I think I'd like the freedom to stop in places all the way. . . of course, this is me saying this since I probably won't be driving but hubby will! Probably should ask him if he would want to drive first huh? I'll have to review the transportation options again.

 

Depending on what time my return flight from Vancouver to home is, that would probably make the decision on what time to fly out of Anchorage, and if an overnight stay would be best. I think I'm safe to just plan staying an extra night in Anchorage, just to be safe.

[CMcG]

We recently got back from Island Princess - May 23 Vancouver to Whittier & did our own land trip - hopefully this will give you an idea of times:

 

Partway through the cruise we got paperwork asking about our plans for disembarkation - if you were cruisetour, if you had own plans, if you had Princess transfer to airport, etc. If you had purchased a Princess transfer they wanted to know your flight & time - not sure if you could arrange to purchase a transfer at that point. I had purchased Princess transfer to the airport so we could pick up rental car so I just wrote that in. Later in the cruise (I think late on Glacier Bay day) we got color coded luggage tags for the big luggage that they pick up on the last night based on our plans.

 

I can't remember what the earliest disembarkation times were but the Princess transfer for airport car rental was to meet at 7:15 in one of the theaters and we were off shortly after that. We went through the tunnel at 8am and picked up our big luggage at the airport and headed to the rental counter I think by 10am. I had planned on a noon rental pickup so ended up paying for an upgrade since they didn't have the size I rented available then and I didn't want to wait (the upgrade would have been free if we waited & they still didn't have what I reserved).

 

We stayed at McKinley Creekside Cabins (near Carlo Creek about 13 miles south of Denali Nat'l Park entrance) and for the return trip we checked out about 11am and took our time driving back to Anchorage stopping for lunch and some photos. Because we had an 11:55 flight we stopped at the Reindeer Farm in Palmer - arrived there at 5pm afraid that we would be too late but they were open until 6pm. Didn't have anything else planned so headed in to Anchorage and had supper at the City Diner, gassed up the rental & spent the rest of our time at the airport - had time for two drinks at the restaurant next to our departure gate.

 

We probably should have stopped in Talkeetna on the way back rather than spend so much time at the airport, but we were tired and it worked out OK. We had made a short stop on the way up to Denali Nat'l Park and could have spent more time there.

[donaldsc]

You can rent cars in both places. In Denali there is "Keys to Denali" rentals which will pick you up from the train depot and take you to the rental location. The prices are steep. I would not try to drive back from Denali and fly home the same day unless you have a late evening flight. It is certainly possible but perhaps not as enjoyable as a relaxed drive.

 

I am not sure if the summer schedules are the same as the winter schedules but when I flew out of Anchorage last March, my flight left at about midnight. The airport was crowded at that time.

 

DON

[cellyml12]

I just booked my cruise last week that goes from Whittier (Anchorage) to Vancouver. It is on May 25th 2013. Maybe if you looked into that one you could do the tour first & then the cruise. We decided to do that because going home, we want the shorter flight out of Vancouver instead a long one out of Anchorage. After lots of research, the Sapphire looks like a great ship. Just something to consider

[Budget Queen]

I just booked my cruise last week that goes from Whittier (Anchorage) to Vancouver. It is on May 25th 2013. Maybe if you looked into that one you could do the tour first & then the cruise. We decided to do that because going home, we want the shorter flight out of Vancouver instead a long one out of Anchorage. After lots of research, the Sapphire looks like a great ship. Just something to consider

 

There can be a significant "problem" you are not even aware of with this plan. Denali Park. A northbound cruise is definately superior, if you want full access into Denali. The Eielson shuttle bus does not start until June 1. Earlier cruisetours- even with posting the Tundra Wilderness tour on the itinerary- will NOT go that far it will be about 20 miles fewer.

[Budget Queen]

There appears to me, to be some mis information and assumptions.

 

Princess rarely uses Anchorage. Most of their cruisetour trains, go to Denali. These leave around 7am and take 10 hours from Whittier. Disembarkment usually starts around 6am, so you can get off the ship anytime after that. There are several non cruise transfers, and the regular run of the Alaska RR with hooks up superbly with the Prince William Sound boat tours- which are highly recommended.

 

If you have an overnight flight home, and it's later evening- it works out VERY well to schedule a flight home the same day as driving from Denali Park. Allow 6 hours for the drive- which is easy, and a 2 hour window at the airport. This would be with a car rental.

 

IF you were planning on taking the Alaska RR Denali to Anchorage, then you HAVE to have a flight departing after midnight.

 

There are NO one way car rentals Denali/Anchorage. The "rentals" at Denali are local only.

[TravelRookie]

Thanks for all the information guys! This gives me a better understanding of the disembarking that was just leaving me scratching my head when I was seeing the arrival time of the boat!

 

I appreciate the breakdown of your trip disembarking CMcG.

 

I'll be looking for your update Ready 4 the next 1! I hope you have a fabulous time!

 

Cellyml12, we prefer to do the cruise first and then tour then take planes home. As Budget Queen mentioned, some of the tours in Denali only open from May 20 and later going by Denali's National Park site. By taking the northbound late in May, by the time we get to Denali, the tour I want to book (Eielson Visitor Center) will have been open for a few days baring any issues. Thanks for the suggestion though. :-)

 

Thanks for the clarification Budget Queen, and just another quick question. If there are no one way car rentals Denali/Anchorage and the rentals at Denali are local ones, how does one rent a car to drive back if one should wish to do so?

[mapleleaves]

If there are no one way car rentals Denali/Anchorage and the rentals at Denali are local ones, how does one rent a car to drive back if one should wish to do so?

 

You could take the train to Fairbanks to pick up a one way car rental. Or take a taxi to Fairbanks for $275! http://www.denalitaxishuttle.com/

 

For a car rental the cheapest option will always be a roundtrip rental. For May 2013 you can reserve a roundtrip car in Anchorage from Enterprise at $99 a week right now! Give it some thought. That's a heck of deal to pass up.

[Ready 4 the next 1]

Hey, Travel Rookie:

 

Was browsing through and realized I never got back to you on transferring to Denali. We took a private bus from the ship - there were several there. We were able to get off very early around 7:00 a.m. and wound up sitting around for over an hour until the bus was ready to load. The bus trip goes through a tunnel which is only one way at a time so there times to come and go are very strict.

 

We arrived in Anchorage with plenty of time to walk around. Had a great salmon dinner at Simon and Seiforts, hit a large artist market and a bunch of shops. The weather was unusually warm for AK, so the natives were running around in shorts. Being from GA, we were still wearing jackets.

 

We took the train to Denali which was a lot of fun. Nice views - really enjoyed eating in the dining car. We did not pay for the top level with the windows, but it was pretty easy to wander up there and check it out from time to time. No one seemed to care.

 

Denali was incredible. We took the bus all the way into the park to the Back Country lodge. During the trip we saw 14 grizzlies, including 3 sets of Mama with 2 cubs that were literally right by our bus. We also saw a Lynx, which is unusual, several caribou, sheep, a porcupine and a moose. A day I will never forget. We went for a nature hike at the Lodge. There were mosquitoes everywhere so we decided to cut that one short.

 

This was a trip we will never forget. Now we have to save up to go again! Hope you have a wonderful trip in May.

[TravelRookie]

Hey, Travel Rookie:

 

Was browsing through and realized I never got back to you on transferring to Denali. We took a private bus from the ship - there were several there. We were able to get off very early around 7:00 a.m. and wound up sitting around for over an hour until the bus was ready to load. The bus trip goes through a tunnel which is only one way at a time so there times to come and go are very strict.

 

We arrived in Anchorage with plenty of time to walk around. Had a great salmon dinner at Simon and Seiforts, hit a large artist market and a bunch of shops. The weather was unusually warm for AK, so the natives were running around in shorts. Being from GA, we were still wearing jackets.

 

We took the train to Denali which was a lot of fun. Nice views - really enjoyed eating in the dining car. We did not pay for the top level with the windows, but it was pretty easy to wander up there and check it out from time to time. No one seemed to care.

 

Denali was incredible. We took the bus all the way into the park to the Back Country lodge. During the trip we saw 14 grizzlies, including 3 sets of Mama with 2 cubs that were literally right by our bus. We also saw a Lynx, which is unusual, several caribou, sheep, a porcupine and a moose. A day I will never forget. We went for a nature hike at the Lodge. There were mosquitoes everywhere so we decided to cut that one short.

 

This was a trip we will never forget. Now we have to save up to go again! Hope you have a wonderful trip in May.

 

Thanks for the trip details! Sounds like you had a fabulous time and I'm so excited for my turn!