Timing of land portion of AK cruisetour

[Cruisin'Mama 10]

Hi there,

 

We're taking an Alaskan cruise tour in July traveling northbound, inside passage on the Diamond. We cruise first then do the land. I wanted to know the timing of the land portion of the cruise tour. Here's our itinerary:

 

Sail from Vancouver to Whittier (inside passage)

 

Disembark in Whittier - take train to Denali Wilderness Lodge 6-8 hours. Stay in Denali for two days.

 

Take a bus from Denali Lodge to McKinely Wilderness Lodge- 3 hours? Stay one night.

 

Leave McKinely and take bus to Anchorage where we fly home the next day.

But what time does the bus leave from McKinely for Anchorage? Trying to see if we can really do an excursion the morning we leave McKinely for Anchorage.

 

Thanks in advance oh wise ones!!!!! :D

[Loonbeam]

Your actual departure time may vary based on bus departure order but its generally in the AM (before 11) - I'd consider an excursion unlikely. Some buses will leave as early as 8 am - it's a 2.5 hour drive to anchorage and people may have noon flights.

 

 

 

M

Hi there' date='

 

We're taking an Alaskan cruise tour in July traveling northbound, inside passage on the Diamond. We cruise first then do the land. I wanted to know the timing of the land portion of the cruise tour. Here's our itinerary:

 

Sail from Vancouver to Whittier (inside passage)

 

Disembark in Whittier - take train to Denali Wilderness Lodge 6-8 hours. Stay in Denali for two days.

 

Take a bus from Denali Lodge to McKinely Wilderness Lodge- 3 hours? Stay one night.

 

Leave McKinely and take bus to Anchorage where we fly home the next day.

But what time does the bus leave from McKinely for Anchorage? Trying to see if we can really do an excursion the morning we leave McKinely for Anchorage.

 

Thanks in advance oh wise ones!!!!! :D[/quote']

[donaldsc]

Hi there' date='

 

We're taking an Alaskan cruise tour in July traveling northbound, inside passage on the Diamond. We cruise first then do the land. I wanted to know the timing of the land portion of the cruise tour. Here's our itinerary:

 

Sail from Vancouver to Whittier (inside passage)

 

Disembark in Whittier - take train to Denali Wilderness Lodge 6-8 hours. Stay in Denali for two days.

 

Take a bus from Denali Lodge to McKinely Wilderness Lodge- 3 hours? Stay one night.

 

Leave McKinely and take bus to Anchorage where we fly home the next day.

But what time does the bus leave from McKinely for Anchorage? Trying to see if we can really do an excursion the morning we leave McKinely for Anchorage.

 

Thanks in advance oh wise ones!!!!! :D[/quote']

 

If this is a typical cruisetour, you get to Denali about 1:00 PM on day 1 and leave Denali about noon on day 3. This means that you have 1 full day and 2 semi-useless less than half days in Denali. Can I also assume that you take the short Denali Natural History Tour which only takes you 19 miles into the park.

 

They then dump you for a day in McKinley Wilderness Lodge which is essentially near absolutely nothing except that you will get a good view of McKinley if you are one of the lucky 20 - 30% who has a clear day.

 

The reason that you get to spend a day at McKinley Wilderness Lodge is that you are a prisoner of Princess there and anything you want to do away from the isolated lodge (you will find that many of the Princess lodges are isolated) must be done on a Princess optional-at-extra-cost tour.

 

If you really want to see Denali, dump the cruise tour and do a DIY at Denali. You could get 2+ full days at Denali, take the long bus trip all the way into the park and do other activities in Denali.

 

Check the AK board on CC and find out how many people ended up with unsatisfactory land portions of cruisetours because they did not check the exact details of what they were getting. Princess is in the business of maximizing their AK profits (which they have every right to do), not maximizing the client's AK experience.

 

I am sure the Budget Queen will chime in with her comments on your itinerary at some point. You have mine.

 

DON

[Loonbeam]

Actually we were very happy with 99 percent of our cruisetour (the only downside was wrong information at one point from a hotel desk that caused us to scramble for breakfast). And its easy to upgrade in Denali to the better tour. Personally, I think Princess does a great job for those who don't want to worry about logistics.

 

The OP has already booked their trip, I assume and may even be in final payment, depending on when in July, so criticizing their choice and not offering a response is not so helpful.

 

If this is a typical cruisetour, you get to Denali about 1:00 PM on day 1 and leave Denali about noon on day 3. This means that you have 1 full day and 2 semi-useless less than half days in Denali. Can I also assume that you take the short Denali Natural History Tour which only takes you 19 miles into the park.

 

They then dump you for a day in McKinley Wilderness Lodge which is essentially near absolutely nothing except that you will get a good view of McKinley if you are one of the lucky 20 - 30% who has a clear day.

 

The reason that you get to spend a day at McKinley Wilderness Lodge is that you are a prisoner of Princess there and anything you want to do away from the isolated lodge (you will find that many of the Princess lodges are isolated) must be done on a Princess optional-at-extra-cost tour.

 

If you really want to see Denali, dump the cruise tour and do a DIY at Denali. You could get 2+ full days at Denali, take the long bus trip all the way into the park and do other activities in Denali.

 

Check the AK board on CC and find out how many people ended up with unsatisfactory land portions of cruisetours because they did not check the exact details of what they were getting. Princess is in the business of maximizing their AK profits (which they have every right to do), not maximizing the client's AK experience.

 

I am sure the Budget Queen will chime in with her comments on your itinerary at some point. You have mine.

 

DON

[calsnoozie]

Hi there' date='

 

We're taking an Alaskan cruise tour in July traveling northbound, inside passage on the Diamond. We cruise first then do the land. I wanted to know the timing of the land portion of the cruise tour. Here's our itinerary:

 

Sail from Vancouver to Whittier (inside passage)

 

Disembark in Whittier - take train to Denali Wilderness Lodge 6-8 hours. Stay in Denali for two days.

 

Take a bus from Denali Lodge to McKinely Wilderness Lodge- 3 hours? Stay one night.

 

Leave McKinely and take bus to Anchorage where we fly home the next day.

But what time does the bus leave from McKinely for Anchorage? Trying to see if we can really do an excursion the morning we leave McKinely for Anchorage.

 

Thanks in advance oh wise ones!!!!! :D[/quote']

 

We are doing the same trip but starting in Anchorage with land tour first in June. I found a detailed schedule of bus & train departure times in my booking on-line. Look for Travel Summary under your reservation at Princess.com, click on link that takes you to View Travel Summary, Boarding Pass & Luggage tag, then select Print Travel Summary. You will see a breakdown of each day by date with the travel times on the right hand side of the Travel Summary PDF.

 

Sue from Fairfield, CA

[ChiefBoats]

From our cruise-tour in 2008, if I'm remembering correctly, we normally left around 8:00 AM each time we changed locations. We are on one in about 37 days but will be sailing southbound on the Island (our favorite ship of the line) after a 7 day land portion.

 

Previous Cruises

Alaska - 2008 Island Princess

Alaska - 2009 (B2B) Island Princess

Alaska - 2010 Royal Princess

Alaska - 2011 Golden Princess

Panama Canal - 2012 Coral Princess

Alaska - 2012 Star Princess

Western Caribbean - 2013 Crown Princess

 

Future Cruises

Alaska - 2013 Island Princess

Western Caribbean - 2013 Caribbean Princess

Eastern Caribbean - 2014 Royal Princess

[rtlk]

Make sure you take the long Denali Park Tour offered by the Park Service, not the short one that Princess offers. The long tour really shows you the vastness of the park and you'll have the best chance to see wildlife. Check the park service web site and book it on line. As I recall, they picked us up at the lodge, you will need to confirm that, we may have taken a shuttle, it was 3 or 4 years ago. Highlight of the trip. Airplane trips are also fantastic, but expensive, princess had a couple of flight tours. Once in a life time, spend the money and enjoy it, Alaska is an Adventure:cool: to be remember!:D

[biker1972]

If you go to your Princess cruise personalizer and check the various shore excursions; try making a reservation for one on the morning you depart. You will quickly find out if it is possible since they won't let you book something that doesn't time out correctly.

[frugaltravel]

If this is a typical cruisetour, you get to Denali about 1:00 PM on day 1 and leave Denali about noon on day 3. This means that you have 1 full day and 2 semi-useless less than half days in Denali. Can I also assume that you take the short Denali Natural History Tour which only takes you 19 miles into the park.

 

As much as I would never take a cruisetour, as was stated above, ranting about it at this stage of the game without advice is just that - a rant :)

 

I certainly do not agree that if the OP indeed arrives at 1pm that it is a "semi-useless day." They could spend the rest of the entire afternoon and evening visiting things at the park entrance - visitor center, sleddog demo, film at the WAC, free bus to Savage, maybe a hike at Savage or elsewhere. They could also take a shuttle bus at least as far as Toklat if not to Eielson (I haven't checked the schedule).

 

Make sure you take the long Denali Park Tour offered by the Park Service, not the short one that Princess offers. The long tour really shows you the vastness of the park and you'll have the best chance to see wildlife. Check the park service web site and book it on line. As I recall, they picked us up at the lodge, you will need to confirm that, we may have taken a shuttle, it was 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Actually none of the tours are operated by Princess. All are operated by a joint venture Doyon/Aramark. But in any case, I would strongly suggest the OP book a shuttle bus to Eielson or Wonder Lake and not a Tundra Wilderness tour bus. It goes further and is much cheaper. They should get a refund for the NHT that will more than pay for the shuttle bus. The main disadvantage of the shuttle bus is that you need to take the Princess shuttle to the WAC, where the shuttle buses depart from. The tour buses will pick up at the hotels, but that is pretty much the advantage of those. But it is easy to make your own arrangements for the shuttle and to take a Princess shuttle from the lodge to the park entrance where the shuttle buses into the park depart from.

[Budget Queen]

Hi there' date='

 

We're taking an Alaskan cruise tour in July traveling northbound, inside passage on the Diamond. We cruise first then do the land. I wanted to know the timing of the land portion of the cruise tour. Here's our itinerary:

 

Sail from Vancouver to Whittier (inside passage)

 

Disembark in Whittier - take train to Denali Wilderness Lodge 6-8 hours. Stay in Denali for two days.

 

Take a bus from Denali Lodge to McKinely Wilderness Lodge- 3 hours? Stay one night.

 

Leave McKinely and take bus to Anchorage where we fly home the next day.

But what time does the bus leave from McKinely for Anchorage? Trying to see if we can really do an excursion the morning we leave McKinely for Anchorage.

 

Thanks in advance oh wise ones!!!!! :D[/quote']

 

 

Some wrong information The train from Whittier, will leave early morning and is 10 hours to Denali Park.

 

I've seen buses on the Parks Highway from Talkeetna at various hours, but most frequently, in the afternoon. Problem with ANY touring ideas out of This lodge- with be the 2 hour round trip shuttle transfer, if any tour are out of Talkeetna. So, frankly, just consider booking with Princess. Which you can do once you get there.

 

The priority of your planning should be Denali Park, make sure, you understand fully what you purchased, because it could be very different from what you get. With 2 nights, it's ideal to get a SHUTTLE bus to at least Eielson. Read up on it http://www.nps.gov/gov Cruisetours usually have the TOUR buses included with the worthless Natural History tour a prime example of my reason for stressing- research. :)

[Cruisin'Mama 10]

Thanks so much for all of your info! I'm so glad I asked. We are booked on the longer Denali bus tour and I'm seriously stoked about that! You are so correct that that is our main focus.

 

We booked a horseback ride on the morning in McKinely before we depart for Anchorage but I'm getting the feeling that I should cancel it. Just not thinking we'll have time. Although Princess.com did let me book this excursion for the morning I'm thinking I might be better off chilling in the morning.

 

Thanks everyone!

[karen of PA]

We are doing the same trip but starting in Anchorage with land tour first in June. I found a detailed schedule of bus & train departure times in my booking on-line. Look for Travel Summary under your reservation at Princess.com, click on link that takes you to View Travel Summary, Boarding Pass & Luggage tag, then select Print Travel Summary. You will see a breakdown of each day by date with the travel times on the right hand side of the Travel Summary PDF.

 

Sue from Fairfield, CA

 

 

Thank you, Sue. This is great information that I didn't know about!