Considering Alaska Cruisetour on Princess

[1153rsmith]

Hey everyone,

 

My family (2 adults, 2 teens) and 2 of my brothers (2 adults each) are wanting to do a cruise to Alaska this coming summer and have been recommended Princess ***** (specific TA reference removed) ***** because they said it has the best land portion as well as things to do for children.

 

Can you seasoned Princess folks give me your input on this? We are looking at an 11 day Denali with the land tour first. Has anyone done that trip?

 

We have cruised several times so far, but not on princess. We have done one on Carnival, one on Royal Caribbean, and 3 on Disney... All Bahamas/Caribbean itineraries.

 

We are looking for advice on what will work best for us. This will most likely be the only time all of us can go to Alaska as my oldest brother is 71, and with the cost of this trip, we certainly can't do this often. We want to see as much as we can and have a great onboard experience as well. :) We are accustomed to the activities on Disney and absolutely love it. Will we be disappointed at the activities on Princess.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Host Michell
Removed reference to a specific TA, rather than removing thread, so that OP could receive answers to the question

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

Sorry I cannot offer any advice but I am lurking to hear what others have to say as an Alaskan trip is on our list!

[Debbdo]

We did this cruisetour in May, 2005. We did the cruise part first as it was a family trip (my husband and I, two sisters and their spouses, my niece and my mom). Only my husband and I did the land part. The others flew home after the cruise part.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed both the cruise and the land portions. Both had a lot to offer and there was always something to do. Ports of call included Ketchkan (toured Totem Bight State Park and went to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show), Juneau (took a whale watching tour--and yes, we saw whales!, visited Mendenhall Glacier and then went to a salmon bake), Skagway (rode on the White Pass Scenic Railway, took a bus to Liarsville and then on to the famous Red Onion Saloon and Brothel Museum), Barlett Cove, Glacier Bay and finally College Fjord. This ended the cruise portion.

 

While the rest of my family flew home, we took a train from Whittier to Denali (11 hours and probably the part of the trip we liked the least). We stayed at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge (where we took a bus tour to Denali National Park), Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge (we were 39 miles from Mt McKinley, but it looked like you could reach out and touch it!), and lastly The Captain Cook Hotel in down town Anchorage (don't miss eating at The Brewhouse).

I am sure things have changed in the last 8 years,but I wouldn't hesitate to take this Princess cruise again. Hope this gives you a little of what you were seeking.

 

 

Enjoy your cruisetour!

[New York Nana]

We did the SB landtour (5 days land/7 days cruise) in June 2011. I'd be happy to send you my review as well as the Patters from the Island Princess and 3 of their lodges (Fairbanks, McKinley and Denali). We had such a wonderful time (Princess is the true professional when it comes to the logistics of moving people and belongings!), we are going back this June and doing our own 7 day pre-cruise trip. If you'd like anything, just email me at beh614@gmail.com and put "Alaska" in the subject.

Happy planning!

[doug52]

Hey everyone,

 

My family (2 adults, 2 teens) and 2 of my brothers (2 adults each) are wanting to do a cruise to Alaska this coming summer and have been recommended Princess by AAA because they said it has the best land portion as well as things to do for children.

 

Can you seasoned Princess folks give me your input on this? We are looking at an 11 day Denali with the land tour first. Has anyone done that trip?

 

We have cruised several times so far, but not on princess. We have done one on Carnival, one on Royal Caribbean, and 3 on Disney... All Bahamas/Caribbean itineraries.

 

We are looking for advice on what will work best for us. This will most likely be the only time all of us can go to Alaska as my oldest brother is 71, and with the cost of this trip, we certainly can't do this often. We want to see as much as we can and have a great onboard experience as well. :) We are accustomed to the activities on Disney and absolutely love it. Will we be disappointed at the activities on Princess.

 

My, Wife, Daughter and I did this cruise tour with Princess this last May and had an outstanding experience. We flew into Anchorage in the early afternoon, stayed overnight at the Captains Cook(very nice) and rode bicycles on the famous trail that borders the ocean all along Anchorage. Great fun and cheap.

 

Our cruise tour left the next day for the McKinley lodge where I privately arranged a flightseeing excursion all around McKinley landing on a glacier. While expensive, this was one of the highlights of our trip. The next day we took the train to Denali lodge, that afternoon we did an independent ATV tour that you can pick up right across the street from the lodge.

 

The next day was our guided tour into Denali, I really liked the guided tour as the bus driver was very good at picking out wildlife and explaining about the park. The following day we took a bus back to Wittier to board.

 

This land portion with two days in Denali and one in McKinley worked out better than one of my friends who spent time in Fairbanks and less time at the lodges. He did not find that Fairbanks was that memorable.

 

As to your question about the activities with Princess, this is such a port intensive cruise that we were not that focused on the cruise ship. Like the last poster, we did activities at each port. As you can probably surmise, I like to book independently and we did that at each of the ports.

 

In Skagway, we took the White Pass train in the morning with a company that has their own railroad car only to the top and then they met us and about 4 other people and brought us down by coach. After having lunch in the famous saloon, we took the ferry over to Haines and I had arranged a hike through the rainforests with a private company that has various tours in Haines. This was great, Skagway was very windy and cold, Haines was beautiful. This turned out to be a private tour, just us with the guide.

 

In Juneau, I arranged a Whale Watching tour and again it was just us with the Captain on her tour boat. Unlike the Princess tours where you are with many people on a large boat. Also, after the tour, the company takes you to Mendenhall Glacier and lets you explore for about an hour and then picks you up to go back to the ship.

 

Finally, in Ketchikan I had a taxi service take us to Totem Bight in the morning and then at lunch we went on a private Kayaking tour with just us and the tour guide.

 

We had a very active trip and the Coral Princess is a great ship; we disembarked in Vancouver. Everything we did would probably work for your older brother other than the hike in Haines. This was strenuous, but they do have other alternatives.

 

Let me know if you would like to know the names of the companies we used for the tours. I did all my research through the port threads on CC and also tripadvisor and was very pleased with all of our choices.

 

Doug

[Pia1913]

Not to do duplicate posts, just want to say we did the 8 day land followed by 18 day cruise (I realize your cruise will be 7 days) in 2009. We opted for the connoisseur tour so as to have everything included. Would do it again.

[Potstech]

For those who have done this Northbound (cruise first, then land) what was done with alll your luggage while you did the land portion? I understand you can only take a carry on size bag on the tours.

[dorisis]

Two of our Princess cruises to Alaska included land portion from Fairbanks to Anchorage with the inside passage the last 7 days. Another was the connosieur trip which had no land portion but did visit more Alaskan ports than those on the inside package. both were excellent with lots of activities . I would recommend the cruise with the Denali portion first. inside passage is not as interesting and the ports are swarming with other ships. I would also recommend one of the smaller ships. They can get closer to the glaciers.

Edited December 30, 2013 by dorisis

[caribill]

For those who have done this Northbound (cruise first, then land) what was done with alll your luggage while you did the land portion? I understand you can only take a carry on size bag on the tours.

 

Princess keeps the luggage for you, returning it to you when it is time finally leave Alaska.

 

You are allowed (per person) one regular suitcase on the tour part. The carryon size is for while on trains and busses.

[caribill]

We opted for the connoisseur tour so as to have everything included. Would do it again.

 

We also did the connoisseur version with six days pre-cruise touring.

 

You can read our report of the tour at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1727858

[jnc411]

Hi , we did the 7 day land tour first this Sept. Oct. Then the cruise portion down to Vancouver. We did it late in the season , really enjoyed it alot. Only thing you need to consider is some of the long bus trips on some of the tours, should ask your family if that is what they would like, we did a 10 hour train trip back down to Whittier , we really enjoyed that as well, I noticed some people have mentioned they did not like that , but we did. It was just so beautiful in Alaska . We did not do the connoissuer tour, so our meals and excursions were additional. Our tour was the "Off the Beaten Path " tour , Anchorage to Copper River ( across the old Denali Hwy) to Denali , then the train to Whittier. There are so many different tours, a TA would be able to probably tell you which would suit your family the best. Hope you and your family have a wonderful time. P. S check the usual weather patterns for May , think you might have a lot of rain. Someone else might be able to answer that for you,

Cori