Itinerary help needed for post cruise DIY tour

[beautiful.thing]

I am struggling to nail down our post cruise itinerary and the clock is ticking.

 

Details: Northbound Radiance arriving Seward 6/19.

Depart 8:30 PM flight from Anchorage on 6/23

 

-- So 5 days on the ground post cruise and 4 nights

 

Family of 4 including 15yr old son and 14yr old daughter

 

Things we want to do on trip (in no particular order):

One train trip somewhere during the entire trip

-Rental car into Yukon as far as Emerald Lake (have AVIS car booked)

-Whale watching (booked with Harv & Marv)

-Son wants to fish (but not an interest of everyone else's but he must do it once as it is his number 1 item)

-Kayak - Planning for Ketchikan but may split up to fish and kayak there

-River float (Kenai River maybe? family says float and no white water rafting so it must be scenic)

-Alyeska Tram?

-Wildlife center

-Kenai Fjords Tour (want to do 6hr major marine)

-Wildlife viewing

-Scenic viewing

Homer spit?

-Short Hikes (nothing more than 2 miles)

-> Exit Glacier

-> Mendenhal glacier after whale wathcing

Denali shuttle to Eielson if we can figure out how to squeeze it in

-Possibly Flight seeing McKinley from Talkeetna if we can't get to Denali

 

 

Things we don't want to do:

-Dog sledding

-gold panning

-bear watching (would love to see bears but not interested in a dedicated trip)

 

My biggest crunch is on hotels right now. I have one hotel booked in anchorage for all 4 nights but willing to hotel hop if necessary. Most of the places i would consider staying are sold out some nights which is impacting my itinerary attempts. I've looked at Kenai Princess lodge (only avail 6/19), Alyeska resort (available 6/21 & 6/22), McKinley Princess (not available 6/20), Denali Princess (available all dates).

 

I also have a few different rental car reservations including hertz one way rental and avis with pickup and return in anchorage.

 

 

Bottomline is that I don't mind driving a lot but I know the kids or husband don't want to spend the entire trip driving in a car.

 

 

Please share any ideas with me. I'm at the point where i can't seem to make any decisions any more ...

[donaldsc]

I am struggling to nail down our post cruise itinerary and the clock is ticking.

 

Details: Northbound Radiance arriving Seward 6/19.

Depart 8:30 PM flight from Anchorage on 6/23

 

-- So 5 days on the ground post cruise and 4 nights

 

Family of 4 including 15yr old son and 14yr old daughter

 

Things we want to do on trip (in no particular order):

One train trip somewhere during the entire trip

 

Only 2 possible train trips are Anchorage to Seward or in Skagway if you are going to be there on the cruise. Both will take 1/2 day. If you are going to drive into the Yukon, this only leaves you Anchorage to Seward. If you do this, you miss the wildlife center

 

-Rental car into Yukon as far as Emerald Lake (have AVIS car booked)

-Whale watching (booked with Harv & Marv)

-Son wants to fish (but not an interest of everyone else's but he must do it once as it is his number 1 item)

 

This will take you 1/2 day minimum

 

-Kayak - Planning for Ketchikan but may split up to fish and kayak there

-River float (Kenai River maybe? family says float and no white water rafting so it must be scenic)

-Alyeska Tram?

-Wildlife center

 

Figure 4 hours here

 

-Kenai Fjords Tour (want to do 6hr major marine)

 

One full dat of your 5 days touring

 

-Wildlife viewing

-Scenic viewing

Homer spit?

 

Check your driving time to get too and from Homer. You do not have enough time

 

-Short Hikes (nothing more than 2 miles)

-> Exit Glacier

-> Mendenhal glacier after whale wathcing

Denali shuttle to Eielson if we can figure out how to squeeze it in

 

You have to figure 2 days w driving to and from Denali and then taking the tour

 

-Possibly Flight seeing McKinley from Talkeetna if we can't get to Denali

 

 

Things we don't want to do:

-Dog sledding

-gold panning

-bear watching (would love to see bears but not interested in a dedicated trip)

 

My biggest crunch is on hotels right now. I have one hotel booked in anchorage for all 4 nights but willing to hotel hop if necessary. Most of the places i would consider staying are sold out some nights which is impacting my itinerary attempts. I've looked at Kenai Princess lodge (only avail 6/19), Alyeska resort (available 6/21 & 6/22), McKinley Princess (not available 6/20), Denali Princess (available all dates).

 

I also have a few different rental car reservations including hertz one way rental and avis with pickup and return in anchorage.

 

 

Bottomline is that I don't mind driving a lot but I know the kids or husband don't want to spend the entire trip driving in a car.

 

 

Please share any ideas with me. I'm at the point where i can't seem to make any decisions any more ...

 

Assuming you meant June of 2015, all of this stuff should have been nailed down months ago. At his point, you may be stuck w what is left re tours, lodging, etc. All the good places have been taken long time ago.

 

Also, you are trying to do way too much stuff. It makes me tired just looking at it. Places in Alaska are far apart. Have you checked the mileages that you will have to drive to get to all the places on the list. It will give you no time so see anything.

 

Sit down with Google Maps and figure your times and distanced. Then prepare cut cut ruthlessly.

 

DON

Edited April 15, 2015 by donaldsc

[Budget Queen]

I am struggling to nail down our post cruise itinerary and the clock is ticking.

 

Details: Northbound Radiance arriving Seward 6/19.

Depart 8:30 PM flight from Anchorage on 6/23

 

-- So 5 days on the ground post cruise and 4 nights

 

Family of 4 including 15yr old son and 14yr old daughter

 

Things we want to do on trip (in no particular order):

One train trip somewhere during the entire trip

-Rental car into Yukon as far as Emerald Lake (have AVIS car booked)

-Whale watching (booked with Harv & Marv)

-Son wants to fish (but not an interest of everyone else's but he must do it once as it is his number 1 item)

-Kayak - Planning for Ketchikan but may split up to fish and kayak there

-River float (Kenai River maybe? family says float and no white water rafting so it must be scenic)

-Alyeska Tram?

-Wildlife center

-Kenai Fjords Tour (want to do 6hr major marine)

-Wildlife viewing

-Scenic viewing

Homer spit?

-Short Hikes (nothing more than 2 miles)

-> Exit Glacier

-> Mendenhal glacier after whale wathcing

Denali shuttle to Eielson if we can figure out how to squeeze it in

-Possibly Flight seeing McKinley from Talkeetna if we can't get to Denali

 

 

Things we don't want to do:

-Dog sledding

-gold panning

-bear watching (would love to see bears but not interested in a dedicated trip)

 

My biggest crunch is on hotels right now. I have one hotel booked in anchorage for all 4 nights but willing to hotel hop if necessary. Most of the places i would consider staying are sold out some nights which is impacting my itinerary attempts. I've looked at Kenai Princess lodge (only avail 6/19), Alyeska resort (available 6/21 & 6/22), McKinley Princess (not available 6/20), Denali Princess (available all dates).

 

I also have a few different rental car reservations including hertz one way rental and avis with pickup and return in anchorage.

 

 

Bottomline is that I don't mind driving a lot but I know the kids or husband don't want to spend the entire trip driving in a car.

 

 

Please share any ideas with me. I'm at the point where i can't seem to make any decisions any more ...

 

Your list would require triple the time you have. You barely have time for Seward and Denali.

 

There are many lodging possibilities outside of the Princess lodges.

 

With your short time, I suggest you do the Kenai Fjords tour, the day you get off the cruise ship. Take the Alaska RR to Anchorage that evening. Overnight Anchorage. Next day-2, pick up rental car and drive to Denali Park, pick up your grocery snacks by Wasilla. Day 3 take the shuttle bus to at least Eielson. day 4 return to Anchorage, can stop a Talkeetna, Mat Su activities/stops. Day 5 you are leaving? IF overnight flight- then spend this day on the Arm with your tram and wildlife conservatory stops, Portage Glacier Visitor Center etc. Figure on gassing up and turning car in and being at the airport for check in 2 hours prior to flight time.

 

It is a big mistake, thinking you can day trip out of Anchorage, hopefully you realize the distances involved. So cancel the day 2 and 3 Anchorage hotel nights and get lodging in Denali If you want on the Denali Princess lodge type- any Glitter Gultch lodging would be comparable.

[Northern Aurora]

We live in an extremely large state, and it can be difficult to understand just how large Alaska is until you are here. So while I suppose you could physically drive from Anchorage to Homer and back to Anchorage in one very long day, what would be the point as there would be no stopping. Also an attempt to drive from Anchorage to Denali (to do a shuttle to Eielson) and then back to Anchorage is even more unrealistic.

 

The family needs to pare down the "to do" list. There is much for the visitor to do in the Seward area so possibly consider overnighting one night there before heading toward Anchorage/Girdwood for one night (could take the train from Seward to Anchorage). Then if the decision is made to take a shuttle to Eielson Visitor's Center in Denali consider staying two nights at the Denali Princess.

[janerbg]

Kayaking in Ketchikan with southeast sea kayaks was one of our favorite experiences of the trip.

 

It seems like your son needs to decide if he would rather fish instead of the major marine tour or the kayaking.

 

Budget Queen provided a nice itinerary that included Denali.

 

I think the big decision that you need to make is whether or not you want to go to Denali, and after that the rest of the trip can start to fall into place.

 

We spent 9 days on land after our northbound cruise, and in retrospect what we would have given up is Denali. We did have a great day in Denali...we did see great views of Denali from Eilson. But driving to Glitter Gulch, taking the shuttle for a full day and then driving somewhere the next day was a lot of driving...and we just did not get as much out of the wildlife viewing from the bus as some people did. The advantage of going to Denali is that the southern viewpoints were blocked both times we drove past. We also enjoyed the sled dogs in Denali...but again that was not worth the drive.

 

We have a 9 year old, so we were looking at float trips rather than white water...we investigated trips from talketna (that have occasional views of Denali) and down the Mendenhall river. In the end we kayaked, but that was all that we did on the water.

 

Our favorite experience on land was the glacier trek on the Matanuska Glacier. I would highly recommend this as a uniquely Alaskan experience. Of course that is not very helpful.

 

And I am not sure about the meaning of your hotel choices...there are many smaller hotels that are very nice...so I am not sure what you are looking for in a hotel room.

 

Jane

[beautiful.thing]

Assuming you meant June of 2015, all of this stuff should have been nailed down months ago. At his point, you may be stuck w what is left re tours, lodging, etc. All the good places have been taken long time ago.

 

Also, you are trying to do way too much stuff. It makes me tired just looking at it. Places in Alaska are far apart. Have you checked the mileages that you will have to drive to get to all the places on the list. It will give you no time so see anything.

 

Sit down with Google Maps and figure your times and distanced. Then prepare cut cut ruthlessly.

 

DON

Sorry, the list is of things we are interested in. obviously we don't have near enough time to do them all. i am looking for suggestions about how to get as many in as possible and in what order. I have poured over maps and mileage. I have tried putting it in perspective but sometimes it is hard. That is why I am looking for input :)

 

I have had many reservation for a very long time. Our original itinerary had us working our way north to Fairbanks and leaving from there but we recently decided that was just trying to cover too much ground.

 

At this point, Denali is actually off the list. I am afraid we are making a big mistake with that but we do realize that is probably the most time consuming option. We hope to see mcKinley but we are also well aware that we may never actually see it even if we were there for a week. Flight seeing is an expensive option but not sure we want to plan an itinerary around that.

Edited April 16, 2015 by beautiful.thing

[beautiful.thing]

Your list would require triple the time you have. You barely have time for Seward and Denali.

 

There are many lodging possibilities outside of the Princess lodges.

 

With your short time, I suggest you do the Kenai Fjords tour, the day you get off the cruise ship. Take the Alaska RR to Anchorage that evening. Overnight Anchorage. Next day-2, pick up rental car and drive to Denali Park, pick up your grocery snacks by Wasilla. Day 3 take the shuttle bus to at least Eielson. day 4 return to Anchorage, can stop a Talkeetna, Mat Su activities/stops. Day 5 you are leaving? IF overnight flight- then spend this day on the Arm with your tram and wildlife conservatory stops, Portage Glacier Visitor Center etc. Figure on gassing up and turning car in and being at the airport for check in 2 hours prior to flight time.

 

It is a big mistake, thinking you can day trip out of Anchorage, hopefully you realize the distances involved. So cancel the day 2 and 3 Anchorage hotel nights and get lodging in Denali If you want on the Denali Princess lodge type- any Glitter Gultch lodging would be comparable.

 

Your suggestion is basically what I come up with if we try to include Denali. At this point we are considering just not doing it this trip. If we cut out Denali, what would you suggest? Homer is just a driving day to see that side of the Kenai peninsula and not a must do by any means.

[beautiful.thing]

Kayaking in Ketchikan with southeast sea kayaks was one of our favorite experiences of the trip.

 

It seems like your son needs to decide if he would rather fish instead of the major marine tour or the kayaking.

 

Budget Queen provided a nice itinerary that included Denali.

 

I think the big decision that you need to make is whether or not you want to go to Denali, and after that the rest of the trip can start to fall into place.

 

We spent 9 days on land after our northbound cruise, and in retrospect what we would have given up is Denali. We did have a great day in Denali...we did see great views of Denali from Eilson. But driving to Glitter Gulch, taking the shuttle for a full day and then driving somewhere the next day was a lot of driving...and we just did not get as much out of the wildlife viewing from the bus as some people did. The advantage of going to Denali is that the southern viewpoints were blocked both times we drove past. We also enjoyed the sled dogs in Denali...but again that was not worth the drive.

 

We have a 9 year old, so we were looking at float trips rather than white water...we investigated trips from talketna (that have occasional views of Denali) and down the Mendenhall river. In the end we kayaked, but that was all that we did on the water.

 

Our favorite experience on land was the glacier trek on the Matanuska Glacier. I would highly recommend this as a uniquely Alaskan experience. Of course that is not very helpful.

 

And I am not sure about the meaning of your hotel choices...there are many smaller hotels that are very nice...so I am not sure what you are looking for in a hotel room.

 

Jane

 

Thank you. This is great feedback. Especially as it relates to Denali. I envision driving a few hours each day and doing something special each day and staying in a different hotel each night. Hotels were just some that I was looking at. The princess lodges just look like places we would like to stay.

[beautiful.thing]

So how does this seem? Please make suggestions ...

 

 

6/19 Explore Seward after departing ship

------11:30 Kenai Fjords major marine 6hr tour

------6pm Train from Seward to Anchorage

------Pick up rental car late (avoid dealing with Anchorage marathon in the morning)

------Overnight at Fairfield Inn

6/20 Drive north to Denali State Park or TalKeetna

------Flightseeing Denali (~2hrs)

------Travel back to Anchorage

------Stay in Anchoarge

6/21 Drive south exploring along turnigan arm. Wildlife center, Alyeska tram

------Stay at Alyeska Resort

6/22 Float trip on upper Kenai river, visit Portage glacier

------Stay at Alyeska Resort

6/23 ???

 

------Return rental car by 6p

 

 

The other option is skip the train and do the one way rental car. Overnight the first night in either Seward or somewhere south of anchorage and work the itinerary from there??

Edited April 16, 2015 by beautiful.thing

[Budget Queen]

So how does this seem? Please make suggestions ...

 

 

6/19 Explore Seward after departing ship

------11:30 Kenai Fjords major marine 6hr tour

------6pm Train from Seward to Anchorage

------Pick up rental car late (avoid dealing with Anchorage marathon in the morning)

------Overnight at Fairfield Inn

6/20 Drive north to Denali State Park or TalKeetna

------Flightseeing Denali (~2hrs)

------Travel back to Anchorage

------Stay in Anchoarge

6/21 Drive south exploring along turnigan arm. Wildlife center, Alyeska tram

------Stay at Alyeska Resort

6/22 Float trip on upper Kenai river, visit Portage glacier

------Stay at Alyeska Resort

6/23 ???

 

------Return rental car by 6p

 

 

The other option is skip the train and do the one way rental car. Overnight the first night in either Seward or somewhere south of anchorage and work the itinerary from there??

 

With you taking Denali off the list, I would overnight in Seward. Plenty to see and do there. take the train to Anchorage. Not interested in Matanuska glacier trekking? I would suggest doing a McKinley flightseeing out of Anchorage. Spending time on the Arm could offer plenty of activities.

 

In my opinion, Homer is never a day trip, and really not a single night - for me either. I suggest, if you haven't - take a look at http://www.kenaipeninsula.com and http://www.seward.com

Your interests could be 2 nights in Seward???

 

Be very certain, of your decision about Denali Park. There are way more raves than reports like above. There are many interesting areas along the way to stop and see. Ask the kids- where their interests are?

[donaldsc]

[quote name=beautiful.thing;46274191

My biggest crunch is on hotels right now. I have one hotel booked in anchorage for all 4 nights but willing to hotel hop if necessary. Most of the places i would consider staying are sold out some nights which is impacting my itinerary attempts. I've looked at Kenai Princess lodge (only avail 6/19)' date=' Alyeska resort (available 6/21 & 6/22), McKinley Princess (not available 6/20), Denali Princess (available all dates).

 

I also have a few different rental car reservations including hertz one way rental and avis with pickup and return in anchorage.

 

 

Bottomline is that I don't mind driving a lot but I know the kids or husband don't want to spend the entire trip driving in a car.

 

 

Please share any ideas with me. I'm at the point where i can't seem to make any decisions any more ...[/quote]

 

There are lots of great places to stay in AK that do not have the name "Princess" in front of them. I have been to AK a number of times and have never ever stayed in a Princess or any other large hotel. Try small hotels or B&Bs. In addition to being great places to stay, they are cheaper (usually) than a hotel. Another alternative would be to stay in a cabin.

 

The trip that you have planned out will mean that you spend all 5 days driving from place to place and no time seeing anything at all.

 

You need to pick 2 central locations and sightsee around the central locations. Listen to your husband and kids.

 

DON

Edited April 16, 2015 by donaldsc

[AKStafford]

At one point you mentioned fishing for your son. If you stick to you plan of going to Talkeetna, you could drop him off in the MatSu Valley for stream fishing. I always recommend Pat with iFish Alaska. http://www.ifishalaskasalmon.com/

[Courtmatt]

What about Mckinley Creekside Cabins. It is about 10-15 minutes from Denali and has a restaurant onsite with a pizza place right next door. We stayed 2 years ago in one of their cabins and it was great.