Denali to Copper River help

[5fathom]

We need a little help from those of you who have experience this trip. How long from Denali to Copper river and how are the roads? Question 2 is how is the Catamaran sail from Valdez to Whittier. What was your experience like at Copper River Lodge? Thanks for the help.

[reedprincess]

We need a little help from those of you who have experience this trip. How long from Denali to Copper river and how are the roads? Question 2 is how is the Catamaran sail from Valdez to Whittier. What was your experience like at Copper River Lodge? Thanks for the help.

It is clearly spelled out in your itinerary with regards to how long the bus ride is. We did Off the Beaten path last year, and yes, it's approx 8.5/9 hours from Denali to Copper River, beautiful drive nice bus with restroom, stops every 1.15 hours or so, lunch stop halfway there wirh lunch included (sandwich and drinks K or soup bar and drink, or for a few dollars extra from you, sandwich and soup bar both. Either options includes bag of chips/crisps). Roads vary from normal paved to graded dirt roads for a portion. Bus handled them well.

The Hugh speed catamaran ride was stunningingly beautiful. It's aboit 2.5/3 hours from Lodge to Valdez, then you have some time for lunch and any last minute shopping, ie wine or toiletries or whatever, then on to the catamaran.

Spacious, larger outdoor deck up top, snack bar and bar for drinks and snacks, very comfy ride. Carry-ons have to fit under the seating, no real problem though. We loved it. We had glorious weather, saw several pods of orcas, a huge group of otters, eagles, and so on. Great commentary along the rhe way with regards to various islands and towns, glaciers, etc. It was fantastic. And great to pull into Whittier right next to the ship, disembark and walk 3 minutes over to get onboard. Beautiful ship views as we sailed in.

We loved our land tour, but those long travel days were exhausting. Next time, we'll likely do it ourself instead of going with the package, but we had a great time. Copper River was beautiful, our favorite Lodge ocerall due to size and staff, much more intimate and cozy than the others.

Have a wonderful time!

[RockAHula Baby]

We need a little help from those of you who have experience this trip. How long from Denali to Copper river and how are the roads? Question 2 is how is the Catamaran sail from Valdez to Whittier. What was your experience like at Copper River Lodge? Thanks for the help.

 

Was on the Off the Beaten Path tour in Sept 2015. I loved the Copper River Lodge. The view is spectacular, especially with fall colors. Everyone at Lodge was very nice. Did not do any excursions there but spent day hiking the various trails around the lodge as well as taking their shuttle ($5) to the Natl Park and doing a little walking on the trails around visitor center. There is also a shuttle in late afternoon to take you to see the pipeline, and they have shuttle service to the town of Copper Center. You can shuttle over there for lunch if wanted. It is much smaller than the lodge at Denali and only has 1 restaurant, plus food is served in the bar. That is not a large space though. There is a restaurant in Copper Center that owns a limo and they will come to the lodge to pick you up in the limo. However, don't take that to mean this is a fine dining experience. I heard the highlight of their menu is the Reuben sandwich. Good food, but not fancy, and not what you would expect from being taken there in a limo. The town of Copper River is very small. The lodge does a nightly ceremony to honor veterans which is very nice. Room was fine also. The gift shop is pretty small compared to the other lodges. This lodge has one of the most beautiful views anywhere and if you like walking or hiking, you can spend a day doing that.

I had no issues with the ride from Denali to Copper River. Yes, it's an all day bus ride, but as the other poster noted, you do stop quite frequently. The lunch stop is at MacLaren's and it is really out in the middle of no-where. Very limited menu but super nice people. It was basically a choice of a sandwich or a soup/bread bar, plus home made pie and home made ice cream. Still very tasty! The scenery along the Denali Highway is spectacular. The road is gravel/dirt for a lot of it, but the bus was still comfortable enough. Not sure when you are going, but the combination of fresh snow on the mountains and fall colors made it hard to beat. I loved the drive. Had more of a sense of being out in the interior of Alaska than at Denali or Talkeetna.

There was plenty of room on the bus for carry on and also space below the bus if you had a carryon that wouldn't fit in the overhead. Saw moose and caribou on the drive.

The drive down to Valdez was also very pretty. Stopped at a glacier (Worthington? I think that was it) and a couple of beautiful waterfalls to stretch legs and take pictures. Once in Valdez, the bus driver was super nice; he drove us on a circuit around the town pointing out the various lunch options; so you could see all the restaurant choices, then back around again to drop you off for your lunch at the one of your choice, and then picked you back up an hour later. I also had time to make a quick drug store stop before lunch.

Unfortunately for us, that was an inclement day. During lunch time in Valdez it was misty and that turned into a full fledged rain by the time we got on the ferry. So the ferry experience was not great. Certainly no one's fault, but it was raining so hard that nobody wanted to be up on deck, could not see any wildlife or scenery. we were all crammed into the covered cabin part and with so many people in there, the windows were completely fogged up, even though they say the windows don't fog- with that many people in a small area, all dressed in jackets - they fog up. The poor crew kept going around the outside decks in the downpour squeegeeing the windows but it didn't help. Four hours and didn't see anything but my table mates. But again, can't help the weather and certainly can't blame Princess or the ferry people for that.

The embark in Whittier was pretty quick. The rain followed us, so nobody wanted to spend anytime looking around Whittier, just trying to stay dry while we waited to board. Even though they had a covered walkway, it was so windy rain was blowing in. I think the motorcoach down from Copper River arrives ahead of the trains coming down from Denali, so that lent itself to a quicker embarkation. The first night and first day on cruise continued with the storm; it was very high seas and windy. The Lido deck was drenched with water sloshing out of the pool because the seas were so rough and the outside decks were closed as they felt it was too rough for people to walk on them and the pools also closed. Even so, I had no problem with sea sickness and wasn't feeling a lot of motion, but it sure was a storm. Was on the Coral and it handled the seas very well. I didn't see or hear of anyone complaining of sea-sickness despite the weather.

I'm sure you will enjoy your trip!! It was a fantastic experience and vacation, can't wait to go to Alaska again. Oh wait , 63 days and I AM going to Alaska again! With Princess!

[RNGALNG]

We too took this route on our first trip.

 

What those above have said about the bus trip to Copper River seem just about right. When we did it bout six years ago, the food at lunch was not included. We were the last bus to stop that day so choices were try limited. No more pie and I believe the soup was gone as well. Felt sort of funny using their bathroom to wash up and seeing their shampoo in the tub! They are very nice to open their home for a restaurant! Soon after we started out on the trip, we stopped as the mountain showed through the clouds and our driver stopped so we could take photos!

 

We loved Copper River Lodge. Our tour had us staying two nights at each lodge. (Denali and CR) Our picked excursion took us on a power boat to an old mining camp where we got to pan for gold. Our guides came complete with rifles in case of bear! Our bus driver went with us and spent his time at the boat, fishing for salmon to feed his family. He had 5 in the hour we were on our journey.

 

We walked back to the lodge after our tour and around the campus each afternoon. Some locals brought a dog sled on wheels, complete with dogs and you could go around the parking lot on rides.

 

We love, love, loved the smaller lodge over the large compound that was Denali. A very peaceful place and when we plan again, will keep Copper River at the top of our list.

 

It rained much of the day on our bus trip to Valdez. We too stopped at waterfalls and local points of interest. We were escorted straight to the ferry with no lunch or looking around offered. Again, I think we were the last bus to leave the lodge. I was glad to have some snacks packed for us to munch on during the day. The ferry held over 100 people. It's not a small catamaran at all. I was expecting a small boat to take us over. Totally surprised!

 

Have a wonderful trip. Tell them we will be back some day!

[5fathom]

Thanks to all of you for the excellent advice. You certainly answered all of our questions. We are Seniors and it appears the trip may be a little exhausting.