Princess lodges

[camper49]

We are doing a Star Princess land and cruise in June 2017...Four day land...cruise first. Would appreciate any info/experience ...what to expect at Denali lodge...etc...

[Potstech]

Nice older lodges. Limited expensive places to eat. Limited transportation to other areas. If you have time take the Tundra Wilderness Tour. It is a long day but well worth it.

[mimisandy45]

Google Princess Lodges. You will find picures, amenities, activities, shore excursions and even menus from the restaurant. It is very infomational.

 

Sandy

[camper49]

Google Princess Lodges. You will find picures, amenities, activities, shore excursions and even menus from the restaurant. It is very infomational.

 

Sandy

 

Thanks...I would really like to hear some personal experiences also. Thinking we should of booked land first...and have read a lot of negativity about the lodges. Want to hear positive things! I have a bad habit of over thinking things...

[TW6cruiser]

Yes, look at the Princess Lodges website there is a lot of information there. In 2016 we stayed at the Fairbanks, Denali, McKinley and Kenai lodges. The Fairbanks one was more like a hotel. It was clean and comfortable, but seemed more like a hotel. But that was fine, we started our trip there and moved south before our cruise. We liked all the other lodges. Kenai was our favorite, as you had your own large space with outdoor sitting area, fireplace, etc. Food at all the lodges was in our opinion better than on the Princess ships. If you have any specific questions about those four lodges I can answer. We had booked the connoisseur tour so we had our meals included and also had the best rooms (for views,etc.) at the lodges .

[JoRoy218]

We did land tour a few years ago (McKinley and then Denali) and then cruise. I felt like the lodges are a reflection of their surroundings: clean, basic and not interfering with natural surroundings. The food choices were good and yes, pricey, but then again, after eating in local spots, it's all more expensive than rest of the US. We still enjoyed it, regardless. They also have coin operated laundry, which I appreciated. We did spend minimal time in our room between excursions and exploring the area. The common areas are very nice, enjoy your trip. We have reservations to go back in May 2017.

[ckr]

Nice older lodges. Limited expensive places to eat. Limited transportation to other areas. If you have time take the Tundra Wilderness Tour. It is a long day but well worth it.

 

It's been about 5 years since we did this tour but I agree, upgrade to TWT if you can. You go much deeper into the tundra and see much more. I would also go to every Park Ranger talk you can manage. Of course I would say this about every national park so take it for what its worth.

 

Denali visibility was excellent when we were there but were told its usually clouded in.

[Alaskanb]

This is my review from this past summer. Hope you have two nights at the Denali lodge http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50382531

[azbirdmom]

We stayed at the Denali and McKinley lodges in August. At Denali, agree with those who recommended the TWT upgrade. It goes 63 miles into the park. There is another longer tour that takes you all the way to the end of the road if you really want to see the whole thing. There are many Princess restaurants on site at both, but at Denali, there are some other slightly less expensive restaurant options across the street.

 

McKinley is a lot more remote but they do have a shuttle bus to Talkeetna, a quirky town about an hour away. We stayed put because we had been to Talkeetna last year (we rented a car the day before our Alaska cruise last year) and we were very happy to stay in the beautiful surroundings at the lodge.

 

We would definitely stay at both again!

[Potstech]

Thanks...I would really like to hear some personal experiences also. Thinking we should of booked land first...and have read a lot of negativity about the lodges. Want to hear positive things! I have a bad habit of over thinking things...

 

Look at what the negative things are really saying. You will most likely see that what they are complaing about are items that are either the true nature of Alaska or items that they expected to have that they had at home. There are always those who will complain.

 

We were at the Denali and McKinley lodges in May and had a great time and enjoyed both lodges. If you expect the Waldorf you will be disappointed. If you expect scenic and rustic atmosphere then you will enjoy your trip. Definitely land portion first

Edited October 13, 2016 by Potstech

[RRFPresident]

We did the 8 day Connoisseur land tour before the 7 day cruise last summer and stayed in the Princess lodges at Fairbanks, Denali, McKinley, and finally Kenai for the last three days.

 

Since you specifically asked about Denali, this property was one of the largest and most elaborate I'd say. We stayed in the newer A and B buildings with a lovely patio area between them.

 

The older buildings have the motel style doors that open to the outside:

 

Standing in the parking lot of the main building looking back at the A & B buildings:

 

The grounds of this lodge are huge and we always had a trek to walk back down to the main building where there's a common room, small café (where we ordered an extra box lunch for the Tundra wilderness tour), and the typical shore excursion/info counters. There's a couple true sit down restaurants on site (we dined in the steakhouse style place and thankfully they were more than accommodating when we walked in at the last minute after we were delayed back from an excursion) and a pizza place where we had lunch one of the days.

 

Pizza place:

 

There's a shuttle that routinely runs from the main building that you can ride into any of the sites in town as well as several shops/eateries across from the lodge.

 

One of the days during some free time, we took the shuttle to the Denali Nature Park and Preserve. They had a cute scavenger hunt style activity for families to do but even without kids, it was an enjoyable way of killing an afternoon.

 

Have to make a new post to share more pics...to be continued.

[RRFPresident]

The newer A & B buildings had their own little common room, computer station, and small café for things like coffee, doughnuts, and cold breakfast items.

 

Patio in between:

[RRFPresident]

Here's what our room looked like:

 

We were traveling as father and adult daughter so I don't know if all rooms would have two beds:

 

Just inside the door across from the bathroom was a dresser and second mirror on one side:

 

And a rod with hangers on the other side:

[RRFPresident]

There's also several little handicraft style shops on the lodge's property where ironically, you are solicited to buy carved wooden bears for a small fortune that you can sit outside your own home to caution solicitors:

 

The restaurant we ate in after coming back super late:

 

Another restaurant on the property:

 

On our last evening, we all attended the Music of Denali dinner theatre production on the property. Decent food although we got a lot of good natured laughs and refusals to answer when our table asked what meat the tasty bbq rib style jerky was made from.

 

 

Our waitress/lead actress in the show:

[Thrak]

We just did the 13 day connoisseur cruise tour in late June and early July. We had 6 days on land followed by the 7 day southbound cruise. Almost all meals (not most lunches though) were included.

 

The Fairbanks lodge is essentially a hotel. We did have a great dinner there with our tour group.

 

I'm guessing it may be due to the connoisseur tour that our rooms at the Denali lodge were in the new buildings and overlooked the river behind the lodge rather than being in the older buildings or facing the street and other businesses across the street. We could see the mother moose and her young one down by the river in the mornings and evenings from our window. We were able to eat in the spendy venues at no extra charge. Music of Denali dinner was pretty "meh".

 

McKinley lodge was more remote and we had a great room. Be aware that only 20% of visitors ever actually see the mountain as it is pretty constantly hidden behind clouds. There were folks in our group who were visiting for the FIFTH time and this was the first time they actually got to see the mountain. (Our last day there the clouds around the mountain vanished and we had a perfectly clear view. AMAZING!!!)

 

While most lunches weren't provided we did get a snack (which was plenty for us) on the Tundra Wilderness Tour and we were also provided a very good lunch (ordered from the menu) on the train from Talkeetna to the cruise port.

 

We had no complaints in regard to any of the three lodges. Service was good, rooms were good, and food was good. The connoisseur tour is, obviously, a more expensive way to go but having the ability to order whatever you wanted in the nice restaurants (my wife LOVED the crab legs!) was extremely nice and having a tour director and our own group transportation was also very nice. It was great on the southbound cruise that we already "knew" a bunch of folks on the ship due to having been in the group together. The group filled a bus so there were a fair number of us who were already acquainted when we boarded ship.

[Potstech]

When We were there in late May we got to see the mountain in all its glory every single day for hours at a time. Both lodge personnel said less than 5% of people get to see it that often. We felt very lucky to have that kind of great weather.

 

If you go to Talkeetna make sure you go to the Ranger Station and watch the 17 minute video they have. Also have a burger at Suzies just do not order more than one of her fries. Burgers are huge also.

[Thrak]

When We were there in late May we got to see the mountain in all its glory every single day for hours at a time. Both lodge personnel said less than 5% of people get to see it that often. We felt very lucky to have that kind of great weather.

 

If you go to Talkeetna make sure you go to the Ranger Station and watch the 17 minute video they have. Also have a burger at Suzies just do not order more than one of her fries. Burgers are huge also.

 

You are correct. I had a typo in my post (too late to fix it now) but the correct percentage is 5%. There were staff in the lodge that had been there for weeks and hadn't seen the mountain until the day we saw it.

[camper49]

Yes, look at the Princess Lodges website there is a lot of information there. In 2016 we stayed at the Fairbanks, Denali, McKinley and Kenai lodges. The Fairbanks one was more like a hotel. It was clean and comfortable, but seemed more like a hotel. But that was fine, we started our trip there and moved south before our cruise. We liked all the other lodges. Kenai was our favorite, as you had your own large space with outdoor sitting area, fireplace, etc. Food at all the lodges was in our opinion better than on the Princess ships. If you have any specific questions about those four lodges I can answer. We had booked the connoisseur tour so we had our meals included and also had the best rooms (for views,etc.) at the lodges

 

Should we expect to have a room with no view without doing the connoisseur tour?

[Potstech]

Yes, look at the Princess Lodges website there is a lot of information there. In 2016 we stayed at the Fairbanks, Denali, McKinley and Kenai lodges. The Fairbanks one was more like a hotel. It was clean and comfortable, but seemed more like a hotel. But that was fine, we started our trip there and moved south before our cruise. We liked all the other lodges. Kenai was our favorite, as you had your own large space with outdoor sitting area, fireplace, etc. Food at all the lodges was in our opinion better than on the Princess ships. If you have any specific questions about those four lodges I can answer. We had booked the connoisseur tour so we had our meals included and also had the best rooms (for views,etc.) at the lodges

 

Should we expect to have a room with no view without doing the connoisseur tour?

 

You should not expect a room with a view of the mountain on any tour. The best views are standing outside and seeing the area from the widest possible viewing area. You get a much better viewing experience.

[reedprincess]

 

Should we expect to have a room with no view without doing the connoisseur tour?

 

We did a 6-night Off The Beaten Path tour last year, and had lovely views from our rooms at all three lodges we stayed in...we had a room overlooking the river at Denali, overlooking the mountains at McKinley and views out towards Mt Drum from Copper River Lodge.... So, no you don't have to be in the Connoisseur tour to be allocated good views... We couldn't begin to justify the cost for the Connoisseur tour ourselves, we didn't Coke close to the extra costs eating on our own. Some excellent options at Denali just across the street, Talkeetna had some great options, while at Copper River we ate at the resort, which was fine. We enjoyed having the variety and options of eating on our own. Didn't find the costs anymore expensive than mid to large cities in the US..

We throughly enjoyed our trouble, the lodges were quite conformable - which is all we expected - and the scenery is stunning....

Have a wonderful trip!!

[TW6cruiser]

On the Connissour you have the better views and the newer buildings. Your tour guide also gives you your key cards and room assignments on the bus so you don't have to stand in line to check in. Also the tour guide made our dinner reservations for us so we did not have to do that ourselves and we were guaranteed times that we wanted. We had no regrets about doing the Connissour tour but I know it is more expensive.

[sammiedawg]

We've taken a few land tours with Princess, non connouiseir. We've always received room keys on the bus or train and never stood in line to receive them. The logistics of the land tour program are mind boggling with thousands coming and going from the lodges almost daily. Luggage handling was amazing, fast efficient and accurate.

Daily packets, instruction sheets are simple and easy to follow.

The lodging is not high end but these properties are among the nicest in Alaska. Most operate four months per year, then they are winterized for next year.

The wilderness lodges give access to the most gorgeous areas in Alaska.

 

Copper river lodge is the nicest. The physical plant reminded us of a Marriott hotel.

Fairbanks lodge operates year round and reminded us of a very nice Marriott Courtyard hotel.

Denali lodge rooms are very basic, not as nice as a Fairfield inn but a decent place to stay a couple nights. The grounds have a slight Disney world feel with lots of gift shops, some eateries, a theatre building and a huge main lodge building. The main lodge building is the transportation hub. Scattered hotel rooms around the property.

McKinley lodge has a gorgeous main lodge building with lots of seating and roaring fireplaces. The hotel rooms are scattered around the property.

Kenai lodge rooms are cabins built around a gorgeous river overlooks. The main lodge has a restaurant and sitting area.

The Captain Cook hotel is a nicely refurbished old hotel in the heart of Anchorage, many land tours begin or end here.

[I_r_a]

Hi Cam,

 

>Thinking we should of booked land first.

 

If you still can - do so.

 

We took the Princess 13 NIGHTS OFF THE BEATEN PATH land/cruise.

 

The lodges are somewhat unluxurious, but not unpleasant.

 

The stay at Denali Lodge was terrific. Take the full day journey into the park.

 

The rest of AK is well worth the visit.

 

Denali is an Native American word that means "Awesome".

 

Enjoy your visit.

 

Ira

[dd likes to cruise]

We just did a land tour cruise with another cruiseline. We too were told do land first. When we booked that was not available. Did land last and it was fine. Since they do the planning and the driving it's not stressful or strenuous. We survived it fine. Even went a week afterwards and visited the grands on the way home. We did add 2 extra full days on the front end in Vancouver - DIY.