Cruisetour vs Connoisseur Tour

[sandjforever]

We are planning on a 2020 cruise with land tour to Alaska.  I am torn between just a cruisetour and the Connoisseur tour.  The only difference I can see is that the Connoisseur includes most food and a different Denali pack package(Natural History tour vs Tundra Wilderness tour).  Is it really worth $2000 difference?!

[Mflem1278]

There are several included meals with the connoisseur tour.  We also had our own tour guide.  Our tour guide was great, very informative, and was very helpful with setting up additional excursions and ideas for things to do that weren't included in the package.  Our luggage was pretty much taken care of for us.  There were also some excursion type things included that I am not sure if they are included in the cruisetour or not, like the gold mine dredge, riverboat, and Music of Denali dinner theatre.  If you can afford it, I highly recommend going with the Connoisseur tour.

[Thrak]

We did a 13 day connoisseur tour in 2016 and are booked for a 15 day connoisseur tour next May. We loved the first one and it was so very easy having everything handled for us. The included excursions were good (except for the Music of Denali dinner theater thing) and having the meals included was very nice. It's nice to sit down in the good restaurant and order what you like without regard to the fact that the listed price of my wife's crab dinner was something like $55.

 

Before booking the first connoisseur tour I reviewed a very informative thread by caribill that helped us to make our decision. That thread is located HERE and you may well want to check it out.

[cheeseclan]

Agree with the others:  the connoisseur tour we did last year was awesome.   Would definitely do it again!

[nukesubsailor]

We have taken a week long land tour of Alaska on our own in a rental car.  We next took a Princess cruise tour that had a 3 day land portion.  We next took a Princess 15 day Connoisseur tour. That is when we realized that we wasted our time and money on the first two Alaskan vacations because they left us wanting more.   Based on those experiences, we have booked another Alaskan vacation for next year----a 15 day Connoisseur tour.  That is the only way to go if you have the time and the money.  If you don't have the time and money then  wait until you do.  You won't regret it because of all the reasons given by Thrak and Mflem1278 above.  Our tour director on the Connoisseur tour, Jack Curtiss, was great.  He taught us a lot about Alaska as well as handling all the details about excursions, meals, luggage handling, and even handling a medical issue with a member of our group. The attached photo shows Jack standing on our rail car segment of the tour.  I sincerely hope we have him for our tour director next year.  Our group was only about 24 people so we were never crowded on the motor coaches or the rail car.

[TW6cruiser]

We did a Connoisseur Tour with Princess in Alaska in 2015 based on recommendation of family who did the same trip in prior years.  I concur with everyone who posted above that this is the way to go.  In addition to what others said, we noticed that those on the Connoisseur tour ended up with better views from their hotel rooms in the lodges.  We also had a tour guide who made our dinner reservations for us at the lodges.  We always got the restaurant we wanted (if there were multiples to pick from) and the times we wanted. Our guide asked us in the beginning what times do we like to eat, did we want to eat on our own or with others from the group (we asked for a mix...and that is what we got).  When we were at the lodges we saw regular tour guests standing in line to try to make dinner reservations and some did not get into the places they wanted or the time we wanted.  We also had a nicer train ride than on some of the other tours.  

[TW6cruiser]

Also, if you are at the Denali Lodge for two nights (I'd recommend this) with the Connoisseur Tour you have the longer tour into Denali park included in your package instead of the shorter tour.  (Assuming this is still the same).  

[dickinson]

I have not done either but if you do the Denali Explorer cruise tour you can upgrade to the longer tour into Denali that is included in the Connoisseur tour.  All you have to do is ask your TA or Princess (if you booked with them).  

[sandjforever]

Thank you to everyone for the advice!  I was leaning more toward the Connoisseur tour from the first time I saw it so now I feel confident in my decision.  I am booking through COSTCO as they are offering $649 OBC in addition to the 3 for free offer from Princess!

[nukesubsailor]

4 minutes ago, sandjforever said:

Thank you to everyone for the advice!  I was leaning more toward the Connoisseur tour from the first time I saw it so now I feel confident in my decision.  I am booking through COSTCO as they are offering $649 OBC in addition to the 3 for free offer from Princess!

It is reported to be against the Cruise Critic rules for posters to name a travel agent or agency.

[sandjforever]

Please accept my apologies, I was not aware of that!

[Thrak]

We had a fun waiter on the train during our return trip for the sail back to Vancouver. I asked for a Bloody Mary and he made me his "Moosey Mary".

 

[ErLee]

It's nice to read all these overwhelmingly positive comments about the Connoisseur tours, because we are booked on our first one for June 2019 on the Coral.  Over on the Alaska board you sometimes feel like if you're not doing a DIY land tour you're just plain dumb 😋 When I was first trying to decide if it was worth the money, a few fantastic reviews like caribill's helped me make the decision.  I just know it's going to be an amazing trip!