My head may explode trying to plan a pre-cruise land tour. Ha!

[allesonwonderland]

Planning a 2024 Alaska cruise and I *thought* doing a Princess cruisetour would make everything easier. Even though I'm a good DIYer on our travels. But, there are a bazillion options, and the more searching I do on the boards, the more other options I come up with. And I guess you can't book the cruise and add the land on later, so now I'm getting nervous the stateroom I want may disappear before I make the decisions. Sorry--rambling already--I'll blame it on the brain overload.

 

I (believe) I've settled on the Princess Sapphire southbound sailing leaving Whittier June 1. I know it's a little early in the season, but like I said, more stateroom availability. Also, it may allow for more traveling/touring days on the front end utilizing the long Memorial Day weekend. (Only so much vacation time.) So, that allows for up to a 12 day Princess Cruisetour, or a smidge shorter one paired with a bit of 'on our own' since we'll probably get to AK a couple days ahead of time, just in case.

 

I was thinking we'd need to focus on the ones leaving from Anchorage, because airfare to Fairbanks, while not released for our travel dates yet, looked like it could be pricey. But then through my research using similar dates this summer it looked like we could fly to Anchorage, then take a cheap, direct flight to Fairbanks if we decided to do one of the cruise tours up there.  Or, I read about separate Princess land tours, which would at least help with my worry of staterooms booking up because I could book the cruise and continue to plan the land portion. And, of course, there's the completely DIY route. See why I feel like my head may explode? Ha!

 

Obviously, we've never been to Alaska. And I know we can't fit it all in during this one trip. And that the Denali Park Road won't be open yet when we go. But I still want it to be good. 😃 We're in our 50s, active, I love birds and wildlife, my hubby's a history buff. We both enjoy hiking and scenery.

 

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[AKStafford]

The cruise lines do a great job of showing people Southeast Alaska. I'm not a fan of their land tours in Southcentral Alaska. By booking your own trip with a rental car you can choose what you want to do, where you want to stay and your own pace. 

You can get planning help here and on the TripAdvisor forums for Alaska travel: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g28923-i349-Alaska.html

[cw2go]

I agree with @AKStafford lock down the cruise/stateroom and plan the land portion on your own. 

 

You admittedly are a good planner, at first Alaska seems very overwhelming but honestly once you break it down day by day it comes together very easily. The roads are super easy so no worries with driving. 

 

A side note as early as it seems to plan for 2024 now, it's NOT! I'd keep researching and plan an itinerary that suits me so that the tours/car/hotels can be booked as soon as available. Tours can sell out quickly. Also going DIY you have more options for excursions on your timeline. Make a list of your must do's and then start to fill in your day with those. 

 

Your young and active, you've got this! 

I've sailed Alaska many times and always add a little land trip pre or post cruise and have barely scratched the service. 

 

Happy to help, 

Patty 

 

 

15 hours ago, allesonwonderland said:

I'm a good DIYer on our travels. But, there are a bazillion options, and the more searching I do on the boards, the more other options I come up with. And I guess you can't book the cruise and add the land on later,

 

[mathed101]

I was in the same position as you because I found that the land tour portion of our cruise tour was such an expensive add-on for just a few days in Denali. I booked the cruise only and procured the cabin that I wanted and then set out to find what appealed to me. There are so many resources to help the DIY tour! 

 

One of the best things that I feel helped me the most was just looking at what others have done on their travels throughout AK. There are so many travel blogs that outline their route. Seeing their pictures etc...and a good map really helped to narrow down places to go and things to do.

 

Everyone on this forum is super knowledgeable and helpful. Sometimes I just search for a place or an activity and see what comes up. Trip reports always surface and are very informative!  You can do it! I have already saved so much money and we are going to do and see so much more than the cruise line land portion.  

Edited February 1, 2023 by mathed101

[AKJonesy]

I'll mention another option only because it hasn't been brought up.   You will need to rent a car and plan accommodations.  Don't forget that renting an RV is an option for you also and many people come in and choose that route.  I bring it up because I know the cost of a car and accommodations and you might consider the RV as an option.  However, with that comes other decisions you have to make.  Looking at trip reports from others is a good suggestion and you can go to the trip advisor, forums, alaska board and read trip reports as well as ask questions there.  There are a few good people posting on that board.  

[Mary229]

One outlier that made me change my plan are the flights.  From DFW I can fly non-stop to Anchorage in 7+ hours however to fly back from Anchorage requires a layover with a minimum total flight time of 10 hours.  Vancouver and Seattle to DFW are usually nonstop. 

[Kathscof]

I have not done a pre/post land tour, but I did do a tiny trip before my one way last year and am doing a longer one this year.  Last year we flew into Anchorage and immediately took the train the next morning to Seward for 2 nights to do two AMAZING tours, then got on the ship.  This year we are flying into Fairbanks, train-ing to Denali for 2 nights (doing 2 activities), train-ing to Anchorage for a night, then down to Seward for 3 nights for two tours and the Sea Life Center (to accommodate an earlier departure time and to be slower haha) and then getting on the ship.  The cruise tours don't give me enough time or freedom to do what I want, so I would suggest deciding what you want to do and building from there.  

[allesonwonderland]

23 hours ago, Mary229 said:

One outlier that made me change my plan are the flights.  From DFW I can fly non-stop to Anchorage in 7+ hours however to fly back from Anchorage requires a layover with a minimum total flight time of 10 hours.  Vancouver and Seattle to DFW are usually nonstop. 

Yes! Flights aren't available for my dates yet, but just using dates this summer to gather some ideas, it could be a long haul for us. (A couple include a super-long layover in Dallas. Like, we could drive ourselves to Dallas in less time than the layover. Lol) 

Edited February 3, 2023 by allesonwonderland

[Gardyloo]

I'd definitely plan on doing any touring yourself.  One of the problems with the park road closure at Denali (closed due to landslides roughly halfway to the main visitor center inside the park, probably remaining closed until 2025) is that the cruise lines haven't especially amended their land tour itineraries, resulting in many tours staying near Denali for two or three nights, when there's not that much to see and do in or near the park because of the closure.  (Note this is my opinion, others may disagree.)

 

In any event, late May is very early (probably too early) to see much at Denali anyway (and again, IMO, in much of Southcentral Alaska.)  If it was me, I'd focus on Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula for any land touring before your cruise.  There's lots to see in places like Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine, the Matanuska Glacier, Girdwood, Seward, Homer, and many other places accessible by car.  Google the places on this map just as an exercise:  https://goo.gl/maps/miFZALSeqRQqZAUQ7

 

You could visit (by boat) Kenai Fjords National Park from Seward, or cross gorgeous Kachemak Bay from Homer to the picturesque towns of Seldovia or Halibut Cove.  If the weather was good and you wanted to see Denali (the mountain) you could go on a flightseeing trip from Anchorage - an amazing experience.  Lots of options.