Our 2024 Alaska Adventure--including planning!

[no1racefan1]

Heads up to all my early planning friends! I just spoked with Kendall, owner of Resurrection Lodge on the Bay (thanks to the person that referred this place to stay in Seward) and he was able to make a reservation for me over the phone for next year, even though he doesn't open his online booking engine until the fall. He said he is getting a LOT of calls every day for 2024 and is expecting it to be an incredibly busy year. He strongly suggested calling tour operators and asking if they are taking early bookings rather than waiting for them to open up online.

[no1racefan1]

On 7/1/2023 at 8:11 AM, cruiselvr04 said:

We are doing a Cruisetour with Royal this month.  6 days land and 7 night cruise, 1 day pre in Fairbanks on our own and 2 nights post in Victoria on our own. We had booked Viking originally but switched. With Viking we had booked a 10 night cruise plus 6 nights land.  In hind sight I wish we’d stuck with Viking. Our 16 nights are very close to the same price in the end with all the additional costs.  We probably only saved the cost of airfare. Viking would have been a better experience I’m sure.  
 

Alaska certainly has taken hours of planning.  For us the plan is one and done so we’ve tried to fit a lot in. In addition to the cruise tour we are renting a car in Fairbanks to drive to Chena hot springs and are doing a sunset whale watch and Butchart gardens in Victoria.  
 

We leave in 2 weeks so now I’ll start some packing and need to pull all our paperwork together.  

I'm jealous that you're fitting in Chena Hot Springs--I really wanted to go! I couldn't pull off that many days away from our pups though 😉

DH's mom says one of her remaining bucket list items is to take a family train trip in Alaska/Denali, so we might end up going back someday. I'm keeping a wish list!

[katmu]

I’ve been following this thread closely as I’m working on our plans for next May.  I’m struggling a little with how best to fit in Kenai and how much time to allocate for there. The trip will be my mom, my 2 adult sons and myself.  I am having arthroscopic knee surgery in 2 weeks and my 7th knee surgery overall.  I will be needing a TKR in the next few years.  I mention that because as much as I used to like to hike, long hikes are going to be out for this trip.  

 

The boys both want to see Denali so that’s the reason for prioritizing the flightseeing trip.  I’m also trying to get as much time at Kenai Fjords as we can fit in.

 

These are my tentative plans so far but 

 

5/21 Tues Fly to Anchorage from MSP.  Flight arrives 9pm.  Pick up car at airport.  Overnight Anchorage.

 

5/22 Weds drive to Talkeetna Flightseeing tour to Denali. Overnight Talkeetna

 

5/23 Thurs backup option for Denali Flightseeing.  Jet boat tour. Drive to Seward late afternoon. Overnight Seward.

 

5/24 Fri Major Marine 6 hour tour afternoon. Overnight Seward

 

5/25 Sat Kenai Fjords in morning.  Walk to Exit Glacier viewing.  How far will depend on my knee. Drive back to Anchorage, stop at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way.  Drop off car. Overnight Anchorage.

 

5/26 Sun Train or shuttle to Whittier for cruise

 

5/27 Mon Hubbard Glacier

 

5/28 Tues Glacier Bay

 

5/29 Weds Skagway 7 am - 8 pm Looking to book White pass railway, Yukon a& Dog sled adventure. HAL hasn’t opened up our cruise for excursions yet.

 

5/30 Thurs Juneau 8 am - 5 pm Planning to take the Blue bus up to Mendenhall Glacier and also try to do the tram on our own.

 

5/31 Fri Ketchikan 11 am - 7 pm Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining.

 

6/1 Sat Inside Passage

 

6/2 Sun Vancouver Flying home to MSP in the afternoon.

 

$100 Military OBC as one son is a veteran.  1 flight was booked with a credit, and 2 flights with miles so only 1 was cash.  I’m also buying AARP gift cards to pay for the cruise. I’m trying to save where I can to offset some of the more expensive excursions.

 

 

[no1racefan1]

1 hour ago, katmu said:

I’ve been following this thread closely as I’m working on our plans for next May.  I’m struggling a little with how best to fit in Kenai and how much time to allocate for there. The trip will be my mom, my 2 adult sons and myself.  I am having arthroscopic knee surgery in 2 weeks and my 7th knee surgery overall.  I will be needing a TKR in the next few years.  I mention that because as much as I used to like to hike, long hikes are going to be out for this trip.  

 

The boys both want to see Denali so that’s the reason for prioritizing the flightseeing trip.  I’m also trying to get as much time at Kenai Fjords as we can fit in.

 

These are my tentative plans so far but 

 

5/21 Tues Fly to Anchorage from MSP.  Flight arrives 9pm.  Pick up car at airport.  Overnight Anchorage.

 

5/22 Weds drive to Talkeetna Flightseeing tour to Denali. Overnight Talkeetna

 

5/23 Thurs backup option for Denali Flightseeing.  Jet boat tour. Drive to Seward late afternoon. Overnight Seward.

 

5/24 Fri Major Marine 6 hour tour afternoon. Overnight Seward

 

5/25 Sat Kenai Fjords in morning.  Walk to Exit Glacier viewing.  How far will depend on my knee. Drive back to Anchorage, stop at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way.  Drop off car. Overnight Anchorage.

 

5/26 Sun Train or shuttle to Whittier for cruise

 

5/27 Mon Hubbard Glacier

 

5/28 Tues Glacier Bay

 

5/29 Weds Skagway 7 am - 8 pm Looking to book White pass railway, Yukon a& Dog sled adventure. HAL hasn’t opened up our cruise for excursions yet.

 

5/30 Thurs Juneau 8 am - 5 pm Planning to take the Blue bus up to Mendenhall Glacier and also try to do the tram on our own.

 

5/31 Fri Ketchikan 11 am - 7 pm Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining.

 

6/1 Sat Inside Passage

 

6/2 Sun Vancouver Flying home to MSP in the afternoon.

 

$100 Military OBC as one son is a veteran.  1 flight was booked with a credit, and 2 flights with miles so only 1 was cash.  I’m also buying AARP gift cards to pay for the cruise. I’m trying to save where I can to offset some of the more expensive excursions.

 

 

This is great! We have very similar itineraries 🙂 In fact I had almost the exact itinerary in mind until I decided to scratch Talkeetna/Denali and get to Seward a day earlier. I think I have the same Ketchikan excursion booked for my husband.

 

Re: the Blue Bus, I don't know if you've been following other threads but apparently there was some issue with them overbooking people/not having enough permits, so a bunch of people have been receiving cancellation notices for their 2023 cruises. Hopefully that won't be the same issue next year, but might want to keep an eye out!

[katmu]

9 minutes ago, no1racefan1 said:

This is great! We have very similar itineraries 🙂 In fact I had almost the exact itinerary in mind until I decided to scratch Talkeetna/Denali and get to Seward a day earlier. I think I have the same Ketchikan excursion booked for my husband.

 

Re: the Blue Bus, I don't know if you've been following other threads but apparently there was some issue with them overbooking people/not having enough permits, so a bunch of people have been receiving cancellation notices for their 2023 cruises. Hopefully that won't be the same issue next year, but might want to keep an eye out!

Yes, I was originally planning to go straight to Seward but both boys ranked seeing Denali, the mountain, as their #1 so I’ve been trying to tweak the itinerary.  I still think we may make another trip at some point hopefully after my knee replacement but we wanted to travel next year with my mom while she is still able.  I watched some videos of that Ketchikan fishing excursion and I think it looks like something the boys will really like.  They grew up fishing in Northern Minnesota every summer.

 

I’ve been following the Blue Bus situation for this year, so I’m definitely keeping an eye on it for next year.  I’ll have a backup plan just in case.  The permit situation must be tough for the vendors, and people who have cruises yet this summer and fall.  

[cmmaxwell03]

4 hours ago, katmu said:

I’ve been following this thread closely as I’m working on our plans for next May.  I’m struggling a little with how best to fit in Kenai and how much time to allocate for there. The trip will be my mom, my 2 adult sons and myself.  I am having arthroscopic knee surgery in 2 weeks and my 7th knee surgery overall.  I will be needing a TKR in the next few years.  I mention that because as much as I used to like to hike, long hikes are going to be out for this trip.  

 

The boys both want to see Denali so that’s the reason for prioritizing the flightseeing trip.  I’m also trying to get as much time at Kenai Fjords as we can fit in.

 

These are my tentative plans so far but 

 

5/21 Tues Fly to Anchorage from MSP.  Flight arrives 9pm.  Pick up car at airport.  Overnight Anchorage.

 

5/22 Weds drive to Talkeetna Flightseeing tour to Denali. Overnight Talkeetna

 

5/23 Thurs backup option for Denali Flightseeing.  Jet boat tour. Drive to Seward late afternoon. Overnight Seward.

 

5/24 Fri Major Marine 6 hour tour afternoon. Overnight Seward

 

5/25 Sat Kenai Fjords in morning.  Walk to Exit Glacier viewing.  How far will depend on my knee. Drive back to Anchorage, stop at Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way.  Drop off car. Overnight Anchorage.

 

5/26 Sun Train or shuttle to Whittier for cruise

 

5/27 Mon Hubbard Glacier

 

5/28 Tues Glacier Bay

 

5/29 Weds Skagway 7 am - 8 pm Looking to book White pass railway, Yukon a& Dog sled adventure. HAL hasn’t opened up our cruise for excursions yet.

 

5/30 Thurs Juneau 8 am - 5 pm Planning to take the Blue bus up to Mendenhall Glacier and also try to do the tram on our own.

 

5/31 Fri Ketchikan 11 am - 7 pm Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining.

 

6/1 Sat Inside Passage

 

6/2 Sun Vancouver Flying home to MSP in the afternoon.

 

$100 Military OBC as one son is a veteran.  1 flight was booked with a credit, and 2 flights with miles so only 1 was cash.  I’m also buying AARP gift cards to pay for the cruise. I’m trying to save where I can to offset some of the more expensive excursions.

 

 

You are in the right place to discuss plans 🙂 It sounds like you have a solid plan for your trip.

[katmu]

I was able to book our Seward hotel and Kenai tour with Major Marine.  They are actually going to offer the 7.5 hour tour for the date I wanted so I’m happy about that.

[texasweather]

Thank you so much for this thread - it has helped me immensely in finalizing my rough outline of what my 2024 cruise is going to be!  I have a July 2024 cruise on a courtesy hold with Celebrity, northbound out of Vancouver.  I think booking the package in Seward with Harbor 360 & Major Marine makes all the sense in the world, and I'm so excited!  I'm going to call them as soon as I decide to proceed with my deposit and see if they'll let me book my 2024 reservation.  Thanks for that tip!

 

From what I've been reading, booking the 8.5 tour is best, but I also saw their warning about seasickness and it's making me a little nervous.  No one in my party is particularly prone to it, but I'm wondering if anyone who sees this who has done this tour - how bad are the waves? I know it'll vary day to day, but does anyone know if things like the pressure bands or ear patches may be sufficient for a cruise like that?

Edited July 9, 2023 by texasweather

[no1racefan1]

34 minutes ago, katmu said:

I was able to book our Seward hotel and Kenai tour with Major Marine.  They are actually going to offer the 7.5 hour tour for the date I wanted so I’m happy about that.

This is awesome! Were you able to book over the phone?

[katmu]

2 minutes ago, no1racefan1 said:

This is awesome! Were you able to book over the phone?

Yes, I booked over the phone for our dates in May.

[KruisinKath]

20 hours ago, katmu said:

Yes, I booked over the phone for our dates in May.

Katmu, you mentioned driving from Denali to Seward in the afternoon, but based on everything I've been reading on various sites, it's probably about an eight hour drive, and perhaps more. You may want to investigate a little further so you have time to make itinerary/excursion adjustments. 

[katmu]

2 minutes ago, KruisinKath said:

Katmu, you mentioned driving from Denali to Seward in the afternoon, but based on everything I've been reading on various sites, it's probably about an eight hour drive, and perhaps more. You may want to investigate a little further so you have time to make itinerary/excursion adjustments. 

We’re driving from Talkeetna to Seward, not all the way from Denali but yes I’m still allowing 6 hours.

[KruisinKath]

5 minutes ago, katmu said:

We’re driving from Talkeetna to Seward, not all the way from Denali but yes I’m still allowing 6 hours.

Oh good!  I didn't want to NOT mention and then you have issues ON your trip :).  

[Sailin Gal]

On 7/8/2023 at 8:06 PM, texasweather said:

Thank you so much for this thread - it has helped me immensely in finalizing my rough outline of what my 2024 cruise is going to be!  I have a July 2024 cruise on a courtesy hold with Celebrity, northbound out of Vancouver.  I think booking the package in Seward with Harbor 360 & Major Marine makes all the sense in the world, and I'm so excited!  I'm going to call them as soon as I decide to proceed with my deposit and see if they'll let me book my 2024 reservation.  Thanks for that tip!

 

From what I've been reading, booking the 8.5 tour is best, but I also saw their warning about seasickness and it's making me a little nervous.  No one in my party is particularly prone to it, but I'm wondering if anyone who sees this who has done this tour - how bad are the waves? I know it'll vary day to day, but does anyone know if things like the pressure bands or ear patches may be sufficient for a cruise like that?

We did the 6 hour trip with Major Marine, which is a larger vessel than the longer trip.  There was one portion of the trip through unprotected waters where we had maybe 6-8’ seas and there were some pretty sick folks. From talking to the crew, that sounded like a not-so-rough day in those waters.  Whether or not the people who got sick had taken any meclezine or dramamine beforehand, I don’t know.  We are monohull sailors who typically don’t get seasick, but we meclezined up prior to boarding that morning.  
 

I will say that tour was our favorite part of our Alaskan trip (3 days DIY before SB Whittier to Vancouver). We saw so much gorgeous scenery and wildlife on that tour that we would do the tour again in a heartbeat. 

[cmmaxwell03]

3 hours ago, Sailin Gal said:

We did the 6 hour trip with Major Marine, which is a larger vessel than the longer trip.  There was one portion of the trip through unprotected waters where we had maybe 6-8’ seas and there were some pretty sick folks. From talking to the crew, that sounded like a not-so-rough day in those waters.  Whether or not the people who got sick had taken any meclezine or dramamine beforehand, I don’t know.  We are monohull sailors who typically don’t get seasick, but we meclezined up prior to boarding that morning.  
 

I will say that tour was our favorite part of our Alaskan trip (3 days DIY before SB Whittier to Vancouver). We saw so much gorgeous scenery and wildlife on that tour that we would do the tour again in a heartbeat. 

Is this the wildlife boat tour to Resurrection Bay?  If so, now I'm worried, lol.

[Sailin Gal]

18 hours ago, cmmaxwell03 said:

Is this the wildlife boat tour to Resurrection Bay?  If so, now I'm worried, lol.

No, it was the 6 hour Kenai Fjords NP tour.  Their website shows the route map for each tour.  The rough part was when we were between Rugged Island and Chiswell Islands.  That doesnt mean it is always rough, it just depends on weather and wind conditions.  They did tell us ahead of the trip that day what the conditions were. 

[Northern Aurora]

On 7/9/2023 at 9:31 PM, cmmaxwell03 said:

Is this the wildlife boat tour to Resurrection Bay?  If so, now I'm worried, lol.

 

Jut a quick comment -- during every small boat trip we have taken out of Seward a passenger has become seasick.  Those prone to motion sickness need to be prepared.  The joke is to "go for distance" from the back of the ship when throwing up.  And one time when we were stopped on a Major Marine vessel to watch whales another boat was also present -- and this guy on the other vessel was losing the contents of his stomach.  That just about made everyone on the Major Marine vessel become sick too.

[no1racefan1]

3 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Jut a quick comment -- during every small boat trip we have taken out of Seward a passenger has become seasick.  Those prone to motion sickness need to be prepared.  The joke is to "go for distance" from the back of the ship when throwing up.  And one time when we were stopped on a Major Marine vessel to watch whales another boat was also present -- and this guy on the other vessel was losing the contents of his stomach.  That just about made everyone on the Major Marine vessel become sick too.

This certainly gives us something to look forward to!

[NothingBeatsBaseball]

We just got back in June and did the six-hour tour with Major Marine. The water was pretty rough. They told us it would be when we checked in. Multiple folks were sick. The ship staff was awesome trying to help them, etc. The staff was great on the ship for everything BTW. Our family never got sick.

 

The trip was no doubt the roughest boat tour I've ever taken. How people don't get hurt falling on every tour, I don't know. We were worried about our kids getting sick so we gave them kids Dramamine, but it really knocked them out. They both slept through half of it or so due to the pills.

 

I had read so many great things about the tour so I made sure we did it when I planned the trip. It was foggy when we went so we missed some of the scenery. We did the tour a day after getting off a cruise so my mother (70s) felt a little bit like she couldn't really appreciate it after just seeing glaciers multiple times on the cruise and scenery, etc.  I think you doing it before the cruise will prevent any of that. We didn't see as much wildlife as I thought we might see. Or at least based on previous reviews. 

 

 

But it is a very good tour and we really liked the staff and ship. If you have the means, do it. We saved a decent chunk of money booking during the Cyber Monday deal. 

 

[no1racefan1]

7 hours ago, NothingBeatsBaseball said:

We just got back in June and did the six-hour tour with Major Marine. The water was pretty rough. They told us it would be when we checked in. Multiple folks were sick. The ship staff was awesome trying to help them, etc. The staff was great on the ship for everything BTW. Our family never got sick.

 

The trip was no doubt the roughest boat tour I've ever taken. How people don't get hurt falling on every tour, I don't know. We were worried about our kids getting sick so we gave them kids Dramamine, but it really knocked them out. They both slept through half of it or so due to the pills.

 

I had read so many great things about the tour so I made sure we did it when I planned the trip. It was foggy when we went so we missed some of the scenery. We did the tour a day after getting off a cruise so my mother (70s) felt a little bit like she couldn't really appreciate it after just seeing glaciers multiple times on the cruise and scenery, etc.  I think you doing it before the cruise will prevent any of that. We didn't see as much wildlife as I thought we might see. Or at least based on previous reviews. 

 

 

But it is a very good tour and we really liked the staff and ship. If you have the means, do it. We saved a decent chunk of money booking during the Cyber Monday deal. 

 

This is really great info, thank you! 

[cmmaxwell03]

1 hour ago, no1racefan1 said:

This is really great info, thank you! 

I'm so happy that I did not schedule an excursion to the Fjords.  We are doing a a 5 hr Resurrection Bay Wildlife Cruise as our excursion in Seward.  One of the first few lines in the description talks about the calm waters of the bay (woohoo!).

[no1racefan1]

1 hour ago, cmmaxwell03 said:

I'm so happy that I did not schedule an excursion to the Fjords.  We are doing a a 5 hr Resurrection Bay Wildlife Cruise as our excursion in Seward.  One of the first few lines in the description talks about the calm waters of the bay (woohoo!).

I'm going to stew over it for awhile, LOL

[katmu]

I am definitely planning to have non-drowsy dramamine along for the 7.5 hour cruise.  One of the YouTube videos I watched of the same cruise was one a day when waves were probably 6 feet during a portion of the cruise.  On others the waters weren’t as rough.  I still think it’s worth it. 

[CPAatSea]

5 minutes ago, katmu said:

I am definitely planning to have non-drowsy dramamine along for the 7.5 hour cruise.  One of the YouTube videos I watched of the same cruise was one a day when waves were probably 6 feet during a portion of the cruise.  On others the waters weren’t as rough.  I still think it’s worth it. 

I haven't been seasick yet but this might be the test. I've been in some pretty rough waters before and I did okay so I'm hoping that'll be the case here. I agree with you it's too good of an opportunity to pass up.

 

I called Major Marine yesterday and booked a package that includes the 7.5 tour and a hotel room. They give you 20% off the tour for staying at their hotel for a night. It saved us about $90 on the tour and their hotel looks lovely so I'm excited about that.

 

I also booked my airfare in the past two days so I'm officially locked in for my starting point. I was able to get a good deal on a flight from my home airport to Fairbanks with a stop over in Seattle. Our stop over is almost 24h but we booked it that way on purpose. Neither of us have ever been to Seattle so we're excited for our bonus day to experience a city we've never been to. This also allows us to get into Fairbanks at a reasonable time... some of the flights to Fairbanks land insanely late like 2am 😳

[no1racefan1]

47 minutes ago, CPAatSea said:

I haven't been seasick yet but this might be the test. I've been in some pretty rough waters before and I did okay so I'm hoping that'll be the case here. I agree with you it's too good of an opportunity to pass up.

 

I called Major Marine yesterday and booked a package that includes the 7.5 tour and a hotel room. They give you 20% off the tour for staying at their hotel for a night. It saved us about $90 on the tour and their hotel looks lovely so I'm excited about that.

 

I also booked my airfare in the past two days so I'm officially locked in for my starting point. I was able to get a good deal on a flight from my home airport to Fairbanks with a stop over in Seattle. Our stop over is almost 24h but we booked it that way on purpose. Neither of us have ever been to Seattle so we're excited for our bonus day to experience a city we've never been to. This also allows us to get into Fairbanks at a reasonable time... some of the flights to Fairbanks land insanely late like 2am 😳

Awesome!! I'm still pretty sure we'll book a Major Marine Tour as well just because of the rave reviews. I'll definitely take some motion sickness meds beforehand, just in case. I'm kind of holding off booking because I've heard they usually have a sale around Black Friday/Cyber Monday. It's really hard to wait that long, haha! If we had stuck with our original idea to stay at Harbor 360, I would totally book early like you did and take advantage of the 20% off.