Alaska cruise tours

[mahasamatman]

We're looking at a cruise-land-cruise combination for next summer. Is the Connoisseur tour worth the additional cost over the Off the Beaten Path tours?

[LibrarianMonroe]

On the connoisseur tour, literally everything is handled for you.  meals, tours, etc.  Its the "set it and forget it" option of the tours.  My wife and I did that so we wouldn't have to make any more decisions.  If that appeals to you, its worth it.  If you think you might want atypical tours and/or try to save money eating (good luck with that) then other tours may be worth your while.

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, mahasamatman said:

We're looking at a cruise-land-cruise combination for next summer. Is the Connoisseur tour worth the additional cost over the Off the Beaten Path tours?

IMO - nope. We didn't spend anywhere near what the Connoisseur tour would have cost with our Off the Beaten Path tour and eating around. We ate and drank all we wanted, and didn't come close to the costs of the connoisseur tour.

 

We had great rooms (overlooking the river in Denali, beautiful!), guides giving commentary along several of the different transfers, helpful staff on arrival at each lodge, Denali tour included, etc. We ate in Talkeetna, in Denali across from the lodge (easy walking distance, great choices,  And picked up some snacks from the different shops), And only ended up having to eat all our meals at Copper River Lodge as the "limo" for the transfer into the small town to the diner was out of commission when we were there, otherwise we'd have eaten at the diner for lunch, then dinner at the lodge.

 

We were super happy to not be tied to the lodges for all our meals - thoroughly enjoyed eating locally and trying different things. And again, saved a small fortune doing so.

Our goal was to see and experience as much as we could, being tied to the lodges for every meal, etc would have hampered that considerably... 

Didn't find food in Alaska any more expensive than mid-range restaurants in mid-sized or large cities. I have to wonder where people eat when they say food is so much more expensive in Alaska! 

 

A quick look at Google maps will show you restaurant options in vicinity of the different lodges, along with menus and reviews. You can see pricing for yourself.. 

We loved our Off the Beaten Path tour, definitely wouldn't do the connoisseur tour ourselves. YMMV. 

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by reedprincess

[Thrak]

Agree with @LibrarianMonroe. We've done a 13 day and a 15 day connoisseur cruise tour to Alaska and love them. For some old but good info check out this thread by @caribill:

 

 

[LibrarianMonroe]

9 hours ago, reedprincess said:

I I have to wonder where people eat when they say food is so much more expensive in Alaska! 

 

My friends who live in Alaska say the same thing, so... home?  🙂

[mtnesterz]

There are very few things in life I wish I could do over, or do differently, but one of them is that I would have bought the Connoisseur package for Alaska.

Edited April 18, 2023 by mtnesterz