Denali pre cruise extension

[Chinaby]

We are going on a 14 night Silversea Alaskan cruise in May 2024. Considering the Denali land extension and wondering what others have thought of this?

Also be helpful to know what time you arrive at the ship at the conclusion of the land tour.

 

Greatly appreciated.

[gcornell]

If you look in my profile I did an amateur trip report last year.  The Denali add on was good and I’m glad we did it. Once!   2 things to keep in mind.  Don’t expect the lodging to be in the same league (or close) to SS and be prepared to spend a lot of time on the bus.  I went back and read the itinerary and it does mention a lot of bus rides but when you add it all up it was a little much for us.  I think we arrived mid afternoon on the ship.  It wasn’t early. May have even been close to 5pm. 

[Chinaby]

17 hours ago, gcornell said:

If you look in my profile I did an amateur trip report last year.  The Denali add on was good and I’m glad we did it. Once!   2 things to keep in mind.  Don’t expect the lodging to be in the same league (or close) to SS and be prepared to spend a lot of time on the bus.  I went back and read the itinerary and it does mention a lot of bus rides but when you add it all up it was a little much for us.  I think we arrived mid afternoon on the ship.  It wasn’t early. May have even been close to 5pm. 

Thankyou!

I enjoyed your trip report.

Appreciate it if you could let me know how many were on the Denali tour. 

[gcornell]

Sure.  There were 2 buses.  Each bus carried about 25 people so plenty of room to stretch out on the bus.  My family isn't big on group tours (we like to go at our own fast or slow pace) and generally book private tours just for us but SS ran it well, we had a nice group and worked out just fine.

[Lois R]

I also went to Alaska last summer with the Denali Tour.....I agree with the previous poster about the accommodations.  We stayed at 3 different properties and I would say only 1 was really nice. First night was at "The Captain Cook" in Anchorage.......next was "The Grand Denali Lodge"........nothing very grand about it. It was ok but nothing special and the last place was the nicest......and for the life of me, now I cannot think of the name....Oh I remember, it was the Aleyska Resort. I would definitely say this was the nicest of the 3. 

[gcornell]

That's right.  The Alyeska Resort was very, very nice.  The other 2 not so much.

[Lois R]

Just now, gcornell said:

That's right.  The Alyeska Resort was very, very nice.  The other 2 not so much.

I agree with you. The Capt Cook was ok.......I got in very late so I needed a clean place to sleep and shower. It served its purpose.  The Denali Lodge? Everyone kept saying there are no 5 star properties in that area........and this was one of the nicest.......not so much.

[Chinaby]

22 hours ago, gcornell said:

Sure.  There were 2 buses.  Each bus carried about 25 people so plenty of room to stretch out on the bus.  My family isn't big on group tours (we like to go at our own fast or slow pace) and generally book private tours just for us but SS ran it well, we had a nice group and worked out just fine.

Last question 😁

did you also travel on the glass top train to Denali?

thanks again. 

[gcornell]

Ask away.  I'm a rookie on SS compared to others but glad to help when I can.  Yes, we did travel on the train.  It was a great experience, certainly better than a bus, but we were really lucky because it was a rare 100% visibility day and we could see Denali almost the entire ride.

[AusMum]

On 4/26/2023 at 6:00 PM, Chinaby said:

We are going on a 14 night Silversea Alaskan cruise in May 2024. Considering the Denali land extension and wondering what others have thought of this?

Also be helpful to know what time you arrive at the ship at the conclusion of the land tour.

 

Greatly appreciated.

We did Alaska with another cruise company in 2018.  We did a week in Denali 'on our own' and caught the train back to Anchorage.  We loved having our independence, so hired a car.  It was an amazing experience.  Make sure to look out for bears! we kept getting a false sense of security whenever we pulled over to use rest areas.

[Mark_K]

On 4/27/2023 at 9:18 AM, gcornell said:

That's right.  The Alyeska Resort was very, very nice.  The other 2 not so much.

Like Silversea says in their descriptions: 
 

Alaska offers 5-star scenery; the accommodations are somewhat less.