Our Tundra Wilderness Tour Was Cancelled

[msvca]

We have an Alaska Cruisetour booked with Princess Cruises and we paid to upgrade from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali.  We leave in 4 days and I just found out that our Tundra Wilderness Tour was cancelled and we are now scheduled for the Natural History Tour again.  I know the road is closed and the Tundra tour was shortened but I have no desire to do the Natural History Tour.  This is a once in a lifetime trip that I have been dreaming of for 30+ years which we had to move from 2021 due to Covid.  I really wanted to get further into the park to see the park and wildlife.  I know wildlife sightings are not guaranteed but I have heard it will not be possible to see much wildlife on the shorter tour.  Will I be disappointed in the Natural History Tour or am I just getting upset over nothing?  I have checked with the company that manages the service for the park and they do not have any availability on our day.  At this point I am thinking of canceling the Natural History Tour and asking for a refund.  Thank you for any thoughts or words of wisdom.

[GTJ]

28 minutes ago, msvca said:

We have an Alaska Cruisetour booked with Princess Cruises and we paid to upgrade from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali. We leave in 4 days and I just found out that our Tundra Wilderness Tour was cancelled and we are now scheduled for the Natural History Tour again. I know the road is closed and the Tundra tour was shortened but I have no desire to do the Natural History Tour. This is a once in a lifetime trip that I have been dreaming of for 30+ years which we had to move from 2021 due to Covid. I really wanted to get further into the park to see the park and wildlife.

If your motivation is primarily the geography--seeing as much of the park and wildlife as is possible from the full 43-mile road that presently open--and not so much having the driver give narration along the route, or to enjoy lunch in a box, then perhaps your best option would be to cancel the tour and instead travel on a regular transit bus to and from East Fork River (Mile 43). Indeed, I imagine many people don't want to hear the bus driver yabber endlessly. The fare for the transit bus, $32.75, is significantly less than the fare for either the Natural History tour bus, $114.00, or the Tundra Wilderness tour bus, $141.25, yet the transit bus travels the same route as the Tundra Wilderness tour bus. (Use a portion of the savings to make your own box lunch!) Checking the online availability of transit bus reservations for the immediate future, there appears to be plenty of space available. Go to http://www.reservedenali.com/tours-transits/transits to purchase tickets.

[Northern Aurora]

I would also suggest cancelling the Princess arranged tour and take the transit bus.  We live two hours north of the entrance to Denali, and, prior to the road closure at Pretty Rocks, visited DNP at least once a summer.  We never had a transit bus driver who did not offer a nice narration.  My memory is that every time we have been on one of the transit buses the bus driver had interesting things to talk about.  I would be extremely surprised to learn of any transit bus driver who just silently drove that bus and didn't offer any commentary.

[AKStafford]

Transit bus. Same road, same views. Much cheaper.   https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

[msvca]

@GTJ @Northern Aurora @AKStafford Thank you all for your suggestion to use the transit bus.  I started looking into that last night.  If I remember correctly the Tundra Wilderness Tour stops at overlooks and other places to see the park not just for wildlife sighting.  It doesn't sound like the transit bus does that.  I understand you can get off the bus whenever you want and get on another bus.  What concerns me is that the NPS website says if you get off a bus you may need to wait up to an hour for the next bus with available seating.  There will be 5 of us including my 78 year old mother and 2 kids who would not be very happy if we get off the bus for 10 minutes to look at the scenery/take pictures and need to wait 20-50 minutes for the next bus. 

 

We would also need to get to the park on our own from the Princess Denali Lodge.  If we purchased transit tickets ahead of time but there was a problem with the lodge shuttle getting us to the park before our bus left would there be an issue changing to a later bus if there was space?  I was looking for a relaxing time at Denali and this seems to be becoming stressful.

[GTJ]

6 minutes ago, msvca said:

If I remember correctly the Tundra Wilderness Tour stops at overlooks and other places to see the park not just for wildlife sighting. It doesn't sound like the transit bus does that. I understand you can get off the bus whenever you want and get on another bus. What concerns me is that the NPS website says if you get off a bus you may need to wait up to an hour for the next bus with available seating. There will be 5 of us including my 78 year old mother and 2 kids who would not be very happy if we get off the bus for 10 minutes to look at the scenery/take pictures and need to wait 20-50 minutes for the next bus.

The transit bus system at Denali is fairly informal. It is not like the transit bus system in New York City, where there is a strict timetable, with everyone in rush to get to work. It is about 2-1/2 hours from the park's bus depot to the far end of the bus route, and slightly less for the return trip (for comparison, the Tundra Wilderness Tour is advertised as 5 to 5-1/2 hours, slightly more relaxed but not substantially so. The transit bus makes periodic rest stops, and along the route brief stops when there is something interesting; you should also be able to request the driver to stop briefly to take a landscape photograph without the rattle from the bus. It is difficult to imagine it take ten minutes to take a photograph, and regular impromptu stop requests of that length might well be refused. If you do actually want to stand in the road and look at the scenery for an extended time, then you might need to alight and drop back to one of the following buses. To get a sense of how long you would have to wait for the following bus, check the timetable here: http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/upload/2023-Transit-Bus-Schedule.pdf. You can see that, during the peak summer period, buses operate about half-hourly. It might also be difficult to find five open seats on a single transit bus, so you might have to split up your group onto more than one bus if you do decide to drop back. All that said, however, most people who alight from a transit bus enroute do so for the purpose of hiking for a bit, and not just standing in the road for an extended period of time, staring at the landscape. Do think about this and whether you really expect wanting to do so.

 

28 minutes ago, msvca said:

We would also need to get to the park on our own from the Princess Denali Lodge. If we purchased transit tickets ahead of time but there was a problem with the lodge shuttle getting us to the park before our bus left would there be an issue changing to a later bus if there was space? I was looking for a relaxing time at Denali and this seems to be becoming stressful.

This is something with which you'll need to pay attention to logistics. The Princess Denali Lodge also provides a shuttle service between the lodge and the park, hourly, for a five dollar charge per person. It is possible that the hotel could mess up its shuttle service, and so you might want to allow for additional time for that contingency. Plan to arrive in the park earlier than your scheduled transit bus, and head to the visitor center for some time prior to your bus departure. Alternatively, skip the lodge's shuttle service and just walk there. Walking is the most reliable means of transportation. It is an easy 1-1/2 miles on foot (45 minutes) between the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and the Denali bus depot, using the roadside bicycle path and optionally the Jonesville Connector Trail. See information here: http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/dayhiking.htm.