Princess Cruise Tour 4

[kelleya]

Hi gang - some of our group is considering a Princess cruise tour for "ease and convenience" I'm not sure I'm convinced... but anyways... one of the tours that was recommended was the tour #4. It takes us from Whittier to Denali - 2 nights (Mon and Tues)at Denali Princess Wildnerness Lodge. On the full day (Tues) at Denali it offers the Tundra Wilderness Tour - Wed morning at "our own pace" then sightsee by motor coach to Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. On Thursday morning we can "take advantage of the optional excursions from the lodge" then transfer to Talkeetna for the rail back to Anchorage - then 1 night stay in Anchorage. So all total it is 2 nights Denali, 1 night Mt. McKinley, 1 night Anchorage.

 

Has anyone done this particular tour? Do you know if we will actually get to spend any time in Talkeetna? Also, do you know what kind of optional excursions there are in McKinley?

 

I think the big attraction to this tour for a couple in our group is the train ride. Someone else to do the driving kind of thing....

 

Any input you have will be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[TwelveKitties]

Have not done that exact tour - both of ours also went to Fairbanks. The train ride is wonderful anywhere near Denali - but it is a long ride from the port to Denali so be prepared. As to Talkeetna - if you do not arrive there early in the afternoon, there really is little to do as everything basically closes up later in the day. Two of our group stayed to look around while we went on to the McKinley Lodge - turned out nothing was open - and then they had to flag down a Princess Bus to take them on to the McKinley Lodge. The two nights in Denali will be worth it - the Tundra Wilderness Tour is one of the best in my opinion. There are some other tours that will give you some great choices for the other time you have available.

 

Not everyone agrees, but I prefer doing the land tour first and then the cruise. You have to do a lot of transferring your luggage, etc., on the land tour and I find it really nice to be pampered for seven days after I've done that rather than get pampered first and trudge second (even though the trudging is worth every step). Just felt like I came home more rested the other way.

 

TwelveKitties

[rainee]

Hi kelleya,

 

We just got back from doing this cruisetour, except backwards. We started in Anchorage and ended in Whittier to catch our southbound cruise on the Sapphire.

 

We enjoyed the land tour, but I have to be honest and say that it was not relaxing in any sense of the word. Convenient, yes - ease, hmmmmm. Truthfully, I felt like we were herded around like cattle most of the time. Luggage out by 6:00 or 6:30 a.m., herded onto the coaches, herded onto the train, herded onto another coach. It was well organized. Our luggage was always where it was suppose to be; nothing got lost. They are, if nothing else, efficient and well organized.

 

I liked the McKinley Princess Lodge much better than the Denali Lodge. It was newer, cleaner, bigger and we were in the newer buildings (I think 23 or 24, can't remember :rolleyes: ). We had queen size beds in the McKinley Lodge. I should mention that this trip was my mom's 70th birthday present, so we did the whole thing through Princess to make it easier on her. There are a host of excursions that you can find here:

 

http://www.princesslodges.com/mckinley_lodge.cfm

 

We did not do an excursion at McKinley, but instead opted to walk some of the trails and then relax and wait for the mountain to come out from their deck, which is very nice. No, it didn't come out for us, although for a while we thought it might. It was beautiful and peaceful and we met some great people hanging out the deck. We did have the option to stay in Talkeetna for a little while when we first got off the train, as that is where the train station is. The town is tiny and we did not stay and look around but opted instead to go straight to the lodge and get settled in.

 

We ate dinner at the 20320 restaurant, which was very good and had really good coffee and an absolutely fabulous dessert called the tuxedo cake, which was white and chocolate mousse layered between chocolate cake. We were waited on by a young man whose name was Lloyd and he was wonderful and engaging. So much so that we went there for breakfast the next morning and requested to be seated in his section. :D

 

We also had 2 nights in Denali but with the shorter tour which we opted out of. We decided to take an early shuttle (6:15 a.m.) to Wonder Lake on our own and even though we had to get up really early to hike to the Wilderness Access Center to make the shuttle, it was worth it. We saw lots of animals including caribou, moose (but only a mom with a calf from pretty far away), dall sheep, a grizzly mom with 3 cubs at the Polychrome Pass rest stop, two red fox (one that was walking around right outside our shuttle that "christened the road" right next to us), golden eagles, arctic ground squirrels, snowshoe hare, another grizzly on the way back at the Toklat rest stop that came right across the river and walked right by the shuttle we were on and other animals that my jet lag is making me forget right now. Unfortunately, we did not see any wolves, but boy we saw alot!

 

The train rides are ok, but the 9 hour ride to Whittier for us was really long and tiring. The food on the train is passable, but it is expensive. It really helped having good groups of people on the cars we were on except for that 9 hour ride, where there was a very large extended family who thought they could take over the whole car and behave like they were at home, with their feet on the tables, standing in the aisles making it difficult for people to get to the stairways, etc. The first 2 train rides were really fun with a bunch of friendly and courteous people.

 

Sorry I've rambled on and made this so long. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Rainee

[kelleya]

Rainee - thank you so much for taking the time to give such a great review of the trip! I really appreciate your attention to the details. I may have a couple of questions in the next day or 2, but I think you answered most of them for me!

Thanks again!!!!

[rainee]

It was my pleasure, kelleya!

 

I have received so much information and guidance on this board that made our trip great, that I hope I can do the same for other folks. Any questions, just fire away.

 

Rainee

[fti]

Personally I like the idea that you spend two nights at Denali. There would be no way to take the TWT if you didn't. Even then, if it were me and I took this cruisetour, I would request a refund of the TWT and take the shuttle bus to Wonder Lake. As was stated, much greater chance of seeing wildlife.

 

Wednesday morning "at your own pace" could be spent at the visitor center looking at the exhibits and/or watching the film there, visiting the bookstore, seeing the sleddog demonstration, or seeing the film in the Wilderness Access Center.

 

There are buses running between the McKinley lodge and Talkeetna so you should be able to get to Talkeetna the day you arrive or head there earlier than the group the next morning if you want. Cute town and if it works out, you can do flightseeing from there.

 

John

[Budget Queen]

Two days at the Denali Princess, makes this a good "tour" choice. And with going northbound on the train- your most scenic portion is the first 2 hours. Rest of trip, much less so in my opinion, especially if McKinley isn't viewable- chances are it won't be. Way too many trees. :)

 

Again in my opinion, Princess has an excellent location at the McKinley lodge- WHEN McKinley is viewable, just fantastic. But it rarely is viewable. This lodge was actually put in as a "holding" in my opinon since Denali Princess always is full, and with being away from Anchorage, they have a monopoly on revenue. Talkeetna is an hour away in each direction, so you probably won't want to make the trip too many times.

 

I agree, with the 2 nights at the Denali Princess, get out of the Tundra Wilderness tour- value about $95 and get further on a shuttle bus. You do NOT have to take the first bus out and instead wait for the later ones to hook up with the Princess Lodge shuttle buses to the Access Center where you get the Park shuttle bus.

 

You do miss a lot of Alaska on these tours, going by plenty of very interesting areas, and the most costly way to travel there. But a good option for many who don't want to consider other traveling options.

[kelleya]

Thanks again everyone for the replies! I think I'll still try to push for the "on our own thing"

 

I'm going to call Avis again on Monday and see what kind of answer I can get about picking up a car in Whittier next June. I've got a couple of mixed answers...one person told me that they wouldn't do a 1 way rental with a return to Anchorage and the other person told me oh yes I could but was not able to locate the drop fee.

 

I may have to look at a transfer to Anchorage and picking up a car there!