Questions on Princess Cruisetour to Alaska

[Janiekins]

Looking to book my first cruise to Alaska for September, 2008 with hubby. Very interested in a 7 day one way cruise and land cruisetour with Princess. Does anyone have first hand experiences with these cruises? Has anyone done the cruisetour? If so which land tours did you do? They offer Denali, Fairbanks, Mt. McKinley, etc. Would you do the land tour on your own or book it with Princess?

[crusdiva]

Looking to book my first cruise to Alaska for September, 2008 with hubby. Very interested in a 7 day one way cruise and land cruisetour with Princess. Does anyone have first hand experiences with these cruises? Has anyone done the cruisetour? If so which land tours did you do? They offer Denali, Fairbanks, Mt. McKinley, etc. Would you do the land tour on your own or book it with Princess?

Janekins,

Hi,

I answered you about the ship on an earlier post - I hope you saw that.

As to the cruisetour, DH and I did one in 2005. Here's some of what I posted on the boards later.

 

Alaska

 

We did a cruise/tour in September and had 4 days on land before our cruise.

We flew into Fairbanks - one night at Bear Lodge, then the train to Denali and overnight at the Princess Lodge and onto McKinley for two nights. I recommend two nights Denali and one at McKinley.

The foliage was incredible between Fairbanks and McKinley - especially in Denali National Park. I'm so glad we did the land portion first, it was wonderful but exhausting. The other nice thing about it is that when you get on the ship in Whittier you know a lot of people from the land tour. It was fun to run into them onboard like old friends.

 

Plan on spending about 30 - 50% more for meals at the lodges....our running joke was that it cost $25 just to sit down at the lodge's restaurants. That said, they were all excellent - food and service - especially the Summit Restaurant at Denali and the Mountain View at McKinley (I wouldn't recommend Lynx Creek Pizza at Denali however). At Denali there are other dining choices off site, but not at McKinley.

 

Both lodges are lovely and I highly recommend a Princess landtour.

 

I have some pictures of the tour. Click on the link in my signature.

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

We preferred the train from Fairbanks to Denali - they are owned by Princess and are very nice and very roomy as compared to the train from Talkeetna to Whittier which is leased by Princess from the ARR - it was fine just not as nice as the Princess cars.

 

 

I hope this helps.

[stepmor99]

We did a cruise tour in mid-June (Island Princess) and really loved it. It was our first time in AK and I thought that Princess did a great job getting us around to see as much of the state as we could in a two week timeframe. We did the tour that took us to Prudhoe Bay (from Anchorage) so we did see a good portion of the state. However, be prepared to be on the go during most of the time you spend on the cruise tour. If possible, do the cruise afterwards so you can get some much needed relaxation.

 

IMHO, Anchorage, the Princess train ride on the AK Railroad, and Denali are not to be missed. Fairbanks was so-so. Other cruisers we met liked McKinley Lodge, but our tour did not include that stop so I cannot offer you any first hand knowledge. For things to do while in port on the cruise, get some ideas from the Alaska Message Board here - lot's of information! In June, there was 23 hours of daylight and everything was open. In September, you could be limited by the # of daylight hours and in some cases, roads may be closed for the season. The AK Board will provide you plenty of ideas and info.

 

Also, bring a nice camera and plenty of film/memory. You will need it. Alaska is an amazing state with great people and lots to see. We cannot wait until 2009 when we are planning to return.

 

You will have a Ball!

[FredS]

Our first experience cruising was a cruisetour from Vanc to Fairbanks. We were with a large group so did not have a say in what was done. That being said we throughly enjoyed our time and cruise experience. Liking trains I enjoyed being able to travel by train. We stayed at Princess McKinley Lodge which is isolated. We stayed 2 nights so had a full day to do things. I took a salmon fishing trip and my wife went on a river raft ride. Both of these were out of Talkeetna. The raft trip was a gentle one. there were a lot of salmon to try and catch. We did not stay at Denali but did go on the Denali tour. However, we did not see any wildlife and the mountain was fog in the whole time we were there. Look on the Ports of Call board for Alaska. I found out afterwards that the short trip into Denali really does not give you a good feel for what the mountain and area is like. Overall the trip was a good introduction to Alaska and we have some fond memories of the trip. The highlight for me was a glacier landing in a little Cessna ski equipped plane. We landed, walked around and the take-off was exhilarating as we went down the glacier and then flew off the edge of a mountain with the land far below us.

[cactusrose]

Having down a cruisetour twice, I would do it on my own. The cruisetours were wonderful but it's really easy to drive form Anchorage to Denali and I prefer to stop where and when I want. The only thing I wouldn't do is drive over the Denali Highway in a rental car. It's all dirt and gravel. You wouldn't have to do that unless you were going from Denali to Copper River and visa versa.

[ConnMom]

In 2006, we did an 11 night cruisetour, starting in Fairbanks for 2 nights, followed by 2 nights in Denali prior to embarking in Whittier on the Island Princess. We were very impressed with Princess's efficiency in managing so many people (it has a huge presence in Alaska) as well as the quality of the lodging and transportation.

We arrived a day early in Fairbanks, giving us a day to tour the area on our own. Our first day on the cruise tour was very busy; we enjoyed both the excursion to the gold mine and the riverboat. Meals were not provided on our tour, so we were able to try out a few area restaurants.

We loved Denali, even though it rained much of our time there. We had adequate free time for hiking on our own, but could also have done optional excursions with the cruise line if we had wished to do so. The tour provided an 8 hour bus tour into the park, where you have the best opportunity to see animals. We saw a fair amount of wildlife, including a very interesting "show" by a gray wolf, which is s fairly rare sight in the park. I think that if you stay only one night in Denali, Princess gives a much shorter tour that does not go very far into the park.

The day we embarked, we traveled on the Princess train cars on the Alaska Railroad. This was an interesting full-day journey, traveling through scenic and often very isolated areas. The Princess cars are comfortable - seating at tables for 4 on second level, glassed dome cars with beverage service and dining cars. The train took us right to the ship, making embarkation easy.

I would recommend a Princess cruise tour for its ease as well as its qualilty. On the first day of the land portion, Princess collected the luggage that we were not planning to use until we were on the ship, and handled our luggage whenever we left a hotel, so moving from place to place was very easy.

I think you could plan this trip on your own and do everything we did, especially if you do not like traveling with a group. But I think Princess does a very good job with its land tours, and we loved the cruise and the Island Princess.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a great time.

[jrw]

We did a cruise tour in mid-June (Island Princess) and really loved it. It was our first time in AK and I thought that Princess did a great job getting us around to see as much of the state as we could in a two week timeframe. We did the tour that took us to Prudhoe Bay (from Anchorage) so we did see a good portion of the state. However, be prepared to be on the go during most of the time you spend on the cruise tour. If possible, do the cruise afterwards so you can get some much needed relaxation.

 

IMHO, Anchorage, the Princess train ride on the AK Railroad, and Denali are not to be missed. Fairbanks was so-so. Other cruisers we met liked McKinley Lodge, but our tour did not include that stop so I cannot offer you any first hand knowledge. For things to do while in port on the cruise, get some ideas from the Alaska Message Board here - lot's of information! In June, there was 23 hours of daylight and everything was open. In September, you could be limited by the # of daylight hours and in some cases, roads may be closed for the season. The AK Board will provide you plenty of ideas and info.

 

Also, bring a nice camera and plenty of film/memory. You will need it. Alaska is an amazing state with great people and lots to see. We cannot wait until 2009 when we are planning to return.

 

You will have a Ball!

 

I did the same Prudhoe Bay cruisetour in May/June 1999. It was AWESOME and you experience areas that most do not get to see. The trip up the Dalton Highway (Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay; "highway" is not actually paved, though) and through the Brooks Range was incredible. Note, the portion north of Fairbanks is not luxurious by any stretch. It's more for those wanting to experience remote areas, and I did not mind the one-step-above-roughing-it for those few days of the trip.

 

Back in 1999, I was using a film camera, and shot almost 30 rolls (36 exposure). I could have easily done more, but tried to hold back a bit! I would love to go back now -- with my digital and lots of memory cards.

 

I agree with the suggestion of land first/cruise second. I did this and was glad. Some will disagree. It all depends on what you decide for your land tour and which portion (land or cruise) you believe will be more strenuous. The nature of the Prudhoe Bay land tour is such that it would almost certainly be more tiring than the cruise portion. Also, my personal preference is the Southbound cruise, so doing land first worked well for me in both regards.

 

Good luck in your planning & have a great time! :D