Alaska -14 day cruise or cruisetour

[azalice]

We have done a 7 day inside passage and now we are interested in either an Alaska cruisetour, incl. Denali plus more, or the 14 day cruise that includes Homer and Kodiak. If you had a choice, which one would you suggest based on your experiences?

 

Alice

[whale-watcher]

The interior of Alaska including (especially) Denali offers wildlife and scenery viewing possibilities not available on any cruise...and is very worth doing.

 

A 14 day cruise (which we did last year on the Tahitian Princess) is also a wonderful and relaxing vacation option...especially the princess and Holland America itineraries that visit smaller and less crowded ports...but Denali and Fairbanks are so worth visiting (if you allow enough time in each location for adequate touring).

[ncgolferette]

My husband and I had the same problem trying to decide which cruise or cruisetour to take. After doing some research, we decided to take the 14 day HAL cruise for June 2010 and made a reservation. It appeared that it takes a half day to journey from Fairbanks to Denali via the train, and then eight hours from Denali to Anchorage arriving at 8 pm. I thought that a day and a half would be spent traveling on the train. Plus we do not like to continually pack and unpack. I checked with HAL and they are supposed to have a tour from Anchorage north to some town so we should be able to see Mt. Mckinley . Also, liked the idea of visiting Homer and Kodiak. Victoria has always been on our bucket list, so we also are making arrangements to disembark the ship at the port and spend three nights there. The itinerary is working out perfect for us.

[agabbymama]

I likewise did the 7 day cruise from Seward SB to Vancouver in May '99. For our second trip to Alaska I decided I wanted to see Interior Alaska. The Yukon Territory was linked in my mind with Alaska from the Gold Rush days. When I started looking, HAL had what they called The Yukon Wilderness Cruisetour #1.

 

We were only 3 days on the ship from Vancouver NB to Juneau to Skagway. We debarked in Skagway and started overland on the Yukon Whitepass RR up to Fraser, Whitehorse, Dawson City, Eagle Alaska, Chicken, Tok, Fairbanks, Denali, and ending in Anchorage. 8 days on land through the Yukon and Alaska. It was absolutely awesome. SO very different from the port towns. Not nearly as commercialized even though the tour buses do go there.

 

Only you can decided if you want to actually cruise for 14 days or do a few days cruise and more interior travelling. When you cruise to the different ports, you only see the "tip" of Alaska, sort of like an iceberg. There is a lot more to interior Alaska. Have fun planning, then taking you cruise.