Doing cruisetour own our own Question

[Jeanine&Jim]

Starting to research for a summer2010 Alaska cruise with Celebrity.

I am curious has anyone just done a 7 day cruise and rented a car before or after to go to Denali on your own? We don't like to do organised tours, prefering our own timetable, making our own meal plans and are excellent map readers. I also think it may be a way to save money. The difference for a 7 night cruise and the cruise tour is like 1500 to 2000. more per couple.

Anyone's helpful insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jeanine

[greatam]

Starting to research for a summer2010 Alaska cruise with Celebrity.

I am curious has anyone just done a 7 day cruise and rented a car before or after to go to Denali on your own? We don't like to do organised tours, prefering our own timetable, making our own meal plans and are excellent map readers. I also think it may be a way to save money. The difference for a 7 night cruise and the cruise tour is like 1500 to 2000. more per couple.

Anyone's helpful insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jeanine

 

Independent travel is highly recommend on this board. Hotels will run roughly $200 per night. A rental car-$100 per day. RV's are another option-about $200 per day for a large size.

 

Please do a search-itinerary is a good search word.

 

Good luck.

[vbmom87]

We planned our own land tour after our 7 day cruise last summer. It was a bit overwhelming at times, but in the end, well worth it. I never really figured out how much we saved. However, I can say this, I know we saw way more and did more than we would have done on a cruisetour. We had no regrets. My DH really wanted to do the cruisetour. We had done a bus tour in Europe and it was a great experience. However, when I looked at the Alaska cruisetours I was disappointed that I could not find one tour that would take in all the things I wanted to see.

 

With the help of this board, it really is pretty easy to plan a land tour. My DH and I are also good map readers. However, Alaska has so few roads, that you really can't get lost. It is very simple to get from point A to point B.

 

You can find B&Bs for less than $200. I would start looking for a cancellable car reservation now. The last few years Enterprise has been offering great deals about 11 months out. I think we paid about $180 for a full size car for 9 nine days with Enterprise. Drop off charge at the airport was an additional $40. We had picked it up downtown. I booked about a year out, maybe 10-11 months before. The day we were picking up our car, the agent said the current price was $120 a day. There are deals if you look for them early.

 

You will love doing Alaska on your own. You will see so much more and on your schedule, not someone elses.

[Rosieo]

We leave next Friday for our cruise and then we are doing the land portion on our own. We rented an RV. It is only costing us $800 for the week, we used the 1/2 off coupon in the Toursaver book. We will pay more in gas than renting a car but will be saving tons on hotel rooms. Plus we probably will be eating breakfasts and some lunches in the RV instead of having to eat out. And another thing I like about the RV, we don't have to lug our luggage in and out of hotel rooms every night! I am so excited to go!

[Rosieo]

The last few years Enterprise has been offering great deals about 11 months out. I think we paid about $180 for a full size car for 9 nine days with Enterprise. Drop off charge at the airport was an additional $40. We had picked it up downtown. I booked about a year out, maybe 10-11 months before. The day we were picking up our car, the agent said the current price was $120 a day. There are deals if you look for them early.

 

You will love doing Alaska on your own. You will see so much more and on your schedule, not someone elses.

 

WOW! That is very cheap for a car rental!!! We were quoted MUCH higher prices. Smart thinking, booking so early.

[Lanaki]

Starting to research for a summer2010 Alaska cruise with Celebrity.

I am curious has anyone just done a 7 day cruise and rented a car before or after to go to Denali on your own? We don't like to do organised tours, prefering our own timetable, making our own meal plans and are excellent map readers. I also think it may be a way to save money. The difference for a 7 night cruise and the cruise tour is like 1500 to 2000. more per couple.

Anyone's helpful insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jeanine

 

Hi Jeanine & Jim. We are doing a 7-day cruise and doing our own land tour prior to the cruise. We will be going in August so have not done it yet but would be happy to share our experience afterwards.

 

We did buy a TourSaver book which is really helping out. We are getting our two-night stay outside of Denali for 1/2 price with a two-for-one coupon. Also using it for other excursions and dining. So that helps a lot with planning and saving. Also using a special discount code for the car rental which is saving us a bit. With one-way drop off fees being over a $100 extra it really pays to research to get the best deal. And reserving early really seems to help out as well as the poster shares their experience.

 

If you have any questions just let me know. Others have already done it and they seem to have really enjoyed doing it on their own. We are very excited to be exploring it by ourselves for a bit.

 

Good luck!

[vbmom87]

WOW! That is very cheap for a car rental!!! We were quoted MUCH higher prices. Smart thinking, booking so early.

 

We, too, were going to rent an RV last year instead of a car, but it was going to cost us more if we rented the RV. The best price I could find last year on the smallest available RV was $200 a night. We stayed at B&Bs for much less and that included a breakfast each day. As I posted our car rental was very inexpensive. We also got 30 miles to a gallon on the Taurus we were renting. We were told the RV would get 7-8 miles a gallon. So, even though we are campers back home, and would have loved to camp in Alaska, the bottom line is it was going to cost us more if we did the RV plan. However you go, Alaska is a great destination. I would love to go back and camp the next time around, if we could do it cheaply. Just need to convince DH to go back.

[Jeanine&Jim]

Where do you get the discount book? I like the idea of the land tour first then cruise. We are just beginning to research.

Any suggestions for B&B's?

[Lanaki]

You can find the TourSaver book at:

http://www.toursaver.com/index.php/home/

 

You can find the Northern Lights Coupon book at:

http://www.alaska-discounts.com/Tours.html

 

We purchased both but sold the Northern Lighs as it was either duplicating what we could use in the TourSaver plus a lot of stuff we don't need. The Northern Lights is just like an Entertainment Book for most large cities. You can pull out the coupons and use as you go.

 

The TourSaver book you have to have with you when using it. It has a code in the front of the book that you give the vendors when booking and they pull the coupons from the book when you show up at the hotel or excursion.

 

We can not help you with the B&B's as we are staying at a hotel outside of Denali (using the TourSaver book) and then at the Hilton in Anchorage using points. However, many on this board have so will hopefully help you out.

 

Good luck!

[maltoose181]

You can find B&B's by going to bed and breakfast dot com also we found one in Fairbanks from a list on the Fairbanks website, also bandb dot com.

[Lanaki]

Where do you get the discount book? I like the idea of the land tour first then cruise. We are just beginning to research.

Any suggestions for B&B's?

 

I am really glad that we are planning our land tour before the cruise. I know how worn out we will be from our full days of driving and hiking and touring. The first full cruise day is College Fjords where we can relax a little and catch up on some rest before the busy port stops. Also, the last day of the cruise is at sea (inside passage) as we head into Vancouver so we can also rest up before we get to Vancouver and make our 8-9 hour drive home. I am looking forward to really relaxing on the ship after our short and busy tour of Denali and Anchorage.

 

Happy planning!

[Jeanine&Jim]

Thanks everyone for your help. We have cruise the Carribean 5 times, booked a short 5 night cruise for Feb. and still are planning Summer 2010 Alaska. It seems a lot more difficult to research Alaska... so much info. We think we want a Southbound Cruise from Seward to Vancouver and do the land piece before the cruise. What airport does everyone fly into? Is it difficult to get one ways to Alaska and then one way home from Vancouver? We will leave from Boston.

We also are going to Orlando in Sept. for my husband's annual conference and a week of Rest and Relaxation.

I try to plan one vacation at a time. But Alaska seems like it will take some time to research and to get those early car rental, hotels etc. ; I know are important. I really am the queen of the travel discounts so all your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Budget Queen]

Thanks everyone for your help. We have cruise the Carribean 5 times, booked a short 5 night cruise for Feb. and still are planning Summer 2010 Alaska. It seems a lot more difficult to research Alaska... so much info. We think we want a Southbound Cruise from Seward to Vancouver and do the land piece before the cruise. What airport does everyone fly into? Is it difficult to get one ways to Alaska and then one way home from Vancouver? We will leave from Boston.

We also are going to Orlando in Sept. for my husband's annual conference and a week of Rest and Relaxation.

I try to plan one vacation at a time. But Alaska seems like it will take some time to research and to get those early car rental, hotels etc. ; I know are important. I really am the queen of the travel discounts so all your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

You need to compare flight options. Many times an open jaw, multi city booking option works out best. Rarely are 2 one ways the cheapest. Anchorage is the airport. It is simple to do Alaska one your own, and "maps" aren't a concern. There is only direct roads to destinations. Get to your library and see if THE MILEPOST is available. "Necessary" for driving in Alaska. A main factor is TIME, don't underestimate it. At the least, 5 days is needed for touring Denali Park and Seward. Have at least 2 nights for Denali Park AND the shuttle bus to at least Eielson. DO your homework. http://www.nps.gov/dena

[beamteam]

On our land tour we will be at Wilderness Lodge for 2 days. On the itenerary it says day at leaisure. Are there excursions we can book or does the hotel offer trips?

[auntbevy]

Where do you get the discount book? I like the idea of the land tour first then cruise. We are just beginning to research.

Any suggestions for B&B's?

 

 

We did the northbound Vancouver to Seward and then the land portion on our own the end of May 2009. Everyone on our trip that did the cruisetour has said they would do it on their own next time. We flew home from Anchorage so the southbound with the land portion first would just be the reverse and would be great. You can fly into Anchorage or Fairbanks, pick up the rental there and then drive to Denali.

 

We stayed at the Denali Dome Home B&B in Healy (just a few miles from Denali) and would highly recommend it. Terry and Ann own the home and were wonderful hosts, they have been there for 20 years, the home and grounds are beautiful, breakfast was fantastic and we hope to go back again!

 

I kept a travel blog of our trip if you'd like to look at it, I talk about each port. One thought, depending on what airfare is from Vancouver, you could also take the train from Vancouver to Seattle for the trip home and then fly home from Seattle. That's what we did on the trip out and the train ride was just beautiful, right along the coast line.

 

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/ljandbev/1/tpod.html

 

You'll love Alaska, no matter what you decide! Enjoy!!!

[Budget Queen]

On our land tour we will be at Wilderness Lodge for 2 days. On the itenerary it says day at leaisure. Are there excursions we can book or does the hotel offer trips?

 

You are at the Denali Princess lodge??? Yes there are tours available once there. But also there are park activities http://www.nps.gov/dena I suggest you consider those as well. MOST important, you DO have the Tundra Wilderness tour included in your package???

[PennyAgain]

We leave next Friday for our cruise and then we are doing the land portion on our own. We rented an RV. It is only costing us $800 for the week, we used the 1/2 off coupon in the Toursaver book. We will pay more in gas than renting a car but will be saving tons on hotel rooms. Plus we probably will be eating breakfasts and some lunches in the RV instead of having to eat out. And another thing I like about the RV, we don't have to lug our luggage in and out of hotel rooms every night! I am so excited to go!

 

You have made a great decision! You will actually see and experience some of the real Alaska that the captive cruise passengers miss.