stacyh270

On 7/2/2022 at 5:52 PM, gabelle said:

Which rental agency did you used?  Were you happy with them?  How close to the pier was the pickup/drop off? We are overnight in October so thinking of renting a car. 

We rented from Avis. It was about 4/10 of a mile walk from the pier each way but a fairly easy walk.  We were going to get an Uber on the way back but afternoon traffic was so bad, walking it was going to be faster so we did that. 

Just now, stacyh270 said:

9-6.  It'll be tight but some places will be more of a drive-thru just to take in the scenery.  We will spend a little time at Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg, where we are planning to have lunch.

I wish I could edit the previous reply  😞  We may or may not go to Oak Island.  

1 hour ago, declansdad said:

 

How long are you in port? Not giving yourself much time to visit each spot.

9-6.  It'll be tight but some places will be more of a drive-thru just to take in the scenery.  We will spend a little time at Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg, where we are planning to have lunch.

On 6/20/2022 at 3:05 PM, mets123 said:

Expecting to leave the ship at eight is a stretch. Many factors come into play such as the size of your ship, and how many other ships are tendering. They all go to the same pier. And don't forget the people on ships tours have first priority in leaving the ship. After them are passengers with status. Then people just going out to explore on their own. Once the tender leaves, expect about 30 minutes before you're in town.  If your ship departure is at four, all onboard time will probably be three, which means you're probably going to get on line to return about Two thirty or so. Don't want to sound gloom and doom, but I've been there many times and this is the process. 

 

Thanks! This is what I needed to know 🙂 

We will be in Halifax next Monday.  We are renting a car and driving down the coast. We plan to visit Peggy's Cove, Oak Island, Mahone Bay, and Lunenburg. 

DH and I will be in Bar Harbor on Sunday, June 26th.  Our ship is scheduled to anchor at 7:00 a.m. and depart at 4:00 p.m.  Originally, we had booked a narrated Acadia bus tour but on further research, we believe we have decided to cancel it and take advantage of the free busses inside the park.  That said, here is our tentative schedule and I'd like to know if it's doable and/or what you'd advise to do differently.

I will caveat this with the facts that we are from a rural area of the country but we have traveled to the Caribbean, the Colorado Rockies, the Canadian Rockies, and even spent 10 days in interior Alaska in an RV a few years ago.  That said, some of the places in Acadia that get rave reviews appear rather "meh" to us such as Jordan's Pond, Cadillac Mtn Summit (can't get there by park bus, anyway), etc.  We've see lots of hills, mountains, lakes, ponds, ocean, etc. on our other trips and even on a daily basis.  Therefore, we'd rather skip or drive by those types of places on this trip to have more time in our schedule which is:

8:00ish a.m. - tender to dock
8:00-10:00 a.m. - walk around Bar Harbor; walk to Mass at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church
10:00-11:00ish a.m. - Mass
11:00-noon  - lunch (DH is looking forward to lobster rolls)
 After lunch, catch first shuttle that takes us to Sand Beach.

1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Spend time hiking Great Head Trail and Sand Beach; catch shuttle to Thunder Hole for a quick stop then shuttle back to Bar Harbor.

*Spend any extra time walking around Bar Harbor before catching tender back to our ship for 4:00 p.m. departure. 

Just wanting to see if our plan is too ambitious and if there are any other "must sees" that we need to try to squeeze in.  Advice on best lobster rolls (for DH) and best fish and chips (for me) greatly appreciated!  TIA!

Over the last few weeks, DH and I have been considering skipping the Fairbanks area and instead driving the Denali Hwy to Paxson then south on the Richardson Hwy in order to have a little more time to explore the Kenai Peninsula area.  Our proposed NEW itinerary would be something like below but DH and I want to make sure we aren't missing anything spectacular by not going to Fairbanks.  Would love add'l input on that change.

Right now, I have our itinerary as this:

Day 0: Fly into ANC; pick up RV; grocery run; drive to a spot past Wasilla to boondock for the night

Day 1: Drive to Talkeetna; Explore Talkeetna for the day; drive toward Denali that night (either boondock or stay at Riley Creek for the night)

Day 2: Visit Denali visitor center, ranger program, dog sled kennels, short hikes, relax

Day 3: Take bus shuttle into Denali (longest one)

Day 4: Drive into Healy for mass; travel Denali Hwy towards Paxson; boondock overnight

Day 5:  Denali Hwy to Paxson (Richardson Hwy) then south along the Richardson Hwy towards Glennallen; night in Glennallen

Day 6:  Explore Glennallen area then on to Mantanuska Glacier; camp near Palmer for evening (or push hard towards Kenai since Day 7 is 4th of July?)

Day 7: Palmer to Kenai Peninsula (Russian River area)

Day 8: Kenai area

Day 9: Kenai towards Anchorage

Day 10: Returns RV by 12:00; transport to Homewood Suites where rest of family is staying; shuttle to ship

Day 11-12: Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay

Day 13: Skagway - rent cars and drive to Emerald Lake

Day 14: Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching

Day 15: Ketchikan - explore town and catch lumberjack show

Day 17: Cruising

Day 18: Arrive in Vancouver, rent car, Walmart stop, drive to Valemount (no rooms in Jasper this night)

Day 19: Drive to Jasper for Mass; Explore Jasper area;  night in Jasper

Day 20: Jasper to Banff down Parkway

Day 21: Explore Banff area; drive to Calgary that night

Day 22: Fly home from Calgary

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Alaska is not an inexpensive vacation.  But, it's worth it!

Very true, indeed! This is definitely a once in a lifetime for us with our kids so we're taking 21 days total to see Alaska and the Canadian Rockies (10 days Alaska by RV, 7 days Alaska by boat, and 4 days driving from Vancouver to Calgary via Jasper and Banff). Lots of butt in the seat time but we're praying it's the trip the kids remember when they are grown and gone 🙂

Thanks, everyone! I think we will just plan on taking the shuttle from Anchorage with DH and the rest of our family so as to not be so stressed that morning.  I was just trying to shave off a few hundred bucks off a trip that is already costing us one year of college tuition....lol. 

3 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

What happened to your original plan? It seemed like a good one and so easy: 

- the family overnights in Whittier in the RV,  and the next day your husband catches the 9am tunnel to return the RV to Anchorage.  You hang out in Whittier until 11:30 or so when you can board the ship.  Hopefully you'll find a place to do laundry during those 2 hrs.  Call the Chamber and see if there are laundry machines somewhere. 

This plan would be ideal; however, I've yet to see if there is actually somewhere the kids and I can sit and hang out for 4+ hours and I'm not sure how early we can actually enter the port.  It seems like a lot of unknowns, especially if weather is rainy.  If someone could tell me definitely that we wouldn't be sitting somewhere in the rain, I might be more game to do the original plan (which really seemed like a good idea until I found out more about Whittier...lol). 

If DH take the RV back by 11, he'd have to catch the train somehow to get back to us on the earlier side or he'd have to take the bus with the others and get back to the ship around 4ish.  

On 3/22/2019 at 9:40 AM, mapleleaves said:

The nice thing about RV'g is that your itinerary doens't have to be rigid.   You're not bound by a reservation every night. You can always find a campsite or boondock, and you always have your bed, kitchen and bathroom with you.   Denali is the only place I make reservations.   Sometimes it's nice to be able to follow the good weather.  We arrived to Homer on a glorious sunny day ;it was breathtaking to stand on the bluff,  look down on the Spit and across the Bay to the glaciers.  But a fierce storm blew in that night and it became miserably rainy, windy and cold.  So instead of being trapped in Homer with a 3 nite reservation we packed up and headed north to the sunshine in Fairbanks.   Be flexible.

The more we think about it, the more we want to be flexible and not rigid so you're advice is sound. 

On 3/22/2019 at 10:15 AM, Eileen G said:

We did the loop around Denali, Fairbanks and Richardson Highway a few years ago with a RV. We went to Valdez for one night. The scenery is beautiful on the road to Valdez and it's not too far out of the way. It passes Worthington Glacier which is right off the road. This was after Labor Day so I'm not sure how crowded the road will be in the middle of summer.

We may consider Valdez depending on how much time we have left at the end of our trip.  

On 3/22/2019 at 8:54 AM, Anita Latte said:

When we booked our flights and gave ourselves some days in Alaska after our northbound cruise, we had originally thought that we would go to Denali...but my research showed that we didn’t have enough time post cruise to really see Denali and the surrounding areas the way we would want to. We would be in the car more than at the sites or doing anything and that just didn’t sound like fun at all. I knew I could plan a super fun stay on the Kenai Peninsula though. So we passed on Denali *gasp*.

 

I feel like you are second guessing your plans...thinking that you have so much time and why not see something more with all that time? I think you should stick with your original thoughts and skip Kenai Peninsula and concentrate on your travels in the opposite direction.

 

You think you have a lot of time but in my experience, things usually take longer to do than anticipated and often we wish we had just a little more time to enjoy the things we’ve planned. Right now, I think your schedule has room for spontaneity and discovery...whereas, if you tried to add Kenai to your agenda, you would tighten up your schedule and that feels less fun to me.

We didn't do Denali on our first Alaskan cruise (just DH and me) because we knew we didn't have enough time to do it justice and that we wanted to bring the kids to Alaska one day, which has come 4 years later.  I think we're going to just plan on spending our 10 days north of Anchorage and be able to be flexible. 

On 3/22/2019 at 10:08 AM, Eileen G said:

When we took the Princess shuttle from the airport a few years ago they started running at 12 and left on the hour until 4. We had a wonderful morning in Anchorage stopped for lunch and when we were ready we returned our car at the airport and caught the 2 PM shuttle.

I need to check into the Princess shuttle if they start running at 12 p.m.  That would get us there earlier than the other companies I've checked into who do a tour on the way. We just want a direct transfer and to get there asap.

3 hours ago, thegoaliegirl said:

Have you looked into a private transfer for your group? The major transfer companies (not the Princess ones) offer private transfers at a flat rate. If there are enough of you, it would save a little money. They also offer group discounts on the non private transfers. I am in a group of 8, so I've done a little looking into it. We have a private transfer leaving around noon. 

I did look into a private transfer.  It was more than we really want to spend.  My family is a group of 6 but once other family members arrive, it's a party of 11. They aren't as concerned about getting there early like we are so they really don't want to pay more than what the Princess (or other company) shuttle would be.   

13 hours ago, AKStafford said:

I might not do Homer with a 10 day trip but you'd have time for Seward.

We have been to Seward before on our last cruise, so it's not a priority for us.  I'd rather have time somewhere else.

11 hours ago, Anita Latte said:

Are you flying into Fairbanks? Or Anchorage?

We are flying into Anchorage.

10 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Agree with AKStafford ... with only 10 days you can't do Homer, but you will have time for Seward.

 

I can remember a 10 RV trip where we picked up the motorhome in Anchorage and did a loop,..... Talkeetna,  Denali,  Fairbanks, then down the Richardson to Glennallen,  the Glenn Hwy to Anchorage and down to Seward.  I think we only got to spend 2 nites in Denali, Fairbanks , Seward and the other stops were one-nighters.  Don't underestimate how much time you will need to get to each destination ..... it's not just the drive time, but also stops for wildlife and scenery, or some point of interest you stumble upon.

We saw moose at several places along the Richardson and HAD TO stop for each one.  We stumbled onto Rikka's Roadhouse near Delta and spent half a day there, going thru the exhibits and enjoying the scenery.   The harbor at Seward is fascinating and always something interesting to see. Don't shortchange it.

 

On a separate 10 day triip we picked up the RV in Anc then drove to Seward and Homer, then went to Denali.  

There's just too much to see and do, so with only 10 days you need to make cuts to the itinerary otherwise you'll spend all your time sitting in the motorhome.  

The itinerary you mention is basically what we plan to do.  At first, I wasn't even going to venture to the Kenai peninsula area but then thought that since this may be our last trip to Alaska with kids, it might be worth spending a day or so there.  I don't want to shortchange the rest of the itinerary by adding it, though.

3 hours ago, dyeadave said:

When will you be here?

DD

2 hours ago, SuperCrewBear said:

Knowing your dates in Alaska and where you're departing from (Seward or Whittier) for the cruise would help with opinions.

Oops, sorry.  June 26-July 6.

We are spending 10 days RV'ing in Alaska before our 7 day southbound cruise.  Denali/Fairbanks/Richardson Hwy are a must see but I'm trying to decide if a visit to Homer/Kenai Peninsula is truly necessary.  If so, we'd likely do that on the front end of our trip.  I only have possibly a couple of days that I could spare for Kenai Peninsula area.  We'd like to see the Russian River and salmon run but not sure if making the trek all the way to Homer will yield any experience that we can have in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.  Glacier cruises aren't really a priority since this is our second Alaskan cruise and since we have one day at Hubbard Glacier and one day in Glacier Bay on our cruise.  We are more interested in wildlife (eg, bears, etc.) viewing.  Right now, I'm considering only going as far as Kenai before heading north to Denali. Will going that far get us a Kenai Peninsula experience to remember or will it be waste of time?

Thanks everyone! After discussing with DH some more and the uncertainty of if there's anywhere the kids and I can wait from 8:00 am-noon, we may just go back to Anchorage with him and take a shuttle.  However, the bad thing with that is that the shuttles don't seem to run until late afternoon getting us there around 4-4:30 and we'd have to kill a lot of time in Anchorage.  We'd prefer to board the ship as early as possible in order to do laundry onboard and relax. The train would be too costly at $89pp unless the kids and I stay in Whittier and he takes the train. 

I may start another thread about transportation options. 

16 hours ago, martincath said:

On the post-cruise part - why Valemount? Jasper itself is only an hour further and you'll already have been driving for 7.5... if it's peak tourist season you're coming in that 7.5 will be more like 10 thanks to RVs, tourists unfamiliar with winding roads, folks stopping for photos slowing everything down so stopping before Valemount would be more sensible, and if you're coming at a quieter time when you can maintain cruising speed then you may as well push on into Jasper. Plus if you want to do Mass the only Catholic church in Valemount only does it at 4pm alternating Saturdays and Sundays... I think they share the vicar with other communities these days.

When I looked for a church on masstimes.org, I knew we wanted to go farther than Kamloops and Valemount was the next town with a Catholic Church.  It showed an 8:30 a.m. Mass which apparently isn't correct.  Jasper has an 8:30 Mass so even if we stay in Valemount, we can drive to Jasper in the morning for Mass.  Every room was already sold out that I could find on Orbitz or Expedia already for that date (Saturday night) so Valemount seemed the logical place to stop within close proximity to Jasper.

Quote

 

I'm sure you know your kids better than I do - but the pace of the tour above means an awful lot of 'bums on seats looking out car window' time. I'd be inclined to pick ONE of either Banff or Jasper and do that more justice with more time in the park (and stop in Kamloops on the way as it's an awful lot bigger than Valemount and breaks up the drive pretty close to half-way). Banff makes the most sense as it's the more direct route to Calgary - and again, maybe your kids hate dinosaurs but I've yet to meet anyone who didn't enjoy heading out to the Badlands and the Royal Tyrell museum more than anything there is to do in Calgary itself (unless you're going at Stampede time, which is a whole 'nother thing!)

Yes, lots of bums in the seat time.  We are using these couple of days in the Canadian Rockies as a "dabble."  IF we love the area, we may come back in a few years when we do a Glacier Nat'l Park (Montana) trip.  This just lets us know if and how much time we'd want to allocate to it on a later trip. 

DH and I rented a car in Skagway and drove up to Emerald Lake and we plan to do that again this summer with our 4 kiddos.  In Ketchikan, we went on a fishing charter but that's a little more $$$ than we want to spend per person so we will just do the lumberjack show and browse the town.  In Juneau, DH and I did the Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching tour and LOVED it!! Can't wait to do that with the kids this time 🙂 

2 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Use the Whittier Chamber of Commerce for a resource.  Their web site has a map of the TINY community, plus a list of Businesses.

There are 2 hotels and a few small restaurants. Don;'t see a laundramat, but you check with the hotels to see if they have a few machines.

Hopefully the weather will be nice and the kids will enjoy hanging out by the water and wandering around.

http://www.whittieralaskachamber.org/

Are you renting from Great Alaska.  They're not rabid about returning on time but they DO have to turn the rig around for the next guest so be very mindful of the tunnel opening. You don't want to be an hour late. 

I recommend staying in Williwaw campground. But get a reservation.

No, we are renting from Alaska Motor Home, Inc.  I'll check on Williwaw but there are boondocking spots in Whittier. I might feel more comfortable if we were able to get through the tunnel into Whittier the night before at least and not have to worry about the tunnel schedule twice in one morning, kwim? 

2 hours ago, rjm11 said:

could you do a  one DAY car rental in Whittier through Avis?  That way when your husband leaves with the RV, you would have a car to take the luggage to a laundromat, maybe even explore a little, then drop the car off before going to the ship. 

Avis is sold out that day in Whittier. I'm sure it's because of the ship coming in that day.  It's probably more expensive than we'd like to spend given that a day in Skagway is about $200.  I don't mind hanging around somewhere and just chilling but I'm not sure there's anywhere to even do that....lol.  I was hoping there would be restaurant somewhere we could grab a table at and kill several hours letting the kids use their electronics and reading 😉 

1 hour ago, AKStafford said:

At Denali, use the shuttle buses, not a "tour". Same road, same views, much cheaper: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

 

"Kenai Peninsula" is kind of a vague description. Do you mean Seward?

You'll be going right by the Matanuska Glacier. Any plans to stop there?

Yes, sorry.  Shuttle bus is definitely what I meant 🙂 Much, much cheaper.

Not necessarily Seward as I've taken the bus tour from Seward to Anchorage on our last Alaskan cruise (northbound).  I don't have anything specific nailed down for that yet but probably staying in the more northern part of the peninsula (Cooper Landing, Russian River, and over to Kenai) but likely not all the way down to Homer.  

And yes, I forgot to type in Matanuska Glacier.  We will likely stop there.  

We are flying into Anchorage before our southbound cruise to Vancouver and will be gone 21 days total. DH, myself, and four kids (ages 10-15).  We are renting an RV for our Alaska tour, taking the southbound cruise, and from Vancouver, we will take a short jaunt over to Jasper/Banff before flying home from Calgary (far less expensive than from Vancouver).  

Right now, I have our itinerary as this:

Day 0: Fly into ANC; pick up RV; grocery run; drive to a spot past Wasilla to boondock for the night

Day 1: Drive to Talkeetna; Explore Talkeetna for the day; drive toward Denali that night (either boondock or stay at Riley Creek for the night)

Day 2: Visit Denali visitor center, ranger program, dog sled kennels, short hikes, relax

Day 3: Take bus tour into Denali (longest one)

Day 4: Drive into Healy for mass; explore more of Denali or head on towards Fairbanks

Day 5:  Museum in Fairbanks (AM), grocery stop, drive to Chena Hot Springs for afternoon/evening

Day 6: Chena Hot Springs to Donnelly Springs State Rec Area along Richardson Hwy

Day 7: Donnelly Springs to Glennallen; explore Glennallen area; drive towards Palmer in evening

Day 8: Palmer to Kenai Peninsula

Day 9: Kenai Peninsula; spend night in Whittier

Day 10: DH drops us off at port; returns RV to Anchorage; shuttle back with family that is flying in for cruise

Day 11-12: Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay

Day 13: Skagway - rent cars and drive to Emerald Lake

Day 14: Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier and whale watching

Day 15: Ketchikan - explore town and catch lumberjack show

Day 17: Cruising

Day 18: Arrive in Vancouver, rent car, Walmart stop, drive to Valemont

Day 19: Mass, then drive to Jasper for the day/evening

Day 20: Jasper to Banff down Parkway

Day 21: Explore Banff area; drive to Calgary that night

Day 22: Fly home from Calgary

It seems like a lot but I'm hoping there's enough flexibility with boondocking that we can speed up/slow down as often as we need to.  I was debating leaving off the Kenai Peninsula but then thought, why not?  I've been to Seward before so we would probably veer more toward the Kenai area (probably not enough time to make it to Homer - is that a huge loss?) 

Would love thoughts 🙂

9 hours ago, Coral said:

There is only 1 hotel in Whittier and it has been in and out of bankruptcy. It maybe cheaper just to do the transfers for everyone from Anchorage (and finding a laundrymat in Anchorage.

8 hours ago, idahospud said:

It it might be cheaper to rent a car from Anchorage to Whittier than do transfers for everyone. Avis is the only place in Whittier and they are super expensive but maybe better than paying for that many transfers. 

The transfers are about $50/each so for an additional five of us, that would be $250.  A car rental is about $200.  We were going to finish our 10 day tour down on the Kenai Peninsula so it just seemed logical to park the RV at the Whittier RV park for the night ($15) and him leave the five of us there for a few hours to do laundry, explore, get on ship early, etc.  

11 hours ago, Coral said:

I am thinking 11:30 would be a safe time. Definitely board by noon. Princess does have self laundry facilities onboard - I think it is restricted in Glacier Bay day.

 

Whittier is very, very small. Basically everyone in town lives in the same building which also contains a store and school.

Thanks! He'll have to drop us off somewhere by 9:00 to get back to Anchorage by 11:00.  I was thinking maybe we could do laundry in town while killing time.  Would it be a hard walk from the town to the cruise port with luggage (mom and 4 kids ages 15, 11, 11, 10)?   It would be nice to be able to board early and explore the ship/relax until the rest of our crew gets there, especially after 10 days of RV living