kfeng

Hi Bindi- i can only tell you my preference and i am going to Alaska for the third time this coming June- I have been in June and August. Obviously August is expensive but the salmon are running then so interesting to see in Ketchikan on the salmon ladder. Too warm in August to do helicopter to glacier and dog sledding so you would have to "settle" for one of the wheeled dog sleds through a short wooded trail. I loved 2nd week in June and i am doing it again but the third weeks this June- I prefer doing the land portion first and booked everything myself saving about half what the cruise ships charge. It is very easy. First time i flew into Fairbanks, rented a car and stayed there for one day and night and came down through Denail- staying there for two days before heading down to Talkeetna just for a short time in the town for lunch and shopping. Cute town. Continued down to Palmer to the reindeer farm where you learn all about them and you go in and can pet them and feed them and see the babies. There is also horseback riding there. Then onto Anchorage for one day and one night. Turned the car in. The entire trip from Fairbanks is easy because it is on one highway! In anchorage the hotel dropped us off at the train depot at 5:45 am the following day and the train left at 6:45 and we were in Seward at 11:00 for our SOUTHBOUND cruise on Royal Carribean Radiance of the Seas. (You check your luggage andf you won't see it again until you get your ship! They check it straight through to the cruise line which is fabulous if you want to do something in Seward when you arrive before embarking) I prefer to do land first because you have full long days and you will be tired and then you get a little more rest on the cruise although fun ports and excursions there as well. We did the helicopter to the glacier and dog sledding in Juneau, White Pass Railroad in Skagway,Whale watching in Seward before we embarked and then again in icy Straight Point. In Ketchikan we just did a self tour of the little town andf great shopping for souvenirs (inhere are three Tongass shipping stores here and if you get your souvenirs here save the redeipt from all three stores and when you get to the end at the last Tongass store give them everything you bought and all three receipts and they will ship EVERYTHING TO YOUR HOME FOR ONLY 19.95! this will save you having to drag it all back and pack it. Now it will take about two weeks for you to receive it because they ship it the cheapest way possible but still it is so worth it! I did a lot of expensive excursions so including there airfare from the east coast and back and the cruise, all hotels, meals,excursions, car rental, including the $525 dog sledding one i spent about $6000 for two of us. You can do it for less if you don't do the dog sledding and i also allowed $1000 for gambling! Have a great time. If you need specific info on where i stayed or prices for specific things just let me know.

 

Robin

Just as an FYI, we’re able to do the Juneau dogsled helicopter excursion in early August this year. Still lots of snow and still beautiful!

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Captain Tasos came off of Solstice at the end of our Alaskan cruise 8/4/17. He said he would be in Santorini for the next month. Most entertaining captain we have ever had; he should have been headlining the theater too! Steve the CD was his personal whipping boy for a lot of his jokes. The rest of the entertainment was fairly mediocre, unfortunately.

On the website it gives the option for the digital copies, but there is no option or mention for actual hard photos. Is there some sort of option for actual physical copies? Is that included with the package?

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