JjC81

If we do these cities on our own can you help me make the best way to do it? 

Fairbanks, aleyska, whittier (or somewhere we can get tour to college fjords), seward, and end in anchorage? I think these are areas we miss by cruising princess. We would like to do the kinai fjords and also turnagain arm. 

Fairbanks is maybe. If we dont do fairbanks it would be above starting and ending in anchorage

Denali we will see on land tour. These would be days on our own. 🙂

2 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

Sounds like you're doing your research.  Glad you didn't jump on the booking yet.  Enjoy the research turmoil, it's part of the fun!

I'm very appreciative for all the insight and tips/advice. 🙂

The research is fun, stressful, and expensive all in a pretty little box lol

I love adventure. Not sure where I got it cuz my family doesn't but my husband and I do. But with kids we are more cautious and husband is adamant he wants a portion done by someone else 🙂

that said I'm guessing IPS is not a really important spot to visit? I'm hoping we see orcas elsewhere 

21 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

You came here for advice and apparently booked a cruise within 24 hours of your post which does not go to two of the areas you’re interested in. Not sure why you selected this trip.

 

Possibly due to the land portion?  You’ll see some good posts regarding the Princess land tours but when it comes down to it you’re a prisoner of their lodging which is remote and limiting for activities. I’ve stayed at all of them in Alaska but had a car.

If ISP/Hoonah & Hubbard are important you might try Royal Caribbean who has NB itineraries that do both, as well as land tours. And, I’ve had much better luck in Juneau than ISP for whale watch tours.  If it makes a difference there is more to do after arriving in Seward than there is in Whittier.

I have not booked the trip yet. Our TA has it held. And after reading things on these boards we asked her to look into south bound. I have been searching, reading, and asking tons of questions to learn in order to pick the right one 🙂

royal caribbean did not meet what we wanted for land. We started with looking at disney and noticed it did not go where we wanted. Then we were thinking royal Caribbean vs NCL.  We then leaned towards NCL, held a trip. Then on these boards I saw a lot of praise for princess so started to look into it. 

this is first time cruise, so it is all very new. I saw the itinerary and thought it was the same main ports. I did not notice hubbard was missing. As soon as I did I began asking about it 🙂

same with icy point strait. I had not seen it until on these boards and so I asked about it. 

we wanted a land portion because it was important for my husband. He drives for a living and wanted to do part of the trip at someone else's mercy. Both of us dont love tours, but for him it was worth it to not drive. To make up for it we said we would stay few extra days and explore some areas on our own. When that seemed to be getting busy we asked TA to price out trip in reverse.  We were told by multi people to cruise north since scenery gets better. After lots of reading and trying to plan our days by ourselves, it seemed SB might be good cuz we see scenery and then have nothing but to relax at the end 🙂

but for now nothing is booked. It's just held for us while we decide. I have paid attention to what everyone here has said and it is affecting our decisions. So I am very appreciative cuz our main concern was keeping our kids , who have numerous allergies, fed and safe and of course to see alaska, and be able to pay for it 🙂

8 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

You are not visiting Hubbard Glacier based on this printed itinerary.

 

The advantage of going to Glacier Bay is that there ought to be National Park Service Rangers aboard to offer commentary during your time in Glacier Bay.  A program in the ship's main showroom probably will be presented.  They will be available for personal interactions with them.  

 

Many cruisers have reported over the years that as the ship enters the waters of Glacier Bay from Icy Point Strait (or even upon departure from Glacier Bay)--very early morning hours during the entrance to Glacier Bay--lots of whales, etc. are observed.  Sailing out of Glacier Bay on Coral Princess in August, I did see a pod of Orcas feeding, I think they were doing, quite some time after the NP Rangers had left the ship and the ship's naturalist had signed off for the day.

 

Your itinerary is a good one.  All of your ports, without Hubbard Glacier, will provide you with an excellent Alaskan experience, I think.

'

I keep seeing icy point strait mentioned as great for whale watching. But I dont see it on.itinerary for whale watch? I might have missed it. This is all new and I did get ship weong

5 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

Yes, it would say Hubbard. The Grand does not stop there on NB trips.

 

 

 

Is this the itinerary for the Grand?  The dates seem to conflict with what’s on the Princess site and shows the ship going south, not north on those dates.

 

https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details?voyageCode=A026

 

 

 

No I messed up. My papers say royal princess. I must have looked at ship on different itinerary when exploring ports online🤦‍♀️

Sorry about that! 

53 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I'd believe your specific published itinerary regardless of the ship.  Contact whomever with whom you made your booking to get confirmation of the specific ports/sites to be visited.  Your cruise documents, when they are issued, will also show your specific itinerary.  

 

 

Would it say hubbard? 

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

You are not reading this itinerary incorrectly.  The cruise is on Pacific Princess which is their smallest ship.  I wonder if that has anything to do with a NB Hubbard visit.

Maybe? Ours is the grand. It's also cruise and land?, not sure if that makes difference 

Thanks all! 

We decided on Princess. It seems it might be more interactive and the cruise and excursions are cheaper. 

Now to figure out the rest of our trip!! 🙂 so excited (and nervous)!

2 hours ago, Glaciers said:

Both Princess & NCL have itineraries that include Hubbard.

NCL is NB. Princess is SB, atleast on our trip we were told wed have to go south bound to see it. Who knows. 

Any idea why they dont do hubbard? It's on the way 🙂

Just now, frugaltravel said:

If you do a Princess cruisrtour be sure you have 2 nights at Denali Princess and that you have the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Otherwise you miss out on a lot.

 

You can see glaciers calving on Kenai Fjords trip or Prince William Sound trip. Also at Glacier Bay.

We do. And we had TA upgrade to tundra wilderness. Not sure how kids will do but that's why we are bringing tablets 🙂 but they love looking for stuff.  But it is long. 

It looks like we are denali 2 nights, mckinley 1 night, and anchorage 1 night but that might be where we extend. 

13 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

I have done Hubbard Glacier from a cruise ship twice and on my own from Yakutat once. Definitely not worth flying from Anchorage just for that. Take Princess SB cruise or forget it. You can get close to glaciers on a Prince William Sound glacier cruise.

 

The rail and road parallel each other for the most part from Anchorage to Denali. If you want to do am independent land tour (more flexible, can stop where abd when you want, probably cheaper) then do the train as a day trip from Portage to Glacierview. It is the most scenic portion of the AKRR anyway.

 

When is your trip? If May then the land tour should be after the cruise. If September then the land tour should be first. Otherwise not a big deal either way.

We are in August.  Right now its 8/8 -8/19 departure for NB followed by land.

We were going to do tour then stay in.anchorage with rental car for 2 nights to see fjords and aleyska. We are thinking of then going to yakutat to explore and do Hubbard, then fly home from there, via seattle. Adds a bit of expense. Is there anything special about hubbard we wont see at glacier NP? He wants to see the ice falling. The nice thing about the village is its rural alaska, away from tours. 

I'm going to look into that rail. Im not sure husband is gonna budge on non tour. Neither of us like being on someone else's agenda but he also wants to be narrated to, etc, plus comfort of having things booked. But we shall see. 

16 minutes ago, Fairfield Nana said:

It has now been etched in my memory that it is impossible to really appreciate Alaska in one trip!  I'd suggest you re-think trying to do a drive from Seward to anchorage and back--while quite scenic, it is a lot of driving on a potentially very busy highway, with limited places to stop and explore. Even Anchorage is pretty but easily surpassed with many more places to see and do neat stuff. I'd suggest you'd get MUCH more value and see some totally breathtaking scenery by taking a 4-5 hour cruise from Seward to the Kenai Fjords. One of the most awesome tours we've ever taken! You will probably be quite worn out after this sensory-overloading experience.

If we do princess it does not go to seward so we need to get there from.anchorage. the plan is to drive to do fjords. I guess we could stay in seward then return to anchorage. 

The land part will def be intense but hopefully relaxing too. We do road trips a lot. We often do a a 3 hrs each way in a day to go somewhere. Would be nice to do land first for many reasons but it's not going to work

2 hours ago, chipmaster said:

 

Well if you are asking better not do it.   FWIW it was the one thing I wanted to do with my kids and my wife thought I was crazy when she saw what it would cost for 5 of us.   Well afterwards she said nothing about the cost, nor when the CC bill either.    

 

Here is a link to another thread here where I posted a few pictures.     Again everyone defines value differently, for us, it was worth it, fine line if it would have been worth it if it was 50 or 100 more/person.    

 

Would I do it again, actually would if I wasn't going to schedule the bear/salmon flight trip as the highest tour on my next one.  You only live once and $ in the bank is of little value to you then.

 

 

 

 

When did you do this? What time of year. We are looking at aug 2020 and this is top of our list 🙂

if booked in advance and it gets canceled do they refund?

6 minutes ago, shukapaw said:

A quick search revealed that some princess cruises do see Hubbard glacier. Although it is impressive, I’ve never heard of anybody visiting it on their own… As you mentioned, that would be a very expensive excursion.Have you considered a southbound cruise? Have you considered a southbound cruise?

 

For what it’s worth, car rentals in both Whittier and Seward are prohibitively expensive..... And you are going to be saddled with a one-way drop off charge to Anchorage. Generally speaking, you’d be better off taking the cruise line’s transportation to Anchorage and having a rental car awaiting you there. You will want to crunch the numbers to verify the house.

 

Alyeska tram is easily doable from Anchorage in a day.  Of course, it’s just a tram ride and an equally nice one is available to you in Juneau on Mount Roberts. Just something to think about.

 

Driving to and from Seward from Anchorage is not a big deal but you need to allow a good three hours each way. So, in short, you could do a round-trip and the Kenai fjords in a single day. you will want to crunch the numbers to verify the house.I suppose it all depends on how well adapted your family is to road trips.

 

The road  (and railroad) south from Anchorage to either Alyeska or Seward require that you travel along Turnagain arm..... it’s unavoidable! Both the roadway and tracks are built right along the edge of it.

 

I’m not one to tell people how to do their vacation. However if I were going to do a land portion in Alaska either before or after a cruise I would do it on my own and not through the cruise line. This way you decide what you want to see and are not at their mercy.

 

~Brian 

Brian-

Do you see the same things if you drive by car to denali vs rail or is rail more scenic? My husband def wants to do a rail tour, but if we do it solo we would have to do RT I'm guessing? 

We briefly considered SB cruise but people said go north 

There is a small remote village that will do hubbard, but it's going to cost us, but might be worth it lol

I'm just not sure how to figure everything out like where to stay, transportation, etc. 

19 minutes ago, shukapaw said:

@JcJ81,

 

My wife and I (Alaska residents) did a roundtrip from Alaska to Vancouver and back in 2017 with a Princess ship one direction and NCL the other. I can't seem to find the review I did on that experience but you can read an excerpt here.

 

As you mentioned, Princess will end in Whittier and NCL in Seward. There is a roughly 1-½ hour trip vs 4-½ trip to Anchorage respectively. 

 

Both Cruise lines are great and I sail them both but for Alaska, Princess is the clear winner. As for land packages, Princess wins hands down! They are by far the most heavily-invested cruise line in Alaska. They have their own lodges, rail cars, tour buses, etc. NCL leases their rail cars from the AKRR and utilizes 3rd party hotels, buses, etc. The one item I'd give NCL the win on is the drink package. If you purchase the adult beverage package, NCL always has it as a potential "freebie" when you book with them.

 

Hope this helps,

~Brian

 

This helps greatly, thank you. We are leaning princess plus it was cheaper until we realized we would miss hubbard glacier so now looking into staying longer on our own to do that as a really pricey private excursion. 

Princess also misses seward which if we stay we might rent a car. Not sure how much work we can miss and price is adding up lol. 

Any insight as to if we return to anchorage after land tour. If we rent a car- could we do the kinai fjords one day and the seward highway, that T (no clie spelling) arm, and my aleyska tram next day? 

We are looking at getting a 3pm flight from.anchorage to a village, but not sure how much time we would need for the fjords and aleyska

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

May I politely suggest that you check the individual cruise itineraries for the cruises you are considering?  Such information may help you select a cruise.  As to fjords in Seward, you will be arriving so early in the morning at Seward that sightseeing is very unlikely.  Kenai Fjords NP is near Seward and cruise tours sail from Seward to visit that NP.  (I do recommend such a tour.)

 

Princess has much more experience with Alaska cruise and land vacations than does NCL.  They have Princess specific infrastructure, hotels, tour buses, rail cars, and Princess employed guides and narrators on those tours.  I don't know what a similar situation would be with NCL.  

 

I don't have any food allergies and have not sailed with anyone that I know that did, so I can't be of much help with your legitimate concern about that.  I am sure that informing whichever cruise line with which you book of your food allergy concerns, the MDR/Galley staff will do their best to accommodate your needs.  Once aboard whatever ship, one of your first priorities is to find the Maitre d' (or his/her Assistant who will be available at certain time periods during embarkation) and confirm your requirements with that person. 

Thank you. We have reviewed itineraries in depth of both. Ncl does stuff princess doesnt and vice versa. 

Just not sure on boat/land which is better. And the allergy piece.

Itineraries we like stuff from each 🙂

we are leaning towards staying couple extra days on our own and doing some stuff. The kenai fjords being one if we do princess. 

10 minutes ago, katisdale said:

What does "subs" mean?

Substitutions 🙂

We are looking at princess vs ncl cruise.  

We have similar itineraries (I think with subs). 

Question though- princess ends cruise in Whittier and Ncl ends in seward. What are we missing in this difference? Does princess cruise hubbard glacier? 

Land tours seem similar if we do subs and then add on aleyska excursion. 

Would love feedback on princess and if they cruise hubbard. Also insight to kids activities on ship (7 & 4) it will be august

We are choosing between NCL and Princess cruise and land.

Questions.

1) it looks like princess ends in whittier and ncl in seward. What is missed in that gap? Does princess cruise hubbard? Are there fjords in seward? There is price difference between cruises.  I read princess may be more interactive with kids on ship. I cant tell the differences in land portion except no aleyska for princess. Not sure what else? Seems all of princess bulk of time is in denali. 

2). Ncl seems very confident with food allergies and accommodating. Our TA said princess gave this response "When I asked about the allergies.. she said they will accommodate to the best of their ability.  She gave me an email address and said we would need to send a list of allergies so they had it in writing.  She said we would need to do that ASAP once booked" allergies include: dairy, soy, wheat, oats, corn, fruit (1 kid), peanuts, chicken & turkey (1 kid). For myself: gluten. Cruise is 7 days, kids have to eat lol.

2 minutes ago, chipmaster said:

I assume this is summer months?  If so there will be kids on most cruises, RCCL probably would top my list followed by Princess.  I'd have suggested Disney but you axed already, agreed that Alaska must have the glaciers sailings ( hopefully Glacier Bay ).

 

If you are really doing the "first" and aren't set on Alaska a warm weather with lots of beaches if often a better first destination with young kids. 

Alaska is locked. 🙂 if we don't like cruising we want to be sure we see it lol.

We are between NCL jewel and trying to get info on princess. 

Royal caribbean didnt have itinerary we wanted. Not sure if princess does either. TA is working on it 🙂

Have you decided? We are going aug 2020 and torn between Ncl and princess.

Ncl has itinerary we want. Princess has on ship interaction. 

My kids will be 4 and 7

3 minutes ago, disneyochem said:

We booked a Connoisseur tour through Princess (10 day land tour after a 4 day DIY) and got the Tundra Wilderness Tour as part of the package.  We were able to upgrade to the Katnisha (sp?) tour after we booked.  I just called Princess and requested the upgraded tour.  Have to pay the difference in price but it was pretty easy to do.

Not sure how DIY tour works? Do you book through princess?

We want tundra or the even longer ride (giving kids tablet for this). Seems best way to see denali. My hubby wants to see mckinley but princess seems to be only ones to do it. But we can do tram up aleyska on Ncl but not princess. Decisions decisions... no clue how DIY works

On 8/1/2019 at 1:13 PM, INeedAMaiTai said:

I agree with the Princess people.  That has been my favorite line with kids.  I took my oldest (now 12) on her first at about 2 years old, and have subsequently taken her (and her two younger sisters, now 9 and 6) on other cruises as well.  Your kiddo will love the kid space, with or without you.  It is nice to have a place for them to go with responsible leadership and a break for you.  Mine adapted very well, even with mainly being at home with me.  We have done the Caribbean, Hawaii/French Polynesia,  Panama Canal, and Alaska, over the years as my kids have grown.  Alaska is fabulous, and there is a ton for you little one to do!  There's always cool, small hikes to different water places, random shows, and many other activities for a little one in port.  I do recommend getting a mini suite just because of the extra space and no bunk bed.  Also, when my littles would nap, I could sit on the balcony and read or just enjoy myself at the same time.  Alaska is very popular with kids, and cruising is so easy for them.  I always tip our room steward and wait staff a little extra at the beginning and at the end, just in case there are any issues.  The staff will love your kiddo, and help out as much as possible; chances are they have a little one at home and miss them so are happy to play/distract/etc. so you can enjoy yourself.  I remember one time, the head waiter took my then 6 month old at dinner and just sort of walked and paraded around with her because she was fussy and wouldn't sit still during dinner.  Now that is service.  If you want any more hints or tips, let me know and you can dm me.  I'm happy to share more experiences and other random mom info.

Does princess have kids room for ages 4 and 7? And is it free? We are debating between princess and ncl. Have TA looking into princess now to see if we can change denali tour. 

16 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

Just wanted to note that your Natural History Tour only goes 30 miles into the Park.  The park road is almost 100 miles long, so your opportunity to view the wildlife and scenery are greatly diminished with such a short trip. 

Tour and transit info on this site: 

https://www.reservedenali.com/tours-transits/the-denali-tour-experience/denali-natural-history-tour/

 

In the past Princess has allowed pax to upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  Or get a refund and take the Eielson Transit bus instead.  Prime bear viewing starts around Toklat , milepost 52, so at least go that far. 

 

The 2nd map in this link is the Park road with popular stopping points marked :

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/maps.htm#6/63.421/-148.491

I just sent this to our TA. We are currently looking at NCL cuz they are best itinerary with the wildnetness tour. But I read that princess is pretty interactive so i wondered about them, but they only have history tour and we want to go further.

We also wanted aleyska, but my McKinley might be substitute. 

So you change the tour ahead of time or on ship? My hubby would not be pleased if we booked and couldnt change it.