Robinhill

Hello, my BFF and I are planning a trip to Denali in late May 2020. We need to find:

 

Where to rent a car in Anchorage?

 

Where should we stay in the Denali area? We want a cabin type room with TV and views. We want it away from the road with preferably a small cafe/store. We'd love to stay somewhere near a creek or river. Total no more than $300.00/night

 

Great places to eat? Breakfast, lunch and dinner?

 

Thanks so much for any info you can provide.:cool:

 

 

 

I got a great rate for a car rental at Enterprise for $125 for 4 days in Anchorage on 5th St. and a great place for lunch or dinner in Anchorage is Humpys.

 

i did stay in Denali Bluffs about 3 years ago which was nice and had a view, a little restaurant and place to buy some snacky things. Next summer i am staying at Denali Perch which is actually about 15 miles outside of Denali proper so maybe near Healy because i am saving a ton of money (it is approximately $120/night) and may not be as updated as some others but seems nice and has decent reviews. i am trying to save where i can. In Denali in a little strip type shopping thing across from Denali is Prospectors Pizza and is a decent pizza joint for either lunch or dinner. You can pick up boxed lunch for traveling into Denali at several different places around locally so i would check on that. The Morino Grill is 1.5 miles outside of Denali and i know they have boxed lunches to take with you. Also inside Denali there is the Cabin Nite Dinner Theater and yes it is a little hoaky but i enjoyed it- it is a play about gold mining back in the old days in Alaska etc. with some singing and dancing and comedy. The dinner is chicken and ribs with sides etc and tea, coffee, etc. It's about $75 per person for adults and $37.50 for kids. It's worth it to me and something fun to do in the evening. Babies on lap are free.

 

 

I hope some of my info has helped.

Simply just call CR and ask to verify if your email in their marketing list :)

well i know they have my email because they send me my bookings by email but i will try to specifically ask about the marketing list. Thanks

I have never gotten even one email from Club royale but they always give me a free cruise in the casino and the club always books my cruises with a decent discount as well- why dont i get any emails?

We are on Coral Princess at the end of June 2018. Our stop in Juneau is from 6:30AM - 4PM. Things we are considering doing are whale watching, tram, Mendenhall Glacier. Is it possible to do any of these that early in the morning? If port arrival is 6:30, when should we plan on actually being able to get off the ship? (this question also applies to our other ports)

definitely whale watching, possibly helicopter to dogsledding on a glacier if it is in the budget. :) Have a great time!

Not sure what you are basing this claim on, but, I've had no problem getting walk up marine boat excursions. Just do one loop of the booths on the Juneau dock and you have numerous whale watch vendors with availability.

Budget Queen- i am booking the Kenai Fjords 4 hour tour with lunch in Seward so if we are able to see whales on that one i do not want to book the Icy Straight Point whale watching trip which is much more expensive for 8 of us through the ship. Would it be easy in Icy Straight to also walk off the ship and find a kiosk that would do a whale watching tour in ISP in the event that we are not fortunate in Kenai Fjords?

I prefer smaller ships such as Empress. Checking prices and Empress out of Tampa is getting $1150 for an inside and $1385 for a window on a 6 night cruise November 4th. Newer ships don't seem to command prices close to this. Are we seeing a shift to where the older and smaller capacity ships are getting a higher per diem than the newer and larger ships with all the gimmicks? Is Royal on the forefront to bring older ships back into the fleet?

it has to be the cuba location- i do cruises on the very small Grandeur all of the time and only pay about $700 for a 9 day cruise out of Baltimore.

I will be sailing on the Explorer of the Seas inn sept 8th to Alaska. My mom passed away on Sunday and I want to scatter her ashes somewhere in Alaska. Can anyone tell me if they have done this on mendehall glacier or in any other area of Alaska and what I need to do in order to do it.

 

I called RCCL 4 separate times yesterday. Each customer service person acted as if they had no clue what I was asking when I asked about arranging to have them scattered off the ship. I was placed on hold numerous times and gave up. I figure I will try to just do something in alaska. We are going to Mendenhall and I figured that would be nice. I sent an email to the forest service asking what to do. That's what I found as a contact for Mendenhall glacier park.

 

Any advice is welcome. Her dream was to go to Alaska so I want to make this happen

Contact rccl directly at their special needs department and explain that you want to do a burial at sea. You will need a biodegradable urn such as this: https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Memorials-EcoUrn-Biodegradable-Cremation/dp/B01BW2VEX6/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1502886195&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=biodegradable+aqua+urn&psc=1

See post #6.

i dont see anything called first night done right. just the BOGO 2 night package for $30. Which is great!

At the very bottom of Dining in the Cruise Planner

is it the once called BOGO 2 night that his 2 restaurants for 2 nights for $30

Never noticed this before. So booked it last night :cool:

Never noticed this before.

 

So booked it last night :cool:

i have never seen this- where did you find it?

Looking at doing this. But I'm not finding cost yet. I have started to contact operators. What kind of cost am I looking at?

approximately $525 / person

Just a note to say not ALL dogs love living indoors... I grew up on a farm, and our dog hated the house... In tornado weather, you had to drag him in there! He really seemed to love being outside, herding pigs, and pestering the cats :). He was very well taken care of, and always seemed to have a happy wagging tail!

 

 

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i so agree with you and i was told specifically by multiple sled dog owners that on the rare occasion they try to take them indoors they get so hot and uncomfortable that they want out! Their coats are extremely dense and thick and they are miserable in the heated facilities.

We're on the September 1st cruise with Radiance the Seas from Seward to Vancouver, and are doing an RCCL Land Tour beforehand. For any of you who have done a Land tour with RCCL, preferably tour 5B, or any other Land tour that has the night before the cruise and Alyeska, I have a question for you. The itinerary has us staying the night before the cruise in Alyeska, and then transferring to Seward the next morning. Does anyone remember approximately what time we would arrive in Seward? I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to book a Kenai Fjords cruise and if so which departure time. Thanks in advance Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk[/quote you arrive at 11:15 approximately in the am and the ship does not leave until that evening and they do not allow you to board the ship until 3:30 at the earliest i believe. Plenty of time to do a Kenai Fjords cruise i should think. Although not sure if they are taking you by bus from alyeska back to Anchorage and then to board the train there or not. The train is the one that arrives at 11:15am. Not sure if you are going by motorcoach what time it would arrive. Cruise leaves Seward at 8 or 9pm.

We're on the September 1st cruise with Radiance the Seas from Seward to Vancouver, and are doing an RCCL Land Tour beforehand. For any of you who have done a Land tour with RCCL, preferably tour 5B, or any other Land tour that has the night before the cruise and Alyeska, I have a question for you.

 

The itinerary has us staying the night before the cruise in Alyeska, and then transferring to Seward the next morning. Does anyone remember approximately what time we would arrive in Seward? I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to book a Kenai Fjords cruise and if so which departure time.

 

Thanks in advance

 

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you arrive at 11:15 approximately in the am and the ship does not leave until that evening and they do not allow you to board the ship until 3:30 at the earliest i believe. Plenty of time to do a Kenai Fjords cruise i should think

Has anyone had experience or know of someone with experience on cruising as a child's wish? Are there any 'perks' or special provisions? Obviously the cruise itself is huge, but just curious about Royal Caribbean and what, if anything, they may offer.

 

 

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also maybe freebies like Royal Carribean beach towels, tee shirts, etc. etc. They will make it special i am sure. Grant a wish is one of the organizations that they do the walkathons on the top deck of the ships each cruise and the money they raise goes to Grant a wish.

Has anyone had experience or know of someone with experience on cruising as a child's wish? Are there any 'perks' or special provisions? Obviously the cruise itself is huge, but just curious about Royal Caribbean and what, if anything, they may offer.

 

 

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Yes they always try to do extra special things- surprises- may be some special excursions, some special celebration- not sure but it is supposed to be a surprise. You will have to wait and sea! LOL

I love dogs and a dog sled tour is something I've been considering for our cruise to Alaska next year. I'm torn though, since my version of loving dogs is they live inside, sleep on fluffy beds, are warm when it's cold outside and cool when it's warm outside. I have nothing against dog sledding and I know the dogs who pull sleds love to do it, however, I'm just wondering if doing a sled tour and seeing were they live, tied up to their dog house as I've seen in numerous pictures, will ruin it for me. Is dog sledding something I should just pass up? Again, no snarky comments, I'm just wondering if it's something we should do or not.

these dogs are loved and really well cared for by their owners. These dogs LOVE to work and you will see how excited they get when they are hooked up to the sled. they start jumping around and wanting to pull it. THis is what they live to do.

You can't "arrange it" it either will be offered or it won't be available. You can call Alaska RR direct and inquire, also would confirm when you check the bags.

I had no problem "arranging it" when i went to the ticket counter i asked about getting my luggage to the Royal Carribean ship and they directed me outside to the white tented area to have my luggage tagged and taken. No problem at all.

We are finishing up a DIY land tour before boarding the Coral on Saturday. We stayed at a wonderful modern cabin group about 7 miles from the Denali entrance, breakfast was included. If that type of experience interests just ask and I will post the name.

JanetAlice- please tell me where you stayed- this is exactly where we would like to be. Thanks in advance.

Robin

We stayed at the Motel Nord Haven (now called the Aurora Denali Lodge) June 4th and 5th this year. We booked the rooms on June 20th of 2016. We booked so far in advance because rooms sell out quickly in that area. We didn't have to pay anything up front to reserve the rooms and we had until 48 hrs. prior to our arrival to cancel.

I tried booking them last week for next June and they told me that they could not book that far in advance. How were you able to do it?

Is there more than one railroad to choose from when traveling from Anchorage to Seward? We are cruising on Celebrity and I just found out the train doesn't leave Anchorage until around 1:00 and it is a 5 hour trip. We were hoping to get to Seward earlier that that. Thanks for any information. Barbara

Is there more than one railroad to choose from when traveling from Anchorage to Seward? We are cruising on Celebrity and I just found out the train doesn't leave Anchorage until around 1:00 and it is a 5 hour trip. We were hoping to get to Seward earlier that that. Thanks for any information.

Barbara

You can only take the Alaska Railroad that is not too far from the Comfort Inn Ships Creek hotel but it leaves at 6:30 in the am. Arrives in Seward at 11:00 approx. Could you take that one? You give them your luggage outside in a white tented area and they will mark it to go directly to the ship for you. It is easy - peazy.

Is there a Twisted Kilt near the cruise port? I could see some Scottish Eggs and Caronas being consumed while watching preseason Giants football or rerun NY Islanders games.

The only Twisted Kilt i know of is in the Avenue at White Marsh which is a good 20-25 minute drive from the port. Sorry

We'll be traveling in July on the Norwegian Pearl with our 3 kids.

 

Some background: We are experienced travelers. My older boys will be 15 and 11 in July, while my daughter will be close to 2. The boys have been to Alaska during the winter, we went to the Ice Festival in Fairbanks. They have cruised twice before in the Bahamas. My daughter has proven to be a very laid back toddler that enjoys new sights (she loves the airport, did well on an 8 hour sailing charter etc.). We are Floridian, so I expect the time difference will have my daughter up early and to bed early most days, although she's seldom cranky for staying up late with something interesting. We will have our car seat with us because for that long of a flight I wanted a way to strap down my daughter while she sleeps. :eek:

 

 

I'm trying to find toddler friendly excursions that will also be entertaining to my sons. My sons are good spirited and are likely to prefer to stay with their sister than want to split up in port. Our ports: Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay (I know not a port), Ketchikan, and Victoria, round tripping out of Seattle.

 

 

Things we already know we're interested in -

-Helicopter dog sledding in Junea

-Train in Skagway

 

 

For the dog sledding - our itinerary has us in port in the afternoon/evening and I'm strongly considering sending my husband and sons on that one without us. However I do think she'd enjoy seeing the dogs and it has long been a dream of mine to see glaciers by helicopter. Has anyone sledded with a toddler?

 

 

Skagway we have down. I'm in process of getting passports. Question - on the rail's website they recommend booking through your cruise line. I see a $20 price difference, but the cruise line includes transportation to the rail line?

 

 

Ketchikan is the one that's getting me. All the active zipline/rainforest excursions really aren't appropriate for my daughter (unless any offer tandem zipping for the toddler?). While a flight over Misty Fjords would be cool, I think 2 flights on one trip would be a bit over the top. I think totems might bore my daughter. Any recommendations for interesting things for a toddler?

 

 

Victoria being an evening stop and at the end of the trip we may just stay on board. We dock 6pm to midnight and I suspect we'll all be pretty ready for an early turn in that night. However, I'm open to suggestions in case we have a surge of energy last minute.

 

 

As you can probably tell, I'm one of those obsessive research type of vacation planners, although I'm very go with the flow once on vacation. I just like to be armed with all the possibilities before I leave.

unfortunately the helicopter to dog sledding one will not be for the two year old- the helicopter tours all have age restrictions of 5 and above i believe. Someone would have to stay back with the baby. You could still do the wheeled dog cart one so it would be similar and the baby could see all of the dogs and puppies. I am facing that same predicament when i have a family cruise in 2019 to celebrate my retirement and my youngest grandson will be just 2 1/2 so i will stay back with him because i have done the helicopter to the glacier for dogsledding before and no one else has. :( I think Whale watching would be fun for the little one too and there is no age restriction. Also i know that train ride will be fun. If