Non-Princess Tours from Princess Denali & Mt McKinley Lodges

Was wanting to know if it is easy to get tours of Denali & Mt McKinley area from private tour companies ie. not using Princess excursions. Will they pick us up at the lodge or do we have to arrange transport to meet them and how easy is it to arrange this.

We are in the early stages of planning our Princess Cruisetour, June '18. Thanks for any info that you can provide.

Which vendors ? You would need to contact them and ask what they are willing to do and if they charge for the service.

At Denali, the lodge is in Glitter Gulch along the hwy (with the other cruisetour hotels). Most private vendors are also located in Glitter Gulch so you can walk to them.

At Talkeetna, the lodge is about 45 minutes from town. Can't imagine that any vendor will pick you up. But Princess has an hourly shuttle into town, probably $10. Info will be on the lodge web site.

Since you seem to want to do some independent traveling, why not ditch the pre-packaged cruisetour and put together your own trip using a rental car? There's nothing offered on a cruisetour that can't be booked individually.

I also suggest you determine- first what "tours" you are looking for? There are independent options available. It's essential that with the McKinley Princess you maximize your time, by staying in Talkeetna or arriving early if using the train. It's about about a 2 hour round trip transfer if you don't. And you don't want to be making that run too many times. IF your cruise tour is bus transit then you'll have to allot the time.

Be CERTAIN, this "cruise tour" you have chosen is allowing you your touring preferences and doesn't have you spending time- especially at the expense of being elsewhere, (which a lot do)