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In my opinion and based on several Alaska vacations, tours and cruises, the best bet to get the most out of Alaska is to take the 15 day Princess Connoisseur Escorted cruise/tour. Take the tour first and then cruise south on the Coral Princess.

The land tours are small groups and fill up fast so you want to book far in advance.

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We did a connoisseur cruise tour that included McKinley lodge, Denali lodge and Fairbanks. If you can,book a balcony so you can get good views on scenic cruise day.

We did the 7 day Vancouver - Anchorage followed by a 5 day land tour (Fairbanks to Anchorage), and it seemed to get better and better each day. Same lodges as the above post.

 

The Kenai area looked potentially interesting too, maybe for the future for us.

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Whatever ships are available I would only choose Island Princess if no other date works for you. My first choice would be Coral Princess. After that, Ruby, Emerald, etc.

 

The connoisseur tours are great but more expensive than the other land tours. We did a connoisseur cruise tour and loved it. I would prefer the land tour first and the cruise second but some like it the other way. Most that have the land tour first start in Fairbanks then go to Denali Lodge followed by McKinley Lodge. The best chance of seeing Denali is as McKinley lodge but it isn't guaranteed. When on our connieusssseur tour we saw Denali the last day at McKinley Lodge. There was a couple in our group who were there for the 5th time and this was the first time the mountain had come fully out from behind the cloud cover. They were sooooo excited to finally get a good view of the mountain. (And we were so lucky to get that view on our first land tour.) If you like beer be sure to make it into Talkeetna and try Denali Brewing Company beer. There is a brew pub in town and the brewery is located a couple of miles outside of town.

 

As others have said, make sure your cruise goes through Glacier Bay. Many will tell you that you must have a balcony. Bah. The best viewing for Glacier Bay is up on the public decks. We have cruised Alaska twice (and did a 7 week camping trip last summer up through Canada and all the way to Fairbanks) and we had a tiny little inside cabin on Sea Princess the first time (our first cruise and the one that got us hooked) and were booked for an inside on the way back after our land tour but took a very cheap upsell to a window mini-suite at the last minute. We have had balcony cabins on a number of other cruises but didn't miss the balcony at all on our Alaska cruises.

 

Weather will be unpredictable. Our first cruise was in the month of September and it was tee shirt weather. People in the ports said they hadn't seen the sun for a couple of weeks but we had fantastic weather. Our land tour was in the month of June and, again, we had beautiful weather. I purchased a lightweight sweatshirt in Talkeetna so I would have something a bit warmer for Glacier Bay but that was it. Our camping trip was in the months of July and August and we had lots of rain but, again, no cold weather. Other people have had lots and lots of rain or even snow.

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Another vote for the Coral here. We took a northbound cruisetour from Vancouver and loved it. As much as I respect Thrak's opinions we are definitely balcony people, especially in Alaska where there is so much to see. While we spent the majority of our viewing time on the promenade and fore and aft observation decks it was nice to be able to see out of our balcony window when we were changing for dinner or just getting up in the morning. If a pod of orcas went by we were able to see it without going to a public deck. I do agree with Thrak's recommendation not to sail on the Island.

Just FYI, we liked the Coral so much that we recently completed a Panama Canal cruise on her in the same cabin that we had for Alaska.

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We are so excited!! We had the 15 day connessiour tour booked but decided to cancel and rebook a 12 night Denali Explorer tour as our 6 year old son will be traveling with us! Still excited as we have booked onto the Royal Princess in a delux balcony and we will be doing the land tour first - Mt Mickinley lodge and then denali lodge! Our cruise goes through Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.

We are going in late June / early July and hope to see orca and bears! Counting down the days!! :) Good Luck choosing your Alaska Cruise!!

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I would avoid the Island Princess and book the Coral or any Grand Class ship. If you are thinking about 2019 I would also not book the Royal. The Royal lacks a promenade deck and the upper decks lack good forward viewing areas.

 

Regarding the land tour, I would select the longest number of days I could afford, and a tour that takes the train.

Edited by sknight
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We took a 12-day cruise tour. We had two nights in Fairbanks, one near Denali, one at the Mt. McKinley lodge, and one in Anchorage before our cruise. A better option would be two nights at the Denali lodge so you can take one of the shuttles farther into the park. We at least upgraded from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour and got to see a lot more wildlife than the friends we met on the train ride from Fairbanks to Denali did on the Natural History Tour.

 

All of the Princess lodges have sample menus posted on the internet. You can decide for yourself whether the extra cost of the Connoisseur package is worth it. We ate fairly well and did not spend too much on our meals. I thought the prices were reasonable.

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I am wondering what experiences you all had on the Island Princess that have left a bad taste for it? One of the pieces of advice I was given was you are there to see AK. Look for the itinerary you want and choose from there. I did that, and took into consideration when we could go, which direction we wanted to cruise, so we did end up with the Island. I would have probably chosen the Coral if I could have based on reading the Island, same plan as the Island until they took away continuous deck space to make more cabins no longer had as good of a layout. And it doesn’t have an International Cafe. I have never sailed Princess, never been to AK, so figure I won’t know any different and will love it all.

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I am wondering what experiences you all had on the Island Princess that have left a bad taste for it? One of the pieces of advice I was given was you are there to see AK. Look for the itinerary you want and choose from there. I did that, and took into consideration when we could go, which direction we wanted to cruise, so we did end up with the Island. I would have probably chosen the Coral if I could have based on reading the Island, same plan as the Island until they took away continuous deck space to make more cabins no longer had as good of a layout. And it doesn’t have an International Cafe. I have never sailed Princess, never been to AK, so figure I won’t know any different and will love it all.

 

In addition to the reasons you wrote, there are a couple of other things eliminated on the Island. Both the removal of the second theater (Universe Lounge) and the great aft viewing decks for more cabins make it less desirable than the Coral.

 

However I think that you’re correct that itinerary is the top priority followed by price & then by the ship but I’d only be willing to pay slightly more for the Coral. The great Princess Alaskan experience is why it attracts a very high percentage of first time Princess passengers. If the Island & Coral’s itineraries & prices were similar, then I’d sail the Coral.

 

It’s true that having never sailed on the Island you won’t fully know the difference. There were concerns that by increasing passenger capacity by about 10% that it would be more crowded. However friends who have sailed the Island before & after the changes still enjoyed their cruise on the Island. So by not experiencing the difference you should love your Princess Alaskan cruise on the Island.

Edited by Astro Flyer
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