Cruise / Land Trip Review SOOO Late!

[sharp_cruiser]

Hi! I was on this board and used it extensively to plan my trip in 2008. Shameful that I have not posted since my return trip but I remember how great it was to get new cruise reviews in the cold winter months while I was waiting to begin my trip in the summer! I'll probably post this in sections, as I get time. It is REALLY late b/c soon after we returned from our trip we discovered we were expecting a baby, who was born this summer. Needless to say, I didn't have much time for forum browsing! But I am VOWING to post some details and answer questions as I am able, because everyone here was such a great help to me in planning a perfect vacation.

 

A brief synopsis:

 

We are in our early 30's, traveled to a few national parks and some tropical destinations. In June 2008, we spent two weeks in Alaska. We first rented a car and did an independent land tour for 5 days. Then we boarded the Coral Princess for a SB cruise to Vancouver. I think in all we spent around $6000-7000, just to give you an idea of our budget (including air, cruise, car, land portion, all excursions).

 

I'll start with pictures and then begin my posts!

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/565175901VstCuI?vhost=travel

 

I can't wait to tell you all more, since this lets me relive this amazing trip!

[sharp_cruiser]

My first caveat: We RAN OUR REARS OFF on this trip! I am not joking. I didn't know when we'd get to do this again, and I wanted to do it ALL. And we did! But I'll tell you, we went non-stop, I booked very carefully, and we had long days. I was popping caffeine pills and downing coffee left and right to keep up with myself! This isn't for everyone. We had lots of time to enjoy things, but we were on a schedule and we didn't budget time to just goof around or gift shop or sleep in. So keep that in mind if you want to do all the things we did. You will be busy!!!

 

Day 1:

 

Flight from Detroit to Denver to Anchorage.

Tip: Pay for the direct flight, please. Just do it. Overall, I would have paid DOUBLE to get the direct flight back home. Just too much traveling for me. We were beat. We took Frontier, which I do recommend, clean, comfortable, great service. Denver was a really windy landing, some people were sick onboard. I booked this flight almost a year in advance to get a good price.

 

Arrived in Anchorage around 10 pm AK time. Waited ages for luggage, taxi to Extended Stay. I forget the details but this cost maybe $40 or $50 using hotwire. It was only OK. I wouldn't have paid a penny more. They put us first in a room where someone has already staying, oops. Then in a smoking room, gross. By then we didn't care, just let us please sleep and get out of town tomorrow!

 

As I recall, they had a free shuttle (could have tried to get that on the way from the airport, but it was so late, we just grabbed a taxi). We did take the shuttle to Enterprise Car Rental the next morning. I booked there about a year in advance also for a great rate on a midsize car. When we arrived they offered us a Jeep Liberty for only $40 more for the 5 days and we took it. It was great to have an SUV (what we are used to driving at home), for the vantage point and room with ALL of the driving that we did.

[cruiselovin'girl]

I am very interested in your review. Have been on a few cruises but considering an Alaskan cruise this summer....keep it coming!

Thanks so much,

Pam

[bwater]

Great Pictures.. keep the review comin!!

 

Did you enjoy Talkeetna, did you stay there overnight?

[vbmom87]

Congratulations on your baby!!! I can understand why you haven't been able to post on the boards.

 

I remember you were planning your trip at the same time we were planning ours. We also went in June 2008 from DTW.

 

I can't wait to read about the rest of your trip. I really enjoy reading everyone's trip reviews. They help me relive my vacation of a lifetime!! It is my hope to go back to Alaska some day and see what we missed the first time around. However, I am just not sure that will happen. I will continue to dream and read about others' great trips. Meanwhile I will keep buying those Megamillion lottery tickets. ;)

 

Enjoy your little one!!!

[Coral]

Thanks for the review!

[sharp_cruiser]

Drive north to Talkeetna. We saw a moose on the side of the road about maybe an hour or so into the drive. It was fabulous; our first moose, the animal I really wanted to see! Right there, having lunch by the side of the road! Just a great start to our trip!

 

Upon arriving in Talkeetna, we checked in with the Talkeetna Air Taxi. (I used the coupon, but only got 20% off since I didn't want to do the 7 pm flight. I think I just wanted the glacier landing but we got a much longer flight and longer time on the glacier because some other people that booked at the same time as us paid for that better tour.)

 

While waiting for the flight, we walked around the town, which is great if you like to do little gifts shopping, etc. Also walked around the cemetary for climbers. That was neat to see I think.

 

So getting ready to board this plane I was SOOO nervous. I get motion sickness, I was afraid to fly in this little plane, what in the world was I doing! But on we went and took off... it was smooth as silk. Seriously, this was the smoothest plane ride I had even been on in my life!

 

The scenery was indescribable. You can see my pictures but you can't even imagine the perspective until you are up in the air. If you are going to Alaska, just do this trip. Really, drop the few hundred $$$ and forget about it. It is worth 10x more in memories. When we landed on the glacier, I just started to cry... it was so beautiful, peaceful, huge, just an amazing sight. We got to walk around for quite some time, get some great pictures. It wasn't cold; I had a t shirt and fleece on. The sun reflecting off the glacier was intense; you MUST have sunglasses. Flight back was beautiful. It was a great start to our trip to see an aerial perspective of the path of a glacier, from a huge mountain of ice, trailing all the way down the river ice melt. It was fantastic, I can't say enough about it!

 

FYI- ours was the first flight to go that day, and I think we might have left around 2 or something? It was too windy to leave earlier. I had planned to hit Talkeetna on our way back south in case this was cancelled. However, that would have been the longest day and very tiring, and of course it could have been cancelled then too! We were extremely lucky to have all of this work out just right. In hindsight, if this is of importance to you, I'd schedule a day in Talkeetna just to make sure you make this flight, or have a back up plan.

 

Continued driving to Denali that same night. We did not stay in Talkeetna. Stopped lots of times hoping to see Denali on the drive (used the Milepost). Arrived in Denali late, maybe around 8 pm? Of course, broad daylight, so who cares!!! Ate an overpriced but tasty dinner at McKinley Chalet, walked around their property a bit. Drove down to Healy to check in at Denali Lakeview Inn.

 

We stayed in the Blue Moose Room. Perfect for two adults. Checked ourselves in. I think breakfast was already in the room and then they brought the sandwiches I had prearranged for our Denali trip the next day. Walked around their property awhile also; viewed the beautiful lake on their deck. Crashed out around 11 or 12 midnight. Don't forget - we woke up in Anchorage after traveling all the previous day from Detroit, drove to Talkeetna, did flightseeing, drove on to Denali, all in one day! When I said we packed everything in, you can see I wasn't joking!

[Aussietripper]

Certainly enjoying your trip report and I have just had a look at some of your excellent photos. Curious to know whether it was early June or late June when you went? We are going to be in Alaska from the 4th to the 27th June and I appreciate that the weather can be unpredictable, but it looks like you had quite a few sunny days - hope we get the same!

Will be watching for your next installment.

[sharp_cruiser]

We left on June 11th, land tour until our cruise. Cruise June 16th to June 23rd, Southbound. So I guess you could call that mid June? ;)

[creative1_129]

I can't wait to hear more about your trip. I am heading to Alaska in May.

[Foxhill]

Looks like it has been quite a while since the OP was posting her review. Hopefully she will find time to get back and finish. Our trip to Alaska this summer will follow much of what she has written already so would like to read more!

[jenng1976]

I'm hoping to hear more too! I will be planning a similiar trip for May 2011 and love reading about others' experiences. :)