Land tour & cruise- how do they work?

[Gabrielle R.]

My DH and I are going on the Coral Princess in June From Whittier to Vancouver. We are doing the land tour portion first, then a couple of days in Vancouver.

HOW does the land tour portion work? We do the Fairbanks tour on the 2nd day in Fairbanks. (Paddle wheeler, etc.) Then we are off to Denali Princess Wilderness, then the McKinley Princess lodge.

 

What I am wondering is: How does the luggage segment work? What can we bring on the train? Does our luggage meet us back at the ship, and we just keep a carry on with us?

 

Also, Princess has a moring tour for us at the Denali Princess, But the other times are open for us to do whatever you want. Is there a possibility to do tours not with Princess when we are at the lodges?

 

Thanks for any advice here. My DH & I have cruised MANY times, just have never done Alaska or a crusie tour before. Gabrielle

[MercedMike]

My DH and I are going on the Coral Princess in June From Whittier to Vancouver. We are doing the land tour portion first, then a couple of days in Vancouver.

HOW does the land tour portion work? We do the Fairbanks tour on the 2nd day in Fairbanks. (Paddle wheeler, etc.) Then we are off to Denali Princess Wilderness, then the McKinley Princess lodge.

 

What I am wondering is: How does the luggage segment work? What can we bring on the train? Does our luggage meet us back at the ship, and we just keep a carry on with us?

 

Also, Princess has a moring tour for us at the Denali Princess, But the other times are open for us to do whatever you want. Is there a possibility to do tours not with Princess when we are at the lodges?

 

Thanks for any advice here. My DH & I have cruised MANY times, just have never done Alaska or a crusie tour before. Gabrielle

 

You will get complete luggage information closer to sailing time. However, on our cruise/tour we took all our luggage with us the whole time. I do think in some cases there is a way to leave your luggage at the port and just travel with a carry on, which would be convenient. Although all luggage handling is provided, you do need to bring your bags in, search through them, and get them back outside the room at like 6 AM -- so the less you have to fool with the better. We were on a longer tour so we had more luggage.

 

There are a number of interesting excursions available at Denali. We loved the evening show and the Log Cabin Breakfast, and we also rented a 4WD vehicle and drove on our own some.

 

You can check our report on the Fairbanks/Denali portion of our tour at

http://www.bully4.us/ct2.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[Budget Queen]

My DH and I are going on the Coral Princess in June From Whittier to Vancouver. We are doing the land tour portion first, then a couple of days in Vancouver.

HOW does the land tour portion work? We do the Fairbanks tour on the 2nd day in Fairbanks. (Paddle wheeler, etc.) Then we are off to Denali Princess Wilderness, then the McKinley Princess lodge.

 

What I am wondering is: How does the luggage segment work? What can we bring on the train? Does our luggage meet us back at the ship, and we just keep a carry on with us?

 

Also, Princess has a moring tour for us at the Denali Princess, But the other times are open for us to do whatever you want. Is there a possibility to do tours not with Princess when we are at the lodges?

 

Thanks for any advice here. My DH & I have cruised MANY times, just have never done Alaska or a crusie tour before. Gabrielle

 

baggage is separate from you, on the Princess trains, it is assigned table seating, so a small carryon, has to fit under your seat, between the seats or on the table. Luggage is moved from lodge to lodge, what is needed on the land portion. What "morning" tour at the Denali Princess, hopefully you are fully aware of the "tour" differences, they are SIGNIFICANT. Certainly there are many opportunities to do independent touring. Is all this transit by rail, or do you also have buses?? By rail, you would also have an hour transit, by bus, to the McKinley Lodge.

 

With your itinerary, there will not be a "luggage" storage option, since you are doing one way Fairbanks, to Whittier, the "storage" options would be from a round trip Anchorage.

[ellbon]

My DH and I are going on the Coral Princess in June From Whittier to Vancouver. We are doing the land tour portion first, then a couple of days in Vancouver. glad to see you added in Vancouver.. going back there again to see more.

HOW does the land tour portion work? We do the Fairbanks tour on the 2nd day in Fairbanks. (Paddle wheeler, etc.) Then we are off to Denali Princess Wilderness, then the McKinley Princess lodge.

if you give yourself extra time you can fly over the circle and land or you could rent a car and do a museam etc.. paddlewheel is ok but the gold panning tour i was bored.

 

What I am wondering is: How does the luggage segment work? What can we bring on the train? Does our luggage meet us back at the ship, and we just keep a carry on with us?

 

my 26 inch suitcase met me at the ship. my 28 inch one went on trucks form hotle to hotel.. i had a carry one with me on the train for extra layers and whatever. very little space on train for anything.

 

Also, Princess has a moring tour for us at the Denali Princess, But the other times are open for us to do whatever you want. Is there a possibility to do tours not with Princess when we are at the lodges?

 

call the 800 number and book tours there. idea can be white water raftimg, meeting jeff King and seeing how he trains his dogs.. princess does not give you hte best park tour. many people upgrade at the lodge.. wish i did..

while here ask the lodge about the rib place that picks you up and brings you bakc .. expensive compared to the lower 48 but very good. all food is expensive.

 

Thanks for any advice here. My DH & I have cruised MANY times, just have never done Alaska or a crusie tour before. Gabrielle

 

for ideas on vancouver-

Vancouver BC Vacation Sightseeing & City Tours - British Columbia, Canada

 

walk to Stanley park, Chinatown, Japenese Garden, Grandville Island ..

[Lookingforfacts]

You bring a small bag (tote bag sized) on the train. You're allowed one "regular" sized suitcase that goes from hotel to hotel. Any other bag is tagged to "meet you at the ship". The roller carry on bag you stow in the overhead bin on the airline doesn't go with you on the bus. You pack so it's either the bag that goes with you or the bag that goes directly to the ship.

[negc]

It has been eleven years since we last did a landtour in Alaska but prior to the trip we received detailed information from the cruiseline which indicated how to deal with the luggage that we would be taking. We were instructed to separate our things into two groupings: 1) what we would not need until we were onboard the ship, and 2) what we would need to have with us while we were doing the land tour. There were tags to be attached to our luggage indicating which bags would go "directly to the ship" and those which would accompany us on land. Once we landed in Anchorage, the bags identified as "directly to the ship" were taken from us and we did not see them again until we boarded the ship. (Where they stored that luggage during our land tour, I don't know but they do this on a regular basis and obviously have the system pretty well worked out). The rest of our bags were delivered to our hotel and collected each morning and transported to our next destination. We took a relatively small carry on aboard the train with items that we might need during the day or which we didn't want left out of our sight (medicines, valuables etc.).

I doubt that the process has changed very much over the years, but carefully read the instructions you will receive from the cruiselines, follow those instructions and everything should go well.

[ellbon]

in 06 i landed in fairbanks and took all my bags to hte hotel. there is devided the cltohes up and the 26 inch went to the ship.. my 28 went with me.. my carry on went with me.. it did not fit well by me o nthe trinbut was very happy sitting in the open car where people smoked.. everyone was fine with that.

 

i found i wore everything in the suitcase and asap got it all washed on the ship.

[Gabrielle R.]

Thank you!

Any more ideas? I am open to any great advice!!!

Oh, and yes we are taking the train to the Princess lodge, then a bus to the McKinley lodge.

[PennyAgain]

It really is a fascinating process and most of the bags don't get lost.

 

The key word for dressing on the tour is COMFORT. Not fancy at all. Keep your valuables and your medicines with you at all times. You can read many trip reports from last summer by going back on the postings on this topic. A fantastic resource!

[Ratdoggie]

My husband and I are also going on our first Alaska land/cruise, but we are going at the end of July. I can't give you any firsthand advice, but have you checked the Princess webpage? I found a brochure to download that tells all about the Alaska land/cruise. I imagine Princess will send the same brochure in your information packet before the cruise, but if you want a sneak peek you should be able to find it on the website.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip!

[ellbon]

Thank you!

Any more ideas? I am open to any great advice!!!

Oh, and yes we are taking the train to the Princess lodge, then a bus to the McKinley lodge.

 

I did the same thing- train from Fairbanks and bus to Mckinley.. i ate in the better dining room and it was my best hotel meal on the land tour. I booked the dinner when I got there.

 

I called the lodge directly for help booking tours on land.

 

yes, you dress in layers, found a long sleeve top with a light fleese enough most days.