Trying to decide on which CruiseTour to take???

[dinomac]

We are trying to choose between NB3 and BB4. BB4 has a night at McKinley Princess Resort (which I heard is nicer than the Denali Princess). What I'm concerned with is that I want to go flightseeing and with the BB4 itinerary, I'm concerned that there wouldn't be enough time to flightsee and enjoy the 2 resorts. The NB3 itinerary has a full day at Denali and would probably allow for flightseeing, etc., but then no McKinley. Any thoughts or ideas on the 2 cruisetours and which you've enjoyed or would be better????

[phabric]

I took Princess HB5 as it has 1 night Anchorage, 2 nights McKinley, 2 night Denali. You have 1 1/2 day each at McKinley and Denali. You have the History tour included which I have upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness tour.

[dinomac]

Phabric, Thanks for your info. That sounds fantastic, but unfortunately, a 10 or 11 day cruisetour is almost too much time off... I am stretching my vacation more than I should. I will have to wait until retirement to take that much time. Was McKinley worth staying at? Are the activities/tours much different than offered at Denali Lodge????

[phabric]

Sorry, I should have said I booked for Aug 2011 5 day cruisetour. There are too many choices to decide from. I am pushing it too for vacation time. We are going to fly in/out day of cruisetour and cruise. I felt that on a shorter landtour, we would arrive in pm, do something there and then getting back on train/coach the next morning, might be too tiring.

[Dr. Pepper]

My wife and I went on FB4 last Sept. We stayed 1 night in Fairbanks, 2 nights in Denali, and 1 night at McKinley. Arrived in Fairbanks at 3 PM, went to salmon bake and left the next morning at 7 AM on the train. Arrived at Denali around noon, did TWT from 2 PM to 9:30 PM. Saw all the animals except for caribou and wolf. The full day at Denali we spent hiking and the sled dog demo. Too cold to go rafting. Left on the train at 11 AM for Talkeetna. Arrived at McKinley lodge around 5 PM. It is a great lodge in the middle of nowhere. Rainy and foggy till after dark so no views of Denali. We awoke the next AM to sunshine and blue skies. Left lodge at 7 AM on shuttle bus to Talkeetna. Went flightseeing at 10:30 am. Due to clouds in landing zone we couldn't land on glacier but the views of Denali were awesome. Well worth the money. Landed about noon and caught the shuttle to rail station to catch train to Whittier and the Coral Princess. I wouldn't do the BB4 because of the short time in Denali and McKinley. Next trip I am flying into Anchorage and taking a 7 day driving trip before the cruise. Hope this helps.;)

[trixiegolf]

Is there any strong preference for starting a land tour in Anchorage vs starting a land tour in Fairbanks?

[wolfie11]

For most people, the priority on a cruisetour is Denali NP. To do this properly you need to have two nights in Denali and take the TWT or the Eielson/Wonder Lake shuttle. Otherwise you are stuck with the Natural History Tour, which goes only a mile or so further than where I can drive my car or where you can take a FREE shuttle bus.

 

IMHO, the McKinley is nothing special. It is in the middle of nowhere with an hour shuttle ride to the nearest town. If the weather is good, there is a view of the mountain, but it is a miserable place when it is raining and nasty.

[dinomac]

Thanks for the advice Dr. Pepper and Wolfie11! I'm pretty sure we can flightsee Mt. McKinley from the Denali Princess lodge, so we wouldn't have to stay at McKinley Lodge to do so, so I think NB3 is a better choice for us.

[cruisingmimi]

Ok, I am confused. If you experts could clarify seeing Denali, I would be ever so grateful.

 

We have booked HAL cruisetour #24 w/ 3 days pre-cruise. We fly into Fairbanks, next day train to Denali, afternoon natural history tour. I am not sure exactly what the tour entails. Do we board a bus into the park, etc. Not sure where we will spend the night either. Next day we have 1/2 day in the park and afternoon to Anchorage. So what else can we see in the park on the morning of day 2? Should we book another tour (1/2 day) for that morning on day 2 when we arrive Denali? I know the bus only goes so many miles into the park, then turns around. What would be the most interesting way to see Denali? There are 6 of us traveling together so I want to make sure we get to see the maximum we can w/ the minimum amount of time.

 

Many thanks.

 

Mary

[wolfie11]

The Natural History Tour is NOT a tour into Denali Park, unless you count the first 14 miles of road (where I can drive my car anytime) as getting into the park. The DNHT picks you up at your hotel, you go to the WAC to see a movie about constructing the park road (which anybody can watch), you board the bus and drive about miles into the park where you will stop and walk up to one of the old ranger cabins and a guide impersonating an early visitor/resident of the park will give a talk. You go back to the bus, get on, and go another 7 miles to Primrose Ridge, where another person will talk to you about something (it was early settlers and then natives and now I don't know what it is). You get back on the bus and return to your hotel.

 

You will have enough time to do the longer Tundra Wilderness Tour and it can usually be upgraded from the DNHT. You will leave around 2pm and return around 10pm. The TWT goes about 60 miles into the park with a much better chance to see wildlife and the mountain.

 

There are a number of activities around the park entrance on your 2nd day such as free shuttle to Savage River (with a nice hiking trail), sled dog demo, hikes, etc. or you could book a tour with one of the vendors for rafting, horseback ride, etc.

[cruisingmimi]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Wolfie! You have clarified the natural history "tour" for me. I am not sure this would be very interesting after reading your description.

 

Can the Tundra Wilderness Tour be booked on our own or do we need to go through HAL? We have not received anything yet from the cruiseline so I feel like I'm in the dark. I will check out HAL website right now to see what they are offering and may even give them a call. We have 6 traveling in our group so I want the Denali experience to be an awesome one for everyone. They have left the trip planning up to me!

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Mary

[wolfie11]

Can the Tundra Wilderness Tour be booked on our own or do we need to go through HAL? We have not received anything yet from the cruiseline so I feel like I'm in the dark. I will check out HAL website right now to see what they are offering and may even give them a call. We have 6 traveling in our group so I want the Denali experience to be an awesome one for everyone. They have left the trip planning up to me!

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Mary

 

I think that the TWT or shuttle to Eielson is the only way to truly see the park (although some people think it is a long bus ride.) If you are only going to see Denali once you should do the TWT.

 

If you booked through HAL you should call them and see if you can upgrade. I know Princess does. Otherwise you may be able to upgrade with Aramark directly.

[cruisingmimi]

Wolfie,

 

I spent a lot of time yesterday looking at the different shuttle/tour busses to Denali. I think that doing the shuttle to Eielson is the way we should go. If we select this tour, do we have to go all the way to the end of the tour or are we able to get onto another shuttle returning to the hotels if we don't want to remain on the bus that long? Especially if the weather is not cooperative. Also is it absolutely necessary to make reservations or can we wait til we get to our hotel (don't even know where we will stay at Denali yet, haven't received anything from HAL)?

 

I am going to call HAL right now and see what they can tell me.

 

As far as the TWT, we are not able to get off the bus except for the rest room stops, is that correct? It is also more expensive for this tour. I guess the long and short of it is we ride the bus for many hours. Not a big deal.

 

One of the members of our group of 6 would like to see some dog sled demos, etc. Can we do this at Denali? Or is it advisable to wait til we get to Juneau and book this tour there?

 

Thanks again for everyone's help.

 

Mary

[wolfie11]

Although many here recommend the shuttle over the TWT because it goes further, I would really advise that with your group of 6 you book a TWT rather than the shuttle. The last shuttle of the day leaves at 2pm, which leaves you little time to get to your hotel, dump your stuff, find some food (there's none available inside the park), and take a shuttle to the Wilderness Access Center from your hotel to catch the Eielson shuttle. The other alternative is to go directly from the train station to the WAC to get on a shuttle.

 

The TWT will pick you up at your hotel and because they work with the cruise lines, they will pick up later if the train happens to be running late. The pm TWT leaves hotels between 2pm and 3pm. If the bus ride becomes too long, your driver can flag down a returning shuttle and you can go back on that (although you would have to get from the WAC back to your hotel).

 

You should have something reserved. The TWT needs to be reserved at least a few days in advance so they can juggle busses and hotels. You might be able to walk up and get on the last shuttle, but you would be taking a chance that there would be 6 seats available, as they leave extra seats open on that shuttle to pick up hikers.

 

You could go to the park dog sled demo on the morning of your departure or do the Husky Homestead tour at Jeff King's place. They pickup at all the hotels.

[Glaciers]

Have you heard how the smoke is affecting travel into Denali?

[negc]

Is there any strong preference for starting a land tour in Anchorage vs starting a land tour in Fairbanks?

Our previous Alaska landtour (with Princess) started in Anchorage and took us to Denali and Fairbanks and then flew us back down to Anchorage and bused us to Seward for our cruise.

This time we are starting in Fairbanks, spending two nights there, then taking the RCI train to Denali for the TWT and an overnight there, followed by the train to Talkeetna for an overnight, a motor coach Anchorage for one night and then on to Seward by bus where we will board Radiance of the Seas. Seems like more of a straight line and doesn't require an additional flight to get from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Other than that, I am not sure there is enough of a difference to matter. Leaving Sunday and really can't wait.:D

[wolfie11]

Have you heard how the smoke is affecting travel into Denali?

 

I talked to a friend who's a driver a few days ago. It seems to totally depend on which way the wind is blowing, as most of the smoke is from the Toklat fire. It can be clear in the morning and really hazy by afternoon or vice versa. Fairbanks is pretty much the same. Are you going to Denali soon? I was thinking about going for a couple of days next week.

[NHsnowpup]

Our previous Alaska landtour (with Princess) started in Anchorage and took us to Denali and Fairbanks and then flew us back down to Anchorage and bused us to Seward for our cruise.

This time we are starting in Fairbanks, spending two nights there, then taking the RCI train to Denali for the TWT and an overnight there, followed by the train to Talkeetna for an overnight, a motor coach Anchorage for one night and then on to Seward by bus where we will board Radiance of the Seas. Seems like more of a straight line and doesn't require an additional flight to get from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Other than that, I am not sure there is enough of a difference to matter. Leaving Sunday and really can't wait.:D

 

We looked at the tour options and were all set to go with HAL, but they would make no changes to the itinerary. Then they wouldn't guar. a balcony if we didn't do the land portion with them. Princess had the next best itinerary for the cruise, but we wanted to stay IN the park and not just Nat. History tour. The Anch/Fairbankss/Anch flying/backtracking looked insane and the paddle-wheeler, gold dredge was not on our wishlist anywhere. So we ended up organizing our own land, taking the best bits in our opinion, that does exactly what we want and booked our cruise with Princess and a balcony. We're first timers for everything and we'll let you know how it all worked out, when we get back! Thanks to wolfie and others that have given their opinions on tours, excursions, and most important---travel times.

[Glaciers]

I talked to a friend who's a driver a few days ago. It seems to totally depend on which way the wind is blowing, as most of the smoke is from the Toklat fire. It can be clear in the morning and really hazy by afternoon or vice versa. Fairbanks is pretty much the same. Are you going to Denali soon? I was thinking about going for a couple of days next week.

 

Thanks for the info. I hadn’t read much on CC about the smoke as most of the posters are just planning their trips. Our tentative plans don’t have us going up until the first week of August this year although we try to plan this annual trip based on the weather, and now smoke. Our weekends are getting filled up. We’re headed to Matanuska Glacier next weekend for a trek and then to Barrow the last weekend of the month for Nalukataq. I’ve never been to McGrath/Kennecott so that will be a long weekend in there somewhere this summer. Talkeetna & Hope have also become annual weekend visits. We’ve been seeing the Denali Cooks each summer now and I’m starting to feel like a groupie.

[vbmom87]

The nice thing about the shuttle buses is that if part of your group does want to head back, they would have that option. The rest could stay on the shuttle.

 

We did the shuttle to Wonder Lake. We were on the road for almost a full twelve hours. It was a cool, raw, rainy day. Never crossed my mind to head back. Denali is a pretty amazing place.

[negc]

We looked at the tour options and were all set to go with HAL, but they would make no changes to the itinerary. Then they wouldn't guar. a balcony if we didn't do the land portion with them. Princess had the next best itinerary for the cruise, but we wanted to stay IN the park and not just Nat. History tour. The Anch/Fairbankss/Anch flying/backtracking looked insane and the paddle-wheeler, gold dredge was not on our wishlist anywhere. So we ended up organizing our own land, taking the best bits in our opinion, that does exactly what we want and booked our cruise with Princess and a balcony. We're first timers for everything and we'll let you know how it all worked out, when we get back! Thanks to wolfie and others that have given their opinions on tours, excursions, and most important---travel times.

 

I just have to say that the Riverboat excursion that we had on our Princess landtour and which we will be doing again with RCI on Monday was one of our favorites. I understand that Princess is now offering a lower priced land tour that is stripped of excursions and allows you to stay in Denali an extra night and book your own excursions there separate from the Princess package. Not sure if my description is fully accurate but if you haven't already done so, you might want to look into this option. :) We leave for Fairbanks tomorrow morning so the countdown has begun in earnest. Still trying to decide whether or not to rent a digeviewer on our Alaska Air flight from Boston to Seattle, or just settle back with my IPod and my Kindle.;)