My Two Week Alaska Adventure with 2 boys!!

[wdw_dave]

First I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone on the boards. I do not post much but I am a regular reader since 2005. I used the search function a lot in planning my two week trip to Alaska. I wanted to share my experience especially since I have tow boys 9 and 8 and there was not much on the Alaska boards regarding kids. I will break this up into different categories to make for easier reading …. Here it goes …

 

US and ITINERARY: It is me my wife and two sons. I had just lost my job the week before we left so this trip was perfectly timed!! We took the one way Princess Diamond northbound from Vancouver to Whittier and then on to Seward and then Denali for the second leg. Now I know from my reading there sometime is a ‘battle’ J between the budget posters and the cruise tour posters. I fall somewhere in between. I am not one to plan my trips around the TourSaver or wait for infrequent public busses. I do not mind paying for a little convenience and comfort. So my trip was planned on this premise. I did use TourSaver for some items and based on boards advice did not do the cruise tour. We did utilize Alaska Tour and Travel that did a custom itinerary for us. I did not want to drive se we took a lot of busses and trains. When I priced it out ATT came out a little cheaper if I booked everything on my own. It cost me a few hundred more to not to rent the car. I would recommend ATT as an alternative to the cruise tours.

 

ALASKA IN GENERAL: All I can say is wow. My boys after about 5 days on the cruise said ‘Dad are there any other words you can use besides awesome!’ It far exceed my expectations. The glaciers, mountains, greenery, vastness … everything about it was awe inspiring. I can not wait to go back!! They say Youth is wasted on the young. Well I think Alaska is kind of wasted on the old (and I consider myself old J ) There is so much outdoor stuff to do that I wish I discovered it when I was much younger. But the time I get to go back I will not be able to kayak right up to the glacier or hike a mountain with no trail in Denali.

 

BINOCULARS: YES YES YES YES ….. I debated so long about getting these and finally decided to get 2 pair right before we left. We got the Zen Rays which were great. Without them we would have never seen half of the wildlife. Especially the multiple bears feeding on the carcass of a humpback from the ship in Glacier Bay.

 

PRINCESS: I consider myself a RCCL person but have enjoyed Carnival as well (did not like NCL). I went on the Grand when it first came out in 2002 and liked it so we thought we would try Princess again. I am now a convert! The service was excellent. I did not have one bad meal in the dining room. The food was the best I have had in probably 5 cruises. Every dish came out piping hot. The entertainment was good as well. The ship was spotless.

 

KETCHIKAN: I nice fun little town. We did the Lumberjack show as we did not have much time in this port. The sun was out and it was almost hot! The boys really enjoyed the show and it got us in the mood for the next of the trip. There was one native shop close by the show that we really enjoyed. Had lots of Alaskan art and crafts and the owners were great in sharing their stories and explaining the art to us and the boys. Wish I could remember the name.. I know they had a ‘public bathroom’ sign lol.

 

 

JUNEAU: Our BIG tour day and the one the boys were looking forward to. Helicopter tour to the Mendenhall Glacier. I was a bit nervous about being in the helicopter but it was an easy smooth ride. It was very cool being on the glacier and drinking the glacial water and seeing how blue the ice looks. It is amazing that those things move so much. Next we did the whale watching with Capt Larry (Marv and Harvey’s discriminates against kids) . This was a great tour the boat was small enough that we where not crowded and we saw a number of whales some of which show is their tales when deep diving … but better whale sightings latter …. Overall a great trip.

 

SKAGWAY: Here we rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake. This was a great day – the scenery is amazing. While driving over the pass we had about 15 mins at the summit where we could not see more than 15 feet in front of us. Good thing I had no idea if we were on a cliff!! After the fog it was amazing the scenery that we drove through. When we returned the car she mentioned that a lot of people had turned back .. Glad we did not do that! We even had a juvenile black bear run right in front of our car in the Yukon. If you do take the drive I recommend brining food. There is hardly any on the trip. We did stop at the Spirit Inn but it was very limited and very pricey. Not good for kids with limited options!!

 

GLACIER BAY / COLLEGE FJORD: This was amazing getting so close to these glaciers. I could have spent hours on the balcony just taking it all in. We saw quite a bit of calving. It is hard for anyone to explain the sounds the glacier makes until you are there. Mother Nature at her best.

 

LAND HO …..

 

SEWARD: Since Princess drops you off at Whittier it is bit of a trek to get to Seward. We had to go to Anchorage first then off to Seward the next day. This did give us a change to go to the museum which is very good. I could have spent a couple more hours there but we were tired. Also I would recommend Glacier Brewhouse … very good. We took the Gold Dome Alaska Rail to Seward. Again I sound like a broken record … but the scenery was amazing as you went through the valleys and by two Glaciers. We stayed at the Windward Song Resort and it was VERY nice and roomy for the four of us for two nights. I would also recommend Nellie’s as we at there for lunch and the best Halibut all trip. The restaurant the resort was just OK and overpriced.. wish we had gone back downtown for dinner. Next day we went on the 9 hour Kenai Fjord tour with dinner at Fox Island. Dinner was good and the trip amazing. It was VERY foggy and raining when we went so I was worried … but … we got to see two humpbacks breaching and jumping multiple times very close to the ship. Simply an amazing display. We also were able to get VERY close to a 2 mile wide glacier. It was a sight with the smaller bout weaving in and out of the icebergs and chopping through the ice to get close. We were fortunate to see a HUGE calving while we were there.

 

TALKEETNA: What a fantastic view from our Lodge. We stayed at the Talkeetna Lodge. Very good service and nice rooms. We actually got to see the top of McKinley that night while at dinner and from our room. You do not realize how big it is until she is ‘out’. Next morning took Flightseeing to Denali. It was very foggy but plane had IVF so instead of glacier landing we flew to the north side and got a great view of McKinley … boys loved this and it was a sight from the air. One note …. You do feel how high your are – we must have been right at about 10,000 as I was getting a little short of breath from the altitude. Well worth the money (with TS coupons of course!). We at at West Rib Café … great local place that was featured on Man vs Food. And they had TWO DOLLAR KIDS MEALS .. What a bargain for AK. The food was very good as well!! Highly recommended. When we visited the town and the Lodge dropped us off we all looked at each other and said ‘Where is the town?’ Very small but quaint and fun. The history and the old buildings still there from the early 1900’s was great.

 

AT LAST DENALI: We spent two nights here and which we had more time. We will do that next time. Took the Roadhouse Tour all the way past wonder Lake to the Roadhouse where we had a great lunch, the kids had fun panning for real gold (flakes), and a dog sled presentation. Denali is amazing … we say almost every wildlife we could. We saw multiple grizzlies, moose, wolves, caribou, mountain sheep, swans, eagles, mom and her cubs, bears sliding down the mountain side, cubs running through the fields …. simply amazing. Lastly we did get to see McKinley again on this tour it was 80% out with some clouds but you could see the peak .. .I have some amazing photos!! I am not sure why there is ANY debate on if people should take the NHT tour or go further in. What a waste and disappointment if I had taken NHT and did not know better.

 

HOME: Took Gold Star back to Denali then 1:20 flight home to KC … Long day with 24 hours of travel. In summary it was a trip of a lifetime. The boys really enjoyed them selves and learned a lot.

 

I THINK THIS SUMS IT UP: The ranger at Fox Island in Kenai National Park made a closing statement of his presentation during dinner… ‘I see a few children here with their parents … we should thank them for bringing them to see the wonders that nature has to offer … to see the vastness and one of the last places in the world to see and feel the true wilderness .. Especially with all the distractions these days for kids .. you can not experience this with video games or even via the Discovery Channel … the next generation needs to experience these wonders so they can be preserved for future generations as well … we should all give them a round of applause’ I had a tear in my eye when he said this as it is how I felt .. being fortunate enough to share this with my boys. It is something they will never forget. When I ask them what their favorite part of the trip was .. they do not say the pool or the arcade but they mention the whales, bears, and glaciers. That was the point of brining them while they were young.

 

So if you are reading this and are in the planning stages or just trying to decide if you should go with your family and/or children - my only piece of advice is to JUST GO !!!!

 

Thanks for reading …..

 

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. I enjoyed it very much.

 

Glad you had a wonderful Alaskan cruise.

 

Sorry about your job loss. Hope you get another soon.

[jeniferlyn]

Great review...thanks for taking the time to write it. I am in the process of planning a trip next summer. We did an inside passage this past June but now we want to see Denali. Where did you stay in Denali? We don't really want to drive either and I have seen Alaska tour and travel online. How did that work planning your trip with them? Did you tell them the main things you wanted to do? Glad you had a wonderful trip...Alaska is beautiful!

[wdw_dave]

We stayed at Grande Denali Lodge - The rooms and views were nice but service not so good and it is in a very inconvenient location. I would not stay there again nor the Bluffs. The Princess Lodge looked to be the best choice. Looked nice and was in a great location.

 

Alaska Tour and Travel was great to work with - we went though multiple revisions and they were helpful with questions. The trip went very smoothly and we had no issues with any vendors.

 

I wish I had planned three days at Denali. Next time I will take one day to do the full tour into the part again. One for rafting / visitors center. Then maybe another for some hiking on the trails that are close to the entrance and then leave in the afternoon.

 

We had the rafting trip planned for the morning of departure but we ended up not going and eating the cost. My fault as I tried to cram too much in. Everyone was SOOOO tried as the trip was full of early mornings so we opted to just sleep in and it was too cold in the mornings. I would want to do the rafting in the afternoon.

 

Dave

[vbmom87]

I enjoyed your review very much. Your children are very lucky to have experienced Alaska at such a young age. It is my one regret. I had hoped we could take our children there one day, but it never happened. However, they did see alot of the National Parks on the mainland and in Canada and did appreciate it very much. In fact, this past May we took our 22 year old daughter to Hawaii. It was a first time for all of us. She commented that the people who say Hawaii is so amazing, must not have been to all the places we have been. That made me feel good.

 

One question, how did you get from Seward to Talkeetna.

 

Also, it would have been possible to get from Whittier to Seward via taxi. It is costly. I think over $200, but it does work for some.

 

I also hope you soon find employment. It is a tough economy out there.

[wdw_dave]

Thanks for the well wishes on landing a job. Luckily I anticipated this back in 2008 so I stockpiled cash. This allowed me not to worry while I was on our trip and our family is well prepared to weather the storm for a while.

 

We took the Park Conx bus from Whittier to ANC then the rail to Seward then Park Conx bus to Talkeetna. That worked out well as we got to see the ANC museum and take the train to Seward. The train route to Seward is so much better than the drive in my opinion so I am glad we did it that way.

 

We did go by the Turnagain Arm route multiple time though and if I had to hear about the the 1964 earthquake again I would have screamed. It was mentioned at least 6 times in all of our ventures in that area. It was tragic but it became a running joke with my family we heard about it so much. We were lucky to see Beluga whales though which was cool. That was the first sightings of the season.

[zimmies]

enjoyed your post so much...it reminded me of the trip that we just did last month....Alaska is indeed indescribable!!...it was our first trip (me, husband and our 2 kids, 12 and 14 y.o.)...we took the cruise for our 10th wedding anniverssary and we brought our kids along for an experience of a lifetime!!something they will never forget....needless to say, we all loved Alaska we want to go back again! our kids didn't want to come home! my husband wants to move there!..lol!.....we did the 7 day inside passage; next time we plan to get to Denali also....

[Keith1010]

Thank you for taking the time to write and post your review.

 

Keith

[Purpleprincess4]

Next we did the whale watching with Capt Larry (Marv and Harvey’s discriminates against kids) .

 

I am so glad that you had a wonderful time! :) We did too with our 4 children ages 6,8,10 and 12. I wonder what made you think that about Harv and Marv? It is far from what we experienced with Harv and Marv. They were totally accomodating to the 7 of us including 4 children. A teenage naturalist was on board and Steve loved the silly commentary and burping seal jokes that my kids came up with. I loved having the new 12 seater boat to ourselves. It was a highlight of our trip.

[wdw_dave]

I am so glad that you had a wonderful time! :) We did too with our 4 children ages 6,8,10 and 12. I wonder what made you think that about Harv and Marv? It is far from what we experienced with Harv and Marv. They were totally accomodating to the 7 of us including 4 children. A teenage naturalist was on board and Steve loved the silly commentary and burping seal jokes that my kids came up with. I loved having the new 12 seater boat to ourselves. It was a highlight of our trip.

 

 

When I went to look at them on line they have this on thier site so I never even called them ..... Sounded like you had the whole boat ... which might have made a difference - we were only four ...

 

In response to these unfortunate events we have had to implement a minimum

age policy that restricts children under the age of 13, unless an Exclusive Tour

is booked.

 

This policy is being implemented to maintain the quality of service to all of our

passengers and not to discriminate against children. Our Goal for each and

every tour is to make it the most enjoyable and positive experience for all.

 

 

 

[Purpleprincess4]

When I went to look at them on line they have this on thier site so I never even called them ..... Sounded like you had the whole boat ... which might have made a difference - we were only four ...

 

In response to these unfortunate events we have had to implement a minimum

age policy that restricts children under the age of 13, unless an Exclusive Tour

is booked.

 

This policy is being implemented to maintain the quality of service to all of our

passengers and not to discriminate against children. Our Goal for each and

every tour is to make it the most enjoyable and positive experience for all.

 

 

Weird....I wonder what "these unfortunate events" were. But it really does sound discriminatory. Yes, we did have an exclusive tour.