Cruisetour

[Woje17]

My wife and I are looking to do an Alaska cruisetour through Royal Caribbean in May/June. It is only $600 for an inside room and $1100 for a balcony for the cruise, but the cruisetour is about $1800 and $2300 for the inside room and balcony. Is the 4 day cruisetour to Achorage, Denali, and Fairbanks really worth the extra $1200? Would love to hear from someone who has done a cruisetour through Royal Caribbean to see if it is worth this extra money or if we should just do the cruise and spend the extra money on another vacation? Thanks!

[Yukon]

Another option is to do the land tour independently - you see exactly what you want at a much lower cost, and it's very easy to arrange (with help from your CruiseCritic friends :) ).

[Budget Queen]

$2400 for 4 days??? Sorry no, first problem is it's NOT enough time. Avoid these short tours, most of your time is in transit. Is, at least the Tundra Wilderness tour included at Denali Park?? With this itinerary, it's a "must".

 

You can definately do way better looking elsewhere. Significant savings can be had going independent, and using purchased coupon books. Be CERTAIN you understand everything about cruisetour purchases. Biggies are time and distances, Denali park. If it's not mentioned, then meals are extra. Budget 50% more than you would at home.

[AkSusan]

Alaska is very easy to do independently. Lots of helps on these boards if you decide to go that way and if you can do more than 4 days I too highly recommend it.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[MercedMike]

There are so many opinions on cruise/tours. Short tour, long tour, more time at Denali, McKinley Lodge, do it independent ... only YOU can really decide what you want to do.

 

We have cruised to Alaska eight times and only done one cruise tour. Honestly, this was because my wife is a TA and she got a "fam" trim at a greatly reduced price. We enjoyed it. We will probably never do it again.

 

The tour experience is very different from the cruise experience. One of the things we enjoy most about cruising is unpacking once, then relaxing aboard the wonderful ship as it takes us from place to place, serving great relaxed meals as we go.

 

A cruise tour is almost exactly the opposite. Get up early, put your bags out, rush onto the bus, drive for hours (distances in Alaska are vast) through spruce and willow forests with occasional spectacular scenery. Arrive at another hotel, fill the day with tours, grab restaurant meals. Get on the train, and just like the bus go for hours through spruce and willow forests looking for the south end of a northbound moose to disappear into the trees.

 

Now we did see some spectacular things on our cruise tour, and did a lot of fun stuff. I certainly do not say DON'T. But I do say decide what your priorities are. Frankly, spending the extra money for upgraded cabin and great shore excursions would be the way I would go.

 

Check out our trip report and pictures of a long cruise/tour at http://www.bully4.us/ct.html

or skip to

http://www.bully4.us/ct3.html to see the Denali/Fairbanks portion which is what most people do.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[NorbertsNiece]

Well.

 

We had a fabulous time with the RCCL cruisetour. Nothing about the logistics bothered me at all. It was well organised and gave us what we wanted... a taste of Alaska and a whole lot more. I researched the ports and the stop overs. They lived up to their descriptions and we weren't left wanting. The guides were marvellous, both on the coach and trains. The benefit of being aware of the history and geology of where we were was invaluable; being able to have that conversation on the spot as it were.

 

We would do it all again in a heartbeat. Whether you think the expense worth it or not is a personal response, it was worth every penny in my book.

 

If we were ever to be able to afford the fares to make a return visit we would probably rent an SUV and freewheel it now that we have a feel of the state. As first timers the cruise tour was perfect for us.

 

Link to my blog in the sig below.

[Keith1010]

You may also want to take a look at Princess and Holland America for what the cost of the cruise and a land tour would be.

 

Keith

[LaurieCM]

We did the exotic explorer cruisetour through Princess and loved it- going through the Brooks Range, the Dalton Highway and being at the Arctic Ocean were fantastic- I never thought I would get to see wild herds of Muskox so close up. The cruisetours are pricy but good. If you choose one you should go for as much time as possible for you and your family.;)

[goinmobile68]

We did the cruisetour 11 with royal and I know I'm of a different opinion than most, but the land portion was my favorite. I expected it to be time intense, and it was, but left on my own I know that I would never have seen all that we did! I'll echo what has been said about as much time as you can spare the better, Tundra Wilderness Tour a must-we saw moose, dall sheep, a wolf pack, mama grizzly nursing her cub, caribou, and a lynx (well, I only saw half-the stubby tail part!) Our guide & driver were a wealth of info about Alaska, something that was almost non-existant on the ship-the library contained exactly zero info on Alaska, the glacier lecture was the day AFTER we were at the glacier, and right down to the tropical shirts on the staff I felt that they picked the ship up from the islands & plunked it into Alaska with no change for the local area. I felt that the land portion was more of what I came to Alaska for. Our experience on land was a lot of travel-it's a BIG place, but the hotels were excellent, we had time on our own, & I felt that it was a good use of time. If we are lucky enough to return, we would probably go on our own, but planning our trip we were overwhelmed (so much to see-so many places to go!) and this was a good way for us to focus. Is it worth the money-no one can decide that for someone else, but after returning I looked at the places we stayed & the included tours & I feel that it was actually a good value-things are a bit pricey in Alaska!

[dcruisers]

GOINMOBILE68...

We are planning on doing RCCL's cruisetour #11 8/11. Any input from you as to what you would have done differently would be welcomed. We want to do this tour because it gives us time in Fairbanks, as well as Anchorage. We want to see as much as we can as we may not get back to Alaska. Did you stay at the hotels thru RCL or did you make your own hotel reservations? Did you stay in Vancouver any extra time?

Did you have any problems flying out of Vancouver as far as long custom lines?

Thanks for any info you can provide. I really love CC and all the input.

[Dunn1951]

My wife and I are looking to do an Alaska cruisetour through Royal Caribbean in May/June. It is only $600 for an inside room and $1100 for a balcony for the cruise, but the cruisetour is about $1800 and $2300 for the inside room and balcony. Is the 4 day cruisetour to Achorage, Denali, and Fairbanks really worth the extra $1200? Would love to hear from someone who has done a cruisetour through Royal Caribbean to see if it is worth this extra money or if we should just do the cruise and spend the extra money on another vacation? Thanks!

We did cruisetour #14 on the Radiance of the Seas in July. It is a 5 day land package with 2 days at Denali and the Tundra Wilderness Tour included. I think that if it is your first trip to Alaska the easiest way to see it is a cruisetour. The travel is easy and the two days we had on the train in the glass domed cars was just beautiful. If you are going all of the way to Alaska be sure to see the land portion while you are there. If you go back you can do it different next time. Take the inside room and spend your money on the cruisetour. If you go in May it may be too cool to enjoy a balcony anyway.

[goinmobile68]

GOINMOBILE68...

We are planning on doing RCCL's cruisetour #11 8/11. Any input from you as to what you would have done differently would be welcomed. We want to do this tour because it gives us time in Fairbanks, as well as Anchorage. We want to see as much as we can as we may not get back to Alaska. Did you stay at the hotels thru RCL or did you make your own hotel reservations? Did you stay in Vancouver any extra time?

Did you have any problems flying out of Vancouver as far as long custom lines?

Thanks for any info you can provide. I really love CC and all the input.

 

We stayed at the included hotels & were very satisfied. We did the land portion first as friends that had done the same trip liked getting the more time intensive portion first. I agree, and you really aren't going to sleep in much, but coming from the east coast my body wasn't on local time at first anyway! We began in Fairbanks on the solstice, but the apartment had good blackout curtains & I never had trouble sleeping! I don't think that 2 days in Fairbanks was really necessary, but with tour members arriving at all different times I understand why it was done. The land transfers were handled extremely well-you'll never want to haul your own lugggage or stand in line to check into a hotel again! Our guide & driver were great & had a lot of local info, suggestions of things to see & places to eat on our own, & were great at keeping us all informed about what was next. If you do book this, or any of the other tours in the same cities let me know where you are staying & I can give you more specifics about individual hotels if they are the same ones we used.

 

We only saw Vancouver from the bus to the airport, & it's something that I think I would have liked more time there, but the transfers were once again flawless. Our flight was delayed 3 hours when we arrived at the airport, but it was due to weather in the city the plane was leaving, & that can't be helped! Customs went quickly, but it took over an hour to check our bags in! At least the luggage carts were free, so I at least had somewhere to sit while in line!

 

In all, the land portion worked well for us. Some have mentioned the price, but after I returned, I checked out the costs for the places we stayed, the included excursions, not to mention the land transportation & felt that it was a good value. Having everything planned did feel like we went in line a lot, but instead of driving & sweating transportation, it allowed both of us to concentrate on enjoying the beauty of Alaska! I truly felt that the "herd mentality" was much worse on the ship!

[negc]

GOINMOBILE68...

We are planning on doing RCCL's cruisetour #11 8/11. Any input from you as to what you would have done differently would be welcomed. We want to do this tour because it gives us time in Fairbanks, as well as Anchorage. We want to see as much as we can as we may not get back to Alaska. Did you stay at the hotels thru RCL or did you make your own hotel reservations? Did you stay in Vancouver any extra time?

Did you have any problems flying out of Vancouver as far as long custom lines?

Thanks for any info you can provide. I really love CC and all the input.

 

We also did tour #11 last June and absolutely loved everything about it: the accommodations in Fairbanks (Wedgewood Resort) and the two tours there that were part of our package (Riverboat Discovery and El dorado gold mine); the excellent Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali, the accommodtions, food and service at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, and the Marriott in Anchorage. Our tour conductor and bus driver were invaluable resources of information and kept everyone on schedule. The train rides were wonderful and the motor coach was also quite comfortable. When we were on the tour Claudia, our wonderful tour director, told us that it would be possible to upgrade our motorcoach transfer from Anchorage to Seward to one on the Alaska Railroad for $25 per person. Needless to say almost everyone in our group chose to do so and it was perhaps the most scenic and interesting leg of the three rail segments. Service and food at the Grande Denali Lodge were not up to RCI's standards but we believe that the comments from us and others on the tour may have resulted in an improvement there as later groups report their experience was more satisfactory.

The tour was well structured with sufficient free time for us to do things on our own in each of the stops, and seeing so much of the interior of Alaska really complemented our time onboard the ship. If you are very independent and self-sufficient, you might be able to create as good or perhaps a better tour on your own and might even be able to do it less expensively, but we believe that we got more than our money's worth with Tour #11.

We spent two days post cruise in the beautiful city of Vancouver and on our second day we took a fantastic motorcoach tour to Whistler Mountain. Our flight back to Boston via Seattle left Vancouver at 6:30 am on Sunday so we experienced no delays due to traffic enroute to the airport and no lines at the Alaska Air check in counter or at the US Customs and Immigration inspection. If you enjoy your Alaska vacation half as much as we did you are in for a wonderful time.:)

[dcruisers]

Thank you "goinmobile68" and "necg" for all the great comments and info on RCL's #11 tour.

I really think it sounds the best for us and our expectation of seeing Alaska.

Although we have been on most of the major cruise lines (princess, NCL, Celebrity, Carnival and RCL), we like RCL just a little bit better.

If you have any words of wisdom re: the Radiance of the Seas, I would appreciate it. I know that it is an older ship, but it sounds like (from this site) that it is holding up well.

Again, thanks for the info...it has helped confirm our decision!!