Princess Alaska Cruisetours?

[misskitty123]

It looks like we want to do an Alaska cruise next year. We are currently booked on one of the Disney cruises but for various reasons are thinking of switching to another line (Disney departs from BC, only does Tracy Arm, etc).

 

We are considering a Princess Cruise Tour but I wanted to find out from other who have done them, if they felt them were worth it, if you would have done anything differently, etc.

[MustangGT]

We took a cruisetour in Alaska last year and it was fabulous! We had 4 days on land and then the 7 day cruise. I would suggest doing the land tour first and then relax on the cruise. We tell anyone who asks about the value of the cruisetour - we are so glad we didn't just do the cruise! We were lucky to see Mt McKinley at all the stops and even from the train 200 miles away!

Enjoy the trip!

[katisdale]

We took our daughter and grandchildren to Alaska and did the tour before joining the ship. We had one night in Anchorage, took the train to Talketna and did one night at the McKinley lodge, two nights at Denali, a bus to Copper River for two nights there and a bus to Valdez where we took a ferry across Prince William Sound to Whittier. We were very pleased with the tour. If possible upgrade from the natural history tour to the the tundra wilderness tour at Denali National Park. We also loved the cruise itself and if you have a chance to take the "Evening Wildlife Excursion" from Skagway - it goes to Haines - that was the best wildlife viewing we had. Eagles, otters, seals, and huge bears eating salmon. It was great.

[janina]

I would definately do an Alaska Princess cruise tour again. Do the land first than sail south. The first two days of sailing is just relaxing and taking in the Glaciers. After running around prior to this, it is nice. Denali is a do not miss. Princess trains are wonderful for viewing. Princess has been doing Alaska a lot longer than Disney, who just started the last couple years. Princess has it down.:)

[Loonbeam]

My review is in this thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1268095

 

That said the other reason I might consider Princess over Disney is simply that Disney is new to Alaska. While their land options look really cool, they have not actually executed them yet, which could mean possible problems (I'm not that concerned, this IS Disney after all).

 

That said, Princess did an amazing job on the tour. I also recommend tour first, as well as upgrading your Denali tour to the Tundra package (there's a link to pictures including Denali on the review)

[Loonbeam]

I wonder if you were on ours in Sept 09. We had excellent lick with Mt. Mckinley as well, got great views from 3 points in Denali AND Talkeetna. Didn't see one moose tho :)

 

We took a cruisetour in Alaska last year and it was fabulous! We had 4 days on land and then the 7 day cruise. I would suggest doing the land tour first and then relax on the cruise. We tell anyone who asks about the value of the cruisetour - we are so glad we didn't just do the cruise! We were lucky to see Mt McKinley at all the stops and even from the train 200 miles away!

Enjoy the trip!

[mermaid72]

We just got back from the last northbound cruise & then a 3 night landcruise.

It was amazing, the cruise was not to be forgotten: with intelligent lecturers, perfect weather, the scenery spectacular. The land portion was equally as amazing- 2 nights at Denali Princess Lodge, then 1 night at McKinley Princess Lodge. We saw moose, grizzly bears, eagles, wolves, and Dall's Sheep. As a final treat, the Northern Lights appeared on our last night. The mountain was out every day in all her glory, no clouds.

Princess does it best. So did Mother Nature!

[ReverendOlaf]

We did a 12 night (5 on land, 7 on sea) cruise tour in 2009, and it was amazing. We did the land tour first, flying into Fairbanks and spending two nights there (a plus due to jet lag and potentially luggage issues, which we didn't experience). Then we did two at Denali (near the parks entrance, and there are many opportunities to go into the park). We saw loads of caribou, a couple moose, and a fair number of bears. We also got to see the mountain on a clear day. Next Telkeetna (McKinley Lodge), and we also had an excellent opportunity to see the mountain. Lastly we headed down to the boat, and were checked in by the time we got there (you do the same with each lodge). Land travel between lodges was on nicely appointed train cars with great food and even better views. We saw a fair amount of wildlife (lots of Dall Sheep) there as well, and lots of Alaska.

 

The lodges and train cars were owned by Princess (you may travel in Holland America train cars and their guests may stay in the same lodges), and it was an entirely seamless experience. Do note that food is not covered in your land tour (including the trains), but all the on site (and on rail) offerings are top notch, and prices are Disney like (with a similar pricing tiers), which altogether isn't horrible. Luggage was a bit of a challenge, as you typically needed to leave out bags either the night before or first thing in the morning for loading on the train. When you arrive, you luggage may or may not arrive with you (it seemed to travel via truck rather than on the train). You can carry small carry ons, which can mitigate things.

 

I strongly suggest the land tour first. You'll have a buffer with airline luggage issues (easier to reach you in a hotel than a moving ship), and the grind of switching lodges every couple days is best done before the bliss of staying onboard. FYI, some of the folks we met in our travels did the opposite, and shared their experiences, so we were very happy with what we chose. Some also did the buses instead of the rail travel (required for some lodges), and the rides can be rough and there is no food.

[5326jan]

I agree with everyone else here regarding the Princess land tour. We just got back in July from a two week vacation. It's a little more expensive to go through Princess, but in my opinion... especially with a group and/or children, worth letting them handle all the luggage, transportation, etc. Transportation is by motor coach with a driver/guide, so you will always know what you are seeing, the history of the area, someone to point out wildlife and little bits of trivia about the area. I would also recommend at least 2 nights in Denali with the upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT). You will see much more wildlife if you go further into the park. The converted school buses are comfortable and the driver/guides are adept at spotting things others might not see. If time is an issue, I would skip McKinley Lodge. The train from Denali was a great ride with amazing scenery and a guide in your railcar throughout the entire 8 hour trip. There is a Subway Sandwich shop across from Denali. We picked up sandwiches and brought them on the train. In Whittier, you literally walk off the train and onto the ship and your luggage will be in your cabin waiting for you. Princess goes into Glacier Bay, which is not the case with all lines. No matter which cruise you take, make sure they do this.

[misskitty123]

This is all great information! Thank you! Food is not included in the tour portion of the cruise tour, correct? Was it overly expensive? We're from Orlando so used to theme park food prices and just kind of want to get an idea what to budget for that portion of the trip.

[5fathom]

Food in Fairbanks, at the lodges and on the train may not be overly expensive but they are expensive. It was a magnificent tour although we had rain 9 of the 12 days. Mt McKinley was fogged in. In Denali we saw one rabbit and two moose off in the distance. We dressed for the weather had had a great time. If you can find a tour that goes from Denali direct to Whittier that is the one I would pick. Our tour went from Denali to Ancorage then the next morning, bus to Whittier. Arrived at the Captain Cook Hotel very late, had time to eat and shower and be on the bus early the next morning. Rain, fog expense and all, we would do this again without even thinking about it ! :)

[MustangGT]

I wonder if you were on ours in Sept 09. We had excellent lick with Mt. Mckinley as well, got great views from 3 points in Denali AND Talkeetna. Didn't see one moose tho :)

Yes, we may have been on the same trip! We were on the Island Princess during Labor Day. The only problem was trying to pick pictures for my scrapbook as we took over 1,000!! The whale watching in Juneau was fabulous!

[ReverendOlaf]

I also strongly recommend that tour, and I agree 2 days are the minimum for the Denali lodge.

 

As I said earlier, food on the trains and in the lodges are at your own expense. There are casual options for $8-15 per person (the rail prices are in this range as well) and sit down choices for $14-30 per person at the lodges. The King Salmon at the Denali Lodge is excellent, and the 20,320 Grill at the McKinley lodge is very good. The Fairbanks lodge is more of a hotel and the food there wasn't spectacular, but we still enjoyed things. Fairbanks is a large town/small city, so there are plenty of options, but you may need to hop on a shuttle. The Denali lodge is near quite a few other offerings, but the McKinley lodge is in the middle of nowhere (TelKeetna, does have some options, but you'll need to take the shuttle). Whether you consider the prices to be reasonable or expensive is somewhat subjective, but do recall that your thousands of miles from most of the rest of the world.

[knittinggirl]

We did the Escorted Cruisetour (next year, it's called the Connoisseur tour) last month which includes Breakfast and Dinner each day as well as Land Trips in Denali and Fairbanks. We loved having an escort handle all the headaches for us. He handed our lodging keys as well as our envelopes containing meal tickets at each stop. In addition to the meals, we had a cocktail party the second night, and a Farewell dinner the last night (including cocktails, champagne and wine pairings). I had a problem with our plane tickets the last day, because the travel agent made a mistake with my last name, and wouldn't change it. (The travel agent gave me a "hyphenated name without the hyphen.") Our escort made several phone calls, and assured me the reservation was there. We did the cruise first and the land tour second: 2 nights in McKinley Lodge, 2 nights in Denali Lodge, and 2 nights at the Fairbanks Hotel. The luggage handlers damaged a piece of luggage, between Fairbanks Princess and the Airport, and nothing's been fixed despite multiple emails to various individuals.

[5326jan]

Although there are a number of choices. We ate in the main dining room at McKinley Lodge. The food was good and typical resort prices. At Denali there were many more options. There was a snack bar, a pizza place, a bistro and a regular restaurant. There is also a Dinner Theater . I highly recommend you DO NOT spend the $$$$ on this. It was ribs and beans and coleslaw and marginal entertainment. Others may disagree, but it wasn't "disney quality"...

 

Denali is also in a small town, so there are place to walk to that serve sandwiches, ice cream, small souvenir shops, art studio, etc.

 

All of our luggage was handled by Princess too and we were handed envelopes with the Princess Patter (daily newsletter) and our room keys. A rep came onto the bus as we arrived and explained that our luggage was waiting for us in our room. That are keys were in the envelopes, that our voucher for whatever tour we booked was in the envelope and what time and place we were to meet for said tour. It was EASY!!

 

You can get the train from Denali, I just don't know if you can get from Anchorage to Denali, without stopping at the McKinley Lodge first. We did see a moose doe and baby at McKinley, lots of moose on the way to McKinley, several in Anchorage including a HUGE bull moose at the airport. On the wilderness tour in Denali we saw moose, caribou, dall sheep, porcipine, tons of beaver dams, snow hare and probably others that I can't think of. We were on the Nature Tour, but the people who went on the TWT saw bears, wolves, many caribou and more. Over the time we were inland we saw everything but a bear that was on our "list". Once we were on our way into Glacier Bay we saw the bear and all the sea life you can imagine. Whales, Dolphin, seals, sea lions, eagles so thick they were like pigeons in Juneau, I just can't describe how awesome it all was.

 

By the way, we were on the southbound sailing of the Coral Princess.

 

PS No matter who you cruise with, if you go to Skagway, tour with DYEA DAVE!!!! So much fun! He and his sister and Becky are the tour guides. It is a small outfit with 16 passenger buses, but with so much personality! It was our favorite tour. You can search his name on CC and read a ton of rave reviews. Book early, as soon as you know your dates, you won't regret it! $69/pp for a tour that takes you to the Yukon Territory, White Pass, Emerald Lake and more. Pick up 8am return around 3pm...worth twice what they charge!

[Loonbeam]

We were on the Coral, just after Labor day I think...

 

Yes, we may have been on the same trip! We were on the Island Princess during Labor Day. The only problem was trying to pick pictures for my scrapbook as we took over 1,000!! The whale watching in Juneau was fabulous!

[Loonbeam]

Generally speaking, less than or comparable to Disney pricing. To use examples, think lunch=Epcot counter service and dinner = epcot full serve lower end (Akershuus as opposed to LeCellier)

 

 

I pulled up my CC bills from our cruise... This is for 2 adults:

 

Small Dinner - Fairbanks Lodge ($19)

Dinner - Fairbanks ($35)

Lunch on Train ($27, $29, and $29 - 3 different legs)

Denali - Dinner - Pizza and Salads ($30)

Denali - Dinner - King Salmon ($65, $85 - 2 dinners, one with drinks)

McKinley - Dinner - Sit Down - $70

McKinley - Breakfast - $28

 

 

 

 

This is all great information! Thank you! Food is not included in the tour portion of the cruise tour, correct? Was it overly expensive? We're from Orlando so used to theme park food prices and just kind of want to get an idea what to budget for that portion of the trip.

[Sanpan]

We recently returned from a 13 day cruisetour on the Coral Princess (9/5/-9/18/10). We spent 1 night in Seattle, then flew to Anchorage (part of our package) stayed 1 night at Captain Cook, train to Talkeetna ( bus from there to McKinley Lodge), 2night at McKinley, 2 nights at Denali and then train to Whittier. Both train rides were great. Very comfortable and you could go to the back of the train for additional viewing. I would definitely recommend atleast 2 nights at each lodge. We arrived early enough in Seattle and Anchorage to take advantage of nice weather and to enjoy the cities. I would also recommend doing the land portion first and upgrading to the Tundra Wilderness tour. We did the southern cruise which included Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. GREAT. We plan go again and visit the lodge in Cooper River and Kenai pennisula before the cruise. You will not be disappointed. It was well worth the money spent and more. :D