debating the ships tour vs doing our own post-cruise land tour

[MJN]

Hi all,

We are already booked on a post cruise land tour with RCI for July. It is a really pricey tour and now we are debating if perhaps we should do our own to save money and be able to do more and on our own terms. We have already done some research and are debating whether to rent an rv and stay in campgrounds or rent a car and stay in B& B's. We are tending towards the latter. Would love some input from others out there and what they found worked for them. We need to make our decision within the next week or two so we can change our arrangements with RCI before it's too late. We would also need to make our B&B arrangements too. We are currently planning to visit Seward, Homer, Anchorage, Aleyeska and Denali. We have about a week planned, thinking 2 nights in Homer, Anchorage and Denali and one night in Seward with a day trip from either Seward or Anchorage to Aleyeska. Thanks all and appreciate the input from those who have done this in the past and what they found worked for them. MJN

[wolfie11]

This is very doable but you might want to think about itinerary versus costs. A one way car rental from/to Seward is pricey and if you go to Anchorage to rent an RV, you will have to backtrack to Seward and Homer. You might consider renting a car in Seward and driving to Homer, then returning the car in Seward and taking the train to Anchorage. You can pick up another car in Anchorage and return it at the end of your trip. The train trip Seward/Anchorage is the most scenic. I would not spend more than one night in Anchorage, as there is not a lot to do in the city itself. Aleyeska is on the way to/from Seward and there isn't much there except the lift to the top of the mountain if it's a nice day. Homer is about 4-5 hours from Seward, Seward is 3 hours from Anchorage, and Denali is 5 hours from Anchorage.

 

This might be a possible itinerary, although you could add an extra day in Denali:

 

Day 1 Seward - rent car and drive to Homer

 

Days 2 and 3 Homer and drive back to Seward

 

Day 4 Kenai Fjords tour, Exit Glacier, Sea Life Center then evening train to Anchorage

 

Day 5 Drive to Denali

 

Day 6 Denali

 

Day 7 Drive to Anchorage

[MJN]

Thank you so much for answering my questions. This is our first trip to Alaska and sometimes it is hard to tell looking at the map what the distances are, though we know they are huge. Your suggestions make a lot of sense. We are actually considering skipping Homer altogether, would we be sorry? We are thinking now of doing the one night in Seward, as you suggested, and taking the train to Anchorage, we had actually already talked about that possiblity. My husband had already been wondering about the rental car and doing exactly as you suggested, so you confirmed his thoughts. If you had to choose between going to Homer and a possibility of going to Fairbanks (after 2 days in Denali) or spending an extra day in either Denali or Talkeetna, which would you do? I thank you so much for your thoughts on this, it sounds as if you have a lot of knowledge about the area. I do believe we will follow your suggestion of just one night in Anchorage and then one more night the night before we fly out. We appreciate your help. :)

[mapleleaves]

I don't understand exactly what you're looking for. Do you want help with an itinerary? lodging? activities?

It's a little late to find a good price on a rental car but even so I think you can do a DIY tour less expensively than a cruise tour. And I think you may be rushing it to see Homer, Seward and Denali in 7 days. Can you add 2 days? If your ship arrives in Seward on a Friday morning does that mean you would fly home the following Sat on a red eye? That would give you 9 days and a more relaxed time.

[mytime53]

If you had to choose between going to Homer and a possibility of going to Fairbanks (after 2 days in Denali) or spending an extra day in either Denali or Talkeetna, which would you do?. :)

 

Personally, I would drop Fairbanks in favor of any of your other suggestions. Nothing against Fairbanks...I love Fairbanks in the summer. But I would suggest you keep your distance more compact so you can do more. So, taking my own advice, I would drop Homer, too. Another place I love to visit, but you will be seeing coastal towns during your cruise. So spend another day at Denali if you see activities that interest you, or Talkeetna, or the Wasilla area, where you can easily fill 3 days with activities that are all different.

[MJN]

Hi all, So far you have all echoed what we were already thinking on our own, that perhaps we were trying to do too much in too short a time period. We will follow your suggestions to keep our activities and destinations geared more towards Denali and the vicinity. Thank you all for your responses and we will welcome any others who have suggestions or input. Since this is our first time to Alaska we of course want to do it all, but know that is impossible unless we extend our visit and we are looking into that possibility. Thanks again. MJN :)

[travelingmom37]

I just did exactly what you are suggesting, let go of my land tour portion with Celebrity and booked it on my own. I admit, it was more tedious than far more extensive trips ( European travels) I have planned but at least I got what we wanted. You might want to check out the Alaska Tour Saver Book on line and see if the offers are worth the book's $100 cost. I would check availability on the specific discounts prior tp buying the book.

For us it saved me almost $1000 and I've yet to plan many excursions.

Hope this helps.

[MJN]

Glad to hear We are not the only ones thinking this way. Where do I go to find this tour saver book, it sounds great and we are deffinitly trying to trim costs whereever we can so we can do more with our available funds. I have heard about discount coupon books but have not yet seen the sites where they come from. Appreciate hearing what you are learning in your search, perhaps we can trade tips. What dates are you planning for and where are you planning to go? Thanks, MJN :)

[rdnpdx1]

Here's a link to one of the two tour saver coupon book companies. Maybe someone else can quickly locate the other one for you. You might also get a used one on ebay.

 

http://www.toursaver.com/

[travelingmom37]

Just go to www.toursaver.com and select "Canada".

I learned about the book on these CC Boards.

I have never paid for coupons before, for us it was a huge savings.

You have many land days and the book could be of greater use.

 

We are doing the (modified) standard rush to Denali .We only have 4 days and are using the Alaska RR, so their schedule rules. We have a night in Anchorage on both sides of our 2 nights in Denali, Day 4 we go to Seward for 7 nights on Celebrity Millenium. Two nights in Vancouver (last port) and home.

[MJN]

Thank you so much for this information. I have never purchased such a coupon book before either but I am seeing quite a few coupons that I would be interested in. Especially the train one from Seward to Anchorage, we were planning to do that and then rent a car in Anchorage so we can return it before boarding our flight home. That savings alone is worth at least $75.00! Then the Sealife center is another $20. so those two just about reimburse us for the purchase alone. Then we were already looking at the Major Marine tour of the Kenai fjord for another $149., possibly the Nenana River raft adventures for $120. so we are looking at right there $269. if we only use those coupons! A few others are possibilites too. I am wondering though, the language on a few of the coupons about saying up front you are using coupons and one said that "only one a day can be used" is a bit worrying....anyone ever had a problem using these things? Thank you again for supplying the link and information.......this will be a huge help with our budget!! :)

[MJN]

Hi, I just found the other discount book, it costs $50. and has a lot of the same coupons. You can find it at http://www.alaska-discounts.com . It's called Northern lights and if you go to their site you can choose the kind of discount book that best suites your needs, food, services, etc. Thanks for sharing this information and getting me out there searching for alternatives......wow, so much information! :)

[mapleleaves]

With Toursaver you'll find that some vendors accept a limited number each day. So if you have a definite date in mind for an activity it's best to make a reservation now before they sell out. Also, you have keep the book intact and the vendor will remove the coupon. Some vendors also want the coupon number at the time of the reservation.

With Northern Lights you can pull out the coupons you need and discard the rest of the book. Vendors don't require the coupon number.

I'm sure there are other hints that people can pass along.

[MJN]

I was curious if you have encountered any "oh no, not one of those" reactions when using these. I did notice when I was viewing the list online that some did have a limit of like, one coupon a day-wow. Thanks for the suggestion, I did notice that most suggested booking ahead so we will likely do that. We have not yet booked anything so this is good to pre-order and book asap. Any suggestion on which is better, I guess it would depend upon the coupons offered and what we want to do huh? I see that Northern lights is only $50. , the other is $99., but I haven't yet compared how many we liked in each...next step I suppose. Thanks for your help!

[mapleleaves]

We didn't experience any negative attitudes at all ! As a matter of fact most vendors will ask if you have a coupon.

You'll need to carefully look at your activities and compare against each book to see which one is the 'best'. Don't let the book direct your activities tho.

[travelingmom37]

I agree with the above posts.

I first checked the coupons, even called a few places in advance of the TS Book's reciept. Example,The Grayline RR coupon was available on my day of travel but not the day before. If you can hold a spot, you can pay the extra $ for over night mail. I did regular mail ,sent Mon. book received Wed.

 

No vendors gave me grief. I did 1st. check availability and then mentioned the coupon prior to booking. Some did try to (grossly) up-sell me, the r/t RR anc-denali sent a written "proposal" for me to dump the cruise and priced out a 10 day tour at an insane cost. Just know what you want.

Good luck, read the offerings carefully before buying.

[zamgwar]

Doing your own land is absolutely the best and far cheaper than through the cruise companies. Bed and Breakfasts were heaven

 

Here is more or less what we did before our cruise

 

Day 1- stayed in anchorage at a Holiday Inn with a shuttle.

 

Day 2-Picked up rental car and dropped cruise luggage off at the B&B in Anchorage we were returning to -rented car drove up parks Highway (Stopping in Talkeetna) to Healy-Stayed in B&B there

 

Day 3- took first shuttle in Denali to visitors center, stayed in same B&B (Denali Lakeview inn)

 

Day 4- Back to Anchorage stopping at Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine- Stayed at

GREAT B&B and Hiked the bike trail

 

Day 5- Drove to Mantanuska Glacier and Hiked it, then drove 15 miles further to the most spectacular view I have ever seen. Stayed again in same B&B (Susitna Place)

 

Day 6- Dropped off rental car and took Alaskan Railroad to ship in Whittier.

 

I posted a two part video- Part one is entirely Alaska on your own, and shows the B&Bs and what you can see on your own.

 

 

Hope this helps!!!

 

John

Office of Exploration

The Zamgwar Institute

[MJN]

Thank you John for the awesome video of your land tour. I watched the whole thing. You had us in hysterics about the "buy gas" bit...gosh that was funny! A lesson for sure! So you liked the B & B's you chose then? Which tour did you do in Denali, the Tundra wilderness or Natural history or the Kantanisha? Did you use any tour saver coupon books? Which car rental company did you use? Appreciate your response and itinerary you posted. That helps a lot. :)

Also appreciated the coupon book info from Traveling Mom and Maple leaves. We will deffinitly be using the coupon books and making our plans ahead...........:) MJN

[mapleleaves]

Which tour did you do in Denali, the Tundra wilderness or Natural history or the Kantanisha? :) MJN

 

Doesn't look like a tour bus. Judging by the green bus and the antlers I'd say it was a shuttle bus to Eielson. :)

The Eielson shuttle is $31 and the TWTour is $105 (approx)

[zamgwar]

Thank you John for the awesome video of your land tour. I watched the whole thing. You had us in hysterics about the "buy gas" bit...gosh that was funny! A lesson for sure! So you liked the B & B's you chose then? Which tour did you do in Denali, the Tundra wilderness or Natural history or the Kantanisha? Did you use any tour saver coupon books? Which car rental company did you use? Appreciate your response and itinerary you posted. That helps a lot. :)

:) MJN

 

Hi MJM

 

The B&Bs were great. Changed my WHOLE notion of B&Bs. i would stay in Susitna Place in Anchorage over any other possible choice.The owner is a gem who recommended restaurants, roads, stops, AND held our cruise luggage while we traveled elsewhere. Since Alaska I now check out B& B possibilities anywhere we go on vacation.

 

We took NEITHER tour in Denali. We just bought a ticket on the first Eielson visitors center shuttle out at 6:30am. It was wonderful. Bus driver stopped for every animal sighting. The trade off, LOL, was every 35 miles or so, we would have to get out and squeegy the windows of the bus. WAAAAY cheaper than the tour. ALLLLL the animals in the tour

 

We used no tour saver coupons. I think we booked Hertz or enterprize waaay in advance. Not sure. It was the only company that had an office in Anchorage and NOT at the airport.

saved about 70 bucks not renting from airport.

 

 

Have a great time planning!!!!!!

 

 

John

Office of LOVED tours on our own

The Zamgwar Institute

[Budget Queen]

Which tour did you do in Denali, the Tundra wilderness or Natural history or the Kantanisha? Did you use any tour saver coupon books? MJN

 

Find out about access into Denali Park. The "tour" buses are the most costly and restrictive. The shuttle buses are used by most indepedent travelers, and for good reason. They are cheap, and farther means- more wildlife, more scenery. The Kantishna tour is something I never recommend. Most of the time is spent eating lunch, there is no time for any of the activites available to overnight guests. Taking the few mile shorter Wonder Lake Shuttle bus, may be a better option for day visitors.

 

 

http://www.nps.gov/dena