Alaska North or South bound???

[silkismom]

DH & I are planning to take my brother & wife on an Alaska cruise in 2012, not sure which would be better for first timers,(cruising & AK) north or south bound. We will also do a tour, not sure which would be better--Princess or on our own with a rental car. I was thinking about 2 nights in Denali, 2 in Fairbanks and 1 in Anchorage, also want to take the Prince William sound day cruise. Would the cruise be "anticlimatic" for them after Alaska? I will be paying for the trip since they took care of my Mom for the past 10 years.

[Pam in CA]

I think southbound is better because you get the longest travel over with first. While some rent a car and do a pre-cruise on their own, the distances are vast and driving times long. The driver doesn't get to see much. And, you don't get information about what you're seeing.

 

If you do the southbound, I strongly recommend arriving at least a day or two before a cruise tour. The long travel times and time change will make you very tired the next day, particularly if you get up early and spend hours driving or on a train/bus. We had to get up before 6am to have our bags out and be ready for the bus by 7:30am. I've always regretted not arriving a day early.

[Putterdude]

The southbound itinerary is the better of the two as it gives you both the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay whereas the northbound does Glacier Bay and the College Fjord. Now I should condition this opinion to the extent that there are only so many permits issued by the National Park service to sail in Glacier Bay each day and with the addition of the Sapphire to this itinerary in 2012 I am not certain if all 4 Princess ships will have permits to do this...perhaps someone has some better insight on this.

[tlmoose]

We did a pre-cruise driving tour, then cruised southbound. I highly recommend it. After our glacier landing flightseeing trip out of Talkeetna, my husband said "we ought to look for some land around here." The farther south we went on the cruise, the more he was talking about it. We went back several times, and now own a lodge & cabins here!

 

Your proposed itinerary sounds OK... Denali is 235 miles from Anchorage (about a 4 hour drive normally, but there will be some construction on the Parks Highway this year that could add delays). 2 nights at the park work... get in one day and take one of the bus tours the next. I've taken both the 11 hour to Wonder Lake and the shorter trips to Eileison Visitor Center... we saw 17 grizzlies on the last one (in Aug at the height of the blueberry season). The best views of the mountain are not from the park... they're from the south... like here in Talkeetna or at the Princess Mt McKinley Lodge at mile 132 of the Parks Highway. (That is, if the mountain is out... we have just had 10 days of crystal clear weather and Denali and the whole AK range have been glorious. Last summer we had a record 33 consecutive days of rain and most who came never saw the mountain!)

 

If you want more help on planning your AK road trip, let me know. You can reach me by email (without spaces) at tlmoose @ mtaonline.net

[Shewuf]

We enjoyed the northbound cruise, as, to us, it seemed like we built up the suspense to the glaciers. Either way, though, it fabulous, because you are seeing the most gorgeous scenery! :D

[MCC retired]

Northbound the scenery just gets better day by day . That's the only plus for me.:)

Southbound you get the long flight over with first , then what could be a hectic tour checking in/out of hotels , followed by the relaxing voyage south . :):):):)

[RAPM5856]

Our family (us and our 6 adult 'kids') did Alaska (southbound) 1 1/2 years ago. We flew in to Anchorage 3 days before the cruise and drove up to Denali and stayed in a B&B just north of Denali (much cheaper). We had a great time, did a white water river raft ride one day and the bus tour that goes deep into Denali the next day. Loved every minute of it. Also it got us into vacation mode before we even got to Whittier to board the ship. I remember when we drove out of the tunnel into the bay where the ship was docked, I thought WOW this is great, I'm really on vacation now. Normally it used to take me 2 or 3 days on the ship to get into vacation mode. The cruise was fantastic and we loved all the ports and the scenic cruising both into the glacier areas and along the Inside Passage.

After that I had to add Alaska as one of my favorite spots in the world. You can get me to go back there any time.

[irwinler]

Southbound, especially for those living in the eastern part of the country! We did northbound cruise tour and our return flight didn't leave until 12:45 a.m.! We had been up all day and were already tired when we boarded the plane; then we had to change twice to get home! Conections may be better for those living in the west.

nmi