Review: Alaska Land Tour & Cruise on Diamond Princess w/kids!

[txmomcruiser]

We just returned from our 12 day trip to Alaska! It was incredible and amazing to say the least! A little about us...we are in our 30's and have a 9 year old son and a 6 year old son. This is our 6th cruise and the kids' 4th cruise!

 

Day 1: Flew to Fairbanks, Alaska. We landed around 12:30 AM (which felt like 3 AM to us)...you would have thought Princess would have had a bus ready and waiting for all the tired passengers...but NO! We had to wait around 1 hour for our bus to come and get us. My husband did call them from Minneapolis to let them know what time we were expected to arrive. Royal Caribbean had their people waiting to pick up their passengers. Oh well! :confused:

 

Day 2: Early start (great breakfast at the hotel) and then off to the Steamboat Ride and Gold Panning. The Steamboat ride was great! The kids enjoyed it. It was better than I expected it to be. Our tour provided lunch afterwards which was stew, biscuits, and blueberry cake. Everyone loved the lunch. TIP>>>> Sit on the upper LEFT side of the steamboat....float plane takes off on the left, the dog kennel you visit is on the left, the fish drying demo is on the left!!!

 

Then we were off to gold pan at the El Dorado Gold Mine. The kids were very excited about this and they loved it! I thought it was not worth the time we spent there...I would have enjoyed hiking or doing something else w/this time...but like I said the kids enjoyed it!

 

We went to dinner on our own at the Salmon Bake in town (there is a free shuttle to get there from the hotel). The food was not what we expected it to be...NOT WORTH IT AT ALL! The GOOD thing is that there is a playground very near to the restaurant that the kids enjoyed playing at following dinner! There was lots of room to run around and burn off some energy!

 

Day 3: Motorcoach to Denali! The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge was the best of all the hotels on our tour. BEAUTIFUL! We ate at Prospector's Pizza (across from the lodge) for lunch and enjoyed the Alaskan Reindeer Sausage, Ground Elk, Roasted Peppers, Red Sauce, and Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza!

 

That evening we had time on our own and we scheduled a River Rafting Trip w/Denali Outdoor Center they were GREAT! Only 1 other family booked this tour so the company gave us our own private raft and guide. The 4 of us in our boat and the other family had their own boat! They offered us a military discount as well! Our guide was great and really interacted w/our boys! He let them help him row and when they begged to get wet he made sure they got splashed. They didn't ask again! :D We got back around 9:30 PM (still super light outside) grabbed hot dogs for the boys at Denali Dog House and we grabbed Buffalo Chili at Denali Salmon Bake (one of the best things we ate on the whole trip!!!!).

 

Day 4: Denali Nat'l Park! The tour that Princess planned for us you can do for FREE on your own by using the shuttle buses in the park. We asked Princess for a "refund" and booked our our tour. We took the Shuttle Bus to the Eielson Center in the park (which is not free but totally worth it). You WILL NOT see wildlife on the "Experience Denail w/Alaska Geographic" tour. My Mother in Law did this one and so did several others they saw squirrels! We saw dall sheep, grizzly bears w/cubs, wolves, foxes, arctic squirrels, and caribou! If you have kids take their game systems for all the down time on the bus ride! ALSO....bring a lunch w/you to eat on the bus. We made sandwiches and brought snacks w/us. (We brought our own Ziploc bags for the trip!)

 

That night we had the Music of Denali Dinner Theater. We went to eat (food was just OK). We left before the show b/c we were so tired and so were the kids!

 

Day 5: Train Ride to Talkeetna! Amazing scenery! Again, bring kids electronic games...lots of downtime here! Kids did enjoy hanging out at the back of the train outside! We bought lunch on the train and the kids thought this was neat! We both ordered the Reindeer Chili...the portion is EXTREMELY SMALL! We should have ordered the burger....we were both still hungry! You should bring your own snacks & drinks for the train ride! Arrived at McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge and were supposed to go to a campfire experience however, we got there so late we would not have had time to eat dinner prior to the campfire so we chose to eat dinner instead of the campfire thing. We ate at their casual restaurant (good burgers)! There is a small playground at this lodge and the kids enjoyed playing there after dinner! We found out later that the campfire thing was really not a big deal and we didn't miss much!

 

Day 6: Bus ride to Whittier to get on the ship! You stop at the Iditarod Headquarters to ride a dog cart. It lasts about 1 minute so don't expect much! Kids LOVED IT though! Lunch is on your own in Anchorage. We ate at the Glacier Brewhouse (great Halibut)!!!

Next stop is the Wildlife Conservation Center. It was neat to be able to see bear cubs very close up!

 

On the ship!!! It was nice to do the land tour 1st b/c it wears you out...constantly on the go and on a schedule. It was nice getting to the ship and just relaxing!!!

 

We booked a mini-suite and it was totally worth it! The kids each had their own bed and our balcony was amazing! Glacier Bay cruising was awesome sitting on our balcony (you can still hear the commentary by the park ranger by turning on your TV and leaving your balcony door open)! It is COLD! I wore my heavy coat and a hat!

 

Skagway: We rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake we followed the same route the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway takes! Renting your own car is less expensive than the train ride and you can stop and get out when you want!!! You need your passport (you cross into Canada). You can stop in Carcross for snacks but there are not really any places to eat. We waited and ate when we got back into town. We ate at Skagway's Pizza Station (which is off the beaten path of the cruise ship tourists)...they have a pretty good menu and weren't that expensive (again we had some pretty good burgers)!!!

 

Then we visited the Gold Rush Cemetary (really neat place) and Reid Falls (beautiful but sort of steep hike...but it is short)...if you have the car you can drive to the cemetary and then walk to the falls! We then hiked up to Yakutania Point which was an easy hike w/the kids. We saw harbor seals from the footbridge and the airplanes take off from near there too! (Go to the visitor's center in town for maps of hiking trails and walking tours)!!

 

Juneau: We booked a Whale Watching Tour w/Harv and Marv's. There were 6 of us (our family plus my husband's aunt and grandmother)! It was amazing! We saw several humpback whales! We got to see breaching and bubble net feeding! This was well worth the money!!! They dropped us off at Mendenhall Glacier after our tour. We hiked the short trails around there w/the kids. We saw bear scat and half eaten salmon all over the place but never saw the bear! Some people on the bus ride back actually saw the black bear who had been eating the fish! NOTE>>>>> there is no food allowed at Mendenhall Glacier due to the bear activity...we had packed a lunch and had to scarf it down in the van on the way to the glacier. TIP>>>>Order room service from the ship the night before (they have sandwiches and chips).....pack it in those handy Ziploc's you bring from home and take your lunch w/you in your backpack! You can also snag some fruit off the buffet line!!!

 

Ketchikan: We arrived here and it rained pretty much all day. We had planned to rent bikes and go hiking. We left the kids on the ship in kid's club and just went shopping. We went to Creek Street and found cheaper Smoked Salmon here than other places. We took the Funicular Rail to the Cape Fox Lodge for lunch/brunch and we split the Crab and Brie dip! Yummy!

 

We found the ship's Kid's Programs to be GREAT! The kid's area was nice and big and they had lots of activities for the kids to do. The ship does have an indoor pool and 2 hot tubs in the same area. Our kids swam several times and loved playing in the hot tubs which were full of other kids!

 

Buffet food was just OK. The kids complained about it a lot. They mostly stuck w/pizza, burgers, and hot dogs. They didn't even like the breakfast items. They did like the waffles that were made at the ice cream bar!

 

We chose anytime dining and made reservations for the only night we ate in the dining room....we did not have to wait at all. The food in the dining room was good. We made reservations (as soon as we got on the ship) for Sterling Steakhouse and Sabatini's Specialty Dining! Both were WELL WORTH IT!!! The food was wonderful. All I have to say is don't eat much if you plan to eat at Sabatini's they bring you every appetizer on the menu.... sort of tapas style.....we were so full!!!!! It also took 2 hours to eat there!!! YIKES!

 

We didn't see any shows on board....we preferred to sit on our balcony and enjoy the scenery! We saw whales (humpback and orca), dolphins, otters, eagles, etc...just sitting outside on our balcony! We figured we were in Alaska to experience wildlife not go see magicians, or singers or dancers, or comedians!!!! ;)

 

If you have questions about anything let me know!!! Our family had a wonderful time and the kids really loved Alaska and are asking to move there now!!!!

[vmom]

Thank you for the enjoyable review and suggestions. Sounds like you all had a great time.

 

One suggestion for future review would be to make sure the font you are using is larger. Us over 40 year olds have a hard time reading such small print : )

[GweninTX]

Great review - we leave on the Princess Coral on 8/20 - we are leaving for a land tour on our own this Saturday! I cannot wait! ;)

[Talisker92]

Thank you for the enjoyable review and suggestions. Sounds like you all had a great time.

 

One suggestion for future review would be to make sure the font you are using is larger. Us over 40 year olds have a hard time reading such small print : )

 

Dear Vmom,

I will never see 40 againg but my wife showed me that if you press Cntrl and + together it makes the type larger

[Essiesmom]

Have to agree about the font...I had to up it to 144% to read...EM

[Phyljim]

An excellent review. Enjoyed all of it, very well written. Thank you for taking the time to write it.