The Alaska My Way Tour

[TheCruisingBrewers]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am working on setting up a tour of Alaska and have been reading a ton here about the best way to see the wild life and lands. Have been to Alaska once and saw Denali, did the TWT which was awesome, but grossly miscalculated travel time and had to head back to catch the ship.

 

Knowing some of the mistakes I made last time, I am looking to try to optimize the cruise and tour. We now have family wanting to come who have never cruised so it looks like will will be locked into a NB cruise from Vancouver.

 

The plan so far is the Sapphire Princess or Celebrity Millenium to do the cruise portion on Jun 16th or Jun 15th respectively.

 

I am trying to solidify my days where and am looking for nice places to stay along the route. When in Denali would stay at either McKinley Cabins or Denali Lakeview Inn.

 

That leaves me 7-8 days to see land. Denali and Kenai are musts. I want to stay at least 2 days in Soldotna for hubby to fish for salmon. I want to stay 3days in Denali. In Denali we would do the shuttle to Wonder Lake. I am figuring out a car rental is our best option for travel and we had a blast travelling the Parks highway on that long drive back and forth to Denali.

 

So here are my questions... Would it be best to stay overnight in Seward and do the Kenai fjords cruise then? Then go to Soldotna? Then go to Denali... that is like a 9 hour drive right? Should we stop overnight in Anchorage? I really would rather stay away from the city, and know Talkeenta is not a great stop.

 

So this would make my tour

Cruise

Seward

Soldotna

Soldotna or Anchorage

Denali

Denali

Denali

Fairbanks

Fairbanks

 

Any better ideas? Any good reccomendations on where to stay?

 

Thanks for the help in advance!

[Budget Queen]

Have you looked at Russian River fishing?? If I recall, the season opens about the time you are there?? You need to decide, what you want to do in Seward??? IF you are just taking a boat tour, you can easily be at Cooper Landing that evening.

 

You have enough time, to break up the Kenai Peninsula/Denali drive. I disagree on your comment about Talkeetna, it certainly is a very good, overnight stop. Alternative, I would suggest Palmer, then spending the day, maybe trekking Matanuska, driving Hatcher Pass- did you do any of those, last time??

 

You have a snag, if you use Princess, with needing the time to back track to Seward. But very doable.

 

I would FIRST get your itinerary set, with the fishing dates. Then add Denali, that doesn't matter what dates you are looking at, the fishing may.

 

Either case- if you are going next year, get those rental cars reserved NOW. Until you decide on the cruise, book both Avis and Hertz and then cancel as soon as you decide.

[mapleleaves]

as BQ suggested your timing is perfect for a salmon run.

http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Sonar/kpcharts.html

Check out Cooper Landing rather than Soldotna. The rivers are beautiful, there's hiking at Russian River Falls, combat fishing is quite a sight. I'd recommend the Kenai Princess Lodge.

As for Talkeetna ....as with anything, it's totally subjective. The town didn't do a thing for me so I wouldn't go there again except to flightsee. But maybe there's something there you'd enjoy.

[TheCruisingBrewers]

Thankyou both so much for the input!

 

Yeah I realize it is a bit of back tracking if I use Princess....I am leaning on Celebrity for that very reason, though our family has never seen Glacier Bay, so I may want to be gracious.... Hehe...Heh if I had my druthers I would do a land only vacation and add in Homer... But I still have things to do or see in the standard ports.

 

Copper Landing and Palmer I will look over thanks for the ideas... I have not seen Palmer or Hatcher Pass. I love rivers! I will look that area over BQ!

 

I have looked at the Princess Lodge there in Kenai on the web, it is lovely, but I am not sure I trust the photos now after seeing where the Denali Princess is on Glitter Gulch!

 

Is Sea Life park worthwhile for someone who has been to Sea World and Monterey Bay Aquarium? I am just not a huge fan of captive sea creatures or zoos really.

 

Any ideas of places to stay either in Palmer, or Talkeetna or Fairbanks for that matter?

 

Thanks again for the input!

 

Nancy

[SeaTheWorldBySea]

Any ideas of places to stay either in Palmer, or Talkeetna or Fairbanks for that matter?

Nancy

 

We are doing a 2 week land tour in Alaska next summer. Check out the B & Bs at tripadvisor.com. We have booked some great looking/sounding places.

[greatam]

 

I have looked at the Princess Lodge there in Kenai on the web, it is lovely, but I am not sure I trust the photos now after seeing where the Denali Princess is on Glitter Gulch!

 

Nancy

 

The Kenai Princess is an absolutely gorgeous lodge. So no worries about it looking like the one in Denali. It is totally isolated down a private road with gorgeous scenery all around

 

BUT Princess Kenai will not allow a private guide or tour company on their property. So take that into consideration. You have a car, so you are not "captured in Princessland" which is a real benefit.

 

Unless your DH is a HARD CORE fisherman, stay away from the Russian River and combat fishing. It is not for lightweights and while fun to watch, even my DH, who is a hard core fisherman, won't go to the Russian River during "combat fishing season". Just too many people, lines tangled, sometimes fights (actual physical fights-too much beer usually).

 

But almost every year, he stays for a couple of days at Pete's Fishing in Soldotna to fish for Kings/reds. http://www.petesfishing.com/. Great little cabins, very nice people and Pete is one of the better guides on the Kenai. I think DH has tried almost everyone around Soldotna and keeps going back to Pete's.

 

Enjoy!!!

[pmjnh]

Hi there,

We are doing a similar trip this July. We are overnighting in Talkeetna and stay at Talkeetna-Denali View Lodge. We have rented one of their cabins. The plan is to do a Mt McKinley summit flight. We have purchased the Northern Lights coupon book and plan use the 2-1 coupon for this flight. I will also us the coupon discount in the book for the Northwestern tour with Kenai Fjords tour company.

[Budget Queen]

Hi there,

We are doing a similar trip this July. We are overnighting in Talkeetna and stay at Talkeetna-Denali View Lodge. We have rented one of their cabins. The plan is to do a Mt McKinley summit flight. We have purchased the Northern Lights coupon book and plan use the 2-1 coupon for this flight. I will also us the coupon discount in the book for the Northwestern tour with Kenai Fjords tour company.

 

If you haven't already, you need to book these tours now. The number of coupons they accept is very restrictive, and there is only ONE tour of each, available to you per day.

[frugaltravel]

The plan is to do a Mt McKinley summit flight. We have purchased the Northern Lights coupon book and plan use the 2-1 coupon for this flight. I will also us the coupon discount in the book for the Northwestern tour with Kenai Fjords tour company.

 

You know this but it was not clear from your post - the Northwestern Fjord tour is only $50/person discount, not 2-for-1. Kenai Fjords did have a 2-for-1 offer with a discount code for bookings through mid December (for the 6 hour tour) and they all usually accept competitor's coupons, so be on the lookout for better offers.

[Budget Queen]

You know this but it was not clear from your post - the Northwestern Fjord tour is only $50/person discount, not 2-for-1. Kenai Fjords did have a 2-for-1 offer with a discount code for bookings through mid December (for the 6 hour tour) and they all usually accept competitor's coupons, so be on the lookout for better offers.

 

Actually Kenai fjords tours, have become VERY restrictive, and no longer accepts the competitor coupons, in season. They also don't accept any of their coupons on certain days for the 6 hour tours. This was an inflexable policy last year, and I have been a long time, multi time customer. I went out on three trips, with only the Northwestern fjords tour with Kenai fjords.

[pmjnh]

Thanks for the reminders. We have already booked our McKinley Summit tour flight with the 2 for 1 coupon. Talkeetna Areo Services people were really nice to work with on the phone. We have also booked the Kenai Fjords Northwestern tour as well, $50 off each adult. :)

[jackretired]

Check your cruises. My guess is Princess gives you Glacier Bay & Celebrity gives you Hubbard Glacier. People on this board seem to prefer Glacier Bay.

 

Let us know what you do about fishing and later how it worked out.