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Denali..Shuttle or Tundra Tour


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I want to know the recommendations on taking either the shuttle or Tundra tour of Denali. If you take the shuttle, is it hard to get picked back up (due to full buses)? The shuttle lets you on/off, but I'm worried about seat availability. Also, the Tundra tour is sold out for the 2005 season with Princess, but I reserved it thru the park service. This makes me think it's better. I'm sooooo confused :confused:

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The Princess Tundra Tour is no better or worse than the one booked directly through the park. Its the exact same provider in the exact same buses. The only difference is that Princess' version will (probably) start/stop at the hotel while the normal one (probably) starts near the visitor center.

 

I'd probably go with the shuttle. You don't have to get off the shuttle if you don't want to avoid any concern about seat availability. Others can better advise on this issue. The real advantage is that it takes you further into the park. The "meal" is a non-issue as the tour serves an inedible snack as "lunch" anyway ... small packaged cheese, crackers, reindeer jerky (creepy as you are watching the caribou roam), an apple... or something to that effect as I recall.

 

I went with the tour mainly out of fear of getting enough commentary. But everyone here is more than happy with the shuttle commentary. We lucked out and went on a longer than normal Tundra tour because McKinley was visible, but this isn't usual.

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I NEVER recommend the Tundra Tour booking independently.

 

For clairfication-you are entitled to YOUR seat the entire distance of the bus IF you stay with the same bus and driver, which probably 75% of the passengers do. ANY later passengers, take seats that area vacant. The shuttle buses stop about every 1 1/2- 2 hours for a rest stop with perhaps 20 minutes each time. Will most likely be longer at Fish Creek, at Eielson and Wonder Lake it was about 45 minutes. The Tundra Wilderness tour goes to the EXACT same mile as Toklat shuttle- big price difference, since it's only $28.50 for the shuttle. :)

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I decided to call Princess to see when my departure from Denali is and they told me about 1pm!! That leaves time for NOTHING but what they set up :( .... I should have asked this question before..I would have known to stay longer

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what day will you be going? Are you driving or on cruisetour? Have you checkded for earliest shuttle buses for your date? They start as early as 5:30 or so in season. Don't forget, you need to take your own food and water on the shuttle bus.

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Thats the reason many here do not recommend cruisetours. The 2 night denali tour rather than the one night with one or two nites at McKinley would at least give you a chance to take an all day tour into denali rather than a short history tour, which will not allow you to see much wildlife. Unless you can switch cruisetours which it is probably too late?

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I'm in the exact same situation you are in, except in August. Not enough time at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge to go into the park via shuttle buses.

 

I have tried to find some other mode of transportation to get us from Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge to the Mt McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge later in the day than the Princess Motor Coach leaves- but to no avail. Figured I would just tell the motor coach to go on without us, then come along later by some other means. So far, no luck finding alternative transportation. Don't know why Princess doesn't wait until around 4:00/5:00 to leave Princess Wilderness Lodge- then we could take a short shuttle bus into Denali

 

Oh well, I'm still working on it.

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Unfortunately- these are good examples of how you need to research and understand FULLY what you are purchasing. I get frequently slammed for my harsh opinion of Princess cruisetours- but these examples are clear facts of the big problems people encounter once they find out what they are getting and NOT wanting that option. Usually there is nothing that can be done to change it. For clarification it is 100 miles between the 2 Princess lodges, and no independent tranportation options. IF you have 2 nights at the McKinley lodge- you COULD book the ARR for an extra day at Denali Park and stay there on your own. But frankly- not a good cost option and in that case, you would be better off canceling the cruisetour and going on your own. Simple to duplicate the route.

 

Unfortunately with your fixed times, 5:30pm arrival and 1 pm departure the next day your only option is the Natural History tour.

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When myr family insisted on booking a cruisetour last year I at least steered them to the one offered by RCI since I saw that it did two nights in Denali. I knew that meant we'd have a full day and could ditch them and do the shuttle bus like I wanted. I still thought we'd be better independent, but since I wasn't paying I stopped short of being too picky.

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  • 4 months later...

My DH and I are booked on a Princess cruisetour in July of 2006 that spends two nights in Denali. We get to Anchorage on July 20th, leave the next morning for Denali, spend two nights there (it includes the tundra wilderness tour) and then on to the McKinley princess for one night then to Whittier we we will get on the Coral princess for a seven day SB cruise to Vancouver. It is cruisetour 4S in 2006.

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I have no complaints about our Princess cruise tour. We did our homework and we chose tour 17S. We got to Anchorage a day early and really enjoyed the city. We boarded the train and went to Denali for a 2 night stay. We got there mid afternoon and had some time before we went to the dinner theatre. we enjoyed the show alot. We took the Tundra tour the next morning and had a very nice trip, seeing wildlife and Mt Mc Kinley. We were back early afternoon and really enjoyed the hot tubs and having dinner outside on the deck overlooking the river.

The next morning we boarded our bus for the drive to the Copper River lodge. While it was a long ride, the Denali highway was certainly interesting.

Copper river lodge is a beautiful place. It was very relaxing and great views of the Wrangell mountains. We did a float trip the next morning and I lost count of the amount of eagles we sighted. We did an ATV ride that afternoon which was a blast.

We left the next morning for Valdez and the ferry ride to Whittier. We spotted a few whales and had a nice cruise to the dock.

For a first timer to Alaska I had no complaints. If I had been there a few times before I could see doing more of my own touring.

I know some of the veterens won't agree and will always say don't do a tour. After doing the caribbean many times I wouldn't do any ship tours either, but I found for this first time getting the lay of the land and not having to handle more logistics worked fine for us.

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