Heart of Alaska Land Tour thoughts?

[hhsdc]

We will be doing the Heart of Alaska land tour in July. Does anyone have any reviews? Forgive me if someone did, I did a search and didn't see one. When I booked it I was a bit confused on meals. Are all meals not included in the land tour part?

 

TIA

[spongerob]

We did the tour. Mostly OK, except I could have done without the mandatory stop in Denali with no place to go but on the school bus tour. Most meals are NOT included. Food at the lodges was pretty good, though.

[cactusrose]

I loved the Denali tour. We did the long one (not the natural history tour) in early September. The colors were changing and it looked like a Monet painting. Also lots of animals out that time of year. The only transportaion allowed in the park is the school buses so you might want to take something padded along to sit on. We going again next year and will do a land tour that includes Denali. Wouldn't miss it. What I love, you may hate. Different strokes. . . . .

[Hate 2 W8t]

I am dong a land tour (aka cruisetour) this year too. I was able to find a few threads that talked about them, albeit very few. Try searching again under both Alaska and the Princess boards for "land tour" as part of the post not the title. There are a few hidden in there.

 

It's funny how few comments there are about the land tour. Mostly pretty negative, but I am really looking forward to it. Most people complain about the pace. I keep reading and rereading the itinerary and it just doesn't seem that fast to me. In fact, I think there is a lot of time sitting...on a bus, on a train, on a boat, etc. But, there is a lot of sitting whether you go on your own or on the tour. Can't change how long it takes to get from point A to point B.

 

These tours are pretty much all sold out for this year, so where are these people? Yoo-hoo...is this thing on? :p

[Genessa]

My dh & I did the land tour in July 2003 and I posted several pages of review.

I don't know how to paste them into here, though and when I did a search, couldn't find them.

I originally posted in the Ports of Call Alaska section.

We thought the land tour was wonderful and a once in a lifetime experience.

[spongerob]

Sorry I came off so negative. The land trip was enjoyable and I am glad we did it. The thing we didn't like was the same thing common to all tours - having to stick to someone else' schedule. The train portion was fantastic. Overall I think we got a pretty good value out of the cruisetour.

[Budget Queen]

No meals are included, except those specifically mentioned, like Cabin Night. Otherwise budget about 50% more than you do at home for a cushion. As for the hectic pace. You may not be realizing the time involved in transit. Many early morning departures on the cruise tours. Ball park train Anchorage/Denali Park is 8 hours, if going from Whittier- it's 10, Fairbanks/Denali Park 4 hours. The trains are full and seats are assigned table style, so 2 sit backwards. Only a small space under your seat. Very nice observation cars and certainly nice to walk around.

 

Most important, be certain you do not have the Natural History tour and do have the Tundra Wilderness tour. The former a complete waste of time. Enjoy Alaska!!!