Alaskan Cruise/Cruise Tour Information

[Epinz300]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with the Alaskan Cruise/Cruise Tour.

 

Looking into it for Summer 2016 and interested to explore before or after the cruise and it seemed like the easiest path to take. Pictures, comments, etc are all welcome!

[mlmc424]

We did a 13-day Land/Cuise tour in Aug of 2014 and loved it! We are in our 60's and enjoyed not having to worry about planning a DIY experience. Although we found it worthwhile, many on the Alaska Board feel that a DIY is the best was to see the most for your money. We were very pleased with our tour though & would happily do it again.

[Epinz300]

I am just lazy and planning all the DIY things will be too much. Having someone plan it for me and just give me an itinerary for a short 3-5 day land tour is perfect especially for first time in Alaska.

[Guest maddycat]

We did a 12 night cruise tour (5 night land tour followed by a 7 night south bound cruise) with RCI. RCI did an excellent job. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend the cruise tour to anyone interested in seeing more of Alaska than what is covered by just a 7 night cruise.

[knittinggirl]

We did a 13-night combination on Princess. It was their Connoisseur package. It included two meals a day, one cocktail get together and one final night dinner extravaganza. Our escort handled all the hassle with rooms, dinner reservations, etc. For this one, we'd definitely go back to Princess. We got off the ship, and walked the pathway right up to the train! All land gratuity is covered except for the escort.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

We did a pre cruise tour starting in Fairbanks and then cruised out of Seward southbound to Vancouver.

 

I suggest doing the PRE CRUISE because every day of the land tour, you need to have your bags outside your hotel room by 6 am with boarding the buses at 7 to start your day. It can be exhausting! By doing pre cruise, you can relax on the ship!

 

Doing a land tour is the only way to see the real Alaska, this was our 4th Alaska cruise and first land tour, it was great!

 

 

Booking direct with RC is the safest way to go, tour director stays with you all the way. I had recently read that there was a huge fatal accident on the Seward highway and no traffic could get through. All buses for RC and Princess were delayed about 8 hours stranding over 400 passengers on RC alone....the ship waited because it was a cruise tour....on your own you would of missed the ship!

 

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[knittinggirl]

 

I suggest doing the PRE CRUISE because every day of the land tour, you need to have your bags outside your hotel room by 6 am with boarding the buses at 7 to start your day. It can be exhausting! By doing pre cruise, you can relax on the ship!

 

 

 

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We did two days McKinley Princess Lodge, two days Denali Princess Lodge and two days Fairbanks Princess lodge. So we had a little rest between packing. Still have to do a lot of packing and unpacking. We were limited w/ our luggage. We were only allowed totebags as carry-ons, and one checked luggage that they dropped off at the room. So, we had to check two of our bags that were returned the last night. They have special luggage tags to make things clear.

[Bmorecruiser021]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with the Alaskan Cruise/Cruise Tour.

 

Looking into it for Summer 2016 and interested to explore before or after the cruise and it seemed like the easiest path to take. Pictures, comments, etc are all welcome!

 

Here is a review I wrote after doing a cruise tour on Radiance this past summer. Hope it helps :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246535

Edited December 21, 2015 by Bmorecruiser021

[Epinz300]

Here is a review I wrote after doing a cruise tour on Radiance this past summer. Hope it helps :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246535

 

 

This is perfect

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

One more note.....if you do the pre tour, you can pack " cruise only" suitcase and it will be tagged separate and kept locked on the bus....you won't see it until you get in your cabin....it was very helpful.

 

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[denatravels]

Be aware of the following: if you do a cruisetour on Royal Caribbean, your cruise does not include glacier bay-- this discounted Royal, celebrity, and NCL for me.

[Havin'fun]

Here is a review I wrote after doing a cruise tour on Radiance this past summer. Hope it helps :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246535

 

Kraig,

Looks like you had a great time ;)

I was just looking back over our pics from that trip - best money we have spent. Amazing scenery, fantastic weather.

Wishing you and Allie a Merry Christmas!

Diane and Bob

[ace1zoe2]

We have also done the 13 night with 6 nights pre cruise. We did some excursions on our own on the land portion & some were included. There is a link to a very detailed trip report in my signature that has lists of info on ways to save $. Or you can access it on my blog by clicking the link to it.

 

Alaska is beautiful! If you can swing the cruise tour it far exceeds a cruise only (which we did the first time). There is so much to see that you cannot get to from the ports on a regular cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cruising-Snowbird]

Be aware of the following: if you do a cruisetour on Royal Caribbean, your cruise does not include glacier bay-- this discounted Royal, celebrity, and NCL for me.

 

Personally, I thought that the Hubbard Glacier was much more impressive than Glacier Bay.....

[denatravels]

Personally, I thought that the Hubbard Glacier was much more impressive than Glacier Bay.....

 

 

Perhaps-- but I figured out how to see Hubbard, glacier, and sawyer in 1 trip.