Princess Cruise/Tour...help me choose!

[Cruisingal22]

So we have decided on doing a Princess Cruise/Tour, doing the tour first & cruising southbound. Now for the fun part...which one? Start in Anchorage or Fairbanks? We are planning on a group, all in our 50's, active/healthy. Can anyone shed a little light on these tours? We do know the cruise needs to have Glacier Bay, but other than that, we're a bit overwhelmed with the choices. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[xlxo]

Also think about which month..... each month offers different climate experiences....

• warm vs cold
  
• daylight
  
• wet vs dry (statistically dry weather will cost more)
  

Edited September 23, 2016 by xlxo

[txwriter]

So we have decided on doing a Princess Cruise/Tour, doing the tour first & cruising southbound. Now for the fun part...which one? Start in Anchorage or Fairbanks? We are planning on a group, all in our 50's, active/healthy. Can anyone shed a little light on these tours? We do know the cruise needs to have Glacier Bay, but other than that, we're a bit overwhelmed with the choices. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Most of the regular posters on the board will discourage you from the cruisetour option and stress a DIY land portion. Some, like myself, find the cruisetour is the best option for them. Most people doing the cruisetour with Princess tend to post more on the Princess board than here, so you may want to look there for reviews.

 

I did a lot of research before picking our tour, so maybe I can give some pointers in where to look or what questions to ask your tour mates.

 

First, know where the Princess tours go. Princess owns their own lodges in Fairbanks, near the Denali National Park, outside Talkeetna (about an hour by bus I have read so pretty remote), on the Copper River, and on the Kenai Penninsula (in Cooper Landing so be careful not to confuse it with Copper River). They generally use the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, but there are reports of them using other properties. Hwere is a link to the lodges: https://www.princesslodges.com.

 

Next they offer three basic levels of service:

 

1. On Your Own - includes transportation and lodging but no excursions and no meals.

2. Regular cruisetours - include some excursions (see note below) in addition to what is in the on your own. Meals are not included unless part of excursions included like the riverboat tour in Fairfax.

3. Connoisseur tours - includes everything on regular cruisetours, upgraded tour in Denali (see below) as well as a dinner night theater show while at Denali lodge, and many of your meals. A designated tour director stays with you for the entire land tour as well.

 

Notes on Denali: the Natural History Tour (NHT) is usually what Princess includes on most tours and does not get you very far into the park. They will allow an upgrade to Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT) for a fee of around $66 each. They will also allow upgrades to the Katishna tour (I don't know the price difference). There are reports that Princess will refund the price of your tour if you wish to use the shuttle buses offered at the park instead of the narrated tours. However, there are reports this policy has recently changed. Here is a link to explain the difference between the tours offered in the Denalu National Park: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bus-tours.htm. If doing a cruisetour, it is best to have at least two nights in the Denali lodge so that you can have a whole day to explore the area.

 

All Princess cruisetours are combined with a one way cruise either from Vancouver to Whittier (northbound) or from Whittier to Vancouver (southbound). Many prefer to have land portion of tour first getting the longer flight over with first. Others prefer to get more and more Alaskaness as they go. It's a personal preference. Only you and your travelmates can determine what's best for your group. All Princess one way cruises include Glacier Bay. They also include another scenic day (Hubbard on southbound and College Fjord on northbound cruises).

 

Good candidates for cruisetours prefer organized travel and easy planning. They don't mind if others do the driving, and they understand there will be compromises when traveling with a group.

 

Bad candidates for cruisetours like to go with the flow, like to keep control of their own day, and they hate the idea of traveling with a larger group.

 

As for deciding to start in Anchorage or Fairbanks, that is largely a personal decision.

 

I am taking my mom to Alaska next May, and I started out planning a DIY tour, but the cruisetour makes more sense for us, so we picked the MB7 tour which begins in Fairbanks, 2 nights at Denali, 1 night at the McKinley lodge (Talkeetna), and 2 nights at the Kenai lodge. This cruisetour allows us to see more of the different regions of Alaska. Ultimately, it's what works best for us.

 

Some questions that might help your group:

 

1. How many days do you have to travel? (Remember you can always do a pre-cruise add on)

 

2. Is there a specific region you want to see or lodge where you want to stay? (We were set on seeing the Kenai Peninsula, so that narrowed out choices).

 

3. Is the cruisetour best for us or should we plan a DIY trip?

 

I hope this helps begin to sort things out.

[mapleleaves]

How did you decide upon Princess over other cruiselines?

 

The cruisetour itinerary should drive your decison. What do you want to see and do? Does the land tour take you to locations that support your interests and priorities? And will you have enough time at each location for planned activities, or is most of your day spent in transit? Some of the short tours indicate 2 days in Denali but you may arrive midday on day 1 and leave at noon on day 2, which doesn't allow enough time to get into the Park. So look closely at all the details and research the destinations, so you know exactly what you're getting into.

 

Same thing with the cruise portion. Look carefully at port times ..... are you in port long enough and at the right time of day for planned activities. Lots of whining about early departures from ketchikan, that got in the way of sightseeing.

 

Also, some activities like fishing and bear viewing have peak periods, and those periods vary by location, so additional research is needed.

 

Bottom line ...... research the ports and towns to determine which itinerary best supports YOUR interests and priorities.

 

There are over 100 trip reports posted in STICKYs near the top of the page. Many of them are detailed photojournals which will provide a wealth of useful information. If Princess is your preference, look specifically for Princess trip reports. Borrow an alaska travel book from your library ......there are several books specific to Alaska cruises. Look at cruiseportinsider. Look at town web sites.

 

Have fun with your reaearch and planning!

[diane.in.ny]

We did the Princess Connoisseur tour that started in Fairbanks. I picked it because it went to the Copper River Lodge and the trip from Denali to Copper River was a long bus ride but we had gorgeous weather and it was spectacular.

 

That said, I don't think the time in Fairbanks was worth it. We went on the first tour of the season and the road in Denali wasn't open all the way so while we wanted the Tundra Tour we couldn't get it.

 

And if you do include Copper River, buy some sandwiches before you get on the bus. Was not happy with the place we stopped for lunch, which was the only option along the whole route.

[Alaskanb]

We did the Denali Explorer DB4 tour. It was just right for us -- one night (an afternoon and morning in Talkeetna), two nights at the Denali lodge so you get a full day in the park and can use the park shuttle to Eielson, and the train to Whittier. Make sure you are in the park at a date when you can get that far into the park --absolutely stunning!

We spent an extra night at the Captain Cook hotel and had a lovely day in Anchorage visiting the museums and heritage center --all very easy to do. On a previous trip we spent time in the area around Girdwood and stayed at the Alyeska resort. Also add in extra day or two in Vancouver. So much to see and do in all these places.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Alaskanb

[donaldsc]

You have not given any details but remember that any cruise company makes the tour part of a cruisetour seem a lot better than it is. For example, they will say that you have 2 days in Denali. They lie.

 

What really happens is that you get to Denali in early afternoon on day one and leave Denali in early afternoon on day 2. By my calculations that means that you may be there on 2 days but you really have one day there and you can't really get far into the park on that schedule. If the tour does not spend 2 nights in Denali, do not take it.

 

Also, very carefully check how much time you will be spending on the bus getting places as opposed to the time you will spend actually being in places. Remember that distances in AK are long.

 

Also remember that Princess always puts you in Princess hotels which are often far from anything. The reason that they do this is that if you are stuck on the Princess facility, they make more money.

 

You almost need to have a Ph.D in touring to try to separate the truth from the exaggeration in tour descriptions.

 

I would very seriously suggest that you do a DIY trip but I suspect that with you large group that trying to decide what the group is going to do will make this difficult. Trying to organize a large group on a DIY is like trying to herd a group of cats.

 

DON

[dd likes to cruise]

We just did a Royal Caribbean cruise tour and found some of the same things explained above - many choices. As it got nearer to the time I was getting worried as I felt I had very little information, but it worked out great. Biggest thing we would have liked better would have been a hotel in downtown Fairbanks so we could go and do things on our own if we wanted. On our bus and train ride (Danali to Fairbanks), our tour guide was great in sharing info about Alaska.

 

With a very large group like you have, I'd do DIY.

[GrizBear]

We did the Princess Connoisseur tour that included 2 nights at each of the following lodges - Fairbanks, Denali, Copper River, and Kenai. These were the four areas of Alaska we wanted to see. I did loads of research here and other places and this was the perfect tour for us. We are in our low 50s and very active. The two nights at each lodge allowed breaks between the long travel times and time to see and enjoy each location, but honestly we really wanted to do more hiking in Denali, so we could have easily used a third night there. This tour does have some long stretches between lodges, but we loved seeing the diverse areas of Alaska. The buses made frequent stops for sight seeing, bathroom, and food. We did not mind the simple lunch on the way to Copper River. The Connoisseur tour while costing more up front, and yes you can do it for less, was worth every cent for us. Most meals (which we enjoyed greatly) were paid for, some tours were covered, all tips except the tour guide were covered. At every lodge we had a beautiful room with a view, in the newest or most recently renovated section. Our tour guide made all our dinner reservations and quickly addressed and solved any issues that popped up leaving us completely free to enjoy every minute. We arrived in Fairbanks several days before the tour began and rented a car. If anyone in your group runs the Midnight Sun 10K in Fairbanks is amazing. The Midnight Sun Festival takes place the day after the race -also fun. I found great things to do in Fairbanks on Trip Advisor. We LOVED everything about our cruise tour and would not change a thing! Someday we hope to return to Alaska and now that we have the lay of the land we would do the land portion ourselves. Probably a week on the Kenai Penninusla with time in Seward, Homer, etc. In Juneau for an active group I suggest Above and Beyond. With them we hiked to the glacier, on the glacier and into a glacier cave. This was one of the highlights of our time in Alaska.

As the first person to respond said take your time and research carefully. Pick stops you want to see that offer things you want to do. You can look on the Princess site to see what excursions are offered at each lodge. Pick what is right for your group after carefully considering all that is available.

[Alaskanb]

 

With a very large group like you have, I'd do DIY.

I'm not seeing the group size --just ages

This is my cruisetour review http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50350384

[Alaskanb]

I found this review helpful --lots of photos http://www.jimzim.net/AlaskaCruisetour.html

[GrizBear]

Here's a great directory to hikes in Denali written by someone who spent this summer there - http://www.leahislost.com/index.php/2016/09/12/hiking-in-denali-national-park-a-directory/

[Cruisingal22]

As always, CC folks are coming through! Thanks for all the things to consider, as that is pretty much what I was looking for. BTW, I'm guessing our group to be 8-10 people. All active/healthy. No mobility issues. We were thinking late May after a couple weeks into the cruise season. Any more comments, pointers, ideas??? Keep em' coming and thanks again. This is really helping!

[mapleleaves]

Late May/early June is generally drier and sunnier than later in the season. Plus baby animals at Denali.

HOWEVER, keep in mind that the road thru Denali isn't open to Wonder Lake until June 8 and Eielson Visitor Center June 1. Eielson is usually the minimum destination recommended .... 8 hrs RT with a 30-40 minute stop at the EVC, milepost 66. The 8 hr ride is the reason you need a 2night stay in Denali.

http://www.reservedenali.com/shuttles.aspx

 

I suggest the shuttle over the tour .... more flexibility with the schedule, you get a little futher into the park, and the VC is a real destination with facilities.

 

Some other visitor centers and activities in Alaska don't open until Memorial Day, so if you have specific priorities, it's a good idea to check on availability.

[Wunderdoc]

Did the land first followed by the Island Princess. Started in Anchorage then Mt. McKinley Lodge for 1 night then the Denali Princess Lodge for 2 nights. We went in September and would have been able to see the Northern lights if the weather would have been more cooperative. Would start in Fairbanks next time if I went in late August or early September to increase your chance of seeing the northern lights. The Natural History Tour was included in our trip which lasted around 5 hours. We did see some moose but people who spent another $63 and did the Tundra Wilderness tour also saw sheep, grizzles, and wolves but the tour was 8-9 hours. Will definitely do this tour next trip. Booked our excursions during the cruise thru Costco's Excursion partners and did a helicopter tour in Skagway, whale watch in Juneau, and a seaplane in Ketchikan for $630/pp.

 

 

 

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