Alaskan cruise and land tour

[Little Nell]

I am now turning my thoughts to our summer holiday. We are travelling from Edinburgh to Fairbanks (not directly), doing the 6 day land tour then joining the Millennium for the southbound cruise to Vancouver. We are staying for 4 nights in Vancouver and then taking the Rocky Mountaineer and flying home from Calgary. It is a total of 21 or 22 nights.

 

I am looking for some advice. I would appreciate any tips from people who have experienced at least part of what we are doing. Names of any tour companies for private tours would be welcome. Information on dressing for dinner on the ship and in land based hotels would be useful. I am concerned that we take only what we know we are likely to wear to leave luggage space for warmer, waterproof clothing and different types of footwear. It is so expensive to have have items laundered onboard that I only want to do that if absolutely necessary.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. I know there is an Alaska board but it is pretty overwhelming to be honest.

[Northern Aurora]

Little Nell: Even though we live in Alaska we've done several Alaska cruises, with a B2B set scheduled on the Millennium this summer. We could be on the same southbound sailing.

 

But regarding clothing you will find that we dress very casually here in Alaska. I have always found that passengers on Celebrity's Alaskan itineraries are more casually dressed than on other itineraries. At the land based lodges you are likely to see a number of folks wearing jeans and casual pants.

 

While visiting our state you can encounter a great range in temperatures. Fairbanks generally reaches +80sF in the summer but temperatures here can reach into the low 90sF in late June and early July. Even though Denali is about a two hour drive to the south (assuming no road construction) the weather there will likely be cooler with some winds possible in the "Glitter Gulch" canyon area. You are correct in assuming that a waterproof (not just water resistant) outer layer is necessary. While you may have no rain in southeast Alaska there is a reason why we call that area of our state "rain country."

 

Do you have any specific ports at which you are interested in private tours?

[4774Papa]

I am now turning my thoughts to our summer holiday. We are travelling from Edinburgh to Fairbanks (not directly), doing the 6 day land tour then joining the Millennium for the southbound cruise to Vancouver. We are staying for 4 nights in Vancouver and then taking the Rocky Mountaineer and flying home from Calgary. It is a total of 21 or 22 nights.

 

I am looking for some advice. I would appreciate any tips from people who have experienced at least part of what we are doing. Names of any tour companies for private tours would be welcome. Information on dressing for dinner on the ship and in land based hotels would be useful. I am concerned that we take only what we know we are likely to wear to leave luggage space for warmer, waterproof clothing and different types of footwear. It is so expensive to have have items laundered onboard that I only want to do that if absolutely necessary.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. I know there is an Alaska board but it is pretty overwhelming to be honest.

 

We did a wonderful week in Vancouver prior to our four day Canadian Rockies Bus tour, then coming back to Vancouver, then an NCL cruise to Seward, Alaska, finally three days including Denali.

 

Here is my review of our trip.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=547125&et_cid=2764671&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

 

There is a lot to do in Vancouver, check out the tours we did and activities.

 

Also, regarding the Canadian Rockies, I highly recommend that you consider the Key West Tours rather than the Rocky Mountaineer. The Rocky Mountaineer is more than three times the cost and you don't see as much of the great sites.

 

Key West has a tour that starts in Vancouver and ends in Calgary.

 

The tours are excellent.

 

Regarding Alaska, highly recommend a tour with the White Pass Rail trip in Skagway. Denali is special.

[Little Nell]

Little Nell: Even though we live in Alaska we've done several Alaska cruises, with a B2B set scheduled on the Millennium this summer. We could be on the same southbound sailing.

 

But regarding clothing you will find that we dress very casually here in Alaska. I have always found that passengers on Celebrity's Alaskan itineraries are more casually dressed than on other itineraries. At the land based lodges you are likely to see a number of folks wearing jeans and casual pants.

 

While visiting our state you can encounter a great range in temperatures. Fairbanks generally reaches +80sF in the summer but temperatures here can reach into the low 90sF in late June and early July. Even though Denali is about a two hour drive to the south (assuming no road construction) the weather there will likely be cooler with some winds possible in the "Glitter Gulch" canyon area. You are correct in assuming that a waterproof (not just water resistant) outer layer is necessary. While you may have no rain in southeast Alaska there is a reason why we call that area of our state "rain country."

 

Do you have any specific ports at which you are interested in private tours?

 

Thank you so much! That is really useful information for us. We particularly want to see wildlife both at land and sea so if you could help with that we would appreciate it very much.

[Little Nell]

We did a wonderful week in Vancouver prior to our four day Canadian Rockies Bus tour, then coming back to Vancouver, then an NCL cruise to Seward, Alaska, finally three days including Denali.

 

Here is my review of our trip.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=547125&et_cid=2764671&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

 

There is a lot to do in Vancouver, check out the tours we did and activities.

 

Also, regarding the Canadian Rockies, I highly recommend that you consider the Key West Tours rather than the Rocky Mountaineer. The Rocky Mountaineer is more than three times the cost and you don't see as much of the great sites.

 

Key West has a tour that starts in Vancouver and ends in Calgary.

 

The tours are excellent.

 

Regarding Alaska, highly recommend a tour with the White Pass Rail trip in Skagway. Denali is special.

 

Thank you so much for replying. I will certainly consider Viator for Vancouver, especially since we won't be visiting Whistler and Buchart Gardens is a must for us as we are all keen gardeners. I loved your review which is packed full of really useful information that will take me a little time to digest. The tips on the private tours is particularly useful.