ALASKA CRUISE NOVICES - Need Advice

[cherryharley]

I can't give you a precise answer yet, but we leave for a north bound Radiance Vancouver to Seward in just over three weeks. I did all the planning separately, and we are taking the train from Seward to Anchorage and then renting a car and heading up to Denali for two days before driving back to Anchorage for the flight home. I will say renting the car round trip from the Anchorage airport is a really cheap option to make a land tour happen. Along the same lines, we are renting cars in Ketchikan and Juneau so we can save a bit of money and use that on excursions in other ports.

 

I will be posting a full trip report when I get back and expect to have lots of info with lots of pictures.

 

We are doing the same next May.... train to Anchorage, rent a car to Denali for 2 days and back to Anchorage to fly home. Much cheaper than land tour with a cruise.

[cruiseguy1016]

We are doing the same next May.... train to Anchorage, rent a car to Denali for 2 days and back to Anchorage to fly home. Much cheaper than land tour with a cruise.

 

You might want to consider going to Fairbanks instead of returning to Anchorage. It will allow you to see more of the interior. We are flying into Alaska and spending a week on land before boarding the ship in Seward. We found flights to be cheaper into Fairbanks than into Anchorage. I don't know if outbound flights would be the same.

[poolwife]

Out of the numerous times we have been to Alaska, we always rented a mini-van as there were always 4 of us in the car. With the luggage for the land touring and then the cruise, jackets and luggage for four of us filled up the mini-van. The mini-van had 4 bucket seats so we were all comfortable riding around.

 

We also don't like the idea of cruise "tours". We like to tour on our own so we can see what we want; when we want and stay as long or as short as we want and not be included in a bus load of 50 or more people doing what the director tells you to do.

 

Three of the trips we stayed in B & B's also. That was fun; but they are very different. Some homeowner's want to cook you fancy breakfasts that one to two hours. Our preference were the ones that just left out things for you to do your own breakfast such as cereal, bagels, yogurt, fruit, milk, coffee, etc. If you hadn't thought of doing B & B's. it is a great experience, but do your research in picking them out.