What to do for 4 days - debark Seward

[sweetmelissa]

Hi all,

 

We get off the Norwegian Jewel in Seward, then we think we will have 4 days (return flight not booked yet, so we have some flexibility) before we fly home. Since the flight home is not yet booked, we can fly back from Anchorage or wherever.

 

We are trying to figure out what we should do for 4 days. Is there enough to do in and around Anchorage for 4 days? Should we head to Denali? Should we go somewhere else? At this point we are feeling frozen by indecision.

 

What would you do for 4 days if you were in our situation? We are a couple with a 10 year old son, who is usually up for just about anything.

 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[wolfie11]

I would rent a car, go to Denali, book a hotel in Healy, take a couple of days to explore the park, and then drive up to Fairbanks and return to Anchorage via the Richardson Highway.

[Budget Queen]

You need to find out what is available in Alaska. So, head to your library and get some Alaska guide books, Fodor's Alaska and Frommer's Alaska are comprehensive.

 

There are multiple options, with Denali a "typical" choice. BUT, do you have any interest in touring there? Know what you would see and do with your time? I find it a big mistake, to just "pick" an area because it's popular, sounds good, etc then be asking what there is to do? I'd suggest looking first at your activities, and what YOU want out of your trip, then go to the destinations that offer this. Not backwards. :) This also clearly allows you to efficiently plan your itinerary, knowing where you have to be, and for how long.

 

I'd suggest, you go for as long as you can, time is essential in Alaska, in my opinion, 4 days is short. As mentioned, a rental rental, would be my suggestion as well. Reserve NOW, easy to cancel if you change your mind.

 

If you continue with only 4 days, you might want to look more at the Kenai Peninsula, Girdwood, Whittier etc. Denali- from Seward will take up all your time- with the addition of at least a day touring Seward, (which I suggest you consider, since you are there)

 

A lot depends if there is any "budget" known? That could also be involved with planning.

 

Repost your interests and what you want out of your trip. At the least- do some homework, http://www.seward.com http://www.nps.gov/dena http://www.anchorage.net

 

A great opportunity is available for you.

[AKStafford]

What are the dates of your trip?

[sweetmelissa]

We get off the ship June 11th.

[fishywood]

Less than 2.5 months away? You need to start making plans NOW. Lodges close to the visitors center in Denali will be long sold out. Probably only 1 and 2 star spartan rooms in Healy or Talkeenta all you will find outside the central Anchorage or Fairbanks areas. South of Anchorage (Kenai) likely even more difficult to find. A good bet the only transportation from Seward to Anchorage on disembarkation day still available will be the ship's coach transfer; if you find either the Seward-Anchorage train or one way auto rental from Seward still available for June 11 consider yourselves very, very lucky. Immediately start looking for flights and decide based on what is available if you are flying out of Anchorage or Fairbanks. If the latter know that one way car rentals can be hard to find and will have much higher drop fees than in the lower 48.

 

If you find an Anchorage hotel with a room for three in your budget available for all four days (again possibly a daunting proposition) I would book it as long as it was cancellable, and then plan from there. Adjust you reservation accordingly if you decide to spend a night near Denali or downstate.

[aknursemom]

Personally, I am partial to the Kenai Peninsula. I just spent the weekend in Seward. Lots to do. I always enjoy Homer, too. And Valdez! On the other hand, going to Denali is exciting. If you go with Denali, you will spend a lot of time driving.

 

As far as enough to do in Anchorage - yes you can make that your base if you like. You will need a car to get to different places.

[Budget Queen]

from a visitor point of view, I don't find using Anchorage as a base a good choice. Sure Anchorage is a very nice- "city", but getting outside is even better. :)

[aknursemom]

from a visitor point of view, I don't find using Anchorage as a base a good choice. Sure Anchorage is a very nice- "city", but getting outside is even better. :)

Yep! Anchorage is a great city - i hear you can see Alaska from there ;p

[sscruises18]

Hi there! Hopefully my video blogs will help give you an idea on what you can expect in Seward and Anchorage. Here’s my pre-Alaska cruise playlist if you’re interested.

 

 

 

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[sscruises18]

Here’s what you can expect in Seward! :)

 

 

 

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[2552phxcrzr]

There’s a lot to see and do in Seward and along the way to Anchorage, which will provide the easiest gateway for your flight I wrote extensively about some of the things we did in 2010 (our second time to Alaska) starting with this post. You can use the “newer” link at the bottom of the post to navigate to the other days’ stories or look in the August 2010 archive to pick and choose.

 

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy! AK is a wonderful place.

[laughing husky]

Please realize that Seward is a good 2.5 hours away from Anchorage, and Denali is 7 hrs north of Anchorage....that is, if you don't stop....There are some pretty amazing sights to see, but you need 3 days minimum to see anything of Denali...a day to get there, a day to tour the park, and a day to drive back to Anchorage.....there will be construction delays....sometimes up to a hour or so....there will be an accident...which can close the road for hours...as most of it is only a 2 lane road..and difficult to get emergency vehicles or helicopters into it at parts of the road...get a guidebook....and do some investigating at what interests you and your family. The city of Anchorage is larger than the state of Delaware...people have no idea of how big we really are....

[Rode Warrior]

Halibut fishing will be good, if you can get a charter. Do a google search for charter guides and ask. If you cannot get one, you can always write down few names go guides and call the day before. They may have cancellations. The same would be true of salmon fishing.

[parentsof5]

Y

 

There are multiple options, with Denali a "typical" choice. BUT, do you have any interest in touring there? Know what you would see and do with your time? I find it a big mistake, to just "pick" an area because it's popular, sounds good, etc then be asking what there is to do? I'd suggest looking first at your activities, and what YOU want out of your trip. quote]

 

This is exactly what we did. We are not doing the typical Denali. We are staying at Knik River Lodge night one, heli and dog sledding the next morning, and ATV in the Mantunska Glacier area in the late afternoon with "luxury camping" for two nights. Husband will be ice climbing on the glacier our 3rd day. Our 4th day will take us back to Anchorage to enjoy the city before leaving the next morning.

 

Ther are so many options to enoy the state. We do want to see Denali one day, however want more time in the area, and will save that for next time.

[Anita Latte]

We have a similar situation with our Alaska cruise. We debark in Seward on a Friday. Our flight home isn't until the following Tuesday, very early that Tuesday, so we essentially have Friday through Monday for touring...4 days.

 

We bought our flights with miles and were beholden to the schedule and dates that we could afford with our miles available. Our first thought was that we would go up to Denali, but after learning about the distances and time of travel, etc., we decided that going to Denali for us was more of a destination than an add on.

 

I would advise picking out what kind of activity or scene is important to you. For us, we were all about the glaciers. So researching that, we decided to get a guide so we could hike ON Exit Glacier (you can hike to the base of the glacier on your own or on a ranger led hike (free)) and to book a kayak trip to the lagoon/bay of Bear Glacier. Fishing the Kenai River was also very appealing and that worked with picking the Kenai glaciers.

 

The one way car rentals from Seward to Anchorage were outrageous. Also, Seward wasn't an option for redeeming points for a car rental (how we were funding that), so we have a privately booked shuttle to take my family and my parents to the Anchorage airport where we'll pick up our car rental, and then, we will be driving back down to the Kenai Peninsula that day. Friday is pretty much a take care of business day. Car rental, food shopping, sight seeing as we drive ourselves around. Saturday we're doing an 8-hour (all day) fishing excursion on the Upper Kenai (drift only area). Sunday is the kayaking (half day). Monday is the glacier hike.

 

As a PP said, lodging is going to be your greatest limiting factor at this point. I would recommend that you focus on what activities you want to do and see if there is lodging around that area available.

 

Remember that the days will be really long. On our arrival day (our errand day), the sun sets at 11:34 pm, but civil twilight ends at 1:21 am. So, you can take advantage of that to reposition yourself for whatever adventures you decide to pursue.

[sweetmelissa]

Thanks everyone for all of the advice.

 

We actually have a hotel booked in Anchorage from that Monday night through Friday, because I was worried about that very thing. I made a reservation that can be canceled, but we definitely have a place to stay. But I figured, we may want to make our way around a bit and not stay in Anchorage the entire time.

 

On that Monday, we were planning to do a tour then take the train to Anchorage. After that we still have not decided.

[laughing husky]

Y

 

There are multiple options, with Denali a "typical" choice. BUT, do you have any interest in touring there? Know what you would see and do with your time? I find it a big mistake, to just "pick" an area because it's popular, sounds good, etc then be asking what there is to do? I'd suggest looking first at your activities, and what YOU want out of your trip. quote]

 

This is exactly what we did. We are not doing the typical Denali. We are staying at Knik River Lodge night one, heli and dog sledding the next morning, and ATV in the Mantunska Glacier area in the late afternoon with "luxury camping" for two nights. Husband will be ice climbing on the glacier our 3rd day. Our 4th day will take us back to Anchorage to enjoy the city before leaving the next morning.

 

Ther are so many options to enoy the state. We do want to see Denali one day, however want more time in the area, and will save that for next time.

 

 

that is an excellent way to spend a few days...You will LOVE the dog sledding with Justin....He is great....