Connoisseur vs Denali Explorer

[Luvtoteachell]

What are the differences between connoisseur and Denali Explorer on Princess? How do you decide between the two Tours? Thank you!

[voljeep]

on one of them, most of your meals are prepaid and scheduled..the other, not so much

[Thrak]

There is an older but still quite useful and informative post by caribill located HERE that explains about the connoisseur cruise tour. That thread is part of the reason we chose to do the connoisseur cruise tour a couple of years ago. It was awesome. We enjoyed having everything booked for us, having our choice of meals, having the excursions included, etc. We also got nice rooms in the lodges. At the Denali lodge some rooms face the street and parking area. Ours looked out over the river where a mother moose and her calf came out to eat each morning and evening.

 

Please note: Do not expect much from the "Music of Denali" dinner theater. :rolleyes:

[cheeseclan]

Agree with Thrak. We did the connoisseur tour last year for our son's graduation and it was awesome. We were well taken care of and the food was amazing. You got vouchers at the restaurants and could get whatever you wanted. We really liked having someone there to take care of everything so that we could have more time to do what he wanted to do at each stop.

[nukesubsailor]

I also agree with Thrak and Cheeseclan. We took the short tour many years ago and then the longest connoisseur tour in 2014. No comparison. The connoisseur tour is hassle-free and pure fun.

[John G.]

I agree with the above posters about the connoisseur tours. We have done both and the connoisseur was by far the best. You are well taken care of and the rooms and food are first rate.

[Jmcdonald85]

We had a 14 night connoisseur tour booked for 2019. We have our 6 year old son with us and in the end, after reading about all the 9 hour coach rides we decided to cancel and rebook the Denali explorer tour with less lodge stays. We think this one will more suit us this time round. I do look very forward to booking a connoisseur tour again one day for just hubby and I, as I'm sure I'll want to return to Alaska.

[geoherb]

We took a regular cruise tour. Princess has things very organized with them as well. We would receive our room assignment and keys while moving from one lodge to the next. We had two nights in Fairbanks, which included the excursions on the riverboat and to the gold dredge and Alaska pipeline, one night near Denali, one night at the Mt. McKinley lodge, and one night in Anchorage. On the way from Anchorage to Whittier, we stopped at the wildlife resources center.

 

Each lodge has sample menus posted. There's usually a casual restaurant with less expensive fare available. We thought the food prices were reasonable.

[sailco]

Please note: Do not expect much from the "Music of Denali" dinner theater. :rolleyes:

The meal wasn't much but the show was very well performed by a professional troupe. Cheesy, but fun. You really have to get into the silliness of theatre restaurant shows but it was as good as, or better than many Princess Shows we've sat through!

[voljeep]

Agree with Thrak. We did the connoisseur tour last year for our son's graduation and it was awesome. We were well taken care of and the food was amazing. You got vouchers at the restaurants and could get whatever you wanted. We really liked having someone there to take care of everything so that we could have more time to do what he wanted to do at each stop.

 

how much of a hassle it is to keep moving your luggage between lodges?...that's one of the many things we like about cruises and not having to move, pack, unpack.

 

I know there is something about sending a bag straight to the ship..but that may not be much for us as we don't do formal night on board with a suit, etc

[nukesubsailor]

how much of a hassle it is to keep moving your luggage between lodges?...that's one of the many things we like about cruises and not having to move, pack, unpack.

 

I know there is something about sending a bag straight to the ship..but that may not be much for us as we don't do formal night on board with a suit, etc

 

Princess personnel pick up your luggage at your room the morning you leave the lodge and take it to your room at the next lodge. You do not move it yourself, but you do have to pack it.

As for the bag sent ahead to the ship-----we don't pack formal clothes on cruises either but in that suitcase we put our smart-casual clothes, dress shoes, slacks, nice shirts, dresses, heels, etc, which are not needed at all on the land tour. The land tour is all about jeans, t-shirts, flannel shirts, sweats, sneakers, hiking shoes.

[tamsocal]

We had a 14 night connoisseur tour booked for 2019. We have our 6 year old son with us and in the end, after reading about all the 9 hour coach rides we decided to cancel and rebook the Denali explorer tour with less lodge stays. We think this one will more suit us this time round. I do look very forward to booking a connoisseur tour again one day for just hubby and I, as I'm sure I'll want to return to Alaska.

 

our kids have loved the tours. I have taken 7 year old and 9 year old twins on connoisseur tour 15 day last year and it was fabulous. They loved it.

kenai 2n, copper river 2n, Denali 2n, Fairbanks 3 nights

[tamsocal]

how much of a hassle it is to keep moving your luggage between lodges?...that's one of the many things we like about cruises and not having to move, pack, unpack.

 

I know there is something about sending a bag straight to the ship..but that may not be much for us as we don't do formal night on board with a suit, etc

yes us too sometimes we don't do formal wear thus we don't have a bag to send to ship - we are wearing the clothes on land that we will wash once on the ship.

 

not a hassle if you pack smart and strategically so you aren't emptying your suitcase nightly.

For my kids they had 1 gallon ziploc bags with their daily clothes-- just have to pull out one bag from the suitcase for next day. We also had a separate suitcase for dirty clothes.

For me - instead of folding my shirts all together and shorts or pants all together-

I have outfits stacked in the suitcase so I don't rummage thru everything to the bottom of suitcase to find socks, etc.

this is the first summer in a few years we don't have an Alaska cruise tour booked :(

[geoherb]

The Princess personnel move the luggage from room to room for the regular cruise tours as well. It's not just for the Connoisseur tours.

[caribill]

how much of a hassle it is to keep moving your luggage between lodges?...that's one of the many things we like about cruises and not having to move, pack, unpack.

 

I know there is something about sending a bag straight to the ship..but that may not be much for us as we don't do formal night on board with a suit, etc

 

We usually travel with on regular suitcase each.

 

For the tour part of our cruise tour, we put what we did not need on the tour into one suitcase and had that one sent to the ship. We then shared the other suitcase on the tour. One suitcase meant less to unpack/pack and less space taken up in the room each night.

 

By the way. Initially you will have all your luggage at the first lodge. When you leave that lodge is when you use the tags to indicate which go to the ship and which stay on the tour.