Kenai Fjords

[shellsanibel]

Hope I'm in the correct forum....if not please direct me. Doing 7night cruise Sept. 2019 northbound into Seward. Planning for 8-10 people. Was planning on doing HAL 3 or 4 night landtour for sake of it being easier with all those people but everyone is so adamant that it is so much better, cheaper and easy to plan on your own that I'm going to try to plan an itinerary for everyone and see if it works out. Would like to see Denali as well. Few specific questions:

1.From seward, is it easier/better to take train to anchorage and rent cars there or is it better to rent cars in Seward. Don't mind driving.....more interested in if we would see more in a car than on a train(from Seward to Anchorage) and where it might be cheaper to rent cars.

2.Is there anyway to get a deal on rental cars(will probably need 2 mini vans). They are so expensive.

3.I read great things about Kenai Fjords Natl. park wildlife and glacier cruise. We would like to do whale watching, flightseeing, helicopter tour with glacier landing as shore excursions while on the cruise(plan on doing independent well rated tours). Should we still take time to do the Kenai Fjords cruise or will we see similar things that we have seen on our excursions?

4.We are well aware that our cruise does not go to Hubbard glacier(we go to Glacier Bay) and we are experiencing FOMO but we are sold on our particular cruise and cruise line. Is there any other shore excursion or tour that we can do once on land that would be as good as seeing Hubbard Glacier? Or are we over rating Hubbard?

5.The cruise line sends you to Denali on that scenic train.......will we see more in a car or should we book train? Not too interested in doing touristy things(goldmining, dog sledding) and not enough time to hike for hours so we mainly want to admire scenery and wildlife. Once again...don't mind driving, just want to make sure we see all that we can. I imagine there are beautiful stops if we drive?

6. Is there really a huge difference in the tundra tour vs. the hop on shuttle bus once at Denali? We are going September. Two concerns......the bus tour sounds really long and little leary that if weather is bad that no one will be hopping on and off should we decide to get off...... sounds like we might not get back on?

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions as I get down to the nitty gritty. Thank you very much

[mapleleaves]

When in Sept ? You DO realize that the buses into Denali start winding down mid August and END around Sept 12th ish. Verify the dates on the park web site. www.reservedenali.com

 

I would really reconsider this time period. You might luck out and have decent weather but after mid August you take the risk of fall storms and they can be brutal..... driving winds, heavy rain and cold. I've been weathered out of the Kenai boat trip twice due to bad weather in August. The one time we made it out was spectacular, but if you only have a day, be sure to have back up plans.

 

3 or 4 nights is not a lot of time to include a day in Seward AND a trip to Denali, and taking the train to Denali would really slow you down ..... there's only 1 departure per day from Anchorage and it's an 8 hr journey. If you want to experience the train, the Seward - Anchorage leg is the most scenic. The train tracks parallel the road for the most part but there's one section where the tracks go inland and you have spectacular views of glaciers.

 

As for driving, it's about 130 miles, 3 hrs from Seward to Anchorage. 240 miles and 5 hrs from Anchorage to Denali. (talkeetna is the halfway point between Anc and Denali)

 

 

 

The Denali tour buses and shuttle buses travel the same road, stop at the same rest areas, and stop for wildlife. I always take the shuttle. I don't hike. I either buy a ticket to Wonder Lake or to Eielson Visitor Center. So far I've only gone as far as EVC as I've never had a clear day. For me the time flies by. I prefer an 8am ish departure, arriving at EVC around noon, enjoy my sack lunch during the 40 minute stop, then about 3 1/2 hrs back to the entrance.

 

A one way car rental is expensive and would be the best use of your time but Hertz is the only option in Seward. Booking this summer for 2019 might net you some savings. A RT rental out of Anchorage would be the cheapest option, but you need to compare the cost of a) 10 transfers to Anchorage plus RT rental, VS b) one way rental car from Hertz.

[AKStafford]

2.Is there anyway to get a deal on rental cars(will probably need 2 mini vans). They are so expensive.

This won't help you much, but the deals on rental cars for Alaska were back in November... Once you get past January, the prices just go up and availability goes down. Maybe check here: https://ineedacarrental.com/ . They are in Anchorage, so you'd have to get there first for pick up.

 

5.The cruise line sends you to Denali on that scenic train.......will we see more in a car or should we book train?

The train tracks and highway follow the same route to Denali. Driving is faster and gives you the option to stop as you like. Plus, once you get to Denali having the rental car gives you more options for lodging and dining.

 

6. Is there really a huge difference in the tundra tour vs. the hop on shuttle bus once at Denali?

There's a huge difference in cost. Details are here: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm . And when in September? All buses stop on September 13th.

[Northern Aurora]

Just want to emphasize that three or four nights on land won't give you as much time as your may think. A one-way car rental out of Seward will be quite costly, so if you decide not to spend time in Seward you may consider the cruise-contracted early morning train transfer or a motor coach transfer to Anchorage. Your cruise line most likely will have motor coach transfers, but there are also private companies who will also convey the group to Anchorage. Just use the CC search function. Since Denali seems to be on your priority list consider picking up the vehicles in Anchorage and heading toward Denali. There are various options for interesting stops along the way. And as someone who lives in Alaska I think that folks who opt not to go into Denali National Park as far as the Eielson Visitor's Center are short-changing themselves.