planning July 28th SB cruise Whittier to Vancouver, 4 days on our own...

[savannah2117]

We are in the process of planning our July 28thSB Alaska cruise on the Star Princess. I’ve found many helpful posts onCC and thought I’d share where we are in the planning process. We are doing a 4night land on our own before boarding the Star on Saturday evening in Whittier.I’ll try to keep it brief—

 

 

We are in our mid 50’s and have cruised before in theCaribbean, this is our first time to Alaska. We enjoy meeting people andlike to stay in bed and breakfasts when possible so that we can have a more personal experience. We are definitely budget minded but aresplurging on some quality experiences on this vacation—it’s our 30thwedding anniversary. 😊

 

 

We are flying Alaska Air on a Tuesday evening, we arrive inAnchorage at 10pm. (snagged a buy one get one free deal through Alaskaair. Total RT cost for 2 adults from Omaha—Anchorage—Seattle—Omaha is $680.) We are getting a 4 day rental car (an older SUV Lexus from TURO for atotal of $388) He is meeting us at the airport and was flexible with drop offtimes as well.

1st night, staying at the Alaskan Frontiers GardenB and B, we were able to book this through our credit card points so it wasfree! (10,400 points)

Thursday- driving to Girdwood Bike Adventures –this is aprivate fat tire bicycle tour, we asked to see the coolest stuff in the area,including riding the trail along the TurnAgain Arm , afterwards we’lllikely eat at the Bake Shop and stop by the Girdwood Brewery for a fewsamples.

Moving on…we drive 70 miles up to Palmer, stop at ThunderbirdFalls for a short hike up to see the waterfall, ( approx.. 45 minutes) Arrive at the Snowgoose Pond Bed and Breakfast for the next 3 nights. This place looks awesome, it was built in 2017 and looks like Joanna Gaine’shouse!! We are getting a king sized room with view and a huge, homemadebreakfast each morning for $130 per night. I’ve already had several emailinteractions with the owner and I think this is going to be one of our favoritehighlights of our trip. Can’t wait!!!

 

Thursday: we are planning on hiking the Matanuska Glacier inthe morning, ($30 per person or $100 if we decide to do a guided tour) and thenwe are doing a 2pm white water rafting trip through NOVA. ($109 perperson) . plan to have dinner somewhere in the area.

 

 

Friday: Signed up for the Knik Glacier Tour—this tour startsout in a hummer-type truck and drives through the river, then we get on anairboat and get to the glacier. The website is sparse but the reviews onTripAdvisor and the pictures are amazing! He has been extremelyresponsive to my emails, I think it is $150 per person. He also told mewe could use kayaks at the glacier for an extra $50, weather permitting. (thisis on my Alaska bucket list)

After this tour, (about 2-3pm) we are going the FridayFling, the Palmer Farmer’s Market. They are suppose to have lots ofvendors, crafts, local music, food, ect. We plan to take a brewery tourat 6pm in Palmer at the brewery for $5, this is a 30 minute tour with samples.

 

 

Saturday: yet to be determined, perhaps fish inAnchorage or go to Eklutna Lake for kayaking ( $40 for 2 hours) and hiking—Weneed to return our rental car and catch our bus to Whittier by 3pm. ( ACT bigbus, $40 per person)

 

 

We should be on the Star by about 530pm. Plan: go to 6pmdinner in the dining room. We like the dining room and will eat there eachevening. We are also wanting to try The Sanctuary for a ½ day, we have aninside cabin on the Lido deck, we thought we’d enjoy the Sanctuary for glacierviewing and a little spoiling.

 

 

Tuesday is Skagway. We have a 2018 Harley Davidson reservedat Skagway Scooters to ride up to Emerald Lake. (back up car isreserved) This is a huge splurge but I’ve read about how amazing the trainis, ---we think seeing that scenery from the view of a motorcycle willamp it up even more! We plan to take our time and stop whenever wewant. We are also planning on visiting Michelle Phillips summer dog campto see the sled dogs and do a cart adventure. I believe she mostly hasprivate tours but I contacted her and she said we were free to come on ourown. Yea!!!!! Puppies to cuddle.

 

 

Wednesday- Juneau—we have a whale watching tour with AlaskaHumpback Adventures. It is a small boat, (max 6) that had AMAZING reviewson TripAdvisor. The captain/owner Steve has been extremely responsivewith emails. I believe he used to work at Harv and Marv’s and started hisown company. This excursion looks amazing. He said he would justtake us two out, even if he didn’t get more bookings. (feel free to joinus on August 1st!) After the tour, (we’ll be done at 1130am) we might either goto Mendenhall glacier or perhaps get a tandem bike and explore Douglas Islandfor a couple of hours. (might need a rain backup plan.)

 

 

 

Thursday- Ketchikan – nothing planning in the morning. Wehave a 3pm flight with Island Wings with Michelle, super excited!!! She hasamazing reviews on TripAdvisor as well.

 

 

Saturday- Vancouver—we are doing a 5 hour city biketour that we also booked through our credit card points. This looksamazing as well. We need to be at the Amtrak train by 5pm to headto Seattle. ($40 per person) We are then spending the night at ahotel in Seattle and fly (nonstop) back to Omaha at 1030am. ( side note, it was $400 more and a 13 hour flight to flyfrom Vancouver to Omaha, this little Amtrak addition seemed to be a nobrainer.

 

 

As far as packing and clothes, I’m planning on bringing acouple pairs of leggings, a couple of pairs of jeans, hiking boots, fashionboots, tennis shoes, a couple of dresses with black wedges. I have2 pairs of cute colored jeans I think I will dress up for a couple of nightsand dress down with sweatshirts and tennis shoes during the day.

 

We are getting a coffee card and a couple buckets of beerfor the DH, I don’t drink much, I prefer to eat my calories! Also, I hadread about people bringing a bag of candy for the kitchen guys and “behind thescene workers” so I’m going to do that as well as bring a little personalgift, (maybe Nebraska homemade beef jerkey) for the tour guides and my B&Bhostesses. I enjoy bringing little gifts to people, we did thiswhen we went to Hawaii and it was well received. We have alreadyprepaid our tips but will surely leave additional tips for our servers and roomsteward.

 

I'm sure there is more to plan...but this is my tenative schedule.

[AKStafford]

The Matanuska Glacier: You will not get very far without a guide... pay the extra money for a great experience.

Dinner in Palmer: Humdinger's Gourmet Pizza or the Inn Cafe & Steakhouse are my favorites.

On your way to the Knik Glacier trip: right after the old bridge across the Matanuska you are on Knik River Road. About a half mile up watch for an old wood sign on the right for Pioneer Falls. Turn right at the next road, which looks like a driveway. Park and start walking up the trails .You can go quite a ways along the creek/falls.

[ollienbertsmum]

The Matanuska Glacier: You will not get very far without a guide... pay the extra money for a great experience.

 

I was there last week and this was my thought too. You need a guide and the equipment to get around safely. Nova will give you a discount if you book the trek and rafting with them. Both are fun.

 

We did the whale watch in Juneau. You see the Mendenhall Glacier from the water - we felt no need to go and visit. We were sort of glaciered out by this point in the cruise.

 

We were a little scared of bears at the start, but in the end I wished I had walked more trails.In Skagway our trek to Lower Dewey lake and Yakatunia point were really nice. I wish we had been able to go out first thing and get to Upper Dewey but we were waiting for the girls to finish a Zipline. I am still in Vancouver but I will do a trip review when I get home.

[savannah2117]

I was wondering about the guided Matanuska glacier piece. We' ll plan on doing that. I also wondered if after doing 2 glaciers with a small group and walking on them, , that the Mendenhall would be less impressive--it would be the last of the three. That makes me lean more towards biking on Douglas Island if the weather cooperates. I'm going to check out that pioneer falls trail. That is the EXACT information I was hoping for. BTW, sorry, as I read my post this morning, the spacing is really messed up, I didn't notice that last night and I can't figure out how to edit it after it posts. I'd get a F in English class!!

 

Also, does anyone know of any other places to ride the motorcycle after we get back from Emerald Lake--if we still have time and want to keep going? I think we have to return it by 6pm and the ship doesn't leave that day until 8pm

Edited July 5, 2018 by savannah2117

[Budget Queen]

You need to book Matanuska guided tours in advance. You can have long waits for walk ups. Not considering. Hope, Portage, Whittier, etc etc?