which princess denali tour? Tundra Wilderness? Kantishna? or Natural History?

[nst22]

We have a choice of three different Denali Tundra Tours:  1) the 8 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour, which we are currently booked on 2) the 5 hour Denali Natural History Tour and 3) the 11-12 hour the Kantishna Experience.

Has anyone been on the Natural History or Kantishna tours?  Pros and cons?

8 hours seems long bus ride but we do want to see Denali and wildlife. I get the impression the Natural History version has more presentations and less nature and scenery. 

Thanks for your help.

[oaktreerb]

Are these options with different prices?  Of course the Kantishna is longer so you see more of the park and Eielson visitor center and Wonder Lake.  Tundra Wilderness Tour is shorter and turns back before Eielson and Wonder Lake.  The Natural History Tour is shortest and you will be fortunate if you see wildlife but you will get more of a history of the park.  You come to Denali to see wildlife so TWT is minimum.  Kantishna is the best for both wildlife and history.  There are also shuttle bus tours offered by the park service which are cheaper and just as informative if you get a good driver.  

 

Look at the tours offered on nps.gov for Denali to see the differences.  The long bus ride doesn’t seem so long if it is a nice day and you are seeing wildlife.  

[BullyLvr]

We did the Tundra Wilderness Tour in late May 2017.  IIRC, we had to pay a bit extra to upgrade from The Natural History but felt it was well worth it.  It was a long day but didn’t feel like it was too long   We did get to see some moose, sheep and lots of other wildlife. The boxed lunch they included had a lot of food in it.  One disappointment (which we knew of in advance) was that many of the free tours as well as the husky demonstrations had not started yet at the visitor center when we returned from the tour, as it was too early in the season. 

[AKStafford]

None of the above. Use the shuttles and go at least as far as the Eielson Visitor Center. Same road, same views, much cheaper: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

[Mommydust]

On 4/22/2019 at 4:15 PM, AKStafford said:

None of the above. Use the shuttles and go at least as far as the Eielson Visitor Center. Same road, same views, much cheaper: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

AK - I'd like to follow your advice for our upcoming Princess Cruisetour in early September. Can you tell me how I might get from our Princess hotel to the NPS Denali transit?