Alaska cruise tours questions

[gb88]

My sister and I are planning an August Alaskan cruisetour and have questions about the differences between "on your own", "off the beaten path", “Denali Explorer”, or "Connoisseur Escorted tours".  What is provided with each of these categories?  We are wanting to do the land portion first and are also wondering if we should do 3 days, 4 days or 5 days.  This summer it appears that the Grand Princess is the primary ship that is handling these land portion first cruises.  That's a fairly old ship (1998) and wonder about how updated this ship is compared to all the new ships on other routes.  Lots of questions.....and hoping to take advantage of Princess' Cyber sale, which ends on December 10th.

[Thrak]

Our first cruise was a 10 day SF/Alaska with no land tour. We loved it. The next time we went to Alaska was a 13 day Connoisseur cruise tour. We absolutely loved it. The next trip to Alaska was a 7 week camping trip up to Fairbanks in a teardrop trailer 2 years ago. Fantastic. The last time was a 15 day Connoisseur cruise tour. Again, we absolutely loved it. I can't give you any advice about the other tours but I can tell you the Connoisseur cruise tours are fantastic. All transportation and lodging is taken care of for you. You travel on your own group's motor coach or in your own group's rail car. On the train we got lunch and a couple of drinks.

 

Our first tour was 13 days and visited Denali lodge and McKinley lodge. The one we took this year included Denali lodge, Copper River Lodge, and Kenai Lodge. We wanted those last two specifically even though we knew it would involve two very long days on a bus as they are so far apart.

 

The connoisseur tour included a number of excursions such as the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali, the gold dredge and the riverboat in Fairbanks, etc. We had a very nice dinner in Fairbanks just for our group. Great food and beer/wine were included. Several different wines with the courses. We also had a great private breakfast in Fairbanks. At the lodges breakfast and dinner are included. At the Denali lodge you can have whatever you like in the restaurant for dinner. My wife gets the crab dinner. I think it's around $60 if you pay for it. You get an appetizer, dinner, and desert. Alcohol is not included. You have a choice of dining venues for breakfast and dinner at that lodge. For the most part lunch is not included at the lodges.

 

We love the connoisseur packages but they are definitely more expensive. If you do it on your own I highly recommend that you upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali rather than the taking the Natural History Tour. The difference is worth the extra cost.

 

For an old but still relevant thread by caribill about the connoisseur tour go HERE. It's worth the read and gives a lot of information.

[WisCruiser2]

The differences between the cruisetours are summarized here: https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/cruisetour-options/

I would say go for the longest land portion you can afford that goes to the places you want. The ship available depends on the date of sailing, so if you are locked into a particular timeframe, that's the ship you'll get.

We've done two cruisetours and liked doing the land first and then the southbound cruise for two reasons - our longer travel day was at the beginning, as was living out of a suitcase while staying at different places. Then once on the ship we could unpack for the week.

We did not do a conoisseur tour, just ate a d paid for what we wanted at the Lodges or elsewhere.

Whatever you choose, have a wonderful time!

[geoherb]

You can check out the menus for the different lodges to help you determine if the Connoisseur option is worth it in terms of how much you would spend on food. We took the Denali Explorer cruise tour and loved it. We flew to Fairbanks and had five nights before our cruise. I'm not sure I'd want to do any fewer nights. 

[John99]

Greetings gb88,

 

We (retirees) booked an Alaska Cruise/Tour for July 2020 on the Grand Princess.  This will be our 3^rd cruise/tour in Alaska.  We’re looking forward to taking the train because we really enjoy the ride.  Plus, the train coaches have been greatly upgraded since we last travelled. This would be for our 50^th wedding anniversary gift.  In the past Alaska trips, we used the train exclusively for the land portion.  Things have changed since the last time we were here (2004 & 2008).  Currently, our cruise/tour is a combination of both motor coach and train travel.  North bound (out of Anchorage) by motor coach.  Then south bound by train.

 

Thrak has many good suggestions. I would second the idea (by Thrak) of taking the Tundra Wilderness in Denali.  We have 2 nights at the Denali Princess Lodge for our 3^rd Cruise/Tour next summer.

Princess includes the “Natural History Tour” (3 hours) in our package.  A $115 value per person.

We are not interested in this tour and will switch to the “Tundra Wilderness Tour”.

Princess web site does not offer the Tundra Wilderness Tour (8/9 hours) – “not available schedule conflict”.  You will have to call or have your TA make the change.  Again, plan on two nights at Denali Lodge if interested. In the past, we have taken this tour (twice) and really like nature, beautiful mountain vistas, wild animals and more. Outstanding tour!

 

Grand Princess recently had a dry dock 2019 in Portland, Oregon

Below is a list of some of the upgrades and/or repairs:

 

Re upholster lounge chairs in Explorer's, Crooner's, Wheelhouse, Crown Grill, Library, and Snookers. 

New information screens throughout elevator lobbies

New bathtubs in staterooms

New sofas for Explorer's and Crooner's 

Replace Mini-suite sleeper sofas 

Replace astro turf deck covering on upper decks 

Replace

Horizon Court

carpeting and tiles 

Replace Wheelhouse Dance floor 

Refurbish elevator interiors

Repair/Refinish beverage station cabinets in

Horizon Court

 

New carpeting in the dining rooms and Crooner's. 

New carpeting in hallways

Refurbish swimming pools

General maintenance and upkeep

Painted hull of ship

New propellers

New hot tub tiling around both Calypso and Neptune pools

Ocean Medallion wiring install (not active until subsequent dry-dock in 2021/2022)

SHIP SYSTEMS: Inspection and repair of propellers, exchangers, propulsion as well as hot and cold water lines.

 

Hope this helps, John

 

 

 

 

[frugaltravel]

You can also cancel the natural history tour and book the transit shuttle bus to Eielson instead. You need to take Princess' free shuttle from the lodge to the bus depot but the transit shuttle costs less than the natural history tour and goes further than the tundra tour. Almost all shuttle drivers give commentary and the shuttle buses are usually not as crowded as the tour buses. Plus you cen get off and walk around or spend more time at the Eielson visitor center and take and other shuttle bus back to the entrance. Same road and same chances to see wildlife and scenery. Actually greater chance to see wildlife on the shuttle bus since it goes further than the tundra tour and in prime bear habitat.

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by frugaltravel

[caribill]

Whether you book the land part with Princess or do it on your own, I sugegst two nights at each lodge.

 

If only one night there, you will spend much of your time traveling between lodges with little time at the lodge to enjoy possible tours.

[John99]

Frugaltravel gave some really good advice.  Cancel the Natural History Tour and take the Tundra Wilderness tour (7/8 hours).  Also, I agree with Caribill comments – you need two nights in Denali at a minimum.

I would like to expand on bus trips into Denali  National Park.     

 

Types of Bus Trips: Tour vs. Transit

You should understand the nature of bus trips into Denali before booking anything.

There are two main types of buses in Denali - narrated trips (tour buses) and non-narrated trips (transit buses). In addition, free buses travel routes around the park entrance, connecting visitor centers and points of interest in the same area where visitors may drive their own vehicles.

 

Non-narrated transit buses

Cheaper than tour buses, and more flexible in that you may disembark / re-board anywhere along the road, these are called transit buses. Transit bus drivers aim to help you experience the park on your own terms which some people prefer.  These buses stop for wildlife viewing, restroom stops and beautiful scenery, just like tour buses. There are four choices of non-narrated trips, of varying length.

 

Narrated tour buses

Your driver is your narrator on the tour buses, and he or she will provide a detailed and captivating program to accompany your journey along the  

Denali Park Road 

Tour buses make the same restroom stops as the non-narrated buses, and of course will pause for views of wildlife and scenery. All tours offer either a snack or full box lunch. There are three tour bus options, of varying length.
Note: narrated tour bus departures vary a little bit day to day, so there is no master schedule for tour buses.

Free buses

Three types of free buses operate on the publicly-drivable portion of the 

Denali Park Road 

These enable visitors without vehicles, or those who wish to leave their vehicle behind, to travel between various facilities, trails, campgrounds and day-use areas. All of these are free, and none require reservations.

 

The National Park Service does not operate any of these tours. Questions concerning departure times, ticket refunds, etc., should be directed to Doyon/Aramark Joint Venture, the concessionaire who operates these tours.  Check out their web-site for detailed info.
Reservations for bus trips are made through the bus concessionaire, Doyon/Aramark Joint Venture. You can buy bus tickets online or call 1-800-622-7275.

Regards, John

[Thrak]

One thing to note regarding bus travel and wildlife viewing: Often it is the case that the majority of the bus may not have the best view of the wildlife or the wildlife may be a bit far away. On the Tundra Wilderness Tour our bus had viewing screens throughout the vehicle. The driver had a video camera that displayed on those screens. When we were viewing a grizzly the driver was able to zoom in and give everybody a great view. When a lynx ran across the road the driver, my wife, and I got a great view but nobody else did. (We were in the front seats on the opposite side from the driver.) The lynx then stopped in the vegetation on the other side of the road and hid there. The driver was able to get excellent views of it with the camera and everybody could watch the lynx and check it out until it suddenly jumped up and ran off. Everybody could see that happen as well. Seeing a lynx is not real common so it was pretty cool. On our previous time doing this tour we had a wolf (again, not common) trot alongside the road and then jump up on the road behind the bus. The driver just let it roll back down the road and followed the wolf. Everybody got a really great view of the wolf trotting beside the road due to the camera - and of course half of the people were on the proper side of the bus.