Post Cruise Land in Alaska Infomation

[sabrefan]

Have recently booked an Alaska cruise for June 2021, Vancouver to Seward. Also have booked the post cruise land portion that goes to Denali NP. Just wondering if anyone did this during the 2019 Alaska travel season and what you thought of this?

[SantaFe1]

We have booked the Denali Explorer as a pre-cruise in August of this year.  Then we leave from Seward.  I too would love to hear what people thought of it.  If no one else responds, Sabrefan, ask again the end of August and I will tell you about our experience.

[philw1776]

Did Denali pre cruise but on Silversea this last August.
I expect you will take the dome train North to Denali.  An experience not to be missed!
Inside Denali transportation is in a bus looking like a school bus but with better seats.  All day tour.
We stayed at Grand Denali Lodge.  Convenient.  Rooms seem to be from the late 70s era but clean.  Dinners were absolutely excellent.  Fresh food well prepared.  We split an entree each evening.
Our land package had a night at the spectacular Alyeska Resort and several nice extras best of which was a different train ride along the ocean coast to our ship docked in Seward.

 

[dd57]

We did a similar excursion - Fairbanks to Seward before embarkation.  I think it is called the Pristi e Alaska excursion.  We had never before done an organized land tour through a cruiseline and were not sure what to expect.  We were very happy with the trip.  Viking kept us very busy the whole way.

 

Your first day will be from the ship to Talkeetna. It is a very long day in the bus.  We stopped at Alyeska resort and rode the gondola to the top.  We were given food vouchers and had about 1.5 hours to eat and walk around.  We also drove around Anchorage for a panoramic tour.  Since you will be going back to Anchorage,  you might not do this part.  

 

We spent more time in Talkeetna and had both a jet boat ride and a discussion session with a bush pilot and a woman who climbed Denali twice.  We also went to a place where dogs are raised for the Iditarod by a man who has won the race multiple times.  The jet boat ride was nothing special, but the 2 other sessions were very interesting. 

 

The Predator/Prey discussion was done by a professor and was also very interesting.   The same professor went with us on the next day's trip into Denali and talked more on the subject at the stops we made.

 

We did the train from Fairbanks to Denali, while you will be going from Denali to Anchorage.  The train was fun, the food was pretty good, and it was nice to be able to walk around.

 

Throughout the driving days, our tour director and our driver would talk about life in Alaska as well as what we were about to see and do.  They would stop at rest areas or shopping malls to break up long drives.

 

The hotel in Talkeetna was very nice.  The one in Denali was .... basic.  Our tour director kept referring to the land excursion as the adventure portion of our vacation.  The restaurant at the hotel in Talkeetna was very good.  But the place they took us to in Denali for the salmon bbq was terrible.  In our surveys we recommended that Viking find another place. Hopefully your experience will be better.

 

The entire trip was well organized and smoothly run.

 

Let me know if you have other questions. 

[dwlmg]

We have booked the Pristine Alaska post cruise in June of 2021.  Looking at the return flights, it appears everything going to Seattle leaves Fairbanks around 12:30 am.  Is this what people do or do you fly to Anchorage and then on from there?  We live on the shore in Maryland.  It will be a long time getting home.

[DaveSJ711]

1 hour ago, dwlmg said:

We have booked the Pristine Alaska post cruise in June of 2021.  Looking at the return flights, it appears everything going to Seattle leaves Fairbanks around 12:30 am.  Is this what people do or do you fly to Anchorage and then on from there?  We live on the shore in Maryland.  It will be a long time getting home.

 

I lived in Anchorage during the 1980s and took many red-eye flights to get out of the state.  The flights that go from Fairbanks to Seattle arrive in the early a.m. -- this allows sufficient time to connect with flights to the Midwest and the East Coast.

 

Flights out of Anchorage in the summer offer more non-stop options, e.g. to Chicago.  I'm not familiar with non-stops from Fairbanks other than to Seattle.

 

Yes, it will take a long time for you to get home, but that's because Alaska and Maryland aren't exactly next-door neighbors.  Enjoy your trip. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by DaveSJ711

[duquephart]

The train ride from Anchorage to Denali is spectacular as is the bus from Anchorage to Seward. The bus ride in the park even more so. Put all thoughts of seeing the mountain out of your mind. Visit Aurora Dora in Talkeetna.

[Mcconvi0208]

We booked our flights last week for the June 25  flight home to the New York area! We did book the 12:30 am flight home which means we do have most of the day to hang around! Our flight goes to Seattle and then to JFK! Our agent said that Viking should be able to adjust our schedule so that we do not have to hangout at the airport?

We booked our flights on our own because we wanted to be guaranteed a seat that was not directly next to someone! So we splurged and are flying 1st class for our first time! Not sure how this coronavirus will be then?