Alaska - first time cruise and possible land tour

[cusematt4]

Hi all - we are in the process of planning a possible first time trip to Alaska.  We are leaning towards going with Princess and are looking at the Grand or Sapphire from Anchorage to Alaska.

 

Does anoyne have a recommendation for a pre-cruise Princess land tour?  We would only want to do either 3 nights or 4 nights max, prior to the cruise.

 

It seems like there are over 50 options for Princess-organized pre or post cruise tours.  Has anyone done research as to which would be the best pre-cruise Alaska tour among the 3 or 4 night options?

 

Also, are there any advantages to doing both a Princess land tour combined with a Princess Alaska cruise?  Does Princess offer any specials/discounts for doing a land tour and cruise with them, opposed to only doing one of these with them?

 

As for airfire if we do a land tour + cruise - are there any deals or advantages to having Princess take care of the airefare as well?  We typically always book air on our own, but if there are pricing advantages/specials to do all 3 (air + land tour + cruise) with Princess, we would definitely prefer the best deal and offers.

 

Thank you.

[Northern Aurora]

Just a few random thoughts ---

 

Instead of a cruise line sponsored land tour have you considered a DIY land portion?  They are not difficult to organize and you see what you want to see.  

 

A number of the Princess land tours include Denali.  The single road into the park is closed at mile 42 as remediation is beginning to deal with the road sloughing off the side of a mountain.  It has been closed since August 2021 and construction has just began on the bridging project about ten days ago.  The National Park Service has indicated that they expect the road closure at mile to be in place through 2025.  I have always thought that folks who don't go into the park as far as Eielson Visitor's Center (mile 66) have short changed themselves.  

[oaktreerb]

  Since you seem to have chosen Princess as your cruise line you should get more information by asking on the Princess board.  There are a lot of options and the easiest options for first timers are through the cruise lines.  You may want to schedule your own flights but the cruise lines can do that, too.  You could also talk to an experienced travel advisor like the Three A’s car insurance TA’s.  

[Coral]

8 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

  Since you seem to have chosen Princess as your cruise line you should get more information by asking on the Princess board.  There are a lot of options and the easiest options for first timers are through the cruise lines.  You may want to schedule your own flights but the cruise lines can do that, too.  You could also talk to an experienced travel advisor like the Three A’s car insurance TA’s.  

I send people over to the Alaska board when they post questions about Alaska and Princess on the Princess board. The Princess board isn't very good with land options.

[Coral]

I personally would not do a 3-4 night tour with Princess. You will spend most of your time in-transit rather than seeing Alaska.

 

Maybe just go to Seward on your own and spend some time there. So much to do in this small community and it is easy to do on your own.

 

Plus - Denali road closure.

[lenquixote66]

Our second best vacation ever in nearly 60 years of traveling was to Alaska.We booked a two week tour with HAL .Week number 1 was a land tour with a Tour Guide that took us to Fairbanks ,Anchorage,Denali National Park and many other areas.We panned for gold,went dog sledding among other activities all included in the tour ,no additional cost.

The tour was by train and bus.

The second week was a cruise .We booked an OV cabin but got a free upgrade to a balcony.

[kamelia]

DH and I have become frequent cruisers to Alaska since our first trip there in 2011, and the first thing we tell everyone who asks us for advice is "do a cruisetour if you can."  Marine Alaska and Terrestrial Alaska are two vastly different environments, and it would be hard for me to pick one over the other.

 

As you’re deciding, I recommend downloading The Alaska App to see what’s available that appeals to you.  There is a LOT of information in that app, and it's especially helpful if you're on a road trip.  

 

We have done DIY land tours several times, but that was definitely easier to do once we had some familiarity after being on organized tours with Princess.  If you decide to pursue the DIY option, I suggest choosing a cruise that ends up in Anchorage, Whittier or Seward, then taking the ship transfer to downtown Anchorage and rent a car there.  Even if you end up driving back to accommodations in Seward, you’re still better off having your own car to be able to explore the area outside of the walkable “city” limits.

 

If you’re considering doing a cruisetour with Princess, you can go to www.princesslodges.com to take a look at each of the individual lodges, which includes an overview of the excursions that may be available to book during your stay.  Princess offers different lodge combinations within the 3-, 4-, 5+ day cruisetour options, so that might help narrow down your selection criteria.

 

I take the point that the Tundra Wilderness Tour at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge has been greatly impacted by the road closure, but we were just this morning going through pictures of both bear and moose that we saw last fall doing the shortened trip.  You won’t know what you’re missing, and you might also be pleasantly surprised if you decide to go back again once everything’s up and running to see what IS further down the road. 

 

Don’t forget to pack binoculars and a good camera, no matter what you end up deciding!  Enjoy!!!

[oaktreerb]

7 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Our second best vacation ever in nearly 60 years of traveling was to Alaska.We booked a two week tour with HAL .Week number 1 was a land tour with a Tour Guide that took us to Fairbanks ,Anchorage,Denali National Park and many other areas.We panned for gold,went dog sledding among other activities all included in the tour ,no additional cost.

The tour was by train and bus.

The second week was a cruise .We booked an OV cabin but got a free upgrade to a balcony.

The HAL cruise tours have changed a lot.  Only the Yukon cruise tours now have a “journey host” and they are a lot like the cruise tours of the past with a HAL tour guide.  Fortunately we took a variety of the HAL tours years ago with a tour guide and they included many great shared experiences and memories.  Today the Alaska/Denali tours operate without a guide due to great planning and staffing by HAL but they lack the variety of the past.

 

Congrats on the upgrade.  Now-a-days you may be offered an upsell!

[lenquixote66]

3 hours ago, oaktreerb said:

The HAL cruise tours have changed a lot.  Only the Yukon cruise tours now have a “journey host” and they are a lot like the cruise tours of the past with a HAL tour guide.  Fortunately we took a variety of the HAL tours years ago with a tour guide and they included many great shared experiences and memories.  Today the Alaska/Denali tours operate without a guide due to great planning and staffing by HAL but they lack the variety of the past.

 

Congrats on the upgrade.  Now-a-days you may be offered an upsell!

On the Danali tour the Guide was a college professor from Oregon who spent the latter part of May to mid August in Alaska.He gave the 30 of us on the bus books about Denali.He was fantastic.The tour was supposed to be 2 1/2 hours but it was actually 4.