Looking for Alaska cruisetour advice 15-17 day tours

[mommykim]

I am looking to book a cruisetour for next year and am looking for some advice from those of you who have done it. I am thinking of the 17 day because I want to visit Copper River but I also see they have a 15 day National Park explorer one. My main reason for doing this is to visit more of Alaska and most importantly the National Parks. Wondering what 15 - 17 day tours you've done and why it's better than others? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Torfamm]

I did a Princess Lodges rail tour that was completely separate from my cruise and loved it. I was glad we chose it instead of a cruisetour. There was no bus travel nor were there lots of organized group excursions or planned meals. We could pick the excursions we wanted at each lodge or book something on our own. To me it was the best of all worlds - hotels, train tickets and transfers arranged, leave luggage outside your door each departure morning and find it in your room at the next destination, but spend each day as you wish. To me, traveling every leg by train was way better than doing half by bus on a cruisetour.
 

https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-rail-tours/learn/

 

My suggestion would always be land first followed by the more relaxing cruise. You also usually have the longer flight first and end with the shorter flight home if you do a southbound cruise.

 

I chose this unescorted 6 night southbound tour from Fairbanks to Anchorage followed by 2 nights in Anchorage before a 7 night southbound cruise from Whittier and would highly recommend it. 

https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-tours/itinerary-3ts/?from_search_query=dG91clR5cGU9ZXhwbG9yZXImc2VhcmNoT25seT0w#3TS

 

A day trip we really enjoyed from Anchorage was hiking at the Matanuska Glacier. We did a transfer to Whittier that included a tour as well. Both were booked with Salmonberry Tours.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Torfamm

[mommykim]

18 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

I did a Princess Lodges rail tour that was completely separate from my cruise and loved it. I was glad we chose it instead of a cruisetour. There was no bus travel nor were there lots of organized group excursions or planned meals. We could pick the excursions we wanted at each lodge or book something on our own. To me it was the best of all worlds - hotels, train tickets and transfers arranged, leave luggage outside your door each departure morning and find it in your room at the next destination, but spend each day as you wish. To me, traveling every leg by train was way better than doing half by bus on a cruisetour.
 

https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-rail-tours/learn/

 

The only problem is I want to visit the Copper River Lodge and the only tour that does it is a self driving one that cannot actually reach it next year because the road is out. I called and was told I would have to do either the 15 or 17 guided tours to get to that lodge.

[cruisequeen4ever]

The Connoisseur one includes lovely, full, gourmet meals. It may cost more, but food is expensive here anyway. We’ve stayed at the Copper River Princess Lodge, and it was worth visiting. 

[Thrak]

We've booked 13 day and 15 day connoisseur cruise tours and loved them both. The 15 day included Princess lodges at Fairbanks, Denali, Copper River, and Kenai. It had a couple of loooooooooong coach rides but we loved it. At Copper river we reconnected with two lodge employees who had been on a 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise with us previously. A group of lodge employees were on the cruise for the cost of Port Fees and Taxes and they even had discounted drinks. My wife asked one of the guys we reconnected with at Copper river how much advance notice he had for that cruise. He said he finished the season at the lodge, went home to (I think) Pennsylvania, and got the notice that he could take the cruise for port fees and taxes if he could leave Los Angeles the next day. He jumped on it. 😁

 

Copper River is a nice lodge. We had been there once before when on a 7 week camping trip up to Fairbanks. It had been drizzling rain for a couple of days and I told my wife there was a Princess lodge not far from our campsite. We visited the lodge, had Irish Coffee, ordered lunch, then had another Irish Coffee while we sat in the lobby near the fire in the fireplace and read for another couple of hours. It was a wonderful break from the rain.

 

Our favorite lodge was was Kenai. The picture below is the deck of our room at that lodge. It also had a wood stove inside and there was lots of pre-cut wood available for the stove if needed. The view from the deck was awesome.

 

Note: The fat belly is far less now as I'm down 35 lbs since February and down more than that from when the picture was taken.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Thrak

[Worldtraveler 4727]

We LOVED the Connoisseur Tour: land and sea. This might help you decide....

 

 

[compozer]

1 hour ago, Worldtraveler 4727 said:

We LOVED the Connoisseur Tour: land and sea. This might help you decide....

 

Fantastic trip review!!!

 

 

[WisCruiser2]

We did the "Off the Beaten Path" cruisetour 5 years ago, and loved it! Haven't looked at the current offerings, but it ws 14 nights total. Started in Anchorage, went to Copper River (2 nights), Fairbanks (2 nights), Denali, and Mt. McKinley, before the Southbound cruise out of Whittier. There were two long bus days, broken up with stops, and the train from Denali to Talkeetna. Copper River was definitely our favorite lodge! We did a la carte meals, and took advantage of two local restaurants in Fairbanks. This tour also did the excursion on the Chena River (including the replica Athabaskan village) and the Gold Dredge - touristy, but enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The Natural History tour in Denali was also included. I second the recommendation to do the land portion first!

 

Maybe, if we ever can go back to Alaska, I'd try the Rail Tour... 

Edited August 15, 2023 by WisCruiser2
Added comment

[Thrak]

Here is an old thread by @caribill that helped us decide on our first connoisseur cruise tour.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1727858 cruise tour.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Thrak