Princess Land Tours

[cusematt4]

Hi all,

 

We've never done a land tour pre or post cruise with Princess.

 

I see on their website where each of the tours stop and for how many nights each would be for.

 

Do the land tours include any excursions?  Do they include some or all meals?

 

Do certain tours include more or less than others in terms of if we'd need to book additional and on our own excursions / meals vs if some or all are included?

 

Thank you.

[Coral]

Unless you book the Connoisseur tours - they don't include meals.

[frugaltravel]

If you book a Princess land tour, just be absolutely certain that you know what you are booking.  Glad that you are already asking great questions.  Princess Alaska cruises are great.  But IMHO their land tours leave something to be desired.  For example, most of their land tours include the Natural History Tour - a tour you could replicate 90% of by yourself at no cost and it only goes 17 miles into the park (vs. 43 miles for the Tundra Wilderness Tour or the East Fork transit shuttle).

 

Also, the McKinley Princess Lodge is in the middle of nowhere, almost 1 hour drive each way to Talkeetna.  Fine if you know that when you book, but many people think it is near the entrance to Denali NP (it is a 2-3 hour drive from the park entrance).

 

[Sweet Dreams]

We just booked our first land tour for 2024 Italy and followed by cruise on Sun Princess to Greece. Any place I can find what star level of hotels Princess books? I have not been able to find very much info but am putting my trust in the descriptions which is about all I have for now. 

[skynight]

Some information. You really need to be more specific about which tours you are searching. Alaska? There are loads of selections. A few do have meals. Princess has their own hotels. Most meals are on your own and are expensive. Hotel meal plans may be available. Guide is with you if you select guided tour. 

Australia? Great tours. Top end hotels. Some breakfasts in the hotels were included. Some other meals included. Some you are on your own. No time during the tour to book extra tours on your own. Guide is with you the entire time. 

Land tours are one big excursion. 

[voljeep]

hard to follow, what, 4 threads about this ...

[Micahs Grandad]

We did a connosieur tour for Alaska and was great.

 

Dinners were included including a tour director who travelled with us and handled any issues.

 

We went way into Denali would say at least 50 miles, could have hopped onto another bus to go the rest of the way but we chose not to.

 

Was expensive but glad we did it.

[dns65]

1 hour ago, Sweet Dreams said:

We just booked our first land tour for 2024 Italy and followed by cruise on Sun Princess to Greece. Any place I can find what star level of hotels Princess books? I have not been able to find very much info but am putting my trust in the descriptions which is about all I have for now. 

 

Doing the Classic Italy Cruise tour in October.  We have the following hotels listed in the travel summary, not sure at what point they add them in.  You may want to check if yours lists the hotels.  Our tour includes breakfast every day and one lunch and one dinner.  Again this was all in the Travel Summary

 

• STARHOTEL SPLENDID VENICE
• HOTEL ALBANI FIRENZE
• HOTEL NH COLLECTION ROMA CENTRO

[Ken the cruiser]

We're getting ready to go on a Canada land-cruise combination in a few weeks on the Caribbean Princess, which I will also be posting some of our experiences to a Live From thread. Here's what the agenda for the land portion looks like. Also, from what I can tell the only meal furnished is a buffet breakfast each morning at the hotel we stayed at the previous evening:

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[NavyVeteran]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We're getting ready to go on a Canada land-cruise combination in a few weeks on the Caribbean Princess, which I will also be posting some of our experiences to a Live From thread. Here's what the agenda for the land portion looks like. Also, from what I can tell the only meal furnished is a buffet breakfast each morning at the hotel we stayed at the previous evening:

 

 

 

You also have one lunch and two dinners included. Note the (B, L, D) information for each day - it lists the included meals.

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

You also have one lunch and two dinners included. Note the (B, L, D) information for each day - it lists the included meals.

Cool! Thanks for pointing those out! 😁

[Paula_MacFan]

On 9/26/2023 at 1:31 PM, dns65 said:

 

Doing the Classic Italy Cruise tour in October.  We have the following hotels listed in the travel summary, not sure at what point they add them in.  You may want to check if yours lists the hotels.  Our tour includes breakfast every day and one lunch and one dinner.  Again this was all in the Travel Summary

 

• STARHOTEL SPLENDID VENICE
• HOTEL ALBANI FIRENZE
• HOTEL NH COLLECTION ROMA CENTRO

@dns65 Did you enjoy your Classic Italy Cruise Tour?  We're thinking of booking one on the new Sun for fall of 2025.  I'd love to hear any feedback you have on the trip.  Thanks!

[mya603]

On 9/26/2023 at 12:36 PM, Micahs Grandad said:

We did a connosieur tour for Alaska and was great.

 

Dinners were included including a tour director who travelled with us and handled any issues.

 

We went way into Denali would say at least 50 miles, could have hopped onto another bus to go the rest of the way but we chose not to.

 

Was expensive but glad we did it.

I'm looking into doing the connosieur tour for Alaska.  I've done the Denali Explorer tour twice.  But wanted to try the connosieur.  So in your opinion it's worth it?

 

[Micahs Grandad]

2 hours ago, mya603 said:

I'm looking into doing the connosieur tour for Alaska.  I've done the Denali Explorer tour twice.  But wanted to try the connosieur.  So in your opinion it's worth it?

 

Worth it for sure, wanted to spend more time in Alaska and it worked out very well.

[suekel]

We did a land tour to Machu Picchu last year.  Everything was included.  Hotels were 5 star.  Tour guides were amazing. 

[georgetheblue]

Worth to me.  Your tour director handles everything except your carry on.  If there are any issues, they will handle it.  They make dinner reservations for the time you want and if you choose to eat with others in your group or not.  If you do not like your room location, they will handle it.  They are very knowledgeable and entertaining during the bus rides etc.  I love the voucher system, it has the room key, meal and excursion vouchers. Last time at the beginning of the tour there was a group wine paired dinner in a private room in Fairbanks. My next tour begins in Copper River so they may do it at the end in Fairbanks. Loved it