Alaskan pre tour southbound

[travelmama06]

We are interested in doing an Alaskan southbound cruise and we are debating on going on a pre cruise tour for 5 - 7 days ?

does anyone have any experience with this  pre cruise tour with ncl jewel ? 
any info or suggestions would be appreciated !

[julig22]

If you go to the search box at the top of the page and enter cruisetour you'll find several previous discussions.

I did a 7-day tour many years ago, thought it was good.  But read the descriptions carefully, as the emphasis for the tours is different.  I recently read a post from someone who complained that everything was by train - well, that's the tour they booked!  And for example the tours in Denali may be different, some longer than others.

[SoloAlaska]

I met a couple on my last cruise that said they would never ever do another cruise tour again because being stuck in a bus for a week with a bunch of people was the worse vacation they ever took. The cruise part they had an absolute blast and we became fast friends. Lots of people love cruise tours in Alaska. Make sure you think through the type of travel and if you’ll enjoy 5-7 days before you book.

[bonvoyagie]

We did the Authentic Alaska Cruisetour this June and had a blast. We were lucky and had a small group of about 28 on our bus, both our guide and driver made the trip special with their knowledge and experience. I would highly recommend doing the land portion first as the days are long with most starting at 6 or 7 AM and ending around 6 or 7 PM. The good news is that all of your arrangements are pre made - the guide gets your room keys and hands them out to you each night, they also load and unload your luggage and take it to your room. For the most part all of your excursions are pre arranged with some optional ones you can add on - ie a helicopter flight to a glacier in Denali or sportfishing in Homer. For someone who has never set foot in the interior of AK i would much rather take a pre planned tour with the idea of making a DIY tour in the future. All in all we had a great time on both the land and cruise, This was our fourth AK cruise on prior ones we visited Sawyer Glacier and Glacier Bay as well as Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, so ISP was all new to us.

[bluesea777]

We went to AK 3 days pre-cruise last May. Stayed overnight in Anchorage, took the early morning train (GoldStar dome option) to Seward and stayed in Seward for 2 nights.

 

This is what we did, and we loved our pre-cruise stay in AK. We booked it all ourselves.

 

Arrived in Anchorage at noon. Hotel was The Lakefront Anchorage hotel that is near the airport. Taxi was $10 a ride from airport to hotel I think. Hotel is okay - old (but all Anchorage hotels are old) but comfortable and reasonably priced (Downtown hotels are expensive!). Great thing is the hotel offers free shuttle service between hotel and Downtown Anchorage & back. After having been to downtown (twice) we felt we did right by booking cheaper hotel close to airport with free shuttle service rather than in downtown - that is dead after dinnertime. 

 

We booked a 3 pm float plane sightseeing tour - 30 minutes long (that was ample!!) - with Rust's Flying Service - inexpensive and fun. 

 

The hotel offered free early morning shuttle service (make sure to get to the bus about 20-30 mins before it leaves as it gets full fast!) from hotel to Anchorage Train depot for our 6:45 am train to Seward. This was a fantastic train ride. Make sure to get the Goldstar dome option.

 

Upon arrival in Seward our hotel (Harbor 360) was a short walk, and the train personnel delivered our luggage to the hotel for us (!! Score!). Our room wasn't ready, so we walked around a bit and had lunch. Then we went on the free Seward shuttle to Sea Life - very good! We went to Ray's for dinner - so good that we went back there the following night. The crab legs there were the best we've ever had and were 1/2 the price of the ones in Juneau, Ketchikan, etc! 

 

The next morning saw us on the Kenai Fjords National Park cruise (7.5 hours Major Marine) and it was absolutely fantastic! 

 

After the fjords cruise we went to Ray's for dinner. After dinner we walked around the marina, so pretty!

 

Next morning checked out of hotel and took the free Seward shuttle to the cruise terminal. Hotel took our luggage to the ship for us! Another Score!! Check-in was so easy - make sure you're there before 11:30 am (when the early morning train arrives from Anchorage downtown) or between 1-5 (before the train from Anchorage airport arrives). Don't get there too early as it opens at 11:00am.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask.

 

 

 

 

[olemissreb]

We did our own pre-cruise tour. Flew in to Anchorage and stayed at the Embassy Suites (free using points). We took the shuttle to downtown where we had rented an SUV for the week (cheaper than renting at the airport and even cheaper if you have an Avis Wizard number). The next day we drove up to Talkeetna and my oldest son took a flying lesson(Groupon) while the rest of us just enjoyed the town. Then we drove up to "Glitter Gulch" and stayed at a hotel there for 3 nights. We spent our time there doing whitewater rafting, a Midnight ATV tour, and a bus ride deep into Denali National Park. From there we drove over to an AirBnB near the Matanuska Glacier and spent a couple nights and even went hiking on the glacier. Then we drove back to Anchorage turned in the car and spent one more night at the Embassy Suites before boarding the Alaska Railroad (Goldstar service) for Seward. The railroad sent our luggage on to the hotel while we did a Kenai Fjords tour. The next day we had the hotel send our luggage to the ship while we toured the Sealife Center including a behind the scenes tour. I used coupons for the tours and for my family of 4, it was much cheaper than doing a cruisetour and it was all on our own timeline. It takes a lot of planning and research, but it was well worth it for us and dare I say a little bit more relaxing than what I've read of cruisetours. .YMMV

[travelmama06]

I think doing our own personalized tour sounds more appealing and we can do it on our own time !!

has anyone booked white water rafting or glacier dog sled tours  ? 
any info would be nice !

thanks 

 

[julig22]

24 minutes ago, travelmama06 said:

I think doing our own personalized tour sounds more appealing and we can do it on our own time !!

has anyone booked white water rafting or glacier dog sled tours  ? 
any info would be nice !

thanks 

 

I did white water rafting as an optional excursion while on the NCL tour.

Look at the options offered by Alaska Railroad for some or all if you're thinking of a DIY.

[df5250]

I did the 13-DAY DENALI/TALKEETNA EXPLORER southbound this past last week of July and first week in August. It was the best vacation I’ve been on. We had a great group. Our weather was amazing and we got lucky with animal sightings, as well as seeing Denali while in Talkeetna!  I booked things to do after the pre-planned daily tours at each location.

I have never taken an organized tour vacation and I wasn’t sure I would like it but I was pleasantly surprised! This tour has a combo of bus and domed train. Being on the bus didn’t bother me. I even nodded off a couple of times between locations. I was extremely happy with my choice and even would have liked more time on the tour because there is so much to see! 

[tundra1]

We did an Alaskan cruise tour last year prior to our cruise.  We were blessed with an amazing group of people on our tour, and many of them have become close friends.  It was great on the ship to know so many people, so there was always someone to sit with in the evenings or at the buffet, or while playing trivia, etc.  For our first time going to Alaska, it was a wonderful introduction to that beautiful state!

 

We did 2 days down in Seward on our own before starting the tour in Anchorage.  That turned out to be a good decision as well, because Seward is such a beautiful town with so much to do.  Plus it gave us time to adjust to the time difference before joining our land adventure with the cruise line.

 

However, the next time, we will do the land portion on our own.  I want more time in Denali, and more time to explore other areas of Alaska.  We used Airbnb and Turo for our lodging and car, and that was perfect for us.

Either way, you will have a great time!

 

 

[mapleleaves]

On 10/19/2023 at 6:57 PM, travelmama06 said:

I think doing our own personalized tour sounds more appealing and we can do it on our own time !!

has anyone booked white water rafting or glacier dog sled tours  ? 
any info would be nice !

thanks 

 

You might want to spend some time on the Alaska forum; read past and current trip reports ( via cruisetour or DIY) and learn about the various destinations.

It's very easy to plan a DIY Alaska land trip, esp with only 5-7 days.  Keep in mind that there are few hwys and for the most part they're only 2 lanes, so it's pretty hard to get lost ! ie Hwy 3 (the Parks Hwy) is the only road that runs between Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage.  You can rent a car and make hotel reservations for 5-7 nights.  Most people visit the same locations ..... Anchorage, Talkeetna, Denali, Seward, and Fairbanks. You just need to figure out what you want to do in each location and that in turn tells you how many nights you need at each.

I think driving is ideal. You can travel at your own pace, and stop for wildlife, scenic view points or other places of interest.   I've made several trips to Alaska; rental cars with hotels, or rental RVs. I'm a woman with no sense of direction and I was 61 on my last RV trip. I survived!  It's wonderful to pull over and watch a moose or bear grazing nearby.

But if you don't want to drive, you can also travel by train or by bus. And both companies offer pkg tours if you don't want to make your own hotel reservations.

Alaska Railroad is    Alaska Railroad | Alaskan Tours & Vacations | Train Packages

 

Park Connection Bus, which runs from seward to anc to denali:

Alaska Bus Lines | Park Connection Motorcoach (alaskacoach.com)

 

Or you can do a combo train/bus trip. You can book it yourself, or, the company that owns Park Connection Bus also does pkg tours by train and/or bus, where you can select an existing pkg or you can create your own based on your itinerary.

Alaska Tour & Travel | Vacations, Hotels, Tours, Cruises & Railroad Trips (alaskatravel.com)

 

Borrow a few Alaska guide books from your library to learn about the various destinations.  Also every town has a web site to help promote tourism and local vendors; just google the towns name followed by Visitor Information. And download their Visitor Guide. ie for Seward    What to do in Seward • Visit Seward Alaska

or Juneau : Welcome to Juneau, AK | Things To Do & Places To Stay (traveljuneau.com)

 

The state Tourism Office is a good resource. The more you know, the better your trip will be.

Official Alaska Vacation Information | Travel Alaska  

 

[TSUmom]

We were just on the Jewel and did a pre-cruise tour.  We really enjoyed it as it gave us an introduction to Alaska.  We plan on going back but will now plan on our own.  We want to spend a few more days in Denali.  Our plans are taking the train from Fairbanks to Denali and spending a few days and then the train again to Anchorage for a few days followed by the train to Whittier to board the ship.  NCL will be sailing from Whittier in 2025 and yes it is a lot of train rides but my DH loves riding the train and neither of us can drive do to health and vision limitations.

Edited October 24, 2023 by TSUmom

[bonvoyagie]

I agree with TSU MOM that the cruisetour is a great way to get the lay of the land. If we go back I would probably stay at the same hotels - they offer free transportation to Denali and Glitter Gulch. In Denali I would love to do a few more hikes and see the dog sled camp there. The train is an excellent method of transportation - our tour did it from Denali to Talkeetna. Again I would probably start in Fairbanks and train to Denali, then train to Anchorage, then to either Seward or Whittier (where NCL will be in 2025 and beyond. I would not even consider doing this sort of triip until the road to Deanli is repaired - they were first talking about 2024 - but as of this June they still did not even have a plan to fix it. 

[bjtravelnews]

On 10/19/2023 at 10:27 PM, df5250 said:

I did the 13-DAY DENALI/TALKEETNA EXPLORER southbound this past last week of July and first week in August. It was the best vacation I’ve been on. We had a great group. Our weather was amazing and we got lucky with animal sightings, as well as seeing Denali while in Talkeetna!  I booked things to do after the pre-planned daily tours at each location.

I have never taken an organized tour vacation and I wasn’t sure I would like it but I was pleasantly surprised! This tour has a combo of bus and domed train. Being on the bus didn’t bother me. I even nodded off a couple of times between locations. I was extremely happy with my choice and even would have liked more time on the tour because there is so much to see! 

Do you recall how much time you had in Seward before boarding the ship.  Wondering if we have time to explore anything?  Thanks!

[julig22]

4 minutes ago, bjtravelnews said:

Do you recall how much time you had in Seward before boarding the ship.  Wondering if we have time to explore anything?  Thanks!

What is your tour itinerary for the last day?  This was years ago but our cruise tour didn't arrive in Seward until about 5pm. We were coming from Valdez, took a ferry to Whittier, stopped at the wildlife conservation center on the way to Seward.

[bjtravelnews]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

What is your tour itinerary for the last day?  This was years ago but our cruise tour didn't arrive in Seward until about 5pm. We were coming from Valdez, took a ferry to Whittier, stopped at the wildlife conservation center on the way to Seward.

We are traveling from Denali that morning with a brief tour of Anchorage and a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Center.  There is no set time listed for when we leave there.  The ship is scheduled to leave around 8:00 pm, so I assume we will have to board by 6.  I did a mapquest search and it looks like it's over 4 hours by bus to get to Anchorage .  Then another 2 1/2 hours to Seward.  I am not counting on having any free time before boarding, but want to have a back up plan just in case we arrive much earlier.

Thanks for your input!

Edited March 5 by bjtravelnews

[zqvol]

42 minutes ago, bjtravelnews said:

We are traveling from Denali that morning with a brief tour of Anchorage and a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Center.  There is no set time listed for when we leave there.  The ship is scheduled to leave around 8:00 pm, so I assume we will have to board by 6.  I did a mapquest search and it looks like it's over 4 hours by bus to get to Anchorage .  Then another 2 1/2 hours to Seward.  I am not counting on having any free time before boarding, but want to have a back up plan just in case we arrive much earlier.

Thanks for your input!

You are more likely to be later than earlier. The highway between Anchorage and Seward can sometimes be a real mess if there is an accident. 

[bjtravelnews]

2 hours ago, zqvol said:

You are more likely to be later than earlier. The highway between Anchorage and Seward can sometimes be a real mess if there is an accident. 

Thank you for the info!

 

[df5250]

On 3/5/2024 at 3:32 PM, bjtravelnews said:

Do you recall how much time you had in Seward before boarding the ship.  Wondering if we have time to explore anything?  Thanks!

We had very little time in Seward before sailing… I’m guessing 2 hours before all aboard time. We were told each bus/tour group is given a scheduled time to arrive in Seward so all the buses (& train) do not arrive at the same time.  I say this because your time in Seward could vary from ours. We also had our bus break down while we were in Anchorage and that affected our schedule by a couple of hours.