Denali Extension or Pristine Alaska on Alaska & Inside Passage - Good?

[tango223]

We are thinking about booking the Alaska cruise and wanted to get an opinion about the Denali Extension or the Pristine Alaska.  We are thinking of booking the direction from Seward to Vancouver so it would be a pre-cruise extension.    

[duquephart]

5 minutes ago, tango223 said:

We are thinking about booking the Alaska cruise and wanted to get an opinion about the Denali Extension or the Pristine Alaska.  We are thinking of booking the direction from Seward to Vancouver so it would be a pre-cruise extension.    

 

Denali ext. is very nice. Just don't plan on seeing Denali.

[tango223]

2 hours ago, duquephart said:

 

Denali ext. is very nice. Just don't plan on seeing Denali.

What did you see that made it nice.  Scenery, animals etc?

[duquephart]

1 minute ago, tango223 said:

What did you see that made it nice.  Scenery, animals etc?

 

Train ride to and bus ride into both spectacular if you're into pristine wilderness. Talkeetna is a pretty neat town - go visit Aurora Dora.

[Murt22]

We did the Denali explorer this August. We haven't done group tours at all - so can't compare but we enjoyed it. The train ride was nice, the park tour was fine - but animals were pretty far away and not always on our side of the bus. Hotels were good. We enjoyed the Talkeetna hotel - and we DID get to see Denali there. Every uneducated Alaskan tourist (including myself) thought that Denali park was where Denali the mountain was located...not so! Nice to meet some of your shipmates - and actually there were 4 of us couples who were actually on the same deck and hallway. It was a nice way to start the cruise. We had some rain on the pre-cruise but none on the actual cruise - which is unusual.

[tullbja]

We did Denali in July, and enjoyed it. Rain on train ride up, but then weather cleared, and we were able to see Denali (we're now part of the 30% club)  Lodging was fairly primitive, as advertised, but we made friends that we then spent time with on the cruise south. 

[dd57]

We did Pristine Alaska pre cruise in 2019, choosing it over the Denali one because we had never been to Fairbanks.  We arrived a day early in Fairbanks, staying in the same hotel Viking used so we didn't have to move, and spent the day at the very interesting museum there.  The included tours in Fairbanks were really interesting.  The train ride down to Denali NP was scenic with onboard narration.  At the park there was a great lecture on predator/prey relationships and nature walk.  This didn't go far into the park (which we had done on a previous trip), so I would think would be similar now.  Talkeetna for me was a highlight with a trip on the river and a discussion with a pilot who flew climbers to Denali and a climber who had gone several times.  The visit with sled dogs in training was also good.

 

We had been to Alaska several times before, spending 6 days in Denali and Talkeetna.  If you think you won't get back anytime soon, then I would normally recommend the Denali extension which spends more time in that area, but with the current inability to go further into the park,  I think it is a tossup.

[tango223]

7 hours ago, dd57 said:

We did Pristine Alaska pre cruise in 2019, choosing it over the Denali one because we had never been to Fairbanks.  We arrived a day early in Fairbanks, staying in the same hotel Viking used so we didn't have to move, and spent the day at the very interesting museum there.  The included tours in Fairbanks were really interesting.  The train ride down to Denali NP was scenic with onboard narration.  At the park there was a great lecture on predator/prey relationships and nature walk.  This didn't go far into the park (which we had done on a previous trip), so I would think would be similar now.  Talkeetna for me was a highlight with a trip on the river and a discussion with a pilot who flew climbers to Denali and a climber who had gone several times.  The visit with sled dogs in training was also good.

 

We had been to Alaska several times before, spending 6 days in Denali and Talkeetna.  If you think you won't get back anytime soon, then I would normally recommend the Denali extension which spends more time in that area, but with the current inability to go further into the park,  I think it is a tossup.

I'm not sure what you mean by the current inability to go further into the park.  

[dd57]

There was a rock slide this spring and the road into the park is closed at mile 43 until sometime in 2026.

 

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

[tango223]

On 11/24/2023 at 6:20 PM, tullbja said:

We did Denali in July, and enjoyed it. Rain on train ride up, but then weather cleared, and we were able to see Denali (we're now part of the 30% club)  Lodging was fairly primitive, as advertised, but we made friends that we then spent time with on the cruise south. 

Did the road closure at mile 43 impact your trip in the park?  

[tullbja]

Our bus took us all the way to the road closure. We had plenty of time to see wildlife, mountains, including Denali, beautiful scenery, and two rest stops. Also stopped for photo opportunities.