Picture Review September 2023 Alaska CruiseTour Majestic Princess

[alrichards4003]

I felt like when I was planning the trip, I did not see a lot on CruiseTours, so thought I would post my thoughts. I created YouTube videos of each day of my pictures. 
 

We have been to Alaska twice on cruises. Alaska is my husband’s favorite place, whereas mine is Europe. We did the land portion first then the cruise, I think it is much preferable. We had the premier package and an interior room on the ship.

 

The logistics is that on the land tour you can carry a personal size item on the bus and train. You can have a carry on size bag that is transported separately and sometimes doesn’t arrive until several hours later. They also can send any other bags to meet you on the ship. 
 

We used Princess Air and had no complaints. It was a long travel day from Tampa to Anchorage. In real life I do Keto. When I go on vacation, I go completely off. Therefore lots of food and drink pictures. 
.

Clyde looking pathetic before we leave.

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

 

 

Lunch during our layover in Dallas. No food on the flight from Dallas to Anchorage. Almost 8 hours.

 

Cotton Candy Cosmopolitan. 

 

 

Drink on plane. 
 

After a good long while we arrive and a bus to our hotel, Captain Cook. We were missing a bag. Got everything sorted out and ate dinner around 1:30 our time.

 

 

 

[Lady Arwen]

Enjoying your report.  We have to hide our suitcases from our dogs when we’re going away and I’ve seen the look on your wee dog’s face many times. lol

 

Very nice photos.  I’ll be following along on your adventure,

[alrichards4003]

1 minute ago, Lady Arwen said:

Enjoying your report.  We have to hide our suitcases from our dogs when we’re going away and I’ve seen the look on your wee dog’s face many times. lol

 

Very nice photos.  I’ll be following along on your adventure,

Thank you. I have two dogs. I never pack until the day before. 

[alrichards4003]

Day 2 Anchorage to Mt. McKinley Lodge.

 

You put your luggage inside your front door and it is picked up around 6. Once I heard the door open, I was awake. I went to do a work out in the hotel gym, but had a hard time finding it, so I decided to walk around downtown Anchorage for 30 minutes. 

 

 

Took a few pictures of the view from the room. We had breakfast. My husband tried the reindeer sausage and I got to have chicken and waffles, which also came with bacon. 

 

We took the bus to Mt. McKinley. There was a stop about an hour away and you could catch a shuttle to the lodge, but we wanted to get settled in. 
 

 

 

We had a late lunch before checking out our room. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Mt. McKinley continued. 
 

We spent some time in the lodge and booked the Aurora Symphony for 8. The treehouse is a centerpiece of the lodge. We walked the trails and went to the Treehouse, then I had a coffee prior to the show. 
 

 

Our room was by the theater. We really enjoyed the Aurora put to music. We had a dinner at Base Camp, because that was the only restaurant open. 

[alrichards4003]

 

[alrichards4003]

Day 3 Mt. McKinley to Denali.

 

Early morning walk and coffee run before waking up my husband to go to breakfast. After breakfast the weather cleared for a little while and we had some great views. 
 

We went to the naturalist presentation which was about moose. We had lunch and drove to Denali lodge, the drive was less than 2 hours.

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Day 3 Mt. McKinley to Denali.

 

Early morning walk and coffee run before waking up my husband to go to breakfast. After breakfast the weather cleared for a little while and we had some great views. 
 

We went to the naturalist presentation which was about moose. We had lunch and drove to Denali lodge, the drive was less than 2 hours.

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Denali continued.

 

Denali was much larger than Mt. McKinley. We stayed close by the river. 
 

 

My husband did an ATV excursion and I did the Dog gone it tour. The family raised the dogs and the husband had done the Iditarod several times. We both got back around 10 and had dinner at the pizza place. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

https://youtu.be/r37TDQYVmMQ
 

[alrichards4003]

 

[Paula_MacFan]

2 hours ago, alrichards4003 said:

 

We really enjoyed the Aurora put to music. 

 

How long is the show?

[alrichards4003]

1 minute ago, Paula_MacFan said:

How long is the show?

About 40 minutes. I really enjoyed it and thought it was worth the $10. 

[alrichards4003]

Day 4 Denali.

 

I did an early morning walk around the property and ended up in the line to get coffee. A lot of people were doing the bus tour and getting food to take with them. 

 

I got my husband and we went to breakfast. We were the last group they were having so when they ran out of something they were not being replenished. The only juice available was cranberry. It was a nice breakfast. Afterwards, I walked around for a little while. I had to do some work, the internet was not the best, but it allowed me to do the work I needed to get done and I was able to do some laundry as well before leaving for Denali Park in the afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

[alrichards4003]

Day 4 Denali.

 

I did an early morning walk around the property and ended up in the line to get coffee. A lot of people were doing the bus tour and getting food to take with them. 

 

I got my husband and we went to breakfast. We were the last group they were having so when they ran out of something they were not being replenished. The only juice available was cranberry. It was a nice breakfast. Afterwards, I walked around for a little while. I had to do some work, the internet was not the best, but it allowed me to do the work I needed to get done and I was able to do some laundry as well before leaving for Denali Park in the afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thrak]

On 2/18/2024 at 1:23 PM, alrichards4003 said:

We had the premier package and an interior room on the ship.

 

Never thought of this. Just for kicks I just checked out a 16 day cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii and compared the cost of our usual balcony with Plus to the cost of an inside cabin with Premier. Turns out  an Inside with Premier came out to $1,092 less for the two of us. Hmmm... Something to think about. (I still doubt my wife would go for Premier. She doesn't see the value of specialty dining, etc.)

 

Enjoy your trip. We've done 2 Alaska cruisetours and loved them both. The Treehouse wasn't in existence when we were at McKinley lodge but were lucky and the sky cleared up totally.

 

Edited February 20 by Thrak

[alrichards4003]

21 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Never thought of this. Just for kicks I just checked out a 16 day cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii and compared the cost of our usual balcony with Plus to the cost of an inside cabin with Premier. Turns out  an Inside with Premier came out to $1,092 less for the two of us. Hmmm... Something to think about. (I still doubt my wife would go for Premier. She doesn't see the value of specialty dining, etc.)

 

Enjoy your trip. We've done 2 Alaska cruisetours and loved them both. The Treehouse wasn't in existence when we were at McKinley lodge but were lucky and the sky cleared up totally.

 

What a great picture. We use most of the Premier features. We have stayed in rooms from an inside to Suite and since the CruiseTour was so much more expensive than just the cruise and we had to put a new roof on the house we decided to do the inside room. We stayed on the Lido deck so the outside was quite close by. 

[alrichards4003]

Denali Park. Dog Kennels.

 

I went to the dog kennel presentation. We got to play with the puppies. We heard about how the rangers were able to use the dogs to help where people could not. It was different than the prior Iditarod excursion. 
 

[Thrak]

33 minutes ago, alrichards4003 said:

What a great picture. We use most of the Premier features. We have stayed in rooms from an inside to Suite and since the CruiseTour was so much more expensive than just the cruise and we had to put a new roof on the house we decided to do the inside room. We stayed on the Lido deck so the outside was quite close by. 

 

We have to replace the roof very soon as well. I'm hoping it doesn't start to leak from all the wind and downpouring rain we've been having. When the weather clears we're getting a new roof and solar. I cringe every time I think of paying for it but it needs to be done. Ah, well. It's only money. We loved our two cruisetours. We did a 13 day and a 15 day - both were the Connoisseur cruisetours. Extra cost but we loved the ease and the included meals. I'd dearly love to get back to Talkeetna to buy some Chuli Stout from the local brewery. Can't get it here and it's ambrosial. 😍 Since we've cruised Alaska 4 times and done a camping trip from Northern California up to Fairbanks (7 week camping trip. It was wonderful!) I don't think I'll be able to get my wife to return to Alaska any time soon.

[alrichards4003]

Denali Park. Dog Kennels.

 

I went to the dog kennel presentation. We got to play with the puppies. We heard about how the rangers were able to use the dogs to help where people could not. It was different than the prior Iditarod excursion. 
 

[alrichards4003]

After our excursions, my husband and I had cocktails at the pizza place and had dinner at Fannie Q’s. They only had about half the menu. The couple next to us ordered dessert and they had 3 choices. We had 2 choices, then they came back and said it was just the one option. 

[alrichards4003]

 

[alrichards4003]

Day 5 Glass Domed Train to Whittier/Majestic Princess 

 

It was a 10 hour train ride. It was a nice way to travel, but still 10 hours.

[alrichards4003]

Train continued 

 

[maggieq]

On 2/18/2024 at 4:23 PM, alrichards4003 said:

I felt like when I was planning the trip, I did not see a lot on CruiseTours, so thought I would post my thoughts. I created YouTube videos of each day of my pictures. 
 

We have been to Alaska twice on cruises. Alaska is my husband’s favorite place, whereas mine is Europe. We did the land portion first then the cruise, I think it is much preferable. We had the premier package and an interior room on the ship.

 

The logistics is that on the land tour you can carry a personal size item on the bus and train. You can have a carry on size bag that is transported separately and sometimes doesn’t arrive until several hours later. They also can send any other bags to meet you on the ship. 
 

We used Princess Air and had no complaints. It was a long travel day from Tampa to Anchorage. In real life I do Keto. When I go on vacation, I go completely off. Therefore lots of food and drink pictures. 
.

Clyde looking pathetic before we leave.

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

 

 

Lunch during our layover in Dallas. No food on the flight from Dallas to Anchorage. Almost 8 hours.

 

Cotton Candy Cosmopolitan. 

 

 

Drink on plane. 
 

After a good long while we arrive and a bus to our hotel, Captain Cook. We were missing a bag. Got everything sorted out and ate dinner around 1:30 our time.

 

 

 

@alrichards4003 thanks for doing this. Alaska is on our radar for 2025.   
Curious on your experience with getting back on keto after a cruise. How long does it take to drop the lbs and get back to weight before cruise?