Princess Cruise Alaska- what to do in Anchorage

[rakesh]

 

 

My wife and my mother-in-law will be arrving at ANC airport this Tues at around 4:10  pm, on an AC flight from YVR.
Will leave Wed for Princess Alaska cruise - likely via 1 pm bus to Whittier (bus transportation paid).
They will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express.
My MIL is somewhat disabled; she can walk maybe a block - but otherwise needs a wheelchair.

 

 

Questions:

 

a) will there be a Princess desk at the airport on Tues or on  Wed?

b) will the bus leave from the airport? 

c) they have pre-paid for the bus transportation. Do they reserve the bus that they go on? 
What are the times that the bus leaves for Whittier? How long is the trip? 

 

d)
So what are the options for them sightseeing Anchorage late Tues evening (does Anchorage have the midnight sun, yet?) or Wed morning?- no options  from Princess per the app or per the toll free number?

 

e) when they arrive at Whittier - do they go on a separate lane- they are booked in a mini-suite and the travel agent has requested a wheelchair  for embarkation and disembarkation.

g) should they  bring MIL's wheelchair along with her?

[Shippy]

To bad they did not get more info on the bus. Do not know how far the hotel is from the airport, they might have to go back to the airport if the bus goes from there.

The bus trip is several hours.

Kind of late but if they could manage it, I would have them cancel the bus & take the train. Very interesting & comfortable.

Mini suite gets no special boarding. A wheelchair might.

 

[EDVM96]

8 minutes ago, Shippy said:

The bus trip is several hours.

It's just under 1.5 hours by coach from Anchorage to Whittier..

Because they know the tunnel schedule.

 

3 hours ago, rakesh said:

a) will there be a Princess desk at the airport on Tues or on  Wed?

Princess people are at the airport only when a Princess ship is in Whittier that day.

 

3 hours ago, rakesh said:

b) will the bus leave from the airport? 

Buses leave from the airport and from downtown Anchorage.

 

3 hours ago, rakesh said:

What are the times that the bus leaves for Whittier?

All details regarding the transfer can be found on the Princess website under 'Travel Summary'.

 

3 hours ago, rakesh said:

So what are the options for them sightseeing Anchorage late Tues evening

Not much to do that time of the day in Anchorage.

 

16 minutes ago, Shippy said:

To bad they did not get more info on the bus. Do not know how far the hotel is from the airport, they might have to go back to the airport if the bus goes from there.

 

Princess provides all info you need for the transfer. You just have to read it.

 

Of course the bus is not leaving from the Holiday Inn Express, which is 2 miles from the airport.

They need to go back to the airport and checkin with the Princess staff. Buses are leaving from there.

 

[NavyVeteran]

4 hours ago, rakesh said:

My MIL is somewhat disabled; she can walk maybe a block - but otherwise needs a wheelchair.

Questions:

e) when they arrive at Whittier - do they go on a separate lane- they are booked in a mini-suite and the travel agent has requested a wheelchair  for embarkation and disembarkation.

g) should they  bring MIL's wheelchair along with her?

The airline will provide a wheelchair for use at the airport. If you don't bring a wheelchair, then you will not have one in the hotel.

 

Princess will provide a wheelchair for embarkation and for disembarkation. Your travel agent's request will make no difference. You will need to ask for the wheelchair when you get to the port. If you are on a Princess transfer to the ship, you should be able to request a wheelchair to meet the bus. Tell the Princess agent who is loading the transfer that you need a wheelchair.

 

Princess does not provide a wheelchair for use during the cruise. If you want to use a wheelchair on the ship or on shore during the cruise, you will need to furnish your own wheelchair. If you don't want to bring one, you can rent one from a couple of different companies. I am renting a wheelchair from Special Needs at Sea for one week on a roundtrip Vancouver cruise. You need to rent in advance, and it is subject to availability. I believe they charge extra for a one-way cruise. It can be a long distance to the other end of the ship if she has to walk.

 

If MIL can walk up the steps on a bus, then she will not be restricted to wheelchair accessible excursions even if she takes a wheelchair. Many of the non-accessible excursions will still be able to take a collapsible wheelchair under the bus as long as the passenger can enter and leave the bus by themselves or with assistance of travel companions.

 

If she brings or rents a wheelchair, you need to check the dimensions of the wheelchair. It must be no wider than 22" to fit through a standard stateroom door or than 31" to fit through an accessible stateroom door. You cannot leave the chair in the hall - you must store it in the stateroom. You could use a larger wheelchair in a non-accessible stateroom as long as it is collapsible and MIL has someone to carry it through the door for her, since you said she can walk short distances.

[kad56]

4 hours ago, rakesh said:

d)
So what are the options for them sightseeing Anchorage late Tues evening (does Anchorage have the midnight sun, yet?) or Wed morning?- no options  from Princess per the app or per the toll free number?

At that time I would walk along the Tony Knowles coastal trail. It should still be light, there are some good views and and you're likely to see moose. I biked it once and it's the largest concentration of moose I've ever seen.

[karatemom2]

12 minutes ago, kad56 said:

At that time I would walk along the Tony Knowles coastal trail. It should still be light, there are some good views and and you're likely to see moose. I biked it once and it's the largest concentration of moose I've ever seen.

This is a lovely idea, and I concur that it’s spectacular and the one place in AK we have spotted moose, but given that MIL is disabled and in a wheelchair it could be pretty challenging unless one of them could push her chair on the trail. It is paved. But still might prove difficult. 
 

If you just want to get a nice overview of Anchorage, the trolley tour is a low key way of seeing the city highlights. 
 

The Native Alaska Cultural Center is an interesting place to visit as well. 

[JerseyExplora]

2 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

 

Princess people are at the airport only when a Princess ship is in Whittier that day.

 

I don't think that's accurate. Cruise tours can start other days and there are Princess employees there for those with transportation to the Captain Cook.

 

As to the question about what to do, there will be many hours of sun, but not everything stays open that late. Anchorage Museum closes at 6pm, for example. Beautiful views will not be hard to come by, even if their mobility is limited.

[EDVM96]

32 minutes ago, JerseyExplora said:

I don't think that's accurate. Cruise tours can start other days and there are Princess employees there for those with transportation to the Captain Cook.

Oh come on, no one of them is on a cruise tour.
And no one from Princess will be there on tuesday when the ship leaves on wednesday. Even if Princess people are there they can't help you if you are booked for the wednesday transfer.

 

32 minutes ago, JerseyExplora said:

As to the question about what to do, there will be many hours of sun, but not everything stays open that late.

- flight in at 4:10pm - if on time.
- bagage claim.

- transportation to hotel.

- checkin at hotel.

- hotel not even close to downtown.

- dinner time.

 

Go figure. lol.

  

1 hour ago, karatemom2 said:

The Native Alaska Cultural Center is an interesting place to visit as well. 

Flight comes in at 04:10pm. You did read that? The center closes at 5:00pm. And it's 13 miles from the airport.

 

Edited May 26 by EDVM96

[JerseyExplora]

52 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

Oh come on, no one of them is on a cruise tour.
And no one from Princess will be there on tuesday when the ship leaves on wednesday. Even if Princess people are there they can't help you if you are booked for the wednesday transfer.

 

 

I didn't say they were on a cruise tour. The fact remains, princess has staff at the airport on days when there isn't a ship in Whittier.