Alaska Concierge Cruisetour June 2024 Review

[coldweather]

(1 of 3) We had a great time on our 12 day Alaska Cruisetour in June 2024.

 

We had 1 night in the Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage, 2 nights in the McKinley Princess Lodge, 2 nights in the Denali Princess Lodge and an 8 hour train ride from Denali to Whittier to board the Grand Princess southbound to Vancouver.

 

Overall it was an outstanding trip.  The service and communication from Princess was good.  The food and service were enjoyable. We experienced no issues with the land or cruise portions of the trip.

 

Land:

We arrived in Anchorage 1 day prior to when the official tour began.  We stayed at the Marriott in Anchorage (nice hotel).  We then walked to the Captain Cook hotel (tour hotel) to begin our cruise tour.  We booked the concierge land tour.  This included a guide that made all arrangements and traveled with us.  He was available via text for questions. The concierge tour included breakfast and dinner vouchers which enabled us to eat at a Princess restaurant of our choice.  We selected the “fancy” or “expensive” restaurants for dinner at the lodges.  If I were paying for the meals out of pocket I would have selected the medium-priced restaurants at the lodges.

 

The concierge tour also includes the transfer from the Anchorage airport to the Captain Cook hotel.  As we arrived a day early, we were advised to take a taxi or uber to our Marriot hotel.  We were provided with a $24 voucher to reimburse us for our Uber ride.  The voucher was good at any of the Princess lodges.

 

Based on our available dates for travel we were looking at 3 or 4 different Princess cruise tours.  We used a spreadsheet for price comparisons.  We determined for us and our dates that flying in or out of Fairbanks was much more expensive than using Anchorage. When we compared the TOTAL cost of the trip including available airfare, ironically the concierge cruise tour was only $100 more than the other cruise tours we looked at.  It was a no brainer to select the concierge tour as it included breakfast/dinner at the lodges.

 

Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage was fine.  It was very clean.  The rooms were a bit outdated but in good working order.  The Captain Cook hotel has a policy that luggage must we left INSIDE your room and not in the hallway for pick up.  That means at 6am there is a knock on your hotel door from the luggage transport team.  They open your hotel room door and take the luggage you have set near the door.  It sounds weird but worked well.

 

[coldweather]

(2 of 3) McKinely Princess Lodge

McKinley Lodge is not near anything.  It is a 1 hour shuttle ride to get to the town of Talkeetna.  Talkeetna is a small town with some shops, restaurants and coffee shops.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk the length of the town.  The town is on the river and provides a nice view of Denali if the weather is clear. There is a $10 charge for the Talkeetna shuttle unless use of the shuttle is part of an excursion.

 

At the lodge there is a nice deck with spectacular views of Denali Mountain if the weather cooperates.  There is a way to sign up to have your room called if the mountain is visible.  This call can happen anytime.  For us the call came at 7am.  I learned that Denali Mountain is only visible about 30% of the time.  Most of the time the mountain top is hidden by clouds.

 

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is much larger and busier than the McKinley Lodge. In both lodges the rooms were up-to-date with a rustic décor.  Everything worked well and was clean.  There is a coffee maker in the room in each lodge. There is no air conditioning in the lodges.  There is a fan in each room. 

 

The motor coaches for transport between the lodges were in good condition and had bathrooms onboard.

 

Denali Park/Train

The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is a quick 10 -15 minute bus ride to the entrance of Denali National Park.  There is no charge for the shuttle bus.

 

Our concierge cruisetour included the Tundra Tour.  The bus picked us up and dropped us at the Lodge (you could be dropped off at the park visitor center.) The Tundra Tour travels 40-ish miles into the park. We saw moose and a brown (grizzly) bear. There are 2 restroom stops on this tour:  1 entering and 1 leaving the park.  The other tour many people are on is the Natural History Tour which goes about 17 miles into the park.  For me, the Natural History tour is not worth it.  I would look into upgrading to the Tundra tour to see more of the park. After all, the reason to be in the Denali area is to go into the park.

 

The park service offers free shuttle buses into the park (aka the green buses.)  There is no narration nor looking for wildlife.  It is a shuttle to drop you at various stops to get out and walk/hike. If you are on the Natural History tour this is an alternate way to get deeper into the park.

 

Our tour included the train from Denali to Whittier.  It is an 8 hour train ride.  Passengers sit on the upper level in a dome car. It is very tricky to navigate the semi circle stairs to get to the upper level.  The seats were spacious and comfortable.  We were able to use our breakfast voucher on the train. Our train departed around 7am so that was nice to have the train as an option for breakfast.  The long train ride also included lunch.  The food was good and filing.  There is bar service on the train.

 

At the train stop in Anchorage, our tour guide departed.  Representatives from Princess Cruise boarded and checked everyone in to the cruise while on the train.  Medallions were provided if needed.

 

Check in
Hundreds of people got off the train at the same time.  Although we were all checked-in, we all needed to go through security screening.  There was a LONG line for this but it did move along.  It took us about 30 minutes to get through security.

 

[coldweather]

(3 of 3) Cruise

We boarded the Grand Princess for a 7 day cruise southbound from Whittier to Vancouver. 

The cruise was as expected.  Staff were friendly and helpful.  The food was good.

 

I was a bit surprised at the subdued music in the evening.  There was “easy listening” music.  The house band was good and peppy.  I was very glad to see that Princess is adding the “Laugh Lounge.”  The cruise director said this is going to be added to all Princess ships in the near future.  Basically, it is just adding comedians most nights.  It is a copy of the Carnival Cruise Line Punchliner Comedy Club.  The graphics are the same and even the walk on music is the same.

 

Movies Under the Stars was nice.  Although chilly outside, Princess provides nice, comfortable, cushioned lounge chairs and blankets.  We dressed for the weather and used a few blankets.  It was a joy to be outside.  

 

There was A LOT of coughing on the cruise ship.  About day 3 some staff and passengers started wearing masks.  It was obvious they were sick.  I strongly suggest you bring your preferred cough/cold medicine in case you catch something.  The onboard store either didn’t carry cough medicine or was sold out. I would at least bring a bag of cough drops.

 

Glacier Bay National Park

This day was the highlight of the cruise.  We had sunny weather.  The tour of Glacier Bay National Park is about 8 hours of spectacular views including multiple glaciers.  There are 4 or 5 National Park Rangers on board narrating the entire day. The rangers also do some programming inside and are available on the decks for questions.

The National Park service limits the number of cruise ships allowed into Glacier Bay.  For me visiting this park was a highlight of my Alaska trip.  Princess (and Holland America) receive priority into this park.  This is a strong reason to select one of these sister cruise companies.

 

Debarking

Our concierge cruise tour included the transfer from the ship to the Vancouver airport.  Midway through the cruise we received notification that if we are headed directly to the airport there is a program to skip the Canadian customs.  We had to fill out some forms ahead of time.   At debarkation we were taken to a bus that took us directly to the airport.  It was very easy.

 

We had a great cruisetour.  I hope you find this review helpful.

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review

[Shirt-man]

Thanks for the review. We are doing that Cruisetour in August on the Sapphire.

[marne-c]

@coldweather: MANY thanks for your detailed review.  Two days ago, my wife and I signed up for this identical Connoisseur tour (except with a northbound cruise first) for mid-July 2025.  

 

Originally, I had signed up for a no-frills ‘on your own’ cruisetour (AAX).  I asked our TA if there was a meal package for the land portion. There was: $439 p/p.  Hmmm.  I then started searching here on CruiseCritic to get an idea of food cost.  That led me to reviews of Connoisseur tours, which included meals.  My wife and I don’t need hand-holding during travel, so I had never considered the Connoisseur tours before.  But the glowing reviews about the value-add of the tour leader (getting priority dinner reservations for the group, handling special requests, etc.*) got me more interested.  The upgrade cost to Connoisseur RA5 from AAX was just a bit more than the two meal plans.  And we’d get the better Tundra tour (vs Natural History) in Denali.  So we went for it.  Happily!

 

—Marne

 

*There also was some mention of upgraded rooms at the two lodges for Connoisseur pax.  But I’m not sure if ‘upgraded rooms’ actually exist.

[coldweather]

49 minutes ago, marne-c said:

@coldweather: MANY thanks for your detailed review.  Two days ago, my wife and I signed up for this identical Connoisseur tour (except with a northbound cruise first) for mid-July 2025.  

 

Originally, I had signed up for a no-frills ‘on your own’ cruisetour (AAX).  I asked our TA if there was a meal package for the land portion. There was: $439 p/p.  Hmmm.  I then started searching here on CruiseCritic to get an idea of food cost.  That led me to reviews of Connoisseur tours, which included meals.  My wife and I don’t need hand-holding during travel, so I had never considered the Connoisseur tours before.  But the glowing reviews about the value-add of the tour leader (getting priority dinner reservations for the group, handling special requests, etc.*) got me more interested.  The upgrade cost to Connoisseur RA5 from AAX was just a bit more than the two meal plans.  And we’d get the better Tundra tour (vs Natural History) in Denali.  So we went for it.  Happily!

 

—Marne

 

*There also was some mention of upgraded rooms at the two lodges for Connoisseur pax.  But I’m not sure if ‘upgraded rooms’ actually exist.

 

Glad to hear you made that selection.  A few things I noticed was that when we arrived at the lodges, our tour guide provided our welcome packets which include vouchers, room keys, etc.  We did not have to wait on lines to check-in to the lodges.  Also, if there was a problem or special request, the tour guide takes care of that so you can be on vacation and not waiting on lines for the front desk customer service.    We did not have any problems.  Our tour guide did make dinner reservations for us.  Our tour guide communicated via text to our group daily.  

[marne-c]

@coldweather  Good to know.  You have validated our decision for Connoisseur.

 

--Marne

[Paula_MacFan]

1 hour ago, coldweather said:

 

A few things I noticed was that when we arrived at the lodges, our tour guide provided our welcome packets which include vouchers, room keys, etc.  We did not have to wait on lines to check-in to the lodges.

Nice trip report! Glad you had a good time. We just returned from a 15 day Off the Beaten Path cruisetour on the Sapphire and also had a great time. We stayed at lodges in Fairbanks, Denali, McKinley, and Kenai. At each location we were given our Welcome Packets prior to entering the lodges as well. At each stop a representative came onboard our bus and handed out the packets, and on our Alaska Railroad day the rep was on the train with us and handed out packets on the train. We never went to the check-in desk at any lodge. 

 

We also looked into the meal package but decided to pay as we went. We aren't big breakfast eaters so that part of the inclusion didn't appeal to us, and several of our daily activities already included lunches. We also took a weeks worth of breakfast bars/packaged items which got us by instead of paying $30 pp for breakfast buffet. That allowed us to sleep a little later too, the time change was big for us 😊

 

We chose to splurge on first class airfare and have no regrets there.

 

Overall we found the cruisetour package a good value and we would encourage people to take the trip. Just do your research -- there are lots of choices!

 

Edited July 4 by Paula_MacFan