First Alaska Cruisetour: Overwhelmed by options!

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Hello all!

 

We are considering a 2026 cruisetour to Alaska.  This could be a once in a lifetime trip, so we are going to try and pack in as much as we can. That said, there are five of us, and we don't have an unlimited budget.

 

I think we're going to do the northbound cruise because:

1. The journey to Alaska by ship (after a couple of days in Vancouver) feels more adventurous than flying into Fairbanks and hitting Vancouver at the end.

2. College Fjord over Hubbard 

 

These are the options we are considering:

Off the Beaten Path Q:

7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise

2 nights Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge

2 nights Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge

1 night Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

2 nights Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Natural History Tour

1 night Fairbanks, Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise

 

National Parks W:

7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise

2 nights Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, Kenai Fjords National Park cruise

2 nights Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, Kennecott Explorer Tour into Wrangell St.-Elias National Park

1 night Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

2 nights Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Tundra Wilderness Tour into Denali National Park

1 night Fairbanks, Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise

 

They seem to be the same, except the "National Parks" has two included tours, plus the Denali upgrade. The price difference is $1000/person.  Are those three tours really worth that much, or is there something I'm missing?  I'm comparing departure dates on the same ship (Island Princess)

 

We are also considering:

Connoisseur Escorted V

7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise

2 nights Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge

2 nights Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge

2 nights Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

2 nights Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Tundra Wilderness Tour

2 nights Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, Sternwheeler Riverboat Cruise & Gold Dredge 8 Tour 

 

This is on the Discovery Princess, and dates within a few days of each other are about $800/person more than the National Parks tour.

 

I know a big difference is the Connoisseur includes meals. Are the included meals for the connoisseur tour the same as what you would get if you purchase the meal plan? Looking at 2024 prices, the meal plan is about $800 for an 8 day land tour (or $100/day for two meals/day). So, if we were to go with Q plus getting the meal plan, tour V is still $1000/person more.  Does that price tag in any way justify two more days + the escort?

 

If we go with the Q, could we pay OOP to stay in the Fairbanks lodge an extra day before flying home?  

 

Any other major considerations I'm missing?

 

(If we don't do this Alaska trip, our other consideration would be our first trip to Hawaii)

[budfred09]

We have done the off the beaten path very much enjoyed the trip. The princess lodges are fantastic, and they move your luggage for you they have it down. I will tell you that the dinners and breakfast are not that cheap at the lodges and most of them you will need to eat there because not much else around that you could go to. They all do have a quick breakfast instead of a set down which will save you some money. If you get the chance, I would highly recommend doing the land package you get to see more of Alaska, you the train ride should also be included it was great.

[Colorado Coasty]

We have done all of these but the connoisseur was the one we preferred. Breakfast and dinner are included and you can order anything on the menu regardless of the price. Meals are not inexpensive so it made sense for us.

[paddingtonbear]

Deleted 

Edited Friday at 08:38 PM by paddingtonbear

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

11 minutes ago, Colorado Coasty said:

We have done all of these but the connoisseur was the one we preferred. Breakfast and dinner are included and you can order anything on the menu regardless of the price. Meals are not inexpensive so it made sense for us.

The connoisseur is a still quite a bit more than the off the beaten path. Even if you add the meal plan to off the beaten path, the connoisseur is almost $1000/person more (though that does include 2 extra days).  

 

What do you get with the connoisseur in addition to the meals?

[Arizona Wildcat]

As one that lived in Alaska for a while.  Do it on your own.  Fly to Anchorage and go to Fairbanks via Denali.   Then direct via Tok making a circle to Anchorage.   Then shuttle to Seward (Celebrity) for a night or a morning shuttle to Whittier (nothing there) to Princess.

[crusdiva]

I envy you. Our Alaska cruise tour was one of our favorite journeys. I know you are leaning towards the northbound sailing but I will say based on our experience the land portion is exhausting. The way Princess moves people from place to place is amazing but the early mornings, long days touring (on buses and trains) and moving from place to place can catch up with you. I was never so happy to see the Coral Princess sitting pretty in Whittier after 4 days on land. Having the relaxing days in Glacier Bay and College fjords were just the ticket.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

31 minutes ago, crusdiva said:

I envy you. Our Alaska cruise tour was one of our favorite journeys. I know you are leaning towards the northbound sailing but I will say based on our experience the land portion is exhausting. The way Princess moves people from place to place is amazing but the early mornings, long days touring (on buses and trains) and moving from place to place can catch up with you. I was never so happy to see the Coral Princess sitting pretty in Whittier after 4 days on land. Having the relaxing days in Glacier Bay and College fjords were just the ticket.

This is also why we are leaning towards northbound sailing.  

 

After exhausting ourselves on the land tour, we have a long plane ride during which to catch up on sleep (we're on the east coast).

 

We won't be too tired after the cruise for the land.

[crusdiva]

@PrincessArlena'sDad I hear you. We flew into Fairbanks from Boston - such a long flight. Whatever you choose you are sure to have a fabulous tour and cruise with memories for a lifetime.

[Torfamm]

I preferred to make the longer flight at the start of the trip and avoid a red-eye heading home and like many, preferred doing the land portion while we were fresh so sailed southbound.

We ended up booking the cruise and land separately to get exactly what we wanted.

 

We did a Princess Lodges rail tour that was completely separate from the cruise and loved it. There was no bus travel nor were there lots of organized group excursions or planned meals. We could pick the excursions we wanted at each lodge or book something on our own. To me it was the best of all worlds - hotels, train tickets and transfers arranged, leave luggage outside your door each departure morning and find it in your room at the next destination but spend each day as you wish. To me, traveling every leg by train was way better than doing half by bus on a cruise land tour. Our choice was a 6 night unescorted tour from Fairbanks to Anchorage but they have many options.
 

https://www.princesslodges.com/alaska-rail-tours/learn/

Edited yesterday at 01:56 PM by Torfamm

[geoherb]

Our cruise tour included the Natural History Tour at Denali. Our travel agent was able to upgrade us to the Tundra Wilderness Tour for the difference in price. I took back-to-back cruises one year, starting in Vancouver. I preferred Hubbard Glacier to College Fjord. 

[marne-c]

18 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

The connoisseur is a still quite a bit more than the off the beaten path. Even if you add the meal plan to off the beaten path, the connoisseur is almost $1000/person more (though that does include 2 extra days).  

 

What do you get with the connoisseur in addition to the meals?

 

@PrincessArlena'sDad  Debbie-wife and I will be taking Connoisseur tour RA5 after our northbound cruise on the Caribbean Princess next July.  We thought the value-add for Connoisseur was well worth it for our vacation. 

 

In my research here on Cruise Critic, I read that since the Connoisseur tours are escorted, the tour leader can and does enhance the experience and solve problems for tour guests.  Especially noted were dinner reservations at the lodges.  

 

I'd encourage you to do a search using "Connoisseur" on this Princess forum.  

 

 

--Marne

 

P.S.   I agree that sensational College Fjord makes the northbound choice!

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

51 minutes ago, geoherb said:

Our cruise tour included the Natural History Tour at Denali. Our travel agent was able to upgrade us to the Tundra Wilderness Tour for the difference in price. I took back-to-back cruises one year, starting in Vancouver. I preferred Hubbard Glacier to College Fjord. 

What was the price difference?

[WisCruiser2]

We did Cruisetours in 2002 (the old Sun) and 2018 (Coral), so bear in mind things may have changed since 2018. We chose the land portion first, but your reasons are certainly valid and either way, it's a great experience! We chose the cruisetours so we didn't have to make all the arrangements.

The 2018 started in Anchorage, 2 nights at Copper River (our favorite), 2 nights in Fairbanks, 1 night each at Denali and Mt. McKinley. We bussed it (so a couple long bus days), with train from Denali to Talkeetna. The riverboat and gold dredge excursions were included (I thought they'd be totally cheesy but enjoyed them!) as well as the Natural History tour. In 2002, we did the Wilderness Tour, when you could go to the end of the road. 

We did not do either the Connoisseur or opt for the meal plan and found we were ok with paying a la carte for what we wanted. The lodge in Fairbanks is crazy busy, so we ate dinner at local restaurants both nights.

It sounds like you've narrowed down your priotities, just have to decide what best fits your budget and don't regret whichever choice you make!

Edited yesterday at 05:47 PM by WisCruiser2

[Paula_MacFan]

We did the Off the Beaten Path 15 night cruisetour this year at the end of May/first week of June on the Sapphire.  We did the land portion first (glad we did this -- very busy and activity intensive).  Full disclosure we had done a 7 night round trip from Seattle 10 years ago so we had been to most of the ports before, but we really enjoyed the land portion which was all new to us.  We flew to Fairbanks and stayed 2 nights there, then took the train to Denali lodge for 2 nights where we did the upgraded Tundra Tour (highly recommend doing this), then on to McKinley for one night, and finally Kenai lodge for 2 nights (also highly recommended).  If you have any specific lodge, transportation, or excursion questions about those places I'd be happy to answer.

 

Regarding your food questions -- we chose not to do the Connoisseur or the food package option for a few reasons.  First, we are not big breakfast eaters so the cost/benefit wasn't there for us given the expense.  Also the time difference was pretty brutal the first few days (as well as the almost 24 hour daylight which made it hard to sleep), so not having to get up early every morning to eat a big breakfast was just fine with us -- the sleep was more valuable.  Before the trip I spent about $15 on prepackaged breakfast items which we took in our carryons.  We were more than happy with those items to get us going each day and save an hour in the restaurant.  Also, most of our activities included lunch, so we didn't need that part of the food package either.  We just paid for our evening meals each day and spent way less than the Connoisseur or meal package options. I'd advise looking carefully at your activities to determine how much value you will get from prepaying meals.  

 

Lastly, you mentioned possibly doing Hawaii instead -- we also did that trip last year in a land/cruise combo and would be happy to answer any questions about that as well.  Side note - it wasn't with Princess 🙂  

[Paula_MacFan]

Adding a comment because I just noticed your question about adding on a night OOP at Fairbanks.  We did this easily through our Princess CVP.  I believe it was about $100 per person per night.  It was worth it to us so we could fly in a day early and acclimate a bit, since our flight landed at 11:30 local time and we had a very long travel day.  If you choose to do this I would advise booking as soon as you book the cruisetour to ensure availability.  

[arizonaperson]

@PrincessArlena'sDad do you use a travel agent or do you book straight through princess.com? You don’t have to answer obviously.
But I highly recommend for all your questions an experienced travel agent that cruises often. Sounds as if this is a very big trip for five people and you want to make sure that you get your questions answered and the things that you want to see & do addressed .There are many options as you can see taking an Alaska cruise & land tour. I personally like to do a land tour first because you’re on the go every day even though everything is very organized and seamless for the most part. Then after your land -do a cruise because a lot of it is scenic viewing and you can relax.

For your second choice, Hawaii, I don’t know if you meant a cruise to Hawaii or land vacation ,but if you only have a one time chance to see Hawaii, then I would somehow work a cruise into it so you can see all the islands or Island hop if you do just a land tour- each island offers a little bit of different things to do. If just doing a land vacation to Hawaii ,depending on where you fly from -go into Honolulu spend a couple days there, then island hop to each of the other islands for minimum three days each place. Lots of things to do in each one of them and you can easily spend a week to two weeks in each island, but if you’ve never been to Hawaii before I would say get a taste of all of them while you’re there .

[SKCruiser007]

One thing to consider, several people I know took the land portion first, cruise second this summer. Almost everyone picked up a respiratory illness on the land portion. So, they were down a day or two during the cruise. My advice now is cruise first, land second. Then, your sick days can be when you get home 

[slavetoabunny]

If you stay at the Princess Wilderness Lodge there are a number of dining options right across the street.  We did the land portion first and took the Tundra Wilderness tour.  It was fantastic and 100% worth it.  We saw all four of the big four - bear, moose, caribou, and sheep.  We were there last month and it was amazing.

 

[WisCruiser2]

16 hours ago, SKCruiser007 said:

One thing to consider, several people I know took the land portion first, cruise second this summer. Almost everyone picked up a respiratory illness on the land portion. So, they were down a day or two during the cruise. My advice now is cruise first, land second. Then, your sick days can be when you get home 

People also pick up respiratory illnesses on the ship, basically it's a crap shoot either way.