Natural History v. Tundra Wilderness Tour

[GMoney]

Hi - I am currently planning an Alaska Princess cruise + post cruise tour for May 2007. From reading the threads here, I've come to learn that the Tundra Wilderness Tour is much better than the Natural History Tour; however, most of the remaining cruisetours only have the NH tour. Given that:

 

+ Can I cancel the NH tour and get a credit? If so, how?

 

+ Can I cancel the NH tour and book the TW tour? If so, how?

 

+ Can I cancel the NH tour and use the time to do an independent excursion?

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Cruisechick82]

From what I've read, you can cancel the NHT and receive a credit back from Princess and then book the TWT independently.

[greydog]

We did NHT in May within Celebrity tour. Its short, distance-wise, not very worthwhile but "fit" into the timing of our tour, arrival-departure schedule. We 'got lucky' and saw some wildlife but its iffy on the NHT ride. Carefully check your tour schedule if you can fit in TWT. We took (approximate)4pm train from Denali to Fairbanks so if you're on that you have a hard deadline to work against. There's a Denali park website with info on tour schedules you can find through google search.:cool:

 

Try to maximize train connections on tour your select. Bus segments are like airline 'coach class' compared to train first class amenities.

[mike35]

We booked Princess' CruiseTour 6S, prior to learning that the Tundra Wilderness Tour was far superior to the Natural History Tour. We were able to cancel the NHT with Princess, and we received a $69 per person credit within a few days of cancelation. We booked the TWT directly with the Denali Park Operators (Aramark). Timing worked out perfectly. We arrived at Denali around noon via the Princess domed train out of Fairbanks. After checking into our room at the hotel, we walked a couple of blocks to the McKinley Chalet Lodge (owned by Holland America), where we picked up our TWT tickets. The bus left at 2:30 p.m., so we had time for lunch prior to getting on the bus.

 

The TWT was amazing. We lucked out with the weather, and we had spectacular views of Mr. McKinley all along the route. I must have taken 50 pictures from different angles and perspectives. We saw plenty of wildlife -- caribou, grizzlies, moose, Dall sheep, birds of all types. Our guide, David, was fabulous, and he entertained us with facts and figures throughout the 7 1/2 hour trip. We returned to the lodge at 10:00 p.m. (in broad daylight, of course) and had dinner after we returned.

 

The bus was comfortable and had drop-down TV screens. The driver/guide operates a 100X video camera, so even when wildlife was spotted at a great distance away, his use of the camera allowed us to seem the animals "up close and personal".

 

They included a box lunch -- reindeer sausage, cheese, pretzels, a small bottle of water, a granola bar, etc.

 

The next day we talked to several people who stuck with the original NHT, and they all seemed disappointed - almost no wildlife, and a rather boring trip.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mike

 

Mike

[Nitemare]

Definitely switch if you can, but your tour HAS to arrive at the Denali lodge early enough in the day to be able to take advantage of a TWT bus. Since it's a long tour, the last one of the day leaves relatively early. We were on a 6 day tour last month, but not quite 24 hours at Denali, which meant we arrived too late to take the TWT on arrival day, and left too early the next day to do so.

[Budget Queen]

Ideally you need two nights at Denali park, which most cruisetours do not include. It depends on the schedule, sometimes, you can not get a longer trip into Denali Park.

 

For clairfication the Natural History tour has a $50 value, I would speculate the above refund was an error. I also NEVER recommend independently booking the Tundra Wilderness tour, you are paying triple the cost to a shorter distance than the Fish Creek shuttle, which is my min. recommendation into Denali Park. However- it is difficult to arrange without your own transportation and being on a fixed schedule with a limited cruisetour.

 

Between Toklat (where the TWT goes) and Fish Creek is PRIME bear habitat. I have always seen bears here, so if of interest to get INTO Denali, consider the shuttle. Milage- NHT mile 16, TWT mile 53, Fish Creek mile 63, Wonder Lake mile 85 (which is most always my destination).

 

You may want to consider looking at going independent, extremely simple to arrange. And superior for better Denali Park options and the ability to see and do what you want, not being on a fixed group point to point schedule.

 

Plenty of accurate information and trip planning help on this board which has been taken advantage of, by many. You never see any report back, they wished they'd been on a cruisetour. :)

[GMoney]

Thank you all very much for your help. I decided to go with the 14 night HAL Volendam Cruisetour #20, which does offer 2 nights in Denali. This being my first forage into AK, I thought this would be a good way to get the lay of the land. I can then go a more independent route on subsequent trips. :)