Tour and non-cruise review

[KnoxvilleSam]

We made our reservations last October for the June 11 sailing of the Coral Princess from Whittier, with a 5-day pre-cruise land tour with Princess. I spent several months (as do most of us) making our plans for land tour and port excursions (with only one day of Princess-arranged tours in Fairbanks on the first day of the land tour) - shuttle bus in Denali (Wonder Lake), white-water rafting in Denali or from Mt. McKinley (ended up being in Denali), Chilkoot 7.5-hour bus/rail trip from Skagway to Emerald Lake and back, Harv & Marv whale-watching and Coastal Helicopter glacier and dog sledding in Juneau, Island Wings flight and hike out of Ketchikan, one extra night in Vancouver and home again.

 

We used our FF miles on Delta to fly first-class to Fairbanks (with return from Vancouver), and although a long trip from Knoxville (you HAVE to go through Atlanta to get anywhere from Knoxville), we arrived late on the night of June 5 and were met by the Princess shuttle to the Fairbanks Princess Lodge. Rented a car (from Avis) the next day and had great time going to the Large Animal Research Station (musk ox and caribou), the Museum of the North at UAF, North Pole, and just driving around at a leisurely pace. The next day (June 7) was the first day of our land tour with Princess, and we took the Eldorado Gold Mine and Riverboat Discovery tours with them. Although the gold mine tour was fun, the riverboat trip was absolutely great - floatplane demonstration, the Butcher huskie/sled dog demo (both of these seen from on board the riverboat), and the visit to the Athibascan "village" - incredibly professionally done, with demos from various native peoples about various crafts, ways of life, etc. The weather was cool but overcast - but very comfortable.

 

We ate one night at the Ester Gold Camp and attended the aurora borealis slideshow set to music (can't remember the precise name) and a comedy/poetry reading at the Malmute Saloon ("Service with a Smile") and also had lunch at Gambardella's in downtown Fairbanks - very good Italian. Also had dinner at Pike's Landing (almost next door to the Princess Lodge) and it was wonderful. We had breakfast/lunch at the Princess Lodge, and I'd say it was simply OK.

 

The following day we took the train (ARR with Princess cars) to Denali and arrived around 1:00 pm. We pretty much chilled the rest of that day, ended up meeting our train-car mates at the Denali Princess Lodge dinner theater, a family-style dinner with a musical show. The food was OK (more about this later!) and the entertainment was charming? OK, it was fun!

 

The following day, fellow CCers (Patrice from our roll call) gave us a lift to the Wilderness Access Center at Denali and we caught the 6:45 am shuttle to Wonder Lake. We had a fabulous time - saw wolves (2 walking right down the road, with one howling shortly after we passed him/her by), Dall sheep (at a distance but good with binoculars), moose (2-3 pretty near the road), caribou (several herds), and, on our way back from Wonder Lake, a Grizzly sow with her two cubs. Also many arctic hares, birds (ravens, golden eagles). Our bus driver has been driving the route for 15 years and knew what she was talking about. Several times I averted my eyes from the drop-offs. I'd had to think how many "guests" would be "lost" if the road were open to the public. We didn't encounter many mosquitos at Wonder Lake but were glad we had the Deet 100 percent. The mountain was definitely OUT - gorgeous and huge - of course from Wonder Lake you can only see the "shorter" North Peak (we saw the "taller" South Peak on our way to the McKinley Lodge on our drive there).

 

Got back to the Lodge, had dinner at the main restaurant, retired early. Got up the next morning and took a river raft on the Nenana River (the easy rafting trip) and it was also beautiful - at least for a while. DW took ill during the river raft tour. The guides got our raft and the other two to the side of the river (unfortunately after DW was sick), where a couple of docs from the other rafts and the lead guide checked her out. We suspected food poisoning - DW was wearing a patch and had felt fine on the river up until she got sick.

 

More later - have to go pick up our dogs at the kennel. But stay tuned for the non-cruise part of the review.

 

Sam

[fti]

Thanks for posting the first part of your review. It sounds like you found an excellent balance between "cruisetour" and making it personalized. I go to Wonder Lake every time I go to Denali. I will be camping at Wonder Lake in just two weeks. I am excited!

 

Looking forward to the next part of your review.

 

John

[KnoxvilleSam]

I inadvertantly started two threads with the same text block but a slightly differerent title. I'm going to do the rest of the review only on the other one - it refers to the ship name (Coral Princess) and date (started June 11).

 

And yes - Wonder Lake was a "wonder!"

 

Sam