Precruise - Talkeetna and Kenai - critique my ideas

[Lisa Waverley]

I'm in the very early stages of planning this so any suggestions are welcome.

For the precruise land portion of our trip, it will be just myself and my teenage sons for 4 days before my husband and friends join us.
We arrive in Anchorage late on Sunday night and will spend the first night in Anchorage. Then I was thinking of going up to Talkeetna and spending 2 days at Mt McKinley Lodge. Then thinking of going down to Seward and staying at Kenai Princess Lodge. There is no accommodation at Mt Mckinley Lodge or Talkeetna Lodge for the 3rd night.

Possibly take train one way and motor coach the other way. I don't mind renting a car and driving but I think that I will be able to enjoy the scenery more by being a passenger.
Right now, there does not seem to be availability to book the land portion through the cruise line.If I take the train, one way, how do I transfer to the motorcoach for the return portion?

We then have to meet up with DH and friends possibly in Seward and get to Whittier for the cruise.

I khow this is very vague but as I said, it is VERY early stages and I need a starting point.

[Genessa]

The Mt.McKinley Princess Lodge is at least 40 minutes - 60 minutes "out" of Talkeetna via shuttle bus. It is a beautiful lodge and we enjoyed the two nights we spent there. However, we were on day and night 5, 6 and 7 in Alaska and in need of some relaxing. If I was only spending 4 days touring interior Alaska, I wouldn't spend 2 nights there, especially not if I wasn't in a rental car and was travelling with two teen aged boys.

If you and the boys don't need a three star motel (about what I'd rate the lodge) you could stay in Talkeetna where there are many activity options. Or, take the train up to Denali and stay there (I'd rate Princess Denali Lodge about a 2 star) and aside from Princess there were several nice looking places to stay.

Kenai I have no first hand experience of, but from what I've read here, that's where my dh & I plan to go when we return to Alaska. But, we'll probably do some fishing and other outdoorsy activities there.

[Budget Queen]

As mentioned- the McKinley Princess is out in the middle of nowhere and 50 miles from Talkeetna. The Kenai Princess is 40 miles from Seward and most activities there are fishing. I wouldn't limit my touring based on Princess properties. You will see and do much more by renting a car and staying in small hotels, lodges , B&B's. It will give everyone a much deeper look at Alaska. If you want to consider Denali Park via rail, then perhaps purchase a toursaver book and use their rail Denali Princess coupon option. You need 2 nights there for this trip to be worthwhile. Princess ships go out of Whitter. If you want to tour Seward- spend your time there?? As for driving and missing scenery- the 2 lane roads are expansive with great views, plus many many pull off for great looks. Easy to drive and the freedom is priceless. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I wouldn't consider any tour for 4 days- way too much time will be in transit for the descriptions of the package.

[mscloyd]

BQ is right - 4 days is really not enough. But, since that is all the time we have, we are making it work. Here is the best itinerary we could come up with:

After our August 2004 cruise, We will arrive in Whittier, take a private shuttle to Seward arriving at 10:30 a.m. We will tour Seward and take the 3:00 pm Kenai Fjords boat tour and spend the night at the Edgewater. We will rent a car in Seward (expensive - $213/day for a one-way rental) and drive to Anchorage the next morning, turn in the car and renting another less expensive car for the rest of the trip. Then we'll continue our drive all the way to Denali NP. This makes for a long day in the car but allows us 2 nights at Denali (staying at the Princess hotel). The next morning We are taking the 8-hour Eilson tour and going to the Cabin-Nite dinner theater that night. Overnight again at Princess hotel. Next morning, drive to Talkeetna and take a summit flight. Continue on to Anchorage and overnight. Early flight home the next morning.

The problem for us with 4 days is getting from Seward to Denali. If we had five days, we wouldn't have to make a long days drive. You could do a similar itinerary in reverse. Go to Denali on Monday and spend Monday and Tuesday nights there. On Wednesday go to Seward. Meet the rest of the group in Seward. There are a couple of transport companies that will be offering service between Seward and Whittier. The Seward-Whittier Express is $30 one-way. Cheaper than Princess and saves you having to go back to Anchorage to catch cruiseline transport. As for the train, I found that I couldn't make this itinerary work in 4 days using the trains because transit time was longer on the train and also because train times didn't fit my schedule. So, we opted for car rentals. However, if you only want to go as far as Talkeetna, it might work.

We haven't been to Alaska yet, so this is second-hand information. I did a lot of reading and asked a lot of questions, though. This board was great and so many people helped us make our decisions but by no means am I an expert.

[Lisa Waverley]

Thanks for the great replies. This certainly gives me a lot to work with. I really like the idea of renting a car and returning it and renting another to reduce costs.

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[lmcd]

Depending upon what time your flight lands in Anchorage, you could pick up your rental car and drive for an hour or so towards Denali the same day. B&b's are available in Wasilla, which is about 45 minutes from the Anchorage Airport.
Next am you could finish the drive to Denali, stay 2 nights, etc.

You could turn in your car and either pickup your one-way or check the schedule of Alaska Park Connection at [url="http://www.alaskacoach.com"]www.alaskacoach.com[/url] to make a connection to Seward.

Larry

Fantasy 08/99
Ecstacy 05/00
Westerdam 04/01
Legend of the Seas 08/02
Zaandam 04/03
Carnival Spirit 08/03

[lstrong]

We're arriving in Anchorage in early afternoon, picking up rental car, hitting a grocery store, then driving 2 hours to Talkeetna. Staying at Lattitude 62 and hoping to see some small town Alaska

[shereemcg]

we'r flying into anchorage on a sunday as well. we're renting a car, spending sunday night at the inlet towers. Monday am we'll drive up to Denali, spending 2 nights at McKinley chaltet. Monday is all about driving!. Tues 8am is the shuttle to elieson and then the 5:30 cabin night dinner theatre. Wed am is back to anchorage. Overnight and early am trian on thurs to seward. then the 3pm kenai peninsul tour. Friday is our cruise. Since you have one less day, you may want to drive all the way to seward, or take the afternoon bus on wednesday, stay the nght in seward and thurs am do the kenai tour then head to your ship.

Sheree