Do It Ourselves Cruisetour

[rollingstone]

Does anyone have any ideas about touring Alaska on our own after disembarking the ship? We have done a ship's cruisetour but would like to explore farther north. This will be in May of '10. Will the roads be OK? Any thoughts or ideas (both good & bad) will be appreciated.

[cindep]

We just got home from our "self guided" land tour after we got off the Island Princess in Whittier.

 

While in Whittier we booked the glacier tour with Major Marine. We had the 2 for 1 coupon in the Northern Lights book. Was worth every penny. You get back from the cruise just in time to catch the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage. Very relaxing trip, especially since you will have had a long day. BTW ... they kicked us off the ship around 10:00. Fortunately there are some coffee cafes nearby to kill time until the tour.

 

We picked up our car the next day at the Anchorage airport. We stayed 2 nights in Anchorage at the Comfort Inn at Ship Creek. They have area transportation including the train station and the airport.

 

The day we picked up the car, we went to Seward. Had lunch and toured the Sea Life Center. Again had a 2 for 1 coupon so was a good deal.

 

We left the next morning for Denali. We were lucky... the mountain was OUT! We stayed 2 nights at the McKinley Village Lodge. This lodge is hard to find as it sits behind another property. If you are coming from Anchorage by car, it will be on the right. We also stopped at the Wasilla Wal-Mart for supplies and lunchables for our bus tour into Denali the next day.

 

Took the bus to Eilson (sic) visitor center through the park department. Wonder Lake would have been nice, but they weren't starting that until the week after our trip. We did stay in the park to see the sled dog demonstration.

 

That night we went to Black Diamond resort (towards Healy) to eat dinner and play the golf course. It is only 9 hole and VERY rough terrain, but we can say we did it. They also have an 18 hole mini-golf. Food was good and about what we paid everywhere else.

 

The final day we drove to Fairbanks from Denali. We continued on through Fairbanks to North Pole, AK. It is just a wonderful tourist trap!! Where else can you have your photo snapped with Santa in June!!

 

We had a fabulous trip. I can highly recommend the Northern Lights discount book. I more than paid for itself.

[Pssunshinegal]

How early in May?

[cindep]

We left on Memorial Day, May 25th, so we did the land portion starting June 1st. It is definitely strange to have daylight almost 24 hours of the day ... it never did get dark!

[poolwife]

Well, I highly recommend doing the "inland" touring independently on your own so you can "do what you want when you want" being on your own time table. It is really easy to do land touring independently on your own either renting a car or RV. We have always rented a car and loved doing our own thing, doing what we want when we want and not having to worry about the pace of a whole group of people.

 

There is so much to see so you need to take some time to research and see where you really want to go - north to Denali and Fairbanks or over to the Kenai Peninsula visiting Seward and Homer on the other side. We loved both. Homer is great for going out halibut fishing, if that is your thing, but is definitely worth a trip even if you don't fish. The view of Kachemak Bay across from Homer is spectacular. I researched and when we did a 10 day land tour we stayed in B & B's and really enjoyed it.

 

I highly recommend one of the Kenai Fjords boat tours out of Seward. Take at least a 6 hour trip and one that includes going to a glacier. Besides the glacier, you will probably see whales, puffins, otters, and seals. "Budget Queen" who posts a lot here on the "Alaska" board highly recommends the 9 hour trip going to Northwestern Glacier.

 

I also recommend the "26 Glacier cruise" out of Whittier in Prince William Sound. I think it was about 4 hours in length. We saw hundreds of otters floating by on that cruise. You can easily go on that from Anchorage. But, you need to spend the night if going to Seward and Homer. I recommend 2 nights in each. Also, there is a great place to stop for a meal between Anchorage and Seward called the Summit Lake Lodge. The view behind there is incredible. The food is good and the view is breathtaking. There is a lake and a mountain behind it.

It is somewhere to stay but good to eat there. It is casual.

 

Coming from Seward to Anchorage before you get to the Summit Lake Lodge is Moose Pass. Take a little time and drive through there and also see Trail Lake. Just a pretty sight!

 

Also, don't miss the Wildlife Refuge Center. It is near the road to Whittier. Can't remember exactly how close. You will see all kinds of wildlife from Alaska in there.

 

Go to Girdwood and go to the top of the tram at the Westin Mt. Alyeska hotel. Once again, the view from the top is spectacular. Hang gliders go off from the top of the mountain which is really something to see.

 

We didn't go all the way to Fairbanks, but a nice one day trip out of Anchorage is to Talkeetna and driving around Palmer/Wasilla. Talkeetna is a cute little touristy town with old style buildings and it is the town that the mountain climbers start in that climb Denali. If the mountain is visible, it is a great view from behind the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.

 

When we were there in June, 2005, we were there on the longest day of the year, June 21 and it never really got "dark". We stayed at a friend's home in Anchorage and the neighbor kids were out playing in the street at 10:30 p.m. We arrived in Anchorage by plane late at night and was driving to our friend's home at about 1:30 a.m. and it was not totally dark at all. Seemed weird and it was a little hard to turn the brain off to go to sleep when it was still light outside.

 

When we there in May, 2001, we were disappointed in the dryness of the land from Anchorage up to and including Denali so we asked many locals what the best time to come up there and most said the second or third week of June so that is when we came back the next two times and the weather worked out great coming during that time frame.

[Budget Queen]

With you going in May, a northbound trip is my only recommendation and late in May, IF Denali Park is on your itinerary. For clairfication, I only recommend the shuttle buses into Denali and NOT the "Tour" buses. Do your homework on the differences.

 

If going before third week of May, then consider the Kenai Peninsula first with Denali at the very end of your time in Alaska, so to get the farthest into the park.