B2B with land tour in middle

[karatemom2]

We are trying to decide between two options for next year. One would be a 14 cruise on Holland America. The other would be two cruises with a few days for a land tour in the middle. Has anyone here done something similar? Our first cruise would arrive in Seward on a Friday morning and our second leg would depart from Whittier Monday night. Would three and half days allow enough time to visit Denali?

 

I would love to get some feedback from anyone who has done a trip like this.

[greatam]

We are trying to decide between two options for next year. One would be a 14 cruise on Holland America. The other would be two cruises with a few days for a land tour in the middle. Has anyone here done something similar? Our first cruise would arrive in Seward on a Friday morning and our second leg would depart from Whittier Monday night. Would three and half days allow enough time to visit Denali?

 

I would love to get some feedback from anyone who has done a trip like this.

 

Never done it, but it is certainly doable. You will need to get out of Seward as early as possible (one way rental car would be the easiest but may be the most expensive). Get to Anchorage via shuttle/bus, etc ASAP UNLESS you keep your Seward rental (which is Hertz). If you take a shuttle from Seward to Anchorage, you will have to rent a car in Anchorage. Get out of ANC at least to Talkeetna the first night. Then the next morning (Saturday), drive on to Denali. Either take an afternoon shuttle into the park or do that Sunday. Then reverse the logistics.

 

IF you keep your Seward rental, drop it off in Anchorage on the return from Denali. Then take shuttle/train to Whittier for your cruise. Lay out all the info on a paper-what time the shuttles leave from Access Center into the park, what time shuttles leave from Anc to Whittier, what time your cruise leaves from Whittier and what time you MUST be onboard, cost of one way car rental from Seward to Denali and return to Anchorage (you can't return it to Whittier-the only car rental there is Avis) + cost of shuttle/transport. MAKE SURE it all works before you book anything-times, cost, etc. etc. It will take some planning, but if you write it all down, you should be able to see any flaws in your plan BEFORE you book anything. Enjoy!!!

[tetleytea]

We have done it, and I absolutely recommend it. The only reason we don't do it more is my vacation time--I can't exactly just take off 3 weeks at a time. But it works out great--no airfare to/from Alaska, and you can take whatever southbound sailing you want. You don't have to take the same ship, the same itinerary, or even the same cruise line. You're flexible on the land tour's length, because ships are departing several days a week. You're not cooped up on a ship for 2 weeks like you are on a B2B, and you don't run into situations like visiting Skagway only to turn around and visit Skagway again 4 days later.

[jer_l]

We are trying to decide between two options for next year. One would be a 14 cruise on Holland America. The other would be two cruises with a few days for a land tour in the middle. Has anyone here done something similar? Our first cruise would arrive in Seward on a Friday morning and our second leg would depart from Whittier Monday night. Would three and half days allow enough time to visit Denali?

 

I would love to get some feedback from anyone who has done a trip like this.

We did a similar trip this summer, but did not go all the way to Denali because we had only two days between cruises. It was a great way to cruise Alaska. We arrived in Seward on Friday and went to the Exit Glacier, drove to Anchorage on Saturday to pick up our DD and SIL (who cruised the second week with us) and left Seward on Sunday evening. We spent a leisurely Saturday driving back from Anchorage, stopping frequently to see the sights and take pictures, arriving back in Seward Saturday evening. We discussed trying your plan next time with more days in between to give us time to drive to Denali. I think you should go for it!