Alaska cruise???

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Something shocking might happen in 2015. The GaDawgFan family might not go to Topsail in June. I'm pretty sure we've gone to Topsail every year since the first time we went. And the trips there just get longer. We love it there. It would take something BIG to pull us away. So you've probably figured out from this thread.... we think we're going to go to Alaska! That's big right??? It's one of our bucket list trips. The only problem is that it has to be in the summer, and we'd probably need 2 weeks. That makes Topsail impossible. But we can deal with no Topsail for a year right? Actually, who am I kidding, we'll probably go for Spring Break even though the water is cold.

 

But back to the topic at hand.... Alaska! I have a friend in Anchorage, so we'll probably spend some time there, cruise to Vancouver (also have a friend there), and spend some time there.

 

So here's my question... Has anyone here cruised Alaska? If so any tips? Disney's out of the question because of the price, so there's a good chance we'll book RCCL (discount if we book while on the cruise), but we're open to others.

[Judy in Texas 150]

I didn't do a cruise. I rented a car and went exploring. You might consider renting an RV. There are some beautiful campgrounds. One near the Alyeska Ski Resort/Girdwood Glacier area... several near Seward. Except for Denali. the parts of Alaska I saw were different than the parts my brother and sister-in-law see each time they take their Alaska cruises. On the cruise land packages they see places set up for busses full of people. I got to go to the smaller places that gave me a feel for what it's like to live in such a (for me) remote place. Yes, I ate at a McDonald's but no ketchup and mustard till Tuesday when the truck comes. The Diet Coke at the little store in Seward was a year past the expiration date but it's all they can get. If they don't take it, the deliveries stop. The bus driver on the Denali day trip brought a change of clothes and her toiletries so she could take a shower at one stop while we were watching the sled dog demonstration. Her cabin doesn't have indoor plumbing. I was there in August and took my winter jacket. I wore it often. What ever you decide, you'll make wonderful memories.

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

We did DISNEY. Here's the link to our TR.

http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/6550-north-to-alaska-updated-last-page/?hl=%2Bnorth+%2Balaska

[Okieatheart 33]

We did the same thing Judy did.  We rented and RV and drove 3000 miles through the interior of Alaska.  We even made it up to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory of Canada. We feel as if we did things most tourists don't get to do.  It was an amazing trip; you will love Alaska!

[tim5055 120]

This is what we did last year. The DW & I were married on a Royal Caribbean ship (long before Disney saw the $ in cruising, and so long ago that RCCL no longer has the ship) so we are kind of partial to them.

I need to find my TR.

Day 1 Vancouver, British Columbia board ship 6:00 PM

Day 2 Inside Passage (Cruising) Cruising

Day 3 Ketchikan, Alaska 6:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked

Day 4 Icy Strait Point, Alaska 9:00 AM 6:00 PM Tendered

Day 5 Juneau, Alaska 7:00 AM 8:30 PM Docked

Day 6 Skagway, Alaska 7:00 AM 4:30 PM Docked

Day 7 Hubbard Glacier (Cruising) 7:00 AM 11:00 AM Cruising

Day 8 Arrive Seward, Alaska 5:00 AM, then they throw us off the ship - on to the land portion of the trip

Upon arrival in Seward, you'll board a deluxe motorcoach and enjoy a scenic drive to Anchorage. Along the way you will be treated to a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. In Anchorage you will have time for lunch on your own before visiting the world class Anchorage Musuem exhibiting the art and history of Alaska. The evening is yours for independent activities in this cosmopolitan city. Overnight in Anchorage.

Day 9 Anchorage, Alaska /Talkeetna, Alaska

In the morning, you'll board our glass-domed traincars, the Wilderness Express®, for a scenic ride to the quaint town of Talkeetna. The rest of the day is yours to enjoy a variety of independent activities such as jet-boating or flightseeing around Mt. McKinley. Overnight in Talkeetna.

Day 10 Talkeetna, Alaska /Denali, Alaska

Enjoy the nature trails that surround your lodge before you board the Wilderness Express for a scenic trip to Denali. You have the afternoon and evening free to book an optional land excursion, such as the Husky Homestead Tour or white-water rafting. Overnight in Denali.

Day 11 Denali, Alaska

In the morning, head out on the Tundra Wilderness Tour deep into Denali National Park. Look for Alaska's "big five": caribou, moose, bear, grey wolves and Dall sheep. The afternoon is open to participate in an optional activity such as white-water rafting or helicopter flightseeing. Overnight in Denali.

Day 12 Denali, Alaska /Fairbanks, Alaska

In the morning, depart by deluxe motorcoach for a drive to Fairbanks. After lunch, you'll enjoy a ride on the Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler, including a visit to an Athabascan Indian Village. The evening is yours to explore on your own. You'll spend the night in historic Fairbanks.

Day 13 Fairbanks, Alaska

Work beckons, they bus us to the airport and it's off to home....

[tim5055 120]

I hate working on my iPhone sorry duplicate

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

We do have the option of using our friend's pop-up while we're there. I'm thinking we'll stay in and around Anchorage for about 5 days.

 

Tim, find that TR!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

We did DISNEY. Here's the link to our TR.

http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/6550-north-to-alaska-updated-last-page/?hl=%2Bnorth+%2Balaska

 

I'm going to check out your TR. I WISH we could do Disney.

[Grumpy and Grandma 739]

I'm going to check out your TR. I WISH we could do Disney.

I should have added, we want to go again, but it will be on another CL since we want to do the Cruise/Train thing and DISNEY doesn't do that.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Silvia and I have been thinking about the RCCL cruise/train trip ourselves. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Yes, RCCL does the cruise/train trip. 

 

I've been reading this trip report of someone who did it. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1852077

 

Since we have a free place to stay in Anchorage, we'd probably fly there. Stay for about 5 days, take the train to Seward, possibly stay there a night or 2, and then cruise. 

[tim5055 120]

Well, I found my TR (below) for the land portion, but for the life of me I can't find the cruise portion - but some thoughts first:

RCCL does offer the reverse of what we did, starting in Anchorage and ending in Vancouver.

As you want to end in Vancouver, check out the train trip from there to Seattle. It sounded fun and may save you in airfare.

As I pointed out in my TR, Verizon does not have data in Alaska (or they didn't when we were there). Data is expensive on the ship, but most ports have places close to the ship where you can get it.

Here goes for the TR

We had a great time, but I'm still not sure the value to fun ratio works out. Alaska cruises are expensive and the airfare is high also.

Some thoughts -

Most cruise lines have similar Alaska itineraries.

Check the weather before you go. We took clothing to layer and ended up hot all the time. All we really needed other than dinner time was shorts & tee shirts. The only cool day was cruising in glacier bay.

The glacier was spectacular!! According to the crew of Radiance, we got the closest and had the best viewing of the season so far. Most days have been fogged out. We got within a mile of the glacier and the fog lifted for about an hour while we were there. As we left the fog dropped again and the glacier disappeared.

All of the ports are a lot alike. If you just walk off the ship without plans they are all great big tee shirt shops and jewelry stores.

I highly recommend Island Wings in Ketchikan if you go there. http://www.islandwings.com

Internet on the ship is expensive, so i stuck to hotspots on land. In Ketchikan there is a a neat saloon across from the port (1st City Saloon I think). Cheep drinks and free Internet with a purchase. In Juneau there is a nice coffee shop a few blocks from the ship, again, free with purchase.

I've been surprised I've had 3G cell service almost everywhere but my Verizon hot spot did not work in Alaska.

I thought the land portion would be lame, but boy was I wrong. The land portion is far better than the cruise. Royal Caribbean (RCCL) uses Premier Alaska Tours, Inc. as the provider of the land portion. They are a great company and the employees we dealt with knew their stuff!! We had the same bus, driver and tour guide for the whole trip. They handled all baggage moving. We put them in the hall the last night of the cruise and the next time we saw the bags was when we arrived in our hotel room in Anchorage. This worked the same each day, put the bags out in the hall in the morning and they will be in your room in the evening. Many folks took advantage of the tour operators offer to just keep some bags on the coach, and only bring one or two bags to the room each day. The down side to the land portion is that meals are not included, but that did not seem to be a problem.

We landed in Seward and took a bus up to Anchorage, spending the nite at the Marriott there. After lunch a visit to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center provided a history of Alaska. the room for the night was standard Marriott, but we found that they have a music on the green concert series Friday nights. Food trucks, a small beer garden and live music. It was local music (no named acts) but made for a nice evening.

Day 2 we took the Wilderness Express Deluxe Domed Railcars from Anchorage to Talkeetna, AK. These rail cars are wonderful, and appear to be used only by RCCL passengers (but I'm not sure about that). They have 80 first class style seats up top and you get a great view of the land as it goes by. Downstairs is dining area and the food is delicious, and not really overpriced by Alaska standards. As this was a morning trip, breakfast was on the menu. After breakfast it was back upstairs to watch the beautiful Alaskan wilderness roll by. I took advantage of the bar and had a specialty coffee as I road along. Talkeetna is a quirky little place that folks say the TV show Northern Exposure was patterned after. Lodging this night was at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, which is spectacular. The only down side is that rooms do not have A/C, but the view is to die for. There was time in the afternoon for additional activities, but we did a little hike and relaxed with a bottle of wine left over from the cruise.

Day 3 allowed us to sleep in and than we were back on the Wilderness Express for our trip up to Denali National Park. The late start had us on the train for lunch and into the Denali area in the afternoon. Our hotel for the next two nights was the McKinley Village Lodge. Again, basic rooms with no A/C but a beautiful location. We got in early enough for another hike, this one a little longer (a little over 2 mile out/back), but it took us out into a beautiful forest where we found fields of wild blueberry bushes and a beaver lake. We were able to just sit by the lake and watch the little guys working on their home before winter. Peope on TA complain that you are locked in to the restaurant at the hotel because "town" is about 8 miles away. The hotel shuttle stops running around 6:30, but most to the restaurants in town will take you back to the lodge after dinner.

Day 4 started early for the tour of Denali National Park. The tours are run by the park service vendor and puts you in a school bus (OK, the one we were in had upgraded seats, not the bench seats of my youth) and supplies a box lunch (very spartan). This was fun, as we got to see grizzly bear and carabo in the wild, but it was also long and hot. RCCL pays for you to get the "Wildlife Tour" which is the longest offered by the park and takes around 8 hours... We stopped often for necessities (there are park service bathrooms out on the trail) and our guide was knowledgeable, but after about hour 5 most were looking for the wine and hot tub. After the tour it was back to McKinley Village Lodge for the evening. We stayed on the back deck of the lodge playing Cornhole and having a few glasses of wine. it was here that I really discovered that due to the longer day (it was still light at 11PM) I was loosing more and more sleep each day.

Day 5 was on the bus for a ride up to Fairbanks, the end of the trip. You get in to Fairbanks early enough to play tourist for the day. Activities are included, and there are additional tours you can sign up for. The hotel for the night was the Wedgewood Resort. This property is unique in my travels. The room we had was an actual one bedroom apartment, and they had several building just like ours. I found out that it had been built as long term housing for workers on the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Older and a little dated, but clean with lots of room to spread out in.

Day 6 was our travel home day, but our flight was not until 9:30PM so we did a little more touring while the hotel held out bags. Even though the tour was over, Premier Alaska Tours stayed on top of things and mad sure we were picked up at the hotel and take to the airport for our flight.

Looking back, we decided that Sandals blows away a cruise vacation. For what we spent on the cruise we could have taken two (maybe 3) trips to Sandals. Granted this was a unique situation as the DWs father wanted to go to Alaska - but I want to go sit on the beach!! This year it will be Fort Wilderness in December and Sandals in Jamaica in February. Oh, I retire in November so hopefully the trips will happen more often.

[MLM5.. aka Judy 97]

I worked in Fairbanks for a couple of years, I can tell you there is nothing like Alaska, it's something you will remember for a life time.  I HIGHLY recommend that you make the trip down to Valdez and go Halibut fishing, of all my travels, that was absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever been.  To touch a peice of ice that is over a million years old brings a new perspective on life.  It's the only place I've ever been where the wildlife (to include whales) would come so close.  I'd say if you do decide to do the camp/rv thing stay in commericalized areas.  People do not realize how dangerous Alaska can truley be, stay on the path already made and you'll be fine.  It was a weekly occurance to hear of tourist getting mauled by bears or ran over by a moose when I lived there..   Don't expect high amenitites and plan on carrying extra gas with you,  it's not unusual to drive 300 miles between gas stops and some of those stops will be at what appears to be a old man's cabin with a 1960 something pump out side. .and they will charge you whatever the heck they feel like it.. depending on what time you wake them up.  I speak from experience :)

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Thanks for the advice, Judy!