Alaska in September
Apr 11th, 2014, 12:49 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Alaska in September
We are doing the cruise and land travel to Alaska through Princess. Our travel agent has been fairly worthless with our questions so I thought I'd ask the Forum. The dates are September 2 to 13.
Itinerary-Land
Anchorage to McKinley / McKinley to Denali/ Denali via rail to Whittier
Cruise - Hubbard Glacier/Skagway/Juneau/Ketchikan/Vancouver
Is September 2-13 too late to see whales and other animal life? Is September overall not a great time to go to Alaska?
Are there things that people have done that were "great " things not to miss? I have had 3-4 people tell me about the helicopter ride to the glacier but nothing specific.
I can book any of the trips through the Princess website, but I would prefer info from experts first.
Based on your answers and more of my own research, I want to decide if I should consider waiting a year and re-scheduling at a better time of the year like the summer months. Thanks for the help.
Itinerary-Land
Anchorage to McKinley / McKinley to Denali/ Denali via rail to Whittier
Cruise - Hubbard Glacier/Skagway/Juneau/Ketchikan/Vancouver
Is September 2-13 too late to see whales and other animal life? Is September overall not a great time to go to Alaska?
Are there things that people have done that were "great " things not to miss? I have had 3-4 people tell me about the helicopter ride to the glacier but nothing specific.
I can book any of the trips through the Princess website, but I would prefer info from experts first.
Based on your answers and more of my own research, I want to decide if I should consider waiting a year and re-scheduling at a better time of the year like the summer months. Thanks for the help.
Apr 11th, 2014, 01:02 PM
#2
Purely in the realm of recommendations...
First, don't to a package land tour unless you're terrified of driving or traveling independently. You can see more and have much more flexibility, and probably save money, by booking your own accommodations and renting a car.
Second, I happen to think early September is a great time to visit Alaska, although of course the weather can be an issue - or not; it can also be an issue in July or August.
Third, McKinley and Denali are the same thing, just different names for the same mountain.
Fourth, obviously you won't see whales at Denali, and seeing them from the ship is an iffy thing. There are whale watching excursions available from ports along your cruise, or you could spend a day before you leave and take a Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward, which usually includes spotting some Orcas or other whales.
Have a look at the West Coast Departures and Alaska "ports" message boards at www.cruisecritic.com for exhaustive recommendations and opinions about cruise excursions.
First, don't to a package land tour unless you're terrified of driving or traveling independently. You can see more and have much more flexibility, and probably save money, by booking your own accommodations and renting a car.
Second, I happen to think early September is a great time to visit Alaska, although of course the weather can be an issue - or not; it can also be an issue in July or August.
Third, McKinley and Denali are the same thing, just different names for the same mountain.
Fourth, obviously you won't see whales at Denali, and seeing them from the ship is an iffy thing. There are whale watching excursions available from ports along your cruise, or you could spend a day before you leave and take a Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward, which usually includes spotting some Orcas or other whales.
Have a look at the West Coast Departures and Alaska "ports" message boards at www.cruisecritic.com for exhaustive recommendations and opinions about cruise excursions.
Apr 11th, 2014, 06:32 PM
#3
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,904
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I totally agree with Gardyloo. September is a fine time to see the animals in Denali, you might be lucky and see a male moose following a female with great interest, very close to the bus. The tundra will be very beautiful, in its fall finery.
Do the land portion on your own.
We didn't see many whales on the cruise and saw no other sea animals from the ship. The scenery was wonderful though.
Do the land portion on your own.
We didn't see many whales on the cruise and saw no other sea animals from the ship. The scenery was wonderful though.
Apr 12th, 2014, 04:05 AM
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for the opinions and information. I will put it to use this week as I decide on what to ultimately do with the proposed trip.
Any tips on what to do on the land portion of the trip?
Any tips on what to do on the land portion of the trip?
Apr 12th, 2014, 06:11 AM
#5
Any tips on what to do on the land portion of the trip?
If your dates are originally Sept 2 - 13, I assume that means the cruise leaves on the 6th, really only giving you 4 days in southcentral Alaska, and probably not a full 4 days at that. Where are you coming from? If from the east coast, then you'll have the additional 4-hour jetlag to overcome, so jumping in a car right off the bat might not be all that smart.
Think of Anchorage as a hub with two three spokes. One spoke goes off to the north, with Denali National Park and Fairbanks in that direction - around 4 1/2 hours drive to Denali, another 2 1/2 to Fairbanks.
The northeast spoke goes off to Glennallen and the Alcan Highway. Aside from the town of Palmer (1 hr) and Matanuska Glacier (another 90 min.) there isn't much of tourist interest within close range to Anchorage along that route.
The third spoke goes off to the south, and passes (45 min.) Girdwood (ski village, great hotel) then Portage (1 hr) with the turnoff to the tunnel that goes through the Chugach Mountains to Whittier, then onto the Kenai Peninsula, with turnoffs to Seward (2 1/2 hours), and eventually all the way to Homer, at the south end of the "road system" and where Tom Bodette (the radio personality) calls "the end of the road."
For all intents and purposes, you should regard each of these spokes as cul-de-sacs; you can't "loop" and come back on a different route.
For Denali, because the only practical access to the interior of a park is by school buses operated by a park service vendor, and because of the great distances from the park entrance and accommodation clusters into the park, you need to allocate a full day - morning to late afternoon/evening - just to have a decent visit to the park.
Thus you do the math - basically a day to get there, a day to go into the park, and a day back, and you've spent 3 of your 4 (?) full days in Alaska. Now as stated, September in Denali can be awesome - amazing fall color on the tundra, snow creeping down the mountainsides, lots of wildlife in hurry-up mode (storing up for hibernation, rutting moose and caribou, etc.) It's very much "worth it" but it's quite time consuming.
Now, Seward is interesting because it's on a bay (Resurrection Bay) off Prince William Sound, and has stunning mountains-plunging-into-the-sea views, a nearby walkable glacier (Exit Glacier) and also offers day trips by boat around Resurrection Bay, or to Kenai Fjords National Park, with glaciers, waterfalls, whales, seals, birds and other wildlife usually on view. The "downsides" to the Kenai Fjords cruises are (a) the length - the longer/better tours require a morning departure that would be difficult to make if you spend the previous night in Anchorage, and (b) the tours cross a bit of open water, and seasickness is not uncommon. So call Seward also a 3-day (or 2 1/2) outing. One advantage the drive to Seward has is that by comparison to the drive to Denali, it's half the time and ten times the scenery en route - one of America's most beautiful drives.
Whittier, aside from being a cruise terminal (like Seward) is a funky little place - built as a military shipping terminal (the port is ice-free in winter) for years it consisted of two huge cement apartment buildings - and that's it. It's a little more developed now, but it has very little to offer tourists except for some stunning day cruises to the glacier complexes surrounding it, the College Fjord group being the most famous. Day cruises operated by Phillips and Major Marine will take you right up to some glacier faces - way, way closer than the cruise ship can get, where you may see some calving, seals floating on icebergs, etc. The beauty of Whittier is that the glacier cruises are easily doable as a day trip from Anchorage.
So you need to decide if you can add days, or if you want to combine one or two (but not all three) of these popular activities in the time you have available.
If your dates are originally Sept 2 - 13, I assume that means the cruise leaves on the 6th, really only giving you 4 days in southcentral Alaska, and probably not a full 4 days at that. Where are you coming from? If from the east coast, then you'll have the additional 4-hour jetlag to overcome, so jumping in a car right off the bat might not be all that smart.
Think of Anchorage as a hub with two three spokes. One spoke goes off to the north, with Denali National Park and Fairbanks in that direction - around 4 1/2 hours drive to Denali, another 2 1/2 to Fairbanks.
The northeast spoke goes off to Glennallen and the Alcan Highway. Aside from the town of Palmer (1 hr) and Matanuska Glacier (another 90 min.) there isn't much of tourist interest within close range to Anchorage along that route.
The third spoke goes off to the south, and passes (45 min.) Girdwood (ski village, great hotel) then Portage (1 hr) with the turnoff to the tunnel that goes through the Chugach Mountains to Whittier, then onto the Kenai Peninsula, with turnoffs to Seward (2 1/2 hours), and eventually all the way to Homer, at the south end of the "road system" and where Tom Bodette (the radio personality) calls "the end of the road."
For all intents and purposes, you should regard each of these spokes as cul-de-sacs; you can't "loop" and come back on a different route.
For Denali, because the only practical access to the interior of a park is by school buses operated by a park service vendor, and because of the great distances from the park entrance and accommodation clusters into the park, you need to allocate a full day - morning to late afternoon/evening - just to have a decent visit to the park.
Thus you do the math - basically a day to get there, a day to go into the park, and a day back, and you've spent 3 of your 4 (?) full days in Alaska. Now as stated, September in Denali can be awesome - amazing fall color on the tundra, snow creeping down the mountainsides, lots of wildlife in hurry-up mode (storing up for hibernation, rutting moose and caribou, etc.) It's very much "worth it" but it's quite time consuming.
Now, Seward is interesting because it's on a bay (Resurrection Bay) off Prince William Sound, and has stunning mountains-plunging-into-the-sea views, a nearby walkable glacier (Exit Glacier) and also offers day trips by boat around Resurrection Bay, or to Kenai Fjords National Park, with glaciers, waterfalls, whales, seals, birds and other wildlife usually on view. The "downsides" to the Kenai Fjords cruises are (a) the length - the longer/better tours require a morning departure that would be difficult to make if you spend the previous night in Anchorage, and (b) the tours cross a bit of open water, and seasickness is not uncommon. So call Seward also a 3-day (or 2 1/2) outing. One advantage the drive to Seward has is that by comparison to the drive to Denali, it's half the time and ten times the scenery en route - one of America's most beautiful drives.
Whittier, aside from being a cruise terminal (like Seward) is a funky little place - built as a military shipping terminal (the port is ice-free in winter) for years it consisted of two huge cement apartment buildings - and that's it. It's a little more developed now, but it has very little to offer tourists except for some stunning day cruises to the glacier complexes surrounding it, the College Fjord group being the most famous. Day cruises operated by Phillips and Major Marine will take you right up to some glacier faces - way, way closer than the cruise ship can get, where you may see some calving, seals floating on icebergs, etc. The beauty of Whittier is that the glacier cruises are easily doable as a day trip from Anchorage.
So you need to decide if you can add days, or if you want to combine one or two (but not all three) of these popular activities in the time you have available.
Apr 12th, 2014, 08:09 AM
#6
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 19,736
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I agree with just about all that's been said. To elaborate:
I would rent a car and drive from Anchorage to Denali. AFAIK, the sites from the train aren't all that great, plus it helps to have your own vehicle when you get to Denali. That also gives you some flexibility about visiting other sites on your own. You can book a wildlife-viewing bus tour into the park via the website. (Bring your own lunch on the bus; the food is terrible.)
The one-day glacier/wildlife cruises are your best bet.
I would rent a car and drive from Anchorage to Denali. AFAIK, the sites from the train aren't all that great, plus it helps to have your own vehicle when you get to Denali. That also gives you some flexibility about visiting other sites on your own. You can book a wildlife-viewing bus tour into the park via the website. (Bring your own lunch on the bus; the food is terrible.)
The one-day glacier/wildlife cruises are your best bet.
