My wife and I have booked a cruisetour through Princess going from Anchorage, to Mt Mckinley, to Denali (all princess hotels), finally to Whittier for departure. Was this a mistake?? I haven't been able to find any info in forums discussing the quality of the crusietour. Is all our time going to be traveling? If anyone has been on this intenerary, could you please reply with your experiences....

My wife and I did a land tour/cruise all with Princess 2 years ago and from Anchorage to Whittierr was by train with the first day arriving at Denali mid-day for a stop over in their resort then next day all day on train to Whittier to finish

Hope this helps.It was great. We are from Australia and did the Rockies with tem too. All in one

My husband and I will be doing a Princess cruise/tour in August with somewhat of a reverse itinerary. The cruise is first followed by a 3 night land tour - Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge, Denali Princess Lodge ending in Fairbanks. We only have a limited time frame for this trip and decided to pack in as much as possible. No, I don't think that you're making a mistake. It is alot of traveling, but you do what you can with the time you have.

My opinion only, yes a mistake especially if you are not completely sure on what you have purchased. For a cruisetour, I highly recommend at least a 7 day add on, any less has way too much time in transit. I get emails every day in response to my factual posts on cruisetours- EXTREMELY important- allow enough time and be completely informed on what you have purchased- for information only- way too many people are not.
Some points to consider- by rail from Whittier to Denali Park- it's a 10 hour ride, from Anchorage, 8 hours, Fairbanks to Denali Park 4 hours, and Talkeetna about half way between Denali Park and Anchorage. On Princess seating is assigned table style, so 2 people face 2 other people with 2 of those riding backward. Carefully pack a small carryon, that is all the space you will have- under your seat. For bus 6 hours Anchorage/Denali Park. Are you aware that the McKinley lodge is out in the middle of nowhere?? Excellent location if McKinley is viewable- but rarely is. You are 50 miles from the nearest town- Talkeetna- shuttles are available- this is the top place for flightseeing. You are 100 miles from the Denali Park entrance- people mistakenly think they can have another day in the park. Most important- Princess has a lot of bookings on the WORTHLESS Natural History Tour- DON'T even consider a tour with this, again uninformed travelers do not realize this "tour" only goes in 17 or the 90 miles of the Park Road, likely no wildlife. Go ahead with this- if you can rationalize a trip to Alaska with the potential highlight of Denali Park and being happy with a 3 hour tour that took all those stated hours to get there. Fairbanks- is best seen adding at least another day and renting a car, vast excellent touring area- same with Anchorage. So bottom line- educate yourself and determine if this tour is what you think it is and rank your priorities. They are very costly for what you get, be sure to add about 50% more for food than you would at home to allow for a cushion. Independent travelers- rave about the Alaska experience, seeing plenty of "small" stuff and points of individual interests, never any "I wish I took a tour". You can see more going on your own and make better use of short timeframes. Tours are the way to go for some people- again the more you know the better your choices will be for you.

Question - does Princess take the rest of the luggage to the last lodge of the tour?

Prowl, for clairfication, Princess has only be going to Whittier ONE season- 2004. If you went 2 years ago, you went to Seward.

Sorry, Budget Queen, but I have to disagree with you about the Natural History Tour. It's a three hour tour to just above Savage River with stops at the Savage River cabin and for wildlife. I've been on this tour many times and we always see dall sheep and caribou, and usually see moose (this is the only part of the park where there are moose). Bears are always iffy. However, three hours on a glorified school bus is about all I can take. The Tundra Tour is a better value for the money - it's seven hours and goes to Toklat and will increase the chance of seeing bears. You do have to go as far as Toklat to see Denali if the mountain's out, which it seldom is. But, if you have a full day in the Park, you are much better off to do the Kantishna Trails tour or the Denali Backcountry adventure. These go past Wonder Lake and into the old mining district of Kantishna, which is not in the Park. You have lunch at a lodge, can wander around for a few hours, try some gold-panning and then return to the park entrance in time for dinner. Budget Queen is right about the Mt. McKinley - it's in the middle of nowhere, not even close to the park. My advice to anyone who has a few days before a cruise is to rent a car, drive to Denali, stop in Talkeetna for lunch, fish for salmon at Sunshine Creek, stay overnight near the park, do the tour to Kantishna, drive to Fairbanks (under 3 hours), do the riverboat and gold mine tours, and drive back to Anchorage via the Richardson, stopping at Summit Lake and the glaciers. You can do it comfortably in five days, don't have to stick to someone else's schedule, and you'll meet lots of Alaskans.

I will always say the Natural History is a waste of time. Especially for the UNINFORMED traveler which a large part of cruisetours is. I can never justify all that time it takes to get there and only get a 17 mile tour. Yes this is mooose territory but the scenery is the forte at Polychrome Pass with it barely so so to mile 17. I also do not recommend Kantishna for a day trip, it is far better with at least an overnight, more is better. There is VERY little you can do on the day trip with the meal taking up time and then maybe you have a couple hours at most to look around. Compared to going 5 miles less on the shuttle to Wonder Lake, the Kantishna day trip is a high cost lunch.

Well - now that everything is settled -We're just going to relax and enjoy what we're doing on this trip. It certainly doesn't have to be the one and only trip we take to Alaska.

Just got the luggage question answered directly by Princess. If you are doing the "tour" portion of the trip last (after the cruise) then you take all of your luggage with you and it stays with you during the "tour" portion.