Alaska Accomodation Recommendations Please

Old Feb 16th, 2007, 12:23 PM
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Alaska Accomodation Recommendations Please

Hi,
I am trying to figure out accomodations for our upcoming trip in July. I know it is late planning this for peak season but I'm afraid that's the way it has to be this time.

We are looking at Fairbanks (just one night), Denali (2 nights),
Talkeetna (possibly one night if we don't skip it entirely), Anchorage (probably 2 nights) and Seward (1 night?)

We are two people, mid 30's. We will have a rental car in Denali. We would prefer someplace with a TV if at all possible (for my TV addict hubby). Accomodations don't have to be luxurious, just 'standard' and clean would be fine and in Denali, with good food there or nearby.

We would like to stay in The Princess Lodge in Denali because of the 'activity' options in the evening but at this stage it is fully booked.

Thanks for any advice.
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Old Feb 16th, 2007, 07:38 PM
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We stayed at Denali River Cabins http://www.denalirivercabins.com/ and they were fine. While they weren't luxurious we did have privacy, they were clean, convenient and priced right for the quality. They have a TV and phone in each cabin. After witnessing the Princess Lodge I actually wouldn't want to stay there. It looked completely out of place in the area and was overrun by people there from cruises so there were buses of people constantly unloading and loading everywhere.

In Seward we stayed at Hotel Seward http://www.hotelsewardalaska.com/ which was also fine. Again, not luxurious but it was clean, had friendly staff, TV & phone and was right in town so you can walk to anything you need in Seward.

My experiences with my hotels in Fairbanks and Anchorage were more mediocre. In Anchorage we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Anchorage Airport http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/anccy. It was ok and was close to the airport but it wasn't anything special. The location is good for the airport but it is too far from walking distance to downtown Anchorage if you care about that.
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Old Feb 16th, 2007, 07:47 PM
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we stayed at the Denali Park Hotel http://denaliparkhotel.net/index.html, which I thought was reasonable. nothing fancy, but clean and with a tv. no smoking, no pets. they are about 5-10 minutes north of the park, but you'll get used to driving a little further when in Alaska.
we enjoyed eating at The Perch while nearby.
they have a book of restaurants and menus in the lobby at the hotel.
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Old Feb 17th, 2007, 02:12 AM
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You can easily spend most of the day driving from Anchorage to Seward although it's only about a 3 hour drive. If you plan to do a long boat cruise the next day you might want to spend a second night in Seward. There's a lot to do on the road in between, spectacular scenery - tram up Mt Alyeska, Portage Glacier visitors center, etc. You also might be surprised that you spend more time during the day doing things, eat later and suddenly it's 10pm. Talkeetna is very small. If you don't do a flightseeing trip, a few hours might be enough.
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Old Feb 17th, 2007, 12:24 PM
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HI,
Thank you for your recommendations. The cabins and park hotel look good and reasonable. Since posting I have done some more research and have come across these: Denali Dome Home B&B,
Denali Lakeview Inn,
Touch of Wliderness B&B,
Motel Nord Haven
- any opinions?

I like the sound of Hotel Sewards location. We prefer to be in the middle of things. do you know if they have on-site parking? I can't find it on the website.

I'm not too sure about the Marriott in Anchorage, it really depends on our itinerary which I'm afraid we haven't nearly finalised yet!

dfrostnh, we are probably looking at taking the train from Anchorage to Seward as I have been reading that all one-way rentals are booked already but I'm hoping we can hire a car in Seward. We are definately looking at booking a 6 hour Kenai Fjords Cruise and considering a Behind the Scenes Sealife Centre Tour. I also want to do the Wildlife Conservation Centre (I'm not too sure how long the drive is though).

Which brings me to our itinerary (!!??)

We are really stuck on how to work it (I have been trying to figure it for the past couple of weeks but seem to be getting nowhere)

We will have 6 nights pre-cruise and of course want to see "everything" ... well not everything, but a 'lot'.

We can't decide whether to fly in to Fairbanks or Anchorage. If we fly Fairbanks it will mean a one-way rental costing $520 for 3 days but it will mean that we can stay one night Fairbanks, visit North Pole (for the big kid in us) the following day, then drive to Denali, spend 2 nights Denali, drive Anchorage spending one night and then do bear viewing trip either from there or Homer, ending with possibly one night in Seward and connecting with our cruise.

If we arrive in Anchorage the rental will be MUCH cheaper but we will most likely have to miss Fairbanks and North Pole (unless we take a quick overnight there after our Denali bus and drive to Talkeetna the following day instead of Anchorage).
If we arrive Anchorage we are looking at something like this:
July 20th Arrive Anchorage, collect car, overnight
July 21st Drive Denali o/n
July 22nd Denali Shuttle Bus O/n here (or drive back to Talkeetna and o/n there)
July 23rd Drive to Anchorage o/n
July 24th Anchorage ?????. Return rental car
July 25th Fly Era Air to Homer and take Bear Watching trip with Emerald Air (if they have availability - waiting for them to get back to me). Fly back to Anchorage o/n
July 26th Train to Seward. Get rental car? Wildlife Conservation Centre etc
July 27th Kenai Fjords Cruise. Board Southernbound cruise to Vancouver

I am VERY open to comments / suggestions .. ANY advice is greatly appreciated

Thanks again,
Imelda
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