bonk810

Is there anyone who has anything GOOD to say about the land tours? We are on southbound Princess cruise in June that includes 4 days land before cruising. We do not want to rent a car or go off on our own. Has anyone done the land portion & liked it? I've heard all the negatives, anyone have anything positive to tell me?

buongiorno

Hey Bonk

We did the Inside Passage cruise a couple of years ago and had a lot of shore activities each day. We left from Vancouver and the boat docked each day in another spot where we got off and usually walked around the town and had an organized activity as well. We took helicopter rides onto Mendenhall glacier, hiked, took wildlife spotting trips, kayaked, etc.

While it wasn't our usual type of trip (it was a family thing), we enjoyed it very much. Glacier Bay National Park is fantastic.

jq

The biggest knock is that most of the time is spent traveling from one place to the other with insufficient time to do much when you get there!! And all this for twice the price you could do on your own. If you don't want to drive, just make sure the tour you choose gives you enough time at the places you want to see rather than where they have a lodge with rooms available. They are very popular and often sell out. I would rather do my own, stay more days for same costs and go where and when I want.

BudgetQueen

I am no fan of cruisetours- they are very costly for what little you get. I only recommend these tour add ons of at least 7 days. You are making a mistake going on a 4 day add on tour, way too much time in transit, especially if it included Denali Park- since it likely includes the Natural History tour?? Since you sound fixed on a land tour- my only suggestion to you is to be certain you do not have the above included tour in your package. For clairfication- it only goes in 17 or the 90 miles into Denali Park. Only so so scenery and likely no wildlife. I can never rationalize anyone considering taking this when it takes min. 6 hours to get to Denali Park from Anchorage. Do plan on a return visit- a car rental probably isn't what you think maybe? But certainly - have a great time.

J_Mac

Hello Bonk. My husband and I did the landtour with our cruise a couple years ago. We absolutely loved it. It was our first cruise and being from Florida we knew little about Alaska or how the cruisetour worked. Princess did a top notch job.

Yes, it is expensive, but we saved for it and have NO regrets. Actually, we enjoyed the landtour more than the cruise itself! The best advice I can offer is don't spend a night at each stop because you will spend your day moving from place to place with only your evening to explore. We did the cruise in reverse of yours--cruised up to Seward, spent 1 night in Anchorage, 2 nights at McKinley Lodge, a night in Denali and a night in Fairbanks.

We totally loved the Princess Lodge-our favorite stop. The property is completely self-contained and a 30-45 minute shuttle ride from the nearest town, Talkeetna. There are hiking trails on the grounds, off-site horseback riding and we did a raft trip (more like a float trip--no white water)down the river which ended in Talkeetna. Talkeetna is a really neat little town and there's a hiker's memorial to climbers who have died on McKinley. Loved, loved this area--very quaint and romantic. From our standpoint, the only negative was in the eating options. Because the lodge is self-contained, there is only what the lodge offers or Talkeetna which doesn't have alot of choices either.

Denali was okay. The bus tour into the park was interesting but one night & day wasn't enough time to really see what the area was all about.

We had very little time to explore Anchorage and even less for Fairbanks where our land trip began and ended respectively. We had 5 nights after the cruise, and if I had it to do over again, I would pick one or two places and spend all the time there. As it was, we got into Anchorage around 5 or 6 PM and had to be ready at 7 AM to go to the train. Denali was similar, but we were there long enough the next morning to do the bus tour into the park. Got to Fairbanks late afternoon and had to be up early for the airport.

The train ride to each destination was spectacular. Unbelievable scenery and people on the train that shared lots of info about the areas, etc. Really enjoyable!

And we never touched our luggage. Princess transferred it from stop to stop and it was in our room when we arrived or shortly thereafter. We took a small weekend size bag on wheels and packed the cameras and valuables in it which we handcarried. Worked out well.

Hope I encouraged you in you decision to do the landtour. As I said, we had no regrets.