Hello guys. We are a three-generation family of six persons, aged from 25 to 88. Our oldest family member is, unfortunately, walking impaired. We want to travel to Alaska in July/August 2014. We will fly from Germany to and from Vancouver. Our rough idea is that we fly into Vancouver, board a cruise ship and sail to Seward. There we rent a car and drive to Denali, spend a couple of days there and drive to Anchorage and fly back from Anchorage to Vancouver and then home.
My questions are:
What else would you recommend for such a trip? Actually, we have a couple of days more, and what sidetrips would you recommend for our crazy party? (Since we have the two seniors, hiking and kayaking are out of question.)
We like to drive by ourselves. But would you recommend any tours (e.g. wildlife viewing tours)?
Do you recommend an additional small-ship cruise into some fjords?
For the main cruise from Vancouver to Seward, which cruise line would you recommend? (Our seniors tend towards the Holland America cruise with Ketchikan - Juneau - Skagway - Haines - Glacier Bay - Seward, but maybe there are cruises which include College Fjord?)
Thank you for your tips.

It's a pretty straightforward trip.

If they like HAL, there's nothing wrong with choosing it. Cruise fares are very competitive.

A couple of things -

First, take a day when you arrive in Seward to take a Kenai Fjords cruise. That will provide some impressive wildlife viewing opportunities.

As for College Fjord, a "26 Glacier Cruise" from Whittier (reached via a tunnel on a side road off the Seward Highway between Seward and Anchorage) will provide a much better experience than one you'd get from a cruise ship. http://www.phillipscruises.com/

Book a car as soon as possible, before rates skyrocket. Note there is very limited selection in Seward (or Whittier) but otherwise you would have to transfer to Anchorage somehow, then return. I'd probably just rent at your arrival port and not worry about it. You're going to have difficulty finding a vehicle that will hold six people plus cruise luggage; you might look at 2 cars and bring a set of walkie-talkies to communicate on the road.

There is only one daily flight between Anchorage and Vancouver and it's generally very expensive. Most flights from Anchorage go to Seattle (or other US cities). If you plan to fly on Lufthansa, just book "open jaw" tickets - Germany to Vancouver, Seattle to Germany (nonstop to FRA.) It will probably cost less than a Vancouver round trip, due to taxes.

Oh, forgot to mention - Condor Airlines flies nonstop from Germany to both Vancouver and Anchorage (in the summer) so if you wanted to do a one-way cruise and then just fly home you could easily do so. http://www.condor.com/us/index.jsp

Thank you a lot, Gardyloo - you gave me exactly the tips I wanted.

The reason to fly to Vancouver is that our seniors need business class flights and the airfare in business class to and from Vancouver is very reasonable.

We happily look forward to more replies.

We did a similar trip (reverse direction) from Whittier to Vancouver on Princess a few years ago. If you can, get a balcony room, especially for the oldest family member. She or he can sit on the balcony (during the day temperatures will be around 60-70 F) and watch the scenery go by.

We enjoyed the smaller boat trip out of Seward. We went with Kenai Fjords company. At first we thought it might duplicate what we saw on the cruise, but we saw close-up glaciers, whales, dolphins and could see wildlife on the various islands as we cruised by. If any in your group get motion sick or seasick, take some medication first. On the day we went the waters were a little rough and I was briefly ill.

Whichever cruiseline you choose, ignore the photos of people in very dressy clothing. Even at dinner, dress was fairly casual. For women, a nice pair of pants and a nice jacket or sweater is fine, even for dinner. Some men wore ties and jackets, but most just a pair of pants and a dress shirt. Dress in layers for the cruise and make sure everyone has a waterproof jacket and really comfortable shoes.

Be sure to budget some money for excursions at the various ports. The older person may wish to stay on the ship, but there is not much to see in most ports unless you take bus, train, or even helicopter to other locations.

You can not drive into Denali yourself beyond a Visitors Center near the entrance. They have bus tours that go all the way into the PArk on paved roadways. They use old school buses - not the most comfortable transportation - so keep that in mind for the older members of your group. Driving yourself to Denali is fine. Stop in Talkeetna for lunch. It will take a good part of the day.

You can rent a minivan that will fit everyone - but perhaps not all the cruise luggage. Perhaps you can stay in the same hotel before and after your trip to Denali and they will store most of your luggage for you. If they say it is a 7-passenger vehicle, it is not. But 6 can fit comfortably.

Have a good trip. Alaska is amazing.

Thank you, gail. A very helpful reply.

Gardooloo and Gail gave you some good advice. We ran into a lot of Germans when we were in Alaska last summer and they all flew Condor so there must be some great deals on that airline. It also is a shorter flight than our flight from Ohio since they fly over the northpole.

With the age span of your family, your plan for a one way cruise that includes Glacier Bay is a great idea. Holland America and Princess both do Glacier Bay. The cruise ends in Seward or Whittier(the brochure will say Anchorage)

I was totally surprised when I priced rental cars in Alaska. One way rentals are ridiculously expensive--even roundtrip rentals are expensive. Book something as soon as possible and then keep checking for discounts. You can cancel with no penalty.

To save money, I know some travellers have rented a car in Seward, driven to Anchorage, returned the car and then picked up another rental car in Anchorage for the rest of their trip. Sounds crazy but people seemed to have saved a lot of money. Maybe this is where you could find a hotel/B&B to store your luggage.

You may also want to price the train from Seward to Anchorage--that is a beautiful train ride(or car drive) Last year the Toursaver had a buy1/get 1 free coupon. www.toursaver.com--you can purchase this online. Sounds simpler to me.

Seward is a nice town. We spent 3 nights there. We really enjoyed our time there. We didn't take a week long cruise when we visited last summer, but we did totally enjoy the Kenai Fjords National Park daycruise. Someday we hope to return and take a week long cruise.

We also enjoyed the Glacier Day Cruise out of Whittier(another 2 for 1 deal with the coupons) The buy1/get 1 free deal was available through the Toursaver or Northern Lights coupon books. There are also a lot of coupons for tours during your cruise in the Toursaver. You would need to buy 3 books for your group if everyone wanted to do the tours together.

When in Seward,we stayed at Bear Lake Lodge, outside of Seward. I don't know if you are looking at B&Bs I think it would be nice for your family if they have availability. There are only a few rooms there. It is a really nice B&B on a lake. They have kayaks available for use. The members of your family who might want to kayak could do it here while the rest of you relaxed at the house or on the deck. Some of your family could also drive over and walk/hike a bit at Exit Glacier. It is fairly close to the B&B.

We really enjoyed staying in B&Bs in Alaska. Our favorite was Hidden Creek B&B in Girdwood--just beautiful--and what a breakfast!! They are very close to the Alyeska Ski Resort--a nice place to visit and only a half hour from Whittier. If your cruise ends in Whittier, this would be a great place to stay.

It is a beautiful drive from Seward to Anchorage--lots of photo stops. It will be too far to drive all the way to Denali from Seward so you will want to overnight or spend a couple nights somewhere. I am not sure how much time you had after your cruise.

I have also seen rental houses advertised on www.vrbo.com. That would be an affordable lodging option for your group.

Make sure everyone in your group has a lightweight rain jacket and some fleece shirts. You will want to be out on the decks or on the balcony for the fabulous scenery. The temperatures do vary. We lucked out last summer--Alaska had an unbelievably sunny summer but we were prepared for rain. We went the last 2 weeks of July.

What a great trip for your family. Have a wonderful time.

Thank you all - you gave us invaluable advice. In the meantime, I did more research and finally made reservations - there was no more time to waste indeed.

Here is our relaxed itinerary:

We fly from Frankfurt to Vancouver (funnily we booked business class at a very good fare at Air Canada for a flight which is operated by Lufthansa - Lufthansa strangely did not offer such a good fare).

We spend two nights in Vancouver before we board a Holland-America cruise to Seward. In Seward, the drivers will take a transfer to Anchorage Airport where we reserved a large SUV at Enterprise at a very reasonable rate.

Then, we will spend three days in Seward - doing the Kenai Fjords cruise, some kayaking and driving to Exit Glacier and the lakes).

From Seward, we will drive to Denali with a stopover in Talkeetna. Luckily, we found decent accomodation in Denali (Creekside Cabins), since most lodges appeared to be fully booked already. We will spend two days in Denali and use the shuttle buses.

From Denali, we intend to drive to Chena Hot Springs just to relax a bit and spoil ourselves in the hot springs. From Chena will we drive back to Anchorage where we will spend another night and fly back to Vancouver.

We can still modify our itinerary, but, so far, I have the feeling that this itinerary will accomodate our party's special needs.

This sounds like a very nice trip. If you want to upgrade your Denali accommodations, there will surely be cancellations at other places as the time approaches, but since you are set there I wouldn't worry at this time. I do hope you have a place to stay in Seward. Enjoy the trip.

Why don't you think of returning from Fairbanks via Richardson and Glenn highways to Anchorage. You may have to add one more day but you will be enjoying a different route.

We have gone to Alaska 3 times. I strongly recommend the HAL Amsterdam ship if it is available. The Eurodam would be fine too, but I don't think it sails in Alaska. There is a huge difference between the ships. You may want to consider Victoria Island Butchart Gardens. Depending upon your cruise you may or may not stop in Victoria. The gardens are quite a long distance from the city of Victoria so you might want to do this separately on your own. They do involve walking, but I think they have a tram or golf cart for those with mobility issues. From Vancouver a common excursion is a trip to Whistler. This can be done as a day trip or overnight. For the affluent the VIA rails has a "Gold Service" train that includes an overnight in Whistler. Very chic.

For your time in Seward, I would highly recommend a one-night stay at Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge.

http://www.kenaifjordsglacierlodge.com/itinerary

This is a wilderness lodge deep in Kenai Fjord National Park, in Aialik Bay. The four-hour boat ride out there (included in the price) is a wonder wildlife and glacier tour, personalized and very comfortable as they use their own (very safe) smaller boat. There were 16 people on the boat when we went. plus captain and crew. You stop at the face of two different glaciers, plus stop to observe whatever wildlife is in the area. We saw everything, including orca, a gray whale, walruses, etc.

The lodge has 16 private cabins with modern facilities (electricity and ensuite bathrooms). Meals are served in a central lodge, and the food is VERY good. The location is on a lagoon at the base of Pederson Glacier. Black bears roam the area and are frequently seen right from the cabin porches.

They offer guided kayaking in the fjord and canoeing on the lagoon, again included in the price.
You would have time to kayak on the morning you depart, as the boat back to Seward does not depart until 2:00. This kayak trip takes you across the fjord to a waterfall and some interesting geological feature. Aialik Glacier dominates the scene at the head of this fjord.

We saw even more wildlife on the return trip, including a pod of orca feeding, and school of dolphins that played in the bow wake for about 15 minutes.

This option would break up the otherwise long and tiring glacier cruise into two days, making it much more enjoyable. The only part of the trip that might be difficult for your mobility-impaired senior would be the walk from the boat to the lodge. This is a level walk of less than half a mile, and they transport your luggage for you. the cabins themselves are linked by a level and easy boardwalk. You could ask for one nearest the lodge for your senior.

The price looks expensive, but when you consider all that is included, it is well worth it, and a very special experience.

Enzian-that lodge does look like an amazing experience. I see a price of $725/night/person before taxes. Is the the actual cost or could I be looking in the wrong place?

Thank you, Enzian, for recommending Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge. Sounds like a breathtaking experience. We will do it on our second trip to Alaska, after we have found a considerable nugget of gold on our first trip!

(The rates are breathtaking indeed; and I am afraid, with our seniors in tow, that will not be able to make the best of it.)

hotzim, we will travel on the Oosterdam. We have booked the Neptune suites at a reasonable price, and I am sure, we will have a decent cruise experience.

Our next step will be researching the options for individual tours in the various ports, as the cruise ship tours will cost a fortune!

Yes, unfortunately that is the cost for one night. Longer stays are less on a per-night basis, as the cost of the boat trip in and out is amortized over more days. They have raised their rates since we were there in 2011; we paid $1000 each for a 2-night/3-day stay, or $500 a night. I added up the separate cost of all we did, including a 6-hour guided kayak trip,to the face of Aialik Glacier, and the excellent meals, and it came to more than that. But at $725 for one night, that is probably not the case.

OK, another suggestion for Seward, lodging-wise. The two rooms at Alaska Paddle Inn will sleep six comfortably---two upstairs and four downstairs. Our group of six spent two nights there and loved the views and the ambiance. Bonus that we could cook dinner one night, grilling salmon we bought at the fish market.

The cruise ship tours may cost more but we bought anyway- so much easier to do beforehand rather than wait and see what is available through other vendors. When we boarded, all our tickets were in our room and ready to go- no waiting in lines, no waiting to see what would be available -

In Skagway, we did the train tour- I recommend and that would be something the walking impaired could do I think.

In Juneau- we went whale watching- that was very exciting as we got to a group of humpbacks do "bubble net" feeding ( check it out on you tube)

In Denali we went on a tour through the park and we visited the Husky Homestead- where they breed, raise and train sled dogs- another venture seniors should be able to do and I thought very interesting .

In Ketchican we did a float plane trip over some fiords and also landed in a remote area.

In Fairbanks we did a riverboat trip - it was interesting but there was some walking as it stopped at an Indian Village replica- not hard walking but depends on what they are capable of doing.

We spend a couple of nights in Homer- enjoyed very much and had the best halibut I have ever eaten.

In Talkeetna we did a river raft- it was nice but a little tamer than I would have liked- next time I would do the white water raft trip.
talkeetna is a cute little town- we happened to be there the 4th of Jul so there was a parade going on and lots of people.
Its a beautiful state- you will enjoy

Bubble net feeding by the humpbacks- its amazing

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...kan-coast.html