I'm from San Diego and planning a trip to my favorite State, Alaska with my 16 year old teenager for Summer 2005. This will be our first visit so we need all the help we can get. We not sure of cruise or land tours due to getting seasick really easy and never been on a cruise before. Either June or August is good but would rather be in the warmer weather.

We like to see Alaska as much as we can within our 10-14 days vacation. We like B&B?s with good view, food, and friendly hostess. Hotels with good view and clean is also preferred but not too pricey. Our transportation will have to be by air, shuttle, bus, or ferry. Is it possible to see Alaska by bus since I can't drive or my only option is the cruise? We also loved tours. For our itinerary, we're not sure where to start. Thanks so much and looking forward for your advices.

You probably shouldn't worry about the temperature. We were there in late June this year and temps were in the 80s. The weatherman was gloating that it was hotter in Fairbanks than either Miami or Honolulu. We were also lucky to have very calm seas for our day long Kenai Fjords tour. My husband took over the counter medecine plus wore a sea band but it was extremely calm. The boat captain said that happens about 3 or 4 times each summer. We took the ferry from Bellingham to Skagway on our first trip and there was only one section of open ocean when the captain suggested taking something for seasickness. Other people recommended sucking on ginger candy. If you took the ferry, you could do some land based tours.
You could also take the train or bus from Anchorage to Seward. If you stayed in the downtown area you could explore on foot. We flew on ERA from Anchorage to Kenai. It is a commuter airline with frequent flights to Homer as well. Double check on ERA because I heard they may have been sold. Homer is pretty large but probably has taxis and local tour guides. Buy the Milepost magazine for ideas. If you visit the Anchorage Daily News website, www.adn.com, you can click on visitor guides. I think there is a link to the Alaska railroad tours. I think each area of Alaska is different so you will enjoy seeing as many different parts as you can.

http://www.explorenorth.com/

Check out Murray's list of tour operators. It is extremely difficult to tour Alaska on your own without a car, especially to be on the move and seeing some good areas. But easy to get back and forth to Denali Park via the train then shuttle back and forth to hotel and Denali Park visitor center etc. Consider www.toursaver.com and see if they will be offering the 2 for one Denali Park coupon for rail and lodging? You need 2 nights there.

several years ago I took a Holland America tour of Alaska. 1 week crusing and 1 week on land. I too was worried about sea sickness because I'm very sensitve but it wasn't really a problem. I highly recommend the cruise part, we sailed from vancouver to seward with stops in ketchican,sitka,juneua, valdez and also a stop to watch glaciers calving. The trip was late june into july weather was great, I got a tan. The 2nd week was 2nights in anchorage then onto the glass domes train to denali nat. park for 2 nights then to fairbanks for 2 nights. While I enjoyed where we went on land if I were to do it again I'd do the cruise but book the land part my self I wasn't much for the "canned" tour activities. I did enjoy the train ride but i'd rather rent a car and drive myself. The cruise was great I'd do it again in a heart beat

sorry i missed the "don't drive". You can tour by bus. that was the land transportation besides the train

I'll have to do more research on the webs particularly the ones that you recommended. I'm hoping to have my itinerary complete by next month.

Thanks to everyone for their inputs!

I finally booked our Alaska cruise since I last posted my message in 2004. Anyway, here's my itinerary. I still need advice with the excursions in Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and Icy Strait. I did some research on Fodor’s and planning to book the tours listed below with ?? but not sure if these are the best ones. We also like to do some kayaking and flight seeing but don’t know which cities are best and tour companies to book with?

Day1-3 Vancouver
Day 3 Vancouver, BC 5:00 pm
Day 4 Inside Passage, Alaska --
Day 5 Juneau, Alaska 12:30 pm 8:00 pm
Day 6 Skagway, Alaska 6:30am 8:30 pm
Day 7 Sitka, Alaska 9:00 am 5:00 pm
Day 8 Icy Strait, Alaska7:00am 5:00 pm
Day 9 Hubbard Glacier 7:00am 11:00 am
Day 10 Seward Alaska 7:00 am --
Day 11 Anchorage

Day 2-3 Vancouver - Stanley Park, Vandusen Botanical Garden
Day 5 Juneau - City & Glacier tour w/Grayline?
Day 6 Skagway - Flightseeing over Glacier Bay?
Day 7 Sitka - Russian heritage, Raptor Center, Sitka National Park?
Day 8 Icy Strait - Remote Bush Exploration & Brown Bear Search?
Day 10 Seward - Seavy Idida Ride Sled Dog, Sealife Center.Take train to Anchorage
Day 11 Anchorage- Alaska Native Heritaage Center (flight departure at 2pm).

Our cruise departure late this month. Thanks for all your advice!

In Juneau, since you are looking for a city bus tour, consider going with MGT independent, they have consistantly run a very good tour for $22, most likely cheaper than your ship tour.

You are probably too early for bear sightings consistantly out of Hoonah, I would suggest you might want to verify this?? http://teckkoutfitters.com/

I went with them last year in August.

If you are out of season, you essentially have no wildlife tours, if they are a priority, my definate top pick is Kenai Fjords. You could add this with Seavey's- IF they can get you back by 11am?? And skip the Sealife Center. The boat tours shuttle you to the depot after picking you up at your ship and storing your bags.

Budgetqueen,

I have a few questions. My husband and I are going to Alaska for 8 nights starting 4th August.We land into Anchorage. What do you suggest we should do? I mean which places should we visit first, which later. We definitely want to go to Denali and Seward . Which hotels do you recommend,what kind of clothing do we need to take at that time. We want to go for a day cruise. Which one do you suggest is good? Eagerly awaiting your inputs. We haven't booked a car as yet. Is it possible for us to take a train to anyplace.We would like to experience a train jourey too.

Thank You!

My husband, 16 year old and I leave tomorrow from San Francisco for a trip similar to yours:
Day 1: Anchorage
Day 2: Drive to Denali (Healy) stopping at Talkeetna
Days 3 and 4: Denali with bus to Fish Creek on day 4.
Day 5: Sheep Mountain Lodge overnight in route to Valdez, side trip to Indepence Mine.
Day 6 and 7: Valdez with cruise on day 7.
Day 8: Ferry to Whittier, stopping at Portage Glacier and Girdwood, staying in Seward.
Day 9 and 10: Seward with Kenai Fjords Tour on day 10.
Day 11, 12 and 13: Homer, Reservations made for 1/2 day halibut boat for daughter and husband...I'll relax and read, and a dinner at Halibut Cove.
Day 14: Anchorage
Day 15: Home to SFO.

I'll post a trip report when we return. I began planning trip last summer when we returned from Banff and Jasper. Started making reservations in December, got 1,000.00 air fare for all 3 of us in about Dec. Purchased a toursaver book, and with 2 boat cruises has more than paid for itself. Enjoy planning...that's half the fun!

With your priority for Seward and Denali Park. This is a sample routing-

Anchorage- over night, Talkeetna 1 night, Denali Park 2 nights. Fairbanks 2 nights, Anchorage 1 night, Seward 2 nights.

Alt- skip Fairbanks, add 2 nights in Homer, or add a night in Anchorage and Denali Park. Plenty of variations depending on our interests.

If you are looking to go this year, you need to get right on making reservations, already you will be limited.

What type of accomdations are you looking for, my speciality are the budget properties and B&B's. I never stay in the big lodges.

If you omit Homer, taking the Alaska RR to Seward round trip Anchorage, is the most scenic portion of the entire line, highly recommended. Easy to add, with turning in your car rental, which 2 day rental savings will probably pay for the train.

Unless you're going north to the Arctic. I don't see much reason to visit Fairbanks. If you do go, I think only one night there is more than enough.
I'd do two nights in Talkeetna and add a night in Anchorage. From there you can take the train to Whittier and do the boat ride in Prince William Sound. Otherwise, I'd add a night in Denali or Seward.
Talkeetna is a charming little town, has the best views by far of Mt. McKinley, and there are a lot of activities, such as flightseeing, boat rides, etc.
In Seward, the National Park tour was excellent. It's an all day boat ride with a stop at an island for a salmon bake dinner.

Fairbanks' scenery is completely different than any other parts of Alaska but I disagree there is no reason to go. if you are focusing on views with mountains and glaciers then Fairbanks will disappoint you, if you are focusing on culture, history and activities check www.explorefairbanks.com and decide for yourself.
We enjoy every visit to Fairbanks. There is a lot to do, you just have to do research before your trip, then look and ask once you are there. Flower displays are always spectacular. Personally I would do 2 nights in Fairbanks and 1 night in Talkeetna.

I agree Fairbanks has plenty to see and do. I also would suggest 1 night in Talkeetna and 2 in Fairbanks.