Hi,
My husband and I are flying into Anchorage on June 22, and we are departing from Seward on June 27th for a cruise. We want to tour the Kenai Peninsula by car for the 5 days prior to the cruise.

We have tried to find a place to drop the car before Seward (couldn't find a drop-off in Seward), but aren't sure where. Any suggestions?

Also, any suggested itineraries? We will spend the first night in Anchorage, and will have 4 more nights before getting to Seward.

Is it too ambitious to try to get to Kodiak Island?

Thanks

We only spent one night in Anchorage at the end of our Vancouver to Seward Princess cruise last summer, so I cannot answer all of your questions. We wished we spent more time. The drive from Seward to Anchorage is easy and beautiful. The Kenai penisula is awesome. Explore there. See Exit Glacier and Resurrection Bay. We also went dog sledding through the woods (no snow). Also, there is a Hertz in Seward. That's where we picked up the car. I needed to call directly there when I made the reservations. I loved Alaska. Have fun!

Despite the gazillions of tourists passing through, only Hertz has opened a station in Seward, and apparently charge big bux for one-ways and drop-offs, but call them (not on-line or through the 800 number) for details. Otherwise, return the car to Anchorage and fork over the transfer fees to the cruise line. Major rip-off IMO.

With 4 nights, Kodiak is too far, unless you fly (from Anchorage.)

Homer on the peninsula is probably your best bet; take the ferry or a seaplane hop to Seldovia across the bay if you can - cute village. Go salmon or halibut fishing in Homer; take a Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward; if you can afford it, there are several bear-viewing charter flights available out of Homer, across the Inlet in the Iliamna/Lake Clark area. Pricey but worth it if you're a critter fan.

Thank you for the helpful replies.

Does this sound like a good plan?

Day 1: Arrive in Anchorage 1 pm
Go to hotel, explore city

Day 2: Train to Seward
Pick up car
Drive to Homer (spend night)

Day 3: Night in Homer

Day 4: where?

Day 5: Seward (spend night)

Day 6: Cruise departs at 9pm

try contacting adventure car rental in homer/anchorage ... maybe they can suggest something reasonable - i don't think they charge extra for one way drop offs between anchorage and homer, not that that helps:
http://adventurealaskacars.com/

Your plan sounds ok but maybe also consider a one day Anchorage round trip car rental? It would allow you to see the sights and drive the Arm perhaps to Girdwood and return, heading north , Eagle River Eklutna?? request the Anchorage visitor guide www.anchorage.net As for your car rental- you can EASILY reserve on line from Hertz- same prices as call in. Round trip would work well and the ARR is actually more scenic than the Seward Highway driving. I have done both.

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread and my other ones. This is what we have decided:

1- fly into ANC, rent car, drive to Denali (Denali Bluffs)

2- Denali Shuttle @ 6 am (Denali Bluffs)

3- Drive back to Anc (Marriott)

4- Train to Seward (Windsong)

5- Seward - Kenai Fjords (Windsong)

6- Celebrity Summit from Seward to Vancouver (7 nights)

Now I am working on planning the 6 nights after the cruise in Vancouver/Victoria/Seattle.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks for all of the help & advice!

On the way back from Denali to Anchorage, you may want to make a brief stop in Talkeetna. It's not that exciting, but is a cute small town (very small town).

Your first day could be really long, depending on where you're flying from into ANC. If possible, you might want to add an overnight there. Marriott is a nice hotel. Personally, I would recommend the Captain Cook downtown.

Thanks for the suggestions.

We are flying from Philadelphia, so it is a really long flight. Fortunately, we had enough FF miles for First Class tickets, so hopefully it will be a relaxing flight. We will arrive in ANC around 1:00 & will pick up a car at the airport. I was figuring that we could get to Denali by 8:00pm (with stops). I'm sure we'll be exhausted, so we'll probably crash at the hotel when we get there!!!

I wanted to be able to do the all day Denali shuttle ride (leaving 6am the next day), so this is actually the only way that I could figure to fit it in & still be able to get down to Seward to go to the Kenai Fjords.

I think we'll probably exhaust ourselves for the week, and possibly recover on the cruise

Also, we are staying at the Marriott because we have points to use, so the room is free!

Thanks

hi,
just ranting some opinions about seward, since we have yet to go, but since you'll b spending a week on a big cruise, when you do the kenai fjords tour did you consider booking w/mariah tours, since they are on 16 person boats? also, seems like you might over boat it and there's a nice hike to the harding icefield north of seward you might consider instead. as to vancouver/island/seattle - i did this trip several years ago - be sure and check out the nice aquarium in vancouver in the park, and when going from vancouver island down to Washington, before heading back to seattle, try to plan 1-3 days for Olympic national park - there's a great developed hot springs there (sol duc) and the only rainforest in north america is on the ocean side. It's all quite beautiful, and once you see the mountain peaks from vicotria, you won't be able to resist !