Reservations?
 

We will be spending May 31- June 14th traveling Alaska.
Our agenda includes Seward, Homer, Valdez, Wrangell St Elais, Denali, Talkeetna, but we are not tied to this.

THe only reservations I have done are the 1st night in Girdwood, and our Bear trip on Emerald.

Do you think we need to book every hotel in advance? We would love to be able to have flexibility to seize a moment if it presents....

Thanks, you are all so helpfull!

It will help us - and you - if you post again with Alaska in your title. It will attract people who actually know something about Alaska - which I don't. sorry, but have fun!

I do recommend having most of your routing and reservations in place. It is pretty simple to figure out where you will be and what is of interest, request visitor guides.

I think you are underestimating lodging availablity. It isn't like roadside america with Mom and Pop motels lining the roads, it isn't. You can drive a 100 miles with NOTHING. Many of the small lodgings B&B's are fully booked all season. You will be wasting an amount of time in searching.

IF you continue to go with this lack of a plan, then it is absolutely necessary you have THE MILEPOST and a prepared list- beforehand of all possible lodging in your areas. And a cell phone.

BudgetQueen,
We would not be so foolish to set off with no destination- we LIKE a nice warm place to rest! My question, better phrased, is do you think availability will be a problem if we call a day in advance at that time of the year.....

We took a road trip from NJ to TX last year, and only made reservations for the first hotel we were staying in. Since we didn't want to be tied down to a particular itinerary, we'd figure out where we'd be going next and used Priceline for every hotel, mostly a day before going to that city. Had no problems reserving hotels and got them at amazing prices.

Budget Queen was only trying to help. She is probably the most knowledgable one on here when it comes to alaska. Seizing the moment is generally not a good idea in my book. I think you are taking a big risk calling and getting reservations the day before at most places. There are very few places to actually stay at in Alaska. No chain hotels hardly at all. You will enjoy Alaska. It is beautiful.

Thanks Spirodog, appreciate your advice, as well as BudgetQueens!
You are both great, even of it wasn't the answer I wanted :(
Better to be prepared. I am a bit frustrated at the late date the ferry schedule comes out- a lot is dependent on that schedule!

It's one thing to travel with no reservations in parts of the country with numerous hotels/motels and a long tourist season.

But- in an area with a very limited tourist season - as well as limited (esp pleasant) lodging - you're taking a big chance not planning ahead. Before making the decision to do this I would contact some of the places in which you're interested - perhaps in March or so - to see how many rooms they have left for the time you'll be there. If they're starting to show fully booked you'll know you need to reserve in advance.