We are seriously considering doing an Alaska cruise next summer (2020, probably July/August), and we know we want to go to at least Denali NP. This will be a celebration of at least one and probably multiple life events.
We care much more about the excursions/activities and wildlife than the “on ship” experience. We like to hike, kayak, ride bikes, etc.
I have just started doing research, and I have found one tour that sounds almost perfect (except for the price, and lack of research to date, to know if it hits the spots we care most about). I will link to that tour when I can find it again, but I’d like to hear from others what some must do experiences are, what tours are good, etc.
Thanks in advance
I have looked into this one which looked tempting, but beyond our current budget.
This is the one I think looks pretty awesome.
I haven’t decided if I’m really willing to spend this much, but it offers a lot.
https://www.adventuresmithexplorations.com/glacier-bay-kenai-fjords-denali-alaska-national-parks-cruise-land-trip
Wow–those do look inviting. I think my friend went with her young adults on one of the cruises that had kayaks and nature guides on a smaller boat touring Alaska. They had a blast!
We did one with Uncruise Adventures. It was awesome! Small boat with like 45 guests. Every day we spent lots of times in coves kayaking, walking in the woods and other fun activities. Got close to glaciers in skiffs. Great food. People from all over the world onboard. All kinds of wildlife viewing.
Looks amazing! Any idea if they can accommodate special food requests (allergies)?
I’d call or email them. My friend who went on a cruise with her adult kids had one of them with food sensitivities and whatever cruise she was on was able to work with her and her young adult on this, so they were all happy and comfortable. She said everything about her cruise was amazing and she’d highly recommend it. I can contact her and see which cruise line she used.
My friend did love the “uncruise” brand.
We did a Holland America Alaskan cruise- a large but not as large as some ships. We liked the atmosphere and H did some computer classes, the US park service naturalist was onboard for lectures one day. I can see how you would get closer to the glaciers and likely will pay more for your trip. People on the cruise were into seeing the sites, not shows/activities onboard. Whatever you decide be sure to have some kind of balcony so you can see more from your room.
Is a cruise your best plan if really, only the off ship stuff is your bag? Can you plan around the ferries and accommodation and vehicle hire for a more bespoke plan? If it is just convenience and the off ship access is OK, then wouldn’t it be OK to book the cheapest vessel anyway? How do multi night excursions work if you are on a cruise, say for DNP? I can’t imagine one cruise day in Denali would be enough for true adventurers? I know the more touristy stops might be done in a day, but that is for the average cruiser.
My only experience was in 1981. We did a 14 day Westours trip of a lifetime. We started by flying to Seattle and on to Anchorage. Next was a train trip to Whittier and small boat cruise through Prince William Sound and the Columbia Glacier. Bus back to Anchorage then on to Denali National Park. Wildlife tour of the park. Next bus to Fairbanks and a historical tour. Then on to Whitehorse. Next was the narrow gauge White Pass and Yukon Railroad down to Skagway. Following day was another smaller excursion cruise down to Juneau through the Lynn Canal. Tour of the Mendenhall Glacier. Then we sailed on the Cunard Princess to Vancouver, through Glacier Bay National Monument and a stop at Sitka.
It was totally a sightseeing and entertainment trip (and souvenir shopping). The only physical activity was walking, and packing and unpacking luggage every night! I think some people did other side trips where they were flown into places for fishing or skiing etc. I think there were only a few ships doing Alaskan cruising back then. That was our first cruise experience.
I do think it’s worth a splurge to get something more than the cruise and its associated excursions. I know there are companies doing personalized tours, but probably not anything like Westours did back in the day.
It’s been a long time but we’ve done Alaska twice- once renting an rv and once via a cruise. Cruises are not my type of vacation but it was parent’s 50 anniversary. I don’t like being herded onto expensive adventures when on shore. I was very pleasantly surprised at the wonderful information of Park Rangers on the cruise! From grandparents to kids, we all wanted to wake up and see the marine wildlife the next day.
We loved renting an RV in Alaska! We camped and did the bus trip at Denali. Bus was fun and very informational but we didn’t see animals close up. While Denali was fun, it certainly wasn’t a highlight of trip. I wanted to hike at Denali but most of the hikes were across the tundra and you had to be very serious hikers (and have serious weather gear) to tackle them. (We up for 4-6 hour hikes but not hiking across tundra without trails.)
Highlights of our trip was taking a float plane to see the bears feeding, fish for salmon and fly back over the glaciers. We did it out of Soldonta which was a bargain compared to other options. We also had a blast staying near a fishing camp and trying to catch king salmon. We didn’t catch any but watching fish so huge that 2 men had to carry them out was memorable. We enjoyed Seward if we hit it before or after the cruise crowd came. Wish we would have gone to Howard.
Same here. We were seriously underwhelmed by Denali. It was nice, but the animals we saw were far away and the hiking wasn’t anything spectacular.
The highlight of our trip was similar to that of @TexasCollegeMom . We did a one-day trip to Brooks Lodge in Katmai National Park during the salmon run to see the grizzlies. It was amazing.
We flew out of Anchorage and eventually transferred to a small float plane for the last leg. I still remember flying over the water on the approach to the lodge and thinking, “those sure are some huge rocks there at the shoreline.” Well, they weren’t rocks - there were bears in the bay! One of them stood up to watch our plane fly over.
There are bears everywhere – we saw at least 20, maybe as many as 30 or 40, fishing and fighting. It was incredible.
Thanks everyone.
We definitely do not want a cruise only option, because we do want a fair number of land based en excursions.
I will take a look at land only tours, but I suspect a combination is what we will be happiest with.
We flew into Galcier Bay by Alaskan Airways and stayed in a lodge there. There was a very good small boat trip with a national park ranger around one arm of the bay which was also used by many kayakers as a drop off and pick up service. We flew out to Juneau by a local 6 seater plane which flew low so that we had wonderful views. After that we used the ferry service, staying for a long as we chose at each destination. As many activities as we liked and wonderful wild life viewing.We only had time to see the ‘pan handle’ and hope to return to see more at some stage.
I finally realized it is Alaska Airlines, no n, after misspelling it for too long.
We did the kenai fjords glacier trip on our land trip. It was nice because we could get much closer than the cruise ship but we didn’t see nearly as much sea life as we did on our cruise. Do they offer one way cruises? If so maybe you could take the cruise, rent a car, explore the area and book some independent excursions then fly back from Anchorage. CC gives me great advice but I find best travel experts at tripadvisor forum threads.
I went to Alaska last year. We did a 4 day stay at Camp Denali. They have guided hikes at three different levels and they have equipement (eg trekking poles) . We did mostly the moderate hikes which were not easy but had several opportunities to stop and learn about the flora and fauna. It was a wonderful experience.
We then did an Uncruise cruise. We were off the boat every day mostly half day kayak and half day bushwack or shore walk. Again, the guides really gave us quite an education. We kayaked the length of one fjord looking at the birds, sea stars, minks! and all the other things along the way.
@1214mom I looked at the tour your linked and it includes these two components. I booked them separately (with the train in between) it wasn’t that difficult. I would look to see what the upcharge is for someone to package it for you. As for North face lodge vs Camp Denali, my husband was initially wary of the lack of utilities at Camp Denali, but the fact that we could see the mountain from our cabin made up for it, and he is glad we picked that choice. The food/activities are the same between both.
When we went on an Inside Passage cruise all shore excursions left from the dock as opposed to zodiacs directly from the ship (as in the Galapagos where the Zodiacs leave from the ship as there are no docks to speak of).
If you follow Cruise Critic, you will see that a ruling from the US Coast Guard in Jan 2018 now restricts non US flagged vessels from launching anything directly from the ship to any US land (i.e., shore excursions). They can launch kayaks, but you can’t land anywhere unless the cruise vessel is US flagged.
What this means is that a ship either needs to dock or needs to contract with a local zodiac or catamaran company. According to Cruise Critic this transition has not been graceful in the Alaska travel market.
So you might want to check where your ship is registered and exactly where excursions leave from. http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/uscg-says-no-to-tenders-from-foreign-flag-ships-used-for-excursions.html
On another note we loved the Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge. It is my favorite thing we did in Alaska. So far!
Thanks for all the helpful information.