Alaska Cruise Tour with Princess
Alaska is a great location for a cruisetour. Several major American cruise brands: Celebrity, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess, and Royal Caribbean offer land tours which can be booked either before or after an Alaskan cruise.
We chose Princess as it has a long-standing relationship with Alaska and most of their cruise itineraries include Glacier Bay National Park – which is a MUST in my opinion. Princess has a wide variety of tour itineraries, and I have done 3 different ones. I prefer an itinerary with the land first and the cruise last. The land tour is more active – packing and unpacking as we travel from place to place. Then once we get on the ship, we unpack one time and arrive in a different place every day.
The following Cruisetour itinerary was done in 2016 with a group of friends, but I did a different itinerary post-cruise in 2022.
Day 1/2 : Fairbanks, Alaska
We stayed in Bear Lodge and used their complimentary shuttle around Fairbanks. The trolly-type bus pulled up at the hotel on the hour and made stops at the auto museum, Fred Myers, University of Alaska’s Museum of the North, and two downtown locations. The route takes one hour. A full day would be needed to see it all. We enjoyed breakfast at the lodge, coffee & dessert downtown, and the Alaska Salmon Bake. More details are in my Fairbanks Blog Post.
Day 3: Motor coach to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge
This morning we said goodbye to some of our luggage. Don’t worry; it’s planned that way, so pack accordingly. Princess allowed one bag per person during the cruisetour. We set the bag outside our room each morning and it met us outside the room at our next lodge. The rest of our luggage was taken on to the cruise ship. Besides the luggage tags we printed off with our cruise documents, we were given additional tags for our bags. “Join Me Onboard,” which we attached to the bags we would need on the cruise, and “Join Me Tonight” which we attached to the land tour bag. There was also an extra tag for the “Join Me Tonight” bag which indicated the name of the lodge destination.
Note: I prefer to sit on the passenger side of the motor coach since we are driving on the right side of the road. Photos are not usually obstructed by on-coming traffic; however, the scenery is amazing on either side of the bus.
We stopped at the Alfred Starr Nenana Culture Center on the banks of the Nenana River.This was a convenient stop for a restroom break. There were some displays, a small shop, and a vendor set up with snacks.
Our driver told us we could use restrooms in the Culture Center or the porta potties or in the abandoned restaurant. (Update: I visited here again in 2022, and restaurant was no longer abandoned, but it was a gift shop.) Most people went into the Culture Center for the restroom and to look around. I discovered that the restrooms in the abandoned restaurant had no lines, but I would have joined a long line anywhere rather than use any porta potty.
Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge
This lodge is owned by Princess. The large main building is where visitors check in and out. The cruisetour definitely has its perks. Someone from the lodge met us on the bus and distributed keys and welcome packets. We did not have to check in.
Here we enjoyed a late lunch at the King Salmon Restaurant, shopping and snacks across the street, and a 4×4 excursion booked through Princess. Our friends enjoyed staying at the lodge for the evening and attending the Dinner Theater at the lodge.
For more details, see my Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge Blog Post.
Day 4 Train Ride to Talkeetna and on to McKinley Princess Lodge
We left our bags outside our room for pickup and headed to the main building to catch a motorcoach shuttle to the rail station.
The train has a glass-domed seating area on top. This is where all assigned tables are located, and passengers are seated four to a table. Once the conductor has checked everyone in, seating can be rearranged.
Views from the train are breathtaking, and we enjoyed a clear day to view Denali and the surrounding wilderness.
Our train arrived in the town of Talkeetna. Princess offered an immediate transfer to McKinley Princess Lodge by motorcoach, but because backsides were sore from sitting, stomachs were growling, we opted to eat lunch in Talkeetna, do a little exploring and catch a later shuttle to the lodge. Click here on Talkeetna to discover more about this town.
The McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge was our final lodging stop on our Alaska land tour. I believe they saved the best for last: We loved the expansive porch with front row seating for Denali. They say only 30% of visitors see the summit of Denali when vacationing here. I am proud to say we are now part of the 30% to see Denali from The McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge.
Our last day of the cruisetour proved to be another enjoyable day. We set our luggage outside the door in the morning for the final time, not to see it again until it met us in our cruise cabin.
Stopping at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla allowed us to better understand the history of the Iditarod, see a dogsled team in summer training, and pet an Iditarod puppy.
Next, we were dropped off in downtown Anchorage and given enough free time for lunch and to do a little shopping.
We ate scrumptious halibut fish tacos and burgers at Humpy’s restaurant.
Unique Craft and food vendors were set up across from our drop off point.
The city of Whittier is only accessible by water, air, or a one-way tunnel, and vehicles must have reservations to use the tunnel. Our motorcoach made one final stop for a photo op before our 2:00 entry time for the tunnel.
Looks cold doesn’t it? Actually, the temps were in the mid 60’s. Such a beautiful day to embark our ship in the port of Whittier, Alaska.
The Alaska Cruisetour includes a cruise portion and a land portion. For more about the Alaskan cruise ports we visited, click this link to access My Alaska Cruise blog page