Alaska CruiseTour – 2022

A “cruisetour” is the term for a cruise paired with a land tour. It is a GREAT way to experience Alaska. Land packages are offered either before or after a cruise, and if it is bundled directly with the cruise line, all of the details are seamless.

In 2003 and in 2017, I took cruise tours where the land portion was pre-cruise, but this time the land portion was post-cruise.

We booked everything through Princess: Air, pre-cruise hotel, and the 11 day “Denali Explorer,” cruisetour itinerary. Princess wins awards every year for being one of the best, if not THE best provider for Alaska cruises and lodges.

Here is the itinerary:

Flights were nuts – getting rescheduled over and over and completely changed by the airline, but that was pretty standard in the summer of 2022 for anyone flying. We flew WestJet for the first time, and the actual flight service was great.

We stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver. Very convenient to the cruise terminal – right across the street to be exact. The Pan Pacific Hotel is actually in the cruise terminal, but the price difference was worth walking across the street. Princess offered bag-handling there in the hotel since we booked the hotel through Princess. We tagged our checked bags in the room with the provided, Princess luggage tags, and they were picked up and transported to our cruise cabin for us.

Check in for the cruise was easy. We had our Princess Medallions shipped to us ahead of time, so they just scanned the medallion and we were done.

Hint: Pre-order the medallion on the app and have it shipped in advance. You CAN wait and pick it up at the cruise terminal, but having it in advance speeds up the process.

I ordered a scooter for my friend and it was ready and waiting for us in our handicap accessible stateroom. (You will notice that she has her mask ready to whip into place when we leave the cabin – this was required on our sailing because Alaska was experiencing a new wave of Covid in June 2022. We had to wear the masks onboard in enclosed areas and on land when in buildings. – Not exciting, but worth it to see Alaska.

You can watch my YouTube review of the Handicap Accessible Stateroom we had by clicking here.

We had a sea day the first day, and the Majestic Princess is lovely. I have a whole, separate post about our ship here.

We docked in Ketchikan where we could watch float planes arriving and landing right from our balcony. This port is great to walk around in and that is all we did this time as the day turned cloudy and brisk to be out very long on a mobility scooter. On a previous trip, we docked right at the entrance to Creek Street. It was about a 15 minute walk to Creek Street from this particular dock, so we just enjoyed the shopping close to our dock. In the past we have toured Totem Bight Park; attended the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show; Explored Creek Street; Sailed through the Misty Fjords.

Our next port was in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Juneau is not accessible by land, so visiting by cruise ship is a great way to see Juneau.My friend and I took a pedicab tour of Juneau. Our driver also works at the State Museum, so the tour came with a great guide!

The sky was beautifully clear, so this was a great day for people to ride Roberts Tramway.

Or walk along the waterfront to see all of the cruise ships docked in Juneau for the day.

On previous occasions in Juneau, I spent time downtown at the Alaska state museum; visited the Mendenhal Glacier visitor’s center and marveled at the glacier as we walked along a path for great views; and toured a salmon hatchery.

Our next port stop was in Skagway. We took a ship’s excursion which included this scenic viewpoint as well as a stop at the gold rush cemetery, and downtown Skagway for “The Days of ’98,” a musical review of the days of the gold rush.

They loaded up my friend’s scooter right under the motor coach, and they would take it off for us any time she wanted to use it.

On previous trips to Skagway, I spent time in the town shopping and eating fresh salmon at the Alaska Brewing company; rode on the White Pass Railway into Yukon territory; and went in with a group to charter a fishing boat for some salmon fishing where my husband landed an Ivory King Salmon. I would recommend any or all of those options. Other friends rented a car and drove a scenic route into Canada and saw the emerald lake. Their gorgeous photos made me want to do that sometime, too.

The highlight of an Alaskan cruise is seeing the amazing scenery right from the balcony.

My roommate was intent on seeing if it ever got dark, so one time around 4AM she woke me to make me get up and look at this (And I am so glad she did.):

One great thing about Princess is the chance to sail through Glacier Bay National Park on most of their northbound and southbound itineraries. I cannot recommend Glacier Bay highly enough. A park naturalist will board the ship and give commentary over the stateroom TV. If the weather is chilly, it is great to watch the scenery from the floor to ceiling balcony doors and listen to the commentary from the TV, then go out on the balcony for closer looks.

Our port of debarkation was Whittier, Alaska.

From my balcony, I could see the route we were going to take. Most people exit the ship and walk through the cruise terminal to pick up their checked bags and then meet their transfers to Anchorage (Unless they are spending some time in Whittier) We were going to be heading directly to the train which was loading just beyond this covered area that the last arrow points to.

Instead, our directions told us to tag our large bags, and those were picked up the last night of the cruise to be transported to our first lodge. We kept a carryon and personal item with us. When we made our way to the train, they stored our larger carryon and the scooter under the train. We could take a small carryon like a purse or backpack on the train with us.

Once onboard, we pulled away from the train loading area…..

Took one final look at our beautiful ship…..

And settled into our glass-domed rail car to enjoy the scenic views – passing through little towns along the way and stopping for passengers who would board the regular Alaska Railroad rail cars on our train. The closer we got to Denali, the prettier the views became.

We spent two nights at the Princess Denali Lodge.

This is a large complex with multiple blocks of lodge rooms. This first photo is the main building at the entrance. All excursions and transfers would depart from this large covered loading area.

We requested handicap accessible accommodations, so they made sure to put our rooms on the ground floor in an area with a ramp. We were in building J.

A shuttle made rounds throughout the lodge complex, but we were very close to the two main restaurants: Fanny Q’s and the King Salmon Restaurant. There was also a pizza place.

Inside the main lodge building was a coffee shop and there were also a local shopping strip which included a Subway sandwich stop and other eateries, too. We had a meal plan included with our stay, so we didn’t go across the street, but those would be some economical meals options there.

There is a fire pit; souvenir shops, and walking paths with seating areas to enjoy the river views.

One night we went to the Spirit of Denali Dinner Theater. The guest services desk allowed us to swap one of our dinner voucher from the lodge to the dinner theater instead. Dinner was served family-style by the singers/actors in the show. That was an entertaining way to enjoy dinner. Our itinerary also included a tundra wilderness tour into Denali National Park, but we opted out of that tour on a school bus just to stay at the lodge and relax.

On previous occasions, when I have been at the Princess lodges, we have taken the tundra wilderness tour and we have ridden 4×4’s inside the park. We never really saw much wildlife on our tours within the park. The guides could show us evidence that wildlife had been there, and I saw an eagle once, some caribou way in the distance and a couple of swans. Lack of wildlife spotting was disappointing, but the scenery is stunning on the way to the park and at the base of the park.

After two days at the Princess Denali lodge, we boarded our motor coach to Fairbanks

We stayed for two nights at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge.

There was a beautiful, outdoor seating area at the back of the lodge. A local man and wife even offered to take us for a tour on the river in their boat. (But I watch too many crime tv shows and have become too suspicious. I was not about to get in a private boat with someone I did not know!)

Our meal plan included dinners and breakfasts here. They were served buffet style.

People could book optional tours from the desk at this lodge, but our itinerary included a day trip to the Gold Dredge where we panned for gold and saw a portion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline: Sorry, I don’t have pictures from there, but I did this back in 2003, and things have not changed at all since then, so here is a photo from my scrapbook:

And we also rode on the Discovery III sternwheeler for a gorgeous scenic tour down the Chena River.

From the boat we watched a float plane take off; saw a sled dog demonstration; and watched reindeer play.

We stopped for an extended time at a re-created Athabaskan Village to walk around an listen to talks and view displays.

One more good night’s sleep at the Fairbanks lodge then a transfer to the airport and back home again. I’m not crazy about the flight, but I never get tired of cruising in Alaska.