ABD Alaska or DCL Alaska?

[abdalums]

Here we are preparing to leave for Germany, and I'm thinking about 2011. Would love to do the Alps but very few dates. So, I'm considering Alaska. Now the question is: ABD Alaska or DCL Alaska or another cruise/land tour? Would love feedback from anyone who has done one or the other.

ABDALUMS
2010 Germany
2009 Italy
2008 Wyoming
2007 Ireland

 

[sayhello]

Here we are preparing to leave for Germany, and I'm thinking about 2011. Would love to do the Alps but very few dates. So, I'm considering Alaska. Now the question is: ABD Alaska or DCL Alaska or another cruise/land tour? Would love feedback from anyone who has done one or the other.

ABDALUMS
2010 Germany
2009 Italy
2008 Wyoming
2007 Ireland

Well, I have done an Alaskan cruisetour (Princess) and I have done the ABD Alaska. Having seen the itinerary for DCL Alaska, I would DEFINITELY say if you could only do one, do the ABD. While the ports are fun (and Princess went to the same ports as DCL is going to) it was really the inland portions of Alaska that I loved. Anchorage, Denali, the Kenai Penninsula. I went to these places on both the cruisetour and on the ABD, and really, really loved them.

The DCL cruise just isn't a great itinerary, since it doesn't do Glacier Bay or Hubbard Glacier, and since it's a round-trip, it would be very difficult to do a land-based trip either before or after the cruise (you'd have to book an extra flight to get you there from Vancouver.)

But even if you did another cruiseline, such as Princess, I would still recommend doing a land tour either on your own or through the cruiseline...

Actually, if I were to put together my perfect trip at this point, it would be taking the ABD, and then afterwards picking up a Princess or HAL cruise in Anchorage or Whittier, and sailing down through Glacier Bay to the Inside Passage and all the standard Alaskan ports. But that's just me.

Enough of a ramble? Feel free to ask any questions you have. I have a link to my ABD Alaska Trip Report in my signature. ( I really need to figure out a way to post my Princess Cruisetour Trip Report here, so that people can see what it's like, and what there is to do in the ports. It's currently posted on a locked blog, so I'd need to re-post it somewhere. Hmmmm...)

Sayhello

 

[katjojo]

We just returned from the ABD Alaskan Adventure (08/04/10). Don't know anything about DCL but can't image it could be better than Disney. The trip exceeded all expectations. Guides Melanie and Carlene were great as was Bill the bus driver.

Adventures were tremendous, weather was fine, wildlife was abundant, met great families.

 

[sayhello]

We just returned from the ABD Alaskan Adventure (08/04/10). Don't know anything about DCL but can't image it could be better than Disney. The trip exceeded all expectations. Guides Melanie and Carlene were great as was Bill the bus driver.

Adventures were tremendous, weather was fine, wildlife was abundant, met great families.

DCL is Disney Cruise Line. So it *is* Disney, but, as I've said before, the cruise itinerary isn't half as good as the ABD Itinerary.

Welcome back! So glad you enjoyed the Alaska ABD. Isn't it a fantastic trip? And you had Bill! (I assume Bill is the same as the Billy we had... ) I really enjoyed Billy.

Are you going to post a report and/or pictures? I'd love to hear your impressions!

Sayhello

 

[katjojo]

I didn't remember that DCL was Disney Cruise Line. We did the western caribbean a few years ago and had a great time.

The Alaska trip was fantastic. It started out great and got better every day. The only downside, for me, was that the trip didn't take us deeper into Denali. The wolf tracking was interesting but the chances of finding one are nil (60 wolves, 6 million acres, do the math). I mentioned to our guide Carlene that I wanted to go into the park. She recommended that I skip the wolf tracking and take one of the bus tours. I didn't feel right about blowing off an intinerary event but in hindsight she was right. All the other adventures were great.

I'll probably post some photos soon.

 

[sayhello]

The Alaska trip was fantastic. It started out great and got better every day. The only downside, for me, was that the trip didn't take us deeper into Denali. The wolf tracking was interesting but the chances of finding one are nil (60 wolves, 6 million acres, do the math). I mentioned to our guide Carlene that I wanted to go into the park. She recommended that I skip the wolf tracking and take one of the bus tours. I didn't feel right about blowing off an intinerary event but in hindsight she was right. All the other adventures were great.

I'll probably post some photos soon.

One of the people on my tour did that (skipped the wolf tracking & went on the bus). This was my second time in Alaska, and I'd been on one of the bus tours in Denali before, so I didn't mind not going further into the park this time. I was there in September, and the fall colors were out. The wolf tracking was really just an excuse to take a hike through the hills and look out over the mountains & valleys awash in beautiful fall colors.

I guess you're just going to have to go back some time & do a bus tour!

Looking forward to seeing your photos!

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

One of the people on my tour did that (skipped the wolf tracking & went on the bus). This was my second time in Alaska, and I'd been on one of the bus tours in Denali before, so I didn't mind not going further into the park this time. I was there in September, and the fall colors were out. The wolf tracking was really just an excuse to take a hike through the hills and look out over the mountains & valleys awash in beautiful fall colors.

I guess you're just going to have to go back some time & do a bus tour!

Looking forward to seeing your photos!

Sayhello

There were at least two couples on our trip also that skipped the wolf-tracking and went of the bus tours. I've seen their photos and they saw a lot of wildlife. The wolf tracking was good for the kids though because they were together and because they burned off some energy hiking the trails.

 

[sayhello]

There were at least two couples on our trip also that skipped the wolf-tracking and went of the bus tours. I've seen their photos and they saw a lot of wildlife. The wolf tracking was good for the kids though because they were together and because they burned off some energy hiking the trails.

The bus tours are a LOT of time spent sitting on a bus (and not a fancy bus. They are modified school buses!) and looking out the windows trying to spot wildlife. I think they'd be very trying for kids.

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

The bus tours are a LOT of time spent sitting on a bus (and not a fancy bus. They are modified school buses!) and looking out the windows trying to spot wildlife. I think they'd be very trying for kids.

Sayhello

That's one of the reasons we didn't do the bus tour. I don't remember now the length of the tour, but at the time I remember thinking that was a long time for a kid to sit on an uncomfortable school bus seat, especially since it was so warm that day. We had already taken the bumpy, old school bus ride down to the river for rafting so I had an idea of what we would be getting ourselves into. And there were no guarantees that we would see many animals, so I thought there was the potential for disaster (i.e., moaning and groaning about being hot and bored). Since it turned out that there were so many animal sightings, I think my DS would have been fine, but I'm glad we didn't risk it. That was our perfect vacation - everything went off without a hitch. DS was happy all the time and that makes it so much easier for me to enjoy myself.

 

[sayhello]

That's one of the reasons we didn't do the bus tour. I don't remember now the length of the tour, but at the time I remember thinking that was a long time for a kid to sit on an uncomfortable school bus seat, especially since it was so warm that day. We had already taken the bumpy, old school bus ride down to the river for rafting so I had an idea of what we would be getting ourselves into. And there were no guarantees that we would see many animals, so I thought there was the potential for disaster (i.e., moaning and groaning about being hot and bored). Since it turned out that there were so many animal sightings, I think my DS would have been fine, but I'm glad we didn't risk it. That was our perfect vacation - everything went off without a hitch. DS was happy all the time and that makes it so much easier for me to enjoy myself.

The one that really goes into the park and sees the most wildlife is the Tundra Wilderness Tour. It's 7-9 hours! I took the somewhat shorter Natural History tour (4 1/2 - 5 hours) and that was long enough! (And contrary to what some "experts" say, we saw a lot of wildlife on our tour). But as you said, there's never any guarantee.

http://alaska.org/videos-photos/videopop3.jsp?Tundra_Wildrn_Tours_medFL8.flv,Tundra_Wildrn_Tours_hiFL8.flv

Sayhello

 

[Bobo912]

The one that really goes into the park and sees the most wildlife is the Tundra Wilderness Tour. It's 7-9 hours! I took the somewhat shorter Natural History tour (4 1/2 - 5 hours) and that was long enough! (And contrary to what some "experts" say, we saw a lot of wildlife on our tour). But as you said, there's never any guarantee.

http://alaska.org/videos-photos/videopop3.jsp?Tundra_Wildrn_Tours_medFL8.flv,Tundra_Wildrn_Tours_hiFL8.flv

Sayhello

Thanks for the link. That video brings back some pleasant memories. Our fellow travelers went on the Tundra Tour. Now I remember why we didn't do that one. Even 5 hours would have been too long for DS to be cooped up in a bus unless we had a nearly non-stop parade of animals. We were very fortunate to see a good variety of wildlife from the comforts of our luxury motor coach.