Alaskan Cruise and Denali

[SleepyDeb]

Seven months after getting an OBB on our Fantasy cruise, I finally convinced DH to take an Alaskan cruise the summer of 2015. Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to book Disney because his one condition was that we go to Denali. I'm the vacation planner in the family and I'm learning that there are no excursions to Denali and we should do Princess or HAL for that. We are New Englanders and are unlikely to get to Alaska more than once.

So my questions are
1. Am I right that Disney doesn't have an excursion to Denali and
2. Given we can't do Disney, would you recommend Princess or HAL. We are just a couple, mid-50's. We like the Disney experience because we're just big kids, not big drinkers or gamblers, not much into nightlife. We'll do that stuff occasionally, but rather visit Mickey and Minnie.

 

[valbob89]

We are platinum DCL and have done 2 DCL Alaska cruises. We love it and are leaving Monday for another. However, if you are only going to do Alaska once, do a cruise/land with Princess. You can take their inland passage cruise, get off in Seward (near Anchorage) and walk across to their private train car to Denali. It is about a 5 hour ride. Then you can stay at a number of different Princess Lodges. I would recommend at least two nights at the Denali lodge, three if you can, and if you have time two at the Mt. McKinley Lodge. The Princess Denali Lodge is 5 minutes from the Park Center will you get buses to take you through the park. You will never regret it.

 

[clten]

You cannot do Denali with DCL's Alaskan itinerary. Disney's cruise just does SouthEastern Alaska. To do Denali, you have to get much further north and into the heart of Alaska.

Our first cruise was with Princess and I think if you do either Princess or HAL, they do an excellent job with Alaska, especially the cruisetours that will take you into Denali. You can certainly just do the cruise with either of them and then go on your own up to Alaska. (Their train cars are on the same train as the Alaska Railroad.) But we did a cruisetour with Princess because there was less planning that we had to do. Transportation and hotels were already arranged. Both Princess and HAL have very nice lodges. We loved the luggage handling everyday on land. It was down to a science. We'd pack up in the morning, someone would whisk away our bags and they'd be in our room of whatever hotel we were in that evening. If Denali is a must, I'd recommend Princess but only because I didn't sail with HAL. But I put the service on Princess on par with DCL.

 

[dcassetta]

Seven months after getting an OBB on our Fantasy cruise, I finally convinced DH to take an Alaskan cruise the summer of 2015. Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be able to book Disney because his one condition was that we go to Denali. I'm the vacation planner in the family and I'm learning that there are no excursions to Denali and we should do Princess or HAL for that. We are New Englanders and are unlikely to get to Alaska more than once.

So my questions are
1. Am I right that Disney doesn't have an excursion to Denali and
2. Given we can't do Disney, would you recommend Princess or HAL. We are just a couple, mid-50's. We like the Disney experience because we're just big kids, not big drinkers or gamblers, not much into nightlife. We'll do that stuff occasionally, but rather visit Mickey and Minnie.

The challenge with a post-cruise tour after Disney if that currently the ship does a round trip to Vancouver. To do a combined tour you are looking for a one-way cruise ending in the Anchorage area and then continuing by land.

That being said, you could do the Disney cruise, then fly to Alaska and continue. Both Princess and HAL offered land based excursions that do not require you to cruise with them first. The Princess lodges are really beautiful.

 

[Narnia_girl]

We are platinum DCL and have done 2 DCL Alaska cruises. We love it and are leaving Monday for another. However, if you are only going to do Alaska once, do a cruise/land with Princess. You can take their inland passage cruise, get off in Seward (near Anchorage) and walk across to their private train car to Denali. It is about a 5 hour ride. Then you can stay at a number of different Princess Lodges. I would recommend at least two nights at the Denali lodge, three if you can, and if you have time two at the Mt. McKinley Lodge. The Princess Denali Lodge is 5 minutes from the Park Center will you get buses to take you through the park. You will never regret it.

This sounds amazing! I'm adding it to my personal bucket list. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jdb in AZ]

The top of Mount McKinley is often shrouded in fog. People have stayed in the Princess Lodge at the base of the mtn for several days and never seen the tip. We were lucky -- the fog lifted after about 2 days and it was spectacular. Hey, there's a mountain there!

Anyway, the lodge is very relaxing, unless you don't want to relax. Some people would rather be off shopping somewhere. To each their own.

Alaska is so much more than the tiny port towns that the cruise ships visit. We did a Princess land/sea tour all the way to Fairbanks and loved it.

 

[shburks]

We are platinum DCL and have done 2 DCL Alaska cruises. We love it and are leaving Monday for another. However, if you are only going to do Alaska once, do a cruise/land with Princess. You can take their inland passage cruise, get off in Seward (near Anchorage) and walk across to their private train car to Denali. It is about a 5 hour ride. Then you can stay at a number of different Princess Lodges. I would recommend at least two nights at the Denali lodge, three if you can, and if you have time two at the Mt. McKinley Lodge. The Princess Denali Lodge is 5 minutes from the Park Center will you get buses to take you through the park. You will never regret it.

This sounds absolutely amazing.

Many years ago I did an Alaskan cruise with my family (1996, I believe). The ship catered to a much older clientel. I was 21 and bored to tears!

Now I'm older and have an 8 year old. How does Princess compare in price and in ages? Is it still a much older crowd?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The top of Mount McKinley is often shrouded in fog. People have stayed in the Princess Lodge at the base of the mtn for several days and never seen the tip. We were lucky -- the fog lifted after about 2 days and it was spectacular. Hey, there's a mountain there!

Anyway, the lodge is very relaxing, unless you don't want to relax. Some people would rather be off shopping somewhere. To each their own.

Alaska is so much more than the tiny port towns that the cruise ships visit. We did a Princess land/sea tour all the way to Fairbanks and loved it.

This is our view of Denali when we were there :

And I'll throw my 2 cents in here. We've taken HAL to Alaska twice, one 7 night round trip from Vancouver (much as the Wonder does now, except it also included Glacier Bay), and one a 19 night cruise/tour that also included the Yukon and 3 days in Denali.

HAL and Princess have the most inclusive itineraries in Alaska (they've been doing them the longest). I'd suggest checking the itineraries that you may be interested in (on various cruiselines). Be sure to check the length of time in port (whether you're only there for a few hours or longer), as well as which specific ports are visited.

 

[DeutchPrinzessin]

My husband and I uses Princess when we went to Alaska for our honeymoon back in '06. It was amazing. Incredible. There aren't enough words for how perfect it was. And Denali was definitely one of the highlights. The Princess lodge there is absolutely beautiful. I definitely recommend!

 

[Ready to go]

Someone had Inquired about age of fellow passengers and I am also interested in this. We recently attended an Alaska program through AAA and princess and we were the youngest people by far and we are in our late 40's ( some might say we are old...I don't feel old)! Just wondering what kind of night life there would be on ship

 

[jdb in AZ]

The percentage of kids depends on whether or not school is in session. We've cruised twice with Princess during the off-season, both fall foliage cruises, and there were hardly any kids anywhere.

We've also sailed to Alaska on Princess twice during the summer months, and there were lots of kids. Not nearly as many as DCL, but there were a lot.

Disney's evening entertainment is so far superior to Princess' that we basically didn't bother to attend any of the shows Princess offered, unless DH dragged me along kicking and screaming, then decided the show wasn't worth watching.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We are Platinum DCL cruisers and extremely happy that we cruised with HAL to Alaska. Denali, the rail trip and the cruise made the trip! We stayed in the McKinley Chalet in Denali (HAL's lodging) and took the tour where we were able to go further into the park where private vehicles are not permitted. We did get to see the top of Mt McKinley in all her glory! If we ever do it again, we would not do Disney. Age does not bother us. Most were older than us but we very much enjoyed their company.

 

[shburks]

We are Platinum DCL cruisers and extremely happy that we cruised with HAL to Alaska. Denali, the rail trip and the cruise made the trip! We stayed in the McKinley Chalet in Denali (HAL's lodging) and took the tour where we were able to go further into the park where private vehicles are not permitted. We did get to see the top of Mt McKinley in all her glory! If we ever do it again, we would not do Disney. Age does not bother us. Most were older than us but we very much enjoyed their company.

I wouldn't mind so much but we have a ds who is 9 who I'm sure would like there to be lots of other kids around!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I wouldn't mind so much but we have a ds who is 9 who I'm sure would like there to be lots of other kids around!

While HAL doesn't have a large kid population, I've read that the kids clubs onboard are quite nice.

 

[Kitster]

The top of Mount McKinley is often shrouded in fog. People have stayed in the Princess Lodge at the base of the mtn for several days and never seen the tip. We were lucky -- the fog lifted after about 2 days and it was spectacular. Hey, there's a mountain there!

Anyway, the lodge is very relaxing, unless you don't want to relax. Some people would rather be off shopping somewhere. To each their own.

Alaska is so much more than the tiny port towns that the cruise ships visit. We did a Princess land/sea tour all the way to Fairbanks and loved it.

Here was our view of Denali when we visited in 2011:

We chose to travel up to Denali NP independently, prior to embarking on a Celebrity
cruise out of Seward. We flew into Anchorage a week early and rented a car.
The drive up to Denali was spectacular!

It was so nice to not be shoehorned into where we could stop and how long we could stop for.
I'm a nature photography nut and structured tours just don't work for me.

The bus tour into the park is a MUST DO. There's no telling what you'll see around the next bend in the road!

And oh my goodness, is the road ever bendy

Unfortunately, at the time we traveled, the park road was only open as far as the Eielson Visitor Center. The day after we headed down to Seward, they opened the road all the way out to Wonder Lake and Kantishna.

If you decide to tour Denali on your own, I can highly recommend the Denali Dome Home B&B as a great place to stay. It's a short drive up the Parks Highway, just north of Glitter Gulch (the local name for the tourist trap area just outside the park entrance).

Concerning HAL or Princess, all I can say is that I cannot recommend Celebrity. I loved the Inside Passage sailing, but the ship left a lot to be desired ..... customer service, entertainment, cleanliness, etc. It just wasn't up to Disney standards.

 

[Kitster]

Double post ... sorry.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Here was our view of Denali when we visited in 2011:

We chose to travel up to Denali NP independently, prior to embarking on a Celebrity
cruise out of Seward. We flew into Anchorage a week early and rented a car.
The drive up to Denali was spectacular!

It was so nice to not be shoehorned into where we could stop
and how long we could stop for. I'm a photographer and structured tours just don't work for me.

The bus tour into the park is a MUST DO. There's no telling what you'll see around the next bend in the road!

And oh my goodness, is the road ever bendy

Unfortunately, at the time we traveled, the park road was only open as far as the Eielson Visitor Center. The day after we headed down to Seward, they opened the road all the way out to Wonder Lake and Kantishna.

If you decide to tour Denali on your own, I can highly recommend the Denali Dome Home B&B as a great place to stay. It's a short drive up the Parks Highway, just north of Glitter Gulch (the local name for the tourist trap area just outside the park entrance).

Concerning HAL or Princess, all I can say is that I cannot recommend Celebrity. I loved the Inside Passage sailing, but the ship left a lot to be desired ..... customer service, entertainment, cleanliness, etc.

Your pictures are amazing!

 

[woody73]

. . . I think if you do either Princess or HAL, they do an excellent job with Alaska,

Completely agree. We've been on two Alaska cruises with HAL and were very pleased.

Woody

 

[gymjen]

Myself (33), boyfriend (32), and seven year old daughter did a HAL cruise tour in June 2012. It was outstanding. Nice ship, outstanding kids club, loved the glass topped pool, and great views of glacier bay. Kids club regularly had 10-15 kids in it in my daughters group and that was plants as they became best friends quickly and did outstanding activities with them. We booked independent tours at each stop including kayaking in Ketchikan, whale watching, and helicopter ride with glacier dig sledding. All great.

Top bus to Denali, saw McKinley, spent two day in Denali and saw lots of wildlife, took glass top train to Juneau and rented a car to drive down kenai peninsula and hiked to glacial ice field.

Trip of a lifetime. Daughter was only kid on land tour but she/we didn't care as there wasn't really down time except in bus/train. HAL was great and all accommodations were very nice.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We did a non-cruise vacation in Alaska and part of it was three nights at the Kantishna Roadhouse at the very end of the one road into Denali. We took the train with the dome view from Anchorage and when we were within site of Denali it was gorgeous, blue skies with a wisp of a cloud streaking across the top of the mountain. Stayed in a cabin the first night outside the park and the next day it was all rain and clouds.

And it stayed that way the entire time at Kantishna, until it was time to go and on the bus ride out we had bright blue skies again. The bus driver told us about 1 out of 5 trips (I think) on the bus you get to see the whole mountain.

So if the land portion is very short at Denali, hopefully you'll get a chance to see it. This is why we spent three nights there; hoping we'll see it at least once.

For those that have done a cruise that includes a Denali stay, how many nights is typical? And did you get to see Denali or was it socked in by bad weather?