PRINCESS CRUISETOUR : ALASKA

THINKING ABOUT A CRUISETOUR?

EXPLORING BY CRUISE SHIP

If, like me, you enjoy sailing, exploring the World on cruise ships, then you’ll have an idea how a cruise works.

You board your ship and wake up in a new place every day as you sail around the destinations on your itinerary

This does come with some constraints though.

By definition you only ever see ports of call on the coast. You may head inland on an excursion, but that has to be close enough for you to drive to, explore and drive back before the ship leaves port.

Occasionally you have an overnight stay in port, which allows you to explore further afield and get a feel for the place.

The beauty of a cruise by ship is that it allows you to experience lots of places in a short space of time. For me that also means creating a list of places I liked, to go back to another day, when I have time for a better look.

WHAT IS A CRUISETOUR?

Another way to have the time to explore a region in more depth than you could by ship is to choose a cruisetour.

This takes your usual cruise by ship, but adds a land tour to the start or end of your journey.

This is a tour organised by the cruise company, so it forms a part of your holiday package.

The bonus is that you get to see even more of some of the spectacular destinations that a cruise ship can take you too.

MY ALASKA CRUISETOUR EXPERIENCE

In 2019 I decided that I was going to go on an Alaska cruise.

Its one of the most iconic cruise destinations after the Caribbean.

But its a long way from England to Alaska. The usual seven day cruise sailings along the Pacific coast of Alaska, that runs down the western edge of Canada, whilst essential to see, just didn’t feel long enough.

That said the idea of a back to back cruise, sailing one way for the first week and repeating the trip in reverse the week after, seemed a bit pointless.

It was then that I discovered that Princess Cruises offered Alaska cruisetours.

This gave me the opportunity to add an extra seven days onto my cruise, but these would be travelling north, by land.

There is much more to see of Alaska than Glacier Bay and the coastal fjords. The main land mass is actually much further north, and its huge!

This blog post will not so much cover the places I visited. There are stories to come for those. But it will cover things to consider if you are thinking of a Princess cruisetour of Alaska.

Whittier, Alaska

Talkeetna, Alaska

Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, Mile 133 George Parks Hwy, Trapper Creek, Alaska 99683

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Mile Post 238.5 Parks Hwy, Denali Park, Alaska 99755

Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, 4477 Pikes Landing Rd, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709

Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, 1 Brenwick Craig Rd, Copper Center, Alaska 99573

Anchorage, Alaska

PRINCESS CRUISETOURS

Princess Cruises offer a number of cruisetours and to various parts of the World, as well as Alaska.

I’m not sure if other cruise companies do the same thing. Its not something that I have looked at elsewhere.

My experience was that Princess, who were celebrating 50 years of operating in Alaska when I visited in 2019, were very well organised and had their own long established infrastructure in Alaska.

It may work differently in other parts of the World, so bear that in mind, but I would guess the essential considerations of a cruisetour would be the same.

WHICH CRUISETOUR TO PICK

How long do you want?

Back in 2019 I had the luxury of time, so I chose the longest cruisetour that Princess offered in Alaska, which at the time was 7 days on land and 7 days on the cruise.

Looking at the Princess cruisetour website at present it looks like this has reduced to a maximum of 6 days on land now.

That was not the only option though.

The cruises were all essentially the same, seven days travelling in my case from Whittier in Alaska to Vancouver in Canada.

There are variants calling in at ports like Seattle. The cruises run in opposite directions on alternative weeks over the Alaskan cruise season, which runs from May to September.

But the number of days you can add on varies so you can have a 10, 11, 12 or 13 day adventure. Seven at sea with the rest on land.

The flexibility allows you to choose what suits you.

Where do you want to see?

There are a number of destinations on the cruisetour itinerary.

Each has their own unique sights, though I guess tourists would generally rank the top two as Denali and Fairbanks.

Denali

Denali is the traditional name of the mountain, also known as Mount McKinley, that is the highest peak in North America.

It is surrounded by the Denali National Park and Preserve, a haven of wildlife from which you can hope to see the mountain. We were constantly told only 30% of visitors see in on a cloud free day. We managed three days in a row!

Further south is the Denali State Park, which is covered by another stop on the Princess cruisetours in Alaska.

Fairbanks

Meanwhile Fairbanks to the north is the second largest city in the state of Alaska after Anchorage. It is also the furthest north the cruisetours adventure takes you, but it gives you a good chance to experience Alaskan life inland.

My own journey began in Anchorage and took us on a 7 day round trip that was the equivalent in distance of travelling around the whole of England.

Before or After?

When do you want to add on your extra days? Before or after the cruise?

For some people that will be determined by logistics if you can only choose certain dates, or wish to sail on a particular cruise ship.

I chose the order of a week on land first and then the cruise by ship.

This was not my first cruise so I knew to expect days of adventure, followed by nights of food, entertainment and fun on the ship.

Where a ship’s aim is to keep you constantly entertained, that is not quite the same of cruisetours. Your days are definitely full of adventure, but the evenings vary and to be honest most nights you are ready for your bed. Formal evening entertainment is rare.

So in my opinion it is easier to transition from quieter to lively than the other way around.

I’ve never tried a cruise and stay holiday, where you sail for a week and have a week in a beach resort hotel, but I think its the same consideration.

Friends have told me that they struggled in the second week in a hotel because they missed the activity of a cruise ship.

Please don’t take that as a comment that land tours are boring, anything but. Its just a very different pace of life.

So personally I would recommend doing the land portion first.

PRINCESS LODGES

Princess have their own hotel accommodation dotted around the route of your cruisetour in Alaska.

I don’t know if this is the same for cruisetours in other countries.

You can also book into these hotels as a private tourist, but they are geared up for the bus loads of tourists arriving on Princess coach tours.

Each varies in style and some are bigger than others. Some are modern looking, but most have a rustic, wilderness feel.

Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge was the first stop on my adventure, and was a smaller quieter lodge. It has a large communal hall with amazing views and the hotel rooms were in wings off the sides.

In contrast Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge was more like a traditional multi storey hotel. Its also much larger as Fairbanks is on a lot more itineraries and therefore gets more visitors.

Then again there are the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and Mt McKinley Princess Wilderness lodge that have their accommodation in separate blocks around their parks.

McKinley, like Copper River, has a “big house” where you eat and drink.

Denali being on every itinerary, short or long, has a whole complex of buildings around it and is probably the most lively of all of the Princess lodges my cruisetour visited in Alaska.

Rooms

I was a solo traveller, but that didn’t seem to affect my room allocation.

There was a mix of everything from small and cosy to a king size bed with mountain views.

Some were on the second floor of cabin blocks, that didn’t have lifts, so I presume it is possible to request accessible or ground floor cabins if accessibility is an issue.

They were all perfectly comfortable though. Generally you were only staying for one night, at most two.

HOW A CRUISETOUR WORKS

You can tell that Princess specialise in cruisetours because, at least in my experience, it was organised extremely well.

Arrival

If you have read my story of Anchorage, you will know that I had an extra day there that I added on myself, even before the land tour began.

The night before our official journey began was included in the package, staying at the independent Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage.

I chose the same hotel for my extra night and emailed the hotel in advance so I was able to keep the same room for the two nights. I just had to check out of my own reservation and into the Princess one after the first night.

Princess would have provided airport transfers to the hotel had I been arriving on the official tour start date.

Registration

Registration took place in the hotel that day.

Instruction letters were provided explaining the general rules for the land tour and also the specific rules for that day. Most important was knowing the bus departure time in the morning.

Each lodge after that came with its own specific instructions, as times and events varied.

It was easy to complete and then I could just enjoy my day and night in Anchorage.

Dress Code

What to pack? What to wear? The dress code is always a question on any cruise if you’ve never experienced it before.

But a land tour is different again.

The dress code ranges from very relaxed to non existent. Casual for everything.

There is no dressing for dinner. No black tie formal nights.

But you will definitely want your hiking boots and fleeces. Maybe also shorts as well as jeans. Alaskan weather is not always freezing.

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Cruise Tip: Pack layers when travelling in allegedly cooler climes. Alaska and the Baltics may be synonymous with freezing, but I have had glorious weather in both, as well as cold ones. You can peel off thinner layers, but not one big jumper.

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Luggage

One of the great things with a Princess cruisetour in Alaska is that they recognise you aren’t going to need everything you pack for both weeks.

So they give you the option to take an extra bag which you leave with them to send to the ship for the next week. Tags are provided for a “Join me onboard” bag as well as a “Join me tonight” one.

There’s always a worry if you pack something in the wrong case as there’s no getting it back from the one for the ship. So the fleece, toiletries and medication plus your binoculars and camera are among the essentials to “Join me tonight”.

But the black tie, formal shoes and fancy shirts can go in the case for next week.

You then just have to carry your land tour gear, which is much more practical.

Make sure to consider airline luggage allowances though. Most flights include only one bag, so an extra suitcase comes with additional charges.

For me I have no concept of packing light, however many holidays I go on! I also knew I was travelling for four weeks on this adventure, with add ons at the start and end, so the extra baggage allowance was worth the charges. Even though I had to pay them for every connecting flight.

Bags travel too

Whilst your cruise case may go off on its own to the ship, the rest of your luggage comes with you on the bus every day.

One of the big perks of cruising on a ship is that you unpack once and that’s it for the week.

Probably the biggest negative of the cruisetour for me was living out of a suitcase. It was never worth unpacking for one night in a lodge.

Like a ship though they do make it as easy as possible.

Each day your arrival letter told you what time your bags had to be left outside your room, or just inside the door, for collection the next morning.

They were taken to the bus and you just had to make sure your case went onto your bus.

At the other end there were people to assist getting them to your rooms.

CRUISETOUR BUS RIDE

Bus Buddies

There were two coachloads of us being collected from the hotel in Anchorage for the 7 day land tour.

Each group stayed with their own coach group for the journeys between lodges, but arrived at the same places each day. So you mingled with a lot of people.

I don’t know if I was just lucky, but I suspect its quite normal to have a friendly bunch of fellow travellers. You’ve all chosen the same type of holiday, which is the best evidence of like minded people that you need.

As a solo traveller it was perfect. I might have been the only solo on my bus, but the couples who were my fellow explorers all looked out for each other, me included.

We were a mix of ages. Some were happy to keep themselves to themselves. I was nearer the back of the bus and we had our own little gang, getting to know each other as the week went on. Doing the land tour first meant I had a ready made bunch of cruise buddies in week two.

Bus Life

Your days are quite regulated with early starts and fixed routes, so if you like to do your own thing this might not be for you. That said they do offer “on your own” versions if you want a bit more freedom.

There are more expensive connoisseur experiences too, if you want everything organised.

Journey times varied between lodges, but we also stopped off at a lot of places of interest along the way. You saw a lot more that way.

Our driver provided commentary on points of interest and local customs as went. Not continuous chatter, but enough so you knew what you were seeing.

The golden rule for the bus was that if you spotted any wildlife you shouted, so that everyone could see it.

An Alaskan land tour is like an African safari, just with a different big game to spot. Moose, bison, caribou, bears (brown and grizzly), Dall sheep and bald eagles were all on the list.

It is worth doing a cruisetour in Alaska for the wildlife alone.

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Top Tip: Don’t forget your camera and binoculars for wildlife spotting. Getting to know your tour group lets you swap photos with the person who got the best shot!

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EXCURSIONS

Much like when a cruise ship arrives in port, there are a multitude of excursions available at each lodge.

Some are included in the price of the cruisetour, like the tour of the Denali National Park, which is not something you can really do well on your own. Everyone does those.

There are also a list of adventures at an additional cost. Some sell out quickly so bear that in mind when booking. You can prebook online once you have booked your cruisetour.

I booked one that was cancelled as I was the only person to sign up for it, while some were sold out. Even so I managed some varied excursions.

These tours are organised around your arrival and departure times, so you may have a morning adventure before an afternoon leg to your next stop. I did a speedboat ride from 5pm to 8pm one evening, as it doesn’t go dark until very late. Alaskan nights are used too.

FOOD AND DRINK

Unlike the cruise ship part of your trip food and drink is not automatically included in the Princess cruisetour part of your journey.

There are dining packages available and I think the connoisseur versions may include meals.

However each lodge does have a variety of restaurants, dining options and they all had bars too.

As I had been used to buying my food so far in America it wasn’t really an issue for me, so I did pay as you go.

This might feel a bit more unusual if you did your all inclusive sea cruise in the first week and then had to switch back to paying.

END OF THE LAND TOUR

The end of my week’s cruisetour on land in Alaska, maybe the start if you are just disembarking your Princess cruise, was by rail.

We boarded glass domed rail carriages of the Alaska train in Talkeetna, about as far west I have ever been on Planet Earth.

For the next five hours we rolled through tundra and boreal forest as we headed back south.

On the way we watched for wildlife, now ingrained in us after a week of watching for the twitch of a moose in the undergrowth or the dark shape of a bald eagle in a tree top.

We had lunch and drinks served at out tables. Well we were on our holidays.

By chance I was allocated seats with a couple who were part of my “back of the bus” crew. Travelling sometimes lets you make lifelong friends too!

Finally we arrived in the port of Whittier where the Coral Princess cruise ship awaited us next to where the train stopped.

A weeks cruise at sea was still to come, but I’ll save that for another post.

SOLO TRAVEL

As a solo traveller a cruisetour is perfect. You have all the benefits of travelling in a group, whilst still having the freedom to do your own thing if you want to.

Solo prices vary. There are so many ships sailing to Alaska that there is good availability. I think solo fares seem to be quite good value. I was travelling in May at the start of the season which helped keep the price down too.

In writing this article I’ve checked out solo fares in other destinations and they seem much more expensive, but that’s when you have to hunt out those deals.

Even so this trip was a treat for me and I upgraded to a balcony on the ship as well, which was still affordable for one in Alaska.

WOULD I RECOMMEND A PRINCESS CRUISETOUR?

I would certainly recommend a Princess cruisetour in Alaska.

As I’ve said Princess have this so well organised.

You see sights that would never be possible to see on a cruise ship. And wildlife spotting on land is an adventure in itself. Different of course from the equally varied wildlife that you get at sea in Alaska.

The camaraderie of your tour group just adds to the holiday. I’ve since done a different kind of group tour on land and enjoyed that experience for the same reason.

So yes, if you are going to head out to Alaska I would definitely recommend adding on at least a few extra days if you can, to see the delights of inland Alaska.