Picture by W. Woodson, August 2014
In order to buy a Alaska Land Tour package with the
cruise line, your cruise must be a Southbound or Northbound cruise. Cruises that are round trip Seattle or
Vancouver, will not offer these optional tours.
You can buy land packages on your own, to go up into Alaska, however,
you would have the additional “flight cost”, to get from Seattle or Vancouver.
When I am choose an Alaska land package from the cruise
line, I still usually look at the available cruise choices first … After
choosing the cruise of choice, then I look at “that cruise lines” Alaska Land
packages..
FYI, if looking at a 10/11 night, Princess offers out of San Francisco.
Only if a customer calls and can only be gone 10 or 11 days,
do I consider first, looking at the available Alaska Land packages first. This person has a “short window” for being on
the land, so this part of the package is important.
With a caller, I usually get online with them, and first
show them “how to read” the cruise line’s Alaska Land packages. This will in turn, help them “know what to
look for”, when viewing other cruise line options. Believe it or not, “seeing what I am talking
about”, gives a clearer vision of everything you will read below.
If this is your first time doing a land package in
Alaska, you may want to begin by including the traditional cities, such as
Fairbanks, Denali, and Anchorage. See #1, #2, # 6, and #7 below.
Know, most folks who are wanting a land package in
Alaska, are wanting to go to Denali National Park, with hope of seeing the
wildlife and Mount McKinley (highest mountain peak in N. America). To get to Denali, you must travel by way of
Fairbanks or Anchorage (Denali in the middle), or you can go to both cities. You can not get to Denali without going
through one of these locations. See #1, #2,
#5, and #4 below.
Here’s a list of options to think about when deciding on
a cruise line land package. What you
want, determines the available package and the cost. Do I want my package to include:
1) Land
before the cruise or cruise before the land ?
2) Fairbanks ? Since only USAir is in my city of LYH, I
would know that I would need to fly from another air city to get there/leave
there !
3) Transfers
to or from Vancouver or Seattle airport ?
Usually for me, it’s a lower cost to use Seattle. Know, that every cruise line does not make
these transfers available from the cruise line.
4) Both
available tours in Fairbanks ? (A) The River
Boat Discovery Cruise “and” (B) Gold Dredge #8 ?
5) Any
“rail” transportation ? Do I want rail all the way, from Fairbanks to
the ship, or at least to Anchorage ? If it
does not have to be all the way, which portion do I want rail ? Which direction do I want the train to travel
(Fairbanks first; or from ship) ? Does
the rail include dome cars ?
6) A
longer time in Denali National Park in
hopes of seeing wildlife ? The park is
about 96 miles long. Depending on how
long you are in the park, determines how far into the park you will go. Today,
most Alaska land packages include the Natural History Tour (3-4 hours). Will your package allow you to upgrade to the
Tundra Wilderness Tour (estimate cost $60pp) for 7-8 hours ? As of today, no cruise line package allows
you to upgrade to the Kantishna package (11-12 hours). Look close at the words in the Alaska Land
Package to be sure the Natural History or Tundra Tour is mentioned. There are packages with “no” tour into the
park. Know that Princess offer an “on
your own package”, so you can buy a tour of choice, on your own.
7) Any
spare time in Denali so you can buy the optional “Dinner Show” ? Or river rafting, helicopter or plane over
Mount McKinley ? The times you are in
Denali or in the park, are often not available in advance, for you to know if
there’s any spare time. This why many folks opt for 2 days Denali.
8) Any
other lodges ? Example, Princess Cruises
offers packages, to include Mount McKinley
Lodge. Royal Caribbean offers Telkeenta
Wilderness Lodge.
9) A
night in Anchorage ? Or are you happy
with a package that only stops in Anchorage for lunch, as the Motor Coach is
transporting you to the ship ?
10) The
ship sailing from Whittier or Seward or Vancouver ?
Remember 2 things when only wanting the lowest available Alaska land package price:
1)
There may be things you wish you had of included
in your package !
2)
It’s possibly for a few more dollars you can get
“more for you buck”.3) You still have to go through all the many packages to see which one is the lowest cost.
The above are a few of the answers you want, as you plan your Alaska land package. Though you have a little insight here, you’ll then want to turn to an agent, who should easily be able to help you decided what you want to be included (If they have been to Alaska AND if they have experience the different options above) ! Foremost, remember to find out if the agent has personal Alaska travel experience, "to help you best", before you get too involved in asking anything more !
