Saturday, March 24, 2012

cruising alaska: question re: harv & marv and Denali

Hi! My husband and I have booked a Princess Cruise for May 16-23 Voyage of the Glaciers.





We depart Saturday evening, and are thinking of flying to Anchorage Wednesday beforehand. We *really* would love somehow, someway to get us to Denali for a day motorcoach tour, but I%26#39;m not sure if that is feasible from Anchorage. Should we fly into Fairbanks instead? As it is, flying TO Alaska on wednesday will take us all day. We are on the east coast.





I want my husband to have the best opportunity to see the most wildlife. He is a lover of nature photography and he is dying to see a bear in alaska. Will we see any bear mid-may??





Second, we were interested in the Photo Safari land excursion from Juneau offered by princess. When I started doing searching here, I have read great things about Harv %26amp; Marv tours and we like that the group is much smaller. We are even considering inquiring about a private trip with them. Has anyone ever seen land wildlife on those tours? ie: BEARS??? :)





Lastly, can anyone recommend what would be other good land excursions for wildlife viewing on a Voyage of the Glaciers cruise?





Thanks in advance!





Julie



cruising alaska: question re: harv %26amp; marv and Denali


In May your chances of seeing wildlife aren%26#39;t great on a cruise route, Julie (except marine wildlife) - one of the better options is bears long the highway north of Skagway.





To see Denali you need to stay 2 nights at the park, but you%26#39;re too early to get very far into the park anyway.





The positive aspect is that you%26#39;re coming at the driest part of the cruise season :)





Murray



cruising alaska: question re: harv %26amp; marv and Denali


Thank you so much! One of the excursions we are looking at trying to book is with Frontier..the yukon 4x4..would you recommend that one?





or something better?





Will we see bald eagles at this time of year??





Julie




Frontier does a great tour later in the year, but we have an exceptionally heavy snow pack this year so you%26#39;d be paying a lot of money for very little 4x4ing. When the snow melts they go to approximately the spot where my truck is sitting in the photo at explorenorth.com/library/communities/canada/鈥?/a> For your interests, you might want to look at a car rental in Skagway - explorenorth.com/library/roads/sklondike-pho鈥?/a> shows you the highway route.





There are always lots of bald eagles along the coast - no need to book an eagle excursion.





To answer the questions in your PM, Juneau and Ketchikan both have some great options for you. At Juneau, whale watching (for humpacks) is excellent. You can also take a shuttle out to Mendenhall Glacier and go hiking (see the bottom of the page at youralaskacruise.com/reviews/2007/page2.html ), and take the tram up Mt. Roberts - astounding views if you get the weather (the hiking trails will still be blocked by snow there, too, though). At Ketchikan, flightseeing to Misty Fiords is the ultimate excursion - ytou%26#39;ll find a list of operators at explorenorth.com/alaska/ketchikan.html#air





Murray




As Murray said, you鈥檙e too early in the season for bear-viewing and also too early for Denali: the road is open only 30 miles (and weather dependent) in mid-May. However, we鈥檝e been told by locals that the wildlife does tend to be nearer the entrance at that time of year, so if you鈥檙e willing to take your chances:



May 13 - Wed. 鈥?fly to Anchorage. Overnight Anch.



May 14 - Thurs. 鈥?drive to Denali Nat. Park (5 hrs). I鈥檓 not sure if cars are allowed to drive 30 miles into the park or not--seems to me I read you can do that when the shuttles aren鈥檛 running, but post over in Denali forum to ask Coalminer. For sure you can drive 14 miles to Savage River. So drive that road to see what you can see, maybe take a hike at Savage to see what might show up. Be sure to take waterproofed footwear. Also see the Visitor Center displays %26amp; film, and maybe Cabin Nite Dinner Theatre (http://alaska.org/denali/cabin-nite.jsp ) Overnight Healy, 15 min. north of the park.



May 15 鈥?Fri 鈥?morning drive back into DNP. The morning Teklanika Tour starts that day (http://www.reservedenali.com/tours/index.cfm ) only goes 30 miles, though. You could book that, and/or (they might conflict) on the drive back to Anchorage, stop in at Talkeetna for the first tour of Mayay鈥檚 to Three Rivers: 3:15 pm to 6:45 pm: http://www.mahaysjetboat.com/ , alaska.org/talkeetna/mahays-jetboat-safari.j鈥?/a> I don鈥檛 know how much of a chance you鈥檇 have to see bears that early in Talkeetna either, best to e-mail Mahay鈥檚 to ask what wildlife you could expect. If they say the chance is slim, do the Tek Tour and maybe spend a little more time driving the 14 miles into DNP that you鈥檙e allowed in a car. Evening drive back to Anchorage (2.5+ hrs) to overnight.



May 16 - Sat. 鈥?you can either take the train to Whittier, or I鈥檇 suggest keeping the car and driving to Whittier (in which case you鈥檇 have to rent from Avis, since it鈥檚 the only car rental in Whittier) so you can explore along the way, with stops at Potter Marsh, Beluga Pt., Windy Pt., and Wildlife Conservation Center (guaranteed bears!) More details: alaska.org/driving/portage-valley-whittier-s鈥?/a> Not to mention that that is one of the most scenic drives in all of Alaska. It will cost more to drop the car off in a different city, but IMO it is well worth it.



Either way, I suggest you plan to arrive in Whittier in time for an afternoon glacier cruise prior to boarding your cruiseship. I suggest 26 Glaciers at 1 pm for the best chance at seeing wildlife too. Again, it鈥檚 too early for bears, but it wouldn鈥檛 hurt to mention to the crew that you鈥檇 really, really be thrilled if you got to see a bear. You just never know your luck! You should see some marine wildlife, and of course you鈥檒l get closer to calving glaciers than you will on your cruiseship, and be able to hear them better.



BTW, if you do drive to Whittier, be aware that the Tunnel into the town is open only 15 minutes per hour, on the half hour. So keep that in mind when timing your arrival there.





Hope this gives you a few ideas.




In case it%26#39;s not clear ';Evening drive back to Anchorage (2.5+ hrs)'; means from Talkeetna. Takes about the same amount of time to drive from Denali to Talkeetna as well.


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