Need Help Planning Trip to Denali and Alaska

Hello,

I have been given the task (no one else wanted to do it) of planning a trip to Alaska for 4 adults (all early 40鈥檚) in June 2007. I am totally confused as to what to do. The current plan is with CruiseWest and their Glacier Bay Highlights along with the trip to Denali. Has anyone taken this tour package? Is this the way to go?

Our budget is somewhat limited. We would like to spend no more than $5000 per person for entire trip. We are looking at anywhere from 10-13 nights. Definitely want the opportunity to see the glaciers, whales and wildlife as well as getting to some of the smaller towns. Definitely do not want to take a large cruise.

I have been looking at books and guides and on-line and am now very confused. Also a bit frustrated as it appears lots of places I considered are already booked full (which is why I gave up on booking individual things and going with CruiseWest).

Another slight glitch is one person in the party does not want to take the long bus tour in Denali so want to make sure there is an option for her (appeared that the shuttle was booked for the time we wanted to go).

I am desperate for any suggestions that anyone has to offer.

Thanks so much for your help

Need Help Planning Trip to Denali and Alaska

Hi there and welcome to the forum! Well, I think you need to relax and be glad you are given the task - you%26#39;ll do a great job and find some exciting things for the 4 of you to do.

I can%26#39;t imagine that things are all booked - for one thing, the shuttle has stopped running for the season, and I believe that they don%26#39;t begin booking for the new season (2007) until late February. Same for accommodations - I have several friends that own B%26amp;B%26#39;s and usually the earliest they get reservation requests are in January. So, I think you have time to plan for June 07 :)

So while you are on the shuttle bus, what does this other person want to do? Shop, hike, take in the doggie demo, raft?? Lots to do . . . depends what your interests are. I just can%26#39;t imagine missing the bus, as it such a great opportunity for wildlife viewing as well as taking in the dramatic scenery.

What type of lodging are you looking at? We have the big hotels, lodges, cabins, B%26amp;B%26#39;s, and campgrounds -all over the state and for just about every budget.

As far as time, is your 10-13 days including the time on the cruise as well?? You%26#39;ll need determine how much time for your land portion - then it%26#39;ll be easier to plan. I would allow at least 2 days for Denali . . .and then figure out where else you want to stay . . . Homer, Seward, Fairbanks and all points in between?

Write back and we%26#39;ll see how we can help. :)

Need Help Planning Trip to Denali and Alaska

Coalminer...you are a star!!!!

The fact that no one is taking bookings iyet s the best news!!! PHEW.

The trip in total including a cruise would be 10-13 days - flexible. My partial thought is do the land stuff and then fly to Juneau for the 4 night Glacier Bay Cruise. I was giving up because I couldn%26#39;t find accommodations, etc. but now I feel much better.

This is what I am thinking:

Day 1 - Miami to Fairbanks (whole day lost to travel)

Day 2 - Day and night in Fairbanks

Day 3 鈥?Travel to Denali (train? Car?)

Day 4 鈥?Denali 鈥?Definitely want to do the shuttle and guided hikes whenever possible

Day 5 鈥?Denali / travel to Juneau

Day 6 鈥?Cruise

Day 7 鈥?Cruise

Day 8 鈥?Cruise

Day 9 鈥?Cruise

Day 10 鈥?Juneau

Day 11 鈥?Juneau to Miami

This is just where I am right now. I am very open to suggestions. If we can get the shuttle the bus hater will definitely hike and if possible a rafting trip would be super.

Thank you again for helping me out with this. I was hoping you would reply

I think you came to the right forum. Welcome!

Wow! $5,000 per person for 10-13 days/nights. That%26#39;s not limited budget. I would say this is a high budget, IMO. My husband and I usually spend no more than $5000 for two of us for at least two weeks and most of the time we include bear watching trip to Katmai National Park and that costs more than $ 500 per person. We always travel independently, no organized tours for us. This year we were in Alaska for 12 days and included flights to/from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and stay for three nights in Kennicott Lodge in a room with private bathroom. Our trip this year cost us a little over $4000. That%26#39;s $4000 for two of us. We eat well, stay in nice accommodations but if we know we are not going to spend more time in our lodging than a few hours at night then we seek out cheaper options. There are many ways to spend much less than $5000 per person.

I feel I need to find new friends who never visited Alaska. All our dear and long time friends visited Alaska already or are going in the next two years. I really enjoy planning every trip and personally it so much fun to plan always amazing adventure.

Travelgirl: now, I don%26#39;t know about how far in advance cruise ships take reservations . . . .so you might get that part taken care of while you continue researching your lodging and other travel options.

You can take the train, but having a car gives you greater flexiblity and more options. You can rent a car here in Healy as well as in Fairbanks. www.denalichamber.com lists many of the accommodations, activities and even a car rental.

As far as a raft trip goes, I would recommend using Denali Outdoor center - best reputation on the river.

And as Places said, you probably won%26#39;t need to spend nearly as much as you have planned, but then I don%26#39;t know how much the cruise will be . . . . or other activities you have planned, such as helicopter or other flights. Happy researching! :)

Places

Thanks for your reply. I came up with that number on my original pricing a 10 night cruise with Cruisewest. That is the max. Would love to see it all and more for less than that.

My husband and I definitely prefer the independent travel. We like to talk to local people and go to local places. I just wasn鈥檛 sure where to start.

Would you suggest just a 1 day cruise to Glacier Bay. I would love to see the bears 鈥?I would think that is money well spent.

I normally love planning trips but we have another couple with us so I need to be a bit sensitive to what they want which makes things a bit tricky. I am sure the replies on this forum will be of great use. I think I am actually excited again to be booking this.

Thank you and Coalminer for your help

this may be the beginning of lots of questions but you folks out there seem so i want to take advantage of that and not rely on guide books. Can anyone suggest a good B%26amp;B in Fairbanks. Think we will stay there a couple of nights.

thanks

Hi - this July we did the Cruise West Glacier Wonderland trip of the Prince William Sound. We saw almost nonstop glaciers! We choose this cruise because we did not want the extra expense of the flights to Juneau - which their inside passage trip required.

We did our own land touring before and after the cruise and this website was my primary source of guidance and feedback.

We rented an RV from Great Alaskan Holidays and enjoyed very much staying right in Denali National Park!!! I don%26#39;t think we would have had a chance to view Denali when he ';came out'; during our last 12 hours in the park, if we had not stayed in the park.

We enjoyed the shuttle bus tour to Fish Creek - it did not seem as long as you might imagine because the wildlife viewing was great - and staying at Savage River Campground shortened the ride by 1 hour.

We used the Toursaver to enjoy the whitewater rafting and Cabin Nite Dinner Theater outside Denali%26#39;s entrance. Those 2 alone covered the cost of the book. The park sled dog demo was good too.

I suggest that you try to stay the maximum amount of days on your trip - when planning we found so much more that we wanted to see then we had time for!!!

I found this website: www.lanierbb.com helpful when looking for B %26amp; B%26#39;s to stay at on our arrival in Anchorage for the 2 nights that we had before our cruise. The B %26amp; B prices were better than the hotel/motel prices and definitely more interesting.

Have fun planning - I didn%26#39;t make any of our reservations until Jan. for our July stay.

You got already many helpful suggestions here. Many of us would enjoy helping you with all details

First come up with itinerary. List places you want to visit and post your list here. We can help you with logistics. Then do search here under specific destinations and make notes on activities and accommodations appealing to you. We all can make our suggestions.

Yes, I agree you have plenty of time to start making reservations but I would finalize itinerary soon and if you really, really want to stay in some unique places then book them in October-November. Then reserve cars rentals. The longer you wait the more you%26#39;ll pay.

I don%26#39;t want to put any pressure on you but if you decide to forgo a cruise there are other option for day cruises if you visit Kenai Peninsula or Prince William Sound.

I highly recommend 9.5 hours cruise of Kenai Fjords National Park from Seward and 26 Glacier Cruise from Whittier.

If you decide not to go on expensive cruise then you would have plenty of $ for an expensive bear watching day tour from Homer and or you may even stay in one of the lodges inside Denali Park for one or two nights.

If you take a shuttle in Denali then maybe you should inform your friend that the shuttle stops for regular breaks, it makes additional stops for views and wildlife. The most important, you can stop the shuttle if you want to go hiking anywhere and any time. So this is not like you are just sitting on a bus. Don%26#39;t give up on taking the shuttle to the park. Its is such unique and amazing vast area.

I suggest you do not make any arrangements for accommodations until your itinerary is confirmed by all members of your party and you know for sure whether you are or not taking a cruise.

Read posts here. This forum has endless in formations and is an excellent source for independent travelers. As soon as you start reading posts here you can realize that making your own arrangements is actually not as difficult as you thought. You can always count on a help of many local experts and visitors. Have fun planning.

Thank you all for your extremely helpful suggestions. They will definitely come in handy. This was my first experience posting something on a message board and boy was it worth it. So much knowledge and experience out there. Everyone is so helpful and it is so appreciated!!!!

I just received the 2007 brochure for Cruisewest cruises, and they are EXTREMELY expensive. Yes, you have the opportunity of traveling with a limited number of passengers, and can go up very close to the glaciers, but you are paying for those advantages.

I say if you have the money, go for it. I%26#39;ve read many good comments regarding Cruise west. But if you like to travel as often as I do (as well as many of the other posters), then save money so you can take other fabulous vacations. Best of luck to you : - )