Need travel planning advice for May '07 cruise to Whittier

My family, 4 adults and 2 toddlers, are pllaning a cruise/land vacation to Alaska in May 2007. We%26#39;re taking a Princess cruise which will drop us off at Whittier on May 19. We would like explore Alaska in about a week. We%26#39;ve checking different websites for transportation and compare costs for ways to get around. We would like to see Denali Park plus others.

Any tips, recommendations, or suggestions to help us plan our trip are appreciated.

Need travel planning advice for May '07 cruise to Whittier

The road in Denali NP may not be open this early in May. It all depends on amount of snow this winter and temperatures in April/May. I don%26#39;t think I would recommend taking toddlers to tour Denali National Park. Maybe one of you are willing to stay with kids while others are taking the shuttle to the park.

www.nps.gov/dena

You need to decide what car you rent for 6 people. maybe a large RV would be the best option? Reserve you car/RV very soon. One week is a very short time so you have to to do some research and decide what are the most interesting places to all four adults. Toddlers won%26#39;t care anyway.

My suggestion is to do search here on this forum under Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Valdez, Seward, Homer and chose one/two destinations besides Denali. Don%26#39;t try to cover too much in one week and with two small kids. Reserve you car, RV, lodging soon. Although in May you shouldn%26#39;t have any problem.

Need travel planning advice for May '07 cruise to Whittier

Thanks, Places, for your suggestions. I%26#39;ve been and will continue to browse through the different forums to get more travel ideas.

I%26#39;ve already checked the Avis rent a car website and found out they are sold out of larger cars (i.e. mini vans, SUV, and etc) for my travel period. I%26#39;ve sent an email to Harley car rental for pricing but have not received any responses. It appreared to me that there are only two car rental companies at Whittier. If we can%26#39;t find a larger car at Whittier, we may have to shuttle to Anchorage and rent from there.

Any recommendations on where to stay at Denali or Anchorage?

Thanks again for your advices.

I think you missed the issue, Denali does not open until Memorial Day weekend at the earliest. If the park is not open, I don%26#39;t see why you would want to drive that far with no where to go once you got there. You might want to check out what to do in Seward, Homer and Anchorage. Salmon fishing will be the buzz when you are there.

Hi there! Really depends on when you are planning to come in May - most visitor activities/restaurants, etc don%26#39;t open until about the 15th of May. I must clarify - Denali park is never technically closed - the Murie Science and Learning Center is open year round and you can camp and do activities in the Park year round . . .however, what limits you is the ROAD, which is currently closed at 3 mile. If it hasn%26#39;t been a heavy snow year, and the road opens early, you are allowed to drive your private vehicle in - sometimes only 20 -30 miles, but enough to explore. Once the buses begin running, then you can only drive to Savage River. But most people wait until the shuttle buses are running to visit the Park - though with 2 toddlers, that might not be high on your list anyhow - just depends.

As far as accommodations go, what are you thinking - a big hotel room or a cabin or some other type of accommodation?www.denalichamber.com lists many of the lodging choices in the Healy/Denali park area. One that comes to mind would be Denali Suites, as they are more like an apartment, full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, etc. www.denalisuites.com Let me know if I can help you with any specifics - best of luck planning! :)

Thanks, Coalminer for your comments. I guess we%26#39;ll have to keep our fingers crossed for the weather. We didn%26#39;t realize when we booked our cruise that Denali may not be opened. We thought since the cruiseline season begins, the attractions followed.

In regards to accommodations, we%26#39;ve heard mixed reviews on hotels and B%26amp;B%26#39;s. Both types cost about the same but the availability might be limited for popular B%26amp;B%26#39;s. We will checkout the websites you mentioned to do more research.

We may have to reconsider our itinerary in case Denali is closed. Will we be able to see the Whitepass mountains in May? We%26#39;re thinking about taking the train ride as an excursion from the cruiseline. If too many places are closed in May, we may have to change our plan and visit in September.

Any comments you have on the above are welcome.

Fish