Answers to know before deciding an Alaska land package with a cruise

Picture by W. Woodson, taken Aug 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..

Go here, see my suggestions on how to choose a 7 night Alaskacruise.

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 !