Got my answer!
Your trip is also on my bucket list. I'm having a hard time talking the wife into it.
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11 day Alaska cruise on Princess (4 day land, 7 day cruise) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter p5woody
- Start date
Got my answer!
Your trip is also on my bucket list. I'm having a hard time talking the wife into it.
Ellasdaddy
Flush
Also on my bucket list, especially to go whale watching and wildlife observing. My wife’s nightmare is cold and ice. She’s certain that such a trip will end for us like ‘The Thing’.
One of my favorite movies!
bsdunbar1
4 of a Kind
My wife was the same way. She had Zero interest in going. A friend of ours is really into moose and wanted to go see moose, so she talked my wife into it.
One of the best trips we have been on and she would 100% go back.
I don't know anyone who has went that didn't absolutely love it. DO IT.
OP
OP
The time has come, we will be leaving for the airport at 7am tomorrow morning. I will try to log in the first couple of days but won't be on much, I plan to be outside as much as possible. Once the cruise start I won't be on the internet at all. So if anybody is looking for me I will be back after 7/28.
OP
OP
FYI - I am back, we had a great trip. I am not a great writer so this might be a little boring and not up to the standards set by other trip reports.
Quick summary: Flying sucks, Alaska is awesome, cruising is awesome, weather was mostly in the 60s - last two days were rainy, and once again flying sucks. No poker or gambling activities. They had 1 electronic Texas Hold'em table, but never tried it. I would do the trip again, no regrets!
If you have questions, let me know and I will try to answer them. I haven't downloaded any pictures yet, will try to add them later if people are interested. Here is an overview of the trip, still trying to catch up on life:
Day 1 - Fairbanks
I will start by saying I hate flying, we flew United out of Philadelphia with a stop in Chicago. First flight was great, we left on time, we each had a TV built into the seat back in front of us but didn't really need it because it was a short flight. We have a 6+ hours flight from Chicago to Fairbanks, everything is on time and we get into the plane and they are about to close the door when they announce they are going to wait for two passengers from a connecting flight and it should only be 10 minutes. So I am like no big deal, well 40 minutes later two people come strolling in like they weren't holding up an entire plane sipping a hot cup of coffee. What the --BEEP-- you have got to be kidding me, we wait for what seemed like 10 minutes for them to get settled, we get to the runway and we are like 20th in line. We end up leaving over 1 1/2 hours late. So the flight goes from 6+ hours to 8 hours and they had no TVs, but it was available if you had the united app which we did not. On the bright side, this gave me some time to start reading a poker book I have been wanting to read for a while now.
Everything else was good we landed, got our luggage, found our princess welcome package and was at our hotel in record time. We did a little exploring around the hotel, not a whole lot to see here but it was quiet and relaxing, it was late and the restaurants in the hotel were closed. So we walked over to a local restaurant (Pikes landing) to get something to eat. We had an awesome appetizer tower with beef tips, crab stuffed mushrooms, and prawns, very tasty it hit the spot.
Day 2 - Fairbanks - Morning Riverboat Discovery Cruise & Afternoon Gold Dredge (8:15AM - 4:15PM)
Wasn't sure what to expect, but Fairbanks area itself was not overly impressive no major mountains and town seemed like a normal town nothing really stood out to us. However, we really enjoyed the Riverboat Cruise it was well done and well worth the time. It included a dog sled demonstration, watched a float plane take off and land, learned about the area, stopped to visit a replica of a native village, and ended with a tasty lunch served family style. I highly recommend this tour if you are ever in Fairbanks. In the afternoon we went to Gold Dredge 8, this was interesting and glad we did it but probably would not have booked it on its own. We panned for gold, between the two of us we found $24 worth of gold. My wife had it made into a necklace, she was happy!
Day 3 - Denali - travel from Fairbanks to Denali in the morning, Nenana Gorge Whitewater Raft (1:45 - 5:00)
Traveled from Fairbanks to Denali by bus nothing too exciting, some nice scenery as we approached Denali. One thing we learned, when going to Denali you can't actually see the mountain from the Canyon where the Princess Wilderness lodge is, it is 100 miles away. The lodge is located at the entrance to the park, this was a little disappointing, based on what we learned, you have to go to McKinley to actually see the mountain. So we never actually saw the mountain on this trip.
In the afternoon, we went on a whitewater rafting adventure. Our guide ( Mudflap ) was awesome and we had a great time. This was one of the highlights of our trip, weather was 65 and sunny, we had a dry suit that worked really well. Wife was a little worried about doing this but she did it to make me happy, she ended up loving it and couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was. They offered 3 different levels 1) scenic float 2) class 3-4 rapids no paddle guide does all the rowing from center of boat 3) class 3-4 rapids where everybody paddles and guide is in back of boat. We choose level 2 and it was right one for us. Level 2 and 3 travelled in the same group so it was the same water and rapids, however it was nice to be able to look around and relax while the guide did all the work.
Day 4 - Denali - Morning Denali Natural History Tour (7am - 1pm)
The Denali History tour was disappointing for us, we were in a school bus for 5 hours and we saw two moose, one horseshoe hare beside the road, and the Alaskan bird cross the road. The 5 hours tour was included in our package we probably should have upgraded for a longer tour, we talked to others that went on the longer tour and they saw a lot more wildlife, well some saw quite a bit of wildlife while some saw more but said it wasn't that great. It isn't Disney so wildlife is a little more hit or miss based on luck. We then spent the rest of the day hiking on our own, again didn't really see any wildlife but I enjoy hiking, it is very relaxing for me. Next time I would try to convince my wife to take on some of the harder trails.
Day 5 - Travel day from Denali to Whittier by train (9+ hours) and board ship
Travelling by train is a good way to travel, much better than a bus. We enjoyed the scenery, was able to get up and move around, had a decent lunch on the train. All and all a good way to travel from Denali to Whittier. I would pick this option over the bus any day. We saw a couple of moose, Salmon in the river, and Dall sheep, actually saw more from the train then we did in the Denali tour.
Day 6 - Hubbard Glacier (scenic Cruising) - no excursions
This was another highlight of our trip. If you ever get a chance, I think this is well worth it. This is an active tidewater glacier and was just amazing to see and hear. You can hear the ice moving, it sounds like thunder and we witnessed it calving multiple times (ice falling into the water). We also saw a few seals on the way in to see the glacier. The ship gets pretty close to the glacier and then turned every twenty minutes so you can see it from anywhere on the ship, we watched it from our balcony. A nice touch from Princess, they had a naturalist onboard that gave you information about the glaciers and what we would be seeing, they also knew where we were likely to see animals and were upfront to help spot any animals we could see from the ship.
Day 7 - Glacier Bay National Park (scenic Cruising) - no excursions
Another fun day, we spent the whole day cruising through the national park. A park ranger actually boarded the ship and talked about the park and helped explain what we were seeing as we travelled into and back out of the park. The glaciers here are receding so the glaciers themselves were not as impressive as the Hubbard Glacier we saw the day before - not noises and no calving. We saw Humpback whales, see otters, killer whales, see lions, and puffins. We spend most of day on our balcony and had room service deliver lunch so we didn't miss anything.
Day 9 - Skagway - 5:30am – 8:30pm - Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway (9:15am - 5:30pm)
This was the first port we visited, we choose to do the longer tour, in hindsight we probably should have done just the train and spent more time in town. The bus ride out to the Yukon was very nice, Carcross was okay nothing amazing, the chicken lunch was good again nothing amazing. They had a petting zoo, we were able to see and pet husky puppies. We could have paid more to visit the sled dogs, we decided not to do it because the dogs weren't running, it was too hot. We then went back the same way we came and picked up the train. The train was the highlight of the trip, loved the scenery back to Skagway. The stores were closing so we had a quick trip through the town before heading back to the ship.
Day 10-Juneau - 6:30am – 5:00pm - Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest (11:30am - 3:30pm)
We walked around town a little bit and then went on a whale watch boat. The whale watch was absolutely amazing. We saw plenty of humpback whales all around and under the boat, multiple whales breaching, and witnessed them bubble feeding and coming half-way out of the water. Another highlight of our cruise.
Day 11-Ketchikan -10:00am – 5:45pm - Misty Fjords Flight Tour with Seawind (11:30am - 2pm)
The weather finally turned rainy and little cooler, they cancelled our flight tour. Seawind was great, they picked us up early hoping to get us out but the weather turned worse and they decided to cancel all flights, we were kind of bummed but glad they didn't waste our money if we were not going to be able to see anything. We walked around in the rain for a little while then headed back to the ship, the day was a total bust.
Day 12-At Sea
Fun day just hanging and relaxing on the ship, this is a great way to travel.
Day 13-Vancouver, BC - fly home
Back to the joys of flying. Flight out of Vancouver was on-time until we were loaded and then we sat on the plane 20 minutes waiting for them to load our luggage. We were heading to Denver for a connecting flight, we had an hour between flights. Once in the air we were re-routed due to weather which added another 15 minutes to our flight, and then when arriving in Denver they had a thunderstorm so we could not land so we circled the airport for another 15 minutes putting us over 45 minutes late. We ended up landing at 5:10 and our connecting flight was showing on-time and scheduled to leave at 5:15. The steward was trying to get us off the plane first to try to get us to our flight but people didn't want to let us out, We landed in terminal B and had to travel the length of the terminal, down and escalator, catch a train to terminal C, and then make it to our gate in 5 minutes. Not sure why they wouldn't hold the flight for us like they did on the way to Alaska, I guess we didn't pay enough. Like I said some people didn't want to let us off first, my wife started asking for people to move, she was getting upset then most people actually moved but a few refused. So we sprint through the airport and make it to our flight at 5:17pm as we get a message saying our connecting flight was delayed to 6pm. So we didn't really need to run but that was better than missing it and having to stay an extra night in Denver.
Story doesn't end there we get loaded on the plane at 6pm but we sit in the plane and are not able to take off until 7:30. We land in Philadelphia at 1am, only to find out one of our suitcases didn't make it out of Denver, it was routed to Chicago, not really sure why. Luckily we had a hotel room so we had to go back the next day to pick it up at the airport.
Quick summary: Flying sucks, Alaska is awesome, cruising is awesome, weather was mostly in the 60s - last two days were rainy, and once again flying sucks. No poker or gambling activities. They had 1 electronic Texas Hold'em table, but never tried it. I would do the trip again, no regrets!
If you have questions, let me know and I will try to answer them. I haven't downloaded any pictures yet, will try to add them later if people are interested. Here is an overview of the trip, still trying to catch up on life:
Day 1 - Fairbanks
I will start by saying I hate flying, we flew United out of Philadelphia with a stop in Chicago. First flight was great, we left on time, we each had a TV built into the seat back in front of us but didn't really need it because it was a short flight. We have a 6+ hours flight from Chicago to Fairbanks, everything is on time and we get into the plane and they are about to close the door when they announce they are going to wait for two passengers from a connecting flight and it should only be 10 minutes. So I am like no big deal, well 40 minutes later two people come strolling in like they weren't holding up an entire plane sipping a hot cup of coffee. What the --BEEP-- you have got to be kidding me, we wait for what seemed like 10 minutes for them to get settled, we get to the runway and we are like 20th in line. We end up leaving over 1 1/2 hours late. So the flight goes from 6+ hours to 8 hours and they had no TVs, but it was available if you had the united app which we did not. On the bright side, this gave me some time to start reading a poker book I have been wanting to read for a while now.
Everything else was good we landed, got our luggage, found our princess welcome package and was at our hotel in record time. We did a little exploring around the hotel, not a whole lot to see here but it was quiet and relaxing, it was late and the restaurants in the hotel were closed. So we walked over to a local restaurant (Pikes landing) to get something to eat. We had an awesome appetizer tower with beef tips, crab stuffed mushrooms, and prawns, very tasty it hit the spot.
Day 2 - Fairbanks - Morning Riverboat Discovery Cruise & Afternoon Gold Dredge (8:15AM - 4:15PM)
Wasn't sure what to expect, but Fairbanks area itself was not overly impressive no major mountains and town seemed like a normal town nothing really stood out to us. However, we really enjoyed the Riverboat Cruise it was well done and well worth the time. It included a dog sled demonstration, watched a float plane take off and land, learned about the area, stopped to visit a replica of a native village, and ended with a tasty lunch served family style. I highly recommend this tour if you are ever in Fairbanks. In the afternoon we went to Gold Dredge 8, this was interesting and glad we did it but probably would not have booked it on its own. We panned for gold, between the two of us we found $24 worth of gold. My wife had it made into a necklace, she was happy!
Day 3 - Denali - travel from Fairbanks to Denali in the morning, Nenana Gorge Whitewater Raft (1:45 - 5:00)
Traveled from Fairbanks to Denali by bus nothing too exciting, some nice scenery as we approached Denali. One thing we learned, when going to Denali you can't actually see the mountain from the Canyon where the Princess Wilderness lodge is, it is 100 miles away. The lodge is located at the entrance to the park, this was a little disappointing, based on what we learned, you have to go to McKinley to actually see the mountain. So we never actually saw the mountain on this trip.
In the afternoon, we went on a whitewater rafting adventure. Our guide ( Mudflap ) was awesome and we had a great time. This was one of the highlights of our trip, weather was 65 and sunny, we had a dry suit that worked really well. Wife was a little worried about doing this but she did it to make me happy, she ended up loving it and couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was. They offered 3 different levels 1) scenic float 2) class 3-4 rapids no paddle guide does all the rowing from center of boat 3) class 3-4 rapids where everybody paddles and guide is in back of boat. We choose level 2 and it was right one for us. Level 2 and 3 travelled in the same group so it was the same water and rapids, however it was nice to be able to look around and relax while the guide did all the work.
Day 4 - Denali - Morning Denali Natural History Tour (7am - 1pm)
The Denali History tour was disappointing for us, we were in a school bus for 5 hours and we saw two moose, one horseshoe hare beside the road, and the Alaskan bird cross the road. The 5 hours tour was included in our package we probably should have upgraded for a longer tour, we talked to others that went on the longer tour and they saw a lot more wildlife, well some saw quite a bit of wildlife while some saw more but said it wasn't that great. It isn't Disney so wildlife is a little more hit or miss based on luck. We then spent the rest of the day hiking on our own, again didn't really see any wildlife but I enjoy hiking, it is very relaxing for me. Next time I would try to convince my wife to take on some of the harder trails.
Day 5 - Travel day from Denali to Whittier by train (9+ hours) and board ship
Travelling by train is a good way to travel, much better than a bus. We enjoyed the scenery, was able to get up and move around, had a decent lunch on the train. All and all a good way to travel from Denali to Whittier. I would pick this option over the bus any day. We saw a couple of moose, Salmon in the river, and Dall sheep, actually saw more from the train then we did in the Denali tour.
Day 6 - Hubbard Glacier (scenic Cruising) - no excursions
This was another highlight of our trip. If you ever get a chance, I think this is well worth it. This is an active tidewater glacier and was just amazing to see and hear. You can hear the ice moving, it sounds like thunder and we witnessed it calving multiple times (ice falling into the water). We also saw a few seals on the way in to see the glacier. The ship gets pretty close to the glacier and then turned every twenty minutes so you can see it from anywhere on the ship, we watched it from our balcony. A nice touch from Princess, they had a naturalist onboard that gave you information about the glaciers and what we would be seeing, they also knew where we were likely to see animals and were upfront to help spot any animals we could see from the ship.
Day 7 - Glacier Bay National Park (scenic Cruising) - no excursions
Another fun day, we spent the whole day cruising through the national park. A park ranger actually boarded the ship and talked about the park and helped explain what we were seeing as we travelled into and back out of the park. The glaciers here are receding so the glaciers themselves were not as impressive as the Hubbard Glacier we saw the day before - not noises and no calving. We saw Humpback whales, see otters, killer whales, see lions, and puffins. We spend most of day on our balcony and had room service deliver lunch so we didn't miss anything.
Day 9 - Skagway - 5:30am – 8:30pm - Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway (9:15am - 5:30pm)
This was the first port we visited, we choose to do the longer tour, in hindsight we probably should have done just the train and spent more time in town. The bus ride out to the Yukon was very nice, Carcross was okay nothing amazing, the chicken lunch was good again nothing amazing. They had a petting zoo, we were able to see and pet husky puppies. We could have paid more to visit the sled dogs, we decided not to do it because the dogs weren't running, it was too hot. We then went back the same way we came and picked up the train. The train was the highlight of the trip, loved the scenery back to Skagway. The stores were closing so we had a quick trip through the town before heading back to the ship.
Day 10-Juneau - 6:30am – 5:00pm - Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest (11:30am - 3:30pm)
We walked around town a little bit and then went on a whale watch boat. The whale watch was absolutely amazing. We saw plenty of humpback whales all around and under the boat, multiple whales breaching, and witnessed them bubble feeding and coming half-way out of the water. Another highlight of our cruise.
Day 11-Ketchikan -10:00am – 5:45pm - Misty Fjords Flight Tour with Seawind (11:30am - 2pm)
The weather finally turned rainy and little cooler, they cancelled our flight tour. Seawind was great, they picked us up early hoping to get us out but the weather turned worse and they decided to cancel all flights, we were kind of bummed but glad they didn't waste our money if we were not going to be able to see anything. We walked around in the rain for a little while then headed back to the ship, the day was a total bust.
Day 12-At Sea
Fun day just hanging and relaxing on the ship, this is a great way to travel.
Day 13-Vancouver, BC - fly home
Back to the joys of flying. Flight out of Vancouver was on-time until we were loaded and then we sat on the plane 20 minutes waiting for them to load our luggage. We were heading to Denver for a connecting flight, we had an hour between flights. Once in the air we were re-routed due to weather which added another 15 minutes to our flight, and then when arriving in Denver they had a thunderstorm so we could not land so we circled the airport for another 15 minutes putting us over 45 minutes late. We ended up landing at 5:10 and our connecting flight was showing on-time and scheduled to leave at 5:15. The steward was trying to get us off the plane first to try to get us to our flight but people didn't want to let us out, We landed in terminal B and had to travel the length of the terminal, down and escalator, catch a train to terminal C, and then make it to our gate in 5 minutes. Not sure why they wouldn't hold the flight for us like they did on the way to Alaska, I guess we didn't pay enough. Like I said some people didn't want to let us off first, my wife started asking for people to move, she was getting upset then most people actually moved but a few refused. So we sprint through the airport and make it to our flight at 5:17pm as we get a message saying our connecting flight was delayed to 6pm. So we didn't really need to run but that was better than missing it and having to stay an extra night in Denver.
Story doesn't end there we get loaded on the plane at 6pm but we sit in the plane and are not able to take off until 7:30. We land in Philadelphia at 1am, only to find out one of our suitcases didn't make it out of Denver, it was routed to Chicago, not really sure why. Luckily we had a hotel room so we had to go back the next day to pick it up at the airport.
Last edited:
Thanks for sharing. I figured you would be back soon. YES, I would love to see pictures!
OP
OP
I finally got a few minutes to quickly go through some of the pictures. Here are just a few to give you a taste of what we saw. Hopefully using thumbnails makes it easier to view, I can make them full size if people think it would be easier.still waiting for the pictures
I room at the Princess lodge in Fairbanks, it was huge.
Riverboat Cruise in Fairbanks
Dog sled demonstration
Reindeer
These moose where found with antlers locked together, neither one of them survived the fight
They had a -40 room, I don't think I would survive in that temperature, I lasted 30 seconds.
Still in Fairbanks, we went to gold dredge 8
Looking for gold enough gold to buy more, not much luck, the wife and I found $24 dollars worth total.
Scenery approaching Princess Denali wilderness lodge
Looking for my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
Random picture inside Denali national park
Here is part of the river we went whitewater rafting on earlier that day, the rafting pictures haven't been developed yet, we used a waterproof camara
Another picture while hiking at Denali
Next stop the cruise ship ...
ekricket
Royal Flush
Now talk the wife into coming on this - all live poker plus the whole cruise ship!
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/poker-on-the-high-seas-april-26-may-3-2020.35572/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/poker-on-the-high-seas-april-26-may-3-2020.35572/
OP
OP
The Golden Princess at port Whittier
Beautiful sunset at sea, I love watching sunsets from our balcony
Mountains from our balcony
The boat in front is a tourist boat that probably holds 200+ people
Hubbard Glacier was amazing, glacier is probably 300 ft high
Yep even more mountain views from our balcony
Sample view from our trip into the Yukon, absolutely stunning
Views from our Train ride back through the white passage (Skagway). Scenery was beautiful here two random pictures
Train snow plow
Random pictures
Final picture - the one Texas Hold'em table on the ship.
Beautiful sunset at sea, I love watching sunsets from our balcony
Mountains from our balcony
The boat in front is a tourist boat that probably holds 200+ people
Hubbard Glacier was amazing, glacier is probably 300 ft high
Yep even more mountain views from our balcony
Sample view from our trip into the Yukon, absolutely stunning
Views from our Train ride back through the white passage (Skagway). Scenery was beautiful here two random pictures
Train snow plow
Random pictures
Final picture - the one Texas Hold'em table on the ship.
Attachments
OP
OP
Oh trust me, this is currently being discussed and it is on the table. We need to figure out if the timing works, she is not against it.
bsdunbar1
4 of a Kind
I had to look twice at this pic. I thought the building was built on top of water and the steps went down into the water.
I know, its early.....
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