Alaska with land tour

[katiec68]

Hi

Has anyone added on a land tour to their Alaska cruise?

We are just weighing up all the options and either a 10 day or the 14 day HAL trip would be preferrable ( but it doesnt go to Glacier Bay ) and we're not sure we fancy a B2B so we are thinking that maybe we might add on a land tour.

I have read some of the reviews and the land hotels seem a bit of a shambles but the scenery etc is awesome - so a bit of a trade off required!

If you have done one would you recommend it and did you do it before or after your cruise?


KAtie x

[CC71]

Hi Katie
Alaska is on our list too but it's very confusing isn't it with all the different itineraries and options! Like you we have looked at the land tours but not sure if they are really for us as I'm not sure if I fancy being herded about
PS Sorry for gatecrashing your thread but I will be interested to see what previous Alaska cruisers think too

[Pootle]

We did an excellent 5 night land tour at the end of our Princess cruise in 2015 and stayed at 2 of their lodges in Alaska, plus one night in Anchorage at the lovely Captain Cook hotel. The lodges are ‘Wilderness’ lodges and are in beautiful natural surroundings. The lodges were more than adequate, if rustic but this was compensated for by the stunning environment.

There was a thread running a few days ago on cruise critic which I think you would find helpful, and I will try to post a link, but if it doesn’t work, suggest finding the Princess forum and check threads from about 6th March - the heading was about comparing Princess Lodges with RCCL accommodation on their tours. I would imagine that HAL Lodges are comparable to the Princess ones, since they both built their own, whereas some other lines use independent hotels. Someone who had done a land tour with RCCL was not impressed with their accommodation!

As far as choosing which land tour to do, I agree it is difficult! My job was made easier because DH is keen on railways and so we chose one with a long train trip included.

Perceived wisdom is that it’s preferable to do the land tour first and have the relative luxury of the cruise afterwards. I made all our own travel arrangements and I decided to do the cruise first for logistical reasons and was quite happy with my decision, but we didn’t fly straight home from Alaska.

[katiec68]

Originally Posted by CC71

Hi Katie
Alaska is on our list too but it's very confusing isn't it with all the different itineraries and options! Like you we have looked at the land tours but not sure if they are really for us as I'm not sure if I fancy being herded about
PS Sorry for gatecrashing your thread but I will be interested to see what previous Alaska cruisers think too

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You are more than welcome Its a minefield isn't it!

Originally Posted by Pootle

We did an excellent 5 night land tour at the end of our Princess cruise in 2015 and stayed at 2 of their lodges in Alaska, plus one night in Anchorage at the lovely Captain Cook hotel. The lodges are ‘Wilderness’ lodges and are in beautiful natural surroundings. The lodges were more than adequate, if rustic but this was compensated for by the stunning environment.

There was a thread running a few days ago on cruise critic which I think you would find helpful, and I will try to post a link, but if it doesn’t work, suggest finding the Princess forum and check threads from about 6th March - the heading was about comparing Princess Lodges with RCCL accommodation on their tours. I would imagine that HAL Lodges are comparable to the Princess ones, since they both built their own, whereas some other lines use independent hotels. Someone who had done a land tour with RCCL was not impressed with their accommodation!

As far as choosing which land tour to do, I agree it is difficult! My job was made easier because DH is keen on railways and so we chose one with a long train trip included.

Perceived wisdom is that it’s preferable to do the land tour first and have the relative luxury of the cruise afterwards. I made all our own travel arrangements and I decided to do the cruise first for logistical reasons and was quite happy with my decision, but we didn’t fly straight home from Alaska.

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Hi

Thanks for some great advice - ill check out cruise critic.
unfortunately we are keen on all of it - still got a few months to decide what we want before the brochures are out!

Katie