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Unfortunately, our cruise experience was not very positive. The ship was old and needed an overhaul. Our toilet had to be fixed six times because the vacuum system did not work and the toilet overflowed. After the 5th time we were assured that it had been corrected. No such luck! The food service was not very good either. We had late seating and we were literally the last ones out of the dining room at least 4 nights out of the five. Our waiter tried very hard, however, he had too many tables assigned to him with no help.
On a positive note, the ports were awesome and our shore excursions (not booked through the ship) were wonderful.
After the cruise we added the land excursion to Denali. We took the train to Denali and spent one night in Denali. While there, we rented a car and drove around Denali. However, we were not allowed to go any farther than 15 miles. If we had had more time at Denali, we would have scheduled one of the tours that went farther into the park and not rented a car. One of the excursions planned, was a dinner show (can't think of the name) but at a "mining camp". It was fabulous. The food was family style and the entertainment was superb.
We, then, took the train into Fairbanks where we did the Discovery Paddle boat tour which was wonderful. The next morning, our land tour ended. However, while in Fairbanks we rented a car from Alaska Car rental in downtown Fairbanks and did several wonderful activities. We visited a reindeer farm where we led the reindeer on walks. The reindeer were very tame. In fact, one of them was like a dog and went up on the deck of the house and laid in front of the sliding door like a dog. The web site is runningreindeer.com. We, also, had a tour at a musher's house. The lady (Mary) was the first woman to complete the Iditarod. It was a very private tour. We were able to play with the dogs. She gave us a wonderful overview of Alaskan life (including building her own log cabin) and dog sledding. Her web site is www.maryshields.com. These two tours were the highlight of our Fairbanks stay. We, also, drove the rode out to the Chena Hot Springs resort. During the drive we saw at least 14 moose-some moms and babies, some dads. It was fantastic.
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