Arrived in Anchorage and stayed at Captain Cook (lovely hotel) transfer from Airport all went well. Two days in Anchorage pre cruise, as we had already been travelling through Canada for 2 weeks (independently) before this section of our trip, we took advantage of the "forward to the ship" luggage and "take with you" Did not know about this until we got to Anchorage which was a shame as if I did I probably would of bought a few more things during the two weeks prior as I was trying to be good and keep the amount of luggage down to a minimal. All I can say is that the shopping in Anchorage was excellent picked up some good bargains.

First stop was Copper River - beautiful/relaxing probably our most favourable. Did the Day trip to Valdez/Columbia Glacier which we thoroughly enjoyed the Glacier was magnificent, better than Glacier Bay.

Fairbanks, caught a taxi to the Pump House Restaurant for Dinner rather than the Pub next door to our Accommodation, this Pub was still very nice and we had pre-dinner drinks there before catching the Taxi. Did the organised River Tour and Gold Rush - Which we enjoyed not sure what else there is to do in Fairbanks so glad that these had been organised. Coming from Australia we don't see Military Bases to the extent that they are in the USA so found this about the city very interesting., We caught the train from Fairbanks to Denali it was absolutely fantastic we had done the Rocky Mountaineer earlier but we found the Princess service and the trains to be just as good if not better. This trip arrived in Denali at around lunchtime we could see a Moose bathing in the lake/pond at the foot of the hill. We were booked to go on the Natural History Tour because we arrived at 12pm and we were only in town for 1 day we could not change the Tour to the Tundra I was told before we left Australia so was a little disappointed when Tundra tours were leaving as late as 2pm. Would recommend a two night stay here for anyone thinking of doing the land tour, this would of been the poorest of all accommodation not bad just small & 3 star it was still very clean, it rained non stop while we were here as well. Read more