Trip to Alaska review. Here goes. Princess cruise with land tour. Diamond Princess. Fairbanks (2 nights), Denali (1), McKinley (2). Southbound cruise inner passage (7 days) College Fjord, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, into Vancouver.
Wondering North or South? I have positives for both. A land tour can be exhausting- mainly because you are usually on the go seeing the sites and those train rides from city to city are about 5 hours long. Try and stay in one place for at least 2 days. It gives you more time to do excursions. [We got into Denali at 1pm- had a Natural History tour scheduled at 3pm which lasted 4 hours, got back at 7pm, had to fight the crowd to get dinner- get to bed and leave again the next morning at 11am. Not much time for anything else.] You get to relax on the cruise since it is after the land tour. Northbound has its perks too. After the cruise you are well rested and will be ready to take on the land tour portion. In our case, I wish we would have done northbound due to the bad weather we had. It was rainy in Juneau where we had booked our helicopter dog sled tour, so it was canceled. After Juneau there is NO more opportunity for excursions of this nature. Since Ketchikan and Juneau are in the rain forest, they said 75% of the time, it is rainy and cloudy, I wish I had known this because I would have booked in Skagway or Denali- there is little room for mistakes on these one in a lifetime trips. If you go Northbound, you ALWAYS have a second chance to book a tour later if it is canceled since Juneau and Ketchikan are the 1st and 2nd stops.
We got into Fairbanks and had a tour at 6am, which we booked ourselves through Arctic Turtle Tours. They are a great company and Capt. Jeff was a great tour guide. Our trip to the Arctic Circle included a Subway sandwich lunch and campfire. It was from 6am to 6:30 pm. This is the only company that brings you back at this time. There are other companies but they stop for dinner and you get back to your hotel about 10pm, which was too late for us. In Fairbanks, Princess booked us at the Rivers Edge Resort- which is all cottages (if you like that). I do not because I do not want to change into proper clothing and jacket and shoes to go to the lobby. I asked for a change 3 weeks in advance which Princess did not grant. They have several satellite hotels in the area which they use. They also have a Princess Riverside Lodge in Fairbanks but I don't know who gets to stay there. We were near the airport but not close to downtown. We felt trapped in the hotel because the free shuttle always seemed to be busy and it was expensive to take a cab everywhere else. There is a princess shuttle that is $5 per person each way! They have a restaurant on premises called Chena's which is named after the river. It was OK for the first night but was annoying after hearing the front desk suggest it again and again. We walked out to the main road which was about 10-15 min. Across the wide street, there is a Fred Meyer's which has a store and supermarket all in one. We got some warm clothes and hiking boots there since we didn't pack properly. There was also a Taco Bell which saved us the 2nd night. In Fairbanks we went on the El Dorado Gold Mine tour which was nice - panning for gold was fun. They have a nice gift shop where you can have your gold flakes put into a piece of jewelry. They have free hot chocolate, coffee, and warm cookies. They also have a soda machine for 50 cents a can so stock up. Then they take you back to the hotel and you have a little more than an hour to have lunch (again, they recommend Chena's). We walked out to a little booth out by the main road for bagel sandwiches. Next they take you to the Riverboat Tour which is about 4 ½ hours. That is an interesting tour as well. It's a nice ride outside especially if the weather is nice. The next morning we took a bus to the train depot for Denali. The train ride was a little more than 4 hours. *Note about luggage - Be forewarned that you have to leave your bags outside your hotel door before 6am. So there is no sleeping in unless you want to carry your toiletries around with you. They also managed to break the entire wheel off of a Samsonite! Another reason to hate cottages - you leave your bags even if the ground is wet outside. *Note about the train - It is another reason to part with your money - I have never seen such encouragement to buy alcoholic drinks so early in the morning! They have a dining car if you haven't eaten and usually have breakfast or lunch depending on time of day - selection is limited. They give you your room key and building assignment before you get off the train so that is nice.