The first days (Aug. 3-7) are with the cruisetour. It is optional but I highly recommend it if time permits in your schedule and your budget allows. It was about as amazing as the cruise time itself. Our cruisetour guide, Matt was great. As was Bill, our bus driver. They both were very knowledgeable about Alaska. My husband and I are both in a wheelchair and were toting a service dog as well. All the employees in the cruisetour, our fellow passengers on the tour as well as the ship, and the ship employees were all very good at accommodating us as well as the service dog.

I was a bit apprehensive about this portion of the trip since little information is provided to us by the cruiseline as to how it all works. But it went very smoothly. Once you get to the lodge where everyone meets, your cruisetour director will greet you and give you papers with an itinerary for each leg of the trip. He/She will answer questions and from that point on, we were a part of a group that will travel together for the next four days.

Aug 3 Arrived in Fairbanks and our cruisetour bunch stayed at Sophie Station. Read more