We are a couple in our 60’s who decided to try our first cruisetour because we found a good deal. It was Princess’ “On Your Own CBX Tour” southbound (Fairbanks 2 nights and Denali 1 night). After our land tour, the tour group boarded the Golden Princess for a Whittier to Vancouver cruise. We’ve been on Alaska cruises before, so we decided not to sign up for shore excursions for this cruise.

We arrived in Fairbanks two days before the June 5th Princess cruisetour to relax and explore the town independently using a rental car. My dear Capt. Casual booked us at the Best Western Plus Pioneer Park Inn, a good choice for its quiet location and the typical Best Western breakfast buffet that’s included in the room rate. This hotel’s check-in time is 3:00pm, which is an hour earlier than some other hotels.

Ice Museum in downtown Fairbanks: This starts at the top of the hour - we watched a film, then donned warm jackets that were provided and went into the ice sculpture area and looked around and took selfies (you get 20 minutes in this area). The man (Andy) took some photos for us, too. There is even a sculpted ice slide you can ride. Afterwards, Andy did an ice sculpting demonstration. Read more