PRINCESS WILDERNESS LODGES CRUISETOURS DENALI NATIONAL PARK TRAIN COACH RIDE ALASKA

[Music] hi there this is allison with let's go travel tips today i am going to talk to you about alaska about some things that i think that you will find interesting to know about the land cruise tours kind of they call them cruise tours but the they include a land portion as well as a sailing portion i'm going to talk to you about the fancy rail service that princess also has and some things i think that you might want to keep in mind when you're selecting a land tour as well as if you are just selecting a cruise to alaska so first of all i would like to welcome all of our let's go family members i am really glad to have you with us and also welcome to all of you who are new we're glad you're here if there's anyone here who hasn't subscribed yet we would really appreciate it if you would subscribe to our channel and i think you are going to be very happy that you joined us because we have an amazing group here we share so much information and have a lot of fun together as well so first of all as i don't know how many people know but princess runs their land cruise tours um every summer and they have a large variety of them you would think that maybe there would just be one or two but there is a huge variety and they have different ones kind of that go with different cruise ships some of the ships the itinerary on the land tour is very similar but there's just an awful lot of variety so you want to keep in mind when you're choosing a land cruise tour you want to keep in mind which ship you maybe want if you want a larger ship if you want a smaller ship what itinerary you want which for the princess lodges you're going to visit i'm going to do a whole video for you about the different princess lodges they have four and that'll kind of give you a little bit more of a feel for what there is out there but then the other thing that i think is really important to consider and i would say even more than the ship is the itinerary what are you going to get to see now i do want to add though some people just really do cruise for what ship they're on and so you folks are going to want to pick based on um pick out of the ones that are offered on the cruise ship that you want okay and i know that a lot of people do that i am an itinerary person i cruise for the itinerary i absolutely love the time that i spend on the ship but i very purposely pick what i'm going to see what parts i'm going to visit and that's just how we do it so keep in mind um that there's this huge variety in these land cruise tours they're up there in alaska and i kind of call it a land cruise tour just so that everybody um that is maybe nuatua understands there's a land portion there's a cruise portion and it depends sometimes the cruise portion on some of the itinerary itineraries is first and then the land part is after and then it's also flipped on some you get that land tour first and the cruise second some people say that they like to do the cruise second because then you relax as you get closer to getting home as a lot of times the land portions can be very busy but you could also have a more relaxing land portion just depending on what you want to see because when you go to these princess lodges there are restaurants there there are activities there are so many different excursions you can do and i will tell you about that in the videos but if you also really don't want to do that you can sit out and look at the beautiful scenery a little bit more rather than going on those and then some of them do include some different tours so that's another really important thing to look at you don't want to book a land tour and think oh for sure i'm going to get the tour of denali national park with that nice natural history tour and you didn't even check to make sure that that was part of it and so i've got two itineraries here that i just wanted to compare a little bit for you just to give you a feel for some differences so that you can kind of think just start to see what i'm talking about when i'm saying that you kind of need to pay attention to what is offered in each one so that you make sure that you get what it is that you're really looking for and the other thing you're going to want to consider is really who you're cruising with if you are taking a family and you've got children who are you know the age they like to run around and see things or teenagers you might pick a little bit different tour than if you are just you and your spouse or your partner whoever it is that you're traveling with you are going to need you might want to consider something different and so let me tell you this really quick first of all the first example i'm going to tell you about is what they are calling the 12-day denali explorer tour if you want to look it up you can email me and i'll just email it to you but um it's jb5 is what it's called and it's a 12-day like i said denali explorer and it starts in fairbanks so monday the day that it starts it says alaska's golden heart city of fairbanks is a great introduction to the heart of a unique state so you check into your hotel you get ready to go now the next day you go to the denali princess wilderness lodge it says this morning take a cruise down on the authentic stern wheeler riverboat down the china river before heading via motor coach to the denali national park and the denali princess wilderness lodge there you're going to check in and get some help planning whatever adventure it is that you want so when i do the video about everything that they've got at the denali lodge you will hear all these activities that you can select and they have really truly something for everybody i would say they have something for everybody that likes more of a calm thing they're a little bit more less adventurous clear up to people that are willing to jump off of a mountain they don't have that but do you get my um what i'm saying here it's just the whole range of activities and so it says or and this is the part i love you may enjoy this spectacular maine lodge riverview deck and princess village with a popular christmas cottage and sugar shack and then be sure to check out fannie q saloon named after a famous local homesteader so see there's a large variety of things you can do there so that's what you're going to do on tuesday you're going to get there to the denali lodge you're going to start doing some activities then the next day wednesday may 25th you're going to explore denali national park on the natural history tour i have not been on that yet and i am trying to find some time that i can do this this summer but that natural history tour everybody says it's just spectacular you get to watch for glimpses of denali's big five so they have moose caribou bears wolves and the dolly sheep and those are what everyone wants to look for so that's wednesday thursday you're going to journey by princess rail and i'm going to tell you about that fabulous princess reel that they have here in just a minute but you're going to go on the princess rill to talkeetna and once you get there you're going to get to transfer by coach over to the mckinley mount mckinley princess wilderness lodge and after you get settled in i love this it says you can have relax or and just sit and gaze at the beautiful um as i've seen it and so much of the things i read they call it the great round the great great one which is mckinley mount mckinley from the lodge's treehouse designed and built by one of anaplanim anal i apologize animal planets master tree house builders and so they have put a lot of thought in these and then so that would be your thursday on friday you'll head by motor coach to anchorage where you're going to stay overnight in the hotel captain hook and i have read about that hotel it's it's it's really a nice hotel plus it has a lot of history there with it and you get to spend the afternoon exploring anchorage and then the next morning you get up and you head out to whittier and you stop well it says you stop and visit the alaska wildlife conservation center and then they take you right out twitter and that is where you board your ship if you have not ever cruised out of anchorage whittier is the actual port that you sail from and it is beautiful there we have done that it is it is extraordinary if you um yeah some if you have already done alaska round trip out of seattle do do it from anchorage or to anchorage coming into anchorage it is just so beautiful along there it is just magnificent and so that is what this one includes the next one that i want to kind of compare it to is your 10 day denali explorer which would be tour ab3 and it is called um well the 10 day denali explorer and um it's a little bit different though it starts on april 24 i'm sorry may 21st i'm just telling you this so if you want to look it up you can see what i'm talking about um you get in a you arrive in anchorage that day you get settled into that hotel captain hook for your overnight stay and i want to tell you that like for um the day that your tour starts like may 21st from then on everything is included just like you think of for a cruise except any excursions that you want to book or i also want to say the meal plan they sell meal plans that go with the different land tours and the way they work is they include like x number of breakfasts x number of lunches x number of dinners um depending on the package um is that is offered with each tour it includes that and i want to add that food in alaska is really expensive and you know what with how much prices are going up right now just everywhere in the grocery stores i am sure that it is ex like even way more expensive when we have been there before it is really expensive and so you might want to when you look at the meal plan price you might be like oh my goodness is this highway robbery it's really not but the thing i would say that you're going to want to think about is the fact of like like some of them include like a breakfast every day and then a lunch and then the other because all of these lodges have you know all these ing places and you can choose to eat wherever you want but just make sure that if you're going to get the meal plan that it really includes stuff that you're going to want to eat it doesn't tell you which which restaurant it's at and so if anyone's done that i would love to hear from you i'm wondering if they just give you a voucher that then you can use it wherever you would like but like i for me probably wouldn't buy it because they all include breakfast and i know everyone says breakfast is the most important meal of the day but i don't eat breakfast and so for me that would be a waste now my cute husband he doesn't miss breakfast and so that might work really well and i could go with him and sit down next to him and we could visit while he eats and talk about what we're going to do that day but really pay attention to what is offered and make sure that you're going to want it so just putting that out there for you um so anyway um then um where was i okay so we've been in anchorage the next day monday the 22nd you're going to get on your motor coach for your journey along the george parks highway to mount mckinley princess wilderness lodge there is where you're going to get your first glimpses of denali along the way they say that you can sit and enjoy the views when you get there you can also plan everything that you're going to want to do there they also the next day tuesday may 23rd it says this morning depart on another scenic motor coach drive to denali princess wilderness lodge explore the denali park natural history tour watching for like they say the big five i already talked about and so see this is a little bit i would say calmer than the other one where you're right off and running and doing all those activities and a lot of um a portion of these days there's more portion of it spent getting where you're going and taking your tours then on wednesday you're going to go to whittier and so i love because see it's just it's a 10 day it's two days shorter and you get to ride that rail from um from the lodge there that you're at denali down to the port and this is really cool when we were departing from um whittier there you could see like the train comes right up to the port they have made it so that you literally pull up on this beautiful train and you just get off right there and you get right on the ship and i'm just positive that they take care of all your luggage for you you'll find it in your stateroom again and so and then you carry on with the rest of your cruise from there now a lot of these two that i have chosen include both hubbard glacier and glacier bay and i would say that if you have been to alaska before and you have done glacier bay and you feel like you've seen it enough and there is another itinerary or land tour that you would like better absolutely snatch it up but if you have not been to alaska yet you have to do glacier bay you just have to do glacier bay and um i have a video about some books if you're a person that reads books to um prepare for where you're going john muir like did all of this exploration there in glacier bay and he wrote about it and people have written about him and it's just extraordinary so i will link that video below this one if you're someone that likes to look at books read books about where you're going to go but it is indeed spectacular hubbard glacier is also just breathtaking you go down a long long you sail down i don't know if you would call it a bay or what but um anyway you sail down to it and it is just massive it and you get really pretty close to it um depending on who the captain of your ship is when we were on that cruise we had captain bye-bye to captain tuvo and he is magnificent and so we got really close to the hubbard glacier and they even had an excursion then that you could get on a smaller boat and go up closer to it and we didn't do that but i think i might next time because if they offer it because it was really um wonderful so anyway think about all of that when you are selecting um where you're wanting to go on your cruise now let me tell you this though about that princess rail if you haven't seen pictures for for it for um of it before just go ahead and google it or look at it on youtube they have some ads for it it is just so beautiful so what it is is um and princess is the only one that has this the only cruise line that does this there's lots of other cruise lines that do cruises up there in alaska but princess is the only one with this railway and so it's a two level luxury domed train cars and they've got huge wrap around windows with upper level seating and it says that it is assigned so it's really handy you can get up and walk around and not worry that someone is going to take your seat there is a guide that provides narration the whole way so that you can hear what you're supposed to be looking at and thinking about as you're going through there it says the lower level has a dining room in each train car offering made to order meals and you just have to pay for them there um it's not included and then they also have beverage service upstairs they've got open air observation platform so that you can go outside as you're going there's a beautiful circular circular staircase that goes between the two floors and they have i love this they have got an accessible hydraulic lift between the upper and lower levels if you are someone that needs that if you can't do stairs you can still go and enjoy the whole time and so they take it direct from the um wilderness direct to the wilderness right from like if you get off the ship there in whittier and your land portion is after and then it includes it you'll be going from right there at the port you'll hop on that train and go out to denali they also have one that goes takes you right out to talkeetna for um the mckinley princess wilderness lodge and it is just really beautiful you see so much beautiful scenery that really there is no other way to go in the world because um well you're there in alaska so um i would submit though that it is some of the most beautiful scenery in the whole world and you're going where there are no roads and so you are truly seeing a pristine wilderness that is just absolutely beautiful that is the way it has been for ever since this world was made that beautiful wilderness has been that way and you get to just go through and see it and so i hope that you appreciate all of this information i really wanted to do um some videos that would be really helpful to people as they're trying to figure out what they want to do or if they want to do this but to give you a really good idea of what there is offered out there because until i started doing this i didn't realize that there was so much offered so much variation and really so much to do and so i think we should all do our best to um to uh find out what's going on and enjoy it the best that we can and so if you've got any questions just put it in the comments if you have done any of these lan and cruise tours i would love to hear from you tell us about your experience in the comments if you've done more than one tell us which one you like the best and why because it will really help everyone as we all are trying to plan what we want to do and even if we've been before every time you go there's something new something new to learn something new to see and so like i said any questions and comments i would love to hear from you all and just look forward to my other videos coming up about alaska the last thing i wanted to say i am working on the sailings that will be going on the east coast on princess as well as the other cruise lines one of our sweet let's go family members commented that they have one of those cruises booked and she was sure i wouldn't forget them and indeed i won't i'm going to do my best to find out everything that they've got offered there and get one of those cruises booked myself so that i can um tell you a little bit more about it so thank you so very much for watching our videos i'm really glad that you're here with us if you appreciate my videos would you please give this video a thumbs up because that really helps it just the way it works it just helps youtube know that people like it and so then they'll offer my video to more people and then we can get a larger let's go family so that we can have more influence and so that we can help each other out more so i'll be talking to you all again really soon you all take really good care god bless you love you bye

Channel: Let's Go! Travel Tips

Views: 25,662

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Id: 41VEf4YZI84

Length: 18min 59sec (1139 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 08 2022