WarrenWST

Hi.

Looking for advice on how to best visit Alaska including overnight in Denali.

We are in our mid 60's and early 70 and have never been to Alaska. We love to hike but these days it's more easy to moderate. Love wildlife but also cautious about taking risks, e.g., don't want to chance coming too close.

We will be traveling from Boston and want to make a 4 day stopover in Seattle to visit family. We may do that either going to or leaving Alaska.

Our goal would be to do a sea and land cruise where we could cruise in a smaller ship as opposed to the large cruise ships and spend a few nights in Denali Park. It may make more sense to fly directly to Alaska in order to take the smaller cruise line and then fly to Seattle to visit family.

There are many cruise lines so hoping you could share your expertise in terms of which small cruise lines you would recommend that include transportation and accommodation into Denali. In terms of how many days, ideally we would have approx. 10 days which would allow 4 days in Seattle. In other words, 14 days in total.

There are no specific locations within Alaska that I can mention that are must see's at this time. I'm hoping the forum will guide me in the right direction.

In terms of when, we would like to go this coming May or June but that also depends on the forum advice.

Please let me know if you need more information.

Thanks, W

traveler318

Is there a reason you are only asking about a cruise? I've been to Alaska twice and both times rented a car to give us freedom to go where we wanted and see what we wanted without being with a large group. We took no big hikes, just many short walks (as well as a grizzly bear trip and the Kenai Fjords boat trip). Even with a small cuise ship (I've cruised with National Geographic Expeditions in other locations) you are in a potentially sizeable group. Personally, I'd fly to Fairbanks, rent a car, drive to Denali and south to the Kenai Peninsula and turn the car in and fly out of Anchorage. The roads are easy to drive and not much traffic compared to where you live. We did not go to Valdez/Prince William Sound so I can't personally vouch for them but I have multiple friends who have loved that area and I'm sorry we missed it.

If you have more time and want to see the panhandle too, you can take the ferry or fly to Juneau or Sitka or Ketchikan. Glacier Bay can be reached by flight from Juneau to Gustavus. Note, the ports in the southeast are much more crowded with cruise passengers. I found the cultural and historical aspects of the southeast quite interesting but found the scenery and touring more appealing on the mainland down to Homer.

Alaska is beautiful and I think you will have a better expericence if not part of a cruise. Of course, some people don't want to drive and I can understand that.

dfrostnh

Perhaps a cruise isn,t necessary. The boat trips out of Seward to see wildlife and glaciers are a great experience. We drove and I agree with other poster that driving is great way. Scenery from Anchorage to Seward is spectacular and I understand it,s just as good via train.

i think if you say whether you will rent a car or not will help others with advice.

Gardyloo

Some logistical considerations, and potentially some grounds for re-planning some aspects of the trip.

First, Denali. May is too early and some years the first part of June is too. There's still a lot of snow about and many of the animals are just showing up. HOWEVER, by far the biggest concern is that the main park road, the only one and only accessible by buses authorized by the Park Service, is closed around the halfway point due to landslides that require the road to be rebuilt and partially relocated. The finished road is not expected to reopen before 2026, and possibly after that. Because of the closure, two of the most important sites within the park, the Eielson Visitor Center, and Wonder Lake (at the end of the road) are and will remain inaccessible.

The first 43 miles of the road are open (to the buses) but there are mixed opinions as to the quality and quantity of wildlife viewing; some have reported that it "seems" (your interpretation welcome) that the animals have retreated further into the park to avoid the human interaction. Anybody's guess, I suppose.

The tour companies and hotel operators have NOT reduced their promotion of Denali despite these issues. They have too much invested in hotels and facilities near the park entrance to walk away from the dollars. But you can imagine that some, if not many, of the visitors who might be unaware of the road closure, feel a little ripped off when faced with not as many options for activities or sightseeing as they expected.

Fortunately, Alaska has many, many gloriously beautiful and fascinating places to visit, so with some research you ought to be able to figure out an alternative to Denali if that's your decision.

Regarding small boat cruises, there are a number that typically depart and arrive in SE Alaska ports, usually Juneau, Sitka or Ketchikan. These tend to be very nature-oriented and also tend to be quite pricey on a per-person basis. You might want to consult the Cruise Critic website for details on these.

Or, you could pass on the cruise and do a land-based trip that includes time in some of the destinations in SE Alaska that are visited on the cruises. I'd especially have a look at Sitka and Haines, the latter as a possible start/end point for the "Golden Circle" road trip that includes part of the Yukon Territory as well as historic Skagway. If you travel later in the summer (say July-August) this can include eagles, lots of bears, moose and other wildlife, as well as some of the best scenery in Alaska. Worth some googling.

WarrenWST

HI. This is all very interesting feedback.

In terms of a car rental, that is not something we wanted to do on our first trip to Alaska. We wanted to just explore the tip of the iceberg this time around and thought a land and sea tour would be great. I don't disagree with anybody in terms of truly enjoying the nature of Alaska by car as opposed by boat.

We don't like the big cruise ships and still want to consider a much smaller line even if the price is high. We have saved for this trip and feel comfortable going as intended. However, with the said, the response from Gardyloo has me concerned regarding the closures and now I'm thinking of putting this trip off a year. France and England are on our radar so maybe we will do this first and Alaska next year. It's just that we will be traveling to Seattle this spring/early summer so thought that would be a great time to visit Alaska as well.

I greatly appreciate this information.

The "Golden Circle" road trip has my interest and I will need to do some further information.

Thanks, Warren

WarrenWST

What is the best time to visit Alaska?

I have read and heard different things.

I have read that June is the best month because the mosquitos are notorious in July and August.

I'm open for sometime in June or September.

Yes, wildlife, scenery, and enjoying the local culture are on the top of the list for wanting to go to Alaska. Pleas note that I love ocean wildlife just as much as land wildlife hence part of the reason of taking a small cruise as well as a land excursion. The mention of the small cruises out of either Juneau, Sitka, or Ketchikan has my interest and I will be researching.

Thanks, Warren.

dfrostnh

If you visit early July you could go to Kenai's 4th of July and the Girdwood Forest Fair. The fair was the closest we got to a bear. One was attracted by food smells, I heard people shouting and bushes move but didn't actually see the bear. The fair is music, crafts and food. Check timing but I think this is about the time Salmon start running in the Russian River so you can watch some combat fishing. Moose are prevalent on the Kenai penninsula sometimes browsing lawns in suburban neighborhoods. Suggest reading the local newspapers to see what is going on. I enjoyed a neighborhood garden tour in Anchorage, a quilt festival near Kenai, etc.

How much bugs bother you may depend of whether you are used to them or not. I've stood near people slapping at mosquitoes and not been bothered. One late August visit we helped put salmon in a freezer. We were outdoors in Knik near Wasilla. I don't remember mosquitoes but was worried the fish smell would attract bears.

it is also fun to visit farmers markets. I found homemade jams to bring home.

We took the Alaska Marine ferry from Bellingham to Skagway and only saw one orca. The day trip out of Seward to see glaciers was better for seeing sealife. We watched pods of orcas and was close enough to a humpback to smell whale breath.

oldemalloy

As for timing, there are advantages to both June and September. In June you have more daylight hours and more baby animals, but some areas may still be closed due to snow/mud. In September we saw moose in rut, fantastic color in the tundra in Denali, no mosquitos, but less wildlife in the ocean as some whales had headed south.

mlgb

One of the easiest "cruises" is taking the train or the transfer bus between Anchorage and Seward and doing one of the tours by Major Marine or the other company there.

One alternative to driving into Denali Park is the train to Denali, and a jeep tour along the Denali Hwy,.

We did a land tour in early June and had no issues with snow and lots of baby animals including moose twins and the pale "grizzlies" in Denali Park. But that was when the road was still open so I don't know about the "retreating into the park" thing. You can never predict the view situation. It can be nice one day and overcast the next. Or even can change mid-day.

Have also done May cruises between Vancouver and Anchorage and the scenery is amazing that time of year with the extra snow on top of glaciers. But we had a bad weather day in Glacier NP.

Just got back from an early October cruise and had this weather in Juneau at Mendenhall which is unheard of. Plus there was actually a view from the Mt. Roberts Tram.

WarrenWST

Great info.

I am somewhat concerned about the closure in Denali. Denali, whether I should or shouldn't is something I have wanted to visit on my first trip to Alaska. .I have been reading about the entire road in Denali and it sounds like there are many great sights past mile 43 where the closure is. So, my question is should I wait until we can go further or just go this coming summer. Based on my reading, the current tour (offered by the cruise line) is a 5 1/2 hour tour. I read that if the road was fully open it could take quite a bit longer. Not sure we want to be touring on a bus for that long anyway so maybe mile 43 is good enough to appreciate Denali in terms of scenery and wildlife and yes a sight of Denali itself.

In terms of hiking, we are not planning on backpacking or camping. I am thinking 2 or 3 nights in Denali so that we could allow one day for the bus tour and another full day for mild hiking.

For cruises, I have been reading alot...reserving books from the library, Fodors and Lonely Planet. The small ships as mentioned sound good except I prefer a balcony and apparently most of them if not all of them don't have cabins with balconies. So if we step up to a larger vessel to provide the balconies we give up on some on the things that the smaller lines are capable of. What we absolutely don't want is to have to dress up formally for dinners. For some reason the smaller larger crusie lines (if you know what I mean) have several formal requirements. One line that looked like it could work was Viking but they still had some formal dress requirements at times.

As far as when to go we were as mentioned thinking June originally (probably more towards the end) but based on '
responses maybe August would be better for us (Sept may be too late for us) although that could interfere with other plans.

I really appreciate all of the advice. Our goal is to get a good taste of Alaska over 10 nights and once comfortable then explore more so on our own via rental car and lodging. Would love to hear if anybody has stayed at Holland or other cruise line lodging at the entrance of Denali as well as their bus tours of the park.

I know that is alot and thanks again for all your input.

W