OK, time to revive this section of LCT now that we've got a pretty clear date.

I'm still doing research regarding the post cruise details - I'm still interested in doing a post cruise near Denali to do some more wildlife viewing. I know some others were interested as well.

So with that in mind, let's put together some ideas if people have any regarding lodging.

This is the best option I've found so far ... any others? The Grande Denali Lodge: http://www.denalialaska.com/denali_index.html






Masaki

This is the hotel RSSC is using this year; will let you know in August!

Masaki we're interested too.

We should get the RSSC details about the Denali post cruise, and then work up something custom to us based on how many want to go. We can probably get some good group rates. We need to find out who wants to go so we can price and get transportation there as well. We should get some great pricing because we will be off season already.

I still think that 22-passenger Ford Excursion would be a hoot to ride in from Whittier to Anchorage.

I'll check with Mark this evening to see if Denali is still on his want list. I've been having him chase around the internet looking for stop-off points for ROAR, so that's where his head is right now.

Here is the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge , which starts at about $150 a night for our timeframe.




View from the lodge

Both places are gorgeous, I LOVE that mountain view!

Both lodges are beautiful. How long would we stay?....2 or 3 days? Anything included?
We are interested, I've heard so many glowing reports about Denali.

We're interested, too. And going with a great group of LCT'ers would be really fun!

Suzie, if we are doing this independently, there wouldn't be anything included except whatever we arrange for. We'll also have to come up with a way to get to whatever hotel we decide on in the Denali area and back to the airport.

First, I think we need to determine who wants to go. Then we need to negotiate a group rate, maybe including meals. Also, we may need to rent buses, vans or that 22 person limo.

Mark said we are in!

I noticed from the Talkeetna website that it is 152 miles from Denali National Park, but it sure is beautiful.

Anchorage - Denali is an 8-hour train ride. The last day (2005) Alaska Rail runs that route, in either direction, is Sept. 11. We need to keep that in mind if we are looking at a train ride.

This one could work, too:

another hotel

That shouldn't affect us if the cruise ends on 9/6 and we take 3-5 days in Denali

I think I might be shore excursioned out by the time we do the precruise. I will go anywhere the group decides, all I need is a lodge with a huge greatroom, a honkin huge fireplace, good dinner, drinks and my LCT friends :)

I am a bit confused on location, though. After we get off the ship, how far is it to Denali and then how far is it from Denali to the airport?

I think I read 8 hrs and dang, I don't know if I can sit still that long!!

Karen, Whittier (where we get off the ship) is South of Anchorage, where the airport is, by about 125 miles (I think). Denali is North of Anchorage by however many million miles that would create an 8 hour train ride. Then it's 8 hours back to the airport. If we are on the dome-carred train you wouldn't have to sit the whole time.

Kathy, I am almost sure we get off the ship on 9/7 now, it would take us all that day to get to Denali. Then about all day to get back to the airport, on whatever day we chose. I didn't look to see how far Fairbanks is in the other direction, though.

Is there anything between Whittier and Anchorage that is scenic and lodgey?

Whittier is a bit closer than 125 miles according to this description below. Maybe we can break into two groups, those who want to venture to Denali and those who just want a Alaskan lodge experince thats a bit closer to Anchorage.
I am pretty sure Mark won't be excited about the 8 hour train ride, we both fidget during a 1 hour ride to our airport :)

Whittier is the western gateway to Prince William Sound. It lies about 60 miles southeast of Anchorage via the Seward highway, a side road through the Portage Valley, and the longest highway tunnel in North America (2.5 miles). The Seward Highway is a National Scenic Byway that offers magnificent views of the Kenai Mountains across Turnagain Arm. It is not uncommon to see Dall sheep, beluga whales and bald eagles from the Highway. Allow plenty of time for the drive -- both to take in the sights, and to allow for heavy summer traffic.

We can put our own tour together. Here is the company that many cruiselines use:

Click here for some info re custom tours

I like the 4 night plan. WE disembark on Wed and come home Sunday

The Kenai Penninsula is breathtakingly beautiful. I was so disappointed to not be able to get off the bus from Seward. We saw all kinds of wildlife just going to the airport. Our bus driver took a short detour so we could see bears.

Maps of Alaska

Editing to add that I cannot believe I am planning this when I haven't even been on PIP and haven't planned that all out yet. Not even thinking about Italy which is in November.

I think the biggest advantage of going to Denali would be the wildlife viewing opporunities. But the problem is the amount of time that it takes to get there. Alaska's just too big - it takes a lot of time to get into the interior. It appears to be about 8 hours by the Alaska Railroad. Karen - it might not be so bad if we were on this level of service: http://www.alaskarailroad.com/passenger/goldstar.htm

Other options would include the Alyeska Resort http://www.alyeskaresort.com/ which is 40 miles south of Anchorage. Looks like a really nice place but it's not Denali. :)

Kathy - which 4 night tour were you looking at? I didn't see it on the website.

Masaki

There is a spot on the web says they will customize a tour for a group -. Aleyska Resort could be a nice getaway, but, we really want to do Denali and we'd probably pass on the resort. Biggest reasons we are doing Alaska again is to hang out will all of you and to see Denali.
I found a spot on this site - we need a minimum of 20 for a group tour. We have over 60 on Mush

Editing to add, I asked them for info for a group of 20-35 upscale accomodations inlcuding transportation from Whittier to Denali to Anchorage. Info is free.

http://www.premieralaskatours.com/docdisplay.cfm?docID=19 Tour sample

Masaki, Alyeska resort does look nice!

I hope their are others who won't be doing Denali so we aren't totally alone!

Next question for Denali-bound folks. Why go all the way back to Anchorage to fly home? It looks like Denali-Fairbanks is about 100 miles less than Denali-Anchorage.

RSSC free air is from Anchorage, not Fairbanks.

Karen and Masaki the Alesyka Resort is a Ski resort with similar things to do that you will find there is to do from the ship. There is a big difference in the Denali things to do. While you think that it's a lot of travel, everyone I have talked to about the experience tells me it was well worth it that it was the hightlight of their trip. Having said that, our float plane on Wings to the Taku Glacier Lodge was a hightlight from Juneau.

Pam, our cruise ends on 9/6. That was the day that the next cruise begins. Wednesday to Wednesay.

After I spent all morning researching the Aleyska resort that Masaki suggested, Mark came in and I had him read the part of this message about the train ride. He said "how cool!" which was the last thing I expected him to say.
So now I have no idea if I want to stay at Denali or Alyeska.

Here is some of the research for the Alyeska resort.

Description of Location:
Anchorage 37m southeast. Resort in mountains.

Overview:
Alyeska prince hotel and resort are alaskas only aaa four diamond accommodations.
60 person aerial tram departs directly from skiers concourse which is attached to property and travels 2300 feet to glacier express facility atop mount alyeska.
Interior of hotel is warm and inviting boasting over one million board feet of cherry wood panelling throughout. There are immense stone fireplaces leather couches and woolen carpets. Floor to ceiling windows of fireside lobby and grand staircase offer unobstructed views of north face of mount alyeska. Open beams and cathedral ceilings accent our swimming pool and fitness center. Relax and enjoy!
Here are just few of amenities guests are invited to enjoy at only 4 diamond property in alaska: activities include midnight sun golfing 60 person aerial tram hiking gold panning fishing bicycling kayaking canoeing rafting horse drawn carriage rides flightseeing alpine skiing snowboarding snowshoeing nordic skiing dog sledding snow mobiling rentals taking train to denali national park year round glacier and wildlife cruises and complete fitness center with an indoor lap pool weight room sauna and 16 person whirlpool.
Every guestroom has view. There are seven glaciers that hang above hotel including one tucked into alyeskas own glacial bowl. Guests can view ocean waterway known as turnagain arm and kenai range of mountains opposite girdwood valley. Travelers coming from cruise ship port town of seward will find alyeska resort an easy solution to pre or post night stay. Though 35 miles south of anchorage alyeska resort is an easy drive with unlimited picture stops along scenic seward highway which has an all american highway designation. National geographic magazine calls it one of top ten drives in north america .
Numerous hiking and biking trails
River rafting and fishing
Mountain hiking, climbing and berry picking

Ocean glacier and wildlife cruises

A nearby 18 hole golf course
with tee times as late as 10 pm





View from resort:

Kathy, that's a big "DUH" for me. Ngaire said something about Thursday being "the magic day" and my tiny little brain translated that to mean the cruises would be switched to Thursdays.

Karen, on that train, you could move from conversation group to conversation group, couldn't you? We started up the road to the Alyeska resort but turned around for some reason; I think there was major road construction or somthing (which seems to be the norm in Alaska, anyway) and some delays.

I was just reading over at the other board. The further north you are in the wilderness, you have the opportunity to see the Northern Lights. Must be completely dark, which is limited.

Also, Mosquito Time will have most likely have past us since we are late in the season. Not usual in Denali to have mosquitos.

We stayed at the Alyeska Resort for 4 nights last June before our cruise. We were with a company group. Its location is gorgeous, surrounded by ice capped mountains. Our room was on a lower floor and we didn't have a mountain view, but I would think it would be very nice.

We didn't spend too much time there since we were on excursions everyday. It has a modern Asian motif. To me, the lobby is kind of dark - all the wood is very dark red. It is a very nice hotel, but it doesnt' have that typical "Lodge" feel, that you are so used to seeing.

It is about 30 minutes south of Anchorage and not too far from Whittier ? - I really can't remember. There is not much to the town itself. It is very small with maybe a cafe?? A couple of artsy shops and that is all.

It is not located "close" to a lot of sights per se. But you could hang out there for a couple days. We had dinner one night at the restaurant up on the top of the hill. It was very good! Can't remember what we had, but we enjoyed the views from up there and we liked the food and service.

I have read that Talkeetna Lodge is nice. Perhaps you could stay there one night on the way to or from Denali. Just a thought. We didn't got to Denali. Maybe next time.

The Kenai Peninsula wildlife cruises are highly recommended - the ones out of Seward. Again, that didn't fit into our schedule last time - darn.

Well, Ginny has far more experience than me, but I did do a drive-by of the Alyeska ski resort back in July 2000 on my first cruise on the Navigator. We had rented a car to drive to Seward, came in to Anchorage a day early, and I was trying to make the most of the drive to the ship in Seward the next day, so we went off course a bit to explore. You certainly should not expect to see an "Aspen in the summer" type thing. It sort of looked to me like a closed up beach resort in the winter, but perhaps that beautiful hotel has changed it all. Aleyeska I would compare more to a ski place in the Poconos than the Rockies from what I saw back then. Things change however, and perhaps I am way off base.

Unless I'm reading the train schedule totally wrong (and there's every possibility that I am), it doesn't leave Whittier until evening and gets into Anchorage at night. So, if we were looking at that, we'd have a whole day to kill in Whittier, completely with piles of bags. Then an overnight in
Anchorage, lug the bags back to the train station and eight hours to Denali. Rinse, repeat, except the return journey would end at home after our flights.

I don't know about the rest of you, but that sounds like more of an ordeal than I personally want to remember as an end to a beautiful cruise. We need to come up with an alternate to the train.

And after saying all of that, I don't even know if the train was under consideration.

My experience with trains is that they are painfully SLOW. I can drive to Las Vegas in 4 hours and if I take the train I get there in 8. In Alaska they use those small float planes, but, then there'd be a luggage situation to deal with.

If we did a bus transportation from Whittier to Talkeena (for one night - spelled that wrong - sorry) and then to to Denali for two and then on to Anchorage for a day and then the flights we should be good. I will talk to the tour operator and see what they have to tell me. I am pretty good at notes and will type up the conversation.

Karen - don't get me wrong - Denali would still be my first choice. It's one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to go back to Alaska and do an interior trip - to see animals that I haven't seen before. :)

Pam - we could always take private transportation from Whittier to Anchorage. We'd have to spend overnight in Anchorage before getting on the train to get to Denali the next day. Or we could take private transportation all the way there. If we set up our own tour, we could have them make all those arrangements as well ... hopefully Kathy's research pulls up something that sounds reasonable.

Masaki

One caveat about doing our own thing would be we don't have RSSC to take responsibility for what could go wrong. We would individually be responsible, but, if we took out insurance on our own it would be covered.

True ... but I have yet to have had anything go catastrophically wrong with booking/doing things on my own. Hope my luck continues to hold! :D

Masaki

Should we do a poll regarding Denali to see who is interested so we have more concrete info for getting pricing and availability?

Good idea Kathy. Do you want me to do the poll or would you like to? I am also curious if anyone is interested in something closer to Anchorage, I still haven't decided yet!

Karen, I did a comprehensive poll last night.

oops, I just saw it!

My poor brain is turning to MUSH :ohmy:

We are lucky enough to have a four-day Easter break here so have just returned from visiting my sister in Brisbane. I'm not sure how I survived without looking at this board once!

I am definitely interested in a post-cruise trip. Would there be an organised tour that we could join - there seem to be a few available from here (very helpuful for all of you)! A friend who went to Alaska last year said that there was an awful lot of travelling involved without any guarantee of seeing either scenery or animals - she missed out on both! I've been told that September is a bit late to see many animals - can anyone confirm that? We toured the Rockies in September a few years ago and managed to see a couple of bears but that was about it.