Our Alaska itinerary
We booked a five-day, four-night tour package through Princess Cruises. For a first trip to Alaska, we liked the cruise-like itinerary. On trip 92G, we had one night in Anchorage, train fare to Talkeetna, a night at the McKinley Princess Lodge, train fare to Denali, a night at the McKinley Chalet, train fare back to Anchorage, and a final night there. Princess also offers a military discount (I think it’s 10%). We booked our trip with them directly, and I asked for it when we confirmed the reservation.
We added on a day before and a day after our tour just to explore more of Anchorage. Overall, we enjoyed our tour, but I would’ve liked more time in Denali. Our timeline really limited what we could do (combination of when Mac’s block leave was and the fact that when we finally got solid dates for leave, a lot of tours were already sold out). So be sure to book early!
Getting to Alaska
The tour we booked didn’t include airfare, so we booked that separately. We opted to fly from Denver to Anchorage with a connection in Seattle. Our trip to Anchorage was… interesting, to say the least. Our flight from Denver to Seattle sat on the tarmac for around 45 minutes to burn fuel. We had a 40 minute layover in Seattle. We managed to land 5 minutes before our connection took off, so we (and around 10 other people on our first flight) literally ran across Sea-Tac only to find out that our Anchorage flight left early without us.
Our trip included airport transfers. We didn’t use it the night we arrived, but we were able to book a transfer to leave Alaska even though we stayed an extra day and night. If you are adding time on before or after your tour, definitely call your booking company to see if you can coordinate an airport transfer to save on cab fare.
Where we stayed in Alaska
For our first and last nights in Anchorage, we stayed at the Anchorage Grand Hotel. The rooms were comfortable and clean, even if they still had tube TVs (technology snobs over here). One lady from the tour company told me that it was haunted which is one of the worst things to tell me. The first and last nights of our tour were at the Westmark Hotel. It was a solid (if very full) place to stay, as it’s the main hotel for Princess and Holland America. Princess and Holland America work very collaboratively, so much that we actually stayed at a Holland America property in Denali. Their standards are the same, and we had the same good experience with both resorts and staff.
My revised Alaska packing list | Alaska Zoo | Anchorage Trolley | Train ride to Talkeetna | Talkeetna, Alaska | Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Tour | Talkeetna to Denali | McKinley Chalet Resort | Denali National Park | 8 hour on a train: Denali to Anchorage | Alaska Railroad to Seward | Kenai Fjords Cruise
