My wife and I have frequent flyer miles and are attempting to try and book our own flights to Alaska. Do the cruises leave from Seward or Anchorage (Princess)?? And can you fly into Seward or do you have to fly in to Anchorage and get to Seward? If so, are there transfers you buy from cruise line? and can they be purchased for the day before the cruise as we want to fly in a day early? Lots of questions, and I would appreciate any insight.
We are sailing with Princess next May. The flights go in and out of Anchorage. Starting in 2001, you have 2 options for getting to Anchorage from Seward. Motorcoach transfers and a 5-hour train transfer. Your flight must leave Anchorage after 2PM in order to do the train though.
Book your air now, it is very hard to fly up here on miles during cruise season. You have to fly into Anchorage, Seward does not have an airport for big planes. I guess that answered your question, where does the ship leave from, Seward. It ia a good idea to fly in the day before even two days before, jet lag from the lower forty eight can be tough. I drive to Seward with my family all the time in the summer, very nice trip I know for sure that princess has busses that go there, and I have been on their train before to, very nice, but did not go to Seward ont he train. Went up north, great trip !!! If you take the bus, the bus driver does pull over for wild life and great places to take pictures. So that is a plus, but the train to Seward is suppose to be a very pretty trip, I guess we will have to try that next summer. Anyway I hoped that helped??? If you are going to Denali take the train and take the bus to Seward. Have a wonderful trip to Alaska!!! you will love it!!!
You are going to have a hard time booking seats already so don't wait any longer. My sister and I are traveling on the Dawn Princess 6/30/01 sailing and I was unable to get the flights I wanted even in August when we first able to book. There are very few flights in to Anchorage and no flights to Seward. We also had to return out of Seattle instead of Vancouver....
Some other info that wasn't covered yet--
Exit Glacier is on the way from Anchorage to Seward and shouldn't be missed! It's absolutely wonderful, and the only opportunity you will likely have to walk up to a Glacier and touch it! (Even if you take a helicopter ride -- which you DEFINITELY should do, regardless of the cost (the dogsled combo is fantastic)--you won't get the same experience as walking up to a glacier and touching it). Also--driving into Exit Glacier was the only place we saw a bear!
Rent a car (Avis is the only one available) and drive from Anchorage to Seward and enjoy the scenery!
BTW, Princess's airfare was very comparable to what i could have gotten on my own--it wasn't a rip-off.Have fun!
By all means book your air through the cruise lines. My son and I flew into Anchorage a day early and took a DC3 flight over the ice fields. We rented a car and drove down to Seward. This is a beautiful drive and not to be missed. We saw lots of wildlife (moose, bear, etc) along the side of the road and stopped to take pics of each other sticking our feet into the frigid water. We went to Exit Glacier (watch out for the mosquitos here) and also hit the Wild Animal park right before the town of Seward. The mileage from Anchorage to Seward is 127 miles and lots of it is along the ocean.
We did our own airfare and got a lot better price. We flew into Anchorage on a Monday stayed in a B & B then drove down to Seward on Thursday in our Rental Car, stayed in another B & B then caught the ship out Friday afternoon. You have to catch the ship at Seward. It is approximately 127 miles from Anchorage and a very scenic drive. Seward is a really small town. As far as I know, Hertz is the only car rental company that will let you drive to Seward and drop off a car without a charge. The rental agency is only about 1/4 mile from the pier. We went on Holland America on our last cruise and they offered free transfers by bus, but we opted to go our own way. I heard that they were going to begin charging for these. You can also get the Alaska Railway down there if you don't wait until late Sept. to go. Clay F wrote:
>
> My wife and I have frequent flyer miles and are attempting to
> try and book our own flights to Alaska. Do the cruises leave
> from Seward or Anchorage (Princess)?? And can you fly into
> Seward or do you have to fly in to Anchorage and get to Seward?
> If so, are there transfers you buy from cruise line? and can
> they be purchased for the day before the cruise as we want to
> fly in a day early? Lots of questions, and I would appreciate
> any insight.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Clay
Great picture, Judy! You either have a great zoom lens or you were really able to get up close and personal with the animals. Looks like the park is worth a visit.
Portage Glacier with the Boggs-Begich Visitors Center is a great spot just south of Anchorage. We rented a car for a day from National or Thrifty in Anchorage and the cost was about $35. Driving along Turnagain Arm is a great experience.
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