creative use of BA miles for Alaskan trip
Sep 21, 2011, 10:55 pm
#16
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Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 17,417
Skagway would have been interesting, but you can't get there on Alaska Air. I once stopped there on a cruise for a day, rented a car and drove to the Yukon. Very worthwhile. I thought about taking the Alaska maritime ferry to Skagway from Juneau this time, but the ferry is time consuming and surprisingly expensive (I swear, it may be cheaper to fly Alaska Air on paid tickets than take some of the ferry routes). That said, I may do it sometime, perhaps as a one-way car rental from ANC using Hertz points (yes, it's a permissible rental!).
I also stopped in Juneau on a cruise and got only a few hours to look around. I think it easily merits a couple of days.
Sitka gets excellent reviews and is only a modest cruise port, usually skipped on the big boats. I've never been there.
I don't know much about Kodiak, but it's hard to claim it's on the way from Nome! Nome gets excellent reviews as a bush destination, so that's why I picked it. Barrow is apparently much less interesting, although perhaps even more adventurous.
BTW, a nice thing about booking this trip way in advance (in addition to finding good award availability) is booking car rentals at low prices. For some reason, the car rental companies don't get around to raising prices to summer levels 11 months in advance, so you can find some good deals. You can also avoid the peak day award prices on Hertz if you book now for next summer. Finally, if you have any Wyndham Reward points from the Discover America promos, you can get great value in some of these smaller Alaskan cities with points. Alas, Nome has no chain hotels. Everyone seems to recommend the Aurora there, and it's not that expensive by Alaska standards ($150/night).
I also stopped in Juneau on a cruise and got only a few hours to look around. I think it easily merits a couple of days.
Sitka gets excellent reviews and is only a modest cruise port, usually skipped on the big boats. I've never been there.
I don't know much about Kodiak, but it's hard to claim it's on the way from Nome! Nome gets excellent reviews as a bush destination, so that's why I picked it. Barrow is apparently much less interesting, although perhaps even more adventurous.
BTW, a nice thing about booking this trip way in advance (in addition to finding good award availability) is booking car rentals at low prices. For some reason, the car rental companies don't get around to raising prices to summer levels 11 months in advance, so you can find some good deals. You can also avoid the peak day award prices on Hertz if you book now for next summer. Finally, if you have any Wyndham Reward points from the Discover America promos, you can get great value in some of these smaller Alaskan cities with points. Alas, Nome has no chain hotels. Everyone seems to recommend the Aurora there, and it's not that expensive by Alaska standards ($150/night).
SIT and JNU and in particular JNU, are port of calls of all Alaska cruises.
Better hope you do not visit them on the same days as tens of thousands of cruisers.
Skagway would be more interesting as you could drive to Whitehorse, Canada. The route is quite interesting, 2 mountain passes before the Canadian border. Then some really scenic drive with pretty lakes and nice Fall foliage (or green in Summer), plus passing the world's smallest high dessert...
JNU down town area now is pretty cheesy, overrun by all the shops such as you would see in St. Thomas... (Diamond International and the like,
)
ANC is boring if just in the city. Of course you could do side trips to NPs but have to return back to ANC. Be prepare to pay an arm and a leg for rental car in Summer though.
If I go, I would pick KDK and BRW, which I assume is the most northern town commercial flight can go?
KDK is expensive to visit and only high end, small cruise ships would call on the islands. BRW is just for the sake of it.
Better hope you do not visit them on the same days as tens of thousands of cruisers.
Skagway would be more interesting as you could drive to Whitehorse, Canada. The route is quite interesting, 2 mountain passes before the Canadian border. Then some really scenic drive with pretty lakes and nice Fall foliage (or green in Summer), plus passing the world's smallest high dessert...
JNU down town area now is pretty cheesy, overrun by all the shops such as you would see in St. Thomas... (Diamond International and the like,
)ANC is boring if just in the city. Of course you could do side trips to NPs but have to return back to ANC. Be prepare to pay an arm and a leg for rental car in Summer though.
If I go, I would pick KDK and BRW, which I assume is the most northern town commercial flight can go?
KDK is expensive to visit and only high end, small cruise ships would call on the islands. BRW is just for the sake of it.
