TimeshareVon

I have a Northern Lights discount coupon book for this year. PM me with what you're interested.

Coupons we are for sure using later this month:

Kenai Fjords 6hr boat tour (11:30a)
Knik Glacier Tours 4hr jet boat
Mahay's Riverboat Service - three rivers tour
Palmer Musk Ox Farm (both coupons are or will be used)
The Reindeer Farm (same comment)
AFishunt Charter Halibut + camping/RV park coupons
RW's Fishing Silver Salmon charter + camping/RV park coupons
Alaska Sealife Center (only the 2:1 basic admission is being used)
Alaska Railroad Anchorage--> Whittier was given away already

Major Marine Tours - one of the coupons was also given away, but I'm not sure what it was for. There is still one in the book for the 1/2 day Kenai Fjords Wildlife cruise ($69 value) and the 3 hr "Bear Glacier Tour" ($59 value).

I also have a brand new, unused 2010 Milepost if there's any interest in that.

Please feel free to PM me through FT.

Von

phantomfisher

Hi, I saw that some people posted regarding the Toursaver book. I only need one coupon from it (that I know of). Do you still have it? Do you have the coupon for the Mt Roberts Tramway in Juneau page 123? Thanks!

Any suggestions on what highlights there are for me to check out in Alaska (Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway)?

p.s. if you have a Seattle Tourbook, please let me know. Again, I only need 1 coupon out of that one too. Thanks! :-)

fti

Since the savings on Mt. Roberts Tram is <$30, I am not sure it is worth it to use the Toursaver unless you get the book basically for free. You must have the entire book with you when obtaining the discount.

angryfish

Waiting for my TourSaver book to arrive for our trip next week! Can't wait - well worth the $100. Already booked Talkeetna Air Taxi, Major Marine Kenai Fjords 6 hr Tour, and Ninilchik COMBO Fishing (they let me pay difference in price from just the all day Halibut trip!) Upsetting though that some of the vendors had already reached their max for the coupons - like Kenai Fjords/Prince William Sound boat tours....but...just an FYI for future reference...Major Marine WILL honor the full day tour coupons that Kenai/PWS will not!

fti

Welcome to FT.

Most vendors can not afford to accept unlimited numbers of Toursaver coupons, which is understandable. Actually 3 years ago, a hotel in Seward told me when I checked in during my visit in May that they had already accepted all the 2-for-1 coupons for the season that they could.

Note too that if a vendor says "no" when you try to pre-book, you can always try again the day of a tour. If the tour is not full, it is very possible that they will accept the coupon after all since getting one paid fare is better than getting none.

sduffee

OK,, I am new at posting on this site, so please bare with me as I ask my questions.

The wife and I are going to Alaska the first of Sept. for a cruise. We are going to be there in Anchorage on our own for the first couple of days. I have been looking for extra excurision to do there in alaska, but I have no idea at what I am looking at or for. I would like to ride the rail trains and maybe go on a mini (3hr) cruise tour. Is there anyone who has some good suggestion on what we should do while we are there.

fti

Where does your cruise start - Seward or Whittier? When do you arrive into Anchorage (date and time?) and what date does the cruise depart? That will give us a better idea in how to help you.

Also, what are you interested in? Hiking? Fishing? Museums? Glaciers? Shopping? Culture?

sduffee

We are leaving out of Whittier on the 11th of sept. , although we are going up to anchorage on the 6th for some extra time on our own. We are looking more at Glaciers, Shopping, flightseeing, ect... we are not hikers or fisherman type. Thanks for your help

fti

I am not sure if Denali NP interests you but the colors should be phenomenal at that time of year. And the moose rut might be something you could see there.

Do you already have a car reserved? Do you want to walk on a glacier?

When on Sep 6 do you arrive? Maybe something like this:

Sep 6 arrive Anchorage, overnight
Sep 7 drive to Denali, stopping inTalkeetna for lunch (stop in Anchorage or Wasilla for supplies - you need to take all your own food, drink and water into Denali NP on the shuttle bus the next day)
Sep 8 take shuttle bus (NOT tour) to Eielson or Wonder Lake. My preference is to book a shuttle to Wonder Lake. You can always get off at Eielson if it is cloudy, you are tired/bored/etc. This shuttle MUST be booked in advance.
Sep 9 drive toward Palmer and the Matsu Valley. Lots to do/see including Wasilla (Iditarod HQ), Independence Mine, Muskox Farm in Palmer.
Sep 10 glacier hike with Mica or Nova guides, drive to Anchorage, return car
Sep 11 take early enough transportation (train I think?, or a shuttle service) to Whittier, take Prince William Sound glacier tour before boarding your cruise. This will get you a lot closer to glaciers than anything on your cruise

Another option is to head to Seward instead or as well. If you did it as well, it would mean either an expensive one-way car rental with Avis or a pricey taxi from Seward to Whittier ($200+). On Sep 9 drive back to Anchorage and return the car, Sep 10 early train to Seward, 11.30am Kenai Fjords NP boat tour (6 hours). Sep 11 you can see Exit Glacier or Sealife Center before taking the transportation to Whittier (contact PJ's Taxi). If you leave Seward early enough, you will also be able to take the PWS tour in Whittier.

If you drove, then Sep 9 for sure drive to Girdwood (a shorter drive on Sep 10). Sep 10 continue to Seward, 11.30am Kenai Fjords tour, Sep 11 you can see Sealife Center or Exit Glacier on your own in the morning, leave Seward early enough to get to Whittier for the PWS tour. Note that the ONLY option to rent a car in Anchorage and drop in Whittier is Avis.

A quick check showed:
Avis pick up Anchorage Sep 6, drop off Whittier Sep 11 costs $735 (!)

Alamo pick up Anchorage Sep 6, drop off Anchorage Sep 9 costs $136 then a two-day car rental with Avis pick up Anchorage Sep 9, return to Whittier Sep 11 costs $350, for a total of $486.

I think $350 for the 2-day car rental is a great use of your time even though it sounds expensive. If you took the train to Seward, that is $75/person one way then you still need to get from Seward to Whittier. With the car, you can get BOTH the Kenai Fjords tour AND the Prince William Sound tour. Kenai Fjords emphasizes marine wildlife though they stop at a glacier for about 1/2 hour. Prince William Sound emphasizes glaciers. Both have 2-for-1 coupons in Toursaver and/or Northern Lights books, but you want to check with the operators before you buy a book to see if they still have availability for using the coupons. Most operators limit the number of coupons they accept in any season or on any day.

The only thing I do not recommend is driving from Anchorage to Seward in one day. Too many variables could make this trip a very long one - road construction, accidents, mudslides, slow RV's, etc, etc.

Snow n Sail

If you want to see the interior I would take a train to Denali and skip the rental car. Royal Celebrity Tours has a 2 for 1 offer that will bring you close to Denali. It included the train and lodging for 1-3 nights. All the trains are domed and have food service on the 1st level, also they are not that full since they caters mostly to cruise traffic. My Dad took the trip when he visited and then I did it when my sister visited. If you take the trip to Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge it's near Talkeetna and you could then do a flight seeing tour.

The trip to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge brings you closer to Denali

Here's the link http://www.princesslodges.com/alaska_rail_tours.cfm

Also if you haven't booked your tickets or if you can change them, fly into Fairbanks spend the day and then take one of the trips to Anchorage. Spend a day in Anchorage and on the day to Whittier I would do the glacier tour FTI recommended.

fti

I would hate to be at Denali without a car for several reasons.

1. lodging near the park entrance is more expensive than lodging in Healy or near Carlo Creek and few lodging places offer transportation if they are not in "Glitter Gulch" which is the area just outside Denali NP where all the cruise passengers monopolize

2. You can take earlier shuttle buses into the park by having your own transportation.

3. You can drive the first 15 miles of the park road later in the evening if you have your own car. Very common to see moose in this stretch, though I have also seen other animals including a coyote and caribou. There have been reports of wolf and lynx sightings in this area as well.

4. I have never found the train to be cheaper than rental car + gas but then again I book my rental cars months & months in advance when the rates are very low (I already have my rental car for June 2011 booked at $120/week including all mandatory fees).

But many people survive Denali without a car. Just not the type of un-flexibility that I want when going there.

sduffee

Hey,, Thanks for all the reply on flyertalk. Wow, I didnt expect all of this good advice. fti, you have gone out of your way to help, not only me but all others on this site. My hats off to you ^. To tell you what I have planned is getting to anchorage on the 6th. The plane lands at 7 p.m.. I have a car reserved with alamo for 4 days at a cost of $164 w/tax. Hotel reserved in anchorage for 4 nights (6,7,8,9). Then we will move into the hotel provided by the cruise line. There we will spend Fri. night before boarding the motor coach the will take us up to MCKINLEY PRINCESS LODGE where we will stay the night. The next day they take us to DENALI, where we will stay for the night. On the final day of the tour we will board the DENALI EXPRESS TO WHITTIER. There we will board the ship.

I have purchase a Toursaver with only 4 coupons missing off E-bay for a price of $30, which I felt was a fair price. The missing coupons are the ones that I have no interest in. So hopefully I can get at least $30 worth of saving out of the book. I thinking of driving to Seward for the Kenai Fjiords cruise (which is the only one left at that time, being that we are not going to be there on a weekend), then stopping at Alaska Sealife Center on the way back to anchorage.

I already my reservation made at the hotel in anchorage, and got a very fair price on it. So I dont want to have to go hotel hopping, I am not one who likes packing and unpacking every day. I am thinking of going on a alaska railroad tour on one of our days in anchorage. But without having the book in my hands at this time (its being shipped today), I dont want to "count my chickens before the hatch". In other words making plans only to find out that the coupons needed for the event will be expired. But I am sure I will find lots to do in the book.

Next I need to work on our days spent in Vancouver. When we get off the ship in Canada, we will be staying there a couple of days before going home.

fti, again I want to thank you for your help.

fti

Thanks for the update. To each his own, but I really do think you are missing out on a lot of Alaska by basing yourself in Anchorage for 4 nights. There is just not enough a days' drive from Anchorage to keep you busy for that long unless you love cities, museums, traffic, and shopping. Or you will end up with long travel days to somewhere and back the same day. It is a common mistake for first-timers to Alaska unfortunately.

And I travel around Southcentral Alaska a lot and rarely pack and unpack, and certainly not every day. I leave my suitcase in the car and I just pull out the few things I will need for the night and put them in my daypack. The only time my suitcase comes into the hotel is for major repacking or when I do laundry.

TimeshareVon

I have to echo FTI's advice on this one, understanding that it is your trip and your travel plans. Also keep in mind that Alaska is pretty fast and if you stay planted in Anchorage, you will potentially have a lot of windshield time getting to the places you may be so inclined to take in.

Our first trip to Alaska back in 2006 we made that choice as well, and ran ourselved ragged on the three or four days we had available to see and to things. We did a wildlife/whale tour out of Whittier, a "day trip" to Seward and Kenai Fjords NP (Exit Glacier) and a fishing charter out of Soldotna. LORD, knowing what I know now about travel in Alaska and my more recent trip planning, I'm tired just typing that.

Perhaps you will plan to do more localized stuff in and around Anchorage, so it won't be a big deal to you.

sduffee

OK, I have changed my plans. I am now only going to stay 2 nights in anchorage w/ tours and then go to Seward for two nights w/tours berfore coming back into anchorage for the tour & cruise. Thanks for all the advice in helping my trip go as smooth as a baby's bottom.