Alaska Cruise?

Question

It will be out of Seattle and I was wondering on the trip when we stop on land what is there to do? I saw a train ride can someone explain what that is? Any information will be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

There is a train ride in Skagway.  We were just there in May.  It takes you through some wilderness and very beautiful scenery - and is well worth your time.

Answer 2

The best Alaska cruise experience is the CRUISE-TOUR. Princess, Holland America, and Royal Caribbean all run cruise tours which take you by train all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska. Princess and RC have special domed train cars for this. Your best chance to see wild animals will be if you do a cruise-tour where you go further north after cruising the inside passage. The only animals you are likely to see in the inside passage is seals.  On these tours You can arrange to stop for a night or two in Taketna, or  Denali National Park. This will be your best opportunity to see Moose, Caribou, eagle, wolf, and bear. But you really need two days at Denali so that you have time to get one of the Park Service's busses that go deep into the park. Regular tour buses , cars and campers can only go about 3 or 4 miles into the park. The Park Service runs buses about 17 miles into the park, but you must get to the visitor center very early to reserve a spot on one of their buses. The train stops going north and south do not get you to Denali in time or allow enough time for the deep back country busses.  With Princess, Holland America, and RC you can do the tour part first and then go to Seward or Whittier to get on ship for the inside passage part.  

Alaska cruises and tours are mostly scenic and cultural.  The usual stops for the inside passage portion are Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and College Fjords.  The scenic parts are the animals, mountains, glaciers, fjords, and waterfalls.  The cultural parts are the Alaska Native, gold rush, fishing industry, and historical sites.   You can find out what things there are to do by looking at the web site for the cruise you will be taking.  They will list the tours from ships.  You can book (and pay for ) tours from the ship or go off and explore on your own. At many cruise ports there will be private tour operators who will take you to the same things at those arranged by the ships., only cheaper.

So look at your cruise line web site and also the web links below.

Answer 3

I would go onto your cruiseline web site and there should be a list of shore excurions. You will also get a little booket with that information on it when you get your cruise documents

Answer 4

there's trains that take you directly into mountains. are you visiting anchorage? there's several different tourist attractions - they'll give you a phamplet when you arrive. it's a great city and everyone's nice there. hopefully you'll see the aurora borealis.