I heard that it is best to reserve tours, etc before an Alaska cruisetour but less expensive 2 book on arrival

Question

We have a tenative plan to go the last week in July on Celebrity Cruiselines, starting with the domed train ride tour to Fairbanks. Are mosquitos a problem at that time?

Answer 1

Mosquito's can be a big problem in Alaska. They call them there state Bird,LOL. Bring repellent with you. As far as tours go the reason go book with the cruise line is, they guarantee them. For instance, on one tour we took in Alaska half way through the tour it started to snow, so the bus had to turn around. Princess refunded 1/2 of our money back. The other reason is, the cruise ship will wait for one of there tours to return in case of say a traffic jam, but will not wait for tours not sponsored by them. Nor will they wait for any person not on the ship out on there own. I have seen someone missing on almost every cruise I have taken. So booking a tour on your own does have its risks.

Answer 2

went on a cruise to alaska last year. in my opinion as a veteran cruiser (5 so far) the best way to do it is look up some local tours for your ports. You can get much better deals by booking through individual tourist attraction websites. You get down-home people who really know and love the area. if you are worried about the validity of some of these locals check out cruisecritic.com and other cruisers can give you their opinion of the local tourist trade.

have a blast!

Answer 3

Have never cruised in Alaska, so I don't know how likely the tours are to sell out, nor how much you could save or how easy it is to do them on your own.

However, if you go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Boards", then "Ports of Call", you'll find lots of info from experienced cruisers and can ask any questions you might have.

Answer 4

Mosquitos are not a problem. At each port of call on the dock they sell excursions for less than pre booking or on the ship.

Same holds true for souvenirs. If you are also going on the sternwheeler cruise in Fairbanks you should enjoy it. You will go to a native village & see how they lived, animals etc.

The train ride is great as they will stop if they see wildlife. However you need to watch because you never know when 1 will show up. We saw lots of bear. If going to Denali a great tour threw the park & great places to eat.

ENJOY.