One of the most thorough ways to see Alaska is to take a vacation that combines cruising with rail travel. Many cruise lines offer train tours as part of vacation packages, or as add-ons to an already-planned cruise. Rail plus cruise packages make it possible to see both the coast and the inside passage of Alaska, as well as visiting Denali and other attractions of the state's interior.
Celebrity Cruises offers almost two dozen variations on their basic rail plus cruise vacation packages. The 12-day cruise/rail tour starts with eight days and seven nights of cruising, beginning in Vancouver, British Columbia. The cruise portion of the tour travels up the inside passage, docking at Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. The cruise also passes Icy Strait Point and Hubbard Glacier, where travelers can watch the glacier calve. The cruise portion of the tour ends in Seward, where travelers transition to a glass-domed train car. The land part of the tour travels through Alyeska, Takeetna, Denali National Park and Fairbanks. Excursions include the Alyeska Tramway, a tour through Denali National Park and a visit to the El Dorado Gold Mine.
Celebrity Cruises
1080 Caribbean Way
Miami, FL 33132
800-647-2251
celebritycruises.com
Princess Cruises offers more than 50 cruise plus rail vacation packages, ranging from 10 to 14 days, some aimed specifically at families. The basic 11-day cruise plus rail package begins with the rail tour. The first three days are spent at Denali, with accommodations at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, and tours of Denali National Park. After this, the Denali Explorer train transports travelers to Whittier, Alaska, to begin their cruise aboard the Diamond Princess. The cruise travels past Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park, then docks in Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, before ending in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Princess Tours
800 5th Avenue, Suite 2600
Seattle, WA 98104
800-774-6237
princess.com
Complete North America offers a 15-day cruise and rail tour for people flying in from Great Britain. The tour includes five days traveling by train and five days aboard a cruise ship, as well as time spent in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The rail tour aboard Alaska Railroad travels from Anchorage to Seward and back, then Anchorage to Talkeetna and Denali National Park, before continuing on to Fairbanks. Excursions include a six-hour cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park, a riverboat tour on the Talkeetna River and a bus tour into Denali National Park. The cruise portion of the tour departs from Whittier and sails to Blackstone Glacier, Prince William Sound and Columbia Glacier, with stops at the fishing village of Cordova and Valdez Harbor. Optional excursions that can be added to the basic cruise plus rail tour include a floatplane trip to Brooks Camp, private air safaris out of Anchorage, flightseeing over Mt. McKinley, a Portage Glacier cruise and a visit to Alaska's north-most point, an Inuit village more than 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Complete North America Limited,
Colwick Quays Business Park,
Private Road No.2,
Colwick, Nottingham. NG4 2JY
United Kingdom
+44-0845-263-7100
completenorthamerica.com
