 Experience the land of bald eagles, totem poles, calving glaciers, and majestic wildlife. This Alaska travel adventure shows you the best perspectives of this stunning landscape by land, sea, and air. Half of your 15-day journey is spent cruising Prince William Sound, Glacier Bay, and the Inside Passage aboard a Princess ship. Tour Fairbanks, Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, go wildlife watching in Denali National Park, and pan for gold in the Yukon. Take a floatplane aerial tour over glaciers, two scenic rail journeys, a river paddlewheel trip, a tramway ride to a high peak, and a raft trip in a bald eagle preserve. Tauck's tour is fully escorted from Anchorage to Vancouver.
2008 Itinerary
Day 1: Alaska arrival
Fly to Anchorage; your hotel transfer is included. Tour begins at 6:30 p.m. at the hotel. Enjoy the welcome dinner in the hotel’s award-winning rooftop restaurant with panoramic views of Cook Inlet, downtown, and the Chugach Mountains.
Meals: Dinner
Lodging: Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage
Day 2: Native traditions, modern pipeline
Learn about the lifestyles, traditions, and crafts of Alaska’s indigenous tribes at the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Fly to Fairbanks, established during the gold rush. See the Alaskan pipeline connecting Arctic oil fields with the Port of Valdez.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, Fairbanks
Day 3: Pan for gold or see the Arctic
Try your luck panning for gold at a local gold mine, and visit other cultural heritage sites in Fairbanks. Enjoy a salmon bake and musical revue at your riverside lodge. Or, take an optional full-day jet excursion (at additional cost) to Barrow, Alaska’s largest Eskimo town, surrounded by Arctic tundra.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, Fairbanks
Day 4: Paddlewheel boat trip
Cruise the Chena River on a historic paddlewheel boat, and then tour some of Fairbanks’ landmarks. Continue your Alaska travel through the state's interior to Denali National Park; your lodge overlooks the Nenana River.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Denali
Day 5: Explore Denali National Park
Venture into Denali National Park, a six-million-acre UNESCO Biosphere Reserve highlighted by North America’s highest mountain, 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley. Look for grizzly bears, moose, caribou, and Dall sheep. Enjoy a special Alaskan dinner.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Denali
Day 6: Private glacier tour by floatplane
Experience the thrill of flying over glaciers, fjords, and mountain passes in a floatplane. Fly over the Chugach Mountains, Prince William Sound, and the glaciers of College Fjord.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: The Hotel Alyeska, Girdwood
Day 7: Resort relaxation or activities
During your free day, choose an optional activity through your mountainside resort (at an additional cost) such as bear viewing, alpine trekking, river rafting, horseback riding, fishing, or golfing. Opt for the aerial tramway to the observation deck on Mt. Alyeska. With snow most of the time year-round, you can even take a snowmobile tour or dog sled tour.
Meals: Breakfast, dinner
Lodging: The Hotel Alyeska, Girdwood
• Day 8: Scenic rail journey
Travel the scenic Alaska Railroad in a private dome car to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. Then watch for orcas, seals, and sea lions on a boat cruise through Resurrection Bay. Board your Princess ship to launch the cruise portion of your Alaska travel adventure.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
• Day 9: Cruise Prince William Sound
Cruise through College Fjord, rimmed with 16 glaciers named for Ivy League colleges. Spot wildlife in Prince William Sound, harboring Alaska’s greatest concentration of tidewater glaciers. By night, take in a Broadway-style show, try your luck in the casino, check out the nightclub, or read in the library.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
• Day 10: Glorious Glacier Bay
Prepare to be awestruck by Glacier Bay National Park, an Alaska travel highlight. View blue-tinged ice cliffs towering over the sea, and hear the roar when they calve and crash into the water. Look for humpback whales, orcas, seals, and seabirds.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
• Day 11: Bald eagles & vintage rail trip
Explore historic Skagway, gateway to the Klondike gold fields. Then take a ferry cruise on Lynn Canal to Haines. Go rafting through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, hosting the world's largest concentration of bald eagles. Ride the exciting White Pass & Yukon Route narrow-gauge railway built in 1898 during the gold rush. This vintage rail excursion heads up steep grades, around cliff-hanging turns, and over high bridges.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
• Day 12: Tramway views of Juneau
Tour the capital city of Juneau, set on a narrow strip of land between the Coast Mountains and the Gastineau Channel. Take the tramway to the top of Mount Roberts for views of Admiralty Island, Glacier Bay, and the Chilkat Mountains. Enjoy a private Tlingit presentation.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
• Day 13: Totem poles & native culture
Dock in Ketchikan, the ancestral home of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian tribes. See some of the city’s numerous totem poles, and watch local totem carvers at work. Catch a performance of traditional Tlingit and Haida dances. If you enjoy fishing, you may want to take an optional fishing excursion (at an additional cost).
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
• Day 14: Inside Passage cruising
Enjoy spectacular views of the Inside Passage from your stateroom, or a variety of decks and lounges. You can also swim in four pools, hear a nature presentation, play a board game in the library, work out in the fitness center, get a relaxing spa treatment, or check out the golf simulator.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Lodging: Cruising aboard Princess
Day 15: Bid Alaska farewell
Your memorable Alaska travel experience concludes as you disembark your Princess ship in Vancouver, and clear Canadian Customs and Immigration. Tour ends at Vancouver International Airport at 10:00 a.m. Allow a minimum of two hours prior to departure flight check-in.
Meals: Breakfast
Don’t miss the spectacle of blue-ice glaciers calving and Alaska’s incredible wildlife on this wonderful Alaska cruise through the Inside Passage!
Dates & Prices
May 17, 24
Jun 9, 16, 21, 28
Jul 7, 14, 19, 26
Aug 4, 11, 16, 25
Sep 1, 8
15 Days from $5,290 Mondays – Coral & Island Princess
| | | | | Category | Double | Single | Triple | Inside Double (JJ) – Caribe Deck
| $6070 | $7695 | $5854 | Outside Deluxe (DD) – Baja Deck – Picture window
| $6390 | $8585 | $6519 | Outside Deluxe (BC) – Baja Deck – Private balcony
| $6640 | $9295 | $6629 | | Outside Mini-Suite (AA) – Baja Deck – Private balcony | $7290 | $9680 | $7091 | | Outside Vista Suite (VS) – Dolphin Deck – Private balcony | $8390 | $10,385 | $7824 |
Saturdays – Sapphire & Diamond Princess
| | | | | Category | Double | Single | Triple | Inside Double (JJ) – Caribe Deck
| $5790 | $7190 | $5398 | | Outside Douoble (EE) – Plaza Deck – Picture window | $6390 | $8070 | $5978 | | Outside Double (BC) – Baja Deck – Private balcony | $6690 | $8790 | $6207 | | Outside Mini-Suite (AB) – Dolphin Deck – Private balcony | $7090 | $9165 | $6502 | | Outside Vista Suite (VS) – Dolphin Deck – Private balcony | $8290 | $9895 | $7302 |
38 meals included.
Airfare is additional. Tauck can book your air, to Anchorage and from Vancouver, for travel originating in the United States, subject to availability; inquire at time of booking for special airfares that may be available.
Please ask at time of booking about additional hotel nights before your tour begins and about our comprehensive Cruise Protection Plan.
All prices are per person in U.S. dollars. |
