In case you haven't looked recently, Alaska isn't connected to the rest of the United States. In fact, it's a whole lot closer to Russia than it is to its nearest U.S. neighbor, Washington state -- about 550 miles closer. That means folks flying there from the east coast have a journey of well over 3,000 miles, and even folks coming from southern California are trekking about 1,500 miles north.
Many people who go to the trouble of getting to a place that far off the beaten path try to stick around for a while once they're there. Banking on this, the cruise lines have set themselves up in the land-tour business as well, offering a number of "cruisetours" that combine a weeklong cruise with a multi-day land experience, concentrating on various parts of the 49th state. With the Alaska season now in full bloom, it seems an opportune time for a little tutorial, detailing where in the Great Land you can go.
The Classic Route: Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks
If you looked "cruisetour" up in the dictionary, this is the one they'd use as an example -- the most popular route, offered for the longest time by the most cruise lines. The typical Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks package is offered before or after a north- or southbound Gulf of Alaska cruise, sailing between Vancouver and either Seward or Whittier, the two main port towns for Anchorage. For ease of explanation, let's assume you're doing it after your northbound cruise.
From the docks, travelers either head to Anchorage via bus (sometimes staying on, sometimes continuing directly north by train) or, if they're sailing with Princess Cruises, board a train directly at Whittier. Via either method, the destination is the same: Denali National Park, a 6-million-acre refuge (larger than the state of Massachusetts) full of wildlife (grizzlies, moose, Dall sheep, and golden eagles are common sights), glaciers and glacial valleys, sweeping views of subarctic tundra and taiga, and a sequence of massive mountain peaks, including the park's namesake giant, Denali (aka Mt. McKinley), North America's highest peak at 20,320 feet. Travelers stay at lodges in or near the park, some owned by the cruise lines themselves.
From there, you'll go by train to Fairbanks, which isn't too much to look at by itself, but which serves as a hub for amazing activities in its outlying areas, including paddle-wheel day cruises on the Chena and Tanana rivers, jet-boat rides, and excursions to gold mines and retired dredges. Passengers typically fly home from Fairbanks. A shorter variation of that itinerary might skip Fairbanks and return to Anchorage for departure.
Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks cruisetours generally run between 10 and 14 nights. A typical route, such as Princess's popular "Heart of Alaska" tours, spends two days at Denali and one in Fairbanks, with the option of adding a second day in Fairbanks and one in Anchorage.
Anchorage's Backyard: The Kenai Peninsula
The Kenai Peninsula, located just across a narrow channel from Anchorage, has long been known as the city's natural playground, packed with opportunities for fishing, hiking, sightseeing, kayaking, and wildlife watching. Cruisetours that include the area are typically two-night add-ons to a regular Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks route.
Lookin' for Gold: Canada's Yukon Territory
Tours into Canada's Yukon Territory typically combine a three- or four-day cruise between Vancouver and Juneau/Skagway with a land program into Canada's Klondike territory, with the entire trip totaling 11 or 12 days. En route, passengers travel by rail, riverboat, motorcoach, and possibly air. Tours typically include overnight stops in Whitehorse, the territorial capital, and Dawson City, a remote, picture-perfect town that played a central role in the Yukon gold rush, then cross the Alaska border near Beaver Creek and travel on to Fairbanks, Denali, and Anchorage. The tour can be taken in either direction. Holland America is a leader among the various lines offering Yukon tours.
Across the Border, and Up: The Canadian Rockies & Whistler
A Canadian Rockies cruisetour offers some of the finest mountain scenery on earth. It's not just that the glacier-carved mountains are astonishingly dramatic and beautiful; it's also that there are hundreds and hundreds of miles of this wonderful wilderness high country. Between them, Banff National Park and Jasper National Park preserve much of this mountain beauty. Other national and provincial parks make accessible other vast and equally spectacular regions of the Rockies, as well as portions of the nearby Columbia and Selkirk mountain ranges. The beautiful Lake Louise, colored deep green from its mineral content, is located 35 miles north of Banff.
Canadian Rockies cruisetours typically combine a seven-night north- or southbound Gulf of Alaska cruise (between Vancouver and Seward/Whittier) with a five- or six-night land tour, principally by train.
An Olympic Preview: The Whistler Resort
The resort of Whistler, located about two hours north of Vancouver, is North America's premier ski resort and home base for the 2010 winter Olympics' ski competition, but it's also building a huge reputation for warm-weather activities -- mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding, and river-rafting among them. Cruisetours to the resort -- such as those offered by Celebrity and Royal Caribbean -- are typically three days, tacked on at the beginning or end of a round-trip seven-night Inside Passage cruise from Vancouver.
The Heavyweight Champ: WrangellÂ?St. Elias National Park
Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest of the U.S. National Parks, stretching across an area bigger than Vermont and Rhode Island put together. Located east of Anchorage along the Canadian border, it's home to nine of North America's sixteen tallest mountains (including 18,008-foot Mount St. Elias, the second highest peak in the United States after Denali) as well as its largest collection of glaciers, a plethora of wildlife, and the old copper-mining town of Kennicott, which preserves some 40 old mining buildings designated as a National Historic Landmark. Available activities include wheeled dogsledding, ATV rides, flightseeing, fishing, and boat tours on Prince William Sound.
Cruisetours visiting Wrangell-St. Elias (also sometimes known as "Copper River" cruisetours) are typically 13 nights, combining a seven-night north- or southbound Gulf of Alaska cruise between Vancouver and Seward/Whittier with a six-night land package that also visits Denali and Fairbanks.
As North as You Can Get: Prudhoe Bay
Those who want the ultimate in "north" can explore the very tip-top of Alaska on a cruisetour that combines an Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks tour with a plane trip north to Prudhoe Bay, the northern origin point of the 800-mile Alaska Oil Pipeline. This is a totally different Alaska than what you get farther south. Up here, you're above the Arctic tree line, where the landscape is an endless stretch of rolling tundra, home to Alaska's great caribou herds. Most Arctic cruisetours -- such as those offered by Princess and Holland America -- are 14-night affairs, equally splitting their time between land and sea.
Talk with other Frommers.com travelers on our Alaska Message Boards today.