2011 Alaska Cruise - Arrival and Day One

Dave Momsen's Sled Dog Kennels

My husband has had a long standing goal to visit each of the fifty states. Fortunately, he checked off most of them before we were married eight years ago, but every once in a while he'll try to sneak another one in. We have four left: North and South Dakota, West Virginia and Alaska. This summer, we hit Alaska!

We chose Princess Cruisetour T1AIB6, better known as 13 Nights Denali Explorer. We started with two nights in Fairbanks, two nights in Denali, two at McKinley and finished with a 7-night Voyage of the Glaciers on the Island Princess. I have to say I was very impressed with the service level of the Princess staff, both on land and on board. They were always friendly and accommodating. I'm a Celebrity fan, so it's nice to know there's a great alternative.

Princess was very efficient at the airport. They had someone greeting all arrivals at the baggage area and directed us to the Princess kiosk. They presented us with our packet, which contained our itinerary while in Fairbanks and our room keys. One of our bags didn’t make it on our flight from Anchorage, but they arrived on another Alaska Air flight about 20 minutes later.

The Princess porters took our bags, and we made our way to the coaches for the ride to the Princess Riverside Lodge. The Lodge was okay, just a step above a motel. Our first room was on the Terrace level which would have meant a basement room in Utah. Our room was a handicapped room, and the window wouldn’t close all the way, so we asked for another room. Lucky us, we were given Room 1313 overlooking the parking lot.

We ate that evening in the casual dining room. The food was just okay. Terrell had the cod with a fruit salsa and I had a pulled pork sandwich. Our total came to $58 with tax & tip. The next morning we both had the breakfast buffet in the upscale dining room ($14.99 each). The omelet station was excellent, and the chef was a character. The hot chocolate there was really good. Rumors of the high cost of living in Alaska are, unfortunately, true.

I was a little surprised with Fairbanks; I was expecting huge mountains and gorgeous rivers. Instead we got rolling hills, rolling rivers and calm meadows. My purple mountains majesty would have to wait.

Our first excursion was to the El Dorado Gold Mine. On the way, our driver Dane stopped off at the Alaska Pipeline to show us a little about that history of the state.

Alaska Pipeline

I thought the gold mine would be kind of cheesy, but it was actually a lot of fun. The train ride is kind of juvenile, but I got the impression they did this tour for elementary schools as well. The best part was getting down to panning our “plug” of dirt for gold. You really did get the sense that you were the one that would end up with the remedial pan of gold, but sure enough, once all the sand and dirt are washed out, there are little flakes of gold at the bottom of the pan. I ended up with a baby nugget (rare), and my haul came to about $12 worth of gold. The least amount in our group was $7 and the most was over $70.

Terrell pans for gold

Of course they have a huge gift store where you can have your gold made into jewelry. They put it between two pieces of glass lenses, and you can decide on a pendant or earrings. I barely had enough for a pendant. I opted for white gold, which was a bit more expensive than the gold filled pieces. Depending on the style, you could get a necklace for as little as $29.99. My simple white gold pendant came with the chain and cost $69.99, the fancier edging would have cost $109.99.

From the gold mine, we headed back toward the hotel and stopped at Steamboat Discovery for our next tour. We had lunch in their huge cafeteria; it consisted of a beef stew (fatty and nasty), biscuits and a blueberry coffee cake for dessert.

Heading out from Steamboat Discovery

They had a huge gift shop, so I figured this would be a tourist trap. It turned out to be very informative, and the visit to the native Athabascan village was fascinating. We were led to three different "lecture" stations, with amphitheater-style seating. The lectures by the guides were interesting and funny, and you could see their evident pride in their cultural heritage.

We also went by Dave Momsen’s sled dog kennels, where we got a little introduction to sled dogs and the Iditarod. His wife, Susan Butcher, won 4 Iditarod races before she died of leukemia. Her book, Granite, is available for sale at the village, and Dave was there to autograph it.

Our beautiful guide models Athabascan dress

That evening we dined in the Edgewater restaurant on property. Again, the food was good, not fabulous. And expensive.