Anchorage Hotel and other questions???

[deep1]

Thinking about Alaska "Southbound". Did it years back and want to do again.  We flew into Anchorage and stayed  very close to where we caught the train to Seward. Can't remember the name of the hotel? Anybody?

Next: I have been up there three times and not had a chance to do my bucket list halibut fishing... Has anybody done it from Juneau, Icy straight, Haines or Skagway with good results? I know I saw good halibut on the docks in Ketchikan but fiancé' wants to do the lumberjack show and salmon fish off that in town bridge.  So it has to be the others mentioned ... 

Next... Anywhere to see bears? I spotted seals, whales, dolphins, orcas, walrus, eagles, moose, and other stuff but no bears. Fiancé' would flip her pancakes to see one.   

Next... Good place to get king crab legs? Yeah I know I need to mortgage my house and sell my first born to pay  for them but.... 

Next... Air fare? I shopped it a few months ago and now its gone into ridiculous kind of expensive? Ideas? Get an agent?

 

Finally: Souvenirs? What are some of your favorite mementos of your Alaskan adventures? I've  got a "thing" for raw gold so I'll be tracking some of that. I have a bunch of "ulu" knives so Im good there. Im thinking for the Fiancé'. 

[Cactus527]

I specifically remember that when we were coming back from the dog sledding excursion in Skagway, we saw bears somewhere between the sled dog camp and the edge of town. I know they're not very far apart either, but there were a couple of bears just lumbering near the road and we were so excited to see them. 

I was just reading an article that said that the most expensive round trip airfares were out of Anchorage. If I find it, I'll link it here. The least expensive were out of a smaller airport near Tampa I believe.

My favorite Alaska souvenir that I still use are salad tossing tongs made of wood that are in the shape of a moose's head. The antlers are the tossers! Super cute.

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, deep1 said:

Next... Anywhere to see bears? I spotted seals, whales, dolphins, orcas, walrus, eagles, moose, and other stuff but no bears. Fiancé' would flip her pancakes to see one.   

 

15 minutes ago, Cactus527 said:

I specifically remember that when we were coming back from the dog sledding excursion in Skagway, we saw bears somewhere between the sled dog camp and the edge of town. I know they're not very far apart either, but there were a couple of bears just lumbering near the road and we were so excited to see them.

Skagway is where we saw bears. Other than Denali I think that's the only time we saw them on our trip.  We hired a private tour guide that showed us all the sites and took us up to the Yukon Territory. A mother bear and her cubs were crossing the highway we were on. We got to see it out of the window of our minivan. 

What blew my mind was the idiots on the other side of the road stopped and got out of their car to try to see the bears closer @CGTLH has photos somewhere of the bears.

24 minutes ago, Cactus527 said:

My favorite Alaska souvenir that I still use are salad tossing tongs made of wood that are in the shape of a moose's head. The antlers are the tossers! Super cute

My fave souvenirs were wooden salad tossing tongs that looked like bear claws!  I gifted them to someone and regretting not buying myself a set.

[CGTLH]

37 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

What blew my mind was the idiots on the other side of the road stopped and got out of their car to try to see the bears closer @CGTLH has photos somewhere of the bears.

Here you go

 

 

[deep1]

Great stuff gang...  Keep em coming...  The more distractions I can come up with  the better....

[MarvinS]

4 hours ago, deep1 said:

We flew into Anchorage and stayed  very close to where we caught the train to Seward. Can't remember the name of the hotel? Anybody?

There are two hotels that are nearby the Anchorage train depot.  Anchorage Hilton Downtown is about 1/4 mile to the south.  It is an easy downhill walk (literally downhill) from the hotel.  Another is the Comfort Inn Downtown Ship Creek.  This one is also about 1/4 mile away to the East and is a level path walk to the depot.

[Cactus527]

I recall seeing beluga whales on two occasions from the ship - both were further west than Royal Caribbean goes (that trip was on another cruise line that goes to Anchorage/Homer/Kodiak). Seals were everywhere around the glaciers! They were fun to watch while glacier watching. I was also surprised at how chilly it was there in June - definitely take your fleece!!!! (also, take that with a grain of salt - I live in AZ, hahahaha!)

[Villageidiot]

We saw brown bears in Icy Straight eating fish in a small cove near the port. Also saw plenty of eagles there last year. Just luck but cool to see.

[Va4fam]

Agree with the comments about the airfares getting crazy.   They increased over $1000 per person in the past two weeks on Alaska Airlines.

Maybe try Air2Sea or Google Flights?

[NJCruisers]

19 hours ago, deep1 said:

Thinking about Alaska "Southbound". Did it years back and want to do again.  We flew into Anchorage and stayed  very close to where we caught the train to Seward. Can't remember the name of the hotel? Anybody?

Next: I have been up there three times and not had a chance to do my bucket list halibut fishing... Has anybody done it from Juneau, Icy straight, Haines or Skagway with good results? I know I saw good halibut on the docks in Ketchikan but fiancé' wants to do the lumberjack show and salmon fish off that in town bridge.  So it has to be the others mentioned ... 

Next... Anywhere to see bears? I spotted seals, whales, dolphins, orcas, walrus, eagles, moose, and other stuff but no bears. Fiancé' would flip her pancakes to see one.   

Next... Good place to get king crab legs? Yeah I know I need to mortgage my house and sell my first born to pay  for them but.... 

Next... Air fare? I shopped it a few months ago and now its gone into ridiculous kind of expensive? Ideas? Get an agent?

 

Finally: Souvenirs? What are some of your favorite mementos of your Alaskan adventures? I've  got a "thing" for raw gold so I'll be tracking some of that. I have a bunch of "ulu" knives so Im good there. Im thinking for the Fiancé'. 

I'm doing the Northbound for the first time and have many of the same questions.

I used an MEI travel agent and booked Air2Sea, It's costing 2 adults traveling non stop from NJ to Vancouver, Anchorage back to NJ approx. $1300. Haven't used it yet so I can't offer any reviews but it was better than what we were finding on our own pricewise & I like not having to worry if we will make the ship or not. 

I booked through Wild Bear Safari in Icy Strait based on reviews from others. It's a small group type excursion, price was reasonable & Luke seems pretty chill.

I also need to eat crab legs in Alaska so I'm curious too!

[deep1]

2 hours ago, NJCruisers said:

I'm doing the Northbound for the first time and have many of the same questions.

I used an MEI travel agent and booked Air2Sea, It's costing 2 adults traveling non stop from NJ to Vancouver, Anchorage back to NJ approx. $1300. Haven't used it yet so I can't offer any reviews but it was better than what we were finding on our own pricewise & I like not having to worry if we will make the ship or not. 

I booked through Wild Bear Safari in Icy Strait based on reviews from others. It's a small group type excursion, price was reasonable & Luke seems pretty chill.

I also need to eat crab legs in Alaska so I'm curious too!

I may look that direction as I'm seeing about 1600 on same routes....

[bonzo1975]

Tracy's King Crab Shack in Juneau. We're thinking of going there. Well, I am, anyway. DW doesn't eat seafood lol

[Temeculaguy]

Two dining highlights from Anchorage, Moose's Tooth Pizza. Not the first thing you think of when you think Alaska, but it was great and the #2 restaurant on yelp for Anchorage.

The other was 49th state brewing for the halibut and chips, like eating clouds. If you are with someone else, get one order battered and fried, one order another way if available and share, it is epic. But 49th state was our favorite of the 7 or 8 places we got halibut. I just cannot remember of it had grilled or baked, only half the places did and we got halibut every day in anchorage and in every port, but 49th state never got knocked off the number one spot not for lack of trying.

In Seward, the Cookery exceeded expectations, that town was far more of a foodie place than we expected.

As far as the hotel, we were there summer of 2022 with a couple of years of pent up demand and hotels were sold out six months ahead. We ended up at the embassy suites and it was nice (near the moose's tooth, which is how we found that gem) but we never had a problem getting ubers so it wasn't an issue getting around even though we were not in the heart of things.

[NJCruisers]

8 hours ago, Temeculaguy said:

Two dining highlights from Anchorage, Moose's Tooth Pizza. Not the first thing you think of when you think Alaska, but it was great and the #2 restaurant on yelp for Anchorage.

I've been following them on Facebook, I can't wait to try their pizza, they have some interesting choices! 

[MichelleB1234]

We stayed at the Hotel Captain Cook.   

It is a historic landmark hotel.   

[Temeculaguy]

16 hours ago, NJCruisers said:

I've been following them on Facebook, I can't wait to try their pizza, they have some interesting choices! 

As Californians it's easy to dismiss our opinion but we regularly go to your part of the country and when we do we have the pizza, having hit almost all of the fabled pizza places in Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Chicago (Boston's North end honorable mention but we have the pasta when there). But trust me, even though you hail from an area with some of the best pizza in the world, you will not be disappointed with the Moose's Tooth. Here in Cali, the best places out here are usually owned and operated by Italians transplanted from the East coast. The Moose's tooth was founded by two blond guys from Portland, weird? But an hour wait on a random Tuesday, the parking lot affixed with a circus tent to accommodate another 30 tables and you'll see they are on to something, it was that good. Grimaldi's, Lombardi's, John's on Bleeker Street, Peqods and the Moose's Tooth should be mentioned in the same sentence. Unfortunately no halibut pizza, now that would be fusion.

[Temeculaguy]

6 hours ago, MichelleB1234 said:

We stayed at the Hotel Captain Cook.   

It is a historic landmark hotel.   

we booked that hotel for 2020, but had to lift and shift to 2021, then again to 2022 when it was sold out. If I find myself there again, I'd stay at the Captain Hook but it never happened so I was hesitant to recommend it. 

[MarvinS]

 

6 hours ago, MichelleB1234 said:

We stayed at the Hotel Captain Cook.   

It is a historic landmark hotel.   

17 minutes ago, Temeculaguy said:

we booked that hotel for 2020, but had to lift and shift to 2021, then again to 2022 when it was sold out. If I find myself there again, I'd stay at the Captain Hook but it never happened so I was hesitant to recommend it. 

The Hotel Captain Cook is certainly a nice hotel, but is about 3/4 of a mile from the train depot (about 8-9 blocks away).  That would be a bit much to try and drag luggage and walk to the depot.  You would need to either Uber/Lyft or get a cab.

There are a couple of closer hotels that are also nice (Anchorage Downtown Hilton and Comfort Inn Downtown Ship Creek) that are only about 1/4 mile away (about 2 blocks), and is an easy walk.

[KJones]

Moose Tooth Pizza is fantastic.

Bears - Hoonah Travel Adventures at Icy Strait had a bear excursion. We opted for a whale watch tour with them so I will say they are a great company (tour guide was the best of all our excursions, small capacity excursions) but can't comment on the bear specific tour.

Souvenirs - I always pick up a cloth tote bag from my travels. Doesn't take up much space, won't get damaged, and I can recall the fun adventures each time it gets used. We also pick up a christmas ornament along the way.

[deep1]

Does anybody have the times for the Ketchikan lumberjack shows? (first or last one) each day? Thinking of half day halibut fishing then catch the show before we go or show then Halibut?

 

[mk-ultra]

We stayed at the Courtyard Anchorage Airport since it was simple.  It's about a 10 minute ride to the train station from there.  Just looking for a place to crash.