2024 Alaska by Rail

      SI
      Special Interest Tours
      • Email address verified
      47 reviews
      Sep 8 - 17, 2024
      Group size: 15 - 36
      2024 Alaska by Rail
      Alaska

      Special Interest Tours
      • Email address verified
      47 reviews

      Sep 8 - 17, 2024
      Group size: 15 - 36

      About this trip

      Experience the final frontier by rail in the colorful month of September. Enjoy incredible scenery through Denali National Park and down the Kenai Peninsula.

      What’s included

      • All Inclusive Tour
        3 Meals Daily 9/8-16 (Dinner on 9/08 and Breakfast on 9/17)
      • Hotel (9 Nights)
        1 Night at Marriott Springhill Suites, 2 Nights at Denali Bluffs Hotel, 2 Nights at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, 4 Nights at Hilton Anchorage
      • Private Coach Bus
        Available during the entirety of this tour.
      • Rail Segments
      • Fairbanks - Denali
        Goldstar Class
      • Denali - Talkeetna
        Adventure Class
      • Talkeetna-Hurricane R/T
        Adventure Class
      • Talkeetna - Anchorage
        Goldstar Class
      • Anchorage - Seward R/T
        Goldstar Class
      • Anchorage - Whittier OW
        Goldstar Class
      • Non-Rail Activities:
      • Boat Excursion
        Major Marine Kenai Fjords National Park Day Cruise - 4 Hours
      • Welcome Dinner
        Alaskan salmon bake welcome dinner!
      • Dinner Theater
        Alaska Cabin Nite Dinner Theater in Denali National Park
      • Museum Entry
        Museum of Alaska

      What’s not included

      • Transportation
        Guests are responsible for their transportation to and from Alaska.

      Available Packages

      Double Occupancy

      Per person price based on two guests sharing hotel rooms.

      $8,200
      Deposit: $500
      Single Occupancy
      only 2 left

      Per person price based on one guest in the hotel rooms.

      $9,800
      Deposit: $500

      Available options



      Itinerary

      Day 1 - Sept 8th
      Welcome to Alaska

      Arrive in Fairbanks and get settled at the hotel. We will provide shuttles on this day from the Fairbanks airport to the hotel.


      Those who arrive early can explore downtown Fairbanks, the Chena River walk, and the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor's center, all within walking distance from the hotel.


      In the afternoon we will visit the Alaskan Pipeline en route to our dinner at the Alaskan Salmon Bake at Pioneer Park. Get acquainted with our Trains Magazine special guest and your fellow tour guests while we will enjoy dinner together.

      Your Organizer


      SI
      Special Interest Tours
      47 reviews
      Joined in June 2021
      See profile

      Reviews

      We had a great trip! We saw a lot, learned a lot and made new and interesting friends. As we've come to expect with Special Interest Tours, everything exceeded our expectations. Our hosts graciously and attentively cared for all of us, and once again created many wonderful memories for us. What more could one ask!! Thank you!
      By Lynn D for Group 1 -2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, with Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 20, 2024
      We had a great time.
      By James M for Group 1 -2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, with Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 20, 2024
      Well done! We had a great trip. Thank you!
      By James P for Group 2 - 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, w/ Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
      Thank you Anjali, Sam, Julia and Andres for all your hard work. The private tours of the space center, River walk boat, and the Alamo were great venues, and even though we all would have enjoyed a longer totality, the entire package with a nice group of people made for a very enjoyable trip. See you on the next one!
      By Paul Z for Group 1 -2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, with Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
      The overall structure of the trip was excellent. We enjoyed the venues, special tours and various stops. Having said that, the actual organization of the trip was poor and chaotic and times. We recognize weather and other unforeseen events always happen, but that is not an excuse for keeping the folks in Group 2 informed which was not the case. The guide on our bus is a nice person but he had little useful information - he was more of a "babysitter" than anything else. He had to wait for somebody from the first bus to come on board and inform us of the up to date schedule and then that was not always clear. Cell phone communication usually works even in Texas. Having to deal with our own luggage to and from buses was a pain. I don't usually go on tours, but the ones I do always have folks from the hotel load and unload luggage from the buses. I know there was complexity related to having two buses that is easy to deal with. Give everybody tags attached to their bags where they write Group 1 or Group 2 to make sure that the right bags get into the right bus. And, then folks can take a look and confirm their bags are loaded if they want to double check. This is just one example on how to improve the. operational/detail aspects of the tour. The venue at the eclipse site (we did not stay there) was poorly run, disorganized and did not seem to know how to handle a medium size group such as ours. Again, the various guides on the trip were slow to step in and make sure things worked as promised. You know there is a problem when you can't even get a cup of coffee. You need additional professional help to better run your tours. Sometimes the small details can make the difference between a good trip and a bad trip. Having said all that, I will again note we enjoyed the trip and thought that having Bob Berman and the Hubbell's as part of the tour was a real positive., and we are considering the 2025 Chile trip. My last word is that if you want sophisticated clients you need to be operationally more sophisticated and professional which seemed not to be the case for this trip.
      By Michael D for Group 2 - 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Texas, w/ Astronomer Bob Berman on Apr 19, 2024
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