" "We arrived back early am on Sunday morning from our 2 week adventure in Alaska. It was a spectacular trip and Bernie, Tom and I had a great time on both portions of the tour! Certainly the highlights for me on the land portion was the Wilderness Tour of Denali Nat'l Park, although it was affected by rain nevertheless we got the chance to see all the major animals particularly the Moose right along the train tracks & a Black Bear Mother with her two cubs having fun wrestling with each other. Another major highlight of the land tour was the clear view of Mt. McKinley for our 2 1/2/ day visit there. I cancelled one excursion in order to take a fight up to the mountain with simply marvelous views of the Denali itself and the mountain ranges darting out from it. We also experienced a wealth of information about the native history & heritage of the ancient tribes as well as witnessing the winter challenges and joys of life in general on the frontier. On a whale excursion taken while we were cruising we witnessed humpback whales right next to our ship as well as nesting eagles on an isolated point just a hundred yards or so from the boat. The Diamond Princess exceeded all of our expectations and Tom & Bernie were suitably impressed for their first cruise experience provided by Princess. Raye, thank you so much for all your knowledgeable advice, timely reminders, patience and support in the planning & decision-making process for the entire trip. The entire experience ranks among the very best vacations that any of us have taken. Wishing you the best this summer and with deep gratitude for everything" - Ken & Judy Conner "

" Raye, We had a wonderful time on our vacation. The cruise was fantastic. The service, the food and the entertainment was great. We had great weather at all of our stops. We did the Lumberjack show in Ketchikan which was very entertaining and enjoyed by all of us. In Juneau we did the Mt. Robert's Tram, a whale watch and the Mendenhall Glacier. All three excursions were great. In Skagway we did the White Pass Railroad which was fantastic. My nine year old granddaughter stood on the platform of the train, with her father, and just kept saying how beautiful Alaska is...The land tour was very nice. The lodges were all beautiful... The Kenai lodge was really nice but very spread out. They did have a shuttle service that would take you any where on the property. The rooms at the Kenai lodge were our favorite. The rooms were very large and they all had a wood stove and a deck... We enjoyed our trip to Seward. The Sea Life Center was great. Seward was very busy because of the holiday weekend and the Mt. Marathon race that took place on the 4th. Mt. McKinley lodge was my favorite. We took your advice and went to the fire pits. The restaurant we ate at was good. The trails around the property were closed because of bear sightings. We took the first shuttle to Talkeetna the next day. That was an interesting little town. I had to try the Fireweed ice cream that was very good. We enjoyed the train ride to Denali. We did see a moose. The Denali lodge was very nice. We took your advice again and went to the Husky Homestead. My granddaughters loved that excursion. Jeff King is such a great speaker. I am sure we will all follow the Iditarod next year. The Natural History Tour of Denali was good. We had a great driver. Our tour had to be modified because of a young bear in the area that had attacked two people. We did get out of the bus one time but we all had to stay together. Park rangers were at the stop making sure no one went on the trails. We saw a moose eating on the side of the road and one caribou. We did like the dining shuttle at the Denali lodge. We found that all of the Princess lodges seem to have pretty much the same menu so it was time for a change. The Fairbanks Lodge was really nice. We took the shuttle into town and spent some time exploring. The Riverboat Discovery and Gold Dredge 8 were great. On Saturday we took a shuttle to North Pole and then spent a few hours at Pioneer Park before getting our flight home. The best part of the land tour was not having to handle our luggage. We even checked our luggage, for our flight home, at the lodge in Fairbanks and got our boarding passes. We had reserved rental cars in Fairbanks for our last day but ended up canceling them when we found out we didn't need to take our luggage to the airport. It was cheaper to take a shuttle where we wanted to go. It was a wonderful trip and we all enjoyed every minute of it. The two weeks went by so quickly. Thank you for all your help and making it so easy to book this vacation. - Phyllis Phoenix"

" "Late last night, Pat and I returned from an 11 day trip to Alaska. Truly The Last Frontier. We had the pleasure of traveling with 6 of our very dear and close friends, Mike & Susie, Ron & Rachel and Craig & Diane. We saw incredible scenery, moose, mountain sheep and goats, humpback whales, dolphins, and a wolf. We examined Mt. McKinley up close and personal in a small airplane. We watched in awe the calving of the immense glaciers in Glacier Bay. The weather was absolutely beautiful. As can be seen in the picture, we are now a part of the 30% of visitors who actually get to see "The Mountain--Denali--Mt. McKinley". Raye, your planning was perfect--we had no problems whatsoever. We thanked you several times throughout our trip for suggesting we do the land portion first, followed by a restful 7 days on the ship. I've attached a picture of the 8 of us standing in front of "The Mountain", [Mt. McKinley] which on that day looked like a movie backdrop--drawn to perfection and beautiful beyond words! Again Raye, thank you so much for helping to make our trip unforgettable! - Walt Stout "

" " Our trip was excellent. The room, with the upgrades, was amazing! We saw many eagles (bald and golden), one bear, many whales, including one breach, seals, one bear, one wolf, moose and carribou, and many smaller animals.. If we travelled during salmon run, we probably would have seen more bear and eagles. The scenery is to die for, the vistas spectacular. The ship was great; service, food, etc were all great. Thanks for everything. " - Larry Seidler - Island Princess"