ExFlyBoy5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I just got back from a 10'ish day adventure to Alaska to meet up with some relatives and friends and thought I would provide a few details.
I traveled to Anchorage via Alaska Airline connecting through Seattle. Not much to say about this experience except that they were AWESOME. It was so much better than last month's issues I had with American Airlines. Service was great, planes were very clean and first class meal service was pretty decent (a fruit/cheese plate and lots of snacks to choose from). Flight to ANC was pretty darn full but the flight returning from ANC was probably about 75% capacity. Not much more to report about the flights. Incidentally, one of my friends that went on this trip got there a day late thanks to American Airlines having a broken airplane and overbooked/oversold issues.
The rental car shortage seems to still be an issue. I first encountered this in ATL many months ago when we had to wait about 2 hours for a car (with a reservation). This time, there were signs at the counters (Alamo and Enterprise) that if you didn't have a reservation, then you were out of luck. I did have a reservation (for large sedan) and was given the choice of a Chevy Aveo or full size pick up. Since I am a bigger fella, I opted for the truck. The parking garage deck for Alamo and Enterprise was almost totally empty...I counted 8 cars in the entire deck. When I came back, there was only 3 cars in the deck. So, I would HIGHLY recommend making a car reservation as this issue may be around for a while.
For the first few days, I stayed at a Marriott property in ANC. I don't know how many people were there, but every night when I returned (usually around 10 or 10:30) there was plenty of parking in the front of the hotel and I rarely heard ANYBODY in the hotel. So, I am guessing there were not many guests. The hot breakfast was available but they were not doing it "buffet style"; it was full service which is to be expected. They were also doing the "room refresh" (towels, make bed, dust) but only with 24 hours notice. No changing sheets unless you were there for 7 nights and it was requested. This seems to be fairly standard across Marriott and Hilton properties.
The remainder of the trip was an extended road trip to Fairbanks and back and were private homes/cabins so nothing to report there except all the places we stopped (parks/restaurants/etc.) were open and operating normally. Some places did ask for patrons to wear masks but that was few and far between.
One other thing I would note was that on the flight up to ANC, I was seated next to a woman who was on her way up to the Gates of the Arctic National Park where she works as a guide for long term explorers/campers for a few months. She said that the outfit she works for currently has more bookings for the soon to start season than they have seen in the 25+ years they have been open! So while it's pretty quiet up in Alaska right now...that may not last much longer.
Also of note, the US Senate has passed a bill that would allow cruise ships to bypass Canada (temporarily) and would allow for the resumption of cruises into Alaska. It is currently in the House but I would guess it will pass and Biden has signaled that he would sign the bill....so there is that.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip and I would recommend it if you would like to avoid the summer crowds. There were very few tourists but most places were open. Anchorage still had a mask mandate but that has been rescinded (beginning on the 22nd I believe) with the newest CDC updates.
DW and I would really like to head over to the UK before the travel madness begins in earnest, but since the US is still in the "amber category" we would have to quarantine for at least 5 days which we would prefer NOT to do.
I traveled to Anchorage via Alaska Airline connecting through Seattle. Not much to say about this experience except that they were AWESOME. It was so much better than last month's issues I had with American Airlines. Service was great, planes were very clean and first class meal service was pretty decent (a fruit/cheese plate and lots of snacks to choose from). Flight to ANC was pretty darn full but the flight returning from ANC was probably about 75% capacity. Not much more to report about the flights. Incidentally, one of my friends that went on this trip got there a day late thanks to American Airlines having a broken airplane and overbooked/oversold issues.
The rental car shortage seems to still be an issue. I first encountered this in ATL many months ago when we had to wait about 2 hours for a car (with a reservation). This time, there were signs at the counters (Alamo and Enterprise) that if you didn't have a reservation, then you were out of luck. I did have a reservation (for large sedan) and was given the choice of a Chevy Aveo or full size pick up. Since I am a bigger fella, I opted for the truck. The parking garage deck for Alamo and Enterprise was almost totally empty...I counted 8 cars in the entire deck. When I came back, there was only 3 cars in the deck. So, I would HIGHLY recommend making a car reservation as this issue may be around for a while.
For the first few days, I stayed at a Marriott property in ANC. I don't know how many people were there, but every night when I returned (usually around 10 or 10:30) there was plenty of parking in the front of the hotel and I rarely heard ANYBODY in the hotel. So, I am guessing there were not many guests. The hot breakfast was available but they were not doing it "buffet style"; it was full service which is to be expected. They were also doing the "room refresh" (towels, make bed, dust) but only with 24 hours notice. No changing sheets unless you were there for 7 nights and it was requested. This seems to be fairly standard across Marriott and Hilton properties.
The remainder of the trip was an extended road trip to Fairbanks and back and were private homes/cabins so nothing to report there except all the places we stopped (parks/restaurants/etc.) were open and operating normally. Some places did ask for patrons to wear masks but that was few and far between.
One other thing I would note was that on the flight up to ANC, I was seated next to a woman who was on her way up to the Gates of the Arctic National Park where she works as a guide for long term explorers/campers for a few months. She said that the outfit she works for currently has more bookings for the soon to start season than they have seen in the 25+ years they have been open! So while it's pretty quiet up in Alaska right now...that may not last much longer.
Also of note, the US Senate has passed a bill that would allow cruise ships to bypass Canada (temporarily) and would allow for the resumption of cruises into Alaska. It is currently in the House but I would guess it will pass and Biden has signaled that he would sign the bill....so there is that.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip and I would recommend it if you would like to avoid the summer crowds. There were very few tourists but most places were open. Anchorage still had a mask mandate but that has been rescinded (beginning on the 22nd I believe) with the newest CDC updates.
DW and I would really like to head over to the UK before the travel madness begins in earnest, but since the US is still in the "amber category" we would have to quarantine for at least 5 days which we would prefer NOT to do.
