AK caravan tours

drwwicks wrote:
We are looking at a Fantasy Tours Alaskan caravan, specifically the "Alaska Your Way" which plans the route and pays the RV camping fees with a few group activities, but largely it's your on your own for daily activities. I like the idea that I'm not paying, or going, on tours and activities that don't interest us.

It's a 62 day caravan, leaves from the US and ends in BC. 35 days in AK in several spots. Travel is on your own or you can go in groups if desired.

Question is has anyone done one of these tours and what are their thoughts? Up side, down side. Since I live in AL, it's a big deal just to get to the start of this. Not yet a full timer and this will be a 4-5 month trip. Maybe I am a full timer and don't know it yet.

For those who have done this and survived, any suggestions for the trip such as a spare MH tire, equipment, tools, etc. Not sure if I'll flat tow the Ford F-150 or dolly tow the Ford Escape. The motorcycle will go on the Hydralift. Bike touring AK will be great. I'll have fresh service on all vehicles before departing so no oil changes enroute.

Appreciate comments from those who have made this or similar trips.

My wife and I did that trip this past summer. The concept is great as it allows you to do things on your schedule. Due to physical limitations my wife can't do a lot of activities every day so it allowed us to pick and choose what we wanted to do and not have to pay for things we didn't or couldn't do.

While we liked the concept, our wagon master was severely lacking in customer service skills. We sent in a typed 3 page evaluation of the trip pointing out all the problems we encountered. Had we had a different wagon master the trip would have been much better. Our tailgunner was great but had to do what the wagon master wanted.

One of the worst problems we ran into was bad power at a number of the campgrounds they used. Yes, most of the Alaska campgrounds are 30amp power and I can deal with that. What I couldn't deal with is voltages below 100v. When we complained our wagon master couldn't seem to understand that it wasn't the 30amp circuit that was a problem but the low voltage as my circuit protector cuts out when the voltage drops below 103v. We couldn't even charge batteries with the power available. To make it worse, one campground had no cell service, no internet, and bad power. We had a 2 night stay there for no apparent reason as there was little to do in the area.

On the plus side we met some great people in the caravan and had good times with them. It was nice having other people to watch out for you in case there was trouble. Not having to make reservations at all the campgrounds took off quite a load in the planning department.

If you decide to do the tour and the wagon master's initials are CJ, I suggest finding another tour.