Denali Lodge

About the only Princess Property that “needs work”. The outside of the rooms, the common areas, and the property itself are all top notch. The interiors of the rooms, the way the staff manages the cleaning, and the fact that if you want a cup of coffee after 6pm your up the creek. This was the only place where we noticed the staff and attention to detail was missing.

That being said, as in any real estate its location, location, location. And Denali National Park is still remote enough that your really don’t have a lot of other options even if you were not on a tour package. The outside of the lodge is beautiful as well as the ground and common areas.

As for what needs work. The room interiors, are well,,, rooms. They have a bed, a tv, a picture, and a lamp. Think of someone furnishing an econo hotel room with a checklist. Given the location, I would not mention it, but what kills it is the light, or lack there of in the room. If you are going to design a hotel on the motel style instead of the hotel style (motels have exterior doors to each room) then you have to realize the side effects. Namely, in a hotel room people walk by your room and can see in, which means you have to close your blinds which means you have no natural light, which mean you really need more than an overhead 25 watt light bulb in the room. And if you are not going to have a coffee maker in the room, please don’t close the only coffee shop at 6pm. And while I’m on a rant anyway, this was the only place we had a problem with the staff. It seems that most visitors are only here for one night, this means the cleaning crew is used to setting up the room as if you are leaving, so they are very liberal about what gets thrown out. ( I had put my night guard in a plastic cup near the sink and whoever cleaned the room simply threw everything that was disposable away when cleaning, very upset) I’m assuming they get very used to throwing away everything and don’t pay much attention. They second problem is that they get used to people checking out every day, and similar to another poster online I came back to my room to find the cleaning people were doing the ‘final room clean’ on my room an hour before we even left. I was very unhappy.

That being said, every vacation has something and other than the cost of the replacement night guard this were relatively minor. I can tell you one useful idea from this. During the cruise portion I had talked to a fellow passenger and the topic of the small showers in the cabins came up. He told me his trick was to go to the Spa area where they had large shower that were open for anyone, but no one ever used them. I knew I would be hiking till the last minute and might not make my check out time so I went looking for options before I left and remembered this. While the lodge did not have a spa, they did have showers near the hot tubs in the men’s changing room. In a pinch a shower’s a shower and it definitely beat not having one before a 3 hour bus ride. (and I’m sure Louise who had to sit next to me agrees entirely).

Pictures of Note:
4. The mountain in back is Mount Healy. The hike the next day was to the top of this mountain


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