There are not many good hotels in Alaska. I think this is due to the small window of the tourist season. I chose this hotel due to the number of activities it offered in one central location. I was traveling with two children and did not want to drive for miles and miles to do different things. Great Alaska has a family package that included fishing, kayaking/canoeing, hiking, fjord/bay cruising, sight seeing, dog mushing and even an (optional) bear watching tour. This package, like most stays in Alaska, is not cheap, for a family of four you are looking to spend well over $1,000 per day, including food.

First the bad news.

The lodge is clean, the rooms are no frills, lower end motel 6 type accomodations. Plastic bathrooms, white paint and thin carpet make them really unnacceptable. All meals are serve yourself affairs buffet style. The breakfast usually had a special daily item (french toast, eggs benedicts, etc) and then bacon or sausage, toast and hashbrowns. Breakfast is over at 8 am. You make your own lunch from deli meats (ham, turkey or roast beef), a bag of chips and cookies. At 7 pm there is a happy hour with limited complementary drinks where you can meet your fellow travelers and the guides that will accompany you on your next adventure. There is an oderve serve during happy hour (sweedish meatballs, brushetta, cheese spreads, etc). Dinner consists of a salad, dinner rolls, one main item and one side. They do arrange for special diets, ie vegetarians.
Don't come here for the accomodations or food or you will be sorely dissapointed.

The good news.

You didn't go to Alaska for gourmet food and Four Seasons accomodations, you went for great adventure, so you are in luck at Great Alaska. This is primarily a fishing lodge so if salmon, trout and halibut are your cup of tea, this lodge has the finest fishing guides in the state. The property also sits where the Kenai and Moose rivers meet and the salmon are jumping just steps away from you, plus there is a guide right at the water's edge with all the gear and tips you need to reel the big one in, and many do. Want to hike and float down the Kenai instead? The non fishing guides are as good and friendly as the fishing guides, they will point out flora and fauna along the way and give you tid bits of information that will make your trip more enjoyable. Everyone here is enjoying themselves tremendously, even though they work long hours (wake up call for fishing is at 4:15 am, every guide is there at 7pm for happy hour). Many of the staff come year after year and are very familiar with Alaska, even if they are from somewhere else. Stan the breakfast cook has been there 7 years, he'll greet you with a sarcastic "good afternoon" if you show up after 7 am (he can't leave until you are done), after a week you'll love the guy.

The Bear Camp

We took the option of spending the night at the bear camp. This is a camp, not a luxury tent camp in Africa, a vinyl tent camp with a port a potty. It was raining constantly, and it was cold, not great camping conditions. But if you want to see bears, you've come to the right place. I counted 26 the first day, and you are close, truly as close as you want to get to these magnificent creatures. Since they have a day trip to the camp, I can't recommend you spend the night there.

Overall

Overall we had a great experience. The people staying at the lodge were all great, the staff was wonderful and Alaska is beautiful. Could the rooms and food be better? Absolutely, it would surely not detract from the experience. I, for one, would return.