Tom O.

35 minutes ago, daisy-mae said:

 

Different suppliers (brokers)?

I don't think this is the case. I am sure they get their bottles from the same suppliers as they always have. And it is unlikely that one supplier would suddenly have a massive increase in price.

After thinking about this, I think I know the answer. I noticed that the really big increases were all for the really expensive brands, while the less expensive brands got moderate increases. I believe they are counting on people who have more expensive taste to pay the big bucks no matter what the cost. And they are probably right.

My bottle of Jim Beam only had a 30% increase, because it is a moderately priced whiskey, and does not appeal to people with a more refined taste.

By the way, I went ahead and ordered a bottle Jim Beam, even after they increased the price. I was worried that HAL would reconsider how they are pricing some items and increase the price even more.

The official HAL dress code is the same for Alaska as any other cruise - Smart Casual. That said, I believe there are fewer people who choose to dress more formally for Gala Night on Alaska cruises. So I don't think you would feel intimidated if you choose to go Smart Casual on Gala Nights. You should be fine, leaving your more formal clothes at home.

I did that same tour in August. I am pretty sure I found out about the hotel when I received my "cruise documents" about 6 weeks before our arrival in Anchorage. It was the Westmark and that place is a very dumpy hotel. But all we did was sleep there, so it was not something that would ruin our trip. I have heard others complain of the food there, but for us the food was OK. We had dinner and breakfast there.

I am sorry I missed my chance too. What seems strange is the different amount of increases for different labels.

I was going to order a bottle of Jim Beam for $53 now it is $69, that is an increase of 30%, not nearly as bad of increase as some others. Why would one bottle be increased 30% while another 71%? Now I am thinking I had better order my Jim Beam before they increase it even more.

8 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

We don't drink enough to consider buying the signature drink package.  

 

There are times when we like to order the better bottles of wine and the signature drink package won't even allow you to buy any bottles of wine.

 

So we buy the Beverage Cards.

Hello KK, Can you remind us of what the advantage of using Beverage Cards over just paying for the drinks individually?

30 minutes ago, kevingastreich said:

Generally, it's a mechanical action not an electrical one so any card, any orientation would work, magnetic strip or not. 

That's right. The last cruise where I had one of those light switches, I used my Auto Club card in there and it worked for me. I was worried that I might walk out of the room and leave my room key in that slot.

We arrived at the Anchorage Westmark late in the day, exhausted from flying all day with two layovers. We ate dinner in the hotel and went to bed. We left the next morning for our train ride to Denali. We thought our dinner and breakfast at the hotel were fine. But the hotel itself is a dumpy place. But we spent very little time there.

I am not a big water drinker, but I personally like the taste of the desalinized tap water on board. Tastes like bottled water to me. I would bet that if you filled a water bottle with it most people would think it is a quality product.

I don't have a problem with people walking around with drinks, it is just something I wouldn't do. I especially understand people who have ordered drinks in a bar, and then carried them to their dining table. I just wouldn't want to take a drink from my cabin and wander around the ship.

And, in the description of each alcoholic item is this: "Delivered to your stateroom on embarkation day for in-stateroom consumption only."

One more thing, there are a limited selection of non-alcoholic mixers (tonic, ginger ale, etc.) in the fridge,  The charge for using them is the same as drinking one of Cokes. You can also bring as many non-alcoholic mixers as you want from home. You are not allowed to bring liqueurs or anything that has alcohol in them aboard (except for 1 bottle of wine per person). If you need a liqueur to make your favorite cocktail, I believe you can order that to your room as well - not sure about the selection, since I don't make cocktails that way.

Here is a statement from the Know Before You Go booklet.

"In-Room Dining offers reduced-price stateroom beverage packages for in-stateroom consumption of alcoholic beverages (a 15% Service Charge on all beverage items and packages with beverages will be added)."

However, I suppose no one would say anything if you made a cocktail in your room, and then walked out the door with it. But do you really want to walk around the ship carrying a cocktail?

I do this all the time. Bottles delivered to your room are for stateroom use only.

Ask your steward for special glasses, including wine glasses. He/she will replace them when they get dirty.

51 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

 

The shuttles run their routes consistently throughout the Chalets and on up to the lobby area.  “Glitter gulch” is an easy walk just across the highway and the Princess Lodge is just next door.  There are plenty of places to eat if you don’t want to eat at the various eateries on site at the Chalets.  The Chalet Resort is a large and very nice national park lodge type facility.  Thankfully HAL provides transport throughout the scenic property and the drivers keep an eye out for occasional wildlife on-site...like moose and bears.  

 

The Salmon Bake is across the street and the Princess Lodge has a very nice steakhouse type restaurant.  There are lots of options across the highway and a traffic light and crosswalk to make the crossing easy.

 

 

I was just thinking it would have been nice, if as soon as I walked out the door of our chalet, we would be greeted with a choice of several restaurants. Instead you have to wait for the next shuttle, take it to the lobby, then cross a busy highway to find some competition. It might be easy for you, but with my old knees, it was a little daunting. So we never left the Chalet grounds, except for our excursions.

On 12/30/2019 at 4:02 PM, terrydtx said:

We did this itinerary in July on HAL. All 3 of the following hotels are owned by HAL.

 

Anchorage was the Westmark Hotel and it was a total dump. Very old and in need of updating a 3 star hotel on its best day. I would never book this hotel on my own. Our room smelled terribly of cigarette smoke when we checked in and we couldn't get moved since no other rooms were available. The hotel is supposed to be 100% non smoking. The restaurant sucked too and we couldn't even buy some AA batteries in the gift shop I had to walk down three blocks to the Captain Cook Hotel for batteries.. The best hotel in Anchorage is the Captain Cook Hotel which is used by Celebrity and Princess. It is located in the middle of downtown so we could walk to a couple of great restaurants.

 

Denali was the McKinley Chalets and we had a room in the new addition that opened last April. This hotel is a 4 or 5 star hotel with a great food court.  This is a true resort hotel with a lot of activities,  I would stay here anytime.

 

 

Completely agree with terrydtx about the Westmark in Anchorage. It was my definition of a flea bag hotel.

The McKinley Chalet at Denali was nice, but it is so spread out that you have to take a shuttle to go anywhere. This insures that you won't be doing business with any shops or restaurants not owned by HAL, because it is so difficult to get off the property.  The on-property restaurants were good, but pricey, and at times very crowded. I would have preferred a hotel where I could easily walk to independent restaurants and shops.

We were not in Fairbanks, so I have not opinion there.

8 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

Thanks for sharing your experiences.  Sorry to hear they spoiled your trip but totally understand your unhappiness.  We’ve missed ports before and never gotten compensation other than refunded port taxes.  We used to get a glass of champagne when it happened but the last cruise we didn’t even get that for 2 missed ports.   Most of us plan cruises based around the ports on the itinerary so it’s a disappointment when there is a change.  I actually think it happens fairly often tho.  Keep on cruising, even if it’s something different than Holland America.  

In this case the OP not only missed a port, but lost one whole day of cruising, because the ship left a day late.

I enjoy being on the ship, and usually don't mind missing a port, but to lose a whole day of cruising is another thing entirely. 

Sorry Promisem that you had this experience.

17 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Keep an eye on United if you're flying with them. Every time I've flown to Seattle they have changed flight times. Sometimes a few minutes. Once more than an hour and they changed the flight number. Didn't get any heads-up from them. I found out about the change in flight number when the car service called me 2 days before the flight to ask if I was still going to Seattle because they couldn't find the flight number I'd given them when I booked. 

 

5 hours ago, Andi Land said:

I did an online chat with them last night and had them cancel the flight with a full refund. They were excellent to deal with and explained they are doing lots of rescheduling due to the grounding of the 737 max plane. So, I need to decide if we still do the Canada New England cruise or opt for something else. Right now we are looking to cancel and go with the 14 day Alaska.  It means we don’t need to worry about flights and let’s me look at the 10 day Canada New England for 2021 without feeling guilty 😉 So, this flight change may be a blessing in disguise. 

It is not just United. I have flown Delta, American and United recently, and have had several schedule changes for every flight.

One big reason is the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max. The two main airlines that have a bunch of grounded 737 Max is American and Southwest. Alaska has some 737 Max ordered, but has not taken delivery of them yet. I would avoid any airline that has a lot of grounded airplanes, because they will have an inordinate number of last minute flight changes. 

We did an 11 day "Triple Denali" land/sea tour last August. We flew into Anchorage, took the train to Denali, stayed 3 nights there, and then there was a long bus ride from Denali to Seward for a 7 day cruise to Vancouver.

We loved the train ride from Anchorage to Denali. On the Tundra Tour, we got to see bears close up, but it was a very long day in an uncomfortable bus.

The bus ride from Denali to Seward was really boring and exhausting. I wish we could have done that part on the train again.

We loved the 7 day cruise from Steward to Vancouver.

Our impression of the interior of Alaska: The wilderness areas are beautiful, but we found the towns to be sprawling and unattractive, and that includes Anchorage.

We used to tip our waiters extra on the last night, but we no longer use assigned seating for dinner. As a result, we never see the same waiters twice.

We often order dinner from the MDR to be delivered to our room. In that case we usually tip $5 to the delivery person.  That would be cheap for a waiter, but a delivery person is not a waiter - he makes his delivery and then leaves - not the same as someone who is attending to all your needs. We also always have breakfast in our room and tip $2 to that delivery person.

We give our stewards $40 each at the end of the cruise.

That is not a lot, but we always keep the Auto Tip in place, so they are getting more than the minimum.

31 minutes ago, mamapirk said:

Interesting topic. I recently took my first HAL cruise which incidentally was also my first solo cruise without my husband. My cabin was smack in the middle of a family group and the first evening they approached me to switch cabins with their sister in a cabin on the opposite side of the ship. If they had approached me at arrival I would have been happy to accommodate them but it was late the first evening and I'd already unpacked and was totally settled. At any rate, I woke up a couple of days later, threw open the drapes and discovered they had somehow opened the balcony partitions. To make matters worse, their belongings were encroaching on my balcony. You can imagine my surprise standing there in my gown and robe...lol. Our cabin steward looked appalled when I told him about it and he immediately rectified the situation, but I was shocked at their nerve. I've no clue how they accomplished this on their own.

I am amazed at the audacity of people who would do this. I don't know how they did it either.

The locking partition is part of your room security, just like the lock on the cabin door. It should never be unlocked unless there is an agreement between the parties in both rooms.

It is similar to someone having one of those rooms with a interconnecting doorway coming into your room without your permission. Unbelievable.

First, I have tell you that I am not a wine connoisseur, and I cannot tell the difference between expensive and cheap wine.

So, I was shopping on the website, simply trying to get the lowest price per bottle as possible for my next cruise.

If I ordered the 4 bottle package of #1 selection, it costs $136.85 and that works out to be $34.21 per bottle.

When I look over the individual bottles listed on the website, the cheapest bottle of wine available is $43.75.

So I was considering this wine package, just to save money.

Several people have mentioned that the price for individual bottles is the same as in the packages. Is this true only for the more pricey wines?  Or will there be other inexpensive wines available on the ship that are not listed on the website?

I have sailed HAL several times, but in the past, I only drank bourbon. So I am not that familiar with the wine deals. One major advantage of wine, is that they let you bring a couple of bottles on board. Can't do that with bourbon.

1 hour ago, trixiee said:

This was from the Delta site - sorry I wasn't clear...

Maybe they have oversold the flight?  I don't care which seat my butt is in, just so long as we're both on the flight home! This particular flight time is significantly more expensive than others throughout the day, but it is the most convenient. (We would have way more flexibility if we were retired)

I suspect you have ended up with reservations where you are assigned seats at the airport. Normally, Flight Ease gives you reservations where you can choose your seats. If so, you will be OK as long as you are not particular where you sit. If you booked directly with HAL I would call them and ask them what is going on. If you booked with a TA, you will need to call them. You can also try calling Delta, but I would try HAL or your TA first.

On 12/26/2019 at 5:22 PM, crystalspin said:

Tom O. is also used to Princess, where the Beverage Package is over $70 incl. the gratuity! Except right now they are including it in the Best.Sale.Ever for the equivalent of $15-25pp! Happy New Year!

Thanks Crystal for coming to my defense. Actually the price of $69 per day per person that I came up with was when I looked at what the cost would be if I added a package to my 10 day Baltic Sea cruise next summer. But it turns out I was looking at the Elite Signature Beverage Package. I don't even know the difference between the Elite and Regular Signature Beverage Package. All I know is none of these packages would work for me - although I enjoy having a few drinks, my wife is a teetotaler, and there is no way any of those packages would work for me.

But on my upcoming cruise I probably will purchase a 4 bottle wine package, along with the two bottles I can take on board. that will give me 6 bottles of wine. That should get me through a 10 day cruise.

1 hour ago, trixiee said:

 

This is the message I received when I tried to book seats for the return flight:

 

Advisory Message:Uh-oh! We're sorry but we are not currently able to assign a seat in your class of service. Seat availability can change, so please check back later. If you do not have a seat assignment, a seat will be assigned at check in or at the gate prior to boarding.

What happened when you tried looking up your flight on the Delta web site?

8 minutes ago, trixiee said:

I'm booked with Delta. I have been able to choose our departure seats, but the return show no available seats.  I'll try the Delta site.  We fly out in 29 days.

In our case, we were flying out of Canada on Delta. One of Delta's partner airlines is WestJet, and one leg of our flight was with WestJet even though it had a Delta flight number. We were never able to reserve a seat with WestJet, I assume this is because of WestJet's policy of unreserved seats.

However our flight was changed before we embarked so that we no longer flew with WestJet, and flew all legs of our trip with Delta. So, we then were able to select our seats.

1 hour ago, trixiee said:

Has anyone gone into flightease to book their seats and see that there are no available seats? 😦

I'm hoping we're going to be fine, but just a tad worried!

We do have confirmation numbers for both the depart and return flights...

We used Flight Ease for our cruise last summer. Our reservation happened to be with Delta. On my HAL confirmation we were given the Delta Confirmation number. We were then able to log into Delta and choose our seats. I don't think they would make a reservation for you if there were no seats available. 

Better to pick your seats with the airline as soon as possible.