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Day 3 - Denali There were a couple of advantages to having a very early (5:40am) bus tour of Denali: we saw a lot of animals and didn't have to compete anywhere with other buses. Also we got back right in time for lunch. Denali blessed us today, with not only a view of the mountain but also most of the inhabitants of the park. We saw: moose (including very young baby calves), caribou, Dall sheep, a very blond grizzly bear, Arctic ground squirrels, ptarmigans, and spruce grouse. You can see Denali here in the background, way up in the clouds. Plus photos of a ptarmigan in a tree and some caribou. It was pretty cold as we got higher but not too bad with a heavy raincoat. It only sprinkled a little and was otherwise nice out though there was snow still on the ground. There were already mosquitos out and about but they seemed sluggish in the cold and didn't even try to bite me (and I'm normally candy for mosquitos!). We had two bathroom breaks on the 5 hour trip, with plenty of bathrooms with only one bus there. At the end, the driver kindly dropped off about a dozen people at the park visitor's center so we could shop and check out everything there. The chalet then runs a shuttle twice an hour to get back. The chalet itself also has a very convenient shuttle that runs around its ground continuously, which is great because the various parts of it are on a steep hill. We spent the afternoon relaxing and doing laundry. The chalet provides free self-service machines and only charges for soap. We walked over to the Princess Lodge for dinner at Fannie Q's. It was pretty good. I enjoyed the rockfish. Tomorrow we leave for Fairbanks, thankfully not early (9am).

Day 2 - Train to Denali We woke very early to put our bags out in the hall and then again a couple hours later to leave. We skipped breakfast in the hotel to wait for the train. The train ride was as beautiful as the last time we were here and with very good food for breakfast and lunch. It was a bit chilly on the train, so we needed our coats. It's about an 8 hour ride to Denali. We saw moose and caribou on the way, and even the very top peak of Denali and its neighboring mountains. First time I'd actually seen the great mountain, although I couldn't get a photo of it. We did dinner at Karsten's in the McKinley Chalet resort. An excellent meal. Tomorrow we will wake up extremely early for the first bus tour of the park at 5:40am.

Oh wow, I hope it's like that tomorrow!

Day 1 - Anchorage: I got takeout from Snow City Cafe for breakfast so my parents could sleep in. Very nice breakfast and allowed for a lazy morning. We couldn't check into the Westmark and meet our tour guide until later, but we were very happy to discover that the Anchorage Museum is now on summer hours and open Mondays. We've all been to the museum before and really enjoy it. There's beautiful native artwork and exhibits on the history of Alaska. Also a great gift shop! That was a fun way to spend the afternoon. We then checked into the hotel and met our tour guide. We've been given info for tomorrow (bags out in the hall by 6am and then leave for the train to Denali at 8:30). Also some nice suggestions of what to do in Anchorage. We'll get similar info packets at each stop on the cruisetour. Our tour group is large enough that we've been divided into two groups with two tour guides. Looks like the Westmark was renovated sometime in the past 6 years since we were last here, as the rooms look nicer than we remembered. We're doing 49th State Brewing for dinner, another favorite of ours.

Day 0 - Anchorage: Hi everyone, I wanted to write about my experiences on this cruisetour to hopefully help others interested in doing one. I'm happy to answer any questions. I'm planning to write a lot about the logistics of how all this works. I'll have internet access at the hotels (I hope!) so should be posting each evening up until we board the Koningsdam on May 30th in Skagway for the cruise portion, which we didn't bother buying Internet for. So then I'll vanish until Vancouver and recap the cruise part afterwards. I arrived in Anchorage this afternoon after leaving Texas very very early this morning. It is beautifully sunny here and in the mid 50s (clear enough to see a bit of Denali in Anchorage!). My parents will be joining me on this trip, but they don't arrive until late tonight. Meanwhile I enjoyed some beer and dinner at Glacier Brewhouse. This is their very nice IPA sampler. I followed it with their Laphroaig Barrel Aged Black Rye Bock beer. I highly recommend it if you like scotch. We're staying at the Clarion Suites tonight before moving to the Westmark tomorrow to officially start the cruisetour. The Clarion was the best bang for our buck that we could find given the astronomical hotel prices here. It's a little old, but it's a very large suite, and considering I'm expecting to sleep on a sofa bed for parts of this trip, it's nice to start with room for all of us. After Anchorage we head to Denali for 2 nights, then to Fairbanks, then 2 nights in Dawson City, 1 night in Whitehorse, 1 night in Skagway, then onto the ship! We end in Vancouver on the 3rd but are staying until the 5th. My mom and I did an Alaska cruise (on the Zaandam) plus Denali 6 years ago so parts of this should be familiar and parts very new.

It was around 6 years ago that I stayed in one, but I really liked it. I didn't find it distracting, and it was amazingly convenient to be able to just pop down the hall and be outside in a few steps. I spent a lot of time on the promenade. The curtain plus sort-of one-way window was sufficiently private for me.

Thanks for this review. Nice to hear that lines weren't too long on board for dining. The Skagway boarding issue makes me wonder how they're going to handle it when we board on the 30th following a land tour. I'm assuming they'll let everyone with early excursions off first and then let us on, but there will be a whole bunch of us who need to board! One ramp seems inefficient.

Thanks!

I know you can't send laundry out the last day of the cruise, but can you send it the second to last? First thing in the morning would still be around 48 hours, so I'm hoping that's allowed.

Oh, it's good to hear this change won't run us too late. We're staying that night in Skagway and boarding the ship in the morning. We wanted to sample some of the brewpubs in town for dinner after the train.

We're doing a cruisetour in a couple of weeks and just got an update from HAL last week that the full train route itinerary had to change due to an issue with US immigration (they won't allow passengers to be separated from their luggage when crossing into the US). So now we'll be taking the bus from Whitehorse to Skagway and boarding the train there for a roundtrip excursion. We don't have the times yet, but I'm guessing this will make for a much longer day.

I have one of these booked for August (not a casino deal, just a HAL email for a free cruise). We upgraded to an oceanview and added Have It All. It was a great deal.

That's good to know, thanks! I think we'll check it out as soon as we board.

That's too bad! Thanks for the info though.

Does the Koningsdam have changing rooms or showers in the pool area? I see on the deck plan that there are bathrooms right there, but my family was hoping for showers to change in rather than wearing wet suits back to our cabin and then having to wait for everyone to shower one after another. I see on halfacts that there's a picture of a shower on the lido deck, but it doesn't show if it's only for the spa customers or available for everyone. Or does the gym have showers? Thanks, all!

Mine showed up already too! That was fast. I assume now that it's tied to my account that it will just be available the next time I cruise?

I work at a private university and the verification with just my work email went through. Now to see if they automatically apply it to my upcoming cruise!

The cruisetour I'm doing in May to Alaska/Yukon had that deal, which was the only way I and my parents could afford it. We just stumbled upon it by accident though, doing sample bookings with 3 people.

I checked and unfortunately the only other location is Fairbanks, which we'll probably do as a fallback option if we can't find anything we like in Anchorage and then just hope it doesn't cause problems on the flight to Canada. I'm guessing worst comes to worst, we'll just have to declare it to customs. We're not planning to carry more than one bottle per person going between the US and Canada.

We have a flight halfway through, from Fairbanks to Dawson City, which would also bring Canadian customs into the issue, so maybe best if we drink it before then. Carryon makes sense over land, less chance of it breaking too. Thanks! I think we'll probably try it and hope it works out.

Does anyone know what the rules are for carrying wine on a cruisetour? We're starting in Anchorage and there's a local Alaska winery we were hoping to pick up at least one bottle from. Our cruisetour then goes to Denali, Fairbanks, the Yukon, Skagway to pick up the ship, and ends in Vancouver. We'd like to bring a bottle with us to Denali and likely drink it there (or maybe carry a bottle all the way to the end to take home too). Would we run into any problems transporting alcohol along the cruisetour? Should it be in our carryon or checked bags? Thanks, all!

Definitely some of the Koningsdam cruises will have to stop there, because they pick up the land-first cruisetours in Skagway. I'm joining the ship at the end of May there.

The Totem Heritage Center is an excellent museum and a very pleasant walk through town to get there and back.

Same for me, and I actually wonder if they're sending out so many of these knowing that many people aren't in a position to use them. I have a HAL cruise booked for next year already (that isn't in the free options), and that's the only one I'll be able to do. So I take one look at the free stateroom emails and then delete them.

@syesmar, I've been getting these offers via email. All of them have had "Free Stateroom" somewhere in the subject line, so you may be able to search your email using that phrase.