RetiredTravelered

We just reserved our room for July 13, D6C, northbound, out of Vancouver, 2 nites in Denali. We will be on the Nieuw Amersterdam. We are very excited, and very thankful to everyone who has replied to our questions. It's all been very helpful. We have a Veranda room on the 6th deck. Very excited. But we have one question. We have read that Veranda rooms are preferred. And we have heard that MID ship is preferred. Yet, on the Nieuw Amerstedsm, on the 6th Deck for sure - and I think 7th also, all MID section rooms are Suites (SS). We are totally fine with our room. And we would not want to pay for a Suite. But it seems like there are no MID section Veranda rooms. Surely, we are overlooking something?

We were offered to purchase the Have It All, when going through the purchase GUI. We have not purchased the Cruise yet, but plan to within the next 2-3 days. We probably WILL purchase the package. We are not heavy Alcohol drinkers, and we do not drink Soda, but for the occasional Beer, Wine, Coffee, Water every day, it seems like it will be worth it. We have a couple of questions about the Details. Q1: Have It All = Refundable? Our options upon purchasing the Cruise are (a) lowest price = explicitly states "non-refundable". and. (b) Have It All. I forget the exact amount, I think it was 400.00 - 500.00 additional over the cheapest non-refundable price. It seems to imply that IF we purchase the Have It All package, then the Cruise is Refundable. Is that an accurate assumption? Q2: For Wifi, when i look at HAL Wifi Options page, it shows 3 choices. (a) Surf - Have It All [Stay connected throughout your journey. Surf the web, use social media, check email and send messages to friends and family.] (b) Premium - 34.99 per day [Access the Apps in the Surf Plan, Plus make Audio and Video Calls.] (c) Stream - 45.99 per day [Stream your favorite movies, Netflix, etc.] The HAL webpage on Wi-Fi describes the details for each package. However, on the "Have It ALL package page, next to the Wi-FI, the wording says "FREE UPGRADE PREMIUM WI-FI" It sounds like they are saying that the Have It All package INCLUDES PREMIUM (when they say FREE UPGRADE PREMIUM WI-FI). So, which is it, if we get the Have It All Package; Surf or Premium? If Surf, why do they put "FREE UPGRADE PREMIUM WIFI"? Q3: For Drinks: On the "Have It ALL package page, next to the Drinks Description, it says "FREE UPGRADE to ELITE BEVERAGE PACKAGE". Does that mean that we have the ELITE BEVERAGE PACKAGE, if we purchase HIA? Q4: For Drinks: There are two of us in the Room. Yet the Beverage Package Page say "No Sharing". Does that mean that only one of us get to use the ELITE BEVERAGE PACKAGE? Or, it is assumed that since you purchase the package, it includes both Room of us. Q5: Specialty Dining: Same question as for Drinks. Do both of us get a free Specialty Dining Dinner? Or only one of us? Q6: Shore Excursions: Same as Drinks and Dining. Is the 100.00 credit for an Excursion a one-time, for one person? Or do both of us receive the benefit? We realize that the question are surely because we are first time Cruisers. Our apologies if they seem like dumb questions. To us, we can read it both ways. Thank you for your answers (and your patience during our newbie questions)

Hi. This is our FIRST CRUISE. We asked a few questions in the NEW TO CRUISING Board, and are now wanting to be a bit more specific. We are leaning towards HAL. We hope to Book on a North Bound (out of Vancouver) Inside/Inner Passage Cruise. Our questions related to Room and Deck choices. We understand that Mid Deck seems to be popular for Motion issues. Q1:On an Alaska Inside/Inner Passage Cruise, is there as much tendency towards Motion (and therefore sea sickness) - as compared to a Cruise in the Open Sea? We are looking at Room options, and nearly all rooms in the MID section are taken (in fact, most in MID appear to be Suites, on a few decks. We find some ending with VD#013, VD#039, VD#041 (where # is the Deck number). Those are slightly ahead of MID, in the Forward / Front section. If there is "movement", are those close enough to MID, that we would be OK? (We are hoping that on an Inside/Inner Passage North bound Alaska Cruise that there is not too much motion?) Q2: We have read that Deck 8 has rooms that can encounter noise (below the Pool, and other areas?) If it is true that Deck 8 can be loud, is Deck 7 enough of a separation, Or is Deck 6 even better. Seems like if we look lower, ex: Deck 5, there are view obstructions (lifeboats, etc.) Q3: If we are heading North, on an Inside/Inner Passage Cruise, is there more to see on the RIGHT (Starboard?) side? Or, is there plenty to see on the LEFT (Port) side, on an Inside Passage? We thank you ahead of time for any responses, suggestions, and even corrections if we have incorrect information. thanks

Alberta. We thank you.

Crew News, We appreciate hearing both sides of the issues. Food for thought. More data points to consider, before making a decision. We feel selfish, asking so many questions. But here's one more. As you know, this is our first cruise, and to Alaska. When looking at HAL cruises, and rooms, there are (obviously) choices. And the choices are (surely) personal preference. Permit me to ask: On an Alaskan Cruise (and this may apply to all cruises, Europe, Hawaii, etc.). How important is it to get a Veranda/Balcony Room - vs- Sea View (if unobstructed). When doing a few Europe Trips (non-cruises), we rarely spent time in our room. We were out early in the morning, eating, walking, doing different activities, tours, etc. With Alaska, there will be days in Port, where we will be off the ship. But there will be "Cruise Only" days. We are trying to figure out how much we would appreciate having the Balcony, and how much we might miss it - if we did not have it. (We almost did a Viking River Cruise, and if my memory is correct, you could get a FULL LENGTH window - without upgrading to a outdoor Balcony. It does not seem to be the case with HAL. So far, per our looking a photos and videos, either Full Length is a Veranda. Or, "Ocean View", it is a fairly SMALL window (not floor to ceiling). What are YOUR thoughts?

Host Kat, We thank you for the details, and the links regarding approved posting process.

Two quick minor issue with this forum - that we are still trying to figure out. (1) Numerous times, we have typed out a response/reply and we hit the blue button, and it disappears - never to show up in the thread. We have started copying and pasting our text (into a document) so that we can copy back into the thread for when it goes away. (2) We frequently get "Before you can reply, you must verify your email address". When we see this message, we are completely unable to post anything. We have done the "verified our email address" 2 - 3 times. And now, if we try again, when we are prompted, it does nothing. Does not send us an email, and, it does not let us post We end up exiting the webpage, and starting over again. (which sometimes leads to issue #1). We are very willing to go through the extra steps because receiving answers to questions, is far more important than the minor frustrations in the issues (#1, #2) above. Is there something that we need to do differently to avoid the issues? Thanks.

Crew News, Thank you for the additional information and links to DC6, DC5 and D2C. The extra day seems nice. Not sure about the small plane trips. I would do it, but not my spouse. My sister did two different small flight tours (helicopter and float plane - i think). They loved both of them. Your posts are definitely helping us with our planning. ( We need to go back through your posts, were you one that was in support of using non-cruise excursions (independent operators)? In another thread, the majority of people support independent tours, and went so far as to say that they have never seen a passenger get left behind (due to the fault of the tour operator) and if someone is left behind - the operator would pay for cost of tour, cost to get the passenger to the next location, including lodging if needed, transportation, etc. ). We are very familiar with booking our own tours in Europe (non cruise trips). But this is our FIRST Cruise. Lots to learn.

Hi all, We really appreciate all of the responses. At some point, per the admin, we realize that we need to take this to a more specific thread. (Alaska Excursions, HAL specific, etc.). If we might continue, since we have a few people listening and responding, we have an additional question. We can follow the HAL Cruise (D5C, and D6C) up to the point of "Whittier" when the actual Cruise ends. After that, we are a bit lost, with the different possibilities. Up until Day-8, it seems so straight forward. We are either on a Cruise All-Day, or, we stop in a Port and have Excursion options. Starting at Day-8, we leave the ship at Whittier. It is confusing. Do we go directly from Whittier to Denali? Or, do we go from Whittier to Anchorage, then the Denali and back to Anchorage? There are Excursions at Whittier, but each of them have "Conditions", and we are not clear on all the nuances. Numbers "1" or "2" may be of interest to us. If our D5 or D6 ends in Whittier, and if we will be going to Denali, are these available to us, or not available? (It is probably crystal clear to those of you who cruise a lot, and know Alaska, but it is not clear to us). (1) Portage Glacier Scenic Cruise & Drive Conditions: "This tour is available only to guests whose cruise ends in Whittier with an overnight stay in Anchorage or to guests transferring to the airport with flights departing after 4pm. Cruisetour guests who will spend the first night of their land package in Anchorage can participate in this tour. The tour ends at Anchorage Airport at 2pm and at the downtown hospitality center at 2:30pm. (2) 26 Glaciers Cruise - Intransit Guests Conditions: "This tour is available only to guests whose cruise does not begin or end in Whittier. Northbound cruise ship routes include College Fjord, but this tour allows a closer view of the glaciers and wildlife. The boat may not be exclusive to Holland America Line guests. (3) Turnagain Arm, Wildlife Conservation Center Conditions: "This tour is available only to guests whose cruise ends in Whittier with an overnight stay in Anchorage or to guests transferring to the airport with flights departing after 4:45pm. Cruisetour guests who will spend the first night of their land package in Anchorage can participate in this tour. The tour ends at the downtown hospitality center at 2:15pm and at Anchorage Airport at 2:45pm. If you have already purchased an airport transfer with your cruise booking, a refund for the transfer will be processed on board the ship, as this excursion automatically includes a transfer." Assuming that we ARE able to go on ONE of the Excursions, we are assuming that we then board a bus (or a train) and go to Denali? Or do we first go to Anchorage, and then to Denali? Someone mentioned that they prefer to fly out of Fairbanks. How would that work within a HAL (ex: D5 or D6 Tour). Thanks p.s. Looks like we need to get together with a Travel Advisor. My cousin has been one for over 35 years, so I may need to email or call her. LOL.

We will try again. Frustrating to type out a long reply, click on "Submit reply", to then have it not be posted ,and not available to try again Never experienced this on other travel forums? This is a response to wdw1972. We appreciate your post. Very helpful. We are a bit concerned, worried, that maybe we are considering a June-Aug 2025 Alaska Cruise, if the Excursions are already full. As you indicated, you reserved your excursions a year ahead of time. Cruising is new for us. We have taken MANY trips, just not cruises. It is difficult for us to consider/imagine that we need to BOOK a Cruise BEFORE we will even know if an Excursion is available or closed (filled). When we have gone to Europe (UK, Italy, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, etc.), we have always been able to BOOK our Excursions before the Airfare and Lodging (the final commitment). It is hard to imagine paying for a trip to Florence, only to discover after we have booked and paid, that "The David" Michelangelo is not available, or the Uffizi Museum is unavailable. We would have never booked the lodging or airfare. Same with the Borghese Museum in Rome, the Vatican Museum, Parliament in Budapest, Buckingham Palace in England. In fact, we changed our travel dates to Vienna, in order to see the Spanish Riding School. Other venues have been available to Book, before paying for Airfare and Lodging. We are a bit surprised, when people have posted that cruisers need to be Flexible. We can't imagine being OK with going to Florence, and "The David", or the "Uffizi" is not available. Or going to Rome, and the "Vatican" or the "Colosseum", or the "Borghese Museum" not being available. But being told that we still need to book the time to Florence and Rome anyway. We are realizing that we need to view a Cruise differently than non-cruise trips. We are just trying to figure out how to adjust to the differences. Thank you all for the details.

I have posted 3 replies (on 9/23) and none of them are showing up in this thread. Is there something that we are doing wrong. ?

Thank you. We appreciate the link and the details that you provided. We plan to research the other train that you mentioned.

Tupper. Thank you for your reply. We will check the times.

Alberta, We thank you for your reply. We have not looked in the Roll Call yet (we are very new to this forum, and not sure of the different options). If we look in the Roll Call, what would we expect to see? Possibly just to see what people are posting, what they have reserved? We assume that those are people booked on this same cruise?

We are first time Cruisers (have not yet gone on a cruise). We will provide a brief summary of hopeful cruise, and follow it with a few questions. (Our apologies ahead of time, if this question should have been posted in a different area of CruiseCritic. Please move the question if necessary. We hope to do an Alaska Cruise in June-Aug, 2025. We are leaning toward HAL, Inside Passage, depart from Vancouver, looking at D5C or D6C (includes Denali, 2 nights). Vancouver, Inside passage, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Double Denali, Anchorage/Fairbanks - depending upon D5 vs D6). . The quick questions (about Excursions). We really hope to travel on the White Pass / Yukon Route TRAIN. (We love trains, and have traveled on many trains in Europe). The Train is located at the Skagway Port stop. (1) In the Holland America 35-page PDF - which describes ALL of the Cruises (D1-D9, Y1-Y6), it appears that the "White Pass & Yukon Route Train" does NOT have a checkmark next to the D1 through D9 Cruises. Yet, the Itinerary does show a port stop at Skagway. Does that mean that even though the Ship (for D5 or D6) stops in Skagway, we might not be able to reserve the "White Pass" Train? (2) Second question is directly related to the White Pass Train, also. We have heard that Alaska Cruises are very popular, and therefore are booked months ahead of time. We have also heard that the Excursions can be reserved up to 8 months ahead of time. So, our question is: If this is September, are the better Excursions already reserved for the June-August 2025 trips? (3) Third question, also about Excursions: Is there a way check Excursion availability BEFORE Booking a Cruise. We are guessing that the answer is easily no on this one. Thanks