rajkr74

FANTASTIC pictures and review.

 

Love the dogs :)

 

Thanks so VERY much.

Thanks Jacqui, the dog sled demo was real fun and the dogs were great.

Rick: Really enjoyed the review and especially the fantastic pictures. Of course you realize you have just made us that more anxious for August 16th to get here. Really appreciate the work you put into the review and it will be a tremendous help to Flo and I as we prepare for our "journey"! You do know any questions that arise between now and departure will go directly to you! Hopefully we can also provide good info like this to future cruise/tour participants. Just have to learn how to load pictures! Thanks so much. Look forward to your hotel/meal review! Take care and God bless!

Ron, sure glad this helps you on your up coming cruise. You should have a good time like we did, it was fun. Let me know if you have questions I'll try to answer them.

Day 14- Seattle

We left our luggage out in the hallway at 10:00am and took the bus to the Anchorage airport at 11:00am for a 1:17pm flight on Delta Airlines. We checked in with our luggage that was on the bus at the Delta counter. The one thing that we were not ready for was when I checked in on the Delta website the night before, we had to pay $25.00 per bag for 2 checked pieces of luggage in order to print out our boarding passes. We thought that was covered by HAL so I was a little disappointed with the additional $50 charge for two bags. Everyone flying back to Seattle did not go on Delta. If we had known that I might have tried to get on a United flight with HAL since we get 2 free checked bags when we fly with United. WestMark hotel did have computers in the lobby hooked to a printer that you can print your boarding passes for the flight the next day. It was about a 3 ½ hr. flight to Seattle and since this is the end of the tour and people in our group were going in different directions we did not see any HAL rep there to direct us to the Hilton shuttle. A group of us who were all going to the Hilton very near the airport figured out where to catch the Hilton shuttle over to the hotel. It took us about 10 mins to get to the hotel and checked in. The front desk had our rooms ready along with a cover letter from HAL.

Sorry no pictures here. The next and final posts will discuss eating arrangements and review of the hotel accommodations at the WestMark hotels we stayed at.

Sorry, looks like two of my photos dropped off my last post. So here they are again. I added one photo of all cruisers in our groups Y2C-A.

Lower level dining on dome car

Scenic view on the way to Anchorage

Group picture taken at Minto Landing lunch stop

Day 13- Anchorage

Now on to Anchorage via the train. We got on the bus from McKinley Chalet at 8:30am and were taken over to the transportation center/train depot for a 9:15am departure. We were on the Kashwitna dome car. There were two other HAL cars attached to the engines. The car had two levels, the upper one for passengers with full glass windows for great views and the lower level is the dining area that was serving breakfast and later lunch. So if you don’t go to breakfast at the McKinley Chalet then you could have it on the train. They also had staff that could serve light snacks and drinks up in the passenger section. We had lunch later down stairs which was nice and everyone should do it since you don’t get that type of service any more. The rail car was great with (again) great leg room, clean and comfortable with very good seats. It was easy to walk around the car and also to go downstairs and stand on the platforms between train cars. That turned out to be the best place to talk photos and is somewhat protected and covered. We got some more shots of Denali as we rolled to Anchorage. As a kid I remember riding the train with my mother and this trip was really a roll back on the nostalgia meter. We got to Anchorage about 5:00pm but I could have spent another 12 hours on the train, it was that fun. We pulled into the rail depot in Anchorage about 4:00pm. Buses were waiting for all three dome cars and we were whisked off to the Anchorage Westmark hotel.

This where we said goodbye to Ben our host as he lived in Anchorage and had 3-4 days off before he took another HAL group going the other way from Anchorage on their Land-Sea tour to Skagway. Ben was friendly, helpful and always there to provide answers to any questions we had. He and Shannon, host of the B group, even went out and bought cake for the 4th of July celebration at our hotel in Whitehorse Canada, a very nice touch that I think came out of their own pockets. Their attention to detail helped make this cruise very enjoyable.

Our dome car leaving Denali

Upper passenger deck of the dome car

Lower deck dinning room

Another look at Denali

Scenic views traveling to Anchorage

Our last day with Ben.

Day 10, 11 & 12 Denali--Continued

The next day started out partly cloudy but dry. As the day rolled on it got cloudier and we got rain later in the day when it came down pretty steady. We took the shuttle over to the visitor center then walked over to the Murie Science and Learning Center. We went back to the Transportation Center/Bus stop near the Visitor center and got in line at 1:20pm for the shuttle to the Sled Dog demonstration. This is one not to miss if you like dogs. You have to be at the bus stop 40 mins before the demo which are held at 10:00am, 2:00pm and 4:00pm. You were allowed to pet and get pictures of the dogs before the demo. Nice presentation of what the National Park does with these dog teams during the winter in the park. We took a shuttle to the Princess Lodge just to see what it was like and to check out the two restaurants on site for possible dinner.

NPS Dog Sled team

Dog sled team on demonstration run

One of the sled dogs

Denali Square at McKinley Chalet

Wildflowers in Denali

Denali Park sign----last day there.

Day 10, 11, & 12 Denali--Continued

Dall Sheep

Caribou

Here's what we all came to see....Grizzly bears!!!!

Mama and her 2 yearly cubs.

Mama by herself

Ptarmigans--Alaska's state bird, they turn pure white in the winter

Day 10, 11, & 12 Denali Continued

The next day our Tundra Tour drew an 8:40am time to start the tour. This was not to our liking, we had hoped to go earlier since we thought more animals would be out early in the morning. It turned out the mountain was out earlier and animals showed up all day, who would have thought? The buses look like school buses but have been refitted with nice cushioned seats and were better than what we had read about buses of yester-year. I was lucky and got the seat right behind the driver and was happy since my legs could not get into the seats further back in the bus and would have stuck out in the isle the whole trip. Weather turned out with partial clouds, no rain and warm weather. The guide/driver Tom was very good and informative making the 9 hour trip very enjoyable. We had a boxed lunch with packaged snack items. We spotted Dall sheep up the mountain, caribou, a Golden eagle, many bears including a grizzly sow with her two yearly cubs….OUTSTANDING! I’d like to find the person who, on cue, got the sow and cubs to walk across the meadow as we came around the corner. The guide/driver had a video camera that he’d pull out with 100X zoom and would record the animals and simultaneously display that video on pull down TV monitors for passengers to see in the bus. It was a great system for those with bad eyesight or who could not locate the animals out the windows. There were two rest stops both ways coming and going. We also had a number of scenic/photo stops that allowed us to stretch our legs. We got to see Denali with some minor clouds covering her summit and were happy since only about 30% of the people see it at all. Overall it was a tour not worth missing and we really enjoyed spotting all the wildlife.

If you are in Denali for 3 days with the HAL tundra tour and did not get you the views of the mountain you wanted, you can go the next day if it has better weather and get on the a free shuttle out to Savage River. This bus will have views of the mountain without going all the way up the park. You would have time to take this or pay for another tour going further out by booking thru the Wilderness Access Center. There are a number of options you can review at the Wilderness Center. Our Tundra Tour was good enough (not the whole mt.) that we decided not do another one. If we had, we would have missed the Sled dog demo.

We got back to the lodge at 5:30pm and got ready for our HAL show Music of Denali in the Gold Nugget Saloon next to Denali Square. The dinner was good and the show was fun.

Denali

Denali

Valley meadows

Glaciated valleys

River bed in valley

One of the tour buses

You're bringing back some memories of my HAL land tour back in '93. I remember it being exhausting! And know I couldn't do it today.

 

We had busses with those accordion joints, and in back there was a lounge-type area, with very comfortable couches. We had snacks, there, too.

Tell me, is HAL still using those type busses? On such long travel days they were really nice.

HAL has newer buses with lots of knee room which I LOVE since I am 6' 9" tall and I don't normally fit normal bus or plane seating. The buses are not the "accordion" type. We did not have snacks but water was provided on the trip between Whitehorse and Dawson. We had plenty of rest stops along with photo stops. It was not strenuous since HAL handled all the moving of luggage between rooms and buses. It was different living out of a suitcase rather than having all of your clothes in a closet on the ship. We did have a lady in a wheel chair in our group of 26. She handled it very well with no problems.

Here is a link to our photos on Microsoft OneDrive. There is a picture of the buses HAL uses for the longer trips in the link. Just click the first photo and a slide show will start.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsptL998yK8Hga1vAG3LkXsBVx164Q

Rick

I'm really enjoying this also. This is on my bucket list.

 

One question: The day you flew, where did you clear Customs and Immigration?

 

Roy

You are welcome, glad it helps make your decision on doing this type of cruise. One suggestion, HAL has 26 combos of this sea-land cruise, do one that has at least 3 days in Denali, it is worth it. Any shorter and you miss things there.

We flew from Canada to Fairbanks USA and we did go thru US Customs in Fairbanks. It was the fastest Customs check that we have ever had coming into the US. Three agents for the aprox. 56 people on board, it went fast. If you did the trip the opposite direction you would probably go thru Canadian customs in Dawson also. When we took the White Pass train trip from Skagway to Fraser Canada before we got off the train and onto the buses, Canadian Customs came thru the train and looked at our passports.

Rick - You know that Flo and I are really enjoying your review and pictures. How were the hotel accommodations? Did you guys have meal vouchers or did you eat on "the economy"? I know you were on the buses quite a bit, but did they stop for picture ops or did you have to take pics while moving?

 

Thanks so much for putting this together. It will really be a help to us when we leave on August 16th.

 

Roll call is dead, so if anyone out there is planning to travel with us on the August 16th R2L:Seattle Gold Rush cruise/tour would love to hear from them.

Forgot to answer your other questions. On the buses we did get to stop for photo ops at scenic spots. We did try to shot thru the window at times and got some OK shots. But to tell the truth a lot of the scenery is the same and somewhat boring. The rides on the buses were not that bad and were comfortable. I am 6' 9'' tall and these type of rides can be tough on me, but not on these buses.

One note...on the train trip, which I liked very much, go down and get out on the platform between the trains for pics. It was tough shooting thru the doom glass. It gave us rainbow colors in some of our photos. The platforms between the cars are covered and some what protected and will allow you better shots from both sides. You can roam around the car with ease and that was very nice. Also have breakfast or lunch (or both) on the train, its very nice with good food. You just don't get that when traveling anymore like back in the 50's and 60's.

Our Roll Call was also DEAD, it had me and one other person who was trying to get enough posters to do a Meet & Greet on ship. It did not happen.

When you get done with your cruise we would love to get your schedule with times and dates to compare to our sea first cruise. Just curious on how the times in each town compare. Thanks.

rreedfam (at) Live (dot) com

What a fabulous review Rick (and Joyce). Great travelogue with marvellous pictures. Really enjoying it and want to say thanks for taking the time to do this.:)

Thanks, glad you are enjoying it. It's kind of fun doing it. We take a lot of pictures and it's a little tough deciding which few to put in this thread.

Rick - You know that Flo and I are really enjoying your review and pictures. How were the hotel accommodations? Did you guys have meal vouchers or did you eat on "the economy"? I know you were on the buses quite a bit, but did they stop for picture ops or did you have to take pics while moving?

 

Thanks so much for putting this together. It will really be a help to us when we leave on August 16th.

 

Roll call is dead, so if anyone out there is planning to travel with us on the August 16th R2L:Seattle Gold Rush cruise/tour would love to hear from them.

Ron, you are welcome.

I'm going to do a full post with pics on each of the hotels after the last post on Anchorage along with a summary of our eating experiences. Just about there. We did not buy the meal vouchers.

Day 10, 11, 12 Denali

We boarded a bus for a HAL tour to Gold Dredge #8 at 9:30am, for a short drive from the hotel. The Gold Dredge tour was very informative and enjoyable including seeing the Alaska Oil Pipeline along with a small train trip around the dredge site discussing the use of the dredge for mining gold in the area then finishing up with panning for gold. Yes, most everyone walked away with gold flakes. There are shops that you can view items including a large gold nugget that you can pick up. There were about 6-7 busses there at the same time but that did not deter us from this enjoyable tour. The dredge staff would even weigh and value the gold you panned with the ability to put it into jewelry to wear. There was free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies served in the shops. You had plenty of time to tour inside the dredge also.

After the dredge tour we went to Griffin Park in downtown Fairbanks for a lunch break on our own. We found a BBQ place, Big Daddy’s, a couple of blocks from the park and bought a sandwich to split back in the park. After an hour we headed out for Denali with a 2 ½ hour drive to get to McKinley Chalet Resort and our rooms. We had one restroom stop and a photo stop on the way. We got there about 5:30pm and received our packets with our room assignment in the Canyon Lodge. The resort has on-site free shuttle buses that travel around all the resort sites and generally are available every 15 minutes. There is a free shuttle to the National Park that leaves every ½ hour from in front of the main lodge and delivers you to two stops in the park, The Wilderness Access center and then the Visitor center in the park. There is also a free restaurant shuttle, that starts around 4:30pm, that goes around in a loop, to a number of restaurants including a Salmon Bake restaurant and the Princess Lodge near the McKinley lodge, we did not use it so not sure what other restaurants it stopped at. Since the weather was great we jumped the shuttle bus to the Wilderness Access center to investigate the possibility of doing a tour after our HAL sponsored Tundra tour the next day. We were not sure what the weather and viewing conditions would be on our HAL tour the next day. The Wilderness Center had current weather forecasts. Well….next day looked like it was going to be the best day for Denali viewing over the next two days so we deferred booking another one.

Alaska oil pipeline

Demonstration of gold mining techniques.

Gold Dredge #8

Rest stop on the way to Denali

On the road to Denali

Arrived at McKinley Chalet Resort in Denali

Day 9 Fairbanks

We were bused out at 8:00am to Dawson’s airport for our flight to Fairbanks at 9:00am. Very interesting since the runway is gravel and security is done on the tarmac with folding tables. Both groups A & B were bused to the airport and we boarded a 737 with only HAL cruisers getting on the plane. We got out of the bus, presented our carryon luggage which was inspected and then we were hand scanned with a metal detecting wand. It was a good quick 51 minute flight with beverage and snack service that was a very smooth flight. We gained an hour on this flight so we landed in Fairbanks about the same time as we took off from Dawson……. We got to the WestMark hotel around 10:00am and the rooms were available and our luggage was in the room when we got there.

We had planned on walking down to the river water front for pictures then taking the Blue bus for a tour of Fairbanks. The Transit Center is just a 4-5 blocks from the hotel and the river front park. We got off the bus at Super Center Walmart to buy some fruits and then got back on the bus to continue the tour around Fairbanks. There are Fairbanks bus schedules in the lobby of the hotel and the blue line goes in a big circle around Fairbanks. The Blue and Red line go in opposite directions around Fairbanks. By riding the Blue bus the bus stop was very close to the park entrance and it was nice to get a view of Fairbanks. Seniors get a discount so the fare for us was $1.00 each, pretty cool. We got off the bus in front of Pioneer Park which is like an open air museum that is free. There are some venues in the park that require a fee to get into the buildings. Lots of old cabins turned into shops. It used to be known as Alaska Land in previous years. At 5:00pm there is a Prime Rib, Salmon and Cod fish all you can eat dinner for $32.00/person on site. It has seating both outside or inside that was very good and since the weather was clear and warm we ate outside. The food was very good and enjoyable with many items to pick from along with beverages pop, coffee and tea included. Alcoholic beverages are extra. After a great dinner we walked out to the bus stop near the entrance of the park and took the bus back to the Transit Center then walked back to the hotel.

737 airplane from Dawson to Fairbanks.

Security check.

Griffin Park on the Chena River downtown Fairbanks.

Stern wheeler in Pioneer Park.

Church in Pioneer Park.

Street of old buildings and shops in Pioneer Park.

Hi Rick and Joyce,

 

Thanks for doing this. I'm loving the pictures and the commentary. Looking forward to following along.

 

Karen

Hey Karen, how are you? Have you done one of these HAL Sea-Land cruises?

We found no reviews on the HAL Sea-Land cruises that we thought we'd do one. Glad you are enjoying it. We are going to evaluate the hotels and eating establishments we used along with the HAL's available meal vouchers. More to come...:D

Rick & Joyce

Day 7 & 8 Dawson-Continued

Bank building visited on Canada Park walking tour.

Inside Bank building with tour guide.

Red Feather Saloon visited on walking tour.

Inside saloon.

Additional buildings in Dawson.

Old Post Office and Palace Theater across the street.

Rick,

 

Great review so far and Joyce's pictures are fantastic as usual! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip and seeing more pictures!!

 

Utahtea

Hey, give me credit for a few photos. :D Trying to get this done in the next day or so. Will have a link to our OneDrive photos we will send to you later.

Day 7 & 8 Dawson

This is the long 9 hr. bus trip day I was worried about. However, when we got on the bus at 8:00am I was pleasantly and happily surprised that there was ample leg room. See, I am 6’ 9’’ and knee room on busses and planes are normally lacking. HAL took some rows of seats out on these buses and gave all seats extra leg room, I was a happy camper! In addition, the bus was not full so many people could have two seats to themselves. It made the trip very relaxing and comfortable. During the drive we had numerous rest stops and scenic photo stops and in addition there was a rest room on the bus. The 9-hour drive seemed to go very quickly and was not tiring. We stopped at Minto Landing for lunch along the Yukon river which was part of the bus tour. We did see bald eagles, moose and one quick sighting of a bear that crossed the road in front of us. We arrived in Dawson at 5:30pm and our rooms were ready with our luggage arriving within 15 minutes. Walking around Dawson is easy and the buildings are very interesting with not much changing in their style since the Klondike gold rush days in the early 1900’s. The second day we were bused down to the Yukon river for a HAL sponsored cruise on the paddle wheeler Klondike for about an hour and half boat ride. The rest of the day was on our own touring the town. Canada Parks have free guided walking tours of the town that you can sign up for in their visitor center on Front Street down across from the paddle wheeler Keno that is on land.

That evening, 8:30pm, we took the HAL excursion Top of The Dome ride to view the surrounding area and town from the hill top above the town. The guided provided a talk on the surrounding areas where the gold rush occurred and the history behind it. Great views.

Braeburn Road House on bus ride to Dawson, first stop.

Minto Landing lunch stop.

Photo stop as we are getting closer to Dawson.

Buildings in Dawson.

Shops on Front street in Dawson.

Paddle wheeler, Klondike Spirit, used on our river trip in Dawson.

Day 6 Whitehorse

This day started with a train trip on the White Pass Train heading toward Whitehorse in Canada stopping in Fraser Canada. At 7:30am we bussed over to the train depot and boarded by 8:00am. This was an enjoyable trip that took about 2 + hours to Fraser were we got off and onto a HAL bus for the remaining drive into Whitehorse. We stopped off in Carcross and spent about 30 mins there going thru the shops and railroad depot and taking pictures of the steel railroad bridge. We had a couple of scenic stops for photos and got into Whitehorse about 2:30pm. We got our room packet at the WestMark hotel and our rooms were ready. Luggage showed up very quickly. We then took off and walked over to the Klondike paddle wheeler a few blocks away on the banks of the Yukon river, that is a Canadian Parks exhibit. The ship was open and it is free to walk around inside the ship. Very nicely displayed ship with a video in a tent a few yards away. We then took some time to go to the Super Store and buy some fruit and pop. That evening at the hotel we celebrated with a small 4th of July party for both groups on this tour, and in all places, Canada!

White Pass rail depot.

Train trip up White Pass.

Our busses at Carcross.

Emerald Lake on the way to Whitehorse.

Klondike paddle wheeler in Whitehorse.

Fourth of July party with Ben our host.

We just got done with a 14 day Sea-Land cruise on the Volendam with us getting off in Skagway after 3 days on ship. The cruise continued on ship for a total of 7 days round trip to and from Vancouver BC. There were only two of us on the Roll Call?????? The other party stayed on the ship and never get any activity on the Roll Call. We did a 22 days Med. cruise last year and had great activity with a Meet & Greet on ship that had 76 participants.......never know what will happen.

Day 4 & 5 Skagway Continued

We booked, thru HAL, the Haines Eagle Preserve Float Adventure for the 2nd day in Skagway. The hotel took us over to the railroad dock for a 7:30am trip on a boat to Haines. It was about a 45 minutes with great early morning sights. The rafting company was on the dock and directed us to a bus for a 15 min. drive to the raft launching point on the Chilkat River. There were 5 rafts with about 6 people in each raft. The river is a broad glacier feed silty river with many shallow gravel bars. Bald Eagles inhabit this area for the salmon runs. We saw some eagles during the float down the river but they were viewed from a distance and not real close. We had fun since our raft got hung up on at least 4 gravel bars which gave us a lot of exercise bouncing up and down on the raft to try and free it. The guide had to get out and push us off at least 3 of the gravel bars. It was not very deep so he was only in water up to his mid calves. They supplied a nice sandwich lunch at the end with hot coffee and chocolate. We bussed back to the harbor and took the 45 min cruise back to Skagway. The sun was out and we had some good photo opportunities of water falls in the mountains. That night (3rd of July) Skagway put on a Fourth of July fireworks display over the harbor after 11:30pm since it was still light at 11:00pm. It was a nice display and ran about a half hour.

Boat that travels between Skagway and Haines docked in Haines.

Getting pushed off gravel bar by guide on Chilkat River.

Bald Eagle

Water fall on boat trip back to Skagway.

Scenery on Lynn Canal coming into Skagway.

Fireworks in Skagway harbor.

Day 4 & 5- Skagway

This is the day we get off ship and start our Land portion of the cruise. We were required to meet in the Vista lounge at 7:30am. Luckily the Lido Buffet opened at 6:00am so we could get a “Last Meal” on board. We received a packet of information in our cabin the day before which had luggage tags and instructions on where to meet along with the schedule for the disembarkment day. We tagged our luggage and placed it in the hallway the night before. We would not see our luggage until we booked into the WestMark hotel in Skagway later that day. So it was important to make sure you carried all your medications and documents with you in a small backpack or something similar. There were enough people on this 14 day Sea-Land cruise that we were split up into two groups of about 26 people each, Y2C-A and Y2C-B. Our group (Y2C-A) of 26 boarded the bus and then were given a driving tour of Skagway with a stop at the old cemetery for a walking tour. We were then taken to the hotel were we could leave our carry-ons prior to getting into our rooms. We could not get into our rooms until 2:00pm so we were on our own until that time. We haven’t been to Skagway since 2007 on our first cruise so it was like being there for the first time. We would spend two nights in Skagway. We went over to the National park headquarters a block away and signed up for a free walking tour of Skagway which is given by a Ranger. They have these free tours starting from 9:00am thru the day. But it is first come first served with tickets so it is wise, depending on how many ships are in, to get your ticket early. The tours have about 16 people max per tour which is a nice group to deal with and each tour gets a different guide. We also walked over to the Yakutania Point west of the harbor. There is a bridge at the end of the airport runway that you cross to get to the trail. We then got photos of the Volendam across the harbor.

After the tour and walking around town we went to the Westmark Hotel and obtained our daily packet which had keys and an agenda that listed any excursions or events for the next two days. It also listed travel times, times to put our bags out in the hallway for pickup and times to meet for the bus ride in two days for travel to the next location. We got one of these packets at each hotel with all the info we needed for that location. There was a fact sheet in our Skagway packet from our host with Ben’s phone number so if we had any questions we could call him. He also would let us know what hours he would be available in the lobby of the hotel at the HAL activities desk for any help we needed and he was regularly available. Our luggage was in our room by the time we got our keys after 3:00pm.

On the HAL website it shows a luggage program called “Meet me in Anchorage/Skagway” were you can send forward a suitcase loaded with “cruise” relate clothes and items that you do not plan to use during the land portion of the trip. However, when we inquired at Skagway with our host as to when we could forward this suitcase Ben got a puzzled look and said that it would not happen until Fairbanks. Our suitcase with cruise clothes would continue with us for the full land portion. We saw no reason to forward the suitcase to Anchorage from Fairbanks when we got there since at that point it was nearly the end of the tour. It did not really bother us that much keeping the suitcase because all the luggage was handled/loaded by HAL and we did not have to carry it that much. It allowed us to add additional items to it that we did not need during the land portion. This is specific to our cruise and it may be handled differently with other HAL Land-Sea cruises.

Docking in Skagway.

Bus used for tour of Skagway and delivery to WestMark hotel.

Skagway entry signs.

Klondike Gold National Park building-Skagway

Volendam from Yakutania Point Trail.

Downtown Skagway.

Looking forward to the rest of your posts! We leave on the Y2C on NA soon. I am wondering if you could please give your opinion on how taxing the land portion was? We are a group of ten, two of whom have some acute medical issues that have arisen since booking - they have been cleared to travel by their doctors, but we are trying to convince them to stay on the ship Vancouver to Vancouver (assuming their booking can be changed), rather than disembark in Skagway with the rest of us and do the land portion. Thank you!

The trip is not physically taxing. You will not have to handle moving the suitcases to the bus or back, HAL handles all of that. All one will need is a small back pack for meds docs, rain gear and layers to put on or off as need be.

We had a lady in a wheel chair on our trip and she was accommodated every where we went. She could walk up the stairs in the bus if need be and we all helped her do that as needed. Some buses had wheel chair lifts and she would use them if available. At stops that we took on the long bus tours one could get off if need be or stay on board. Long walks are not part of the daily itinerary. We were bussed to all of our departure points so there was no long walks needed. There are restaurants in each of the hotels and feedback from people that used them was good. You don't need to walk blocks to find something to eat. The bus trip from Whitehorse to Dawson was not as long as I anticipated with many stops for photos and restrooms. I would not want to miss the train trip from Denali to Anchorage which was a GREAT trip and very comfortable.

I am not real sure HAL could change their schedule and allow them to stay on the ship back to Vancouver this late. HAL may have their cabins already assigned to cruisers getting on board from other land tours after you get off in Skagway. Do check with HAL to see if this is possible.

I would say have them stick with the land tour it was great.

Rick: Pictures are fantastic! Showed my wife, Flo, pic of your meal in the Pinnacle and she said she now knows what she will order!

 

We will not be stopping in Juneau, but pick up the ship in Skagway and go to Glacier Bay and Ketchikan before returning Vancouver.

 

Was there a salmon cookout on the Lido Deck Pool area while you were onboard. I am not sure HAL even does that any more.

 

Keep 'em coming, Brother!:D

Ron,

More coming!

The picture of our meals in the Pinnacle does not do my 16 oz bone-in rib-eye justice. It was a great piece of meat. We asked if the Halibut was fresh and were told as of that day they had a new delivery of fresh halibut! Note of caution, make sure you order your fish how you want it cooked just like a steak. Joyce did not and it came in over cooked and very dry. Some people like it that way but we prefer fish undercooked slightly and not dry. When asked how the dinner was we said the Halibut was over cooked and they promptly provided another piece that was cooked just right with juices dripping from the piece, excellent service.

We did not see any salmon cook out on the Lido while we were there. We have experienced this back in 2007 with salmon and Caesar salad. But the last cruise we did in 2014 for 14 days the only salmon fry we saw was by the inside Lido pool on the 4th of July. They could have done it after we got off the ship after 3 days.

Rick