oaktreerb

I’ve been on a lot of HAL cruisetours and I coordinated one for myself including Alyeska and Kantishna in Denali. This summer I’ll be on the first of the 28 day Alaska cruises that sails all the way to Nome. Anytime HAL offers something new I want to try it. This year I’m already booked. The Dhl (Denali/Homer/Land first) is a new cruise tour itinerary and to have an overnight in Homer would be special. The Dhl is a 14 day itinerary. That is the one I would choose. You’ll have two nights at each location. Homer is beautiful with plenty to see and do. Two nights in Denali is plenty unless you have a lot of things you want to do there. Alyeska is a beautiful resort but better if you have a car for transportation. Homer will keep you active for two days or you can just relax and enjoy the beauty all around. HAL puts a lot of thought into developing new itineraries. This one should be good.

Can you book a balcony on the Princess ship? In Glacier Bay the ship will turn port/starboard so that you will be able to see the glacier from your balcony if it’s raining. If it’s a sunny day you can view from outside decks. Just be sure to have warm clothing, gloves, and a warm hat to pull down over your ears.

Did you have an option to waitlist for the ship excursion? Which ship are you on and when will you be in Skagway? The distance to the train depends on where your ship is docked. There are four locations the ORE dock, Broadway dock, and two Railroad dock locations which have been affected by the rockslide in that area.

Neptune Suites and Pinnacle Suites also have priority.

Which hotels does NCL use? This is a one sided discussion of Princess lodging. Maybe OP should ask this question on the NCL board for NCL land tour experiences in Alaska.

Princess has the best experience with their own lodges and the best docking locations for the cruise portion of your trip. The Princess Denali Lodge is near the national park visitor’s center and they have free busses running all day to and from, it’s also walkable. The Princess lodge outside Talkeetna is nice but not near activities unless you book an excursion. Princess uses the Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage. Nice hotel, great location.

Hilton is good, the Captain Cook is very nice. Where do you catch the shuttle? Does your cruise line have a hotel that they use along with a transfer to the ship?

Hubbard Glacier is a huge glacier. Holland America charges less ($299) for the small boat excursion from the cruise ship. You can look at the website for the Kenai Fjords tours. On a beautiful, sunny day I would choose Kenai Fjords for the beautiful scenery. It is much more than glacier viewing. We took the 6 hour tour. It’s hard to predict the weather if you want to book in advance.

Tundra Wilderness Tour vs Kantishna? Kantishna is out past the landslide/construction on the park road. Does Princess offer a flight excursion to Kantishna? That could be interesting.

The last thing I want to do on a cruise is wait for a machine to do my laundry. We were on a smaller, upscale cruise line that had a self service laundry. Waiting for a machine, waiting for someone to come back to retrieve their clothing out of the washer or dryer, wondering if we should remove someone’s laundry or restart the dryer if the clothes weren’t dry! Back to apartment living!

We have seen the entertainers coming and going from those rooms (like the singers and dancers). I’m pretty sure there are two assigned to each room.

Holland America will dock right in town in both Juneau and Ketchikan. The Noordam is a nice ship with plenty of inside areas for scenic viewing. The ship will open the bow in Glacier Bay and will stop in front of the glacier as it turns from port to starboard so everybody gets a good view even from the balconies. Skagway will be right in town for both cruise lines although HAL usually gets the best locations.

OP hadn’t indicated the cruise line and it was a leading question. OP indicated it was Princess. I’ve been there on HAL several years ago and ISP is a very nice port. We walked to Hoonah. ISP is welcoming a lot of cruise lines.

I made my Pinnacle reservations today for the same Alaska Solstice cruise. I was on my desk top. I went into our booking, selected itinerary, and dining, selected the day, the Pinnacle, chose a time, checked agree, went to the shopping bag, and it gave me my 2 HIA free dinners. I also have it confirmed by e-mail. I didn’t check any other dates. Maybe the date you chose was reserved for a special occasion menu. (?)

You can use the back arrow to check other categories but it is a cumbersome process.

I just made reservations in the Pinnacle for our June Alaska cruise. I went in through the itinerary page of our booking. Two weeks ago our cruise was not accepting dining reservations. I selected the itinerary, the day, then dining, I chose the pinnacle, then chose my time, checked the agree box, and it went to my cart and gave me my promo rate with HIA (0). Our final payment is early February.

Go to the National Park website. nps.gov select Denali. You will find road conditions and opening dates for the camper busses that go out into the park past the ranger station. I’ve only stayed at the McKinley Chalets which has bus transportation to the park visitor center if you decide to take the train. You will have more options if you rent a car.

It’s too early for Denali. Spend your pre cruise time in Seward, Alyeska/Girdwood, Turnagain Arm area. There’s plenty to do. Kenai Fjords, Exit Glacier, Sealife Center, Wildlife Conservation Center, etc,

You may want to book a cruise that goes into Glacier Bay National Park. The park rangers will come onboard and you will probably experience the calving of the glaciers. If you have a balcony, you can sit on your balcony for a close up view as the ship rotates from port to starboard. Warm clothing, gloves, and ear warming head covering will be necessary. A warm blanket is provided in each stateroom.

Holland America ships have a forward looking Crows Nest for inside comfort when viewing the glaciers and other scenic areas. There are a lot of public viewing windows throughout the ship.

If you book your cruise with a PCC or HAL rep this becomes a one-step process for you. Call your PCC and select your stateroom, add club orange, and you are billed for the lowest priced stateroom within that meta category. Both the PCC and TA have to call to confirm that CO is available.

OP asked about the “ports”. The ports who welcome the ships will welcome the tourists and have plenty of activities and excursions to keep those tourists busy. It doesn’t sound like they will be doing a land tour.

Steve kroschel’s wildlife center if it is a ship excursion. No private tours. Hammer Museum is interesting. Haines is very walkable.

Alaska is all about tourism from May to September. All cruise lines will sell you excursions or you can plan your own. Glacier Bay entry is restricted so if you want to see the national park glaciers you would need to choose a cruise line that goes there. Hubbard Glacier is a huge glacier. Whale watching is favorable around Juneau/Icy Strait. Skagway has Gold Rush national park history. Ketchikan has Creek Street and the Bering Sea fisherman’s tour. Sitka is amazingly beautiful and has a Russian influence. There are a couple of books eg. Alaska by Cruise Ship for research.