tvl4life

Much too crowded for us, we will not sail on HAL again as a result.  Thankfully we have a balcony to retreat to!

6 hours ago, les37b said:

There is clearly different marketing and inclusions going on depending from which country your booking is made. 
 

Certainly from the UK the post above is accurate in that if you have D2D you will be booked on the train. If you have booked P2P interestingly, you are still given the transfer but on the bus. We did a Seward arrival 6 months ago but we had Americans in the roll call who were D2D and had to pay extra to get on the charter.

 

In the event, the train got cancelled and we were forced to take the coach… which while pleasant, is no match for the train route, which I agree takes a similar path, is a fair bit different and of course you miss the ability to take photos as you are seated and the results would be poor and ability to video go out the window.

 

We also missed 3 ports on our voyage and then the train. Anyone who paid extra for the train excursion were “generously” offered a refund for the fare that was cancelled. Everyone else got zilch. Yet another reason I dislike D2D. We certainly didn’t get what we paid for.

 

On a side note. The charter pulls in right next to the ships berth and is a simple 100 yard walk from train to ship through the security building. The train does not appear on the AR timetable and the AR scheduled journey is from Seward station, not the port which the charter uses. It’s a very nice touch and resonates with the D2D concept.

 

 

i made 100% sure before our voyage that what was shown in my.silversea would happen and was on the train. I noticed the AR timetable didn’t start until 3 days after our arrival… but was reassured it’s a charter and nothing to worry about … we were definitely on the train. When out ticketing was issued 2 weeks before departure, it didn’t mention the train but said it was dealt with locally via Alaskan tours. I phoned them and they confirmed they only dealt with coaches. Armed with this, SS still insisted we were 100% on the train. On the day of boarding, an email was sent out (to TA) that the train had been cancelled due to “logistic” reasons.  So after all the assurances, I suspect this train wasn’t even booked because the lines didn’t reopen for 3 days after our schedule. It was meant to be a highlight, but ended being our biggest disappointment and despite pressing, we never did get the answer to what logistical reasons actually really meant which in itself was very telling.

Thanks to both of you for the responses!  Well, I checked the booking details, and it does note "coach."  We are D2D and were hoping for the train.  I guess I'll check with our agent on alternatives.  Sorry to hear your train option was such a mess!

On 12/15/2023 at 7:47 PM, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

We are flying to ANC June 4th, staying at Marriot Downtown (not as part of SS), and taking train to Seward on 6th to board S Muse.  (Our first Alaska trip!)  Marriot hotel, I believe, is also used by SS, so hoping maybe can get pick up by SS for trip to airport to catch the train.  (Seems odd, no? - train leaves from airport?)  Otherwise, guess we'll take cab.  We're doing a 14 day B2B, returning to Seward, and also taking train back to ANC on our return.  Am glad to hear train gets in by 1pm, as we fly out at 5pm.  (We pay SS for the choo choo transfers, both ways; the alternate is a bus, which is included in base cruise price.  No thanks!)

 

While this is not the Alaska RR Coastal Classic per se, it travels the same route.  My understanding is that SS pax are all in a car or cars provided by SS, other cruise lines are in other cars.  It appears on both June 6th (our embark) and June 20th (our disembark), from What's in Port? website, Silver Muse is only cruise ship in Seward those days, so maybe have whole train to ourselves.  Pop that champagne!!  

We have D2D booked.  If that only includes the bus, how does one go about booking the train?  I haven't seen any details about this, we sail in July, so maybe it is too soon.  Thanks much for the input!

Thank you everyone!  This is very helpful and will give us food for thought.  

This information is so helpful, thank you everyone.  What are the P2P restricted benefits mentioned?  We are considering Silversea but have not sailed with them, so are trying to understand the ins and outs of D2D and P2P.  Thanks!!

Does anyone know if NA Beer is available? Many thanks.

we tendered in Gozo, Sorrento, Lipari and one other. I cant even remember. The only really rough one was Gozo. Most people didn't make it off the ship. We were lucky

Thanks for the helpful information - we will plan accordingly.

We had a transfer from hotel to port included But when we went from ship to airport we used Civitavecchia Car Service and they were great. Highlights were Capri with Tours of Capri (just posted review on Trip Advisor) and Valletta with My Maltese Guide (Ingrid was amazing!). Did a couple of ship excursions, Gozo 4x4 was fun, our guide for Erice was not good at all and the hiking the Volcano was fantastic but not for the faint of heart. There are 4 ports where you tender and they can be precarious, so stay flexible just in case you have to change plans Best advice I can give is to try and meet people on line and set up some private tours. We LOVED all the people we met through Cruise Critic and it made the trip extra special for us. We also did a great food tour in Rome that went through Jewish Ghetto, campo di Fiore and Piazza Navonna

So nice to see you enjoyed this cruise! We will be doing this same itinerary this month - can you advise which ports required the tender? Thanks much!

thank you.

On a related note, can anybody advise what time you must depart the ship in Civitavecchia?

thank you all for the helpful responses.

Has anyone rented one of the Alcoves that can comment on if they are furnished with sun loungers? It looks like there is seating furniture, but not necessarily something to be used for sun lounging. Thanks.

Appreciate the responses - thanks!

Does anyone know if Windstar offers any special incentives to book future cruises while on board? We will be on a Windstar cruise in November and are looking at a 2015 Summer cruise. Just wondering if there is any advantage to waiting until we are on board to book. We've sailed Windstar before, but never paid any attention to on board bookings. Thanks for any insight.

We did this cruise in 2012 and really enjoyed it. It is quite some distance from the airport to the port, making transportation expensive. We stayed at the Villa Caletas post cruise (which was wonderful) and the concierge arranged all transportation for us, which seemed more reasonable than ala carte. We arranged a private tour at Manuel Antonio National Park with Johan Chaves, a wonderful nature tour guide. Can't say enough about how great the day was with Johan and the cost was less than the tour through Windstar. His email is: johanchaves@yahoo.com.mx. Enjoy your vacation!