TRIP REPORT- HAL Y5L Land&Sea Zuiderdam May 28

My family of 10 embarked on the HAL Land and Sea Y5L tour Southbound from Anchorage to Vancouver on May 28. Weather was very overcast and light rain most of the time. few sunny days but it was a great experience! We had the Explore4 package, Meal plan and booked thru AAA. the one thing about our land and sea tour, we did not realize just HOW much traveling we would be doing. if u arent patient/comfortable sitting on a bus/train for 6-8 hrs a day, dont pick this tour. but alaska/yukon is huge and its the only way to see everything. i was traveling with a 2 yr old as well- most of our needs were met for him (pack and play) but i did have to ask at a few hotels to get one and it was a lot of work to keep him occupied and not bother other travelers. the ship itself didnt have much for him to do. HAL very good with transporting luggage along the way but lots of luggage tags u have to fill out and have bags out early AM before departure. pack light!

May 28- We arrived a "day" early in Anchorage at 12:30PM and stayed at the Hilton. We used Shuttleman for our airport transfer since HAL doesnt do transfers after midnight. Modest accomodations, good location in the city. Breakfast at Snow City Cafe was awesome. Visited Ulu Factory, did the Portage Glacier tour through Greyline Tours. excellent exursion to see Turnagain Arm, Glacier, and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Met our Land Tour Director Amanda- absolutely sweet and amazing girl! she did a lot to help us out on the whole land portion of the trip. Had dinner at Glacier Brewhouse- amazing. make a reservation.

May 29- Embarked to Denali Natl Park on the McKinley Explorer Train. Very scenic, (long) nice trip. meals were a little slow on train but good.

did the Husky Homestead excursion- it was rainy but very fun to see pups. Jeff King definitely is a little full of himself.. he won the iditarod like 10 yrs ago and still glotes about it. Accomodations at McKinley chalet were nice- but not much activities to do at actual resort. rooms far and downhill from main building- shuttle comes often. food was great at chalet. also ate across the st at Prospectors pizza and the Salmon Bake restaurant closer to Princess Lodge. expensive but fresh good food.

May 30- Had 7am Tundra Wilderness tour in Denali. a rainy day again but we saw at least 20 grizzly bears, some even walked up to our bus. it was amazing. driver said he hadn't seen that many bear in a long time, we were lucky. he didnt drive us out to eilson center which everyone says has better views. only up to Toklat center but McKinley was completely covered in clouds anyway.

May 31- Took shuttle back to Denali to hike on our own until our 2pm Departure to Fairbanks. definitely take time to explore the park if u can, its beautiful. about 3 hr motorcoach to fairbanks.. it wasn't a great city and there was a power outage at the Westmark when we arrived due to high winds. staff did their best to accomodate us until it came back on. we arrived so late (dinner time) that didnt feel like doing much in fairbanks. kind of felt more like a "layover" to Dawson and wasted trip. Our meal plan started at dinner in fairbanks. food wasn't the best in hotel.

June 1- Flight from fairbanks to Dawson. easy flight 1 hr. Dawson very neat town to walk around. Westmark is rustic but neat. restaurant is good, large portions. had lunch at Sourdough Joes- good halibut and chips. Went to the Downtown Hotel for a Sourtoe shot at 9pm with our tour group. fun saloon.

June 2- motorcoach to Whitehorse. very very long ride. but plenty of stops along way. didn't feel as bad as we expected but exhausting trip. stop in Minto for chili was good. Whitehorse not much of an exciting town either. had meals in hotel- was ok food, large portions. signed up for frantic follies show so that we had something to do. very corny show but fun i guess. after traveling for almost 8 hrs earlier that day we were ready for bed early.

June 3- back in the motorcoach for another few hrs drive to Fraser. nice stops along the way. boarded white pass train for nice scenic ride to skagway. transition was easy but we had an excursion booked at 1:30 for Glacier Point Wilderness safari so we didnt board right away. excursion was fantastic but rainy day again. we had great boat ride to the point, boarded a school bus, met the guys that live on the isolated point, were fitted w rain gear, (barely) canoed up to glacier, walked around and came back. saw a ton of sea lions. neat exprience. def bring mosquito spray! boarded boat, had dinner in main dining room. not much of an introduction to boat- had to learn our way around. we were surprised with an upgraded to a Neptune Suite. absolutely fantastic.

June 4- cruised glacier bay- absolutely stunning and beautiful day finally. had the signature bev package- being able to order drinks whenever was great. we never maxed out- plenty of options.

June 5- stopped in Ketchikan. signed up for Halibut Hunt excursion. was early season but it was a beautiful sunny day on the water and we caught 1 halibut, 2 rockfish. fed a wild eagle one of our fish. my husband did the bering sea crabboat and loved it- they fed a whole pack of bald eagles as well- at least 50!

June 6- cruised inside passage. had dinner at Pinnacle Grill. absolutely amazing King Crab legs. a must visit.

June 7- disembarked ship and had a 1pm flight out of Vancouver. back to philadelphia :(

my personal opinion- i loved the trip, but i wish we could have picked an itinerary that saw more of the alaskan coast. we picked this one bc my father is into the gold rush/ice road truckers scene but we got into the towns so late no one wanted to do anything there. but it was neat to see the gold rush trail and untouched nature. will def be back!

Thanks for taking the time to write up a trip report. Lots of helpful information.

Sounds like you had a good time, although the cruisetour may not have been the best fit for you. I think a lot of people are surprised how much time is spent in transit on cruisetours.

Since it was geared towards your dad's interests .... did he enjoy it?

What was the trip highlight for you?

Yes I believe my dad enjoyed it- he is a traditional,mountain man. isnt into anything fancy. his favorites were the Bering Sea Crab boat and seeing the Bears in Denali.

My mom is the one that organized the trip based on our AAA agent's recommendations. She has been wanting to go to a Alaska for a long time so she was quick to book it.. I didnt have much of a chance to research other itineraries haha.

For me- my favorites were Denali National Park, the Fishing in Ketchikan was fun, and the Glacier Point Excursion in Skagway was a really neat opportunity. Just being in Alaska and taking in all the beauty and calmness of nature was ultimately the highlight.

Thanks for the review, we leave in 15 days, can't wait.

Sent from my DROIDX using Forums mobile app

Great report! Could you tell me about the lunch on the Tunda Wilderness Tour. I recall reading that it was more a "snack" and that it might be a good idea to order a box lunch to take along. Thanks.

Thanks for writing and sharing such a good report.

Keith

I am a bit confused. :confused:

I have a photo of the Zuiderdam docked in Vancouver on May 31 that was taken as we left on our Coral Princess cruise. If you zoom in you can easily read the name on the back of the ship.

Does the Zuiderdam just do short 4 day cruises?

I am a bit confused. :confused:

 

I have a photo of the Zuiderdam docked in Vancouver on May 31 that was taken as we left on our Coral Princess cruise. If you zoom in you can easily read the name on the back of the ship.

Does the Zuiderdam just do short 4 day cruises?

If you read the trip report, they boarded the ship in Skagway and cruised to Vanc. So yes, HAL has a cruisetour in either direction that has an abbreviated cruise time.

Thanks for the report!

I am a bit confused. :confused:

 

I have a photo of the Zuiderdam docked in Vancouver on May 31 that was taken as we left on our Coral Princess cruise. If you zoom in you can easily read the name on the back of the ship.

 

Does the Zuiderdam just do short 4 day cruises?

 

Yes, HAL does a shortened cruise 3 days or 4 days, but then add days on land tour. They call it a "cruisetour". Unlike Princess that does the 7 day cruise + days on land.

I did a HAL cruisetour leaving from Vancouver, sailed for 3 days, then debarked in Skagway and spent 8 days on land going up into the Yukon and interior Alaska for $2750 pp. The Princess tour with 7 day cruise plus 8 days on land was $4400 pp. I think the shortened cruise on HAL made the difference in the price.

There are many variations on HAL, they do 1 night stops, 2 night stops, etc. You just have to really read the itinerary closely to decide which is best for you. The 3 days on the cruise suited us as I was more interested in the land portion.

Hal does 7 day cruise tours also. I'm doing one on the 24th. One day in Anchorage and two in Denali then 7 days on the cruise ship, Seward to Vancouver.