Alaska cruise tours

[BZEKE]

I am planning to take a cruise tour next year and some info is hard to get. I am hoping someone could fill in some facts.

 

What hotels are used by HA in Anchorage, Fairbanks?

 

Are any of the meals included?, Also are there any restaurants conveniently near by hotels ?

 

When you are at the Denali lodge are you on your own or do you need to take a HA tour?

 

Also does the glacier discovery cruise take the inland passage from Ketchikan or go outside

as I hear some now do?

 

Thanks

Bob

[jtl513]

I am planning to take a cruise tour next year and some info is hard to get. I am hoping someone could fill in some facts.

 

What hotels are used by HA in Anchorage, Fairbanks?

Most likely the Westmarks, as they are owned by HAL. If they're full you may be put somewhere else.

 

Are any of the meals included?, Also are there any restaurants conveniently near by hotels ?

We did Cruise-Tour #14, and the only meals included were a lunch at the Fairbanks Gold Dredge and a lunch in Wasila on the bus ride to Seward. Other C-Ts may offer other meals, or a meal package. You have to read the various descriptions. In Fairbanks there were restaurants both in the hotel and within a reasonable walk. We did not stay in Anchorage.

 

When you are at the Denali lodge are you on your own or do you need to take a HA tour?

Our C-T package included the Tundra Wilderness bus ride into the park, and there other optional excursions available, both HAL and 3rd-party.

 

Also does the glacier discovery cruise take the inland passage from Ketchikan or go outside as I hear some now do?

If you mean the lower part of the I.P., cruises starting and/or ending in Seattle will most like go on the west side of Vancouver Island, while cruises starting/ending in Vancouver will most likely go on the east side. I don't know specifically about the "Discovery" cruise.

 

Thanks

Bob

Enjoy the Great Land! :)

[agabbymama]

We did a HAL Yukon Wilderness cruisetour. And like jtl513 says, most meals were not included. We had Miner's Stew lunch at the Gold Dredge in Fairbanks. Another buffet style lunch on the way to Dawson City and a sandwich & chips lunch on the Yukon Riverboat on the way to Eagle Alaska. At Denali we had an afternoon Tundra Wilderness Tour getting back to the lodge at 11:00 pm. Then I had signed up for Jeff King's Husky Homestead Tour the next morning through HAL. But you were pretty much on your own if you wanted to be.

 

There was a meal plan offered, but we didn't take it because we thought we could eat cheaper than the meal plan. But they pretty much have a captive audience, so we ended up spending just as much if not more than the meal plan would have been. And that was even doing some grocery shopping in Skagway to have munchies on the train and coach. There aren't a lot of stops for lunch. You get a good breakfast at the hotel before you depart, then maybe a cinnamon bun (the largest I've ever seen), or ice cream, or cookies and a quick cup of chili at one stop. Then it's a long time until dinner at 5:30 or 6:00 in the evening. So definitely plan to have some kind of munchies for while you are on the coach.

My sister-in-law is diabetic, so she had crackers, cheese, apples, etc. that we bought in Skagway.

 

And plan twice as much as you would pay in the Lower 48 for meals. I don't usually eat for $15 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner. Just be forewarned and plan accordingly.

[Jemima]

How much luggage can you have?

Are there vegetarian options for provided meals/snacks?

Are there vegetarian options at the hotel restaurants?

Excluding cruise fare & taxes, how does spending compare for cruise day vs. tour day?

Can you stay in jeans and sweaters/tops/jackets during the whole land tour portion or do you have to dress up more at times ?

Are you with the same group of people during the whole land tour?

Pros and cons of cruise tour vs. just doing a 14 day cruise?

Any reason to choose land tour as second rather than first part of cruise tour?

[jtl513]

I don't think there's any limit on the number of bags. We took three for two people, and sent one on ahead to the ship from our first land hotel. (We did land first.) For our tour, the bags did not go on our bus, but were shipped separately by truck. Each morning that we were moving to a new place we put the bags out in the hall and got on the bus. They always beat us to the next place, and we in the room when we got there.

 

I didn't pay any attention to whether there were vegetarian choices or not.

 

We only did four land nights, two at Fairbanks and two at Denali, and there was no need to dress up.

 

Just about anything you buy in AK is around 50% to 75% more than I would spend for it at home in FL.

 

We were with the same group until we got to the ship. One bus load.

 

The plus of the land tour is you get to see more of the real AK than most tourist-ified ports. The mountain scenery is much different than what you get on a ship ... especially Denali.

 

I recommend doing the land part first because that's more "work" if you will, changing hotels and eating different places. Cruising afterward is much more relaxing.