Natural History Tour Refund

[jwjwht]

My wife and I are taking a Princess cruisetour starting July 29. The Natural History Tour is part of the land package. After reading many posts extolling how bad this tour is and recommendations to take the shuttle instead, I contacted my TA to get a refund. She called Princess and was told I could do whatever I wanted but they would give no refund on the NHT. Any suggestions?

[cactusrose]

Instead of mentioning a refund, why not ask if you can upgrade to the Tundra Tour?

[jwjwht]

I would be satisified to do the switch but Princess says they the NPS won't let them book Tundra Tours.

[cactusrose]

What or who is the NPS?

[Smnol]

I also read about the Natural History Tour in Denali on these threads. We did not want to do that. So, I booked us on the Tundra Wilderness Tour through Denali National Park itself. Meanwhile, we called our TA, and instead of asking for a refund, we asked if we could apply our NHT fee towards an extra night's lodging in Fairbanks, which we needed to do because we get there a day earlier. Their reply was "yes", so that is what we did. Maybe you could do something like that and ask to apply your fee towards an excursion offered through the cruise line at one of the ports. Just a suggestion, and hope it helps.

[SharB]

What or who is the NPS?

 

National Park Service ?

[jwjwht]

What or who is the NPS?

 

NPS = National Park Service

[Budget Queen]

Perhaps contact Princess directly or the Denali Princess. There WERE reports of the Natural History tour being refunded by posters???

 

For clairfication- I NEVER recommend booking the Tundra Wilderness tour independent. The Toklat SHUTTLE goes to the SAME mile- 53 at $18.50 compared to $74 for the TOUR bus. SAME buses too. The only difference is a few more stories and a box lunch. :) Princess is not upgrading any Natural History tours that I know of??? Remember also that the Park fee of $10 is added, so IF you book any other bus, tell them you have already been charged the fee- IF you do not get any refunds from Princess, otherwise add $10 to the above when booking independent.

 

IF you can't get any refund, I would still suggest the Toklat Shuttle anyway. Last one leaves at 3pm which won't work if you are coming from Anchorage by train. The problem with the short tour add ons is usually you can't fit anything else in. :) As evidenced above, you really need to do your homework, ANY WAY you go to Alaska, even though the cruisetours present themselves as inclusive, there are significant differences that many people just don't realize.