Trying to Decide on Which Alaska Cruise/Tour

[mllewis48]

Sounds cool but the only bad part is cruises out of Seattle do not go up the inter-coastal so your return to Seattle would be in the North Pacific from Ketchikan. Two days in Denali is nice unless you hike or backpack then a third day may work. The bus trip from Fairbanks to Denali is about 4 hours tops.

 

 

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[mllewis48]

I stand corrected the R1L starts in Seattle, fly to Fairbanks but you end up in Vancouver, BC so you would have the inter coastal portion which is nice.

 

 

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[summersigh]

Easier said than done though as my TA thinks HAL will charge an extra $400 for the hotel. My TA thinks we would be better off taking the D6 instead of the D5 and to do the cruise portion first. This allows us to fly home easy. My TA also mentioned the land portion is pretty relaxed and a great way to end a vacation. We still haven't decided on what we will do.

 

It's been awhile but when we Cruisetoured HAL in Alaska we did the land portion first. Our TA booked the flight through HAL and we were able to have the flight into Anchorage 4 days before meeting the land portion of Cruisetour. We had a rental car and booked our own stay in a Best Western Hotel for the 4 days. The day we were to start the Cruisetour we returned the rental car and joined our group at the Hilton downtown.

[Cornishpastyman1]

My wife and I are considering taking an Alaska cruise tour on HAL. They offer several options and we are not sure which one to pick. We like option D5 as it isn't too long and allows us to take the cruise first and then to the land portion.

 

We are considering the cruise/tour to see Alaska and take a few pictures. We are not looking to scale a glacier, fish for salmon or do anything super adventurous. Taking the cruise and the train is pretty much up our speed. We are city dwellers and not great outdoors people.

 

We are open to other cruise tours if anyone has any pointers. My TA doesn't handle cruise tours and pretty much left me on my own for this vacation.

In case it helps or is of interest this was my recent Inside Passage cruise out of Vancouver. All the best, Tony http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2085124

Edited September 4, 2014 by Cornishpastyman1

[northernphoenix]

I just spoke with someone from at HAL and they recommend we take the R1L which is a 14 day cruise tour leaving and returning from Seattle. They said you fly to Seattle and then spend the night and fly to Fairbanks the next day. The only bad part of the tour is you spend three nights in the national park instead of two. I'm thinking we will not have anything to do the extra day there. The person at HAL did say most people prefer to do the land portion first.

 

 

Day 1 is partially used with travel, Day 2 is likely the Tundra Wilderness Tour, and day 3 for additional excursion. Three days in Denali worked perfectly for us.

Marilyn

 

 

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[bvocruise]

Day 1 is partially used with travel, Day 2 is likely the Tundra Wilderness Tour, and day 3 for additional excursion. Three days in Denali worked perfectly for us.

Marilyn

 

 

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Thank you for the information. I find the land portion a bit confusing as there is not a lot of information about it on the website.

[mllewis48]

I'll try to help since we just returned from this trip. We started in Fairbanks on day 1 and travelled by bus to Denali and arrived around 1:00 primarily due to construction. It usually takes less time. There is time day 1 at Denali to schedule an excursion. If you stay 2 days the day 2 would be the Tundra Wilderness Tour(10 hours). If you stay a third day you can plan more excursions or just visit the area around the McKinley Chalet. Regardless the next day you will travel by train to Anchorage(8 hours). We stayed at Captain Cook downtown, very nice. The next day you will again travel by train to Seward(5 hours) where you will board the ship. In Seward at the train stop the ship is only 100 yards away. In all stops HAL handles your luggage and delivers it to your room. As in the case if many things with HAL it is very well organized. Again as I said earlier I wish we would have stayed in Denali 2 days, 3 may be a bit much unless you choose to hike in the park ?

 

 

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[bvocruise]

I'll try to help since we just returned from this trip. We started in Fairbanks on day 1 and travelled by bus to Denali and arrived around 1:00 primarily due to construction. It usually takes less time. There is time day 1 at Denali to schedule an excursion. If you stay 2 days the day 2 would be the Tundra Wilderness Tour(10 hours). If you stay a third day you can plan more excursions or just visit the area around the McKinley Chalet. Regardless the next day you will travel by train to Anchorage(8 hours). We stayed at Captain Cook downtown, very nice. The next day you will again travel by train to Seward(5 hours) where you will board the ship. In Seward at the train stop the ship is only 100 yards away. In all stops HAL handles your luggage and delivers it to your room. As in the case if many things with HAL it is very well organized. Again as I said earlier I wish we would have stayed in Denali 2 days, 3 may be a bit much unless you choose to hike in the park ?

 

 

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Thank you for the information. I think we do want two nights in the park. We might want tow nights in Fairbanks also becuase of boat ride and other activities.

[summersigh]

Day 1 is partially used with travel, Day 2 is likely the Tundra Wilderness Tour, and day 3 for additional excursion. Three days in Denali worked perfectly for us.

Marilyn

 

Day 1 - afternoon - Denali National Park has a great natural history museum and we went across the street from the lodge for a salmon dinner

 

Day 2 - all day - Tundra Tour into the park and later cocktails on the lodge terrace

 

Day 3 - morning - we went to a dogsled demonstration by park rangers

 

You can see we easily filled the "3 days" at Denali. We loved it!!

[bvocruise]

It looks like we will do the D3L (land first). This tour gives us everything we want and allows us to take a cool tour in Fairbanks. I appreciate all of the suggestions and input from everyone.

[chrismch]

Glad to hear you decided on the land tour first. We just returned from the land/sea cruise on Monday. We flew into Fairbanks first, the next day we did the Discovery boat and then took the bus to Denali. Did the Tundra tour the next day which was great. The train ride to Anchorage was informative and fun. The train ride to Anchorage was even better - got to see mountain glaciers! Happy to have the next seven days on the cruise - on my own schedule. Did an extra night in Vancouver at the end. Had a direct flight home from there.

[serendipity1499]

I am with a couple of others here -- do the land portion first and then the cruise. The days can be long on the land portion. Doing it first gives you the chance to rest up on the ship before flying home.

Haven't looked at the various tours but I would choose one where after the land portion you get on the ship in Seward and off in Vancouver - a full 7 day cruise.

 

It looks like we will do the D3L (land first). This tour gives us everything we want and allows us to take a cool tour in Fairbanks. I appreciate all of the suggestions and input from everyone.

 

IMO you made the right decision doing the land first.. We flew to Anchorage & picked up HAL's 16 day Mighty Glaciers & Denali Natl Park land & cruise tour..Was happy we took the land portion before our cruise as we were worn out & rested up on the ship..We booked with a tour operator & also overnighted in Vancouver on the way back..

 

We loved Alaska & hope to do another trip there..

[bvocruise]

IMO you made the right decision doing the land first.. We flew to Anchorage & picked up HAL's 16 day Mighty Glaciers & Denali Natl Park land & cruise tour..Was happy we took the land portion before our cruise as we were worn out & rested up on the ship..We booked with a tour operator & also overnighted in Vancouver on the way back..

 

We loved Alaska & hope to do another trip there..

 

I've been researching tour providers but have not found one yet. My normal TA doesn't do Alaska/Tours. They can give me OBC for the cruise but I'd have to book the tour stuff on my own. I went to a compete site on the web but they do not do Alaska cruise tours either. I may just book through HAL and not worry about any perks this time. It is more important to have everything go right than to grab extra OBC or perks.

[summersigh]

Am I correct in saying that on a cruise tour the main "excursions" are included like the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali and the Riverboat Discovery in Fairbanks?