Hal R2L and Volendam Questions

[ron1946]

I will also post this on the Alaska Board, but perhaps can gain some insight here. We are booked on HAL's Cruise Tour R2L: Seattle Gold Rush starting August 16th. Would like some insight from anyone who has previously taken this tour: Seattle, Anchorage, 3 nites Denali, Fairbanks, 2 nites Dawson City, Whitehorse, 2 nites Skagway, embark Volendam in Skagway for four days, arriving in Vancouver and bus back to Seattle.

 

I am specifically looking for any excursions you participated in during the land portion and any other info/pointers/good and bad situations you experienced. I "understand" that we can send one of our bags to the ship from Anchorage. Is that still in effect?

 

Our stateroom is 2561 on Volendam. Is anyone familiar with this stateroom? Also, would like info on Volendam. Only other HAL ship we have sailed on was the Ryndam two years ago.

 

I would also like to hear from anyone that is taking this cruise tour with us!

 

Thank you in advance for any info you can provide. BTW this will be our third trip to Alaska having completed two inside passages previously, and that is why we booked an ocean view this time.

Edited April 21, 2016 by ron1946

[rajkr74]

I will also post this on the Alaska Board, but perhaps can gain some insight here. We are booked on HAL's Cruise Tour R2L: Seattle Gold Rush starting August 16th. Would like some insight from anyone who has previously taken this tour: Seattle, Anchorage, 3 nites Denali, Fairbanks, 2 nites Dawson City, Whitehorse, 2 nites Skagway, embark Volendam in Skagway for four days, arriving in Vancouver and bus back to Seattle.

 

I am specifically looking for any excursions you participated in during the land portion and any other info/pointers/good and bad situations you experienced. I "understand" that we can send one of our bags to the ship from Anchorage. Is that still in effect?

 

Our stateroom is 2561 on Volendam. Is anyone familiar with this stateroom? Also, would like info on Volendam. Only other HAL ship we have sailed on was the Ryndam two years ago.

 

I would also like to hear from anyone that is taking this cruise tour with us!

 

Thank you in advance for any info you can provide. BTW this will be our third trip to Alaska having completed two inside passages previously, and that is why we booked an ocean view this time.

 

We are doing the same cruise as you are (R2C) but backwards with the cruise first and only 3 days on board on 6-29-16. We are finding little CC postings for these Land & Sea Cruises with HAL. There is no Roll Call for our cruise nor do I see one for your sailing date. We are doing research kind of blindly. We are researching restaurants located near our hotels so we don't waste time trying to decide where to eat. We decided not to use HALs meal plan since we think the vouchers might be for the restaurants in the hotels and we prefer to find locate eateries.

 

We have never been on the Volendam but it is similar to the Amsterdam, which we have sailed on twice to Alaska. We enjoyed the Amsterdam very much. We booked a guarantee cabin, so we are waiting to see what they will give us.

 

We understand HAL will take our "ship" clothes and forward them from Skagway to Anchorage. We fly back to Seattle from there. Not so sure about how they get to Anchorage, we are still researching that.

 

We are doing some HAL excursions on the land portion and after doing research we find the same private companies offer the same excursions as HAL for the same price. So we are going with HAL.

 

We are still trying to get approximated times we arrive and depart the towns we will be in. There is some gaps there on information that HAL is not providing. But we just need to be flexible. Packing is going to be challenging since the luggage will not always be accessible during traveling. Also we won't "unpack" while on the ship since we will be on board for only 3 days.

 

HAL puts out a pdf file of Land & Sea tour tips. Here is a link: https://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-destinations/Tour_Tips.pdf

 

Hope that gets you to the file? This file discusses the forwarding of "ship" clothes/luggage also.

Edited April 21, 2016 by rajkr74

[ron1946]

We are doing the same cruise as you are (R2C) but backwards with the cruise first and only 3 days on board on 6-29-16. We are finding little CC postings for these Land & Sea Cruises with HAL. There is no Roll Call for our cruise nor do I see one for your sailing date. We are doing research kind of blindly. We are researching restaurants located near our hotels so we don't waste time trying to decide where to eat. We decided not to use HALs meal plan since we think the vouchers might be for the restaurants in the hotels and we prefer to find locate eateries.

 

We have never been on the Volendam but it is similar to the Amsterdam, which we have sailed on twice to Alaska. We enjoyed the Amsterdam very much. We booked a guarantee cabin, so we are waiting to see what they will give us.

 

We understand HAL will take our "ship" clothes and forward them from Skagway to Anchorage. We fly back to Seattle from there. Not so sure about how they get to Anchorage, we are still researching that.

 

We are doing some HAL excursions on the land portion and after doing research we find the same private companies offer the same excursions as HAL for the same price. So we are going with HAL.

 

We are still trying to get approximated times we arrive and depart the towns we will be in. There is some gaps there on information that HAL is not providing. But we just need to be flexible. Packing is going to be challenging since the luggage will not always be accessible during traveling. Also we won't "unpack" while on the ship since we will be on board for only 3 days.

 

HAL puts out a pdf file of Land & Sea tour tips. Here is a link: https://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-destinations/Tour_Tips.pdf

 

Hope that gets you to the file? This file discusses the forwarding of "ship" clothes/luggage also.

 

I have to agree with you that information on the HAL cruise tours is few and far between and sketchy at the most. Like you, I have used the Alaska CC board and Trip Advisor extensively to research restaurants and even to see what the Westmark hotels look like providing a little insight as to what to expect. HAL guest services has told me to expect "standard" hotel rooms.

 

Did you receive a detailed itinerary from HAL? The one they sent me is a day to day offering and does indicate most times as far as arrival and departures however it is not all inclusive. I also have received flight itinerary "Flight Ease" for our flights from Seattle to Anchorage and from Fairbanks to Dawson City.

 

We also have opted not to use the meal voucher system. Too expensive and restrictive, and like you, hope to enjoy some of the local food! Looks like we will need to take out a small loan just for food though!

 

Thanks for the info on excursions. I really haven't even started to research any as of yet. But since HAL's are equivalent to independent tours, will probably make it a little easier in research!

 

I had downloaded the "Land and Sea Tour Tips" for 2015, but noticed a few changes to the 2016 version. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Best of luck to you and if I happen to uncover any "gems" between now and our tour will certainly post them here. Enjoy your cruise/tour!

[rajkr74]

I have to agree with you that information on the HAL cruise tours is few and far between and sketchy at the most. Like you, I have used the Alaska CC board and Trip Advisor extensively to research restaurants and even to see what the Westmark hotels look like providing a little insight as to what to expect. HAL guest services has told me to expect "standard" hotel rooms.

 

Did you receive a detailed itinerary from HAL? The one they sent me is a day to day offering and does indicate most times as far as arrival and departures however it is not all inclusive. I also have received flight itinerary "Flight Ease" for our flights from Seattle to Anchorage and from Fairbanks to Dawson City.

 

We also have opted not to use the meal voucher system. Too expensive and restrictive, and like you, hope to enjoy some of the local food! Looks like we will need to take out a small loan just for food though!

 

Thanks for the info on excursions. I really haven't even started to research any as of yet. But since HAL's are equivalent to independent tours, will probably make it a little easier in research!

 

I had downloaded the "Land and Sea Tour Tips" for 2015, but noticed a few changes to the 2016 version. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Best of luck to you and if I happen to uncover any "gems" between now and our tour will certainly post them here. Enjoy your cruise/tour!

 

I have used Google Earth with it's street views to "walk" around the towns to view different sites and buildings. Works pretty good for getting oriented. We are fine with standard hotel quality, we are easy going.

 

How did you get flight info? That is the one thing that is a black hole for us. We did get a semi detailed itinerary for the land portion but nothing for days in which we fly in or out.

 

Yes, food costs are going to be a shocker. I do have an equity loan on our house with available funds. :eek:

 

The packing is going to drive us nuts, what bags to take, do we ship our on board clothes forward???? What day packs do we take and what goes in those. I know we will have to trim down what we normally take on a cruise. Noticed most of the hotels have self-service laundries on site. This is going to be interesting.

 

We have booked the Eagle Sanctuary trip out of Skagway to Haines thru HAL. Still looking at others.

 

[ron1946]

 

How did you get flight info? That is the one thing that is a black hole for us. We did get a semi detailed itinerary for the land portion but nothing for days in which we fly in or out.

 

You might want to send HAL Guest Services an email regarding your flight info.

 

My TA is the one that provided it for me. The Web site is http://www.hollandflightease.com. However, you need a Flight Ease Confirmation code/PNR and password which was provided by HAL. Hope it works for you.

[rajkr74]

 

How did you get flight info? That is the one thing that is a black hole for us. We did get a semi detailed itinerary for the land portion but nothing for days in which we fly in or out.

 

You might want to send HAL Guest Services an email regarding your flight info.

 

My TA is the one that provided it for me. The Web site is http://www.hollandflightease.com. However, you need a Flight Ease Confirmation code/PNR and password which was provided by HAL. Hope it works for you.

 

Ron,

I contacted our TA and found the flight from Anchorage to Seattle and our booking number. We also found out that HAL has a charter air plane from Whitehorse to Fairbanks. Nothing about Flight Ease. Are you using HAL to fly from your home to the start of the cruise? We are driving up to Seattle and back on our own so I am wondering if it does not apply to us?

Rick

Edited April 24, 2016 by rajkr74

[ron1946]

 

Ron,

I contacted our TA and found the flight from Anchorage to Seattle and our booking number. We also found out that HAL has a charter air plane from Whitehorse to Fairbanks. Nothing about Flight Ease. Are you using HAL to fly from your home to the start of the cruise? We are driving up to Seattle and back on our own so I am wondering if it does not apply to us?

Rick

 

Rick - We are flying self booked commercial (SWA) from Florida to Seattle. A HAL rep will meet us at SEATAC and get us to Hilton Airport Seattle Hotel for the first night.

 

Through HAL, We are booked on Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Anchorage, then on Air North (HAL'S Airline ?) from Fairbanks to Dawson City.

 

One note that has me concerned is regarding baggage from Fairbanks to Dawson City. "For guests traveling by air between Whitehorse and/or Dawson City, passengers are limited to 2 checked bags with a MAXIMUM COMBINED weight of 50 lbs and one carry on under 13 lbs." If we don't get to send one suitcase to the ship, that is going to be hard to maintain.

 

Ron

[rajkr74]

 

Rick - We are flying self booked commercial (SWA) from Florida to Seattle. A HAL rep will meet us at SEATAC and get us to Hilton Airport Seattle Hotel for the first night.

 

Through HAL, We are booked on Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Anchorage, then on Air North (HAL'S Airline ?) from Fairbanks to Dawson City.

 

One note that has me concerned is regarding baggage from Fairbanks to Dawson City. "For guests traveling by air between Whitehorse and/or Dawson City, passengers are limited to 2 checked bags with a MAXIMUM COMBINED weight of 50 lbs and one carry on under 13 lbs." If we don't get to send one suitcase to the ship, that is going to be hard to maintain.

 

Ron

 

Yes, the 50lb weight limit per person on the flight Fairbanks/Dawson City is going to require some ingenuity. I think the self serve laundries at the hotels will get used by us. I think we have no choice but to use the "Join me at Anchorage/Fairbanks luggage program". The good thing about having the cruise first is we don't need to worry about clothes for the ship since we will have them on the cruise then have them forwarded, not needing them again. With you, it would be praying they show up for your cruise portion at the end of the trip.

 

We are going to start packing now to decide how everything is going to fit. There maybe a number of trial by error packing scenarios on this cruise...:eek:

 

We found out that we fly Delta out of Anchorage to Seattle at the end of the trip. We got times and a booking number for us which allowed us to pick seats. I am 6' 9" and need an isle seat so I can stand every so often to stretch my legs. HAL would only say it was a charter flight from Dawson City to Anchorage, but HAL did not provide our TA with any times or flight number. I finished our on-line booking but there are no boarding docs to print yet, not until 5-10-16 so that did not provide any additional information.

 

All of our flights are part of the paid Cruise package. We are getting to and from Seattle in the beginning and end by driving since it is only 5 hrs travel time from home to Seattle. We have friends that will put us up at the beginning and take us and pick us up from/to the airport...nice.

Rick