Disembarkation for Cruise-Tour

[PandasRUs]

We are booked on D3C cruise-tour in July/August. We leave Vancouver and disembark in Seward at 6am. We spend the night in Seward on Sunday and end our land portion Saturday in Fairbanks.

 

I am having difficulties getting helpful answers from HAL about the disembarkation in Seward. At this point, we are not doing any HAL excursions. I am trying to figure out timing for our potential activities.

 

One email said we needed to be off the ship by 10:30. Then we would be transferred to the hotel.

 

Then I called. The nice gentleman tried to get answers for me, but after 15 minutes he said that no one was answering and I should call back.

 

I tried emailing again. Now they say we need to be off the ship by 9:30. And if we are not taking part of the hotel transfer we need to take our own luggage. This is a cruise-tour so I assumed they would take care of our luggage no matter if we did a HAL excursion or our own or none.

 

Has anyone had experience with this tour (or maybe another where the tour is after the cruise)?

Thanks

[dakrewser]

If its a HAL tour you will be told on the ship when to disembark. A bus (or, possibly, the train) will take you and your luggage to your hotel. Nothing to fret about, it's all handled for you.

[RMLincoln]

As you say, you will stay in Seward all day and that first night, so I would think HAL would transfer you and your luggage to your land-portion hotel. m--

Edited May 12, 2016 by RMLincoln

[PandasRUs]

Thanks for the reassurance. We have been on one other cruise-tour 6 years ago and felt everything was handled so well. But what I am being told by HAL is if I don't use one of their transfers I will need to take my own luggage. It would seem to me that they would just take all of the luggage (tagged and set out the night before) at the same time since many will be going on the Kenai cruises. I assume on most of those that the people will not be going to the hotel first unless they go there and back right away.

 

We are planning our own tours and wanderings so were thinking of taking the hotel shuttle after walking around town. We don't want to carry our luggage.

 

In a couple of days I am going to call or email them again. It seems that in the past we got different answers from people. But who to trust.....

[dakrewser]

Thanks for the reassurance. We have been on one other cruise-tour 6 years ago and felt everything was handled so well. But what I am being told by HAL is if I don't use one of their transfers I will need to take my own luggage. It would seem to me that they would just take all of the luggage (tagged and set out the night before) at the same time since many will be going on the Kenai cruises. I assume on most of those that the people will not be going to the hotel first unless they go there and back right away.

 

We are planning our own tours and wanderings so were thinking of taking the hotel shuttle after walking around town. We don't want to carry our luggage.

 

In a couple of days I am going to call or email them again. It seems that in the past we got different answers from people. But who to trust.....

 

 

If, as you seem to be saying, you are not taking a HAL excursion/transfer then you will be responsible for moving your own luggage. Although I'm still not clear as to what you are doing once you leave the ship.

[PandasRUs]

Thanks dakrewser.

This is all very confusing. My original contact with them had nothing to do with the luggage. I was just trying to get some timing to figure out what we could do and when. In one of their emails they mentioned transfer to Anchorage. But we are staying in Seward and the tour continues the next day to Anchorage.

 

We are not leaving or joining the tour at this point. We will be getting off the ship and beginning the land portion of the tour that day. I have confirmed that there is no bus tour or anything like that planned for the cruise-tour that day. The ship arrives at 6am. Check in at the hotel is 3pm. The description says to enjoy an optional excursion. We had decided to do our optional excursion(s) on our own. All I wanted to know from them was if there was anything required such as a meeting on the ship before disembarking and if there was a bus tour of the area included. From what they told me, it sounds like I need to either take one of their excursions, or take their bus to the hotel. If not, I need to take my own luggage.

It would seem to me that the night before disembarkation we would put a tag on our luggage that says it is to go to the hotel for the cruise-tour and set it out in the hall. I would think the next time we would see it would be at the hotel that night.

But maybe I just don't understand how all of this works.

[alwaysfrantic]

If booked on a Land/Sea they definitely are supposed to take your luggage to the hotel for the night. What you do during the day is irrelevant if you are on a Land/Sea journey. They get you from place to place.

[oaktreerb]

It will be simple. You are traveling with a group and your luggage will be taken to your hotel in Seward and it will be in your room when you receive your room assignment. Your luggage tags will have the tour # and will have to be out the night before you disembark. You will only need to transport your small hand luggage/backpack that you need for your activities that day.

 

If you took a tour 6 years ago you kind of know the process but I don't think they are using "journey hosts" for the Denali cruise tours anymore (they are for the Yukon). I would expect that you will receive a packet of information before you disembark. If you plan an excursion on your own you will have to plan transportation to the Windsong Lodge independently rather than being transported on the bus with the rest of your group who did not do HAL excursions.

 

The mis-information you are receiving is probably from HAL reps who are not familiar with cruise tour procedures and are giving you answers based on cruise only passengers.

[PandasRUs]

Thanks. That's what I thought, but that's not what they are telling me.

 

I think emails and phone calls don't always go to the "right" people and so the information they get and give isn't always the most accurate.

 

I am going to assume that they will take care of our luggage. And it sounds like there is no set time to disembark (as a group). So I will just go ahead and plan my day - just not sure of the actual timing in the morning. But we will work with it.

 

Thanks again.

[PandasRUs]

Oaktreeb

 

Thanks. That's pretty much what I figured (both on the tour information and the HAL reps). I just like to make sure so as not to have too many surprises.

 

I have already confirmed that the Windsong does have a shuttle bus that runs all day (hourly). We will just need to pack our day bag lightly.

 

Now back to planning.

[DaveOKC]

Thanks. That's what I thought, but that's not what they are telling me.

 

I think emails and phone calls don't always go to the "right" people and so the information they get and give isn't always the most accurate.

 

I am going to assume that they will take care of our luggage. And it sounds like there is no set time to disembark (as a group). So I will just go ahead and plan my day - just not sure of the actual timing in the morning. But we will work with it.

 

Thanks again.

 

Your situation is all too common these days. It seems that no one really knows the correct answers and are afraid or reluctant to find out. They just give you an answer and hope you go away. Thats why Cruise Critic is so valuable - get answers from people who have done it recently.