Trip Report - R1L - Round trip from Seattle - 3 Days Denali

[smokesmom]

Friday, June23, 2017 – Ketchikan

 

Another gorgeous day. We really have been fortunate with the weather. We arrived at 11:00 a.m. We were there with another HAL ship - the Oosterdam, a Celebrity ship, and a Norwegian ship. Lots of activity at the pier. Lots of vendors selling tours. Since we were just going to do the self-walking tour of Ketchikan, we were not in a hurry to get off the ship. Ate a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room.

 

As I was taking pictures of the port from the promenade, I noticed how many jelly fish were in the water. More than I have seen at a Caribbean port. All sizes. Creepy.

 

We had the map and set out walking. Wasn’t long before my husband had wished he had put on shorts instead of his slacks. I was comfortable in my long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. Went into the Totem Heritage Center and did the self-guided tour. Fascinating work.

 

Once we got to Creek Street, we took the tour of Dolly’s House. In addition to her other skill, she was said to be a very good cook. Apparently, her motto was that she would get a man's money one way or the other. Since she "worked" until she was 72, I guess her strategy was a good one. There were several hidden areas for the alcohol and the back way out to "Married Man's Trail." Full service house.

 

We were in no hurry so it took us about 3 hours to finish the walking tour. It could be done much faster. We went back on board and watched the activities on shore from the pool area again, enjoying the sunshine.

 

Tonight was another Gala night. Again, everyone in the main dining room that I saw was following the guidelines and were having a very nice time. They have now run out of Malbec under the SBP so my husband is disappointed. Switched to Shiraz.

 

After dinner, we watched the singers and dancers perform “Roadhouse,” a country-western theme performance. I liked this performance but enjoyed Rock Legends more. Went to Crow’s Nest to listen to the music.

 

We also received our luggage tags for disembarkation today. After reading the information about the times for disembarkation, I realized that we received the wrong tags. The tags had us going to the Vancouver airport - nope. Went back down to Guest Services and after reviewing our account, gave us the correct tags.

Care to guess how Dolly's shower curtain was adorned?

They were silk and from France.

[smokesmom]

Saturday,June 24, 2017 – Cruising Inside Passage

 

Today was the Mariner’s Lunch and it was well attended. I enjoyed the Captain’s remarks. Sad that the cruise/tour is coming to an end.

 

Afterwards, we started on the packing. Not our favorite activity so we like to get it over with and enjoy the rest of the day. I was happy that we have mostly clean clothes to pack. We can’t send any out today since it might not get back tonight.

 

Walked the promenade. Spent time in the Crow’s Nest for some trivia. My husband won the afternoon black jack tournament. Enjoyed reading and drinking lattes in the ExplorationCafé. They had a number of different books on the shelves and I guess everyone was on the honor system because I never saw anyone actually recording any book that people were taking away to read.

 

Day went by quickly and it was the last dinner in the main dining room. The food and service have been good. We never had to wait long. Sometimes we were seated with others. Sometimes we were given a table for 2. We were fine with either. I thought it was interesting that we were brought to the 5th level on several of the evenings. Anytime dining was on the 4th level but I guess there were not a lot of diners at the 8:00 seating so when we came between 7:00 and 7:30, we were escorted upstairs.

 

Our room stewards were very good also. We didn’t see them often but they always said hello and asked about our day if we saw them. They kept the room nice and neat.

 

After dinner, we watched the comedian Rodney Johnson who boarded in Juneau. We enjoyed his show also. Last night in the casino. My husband really liked the dealers. They were personable.

 

 

[smokesmom]

Sunday, June 25, 2017 – Disembarkation and some final thoughts

 

It is nice that HAL allows you to stay in your stateroom until your color and number are called. We had room service and relaxed until we were called. It was pretty close to the time that was on our paperwork. Our luggage was easy to find but then the process got frustrating. One person told us to go get in line 4 for busses to Seattle. We went to line 4 only to be told by another person to go back to the other line. We went back only to be asked why we were not in line 4. Explaining we were sent back, she took us back to line 4 but then had us get in line 5. We were not sure what bus we were going to end up on. We just hoped it would be to Sea-Tac.

A gentleman came down the line checking off names and our names were not on there. I figured it was because we had been given the wrong tags in the first place and our names got left off the list. Seeing that we had the correct tags, he just wrote our names on the list. I was thankful not to be sent to another line.

 

Finally got on a bus and I verified that it was going to Sea-Tac. The driver assured me it was. The bus driver told us to keep our passports out although one person had already said we could put them away. We had already turned in our Canadian declaration form but the bus driver gave us a US customs declaration form to complete. As we drove through Vancouver, the driver gave us an overview of the city.

 

The bus was not full so we were able to stretch out a little. We stopped for a bathroom break before we got to the border.

 

Before we got to the border, the driver said that a number of different scenarios could happen. We might all stay on the bus and they just review our passports. They may board the bus and review the passports one by one. We might have to get off of the bus and walk through with our luggage. We were fortunate. The driver spoke with the agent and then came back on the bus and gathered our passports. Said they didn’t want our declaration forms. He was off the bus for a while but then got back on and said we would be allowed to go without having to get off of the bus. Said that was the best alternative. I saw another bus of passengers getting off and lining up with their luggage to go into the office area. Not sure why we were all allowed to go on but I was happy.

 

We got to the airport a little after 1:00. Earliest flight someone had was 3:20. The airport was busy. I was glad we didn’t have a flight out. We took the elevator down to the hotel pickup area and called the hotel. It was hot. We were told it was 95 degrees and was a record breaker for Seattle. Was glad that we didn’t have to sit there for long before the hotel shuttle came.

 

So the cruise/tour was over. Looking back at the "When and Where" pamphlets, I was surprised at the things we didn't do - didn't go to any of the art auctions, didn't go to the spa, didn't go to the movies (Beauty and the Beast, Inside Earth Documentary: The Waiting Game, Hidden Figures, Founder, Inside Earth Documentary: Extreme Worlds, Disney Nature Bears, and Split), didn't play Bingo, didn't go to the digital workshops, and didn't go to the piano bar (my husband said I needed to spare the other guests my "fine singing" voice so they wouldn't be intimidated - I think he was being sarcastic since he shuts our bedroom door whenever I break out into song on the treadmill).

 

What we did do - talked to a lot of nice people and enjoyed the scenery. It was a great cruise.

 

Thank you for following.

[Cruise_More_Often]

A very enjoyable and informative report, smokesmom. And your pictures are really good. Years from now you'll bring them out and relive your cruise/tour.

 

Thank you for sharing your vacation. I especially enjoyed the section about Denali. Not many people go into detail like you did.

[TheCalicoCat]

Thanks for preparing a lovely trip report.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info.

[RMLincoln]

What a wonderful trip log! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. We are considering a Denali cruise tour and the details you shared give us an excellent vision of how it unfolds. I"m going to "bookmark" this thread!

 

Questions: Sounds like you had HAL arrange your Seattle stay before your flight to Fairbanks, but you arranged your hotel post-cruise yourself. Any comparisons on how those worked out and would you use that approach again?

Also, you mention you ate some meals at Karstan - was that on the HAL meal plan or on your own? Any specifics on finding food availability on the land portion?

Glad you had such an enjoyable time. Any time I feel sad when the trip is almost over I figure it's a good sign that we had a happy time. Many thanks, m--

[smokesmom]

I am glad you found the report helpful.

 

The R1L land/cruise trip overall price included the hotel in Seattle the night before the flight to Fairbanks (also included the flight cost to Fairbanks but not baggage fees). We didn't have a choice for that hotel but it was a very nice one.

 

I think the expectation on coming back that Sunday is that you will fly out of Sea-Tac that afternoon. We wanted to spend Monday touring Seattle so we booked our own hotel. I just didn't really think about getting a post-hotel package from HAL but I guess we could have.

 

At first, I booked a downtown hotel but then I started worrying about our early morning flight on Tuesday and the traffic and cost to get to the airport from downtown. So, I booked us at the Sleep Inn near the airport based on reviews that I had read. We took the light rail into downtown on Monday. It was very easy and the hotel shuttle took us to the Angle Lake Light Rail station and picked us up when we called that evening but it actually was within walking distance of the hotel. The hotel was clean and comfortable, the people were friendly, and the breakfast was free. The shuttle to the airport early Tuesday morning was very efficient. It was less expensive than the Sheraton but on the same street and closer to the airport. There are a variety of hotels near the airport.

 

We never received any information about purchasing a meal plan with this tour and I didn't think to ask our HAL PCC about it. I doubt that we would have purchased it anyway since we like to be flexible about where we eat. I wanted to eat at Wally's in Seattle on that Monday night so I didn't pay attention to any restaurant around that hotel but I do remember some fast food places and I am pretty sure the Sheraton had a restaurant. I liked the food at Karstens and its relaxed atmosphere but the chicken wings were very spicy (even my husband said so and he has a cast-iron stomach).

 

I also liked the two restaurants over in Glitter Gulch. There were others over there too and they ranged from coffee cafes to hot dog stands to delis. I saw a lot of people eating ice cream so that place must have been good too. You could also eat at the Chalet steak house or walk over (or take shuttle) to the Princess property next door as they had several restaurant venues.

 

I heard a number of people enjoyed the dinner show at the Chalet but we didn't attend so I can't comment on the food quality.

 

In Anchorage and Fairbanks, there were a number of places to eat within walking distance of the hotels and I believe both hotels had their own restaurants. That Sunday night when we got checked in at Sleep Inn, we were pretty tired so we just ordered pizza delivered. In downtown Seattle on Tuesday, we ate at The Blarney Stone for lunch and Pike Place Chowder for dinner. They were both very good.

 

I know you will have a great time.

[RMLincoln]

Thank you for the excellent details you provided to my questions. You really have a knack for helping us envision how it all works together. I hope you have more travels planned and I look forward to you sharing them with us here. Blessings, m--

PS I think we have used that Sleep Inn near the Sea-Tac airport before, worked great for us. Glad it worked well for you too.