Rare Alphen Posted June 21, 2022 Author #276 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Additional Denali Pictures Because we can't get enough, how lucky we were, weather wise; 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Btimmer Posted June 21, 2022 #277 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Thank you for your stellar reporting and summary. We leave a week from today to begin our triple Denali and then southbound on the Noordam. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 21, 2022 Author #278 Share Posted June 21, 2022 (edited) Wildlife Pictures Vancouver Squirrels (for us from Holland, this is wildlife) 🙂 Harbor Seal, Vancouver Whitehorse Beavers in the Yukon river Family of Foxes in Whitehorse Bird-life Tombstone Park Caribou during Fairbanks Riverboat Tour, part of the Chena Indian Village Living Museum Hurd of Caribou in Denali National Park Grizzly Denali National Park Young Moose in Denali National Park Anchorage Moose Sandhill Crane Tony Knowles Coastal Trail Anchorage Black Bear Tony Knowles Coastal Trail Anchorage Coastal Brown Bears Hubbard Glacier Edited June 21, 2022 by Alphen 8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 21, 2022 Author #279 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Wildlife Pictures Bald Eagle 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cat shepard Posted June 21, 2022 #280 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Thank you so much for sharing your trip, pictures and thoughts with us. You have a great eye! I had to really search for the bald Eagle in one picture - bravo! Now I am hoping I get to go in August. And hoping your luck in capturing Denali in all its glory rubs off on me. Thank you again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooleyweeds Posted June 21, 2022 #281 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Thank you for this very informative series of posts. On the McKinley Explorer Dome Train, who gets to sit on the upper (dome) level? Is that determined by the cabin class that you choose for the cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 21, 2022 Author #282 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Just now, tooleyweeds said: Thank you for this very informative series of posts. On the McKinley Explorer Dome Train, who gets to sit on the upper (dome) level? Is that determined by the cabin class that you choose for the cruise? Seating is ONLY on upper level, lower level is for dining and you are invited for dining on the lower level in small groups and only for the duration of your meal. For the rest of the journey, you are all seated on the upper dome level. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveling Dot Posted June 21, 2022 #283 Share Posted June 21, 2022 (edited) Jeroen, love all your pictures. You were so lucky to see so much wildlife. Glad you had a great experience and trip. Edited June 21, 2022 by Traveling Dot Correct spelling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltadoug13 Posted June 21, 2022 #284 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Thank you so much for the detailed descriptions of your journey. We are booked for June 8, 2023, 10 day cruise plus Denali Are there any things that you would do differently? Any excursions that you would not do again or any that you didn't do, that you would add if you went back? We are looking at a tour in Skagway taking the White Pass railroad up and biking down. Thank you again for the wonderful review and amazing pictures. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 21, 2022 Author #285 Share Posted June 21, 2022 (edited) 9 minutes ago, deltadoug13 said: Thank you so much for the detailed descriptions of your journey. We are booked for June 8, 2023, 10 day cruise plus Denali Are there any things that you would do differently? Any excursions that you would not do again or any that you didn't do, that you would add if you went back? We are looking at a tour in Skagway taking the White Pass railroad up and biking down. Thank you again for the wonderful review and amazing pictures. Doug I don’t think we would have done anything different. You always here about other tours that had more luck in wildlife spotting, but that is luck of the draw. Skagway in combination with something active is a wise choice, we did ours with hiking. Only thing a little bit disappointing was a guided hike on our arrival afternoon in Denali, looking back, we might have been better off on one of the self guided hikes out of the Denali Park visitor centre. Edited June 21, 2022 by Alphen 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 21, 2022 Author #286 Share Posted June 21, 2022 9 hours ago, Alphen said: Round-Up and conclusions Hotels All hotels used during the land tour, were of good quality, with the exception of Anchorage. All had large rooms, which we did not spent much time, but had more than adequate facilities. Pre tour/cruise stay: SureStay Hotel by Best Western North Vancouver Capilano https://www.bestwesterncapilano.com/ Land Tour The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel https://www.fairmont.com/vancouver-airport-richmond/ Whitehorse Sternwheeler Hotel & Conference Centre https://www.sternwheelerhotel.ca/ Westmark Inn Dawson https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/dawson-city-hotel/ Westmark Fairbanks Hotel https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/fairbanks-hotel/ Mckinley Chalet Resort https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/denali-hotel/ Westmark Anchorage https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/anchorage-hotel/ In addition to the hotel information, all hotel rooms that we stayed in, had more than enough electric and USB outlets, to use and recharge the usual electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USN59-79 Posted June 21, 2022 #287 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Just to let you know that I have really enjoyed your blog and appreciate you taking the time and effort to do it. We look forward to sailing with you on the Westerdam this March. Ray and Sara 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybercsp Posted June 21, 2022 #288 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Thank you so much for this highly detailed and helpful report. Like you, we saw Denali clearly in 2009 and hope to be as lucky when return next month! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tundra1 Posted June 22, 2022 #289 Share Posted June 22, 2022 Thank you so much for this great trip report! The links have been really helpful also, since I still can't find anyone who posted about a trip that starts on land, goes to Denali, Fairbanks, and the Yukon, and then catches the ship for a 4 night cruise out of Skagway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 22, 2022 Author #290 Share Posted June 22, 2022 7 hours ago, USN59-79 said: Just to let you know that I have really enjoyed your blog and appreciate you taking the time and effort to do it. We look forward to sailing with you on the Westerdam this March. Ray and Sara Likewise, rooting it will go! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 25, 2022 Author #291 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Information at start of Land Tour Working through all of the information we received during our Land Tour and that we all saved and took home, here are two sheets that may give some valuable information; 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 25, 2022 Author #292 Share Posted June 25, 2022 (edited) Planning Land Tour brochures; During the planning of our Land Tour, we asked for and received several brochures ahead of time sent to our home address; · Denali National Park Brochure; https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/park-brochure.htm · Skagway White Pass and Yukon Route Railway; https://wpyr.com/brochures/english/ · Dawson City and Yukon; https://www.travelyukon.com/en/guidebooks Edited June 25, 2022 by Alphen 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 25, 2022 Author #293 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Land Tour, Tour Tickets; Another thing that might be useful to know; tours during the land portion, either included in the standard program, but also the ones that are booked extra, do not come with vouchers or tickets. At each location you will receive a package, containing hotel information and also a sheet with listing of (included) tours and their meeting location and times and departure times. We found it helpful to carry this sheet with us, as and extra proof of purchase of the booked tour. In one case (Diamond Tooth Gerties), there were some issues in getting in the venue without proof of booking. Turned out there was some missing communication between HAL Tours and the venue, which a day later was solved, probably start-up problems. Nevertheless, it never hurts to have this sheet with you, as an extra purchase proof of the tour(s). 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 26, 2022 Author #294 Share Posted June 26, 2022 (edited) Verifly I keep finding extra information in our travel data and records, that I think may of use to future travelers, so don't be surprised if this thread does get some updates after it looked like to be finished. I do not know if I was clear about the use of Verifly, when boarding a cruise in Whittier after the land tour; you do not have bother to use Verifly! This was in our specific case, but the way the staff worked on the train, it seemed usual business for them. Cruise check in will be done on the cruise train while travelling from Anchorage to Whittier and Verifly is not used at all, so don't bother. After the electronic check in on the train, we were issued a green "security cleared" (if I remember correctly) inlay for our passport, which had you directly enter the security check line at the boarding area for the ship. All of the electronic check in is while on the train, including (currently) proof of vaccination and the negative test result. Photos are taken of your passport and of your face, while on the train for the security access on board. We had pre-loaded our picture ourselves in the Navigator App, but this was apparently on top of that. It turned out that for several people the required photo for security access to the ship did not make it all the way, so we had it re taken on board (again). Edited June 26, 2022 by Alphen 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lalof Posted June 26, 2022 #295 Share Posted June 26, 2022 On 6/25/2022 at 8:27 AM, Alphen said: Information at start of Land Tour Working through all of the information we received during our Land Tour and that we all saved and took home, here are two sheets that may give some valuable information; I'm confused about the luggage situation. The letter says you can choose to have all of your luggage stay with you or have some go directly to the ship. Previously, I thought I understood that we were only allowed to have a backpack/small piece and a carryon to take to Denali and all larger suitcases would go directly to the ship. Am I misunderstanding what your letter says? Or maybe different cruise-tours have different options? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted June 26, 2022 #296 Share Posted June 26, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Lalof said: I'm confused about the luggage situation. The letter says you can choose to have all of your luggage stay with you or have some go directly to the ship. Previously, I thought I understood that we were only allowed to have a backpack/small piece and a carryon to take to Denali and all larger suitcases would go directly to the ship. Am I misunderstanding what your letter says? Or maybe different cruise-tours have different options? The only limitation land tours have is the 25 pound weight limit for certain Yukon flights and you can only have one piece of luggage each. I only learned about the weight limit inone of these review threads, I didn’t find that information on HAL. ALSO You can only hand carry a small pieces of luggage like a daypack. There is a document on the website call Tour tips which explains the luggage system Edited June 26, 2022 by Mary229 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 26, 2022 Author #297 Share Posted June 26, 2022 20 minutes ago, Lalof said: I'm confused about the luggage situation. The letter says you can choose to have all of your luggage stay with you or have some go directly to the ship. Previously, I thought I understood that we were only allowed to have a backpack/small piece and a carryon to take to Denali and all larger suitcases would go directly to the ship. Am I misunderstanding what your letter says? Or maybe different cruise-tours have different options? It is indeed in the Tour Tips documents on the HAL website, but in this document it looks you have to part with some of your luggage, but when we were well underway in our tour, it became clear that it is an option, you can hold on to your luggage all the way. Since everything regarding luggage is handled by staff every stop, we chose to have all our luggage with us, all the way. Weight and size limitations are as per Yukon Air North website, but it turned out they did not check any weight or size of the carry on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Alphen Posted June 26, 2022 Author #298 Share Posted June 26, 2022 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Mary229 said: The only limitation land tours have is the 25 pound weight limit for certain Yukon flights and you can only have one piece of luggage each. I only learned about the weight limit inone of these review threads, I didn’t find that information on HAL. ALSO You can only hand carry a small pieces of luggage like a daypack. There is a document on the website call Tour tips which explains the luggage system The checked luggage can be up to two pieces per person, as long as they don’t exceed total weight of 50 pounds or 23 kgs per person, please check Air North website, the carry on is limited at 10 kg or 22 pounds, but nobody checked. https://www.flyairnorth.com/flights/baggage-carry Edited June 26, 2022 by Alphen 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSPlum74 Posted June 27, 2022 #299 Share Posted June 27, 2022 On 6/21/2022 at 1:25 AM, Alphen said: Round-Up and conclusions Hotels All hotels used during the land tour, were of good quality, with the exception of Anchorage. All had large rooms, which we did not spent much time, but had more than adequate facilities. Pre tour/cruise stay: SureStay Hotel by Best Western North Vancouver Capilano https://www.bestwesterncapilano.com/ Land Tour The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel https://www.fairmont.com/vancouver-airport-richmond/ Whitehorse Sternwheeler Hotel & Conference Centre https://www.sternwheelerhotel.ca/ Westmark Inn Dawson https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/dawson-city-hotel/ Westmark Fairbanks Hotel https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/fairbanks-hotel/ Mckinley Chalet Resort https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/denali-hotel/ Westmark Anchorage https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/anchorage-hotel/ The wifi at the Fairmont was actually free. If wanted premium then a cost. I asked about this at the front desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSPlum74 Posted June 27, 2022 #300 Share Posted June 27, 2022 8 hours ago, Alphen said: The checked luggage can be up to two pieces per person, as long as they don’t exceed total weight of 50 pounds or 23 kgs per person, please check Air North website, the carry on is limited at 10 kg or 22 pounds, but nobody checked. https://www.flyairnorth.com/flights/baggage-carry Although I don't think this turned out to be true since I know one of my bags was 45 pounds and the other about 25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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