Are meals included in Alaska land tour portion?

[newtocruiseinblue]

Thinking of doing the package land tour before an Alaska cruise with HAL. Are meals included during the land tour portion? I like the idea of the train and seeing more of Alaska prior to the cruise. Thank you! ❤️

[POA1]

No, but you can add them. The meals aren't cheap, but costs in Alaska are crazy expensive.

[dfilpus]

HAL has a pair of meal packages for your tour. You can buy a full package or a breakfast only package. These packages are for eating in the HAL hotel. The hotels in Anchorage, Denali and Fairbanks all are near other restaurants, which give you a variety of cuisines and may be less expensive than the package meals. 

[newtocruiseinblue]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

No, but you can add them. The meals aren't cheap, but costs in Alaska are crazy expensive.

Not even breakfast? Boo 😂😂

[newtocruiseinblue]

Just now, dfilpus said:

HAL has a pair of meal packages for your tour. You can buy a full package or a breakfast only package. These packages are for eating in the HAL hotel. The hotels in Anchorage, Denali and Fairbanks all are near other restaurants, which give you a variety of cuisines and may be less expensive than the package meals. 

Thank you! Good info!

[oaktreerb]

The meal plan is expensive.  If you don’t choose the meal plan,  for breakfast at Denali you can choose the cheaper continental (including fruit and oatmeal)  or more expensive full breakfast.  Continental is plenty of food and both are served buffet style at Karstens on the McKinley Chalets campus.  There are other options nearby for lunch and dinner.

 

The food on the train is excellent and not terribly expensive.  A fun experience eating in the dining car.  

 

The Westmark hotel in Anchorage is located near many excellent places to eat.  The Fairbanks Westmark serves a nice breakfast buffet and pretty good food choices in the bar for lunch or dinner.  There are places to eat nearby but not as convenient as Anchorage.

Edited May 20, 2023 by oaktreerb

[kwb101]

We took the Y3L Yukon package several years ago, starting in Anchorage. The only meal included was lunch between Dawson City and Whitehorse. 

 

The HAL meal package (which we didn't get) was very expensive, but did include appetizer, entree, dessert, and non-alcoholic beverage. 

[kwb101]

Oops, hit Submit too soon. 

 

We're from California, and food prices were about the samein Alaska as here: Definitely not cheap, but certainly more than many states. 

[Haljo1935]

🤔😪

11 hours ago, newtocruiseinblue said:

Not even breakfast? Boo 😂😂

No, even breakfast is expensive. 

You can do a breakfast only or breakfast & dinner meal plan, but you're limited to ordering from a specific menu.

We almost got it last year thinking it would make things easier & better for budgeting, but ultimately did not purchase. We found plenty of options and didn't feel that we had missed out.

[alwaysfrantic]

We did not get the meal plan because eating in hotel restaurants isn’t our thing. 
 

Still to this day we talk about the crepe restaurant we found in Fairbanks.  We went to a place in Anchorage for dinner that we have returned to several times since finding it on that first cruise trip.  
 

I didn’t find food any more expensive than going out at home and you will pay less than than their meal plan and get out if they’re hotels.  With the exception of Denali, their hotels are just basic places to sleep.   Definitely nothing fancy.  If you were staying in these cities on your own, you would NEVER go to the hotel for a meal. 

[Alphen]

19 hours ago, newtocruiseinblue said:

Thinking of doing the package land tour before an Alaska cruise with HAL. Are meals included during the land tour portion? I like the idea of the train and seeing more of Alaska prior to the cruise. Thank you! ❤️

Depending on the type of land / cruise tour you are taking, some excursions have dinner included, so the dining package might by overspending. You might find our report on our Y1L from last year usefull;

 

 

[kwb101]

I forgot to mention that a couple of the HAL Westmark hotels had something I'd never seen before: at breakfast, you could buy one all-you-want item for $3 or $4. My wife's an oatmeal fan, so we saved a lot by just getting that one. I don't recall that this option was available in Anchorage or Fairbanks, pretty sure it wasn't at McKinley Chalet in Denali, but was offered in Dawson City and Skagway.

[Mary229]

We were gifted many of our meals.  We found many of the evening meals were so large at Karstens we could share.  We also had HIA so we used our free shore e credit to book excursions which included meals.  In both cases the meals were very good.  I don’t know how much breakfast was as we were gifted but it was very bountiful and good. 

[newtocruiseinblue]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:53 AM, kwb101 said:

I forgot to mention that a couple of the HAL Westmark hotels had something I'd never seen before: at breakfast, you could buy one all-you-want item for $3 or $4. My wife's an oatmeal fan, so we saved a lot by just getting that one. I don't recall that this option was available in Anchorage or Fairbanks, pretty sure it wasn't at McKinley Chalet in Denali, but was offered in Dawson City and Skagway.

Good buy! Thank you!! 

[newtocruiseinblue]

On 5/21/2023 at 6:51 AM, alwaysfrantic said:

We did not get the meal plan because eating in hotel restaurants isn’t our thing. 
 

Still to this day we talk about the crepe restaurant we found in Fairbanks.  We went to a place in Anchorage for dinner that we have returned to several times since finding it on that first cruise trip.  
 

I didn’t find food any more expensive than going out at home and you will pay less than than their meal plan and get out if they’re hotels.  With the exception of Denali, their hotels are just basic places to sleep.   Definitely nothing fancy.  If you were staying in these cities on your own, you would NEVER go to the hotel for a meal. 

True and good points!!

[newtocruiseinblue]

On 5/21/2023 at 6:59 AM, Alphen said:

Depending on the type of land / cruise tour you are taking, some excursions have dinner included, so the dining package might by overspending. You might find our report on our Y1L from last year usefull;

 

 

Thank you for sharing! I will check out your review!!

[Reader317]

We had no idea about meal plans on the land portion until we were there and heard other travelers talking about it. 

 

Easier to find restaurants in Anchorage than Fairbanks. 

[Winters in NZ]

The meal plan also includes gratuity.