Hope all are safe on the Alaska Denali cruises due to the fire

[AKJonesy]

9 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

@AKJonesy are you anywhere near the fires? If so, I hope you and your family are safe.

We are south of DNP and are not affected by these fires.  Last week we were over in Eagle which is on the Canadian border and were flying home and that is when we ran into the smoke.  It's not fun going through smoke while flying.  Once we reached passed Tok, it was clear for us the rest of the way home.  I'm hoping the rain they got yesterday will help tamp down the fires and hot spots.  Thanks for asking.  

[BermudaBound2014]

Looks like the rain helped some. Latest press release from UAFsmoke in Alaska

 

[Deryni]

So, when checking my "itinerary" for my 11 day Alaskan cruise (starting on July 11th with a bus ride from Anchorage to Denali) on the HAL app and the HAL website, I now see it as below.  My 4 days of my land cruise are just "gone".  Call HAL, talked to an agent.  Seemed like this was the first she knew of anything.  Put me on hold for long, long time.  Finally came back and told be she was submitting a "form" and someone would call or email me with 24 hours about the situation.  This seem pretty unacceptable to me.  We have flights into Anchorage on the 10th.  I do not want to stay in HAL's Anchorage hotel for 4 days.  And who makes changes without contacting the traveler first?  

 

We shall see.  

[BadgerRedux]

8 minutes ago, Deryni said:

So, when checking my "itinerary" for my 11 day Alaskan cruise (starting on July 11th with a bus ride from Anchorage to Denali) on the HAL app and the HAL website, I now see it as below.  My 4 days of my land cruise are just "gone".  Call HAL, talked to an agent.  Seemed like this was the first she knew of anything.  Put me on hold for long, long time.  Finally came back and told be she was submitting a "form" and someone would call or email me with 24 hours about the situation.  This seem pretty unacceptable to me.  We have flights into Anchorage on the 10th.  I do not want to stay in HAL's Anchorage hotel for 4 days.  And who makes changes without contacting the traveler first?  

 

We shall see.  

I'm scheduled for a 10 day Double Denali the week after yours (starting in Anchorage 7/18, and heading to Denali 7/19), and the trip title at the top of my itinerary page looks similar to yours; however, from the time I booked, some sections of the HAL website have referred to my trip as the cruise portion only; similarly, when I call HAL CS, the reps routinely confirm that my trip begins 7/21 (which is when we set sail).  Dumb question but is there any chance the top of the itinerary page always looked like this?

 

Now, when I scroll down on the Itinerary page, I still see Denali National Park listed on the appropriate days so no change there.

[Deryni]

No, it used to show the line representing the bus ride from Anchorage to Denali and then the dotted line of the train from Denali to Whittier.  So, this graphic is new.

[Sea42]

22 minutes ago, Deryni said:

So, when checking my "itinerary" for my 11 day Alaskan cruise (starting on July 11th with a bus ride from Anchorage to Denali) on the HAL app and the HAL website, I now see it as below.  My 4 days of my land cruise are just "gone".  Call HAL, talked to an agent.  Seemed like this was the first she knew of anything.  Put me on hold for long, long time.  Finally came back and told be she was submitting a "form" and someone would call or email me with 24 hours about the situation.  This seem pretty unacceptable to me.  We have flights into Anchorage on the 10th.  I do not want to stay in HAL's Anchorage hotel for 4 days.  And who makes changes without contacting the traveler first?  

 

We shall see.  

Why would they contact passengers before they have determined what changes there are going to be? It's not as if the passengers get a vote on what accommodations they would like. You have to give them time to figure out whats available for hundreds(?) of people at the last minute.  I get that it must be very frustrating but unscheduled emergency situations are not an easy thing to deal with and take a lot of patience on everyone's part.

[BadgerRedux]

Just now, Deryni said:

No, it used to show the line representing the bus ride from Anchorage to Denali and then the dotted line of the train from Denali to Whittier.  So, this graphic is new.

Thanks for confirming.

[Deryni]

Why wouldn't they at least give us some sort of heads up?  If things are still in limbo, I get it.  Contact and let us know about the fire situation and they are working on plans, etc.. Just a little customer service so people don't get freaked out would be nice.    Maybe some banner on the HAL web site with information would be nice.  Something.

[sue1898]

HAL just posted on Facebook

[Deryni]

Awesome.  TY Sue!

[BadgerRedux]

1 hour ago, sue1898 said:

HAL just posted on Facebook

Thanks Sue.  I've been checking what I thought was the official HAL FB page, below but the notice doesn't appear there; am I checking the wrong page?  Or do I need to join a FB group in order to see it?

 https://www.facebook.com/HollandAmericaLine/

[sue1898]

It was posted on the FB stories not on their regular page. I believe if you follow their page the stories should appear at the top of your FB feed but they disappear after a set time like 12 hours.

Edited July 5 by sue1898

[sue1898]

duplicate post

Edited July 5 by sue1898

[BermudaBound2014]

On 7/2/2024 at 8:06 AM, Minoushka said:

Well cleanup wont be easy nor getting rid of burnt smell ...no I really think ours will be cancelled ...whata shame ..the highlight of my cruise boohoo

 

I'm just tagging you with the new information that you are a go 🙂

[BadgerRedux]

27 minutes ago, sue1898 said:

It was posted on the FB stories not on their regular page. I believe if you follow their page the stories should appear at the top of your FB feed but they disappear after a set time like 12 hours.

That explains it. I don't use FB much and don't follow any corporate pages; will give it a go.

[Minoushka]

We will be on as of the 14 i hope fire will be out and burnt smell gone 

[BermudaBound2014]

25 minutes ago, Minoushka said:

We will be on as of the 14 i hope fire will be out and burnt smell gone 

 

Burnt smell won't be gone, but you maybe lucky and have the wind blowing in the opposite direction. I can smell burnt forest for months after a fire. 

 

Here's a link to smoke forecast for Alaska you may find helpful:

http://smoke.alaska.edu/PM25.html

 

 

Edited July 5 by BermudaBound2014

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, BadgerRedux said:

That explains it. I don't use FB much and don't follow any corporate pages; will give it a go.

I don't use FB at all and would hope a large company would either contact it's customers directly or, at minimum, post something on their own site.

So glad the itineraries discussed here seem to be intact. I sincerely hope you all have great trips - we love AK and thought Denali was beautiful.

[AKJonesy]

Report from Denali Borough latest information was July 4 8pm.  The fire was 5% contained as of date and time.  See link for details and they provided a phone number.    

https://www.denaliborough.org/index.asp?SEC=6947563F-9A1C-463A-BF96-D10724F39115

[BermudaBound2014]

Here's an update from this morning:

 

[BadgerRedux]

If HAL has reached out to anyone about their upcoming cruise tours, I'd be interested in hearing about it; specifically, is HAL offering to cancel the land portion if Denali National Park might not be open (or might be open, but not running tours)?  I understand that the Denali NP area has things to offer besides the park and park tours, but if that was the main draw in adding the land portion, then it would be really frustrating to not have the option to forgo the land portion.

 

ETA My cruise tour is more than a week away, so with any luck, the park will be functioning again, but curious about how these things work. Hoping for the best results for everyone, given the challenges.

Edited July 6 by BadgerRedux

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, BadgerRedux said:

If HAL has reached out to anyone about their upcoming cruise tours, I'd be interested in hearing about it; specifically, is HAL offering to cancel the land portion if Denali National Park might not be open (or might be open, but not running tours)?  I understand that the Denali NP area has things to offer besides the park and park tours, but if that was the main draw in adding the land portion, then it would be really frustrating to not have the option to forgo the land portion.

 

ETA My cruise tour is more than a week away, so with any luck, the park will be functioning again, but curious about how these things work. Hoping for the best results for everyone, given the challenges.

Did you read post #34?

[BadgerRedux]

5 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Did you read post #34?

Yes, I did, and it was reassuring to see the line "Cruisetour guests will receive direct communication with updates on their itineraries as we begin welcoming visitors again".  I'm wondering about the nature of those updates, if anyone is inclined to share.

[BermudaBound2014]

July 7 update:

 

 

 

There are also articles saying that they will reopen the park on Wednesday

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2024/07/05/denali-national-park-remains-closed-due-to-wildfire-as-glitter-gulch-businesses-reopen-with-power-restored/

:

[BadgerRedux]

55 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

July 7 update:

 

 

 

There are also articles saying that they will reopen the park on Wednesday

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2024/07/05/denali-national-park-remains-closed-due-to-wildfire-as-glitter-gulch-businesses-reopen-with-power-restored/

:

Definitely good news; this will be wonderful for everyone whose cruisetours included the land portion starting on Wednesday or later.  

 

It looks like Nieuw Amsterdam is in Whittier now so assuming cruisetour passengers who disembarked this morning would've been scheduled to begin their land portion today, and they will miss Denali NP?  I had hoped that HAL would give folks in that situation the option of cancelling the land portion but from what little I've heard so far, it doesn't sound like they were willing.  

 

I know that unexpected events happen (weather, geo-political changes) and itinerary changes like eliminating a port stop are to be expected. I think what felt different about the Denali National Park closure is that for many people, the park (and Tundra Wilderness Tour) was the sole reason to pay the significant additional cost and endure substantial bus/train hours; I know there are other excursions available in the area, but for lots of folks, none of that would've been worth booking a cruisetour instead of just a cruise.  HAL has such a great reputation for their Alaska trips, but if it's true that they refused to let people back out on the trip up to Denali when the park would be closed, then I think customers will find this hard to forgive.

Edited July 7 by BadgerRedux
typos