Daffodil92

Hi there,

We are starting the land tour on 24th and hotels are as follows;

Fairbanks - Bear Lodge Hotel

Denali - Denali Park Village

Anchorage - Anchorage Hilton

Homer - Ocean Shore Inn

Oops! Didn’t see your reply Sprag! Did you get the transfer sorted from Fairbanks airport to Bear Lodge? Took a while but THINK it’s sorted. Can’t believe it’s nearly here!!!

We're getting excited, too (a little more than 2 weeks before we go) I should mention that when e-docs originally through came hotel in Denali wasn't assigned. It could be that the Denali hotel is a trip by trip assignment.

We go on 24th July (Land tour first). Can I ask how far ahead you received your edocs with information about the land hotels?

Hi is there a reason why you wouldn't fly straight home from Vancouver??

 

Thanks for your help

Not at all. We were going to fly back from Vancouver with Air Transat or West Jet.

However, I see doing a multi city booking Vancouver- Toronto- London with West Jet works out almost the same price for us - so we're going to break up the long homeward journey with an overnight to Niagra Falls!

Fantastic second instalment - what glorious sunshine you're having too!

Interesting to read you seem to get from your Anchorage hotel to downtown fairly easily- is it walkable or were you taking a bus? I'm trying to figure out Anchorage hotels which won't break our budget but also won't be too far away from everything with no car.

Looking forward to the next instalment- again, thanks so much for taking the time to write it 😊

Fabulous pictures! Thanks so much for doing this. We are doing the NCL Southbound next year and will be staying a couple of days in Anchorage so your tripe has been really helpful already. Looking forward to the next instalment : )

We are doing this cruisetour next summer too so following with interest.

Those going this year, please can you tell me how far ahead you received information about your accommodation and any optional excursions?

nothing that's going to make the cover of Nat'l Geo, but they were out

Woo hoo! Was it possible to see them with the naked eye? I thought we wouldn't stand a chance in July/August next year!

We leave Fairbanks on 24th July 2018 on the 14 day authentic alaska tour.

Which one are you doing?

Hello! We are on exactly the same tour as you Sprag on July 24th - now that NCL have called to say they are reinstating our cancelled booking too 😃

I hope everyone who was affected by this has dug their heels in and had their bookings honoured. I wonder about the OP - they haven't updated on this thread.

Hi there,

I've been following this with interest as I am planning a similar journey for next July.

OP, just wondered if you know Icelandair do London to Anchorage (via Iceland) ? It looks like this route is Sunday's and Wednesdays. I think that's what we've decided to go for. Enjoy your planning :)

I've started another thread in NCL board which might give us some further insight into what's going on.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53430805&posted=1#post53430805

Daffodi,

 

I am booked on the same cruise - booked through a travel agent last March in New York.

NCL website indicates a "DEFAULT ITINERARY NAME" and when I click on "VIEW VACATION SUMMARY" the webpage crashes.

 

Quick phone call to NCL 1.866.234.7350 - they advise the booking exists and is valid.

Hi there. Glad they are reassuring you. Are you on the cruise tour or just the cruise?

Most of the cruises on The Sun for July and August on The Sun have been canceled and automatically re-booked for The Jewel.

 

Norwegian has not made a formally announcement as to why yet. Some people are assuming that The Sun has been chartered to act as a floating hotel for The World Cup Soccer in Russia during July and August of 2018. It would not be the first time that a Norwegian ship has been chartered to act as floating hotel for a major sporting event.

Thank you for your reply. When people have been automatically rebooked, have they been given the same cabins? (Is the Jewel the same layout of ship as the Sun?)

On the website (UK and US) it says the Sun is sailing Vancouver to Seward in July and August 2018. These cruises are live and available to book when I looked today.

However, some UK customers yesterday received a cancellation notice for their Sun cruise tours saying it has been changed to the Jewel and they therefore must completely rebook and will not be allowed to retain the land tour portion of their trip.

I booked a Southbound Seward to Vancouver cruise tour on the NCL Sun for 30th July 2018 which was cancelled by NCL (with no explanation at all) yesterday.

I had also booked a Northbound Vancouver to Seward cruise (as a back up) with a US TA for 23rd July 2018, which I assumed was also on the Sun. However, looking closely at my paperwork - it says it's the Jewel! I booked this in March. This must be the same ship which will turn around for the Southbound journey on the 30th. :confused:

Does anybody know what is going on please and has anyone else had their Sun 2018 cruise completely cancelled?

Thanks for any insights.

Hi there,

When I log in to my NCL account on the US website my booking is all there, says 14 day Authentic Southbound Cruisetour and has th full itinerary listed so I'm still really hopeful it will be honoured :)

I had the NCL Personal cruise consultant phone me last night to tell me she's been told to cancel my booking because it is no longer available.

I told her not to do a thing because I know it IS still available in the US.

I have had nothing in writing from NCL to say there is a problem.

Has anyone else heard anything? I have already opened a case with customer services but I'd be very interested to hear if it's just me or if anyone else has had the cruise tour cancelled. Thanks x

Anymore news in this anyone?

 

 

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Hi there,

When I log in to my NCL account on the US website my booking is all there, says 14 day Authentic Southbound Cruisetour and has th full itinerary listed so I'm still really hopeful it will be honoured :)

The train is, aside from the limited schedule, the best way from Van to Sea or vice versa (really, I didn't mention it only because with 5 of you a rental car will be way less $ if you shop around). If a rental is off the table, and the times work for you, the train is a great choice. NB: unless you choose to leave the highway, the only time you're not on a major divided piece of road all the way to Seatac is right at the start in Vancouver, since there are no highways inside the city limits. However, regular streets do have highway numbers so a GPS or map is still easy to follow, it's just rather odd to be on 'highway 99' and be surrounded by sidewalks & tall buildings with a speed limit pf 30mph!

 

 

Budget $32pp for adult Saver coach tickets on Amtrak (if some of the 5 are Seniors or Kids, even better pricing is possible) and be sure to book in advance, as prices only go up. Sales no longer apply to Saver tix - at least I've never seen a sale that did in over three years.

 

From King St to Seatac - Uber/Lyft if you have smartphones with data to use the app. Otherwise EastSideForHire is a local car firm that offers fixed price rates - IIRC downtown to airport $29 per car. A metered cab somewhere around $40, but traffic in wildly variable in Seattle. If you're traveling light, the LINK light rail has a stop almost nextdoor to Amtrak, and another at the airport. $2.75pp and about 40mins travel time (plus a long walk through a garage on the other end, so budget an hour from station to concourse).

That is just brilliant - thank you so much for your really helpful and informative reply. The train sounds a really good option, especially if we took the evening one (as I guess it stays light late in July?) and stay one night in Seattle.

So...I'm going to book my international flights (£2700 for 5 of us London - Vancouver/ Toronto - London ) and leave 2 full clear days before our cruise tour starts in Fairbanks to either enjoy Vancouver and fly to Fairbanks or do 1 night in Vancouver, get the train to Seattle and perhaps overnight in Seattle before flying to Fairbanks. We'll firm these plans up in September when the flights are released.

We'll have a week back in Vancouver after the cruise and are then going to Toronto to sneak in a quick visit to Niagra Falls.

I really am so excited - and so grateful for everyone's help on this board. Thank you x

I looked at our seven day Alaska cruise on the Sun for July 2018 which I booked in January.

We got the free drinks package (1 adult and one teen) and $200 obc in a mid ship balcony room. We also prepaid our service charge.

Todays All Inclusive price works out at about £300 more than we paid BUT the price difference is all on the 3rd person in the room. For us, as the third person is a child, it would have been more expensive.

If however, we had only wanted two people in the cabin it would have been the same price with some water, a coffee at dinner and juices for my teenager who doesn't drink soda thrown in.

Edited to say, I forgot about that $200 obc which we would not have got with the All inclusive. That makes the price difference greater!

Wow! Such a lot of helpful advice - thank you so much!

The http://matrix.itasoftware.com website was a revelation for me - I always wondered how people found clever flight combinations and now I know!

I would just love to potter along the coast to Seattle visiting towns along the way but I'm ashamed to say I am definitely too scared to hire a car. The highways I could cope with but going through major cities would just be too stressful to consider.

But....how about the train? Would the train between Vancouver and Seattle be a good alternative option? It looks much cheaper than flying out of Vancouver and I wonder if it would give us the chance to see some of the scenery along the way. I don't know if times would work to tie in with a direct flight to Fairbanks or how we'd get from the train station to the airport - once again any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks for your reply Gardyloo. Oops Alaska Airlines - got it now ; )

It is really helpful to know how the transfer is likely to work - we've only ever arrived as international travellers so I was expecting immigration with huge queues etc. Great to find out that we can clear all this in Vancouver.

If we were to book a ticket with Alaska Airlines from Vancouver to Fairbanks then , would it mean we would not have to collect our bags at Seattle and that they would get checked straight through to Fairbanks? Again this would make a short transfer time more possible.

I know it's very early but our international flights are available and I want to book them very soon because I think they'll only go up over time. Knowing realistic transfer arrangements to Fairbanks is therefore really helpful so we can plan our dates to fly out. Thanks again for your help.

That's helpful alwaysfrantic, thank you for your reply.

You must have a different body clock to me - I'd dread arriving late at night but am up for an early start. (My teens won't be agreeing with me though!).

So helpful to know that I can look at Delta as well as Air Alaska when flights are released - it's going to come down to that short layover though. Can anyone else comment on whether its long enough?

Do come back and let me know about your trip - I'm so excited to hear people's experiences!

Hi,

We are a family of 5 from the UK and will be doing a SB cruisetour August 2018 which begins in Fairbanks and ends in Vancouver.

We've seen some good flights to Vancouver with Air Transat and want to spend a day or two there to reset our body clocks and relax before heading to Fairbanks.

Does anybody have any advice of the best way to get to Fairbanks? There appear to be flights from Vancouver to Fairbanks with Air Alaska but its only an hour layover in Seattle - would this work? I don't know if we'd need to clear immigration in Seattle or what the layout of the airport is like - is one hour realistic?

Alternativey we could consider a train or private transfer to Seattle? I definitely don't want to be arriving in Fairbanks in the middle of the night though.

If anyone has experience they could share I'd be really grateful.

Many thanks x

The clam and linguine dish(forgot the fancy name they give it), order extra clams. Agree that the steaks are very good too.

Safe sailing

Great thread :)

As a first time NCL (or in fact any!) cruiser can I ask if the steaks are included or if you have to pay an upcharge? Thanks.

Hello,

In January on the UK NCL website, there was a 14 day Southbound Authentic Alaskan Cruisetour (Fairbanks - Seward- Vancouver) for sale for 24th July 2018.

The price was incredibly good and I thought it might be a mistake so I phoned NCL and spoke to their agent, asking her to clarify if this price was real. She made some enquiries and phoned me back encouraging me to book it - which I did. I got email booking confirmation with all the correct dates and details etc.

A couple of days later, ALL cruisetours had disappeared from the website. When I logged into my NCL account I can see my booking BUT it looks different - it says "map coming soon" and only has details of the actual cruise part. I did phone the PCC and she said that it was still on her system and if there was a problem she would have been told to contact me.

Sooo....am I safe? Are people still able to book cruisetours for next year despite them not being available in the UK?

If you booked a cruisetour what details can you see when you log in? And when would you expect any update?

Thank you so much for any help or reassurance any one is able to offer - I suppose I just don't know what a "normal" booking should look like. :o

Usual time frame of lodging notification is 30-60 days ahead.

 

If you are booking through the cruise line, there will be an excursion list available. I would think, as maybe a month or 2 go by, then you can go ahead and book independent excursions. You know the locations you are going to be in already.

 

I'd suggest adding a few days to Fairbanks. There is plenty to see and do there, but, you really need a rental car. Far more efficient touring of the area. The Arctic tours are also an excellent option to consider. Especially excellent for a day trip is Northern Alaska's fly/van combo trip to Coldfoot. :) 3 days to invest- getting up to Prudhoe Bay, with same tour company.

Thank you for your reply Budget Queen. We won't be able to hire a car so I will have to do a bit of research to see if it's better to spend an extra day in Anchorage or Fairbanks if we're relying on public transport/taxis etc. That's a nice job to have to do though :)

If they only allocate accommodation between 30-60 days out that won't help with finding out if our booking wlll be honoured. Because the flights are so expensive (We are a family of 6) and increase in price from release dates we'll be looking to book at 11 months out - so about the end of August. I REALLY hope we find out for definite before then ! Surely if they were going to cancel us they would have done so by that point :o

I think I might need to ask around on the NCL board as well to see if anyone else is booking landtours and what type of confirmation they've received. Thanks again for your help.

I have been looking at Air Transat to Vancouver (as we will return from there) and then Air Canada to Anchorage for an overnight followed by Air Alaska to Fairbanks.

Plan B could be London to Seattle return then Air Alaska direct from Seattle to Fairbanks. This would mean a bus (or perhaps train?) journey from Vancouver to Seattle to get the flight home. Would definitely want to spend a good few days in Vancouver before flying home.

I wonder how far out people on Cruisetours are given more information about their trip - such as hotel details, opportunity to book excursions etc. If we knew when to expect this we'd have a good idea if our trip is going ahead.....fingers and everything else crossed!