9-day yukon land tour (y4c)

We are booked on the 9-day Yukon/Fairbanks/Denali land tour originating from Skagway (Y4C). Is the tour capacity capped at one bus load of passengers, or will/do they operate with multiple buses?

We are booked on the 9-day Yukon/Fairbanks/Denali land tour originating from Skagway (Y4C). Is the tour capacity capped at one bus load of passengers, or will/do they operate with multiple buses?

On the Yukon cruisetours you may have two busses for your Y4C but each bus will have a journey host. For instance they may have an A group and a B group and you will stay with the same journey host throughout your adventure. Whether you are in group A or B you will be well taken care of and the A group does not rank above the B. We have been in the B group a couple of times and after a few days realized that we got the best and most experienced journey host! It’s good to know that they are working together for the benefit of everyone.

You’ll have a great time on this itinerary! I especially enjoy Dawson City...Parks Canada has some wonderful programs so head over to the visitor’s center when you get there to see what programs they are offering.

When are you going? I'm on the Volendam July 18.

Roy

oaktreerb— thanks so much for the info.

Roy— So sorry we will miss you. We’ll be on Volendam Aug 1 Vancouver to Skagway, then Westerdam Seward to Vancouver Aug 12.

I never guessed there would be 2 of us crazy enough to do the Volendam/Westerdam combination.

Perhaps HAL should be marketing it as a 2-ship collector cruise.

Roy

I never guessed there would be 2 of us crazy enough to do the Volendam/Westerdam combination.

 

Perhaps HAL should be marketing it as a 2-ship collector cruise.

 

Roy

The 19 day “circle” (RT Vancouver) using Volendam/Westerdam with Y4C in the middle was marketed as one complete package by a TA who’s ad we noticed back in January. We immediately jumped on it. They must have got their inspiration to market such a package from the many interesting itineraries you always put together yourself!

I never guessed there would be 2 of us crazy enough to do the Volendam/Westerdam combination.

 

Perhaps HAL should be marketing it as a 2-ship collector cruise.

 

Roy

Not crazy.....Smart!!!! Yes, HAL would be smart to market it as a 2-ship collector’s cruise!

We returned from this 10 night cruise/8 night land tour on Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip. Having cruised extensively, our main focus of the trip was the land tour throughout the Yukon and Alaska, and it did not disappoint.

Besides the terrific scenery and wildlife, we were very impressed with HAL's organization of the land arrangements. They've obviously done this for many years, and it shows. The Westmark hotels are bustling with various HAL tours coming and going. Luggage handling was flawless, and we never had to stand in line to check into any of the hotels. As we disembarked the bus at each overnight stop, or tour host would hand us packets that contained our room assignment and keys as well as instructions on where and what time to meet next. Also popular tour and restaurant recommendations for each stop.

Being somewhat of an airline geek, I was interested in the handling of the Air North (airline of the Yukon) charter flight from Dawson City to Fairbanks. We did not enter a terminal in Dawson City, but rather the gate of a chain length fence was opened, and our two mini-buses (20 passengers each) drove onto the tarmac to our awaiting Boeing 737. We were offloaded from the mini-buses 6 people at a time. "Security" consisted of two guys under a canopy (it was raining slightly) examining our carry-on bags on a table. Then a lady screening us with her handy wand. After that, up the stairs we went and into the plane. None of these three "security" personnel wore any type of uniform or identification. No removal of shoes, phones, iPads or liquids. What a refreshing change and throw back to the good ol' days! Perhaps the best was saved for last, that being our takeoff from Dawson City's gravel runway. Yes, you read that right. A gravel runway. I did read an article, however, that the Yukon government has now allocated funding to both pave the runway in 2019 as well as other upgrades to the airport. I also read that the 737 that HAL charters each summer has to undergo special treatment to the under body of the aircraft to protect damage from flying rock and debris during take off and landing on the gravel runway. Additionally, until the runway is paved, the aircraft which seats 120 can only fly with a maximum of 65 passengers. Our land tour ran with two buses (as oaktreeb described earlier in this thread) but the aircraft had to make two trips to shuttle everyone to Fairbanks, thus our flight only had the 40 passengers on our bus.

The Westmark hotels were all fine in our opinion, with the exception of Whitehorse. It is desperately in need of some upgrading and TLC! Otherwise, we found all of our rooms in good shape, clean, and with comfortable bedding.

We were traveling with a solo friend who paid the 200% occupancy rate for his own cabin and hotel room. To illustrate the organization of HAL on the land tours, he was given two seats on the trains across the aisle from us and did not have to share a seat with anyone else, which I believe he was entitled to since he had in reality paid two fares.

Our itinerary was as follows:

Volendam 3-nights Vancouver-Skagway

8-night land tour Yukon/Alaska from Skagway to Anchorage

Westerdam 7-nights Seward-Vancouver (including train transfer Anchorage to Seward)

I would estimate 60-70% of the people on our land tour sailed back to Vancouver on the Westerdam following the cruise/land tour that ended in Anchorage. It was very nice to sail back at a more relaxed pace following the busy land tour.

Kudos to HAL for a very enjoyable adventure.

We returned from this 10 night cruise/8 night land tour on Sunday. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip. Having cruised extensively, our main focus of the trip was the land tour throughout the Yukon and Alaska, and it did not disappoint.................

 

 

.............Kudos to HAL for a very enjoyable adventure.

And kudos to you for coming back to tell us about your trip, with good detail. Thank you(y)

Delighted that you had such a wonderful time, and that Holland was extremely well organized.

I don't know how I would feel about a gravel runway, but it did give you a rare experience!

Ricki

So glad you enjoyed your Yukon adventure! Thanks for reporting back.

The Whitehorse Westmark was sold a couple of years ago so I thought HAL might find another hotel in Whitehorse but they seem to have agreed to stay. The location is great. One year we stayed at the Klondike Inn and it was not as nice and was also poorly located. I much prefer the Westmark for the location by the river, the railway, the museum, the Klondike Rib place next door and there is a very nice local art gallery a few blocks away.