Alaska Cruise/Tour #6

[Dani83]

I've been looking into taking the Alaska Cruise/Tour #6, the 15 day 'Klondike, Denali, Kluane, Glacier Bay' trip. I really like the itinerary, especially since the land portion visits Alaska and the Yukon, with a 4-day cruise at the end to Vancouver.

 

Has anyone taken this tour before? Any opinions on this, or any of Holland America's other Alaska cruise/tours?

 

Thanks!

[agabbymama]

I chose a similar cruisetour on HAL called Yukon Wilderness Cruisetour #1,

back in '07. We cruised 3 days Vancouver to Skagway. Left the ship there for our 8 days on land up to Whitehorse, Dawson City, Eagle, Chicken, Tok, Fairbanks, Denali and back to Anchorage.

 

To me the Yukon and Alaska go together (just in my mind) from the gold rush days. It was totally awesome.

 

Cruisetours aren't for everyone, but if you know you like coach tours (they are very regimented) then go for it. I loved being told where and when to be, then sit back on the coach, relax and enjoy the scenery. We saw small out of the way places that a lot of folks don't get to. They schlepp your luggage, and it's delivered to your room.

 

We didn't purchase the meal plan (but wish I had). When you arrive into a town, everyone is hungry and looking for a place to eat right away. We usually ate in the hotel restaurant anyway, and was always asked if we had the food vouchers. We ended up spending just as much on food, as if we had purchased the meal vouchers. Plan on spending double for anything you would get here in the lower 48.

 

HAL does a great job on their cruisetours. Your are really well taken care of. And you always have a tour director with you to handle any problems that might arise. I had marked the card not to have to climb stairs, but when we arrived in Tok the Westmark is a two story motel like building and our room was upstairs. I called our tour director and he immediately got us changed to a downstairs room. We were away from the rest of the group, but at least didn't have to climb the stairs.

 

Another incident that occurred, in Tok. Our original departure time was set for 8:00, but the driver said there was road work on the route, so he wanted to depart at 7:00 to be sure to arrive in Fairbanks on time. We all met at the bus at 7:00, but the bus wouldn't start. He and the other driver worked to get it started. We departed at 8:00. We all thought it was kind of funny, and glad that we weren't on our own with problems such as this.

 

Others on this board advocate independent travel (saying it's easy and a lot less expensive), but we really enjoyed our trip, and I highly recommend HAL cruisetours. Have a great trip!

[Dani83]

Great, thanks for the information! And that's good advice about the meal plan too, I will keep that in mind.

 

It's good to hear from someone who has done a similar cruise/tour.... I like the itineraries that include visiting the Yukon as well, because I agree with you, in my mind Alaska and the Yukon go together.

 

I have actually never done an escorted coach tour at all, but I love the idea of it and think I would enjoy it. Especially since if I do decide to book this cruise/tour, I will likely be travelling on my own.....so I would prefer to be with people on a tour and have things organized for me.

[Gramagee]

I have taken HAL cruise tour #5 which is just the reverse direction of #6.

WONDERFUL...HAL does not miss a thing. You will also be very comfortable if you travel alone. I did get the meal plan because when you are in areas like Tok and Chicken there are not alot of choices. We found the meals in the hotels to be just fine using the plan. Frequent stops on the coaches and much info available. You really do get to see the Great Land. The choices for excursions are also very good. We did all thru HAL and might have paid a little more but we were very pleased and comfortable. ENJOY!!!!

[CruiseRev]

Although we did a different itinerary, we were pleased with the arrangements over all. Having someone to get your room key, schlepp your luggage, etc. is a nice way to travel. The food costs in Alaska are high and there is a little "sticker shock." Going southbound, with the cruise on the end of your vacation would be my recommendation.

[goodroe]

My DH and I did the Princess land tour up to Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse in 2007 and then one week cruise southbound. Absolutely magnificent trip. We cannot say enough about how well Princess managed the trip. We were a group of about 35 - all ages. A great group of adventuresome people and our driver/guide was fantastic. Only negative comment was the train ride from Anchorage to Denali. Princess uses a train where there are only tables and benches as opposed to standard train seats. Did see a HAL train at the station next to us and it looked a lot more comfortable.

 

Our recommendation is the same as a previous poster. -land tour first and cruise south. One advantage is that you get to see a lot of Alaska first and perhaps don't need to do a lot of ship tours on the cruise portion (saves a lot of money). One couple from our group did the white pass railway and said they could have easily skipped it. Only tour I did was rafting in Juneau at Mendenhall Glacier - definately a trip highlight.:)

 

Have a great time whatever you do.

[Dani83]

It's nice to hear about all of your different cruise-tour experiences!

 

 

It looks like some of HAL's cruise-tours are sold out for this summer already....I didn't realize how quickly Alaska trips sell out, they look to be very popular! If I cannot go this year, I will definitely plan one for next summer.