Alaska 2020 now posted to HAL website

[Andi Land]

FYI, the 2020 itineraries are now posted for those who have been waiting. 

[luvtwotrvl]

Thank you very much!

 

David

[Andi Land]

The 14 day itinerary is on the Maasdam on RT Vancouver instead of Seattle. It has other changes to itinerary as well. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

so for Maasdam 2020 (as opposed to Amsterdam 2019) it looks like they are dropping Sitka, Kodiak and Victoria and picking up Haines, Valdez and an extra sea day ........  both itins have plusses and minuses.  The biggest minus of Vancouver is sailingf rom Vancouver itself - unless they are there on a day where there is only 1 ship that terminal can be a royal PITA mostly due to the customs situation.  Then there is a the added cost of airfare and hotels to Vancouver vs Seattle ........  But then you get more true scenic inside passage cruising and Valdez as compensation so ......

[Italy52]

The new 14-day itinerary on the Maasdam is exciting for us -- I was tossing around a Princess itinerary but found this one.  Does anyone know if there will be any sales (Cyber?) coming up soon?  Would like to book this cruise but if a sale is soon I just might wait.

 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

3 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

The new 14-day itinerary on the Maasdam is exciting for us -- I was tossing around a Princess itinerary but found this one.  Does anyone know if there will be any sales (Cyber?) coming up soon?  Would like to book this cruise but if a sale is soon I just might wait.

 

As long as you book a fully refundable deposit fare (Advantage or agency promotional group fares would qualify)  then you can re-fare with new promos when/if they become available :)

[Italy52]

1 minute ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

As long as you book a fully refundable deposit fare (Advantage or agency promotional group fares would qualify)  then you can re-fare with new promos when/if they become available 🙂

 

 

Thanks much, I appreciate the response.

[joekerstef]

1 hour ago, Italy52 said:

The new 14-day itinerary on the Maasdam is exciting for us -- I was tossing around a Princess itinerary but found this one.  Does anyone know if there will be any sales (Cyber?) coming up soon?  Would like to book this cruise but if a sale is soon I just might wait.

 

Probably shortly after the 19th when Explore4 ends.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I would not expect any Cyber sale promotions to cover 2020 summer sailings.  If anything they will cover Winter/Spring 2019 to Spring 2020, like the current Explore4 promo does.  I would not anticipate any Summer 2020 through Spring 2021 sailings to have promos from HAL until mid Spring 2019 ....... that's just based on past promo patterns and they could surprise us :)

[westcoastcruiser]

Don’t see any 21 day Alaska cruises currently been done by the Maasdam during 2019.  We were hoping to do a 21 day in 2020.  I hope they are yet to be released.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you!!

[LEtue]

Love the departure from Vancouver but without Kodiak and Sitka the itinerary is less appealing for me. 

 

The price to cruise this new itinerary as a solo is just too much to based on the changes 

[Italy52]

Thanks all for your replies to my posts, I appreciate the feedback.

[Andi Land]

1 hour ago, LEtue said:

Love the departure from Vancouver but without Kodiak and Sitka the itinerary is less appealing for me. 

 

The price to cruise this new itinerary as a solo is just too much to based on the changes 

 

I was thinking the same thing. Kodiak is a big draw for my husband. We’ve been to Sitka numerous times and love it. We don’t know anything about Haines or Valdez though so,I’m going to do some research. 

[joekerstef]

3 hours ago, LEtue said:

Love the departure from Vancouver but without Kodiak and Sitka the itinerary is less appealing for me. 

 

The price to cruise this new itinerary as a solo is just too much to based on the changes 

I agree this would be more appealing with at least one of those stops (i'd be okay skipping Homer and going to Kodiak instead with more time there to explore more than we had on the 14 day two years ago).

 

I find it curious that it's scheduled for Maasdam too. I love the ship and we did the 14 day on her, but I wonder if they'll be doing the enhanced EXC program still or what. She's scheduled for ten runs of this itinerary for 2020 and still hitting the main Alaskan ports. Maybe they've figured out a zodiak excursion for Juneau....

[pmjnh]

11 hours ago, westcoastcruiser said:

Don’t see any 21 day Alaska cruises currently been done by the Maasdam during 2019.  We were hoping to do a 21 day in 2020.  I hope they are yet to be released.

 

The Maasdam has three 21 day  cruises in 2019, all round trip from San Francisco. Did you mean 2020?

[westcoastcruiser]

10 minutes ago, pmjnh said:

 

The Maasdam has three 21 day  cruises in 2019, all round trip from San Francisco. Did you mean 2020?

 

Yes, that is what my post said....Maasdam is scheduled for 2019 and I was hoping to schedule for 2020 but do not see any 21 day cruises listed.  

[Crew News]

Just booked May 4th.

[Andi Land]

2 hours ago, Crew News said:

Just booked May 4th.

 

I’ve noticed you go to Alaska early in the season. Is this your favorite time to go? Do you find everything “open” and available as far as excursions and such?

[towhee]

We usually go at the end of May and with few exceptions the excursions are the same as June, July, and August (we've never done September).  All of the stores are open (the small towns have 4 months to earn a year's worth of money).  The only excursions that might not be available are some of the wildlife excursions (many of the animals are still sleeping or just waking up) and excursions into the high country if the winter was hard and/or late.

[Italy52]

Just booked the 14-day Alaska itinerary for May 18, 2020 -- very excited!

 

[Crew News]

2 hours ago, Andi Land said:

 

I’ve noticed you go to Alaska early in the season. Is this your favorite time to go? Do you find everything “open” and available as far as excursions and such?

 

I have been to Alaska every year since my first visit in 2008 and with only a few exceptions, May has been my month of choice for the following reasons:  lowest cruise and air fares, ships have reduced passengers since most schools still in session, very few kids, no bugs, less rain, still a chill in the weather in the mornings, lots of baby creatures just discovering life, all shops open, still snow in the higher elevations, and lots of whales.