Cancelling Natural History Tour and booking thru National Parks

[Katies12]

When I did a land tour back in 2015 with my mom, I cancelled the Natural History Tour and booked with the National Parks of Alaska.

I can't find my notes from that trip, on how to do the cancelling part.  I know we got credit for cancelling the NHT.

Trying to call Princess, but keep getting a busy signal.

Just curious, if anyone has done it lately.

TA was of no help.

Thank you.

[Jnsplace1]

Try calling during the week?   I called them, and upgrading my tour to Tundra.  You will need the time available to do it as it's an 8-9 hour day.   

 

Honestly, I'm not sure about booking through the parks.  I mean, I think their prices are pretty spot on as it includes their shuttle to those events.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Jnsplace1

[AKStafford]

Book the shuttle buses into Denali National Park. Same roads, same views, much cheaper.  https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

[Jnsplace1]

12 hours ago, AKStafford said:

Book the shuttle buses into Denali National Park. Same roads, same views, much cheaper.  https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

That is a great option.   Do read the "fine" print though.   This option is strictly shuttle, from what I recall, a lot of hikers use this one.

 

Below are the base ticket prices for non-narrated transit buses. These prices do not include the park entrance fee.

[rma2001]

10 hours ago, Jnsplace1 said:

That is a great option.   Do read the "fine" print though.   This option is strictly shuttle, from what I recall, a lot of hikers use this one.

 

Below are the base ticket prices for non-narrated transit buses. These prices do not include the park entrance fee.

We did the non-narrated shuttle and the driver talked the whole time. That’s the best way for them to get good tips. 

[John99]

Hi Katies 12,

I called Princess and changed over from the “Natural History Tour” to the “Tundra Wilderness Tour”.   FYI – tour times were 6:00AM, 7:00AM, 8:00AM plus various times in the afternoon. The Tundra Wilderness Tour is now included in our promo package at no additional cost to us.  I’m a happy camper!! 

Note:  I had to wait over 40 minutes to talk to a customer servicer rep to make the change.  The call was placed late in the afternoon.

 

I would like to expand on bus trips into DenaliNational Park.    

 

Types of Bus Trips: Tour vs. Transit

You should understand the nature of bus trips into Denali before booking anything.

There are two main types of buses in Denali - narrated trips (tour buses) and non-narrated trips (transit buses). In addition, free buses travel routes around the park entrance, connecting visitor centers and points of interest in the same area where visitors may drive their own vehicles.

 

Non-narrated transit buses

Cheaper than tour buses, and more flexible in that you may disembark / re-board anywhere along the road, these are called transit buses. Transit bus drivers aim to help you experience the park on your own terms which some people prefer.  These buses stop for wildlife viewing, restroom stops and beautiful scenery, just like tour buses. There are four choices of non-narrated trips, of varying length.

 

Narrated tour buses

Your driver is your narrator on the tour buses, and he or she will provide a detailed and captivating program to accompany your journey along the

Denali Park Road

. Tour buses make the same restroom stops as the non-narrated buses, and of course will pause for views of wildlife and scenery. All tours offer either a snack or full box lunch. There are three tour bus options, of varying length.
Note: narrated tour bus departures vary a little bit day to day, so there is no master schedule for tour buses.

Free buses

Three types of free buses operate on the publicly-drivable portion of the

Denali Park Road

. These enable visitors without vehicles, or those who wish to leave their vehicle behind, to travel between various facilities, trails, campgrounds and day-use areas. All of these are free, and none require reservations.

 

The National Park Service does not operate any of these tours. Questions concerning departure times, ticket refunds, etc., should be directed to Doyon/Aramark Joint Venture, the concessionaire who operates these tours.
Reservations for bus trips are made through the bus concessionaire, Doyon/Aramark Joint Venture. You can buy bus tickets online or call 1-800-622-7275.

John

[disneyochem]

We had the Tundra Wilderness Tour as part of our Princess Connoisseur Land Tour.  I called Princess (and make sure you don’t call on the weekends!) and removed the tour from our package.  It was straightforward—Princess rep had to deal with the Princess land people but was able to do it.  Booked a tour on the same day to Kantishna (sp?) with a private vendor.

 

Had to do this because the Princess tour to Kantisha was full and we really wanted to go to the end of the road.