Semi live review Y1L Holland America’s Alaska Land and Sea CruiseTour, June 1 – June 19, 2022

[Alphen]

Additional Denali Pictures

 

Because we can't get enough, how lucky we were, weather wise;

 

[Btimmer]

Thank you for your stellar reporting and summary.  We leave a week from today to begin our triple Denali and then southbound on the Noordam.

[Alphen]

Wildlife Pictures

 

Vancouver Squirrels (for us from Holland, this is wildlife) 🙂

 

 

Harbor Seal, Vancouver

 

Whitehorse Beavers in the Yukon river

 

 

 

Family of Foxes in Whitehorse

 

 

Bird-life Tombstone Park

 

 

Caribou during Fairbanks Riverboat Tour, part of the Chena Indian Village Living Museum

 

 

Hurd of Caribou in Denali National Park

 

 

Grizzly Denali National Park

 

 

Young Moose in Denali National Park

 

 

 

Anchorage Moose

 

 

Sandhill Crane Tony Knowles Coastal Trail Anchorage

 

 

Black Bear Tony Knowles Coastal Trail Anchorage

 

 

Coastal Brown Bears Hubbard Glacier

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Wildlife Pictures

Bald Eagle

[cat shepard]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip, pictures and thoughts with us.  You have a great eye! I had to really search for the bald Eagle in one picture - bravo!

 

Now I am hoping I get to go in August. And hoping your luck in capturing Denali in all its glory rubs off on me. 
 

Thank you again!

[tooleyweeds]

Thank you for this very informative series of posts.

 

On the McKinley Explorer Dome Train, who gets to sit on the upper (dome) level?  Is that determined by the cabin class that you choose for the cruise?

[Alphen]

Just now, tooleyweeds said:

Thank you for this very informative series of posts.

 

On the McKinley Explorer Dome Train, who gets to sit on the upper (dome) level?  Is that determined by the cabin class that you choose for the cruise?

Seating is ONLY on upper level, lower level is for dining and you are invited for dining on the lower level in small groups and only for the duration of your meal. For the rest of the journey, you are all seated on the upper dome level.

[Traveling Dot]

Jeroen, love all your pictures.  You were so lucky to see so much wildlife.  Glad you had a great experience and trip.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Traveling Dot
Correct spelling

[deltadoug13]

Thank you so much for the detailed descriptions of your journey.

We are booked for June 8, 2023, 10 day cruise plus Denali

 

Are there any things that you would do differently?

 

Any excursions that you would not do again or any that you didn't do, that you would add if you went back?

 

We are looking at a tour in Skagway taking the White Pass railroad up and biking down. 

 

Thank you again for the wonderful review and amazing pictures.

 

Doug

 

 

[Alphen]

9 minutes ago, deltadoug13 said:

Thank you so much for the detailed descriptions of your journey.

We are booked for June 8, 2023, 10 day cruise plus Denali

 

Are there any things that you would do differently?

 

Any excursions that you would not do again or any that you didn't do, that you would add if you went back?

 

We are looking at a tour in Skagway taking the White Pass railroad up and biking down. 

 

Thank you again for the wonderful review and amazing pictures.

 

Doug

 

 

I don’t think we would have done anything different. You always here about other tours that had more luck in wildlife spotting, but that is luck of the draw. Skagway in combination with something active is a wise choice, we did ours with hiking. Only thing a little bit disappointing was a guided hike on our arrival afternoon in Denali, looking back, we might have been better off on one of the self guided hikes out of the Denali Park visitor centre.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

9 hours ago, Alphen said:

Round-Up and conclusions

 

 

Hotels

All hotels used during the land tour, were of good quality, with the exception of Anchorage. All had large rooms, which we did not spent much time, but had more than adequate facilities.

 

 

Pre tour/cruise stay:

SureStay Hotel by Best Western North Vancouver Capilano

https://www.bestwesterncapilano.com/

 

Land Tour

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel

https://www.fairmont.com/vancouver-airport-richmond/

 

Whitehorse Sternwheeler Hotel & Conference Centre

https://www.sternwheelerhotel.ca/

 

Westmark Inn Dawson

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/dawson-city-hotel/

 

Westmark Fairbanks Hotel

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/fairbanks-hotel/

 

Mckinley Chalet Resort

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/denali-hotel/

 

Westmark Anchorage

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/anchorage-hotel/

In addition to the hotel information, all hotel rooms that we stayed in, had more than enough electric and USB outlets, to use and recharge the usual electronics.

[USN59-79]

Just to let you know that I have really enjoyed your blog and appreciate you taking the time and effort to do it.  We look forward to sailing with you on the Westerdam this March.

Ray and Sara

[Cybercsp]

Thank you so much for this highly detailed and helpful report.  Like you, we saw Denali clearly in 2009 and hope to be as lucky when return next month!

[tundra1]

Thank you so much for this great trip report!  The links have been really helpful also, since I still can't find anyone who posted about a trip that starts on land, goes to Denali, Fairbanks, and the Yukon, and then catches the ship for a 4 night cruise out of Skagway.

[Alphen]

7 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

Just to let you know that I have really enjoyed your blog and appreciate you taking the time and effort to do it.  We look forward to sailing with you on the Westerdam this March.

Ray and Sara

Likewise, rooting it will go!

[Alphen]

Information at start of Land Tour

 

Working through all of the information we received during our Land Tour and that we all saved and took home, here are two sheets that may give some valuable information;

 

[Alphen]

Planning Land Tour brochures;

 

During the planning of our Land Tour, we asked for and received several brochures ahead of time sent to our home address;

·         Denali National Park Brochure; https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/park-brochure.htm

·         Skagway White Pass and Yukon Route Railway; https://wpyr.com/brochures/english/

·         Dawson City and Yukon; https://www.travelyukon.com/en/guidebooks

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Land Tour, Tour Tickets;

 

Another thing that might be useful to know; tours during the land portion, either included in the standard program, but also the ones that are booked extra, do not come with vouchers or tickets. At each location you will receive a package, containing hotel information and also a sheet with listing of (included) tours and their meeting location and times and departure times. We found it helpful to carry this sheet with us, as and extra proof of purchase of the booked tour. In one case (Diamond Tooth Gerties), there were some issues in getting in the venue without proof of booking. Turned out there was some missing communication between HAL Tours and the venue, which a day later was solved, probably start-up problems. Nevertheless, it never hurts to have this sheet with you, as an extra purchase proof of the tour(s).

[Alphen]

Verifly

 

I keep finding extra information in our travel data and records, that I think may of use to future travelers, so don't be surprised if this thread does get some updates after it looked like to be finished.

 

I do not know if I was clear about the use of Verifly, when boarding a cruise in Whittier after the land tour; you do not have bother to use Verifly! This was in our specific case, but the way the staff worked on the train, it seemed usual business for them.

 

Cruise check in will be done on the cruise train while travelling from Anchorage to Whittier and Verifly is not used at all, so don't bother.

 

After the electronic check in on the train, we were issued a green "security cleared" (if I remember correctly) inlay for our passport, which had you directly enter the security check line at the boarding area for the ship.

 

All of the electronic check in is while on the train, including (currently) proof of vaccination and the negative test result. Photos are taken of your passport and of your face, while on the train for the security access on board. We had pre-loaded our picture ourselves in the Navigator App, but this was apparently on top of that. It turned out that for several people the required photo for security access to the ship did not make it all the way, so we had it re taken on board (again).

Edited June 26, 2022 by Alphen

[Lalof]

On 6/25/2022 at 8:27 AM, Alphen said:

Information at start of Land Tour

 

Working through all of the information we received during our Land Tour and that we all saved and took home, here are two sheets that may give some valuable information;

 

I'm confused about the luggage situation.  The letter says you can choose to have all of your luggage stay with  you or have some go directly to the ship.  Previously, I thought I understood that we were only allowed to have a backpack/small piece and a carryon to take to Denali and all larger suitcases would go directly to the ship.  Am I misunderstanding what your letter says? Or maybe different cruise-tours have different options?

[Mary229]

11 minutes ago, Lalof said:

I'm confused about the luggage situation.  The letter says you can choose to have all of your luggage stay with  you or have some go directly to the ship.  Previously, I thought I understood that we were only allowed to have a backpack/small piece and a carryon to take to Denali and all larger suitcases would go directly to the ship.  Am I misunderstanding what your letter says? Or maybe different cruise-tours have different options?

The only limitation land tours have is the 25 pound weight limit for certain Yukon flights and you can only have one piece of luggage each.  I only learned about the weight limit inone of these review threads, I didn’t find that information on HAL.
 

ALSO You can only hand carry a small pieces of luggage like a daypack.  
 There is a document on the website call Tour tips which explains the luggage system

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Mary229

[Alphen]

20 minutes ago, Lalof said:

I'm confused about the luggage situation.  The letter says you can choose to have all of your luggage stay with  you or have some go directly to the ship.  Previously, I thought I understood that we were only allowed to have a backpack/small piece and a carryon to take to Denali and all larger suitcases would go directly to the ship.  Am I misunderstanding what your letter says? Or maybe different cruise-tours have different options?

It is indeed in the Tour Tips documents on the HAL website, but in this document it looks you have to part with some of your luggage, but when we were well underway in our tour, it became clear that it is an option, you can hold on to your luggage all the way. Since everything regarding luggage is handled by staff every stop, we chose to have all our luggage with us, all the way. Weight and size limitations are as per Yukon Air North website, but it turned out they did not check any weight or size of the carry on.

[Alphen]

21 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

The only limitation land tours have is the 25 pound weight limit for certain Yukon flights and you can only have one piece of luggage each.  I only learned about the weight limit inone of these review threads, I didn’t find that information on HAL.
 

ALSO You can only hand carry a small pieces of luggage like a daypack.  
 There is a document on the website call Tour tips which explains the luggage system

 

The checked luggage can be up to two pieces per person, as long as they don’t exceed total weight of 50 pounds or 23 kgs per person, please check Air North website, the carry on is limited at 10 kg or 22 pounds, but nobody checked.

 

https://www.flyairnorth.com/flights/baggage-carry

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Alphen

[KSPlum74]

On 6/21/2022 at 1:25 AM, Alphen said:

Round-Up and conclusions

 

 

Hotels

All hotels used during the land tour, were of good quality, with the exception of Anchorage. All had large rooms, which we did not spent much time, but had more than adequate facilities.

 

 

Pre tour/cruise stay:

SureStay Hotel by Best Western North Vancouver Capilano

https://www.bestwesterncapilano.com/

 

Land Tour

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel

https://www.fairmont.com/vancouver-airport-richmond/

 

Whitehorse Sternwheeler Hotel & Conference Centre

https://www.sternwheelerhotel.ca/

 

Westmark Inn Dawson

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/dawson-city-hotel/

 

Westmark Fairbanks Hotel

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/fairbanks-hotel/

 

Mckinley Chalet Resort

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/denali-hotel/

 

Westmark Anchorage

https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/anchorage-hotel/

The wifi at the Fairmont was actually free. If wanted premium then a cost.  I asked about this at the front desk. 

[KSPlum74]

8 hours ago, Alphen said:

The checked luggage can be up to two pieces per person, as long as they don’t exceed total weight of 50 pounds or 23 kgs per person, please check Air North website, the carry on is limited at 10 kg or 22 pounds, but nobody checked.

 

https://www.flyairnorth.com/flights/baggage-carry

 

Although I don't think this turned out to be true since I know one of my bags was 45 pounds and the other about 25.