Need help from you pros to Alaska

[MeggMegg]

Do you think the Westjet pilot strike if they do strike will last long and effect the June flights?

[Suzcruz57]

On 5/15/2023 at 11:09 AM, Roz said:

HAL's hotels are VERY expensive,  at least by my standards.  If this is your first time cruising, or Vancouver is unfamiliar territory for you and you feel you need a little hand holding, then by all means book everything through HAL.

 

For my September cruise to Alaska,  I'm flying Southwest to Seattle and staying in a hotel near the airport that I booked with points. The next day I'm going back to Seatac and taking the HAL transfer bus to Canada Place in Vancouver.  After the cruise I'm doing the same thing in reverse.  I'm saving over $1,000 by not flying directly to Vancouver and staying there overnight.  

What’s SeaTac? So If I get this right you are flying into Seattle day before, staying at a holland preferred hotel thus getting the transfers and making your way to sail out of Vancouver via SeaTac? Then reverse to get back home via Seattle?

 

[bennybear]

SeaTac is the Seattle Tacoma airport.   IMO There is no need to fly to Seattle for a Vancouver cruise

[Roz]

@Suzcruz57, I'm not staying at a HAL hotel.  The transfers can be purchased on HAL's website independent of a hotel reservation.  The morning of the cruise,  I'll take the hotel's airport shuttle back to the Seattle-Tacoma airport, and go to Arrivals to find the HAL rep and board the bus to Vancouver. 

 

I disagree with @bennybear. Depending on the airline schedule from your home city and your budget, it can make a lot of sense to fly into Seattle. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

22 minutes ago, Roz said:

I disagree with @bennybear. Depending on the airline schedule from your home city and your budget, it can make a lot of sense to fly into Seattle. 

 

There are more flight options to Vancouver from Canadian cities than US. I certainly have more choice of direct flights between Newark and Seattle. Going home from Vancouver, I had a choice of one direct flight, Air Canada.

[MeggMegg]

Do you think the Westjet pilot strike if they do strike will last long and effect the June flights?

[tupper10]

We had the same dilemma and at first we booked to Seattle with the shuttle bus to and from Vancouver. We were doing two overnights in Seattle since our flight got in so late.    I then realized that we would be spending around 4 hours on a completely filled bus and would have to get off at the border with our luggage which would need to be inspected and decided that it would just be easier to bite the bullet and fly directly to Vancouver.  The flight time with the layover is essentially the additional 4 hours but we don't have to drag our luggage to a hotel in Seattle, then get back to the airport in Seattle and drag it off and on at customs.  When I initially went to book our flights the round trip Seattle was much less expensive than Vancouver.  When I asked flightease to look at the round trip Vancouver the cost turned out to be the same so we changed it. Hopefully Westjet won't be on strike in September when we have to fly.  The cost of the shuttle as I recall was around 158.00 per person round trip.

[MeggMegg]

Do you think the Westjet pilot strike if they do strike will last long and effect the June flights?

 

i changed my flight to Vancouver to route through Seattle on Delta but not including a Westjet leg. It is better than worrying about it.

[bennybear]

14 hours ago, MeggMegg said:

Do you think the Westjet pilot strike if they do strike will last long and effect the June flights?

 

i changed my flight to Vancouver to route through Seattle on Delta but not including a Westjet leg. It is better than worrying about it.

No one can predict but they are cancelling flights right now.   So you may have been wise.

 

[Florida_gal_50]

15 hours ago, MeggMegg said:

Do you think the Westjet pilot strike if they do strike will last long and effect the June flights?

 

i changed my flight to Vancouver to route through Seattle on Delta but not including a Westjet leg. It is better than worrying about it.

I would not book at wesjet flight for a cruise that close.  Westjet used to be good but no more.  

[Suzcruz57]

These crazy long flights with soooo early or late departures make me rethink this Alaska cruise 🤔

 

 

[tupper10]

3 minutes ago, Suzcruz57 said:

These crazy long flights with soooo early or late departures make me rethink this Alaska cruise 🤔

 

 

Alaska is well worth the long flights. Get a day pass for your late departure and hang out at a nice hotel.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

27 minutes ago, Suzcruz57 said:

These crazy long flights with soooo early or late departures make me rethink this Alaska cruise 🤔

 

 

 

Don't give up on Alaska! It really is worth it. I don't know if you've always lived in Florida, but the difference in climate and vegetation will be an amazing change to see. (For me, living in densely populated Northeast, the open space fascinates me) There are a lot of options, maybe not all great, but doable.

 

Fly to Vancouver, spend a night there, take the cruise, fly home (or spend a night before the flight). 

 

Fly to Seattle, spend a night, take the cruise line's shuttle to the ship. 

 

Fly to Seattle, spend a night, take Amtrak to Vancouver. The train leaves very early in the morning (7:30), but arrives around noon, in time to get to the ship.

 

Fly to Seattle, and if you can arrive in time to catch a 7PM train, take Amtrak to Vancouver and spend a night in Vancouver. 

 

For me, getting a direct flight is most important. If you are willing to change planes, you'll have more options. I have flown directly to Vancouver once. I have flown to Seattle twice--a friend lived there at the time, so I had a nice visit and then took the train to Vancouver. Last time, I had to be in Portland the weekend before my cruise, so I flew there. Unfortunately, the train wasn't crossing the border at that time, so I had to take a little "commuter" jet, which turned out to be very nice. 

 

The flights and hotel stays do add to the cost of the trip. Think of it as part of the "cost of travel." 

 

My advice for a long flight is to get a book by an author you like. Years ago, I discovered that a Katie Fforde novel (Brit rom-com) lasts me exactly the flight from London to Newark. Three times it worked out that I started reading at wheels up, stopped to have the meal, then went back to the book and finished it on final approach. 

[Mary229]

55 minutes ago, Suzcruz57 said:

These crazy long flights with soooo early or late departures make me rethink this Alaska cruise 🤔

 

 

You really need to consider your departure and arrival ports and how they line up with available air.  Last year I had booked a cruise tour ending in Anchorage - oops!  I found that if I flew to Anchorage it was a non stop flight from DFW however if I flew back from Anchorage it was a very long flight with a layover.  HAL graciously allowed me to change weeks so I could optimize my flights.  
 

 It I do understand your point of view, with an extra hour I can fly to Dublin and I can fly business class.  Many of the flights to Anchorage don’t offer business class 

[bennybear]

The west jet strike has been averted.  
 

When we  cruise up to Anchorage we were shocked that it was about a 3 and one half hour flight to Seattle.   It is a long way up there, that you don’t realize by ship.  We agree it is well worth it! 
 

 

[alwaysfrantic]

If you use the right credit card all these things are insured anyway.  My Chase Sapphire Reserve will cover  10k per person per incident for trip insurance. 

[mowogo]

Vancouver is very easy to find a hotel for whatever your personal price point is with the Skytrain making it very easy to stay in the suburbs and make an easy ride into town for sightseeing and the cruise itself.  Metro town in Burnaby is quite reasonable for hotel rates if you find downtown too rich for your blood.

[visagrunt]

Airport hotels are a good option in Vancouver, too.  All of the chains have their basic brands (e.g. Four Points, Garden Inn, HI Express) in Richmond and all of them have regular, complimentary shuttles to YVR running at all hours that there are flights.

If you base yourself in Richmond for an extra day, you can easily shuttle to the airport to hop on Skytrain to get anywhere on the Vancouver transit system.

[zgscl]

On 5/15/2023 at 7:22 AM, Suzcruz57 said:

We’ve chosen the konigsdam inside passage in September, this year with  the platinum insurance thru  the cruise line. Im wondering if we should book our hotel, air and transfers thru Holland and have peace of mind all will be covered under the insurance. Or try to wing it at possibly a lower fee? Help please. P.s. the flights home are 12+hours.

I usually book flights/hotels on my own. Sometimes I do the HAL hotel - it is pricey but the convenience can be nice. In Vancouver it is sometimes a better deal for the Fairmont than you can get on your own. 

Most hotels have a 24 hour cancel policy (as in 24 hours before check in) so it may just be the flights you need to worry about. 

Take a look at an insurance policy through a third party insurer for just the cost of flights and hotels. You may be able to get one (or an annual one) for around $100 which is probably cheaper than the extra to book the HAL hotel. 

I have done flights through HAL but I don't think I would right now. With various cancellations, possible pilot strikes, short staffing at HAL I think I would rather have the flexibility to work directly with the airline. If you book through HAL and something goes wrong you must rebook through them. And domestically there is not really any savings. If you are looking at a transatlantic or long haul international flights then it probably  is worth it because they are often significantly cheaper particularly in Business class. 

[Suzcruz57]

On 5/15/2023 at 11:09 AM, Roz said:

HAL's hotels are VERY expensive,  at least by my standards.  If this is your first time cruising, or Vancouver is unfamiliar territory for you and you feel you need a little hand holding, then by all means book everything through HAL.

 

For my September cruise to Alaska,  I'm flying Southwest to Seattle and staying in a hotel near the airport that I booked with points. The next day I'm going back to Seatac and taking the HAL transfer bus to Canada Place in Vancouver.  After the cruise I'm doing the same thing in reverse.  I'm saving over $1,000 by not flying directly to Vancouver and staying there overnight.  

 

[Suzcruz57]

We ended up cancelling. Flight times are ridiculous. Thanks all anyway.

[Sea Hag]

On 5/20/2023 at 4:54 PM, zgscl said:

I usually book flights/hotels on my own.

I booked our flights on my own for our first cruise with HAL, which is coming up this September. We're doing the HAL shuttle from and to SEA TAC. On other cruise lines, I've been able to enter our self-booked flights into our cruise setup in my account, but it beats me how to do that with HAL. Can't find it either on the website or in the app. How/when/where do I do that? I would assume that they'd want to know for purposes of the shuttle and for assigning boarding time. Any advice here will be very much appreciated. 🙂

[DaveOKC]

15 hours ago, Sea Hag said:

I booked our flights on my own for our first cruise with HAL, which is coming up this September. We're doing the HAL shuttle from and to SEA TAC. On other cruise lines, I've been able to enter our self-booked flights into our cruise setup in my account, but it beats me how to do that with HAL. Can't find it either on the website or in the app. How/when/where do I do that? I would assume that they'd want to know for purposes of the shuttle and for assigning boarding time. Any advice here will be very much appreciated. 🙂

When you fill out your boarding pass information online prior to cruising you will be asked to input your airflight information.

 

[Sea Hag]

2 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

When you fill out your boarding pass information online prior to cruising you will be asked to input your airflight information.

 

Thanks! 😃

[Haljo1935]

You can fill out most of the items under Check In without waiting til you are close to departure - one of the tabs will be for your flight details.

Enjoy your cruise!