May 28 14 day cruise tour to Prudhoe Bay

[travlin4fun]

Just got home from a fantastic vacation! There were ups and downs, but there is no denying that it was an incredible vacation. However there were 25 of us on the 14 day cruise tour to the Arctic Ocean, and I don't know of anyone who will book again with HAL. There were just too many glitches, late or no docs, the tour director was as in the dark as all of us, the td wasn't even able to travel with us for most of the trip.

 

Not to say that the trip wasn't great...it was. As far as I know, we all loved the cruise portion of the trip. But because of the chaos associated with the land portion, many of us agreed that it would have been better to book it ourselves. Not that we were trying to pinch pennies, but more that HAL dropped the ball many times when they should have shined.

 

I felt bad for the TD who was as in the dark as the rest of us. She kept up a good face and tried her best, but it was evident that HAL just hadn't prepared her either. She didn't even know about us on the 14 day tour until we were well into the 6th day of the cruise, and then she was unable to accompany us for a few days because of air booking issues. I thought that was awful. She was a face that we all went to for our problems, yet the ones causing the problems were those without faces, people who kept us on hold for hours before the trip, people who didn't return calls or emails. Our TD is a credit to HAL and I suspect there are many like her. They deserve huge bonuses for having to clean up the messes that HAL has made for them.

 

We had a great time on the cruise until the last day. But we would have loved to meet the other passengers who would accompany us on the incredible trip ahead before hand. If anyone else is thinking about HAL cruise #21 then I suggest they request help establishing a party while on the cruise. A trip like this brings an eclectic group together, and it can really enrich the trip. I know our group was wonderful, and everyone contributed. But it was a slow start.

 

If we had chosen cruise tour #22 we would have met the other passengers earlier. However, we wanted to fly to Deadhorse, and then drive southward on the coach, and that meant doing the cruise first. It was worth it. Bill, our bus driver was incredible and gave us a great historical background while safely guiding us through the slippery roads, and we were lucky to see lots of wildlife on the trip. We wouldn't have had it any other way. We were all glued to the windows looking for the musk ox, polar bear and caribou, and it was an incredible trip coming southward from Deadhorse. This was a huge highlight of the trip.

 

HAL has a great idea with this trip, but by blowing the cruise docs, not informing the TD and the passengers about what to expect, and by continuously saying "don't worry" when they had no intention of "fixing" the problem, they made for some disapointments.

 

Beware of the Hal "don't worry" routine. I am convinced that means "don't bother me, just go away." We heard this a lot, but it didn't mean that they would fix the problem.

 

On the cruise portion, we had booked excursions that were supposed to be compatible. That is, we were supposed to be able to go dogsledding on the Mendenhall and then get back in time to go whale watching after lunch. NOT! the Mendenhall trip was bogged down, we had to wait an hour for the helicoptor (don't know why, just that they weren't ready yet) and instead of having time to eat lunch and then go for the whale watching tour, we ended up missing the whale watching tour and lunch. "Don't worry" they said. "We'll take care of it." Well, they didn't. Gladys, the neptune lounge concierge on the ship, was able to get us on the evening whale tour (more expensive, of course) and that was a better tour. But if we had known we couldn't do the afternoon tour after the dogsledding, we would have booked the dogsledding on the 4 glacier tour, which sounded (and we later heard) was much better. We ended up settling for less at a more expensive price. Don't get me wrong, these are great tours. But don't book them too close together..allow a lot more time than you think. And book the ones you really want in the first place.

 

I can't imagine going through all the problems we had without being in a suite with a concierge there to help out. Gladys was outstanding, and saved us a lot of aggravation.

 

the biggest disappointment for us was the Kenai fjord whale watching tour where they crammed us on the boat like sardines. Our seats faced a wall, we couldn't get to a window, and we missed a lot of stuff we had really looked forward to seeing. Our boat had 114 passengers on it, but I found out later that they had split up the group, and the other boat only had 15 passengers on it, and they all had great views and a great time. I will be talking to the TA about this tour and asking for a refund. We have never asked for refunds before, but this was really atrocious, and it was billed as a fantastic tour. I cried because it was so pathetic. I would never book this again through HAL. (tip to anyone going on this, if they hand you a boarding pass that says 114, tell them you will wait for the next boat. There just isn't going to be enough room for you on this one!)

 

I have to mention that there were also unexpected plusses on this trip, such as the Alaskan Airlines pilot circling Denali and pointing out highlights on our trip to Deadhorse via Barrow. Afterward I talked to several people who had made this flight and not one had had the pleasure of the tour our pilot provided. It was an unexpected treat, and added a lot to our tour. Kudos to Alaskan Air for this one. On the other hand, we had little or no room for carryon luggage, and no one had prepared us for that. It made for a seating nightmare but the flight attendents were able to handle this issue quite well, and their sense of humor went a long way toward easing the tension.

 

This was certainly one of the best vacations we ever had. It was also the first one we booked through a cruise line. I think the best lesson I learned was book the cruise with the cruise lines, book the rest on your own. Maybe someday it will work out as the brochure says, but that isn't the case now.

 

I can't sign off without saying that the Veendam was a wonderful ship and we loved it. the first 6 days were heaven, and we had a ball. The service was outstanding. The last day was filled with meetings, packing, and trying to figure out what we were supposed to do, so that wasn't as much fun. But for those looking to book cruise only, especially to Alaska, HAL is a great choice. Other cruiseline passengers we talked to were not able to go to Glacier Bay, and that was an incredible highlight of our trip.

 

After flying all night and all mornig, I'm pretty fried, so I hope this makes sense. Bottom line: would I book with HAL again? Yes, for a cruise! No for anything else. At least for now.

 

Ruth

Veendam may 28 cruise #21 to Prudhoe Bay

[Scrumpy]

Thank you for this! I'm sorry that things didn't work out without so many glitches. We want to go to Alaska on our own and see things we can't see via cruiseship, but had considered a cruisetour through HAL. We ended up booking a cruise only which we completed 6/3. It sounds like we dodged a bullet and I should be happy that the timing didn't work out!