Alaska Cruise Question

Has anyone taken a Holland America land/cruise trip to Denali? I am looking for recommendations for the excursions. They are pretty expensive, and it would be great to get some first-hand reviews of which ones are worth the money and which aren't. Thanks in advance to all who can give me some advice.

myoakley said:

Has anyone taken a Holland America land/cruise trip to Denali? I am looking for recommendations for the excursions. They are pretty expensive, and it would be great to get some first-hand reviews of which ones are worth the money and which aren't. Thanks in advance to all who can give me some advice.

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You'll get the best advice on this on Cruise Critic forum on the Alaska board. We are going to Alaska first week of September but on Norwegian so our ports may not be the same. We booked just about all of our excursions with private vendors rather than the ship. Better price and smaller groups on the tour.

We are thinking about an Alaska cruise with Disney. How risky is it yo book excursions that are not bought through the cruise line? I assume that if you don't book with them the boat can leave you behind. But if you book through the cruise line they would make sure you are not left behind.

It is easy to shop for your own excursions. Google the port stop and activities or tours. The cruise ships try to scare you into booking through them by saying the ship won't wait for you if you are late. Many of the tour operators say on their websites that they guarantee to have you back in time. They will pay whatever it costs to get you back on the ship if the ship leaves. They've never needed to do that. It would cost them hundreds of dollars or more if they got you back late.

One of the Disney ships recently left without the passengers that booked an excursion through the ship. So, the scare tactic doesn't really work when they won't actually wait for the passengers who booked through them. I believe a tender boat went out after the ship to transfer the passengers back on to the ship.

I took a train in Skagway and was on the exact same train with my cruise passengers who booked through the ship. We had the exact same experience, except they paid more than I did. All my other excursions were booked directly through the tour operators on my recent Alaska cruise. Juneau was easy as I didn't do an official excursion and just took the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and bought tram tickets right at the Mount Roberts Tramway.

P.S. Helios: disboards is your best place for Disney cruise info. Myoakley: cruise critic will help you a lot, but isn't as friendly or easy to navigate as Tug.

Helios said:

We are thinking about an Alaska cruise with Disney. How risky is it yo book excursions that are not bought through the cruise line? I assume that if you don't book with them the boat can leave you behind. But if you book through the cruise line they would make sure you are not left behind.

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They are the same tour operators that the cruise line uses. You will save money and not be left behind.

Thanks everyone. I am going to start searching for private tours and will compare them to the Holland American ones. My only fear was being left behind if we returned late, but if that is not a serious concern, I don't mind saving some money. We are leaving Aug. 31st on a 12-day Triple Denali cruise/land tour. It's been a long time in the planning/thinking stage!

We just returned from a Baltic cruise in which all of our tours were booked thru a private operator. There were no issues in getting back to the boat whatsoever. The only drawback was that, at a one place, only cruiseline-sponsored buses could park inside the port.

I'd say that, as long as you use a tour operator who's been in business for several years and has a positive reviews on cruise critic or trip advisor, you'll be fine.
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If a 3rd party operator guarantees to get you back to their ship or pay the cost but has never had to does that mean that they actually would pay the cost to get your back on the ship. I would be okay with the risk but if they never had to pay out if the extreme event that you are late good luck. Getting you on the ship at the next port of call or by helicopter?

If I am a paying passenger on a cruise ship and was able to make it back to the ship on time I would be very disappointed if the departure were delayed because of either a 3rd party tour or a cruise operated tour. Part of the experience is watching the ship depart the port in day light hours after a day touring. Not while eating dinner or enjoying the show.

I think it is crazy people try to fit in Disney while stopping in Florida or Chichen Itza while in Cozumel. But I guess if you are that close and not planning to come back it is an opportunity to see those places.

We booked all of our excursions on our own when on an Alaska cruise in early June. No problems getting back to the ship at all.
One of our favorites was a private boat in Juneau that took us to see whales and we had a mama and baby breach right up close--we went with another couple, so only 4 of us booked this. We used Harv's and Marv's.

myoakley said:

Has anyone taken a Holland America land/cruise trip to Denali? I am looking for recommendations for the excursions. They are pretty expensive, and it would be great to get some first-hand reviews of which ones are worth the money and which aren't. Thanks in advance to all who can give me some advice.

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We flew into Fairbanks. We arranged our own Fairbanks hotel (Pikes Waterfront Lodge) for two nights and rented a car locally to get around and visit Chena Hot Springs.

We bought our own tickets for the train (Alaska Railroad Denali Star) from Fairbanks to Denali. For our three nights in Denali, booked on our own, we splurged and paid big $$$ to stay deep inside the park at Denali Backcountry Lodge.

Again buying our own train tickets we reboarded the same train to continue from Denali to Anchorage, where we stayed one night (Anchorage Grand Hotel).

Next we took the early morning train (Alaska Railroad Coastal) from Anchorage to Seward, arriving in time for the wonderful Major Marine Kenai Fjords Wildlife/Glacier day cruise, and one night in Seward (Holiday Inn Express) before boarding the Holland America Seward-to-Vancouver 7-day Glacier Discovery Southbound cruise.

On the cruise itself we played it safe and stuck to Holland America's excursions.

Conan, which specific excursions did you do while on the cruise, and would you recommend them?

myoakley said:

Conan, which specific excursions did you do while on the cruise, and would you recommend them?

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Our best value excursions were two in Haines - - we lake wilderness-kayaked in the morning ($110 per person) and forest adventure-hiked in the afternoon ($115 per person). Both were wonderful experiences and the guides were terrific (although not technically knowledgeable about the plant species on the forest hike).

We splurged in Juneau at $429 each to helicopter flight-see and land on the Mendenhall Glacier, outfitted head to toe for glacier trekking in a small group with a pair of absolutely fantastic guides. Our previous helicopter experience was sightseeing in Kauai, also not cheap, and the glacier trek was an order of magnitude better since we got to walk on the ice and see the amazing blue ice and melt water under our feet.

Our final excursion was going out from Ketchican on the boat adapted from the Dangerous Catch TV show and seeing them haul up king crab, box crab and octopus. It’s a crowd-pleasing trip but a little too theatrical for our taste (but we did enjoy taking our turn to handle the live crabs).

We just returned from an Alaskan Princess cruise out of Whittier to Vancouver. We did an independent tour the week prior to the cruise in Denali and Seward with a rental car. All of it was amazing and we enjoyed everything that we did.

The ports we stopped in were Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. In Skagway, we used Chilkoot Charters for the Yukon Rail and Bus tour. We took the bus to Bennett Lake and then returned by train. The cost was $184 per person and included lunch. You get to see much more than if you take the train round trip and the bus goes further into the Yukon. It was cheaper than the similar ship excursion. In Juneau, we took the blue bus to Mendenhall Glacier and then a trolley tour around Juneau. It was $45 per person and we booked independently in the port when we got off the ship. In Ketchikan, we did a private tour with another couple and used David Freeman. it was $70 per person for slightly more than 4 hours. We saw the totem parks, did a forest trail, and searched for wildlife. In Vancouver, we used Land and Sea Adventures to go to Victoria and Butchart gardens. It was $150 per person after the exchange rate.

We were happy with all the tours and found all of the providers through reviews on tripadvisor or cruise critic.

What do people think the minimum age would be to bring kids on an alaskan cruise and then a land tour for at least a few days after before flying home. Those tours sound great but are not cheap.

Twin boys who are 3 and a half and we can go next summer but it seems they would be too young.

myoakley said:

Has anyone taken a Holland America land/cruise trip to Denali? I am looking for recommendations for the excursions. They are pretty expensive, and it would be great to get some first-hand reviews of which ones are worth the money and which aren't. Thanks in advance to all who can give me some advice.

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If you book a Holland America land/cruise combination, all the excursions to Denali are included in the land portion. You have several choices of which complete land package to take. It is a wonderful trip. On the cruise portion, you can choose from many shore excursions in each port (Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, etc.), or book your own, or even just walk around the town. Booking you own would be less risky here than many places because you would generally not be straying as far away from the ship as on some other cruises. We have taken I think five Holland America Alaska cruises, with one being a land/sea combination. It is the cruise line I would recommend.

Talent312 said:

We just returned from a Baltic cruise in which all of our tours were booked thru a private operator. There were no issues in getting back to the boat whatsoever. The only drawback was that, at a one place, only cruiseline-sponsored buses could park inside the port.

I'd say that, as long as you use a tour operator who's been in business for several years and has a positive reviews on cruise critic or trip advisor, you'll be fine.

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Yes, you will probably be fine, but if you are not that is a problem. For example, the bus could break down. We had that happen in Costa Rica on a Holland America shore excursion and got back to the dock 3 hours after the ship was scheduled to leave port. Of course they held the ship for the tour because it was one of theirs, so we were OK. So bad things can happen even with the best tour companies.

I personally would book an independent tour if it was an important sightseeing trip that was not available from the cruise line (for example, we did a chartered boat trip in Alaska to scatter ashes as a family), but I would never do it just to save money unless I had hours of leeway to allow for a breakdown, or an alternate way to get back. This would sometimes be the case in Alaska. Small chance of a problem, but the consequences of it happening could be major.

Regarding the land trip to Denali, why don't you check into doing that portion on your own? After all, it is the U.S.; they speak English; the roads are fine; you can read the signs. Once you get to Denali, you are not allowed to drive on the one road that exists. You must take a tour either with the park service or a private one. There is just the one road. All the buses (little, "school bus type" buses) take the same route. Every single one of them (private and park) pulls over and watches the animals if any are sighted. They all stay until the animals move on or until everyone has gotten all the pictures possible. There truly is no advantage to being with the tour from the ship. The disadvantage to the tour from the ship is, of course, the cost.

We did it from the ship because my daughter wanted to do it that way. I would never do it that way again; there was absolutely no advantage to doing it that way. I would far have preferred to rent a car and drive.

The only thing you would have to keep in mind is that hotels are expensive and fill pretty early since their primary business is in the summer. Use Trip Advisor and search out your lodgings early--or stay at the same hotels the ship's tour uses, but book early.

Thanks again to all who replied. If I were 20 years younger, I would do a self-drive to Denali, but we are seniors, not in the best of health, and therefore, are going to entrust ourselves to the capable (but expensive) hands of Holland America! We are definitely going to do the Mendenhall Glacier when in Juneau. We are still researching other excursions and are tempted by the Arctic Circle Air Adventure ($$$$) out of Denali. I also want to see bears and go whale-watching. Any good advice about these?

PStreet1 said:

Regarding the land trip to Denali, why don't you check into doing that portion on your own? After all, it is the U.S.; they speak English; the roads are fine; you can read the signs.....We did it from the ship because my daughter wanted to do it that way. I would never do it that way again; there was absolutely no advantage to doing it that way. I would far have preferred to rent a car and drive.

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There other important advantages, in my opinion, to doing the land portion of the trip on a tour rather than on your own, including not having to deal with any of the logistics and having the commentary of the tour guide. We did the land portion of our Alaska cruise/tour with Holland America rather than on our own, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

We, too, did it with the cruise line, and I'd urge anyone to consider what is actually gained and evaluate what that means for him personally. Driving in Alaska is no different from driving anywhere else in the U.S. Different strokes for different folks.

dog sledding on a glacier is one of the coolest things I've ever done. If you have a port stop in Juneau, you can visit the city park for the Mendenhall Glacier (city bus = cheap) and then board a chopper to land on it.

I believe the chopper folks were Tesco, I can look it up if interested.

Juneau at dusk is a wonderful time for whale watching. We sat on our balcony as we left Juneau and watched whales until too dark to see them.

Book tours yourself and save a ton of money. I understand the fear of being left behind, but unless you overschedule yourself, missing the ship is unlikely. Tour operators need your satisfaction and therefore will get you back in time. Further, booking on your own gives you more time for the experience vs being part of a large crowd that must be herded about and counted frequently.

We are just flying to Anchorage and staying in Alaska about five weeks. We just want to soak up beauty at our own pace.

I think you are very smart. If you contact Timeshare Von, she's done that kind of trip in 3 different seasons and written some great travelogs on her trips.