donnadoll

Where do you get Denali Dollars?

Last Aug., 2016...On Stage Alaska was a presentation by Holland America at a Marriott in Cincinnati. If you booked within 2 weeks of the presentation...you were granted several very nice perks, one of which was 50 Denali Dollars. Not sure if it came from AAA or Holland America.

Did you have Denali Dollars in your promotion? If yes, how did they work?

We have Denali dollars for our upcoming cruise. I believe you can spend the dollars at the McKinley Chalet resort.. for dinner, gift shop, drinks etc.

Does the Noordam have a craps table??

Oh my gosh! I cannot believe all the Negative Nancys here! It's bubbles!!!!! Get a grip!

 

Bring the bubbles! Have fun! Odds are you are going to make some people upset if you happen to breathe in some of THEIR allotted oxygen at some point during the cruise, so you might as well tick them off on the first day with something that makes YOU happy!!!!!!!!! :)

I agree with this one!!!

I have paid in advance to get the times/days I wanted when my dinner carried no charge (similar circumstance, but not identical); my payment was refunded. Sometimes I had to merely ask, while another time I had to "discuss it" ;) just a bit.

There is no cancellation fee.

 

Noordam has no do it yourself laundry facilities, other than the sink in your bathroom.

You can send things out, paying either by the piece, per bag, or unlimited throughout the entire cruise.

Thank You. I'm kind of glad there are no laundry facilities, now I have to send the clothes out!

I did make dinner reservations for PG, hoping to use my complimentary Explore 4 voucher. Unfortunately you are charged the full price of your dinner on your credit card. Has anyone done this? and did they refund your money when you cancelled? Was there a cancellation fee imposed?

Second question? Are there laundry facilities on the Noordam?

We will be on that ship in June, and was looking forward to lunch in the MDR as a previous HAL guest. I'm a little leary about this cruise. We have been looking forward for so long, but as it gets closer, they are a few things going on that I don't like. We have a complimentary PG dinner. If you make reservations, you must pay for the dinner with a credit card. They may or may not let you use the complimentary dinner voucher. If you cancel the dinner, you will be charged at least 10%. Why don't they let you reserve like all other cruise lines and then pay for a no-show. Same with shore excursions. And.....we booked a 4 night land package, 2 nights in Denali....and were booked in a hotel 8 miles away from the much advertised McKinley Chalet Resort. Again, we were looking forward to the activities and dinning establishment in the new Denali Square.That was one of the main reasons we chose Hal over Princess. (After several phone calls over a 2 day period, we did get this rectified) We are not smooth sailing and we haven't even boarded the boat. HAL is going to have to WOW us.

I think ear muffs would be a great idea!

We usually get an inside cabin and I really don't like it at all, but it stays within our budget and therefore we don't have to penny pinch when we are actually on our trip. I cruised with my adult daughter, we split the cost of the cruise and we did get a balcony. I was a Caribbean Cruise and it was not really that much more expensive...a couple of hundred dollars....not thousands of dollars. We made ourselves sit out there...windy, kind of chill, we spilled wine on ourselves...our cheese and crackers blew away. Two years ago we treated our 2 married children and their spouses on a Disney Cruise...no children yet, so we paid for 3 cabins...we got the oceanview, not a balcony. But Disney ships have a 5 foot porthole with a cushioned seat. so...go in the middle get the middle and get the view without the chilly wind.

We are onboard the same sailing as well :) getting excited! So glad it worked out for you [emoji106]

(We are going the semi- extreme route post-cruse.... rented an RV for 8 nights with six of those in Denali including at the Tek campground past the milemarker people can drive to)

 

 

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You are must braver than we are! Perhaps on our next visit we may do the land on our own! Hope you have a great trip!!

I believe somewhere buried in the cruise contract and/or tour descriptions there is some mumbo jumbo legalese that states hotels listed are "examples only and Holland America reserves the right to substitute properties of equal quality at it's discretion", or something to that effect.

 

The cruise lines all expanded the cruise tour offerings for 2017 vs 2016 without an increase in the number of available rooms at the cruise line owned resorts. Compound that with the fact that ALL the resorts (including those owned by HAL/Princess) can be booked direct or as part of land only packages they have no choice but to put cruisetour guests in various lodges. How they determine who goes where and when has to be a logistics nightmare I'm sure!

 

I do agree that when cruise lines advertise having their own dedicated lodges, and all the amenities therein, so heavily and then quietly trying to move people to other properties is a bit disingenuous. I feel that cruisetours should ALWAYS be accommodated at cruise line properties and ancillary bookings should ONLY be taken once all cruisetours have been accommodated. Sadly in an era of corporations run by bean counters the customer is the last to be considered in the equation. To a bean counter a hotel room is a hotel room .....

I agree. I knew they could change hotels on you....but it never dawned on me that would happen in Denali. The city hotels are hotels, The Mckinley is a resort with a highly acclaimed entertainment district. I assumed the cruisers got first dibs on the McKinley. we all know what happens when you assume! We are staying at the McKinley now, our travel agent worked some magic!

Would you prefer Glacier Brewhouse over Humpy's Alaskan Alehouse??

What property are they putting you up in that is 8 miles away? I have been there a number of times and McKinley Chalet is in Denali Village. The cabins are closer to Denali Square then the Chalet. You are going to have a great time no matter which place you are in.

Denali Park Village. We were able to change our reservation. Yippee!!!

What reason did HAl give you or your TA for the hotel change?

They put our Tour group in the other hotel, 8 miles away. I assume the tour group are thoses who have the same 4 day land package as we do. I have no idea why this tour group was put in the Denali Village Park?? We are in Denali for 2 nights.

Please don't be embarrassed! It is impolite & against board rules for anyone to correct another posters use of words because someone does not approve of it's usage!

 

BTW Degrade is perfectly acceptable as it is a synonym for downgrade according to Dictionary.com!

Quote

Synonyms Expand

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

1. disgrace, dishonor, discredit. 2. abase, vitiate. 3. demote, depose, downgrade, lower, cashier, break. Unquote

 

Also suggest that you push your TA to get your original Hotel back..Did you check your roll call to see where others will be staying? Hope it works out for you..

Thank You ..our travel agent was able to get us booked at the McKinley. I will check the roll calls...evidently our whole tour group was booked at the Denali Park Village. We are very Happy Campers!!!

I was going to ask on the other thread about Anchorage. Are you there after Denali or before? I read the reason was the refurb, but you sail before I do.

Before Denali

I agree that your TA should take care of this for you.

 

(And I think you mean they "downgraded" you, not "degraded" you.)

Yes downgraded...how embarassing...I can't take it back now..it's out there.

Did the Inspirations group get booked that same week? ;p;p(Duck)

I don'tknow. we will be in Denali June 12 and 13.

:halo:

It's good to know that HAL is refurbishing the Westmark in Anchorage. I wondered why they were using other hotels. In the past we have been assigned to the Hilton a couple of times instead of the Westmark but to possibly end up at the Sheraton or Captain Cook would be a treat! (I think).

 

I need to get a new PCC. My first one was great but retired, the second was reassigned but didn't let me know, and the third just kind of ignored me after a miscommunication incident!

We are staying at the Westmark. Not lucky enough to be upgraded to a nicer hotel. We were degraded in Denali to the Denali Park Village.:(

Very upset. We are on the Noordam June 4 Northbound will be in Denali 2 nights, Jun12 and13. Have been really excited to stay in the Mckinley Chalet Resort. The brand new Denali Square. This was the big reason to book with HAL because HAL owns their hotels in Alaska. They are putting us up in a lower grade property 8 miles away!!! Don't know what I can do. We called, and since we booked with AAA...they called and have not heard back. This is just unacceptable. Can anyone co-miserate with me?

Where do you see your lodging? The only information I have is from when I booked, over a year ago. I hope the hotels have not changed, but did see on the Alaska board someone being in the Captain Cook hotel in one of the cities instead of the Westmark.

 

Please tell me where to find the (hopefully not updated) information. I am booked with a travel agent, paid in full.

 

The Denali Park Village looks nice but I have a tour each day which I believe leave from the other hotel.

Recieved an e-mail, our reservation documents, boarding passes are ready to print. On one of the documents, the full itinerary is shown, what time the buses leave on the land tour, what time the Denali Wilderness Tundra Tour is and what hotel you will be staying at. In Denali, our itinerary stated Denali Park Village. I don't know what to expect. Not really looking forward to the Westmark Hotels in Anchorage or Fairbanks.

We are doing an 11 night land and sea cruise on the Noordam in June. Just looked at the itinerary and noticed we will be staying at the Denali Park Village in Denali??? What is that?? Has anyone stayed here on a Holland American journey?

I thought we would be at the McKinely Chalet Resort adjacent to the Denali Square Complex? Please respond if you have stayed here or have any information about the Denali Village Park.

Thanks

@donnadoll: What time is your flight arriving? What date are you arriving? With this information, I can suggest an itinerary to maximize your time. In general...

 

Day 1: Grouse Mountain, Capilano, Fly Over Canada

Day 2: Hop on shuttles to Gastown, Stanley Park and Granville Island

Thanks. We are arrivng around 12:30 PM on Friday June 2, our cruise is Sun. June 4, 2017. So about 46 hours in Vancouver

Things I am doing differently, since my first trip...

• first trip was in a balcony... I found it windy/cold in August.... following cruises were done in Oceanviews. Go up to the public decks on glacier cruising days to see the full 360 experience.
  
• pay attention to port climate charts. I will seek out cruise months with less wet weather.
  
• avoid arriving between noon and 1pm in Vancouver. That's when everyone arrives creating congestion.
  
• Vancouver is a great bonus port.... need additional days to take it all in.
  

I have all my excursions planned and am now just beginning to think about Vancouver. We will be in Vancouver 2 days precruise this June. We are staying at the Mariott Pinnacle. I am now tired of all the planning...any suggestions of things to do in Vancouver..restaurants?? Thank You

The McKinley Resort Denali website states that coffee makers are present in rooms:

 

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

 

 

HAL is using the Captain Cook Hotel for my Triple Denali Cruise in June. No coffee makers in their rooms according to their website.

How did you find out about the Captain Cook Hotel???