banditoo

20 minutes ago, dizgal64 said:

Are you doing the 7.5 hour or the 2.5 hour? I guess I waited too long. 7.5 hour is sold out

7.5 hour. I don't think you could get there and back in 2.5 hours? Is that just one way?

1 hour ago, Cruise till you drop said:

 

Looks like if you wanted to do both the White Rail Pass and the Yukon pass, you need to book 2 different tours.

 

Isn’t there one tour option that includes both ?

We are booked on the Chilkoot Yukon Rail & Bus which is 7.5 hours and does both. One way by rail and the other way by mini bus. 1 tour. 

1 hour ago, Arielwannabe said:

I am wondering why the website for this tour sends you back to the cruise line to reserve a spot. It is $64/pp more to go through the cruise line. I'd prefer to use that $128 somewhere else if I can. Has anyone actually booked through the tour company vs. ship excursion?

Sometimes if the tour operators have contracted with the ship to provide the tour, part of that contract is that they cannot book independently and reservations can only be made through the ship. This may be the case for this tour?

14 minutes ago, mncbabu_yahoo said:

I have booked the white pass train trip directly with railway. It is little cheaper than through cruise. My question is , how the railway allocate seats for us? Will there be a reserved seats? How to select the best viewing side?

There was no assigned seating when we went previously. The best view on the train is on left when going up and right if going down. There are outside viewing platforms on each rail car that you can use. Opposite sides when travelling by road. 

49 minutes ago, Ber2048 said:

Thanks so much for your reply. We will go with Chillkoot. We are looking at just the rail and bus tour. We are planning on the bus first that leaves at 8:30. We are on the Grand Princess. What month were you there last time? Hoping for nice weather. It probably will be chilly in May.  This is our first cruise to Alaska. Have a wonderful time. 
BL

Previously we did this in August with Celebrity. I expect May will be cooler though with the significant climate changes here in Greater Vancouver the last few years, who knows what the weather will be like in May?!

I second Coral's recommendation. Have done the White Pass & Yukon Rail/Road combo before and are booked again with Chilkoot Charters for May 18 (the same day you will be there)! Are you on Zaandam? I booked the 0930 which is minivan first and rail down as this gives us a little extra time to disembark and wander Skagway if we wish before the tour.  

On 2/10/2024 at 7:45 AM, dizgal64 said:

Just curious, it looks like we could only book the 9:30am tour which does bus first then train. I’ve read a ton of reviews but can’t find out if the Alaska sign is a stop on the bus portion. 
 

We are currently booked for just the minibus tour. I’m thinking of switching. The bus/rail tour is a LOT longer so we’d also have to cancel the street car Skagway tour which I’m thinking is nothing in compared to this tour. 
Any thoughts?  TIA

When we previously did the combo tour, we did rail up and then mini van back. The van stopped at the Welcome to Yukon sign and the Welcome to Alaska sign along with Emerald Lake, Carcross etc. The guide also gave us a driving tour and history of Skagway. Skagway is very small (only a few blocks long). This time we have booked the 0930 which is van up and train down. The van portion will also include stops and commentary. 

Did the Alaska cruise including those ports a number of years ago on Celebrity. In each city (except Ketchikan) we booked tours independent of the ship excursions for significantly less than ship excursion doing the very same thing. This May we are doing the Alaska cruise on HAL and will be in all 3 ports again and have again booked independent of ship. The tour operators are largely geared towards cruise ship passengers, they track the schedules and most offer full refund if the ship does not make port or is significantly delayed. They will also adjust start time dependent on arrival of ship.

Juneau is well known for whale watching but as we were in Icy Straight Point last cruise that is where we did our whale watching the first time. This time we will do Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Watching combo in Juneau with a local operator. 

Skagway is very small so it is good to do a tour here. We previously did the White Pass and Yukon Rail combo with mini van tour to Emerald Lake and back to Skagway. This was a great trip and so we are doing it again. 

Last time we did a bear watching trip out of Ketchikan to Traitor's Cove by seaplane (booked through Celebrity). It was a great experience. This time we will wander town and some of the trails, probably the funicular etc. 

This forum has a number of private tour operators listed and they have websites. The ones that I have contacted have been very quick to respond to email and are very invested in making sure passengers are picked up when the ship arrives, have a great tour and are back at the ship well in time for embarking. This is their livelihood so they do not want to get a bad rep. 

A number of years ago we did the combo with train up and then mini van onward to the Yukon and Emerald Lake and then back to Skagway. The train was very scenic. The mini van part was also scenic (follows a different route than the train) and allowed for lunch, stops for photo ops, a little exploration and great commentary from the tour guide. We booked privately, not through the cruise line. This time we will be doing the same through Chilkoot Charters. 

Has anyone been on Viking's Vienna Sights Up Close included excursion? It is listed as demanding though description sounds far from demanding. 

Glad I booked our cruise a few days ago as the new discount still shows cruise at same price we booked but now instead of free air, air starts at $999!

4 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Our province (Ontario) as well as Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia are all on the uptick. In Ontario, we have decreased the number of people allowed in non-monitored spaces to 10 indoors and 25 outdoors (from 25 and 50 respectively). Monitored spaces like restaurants, reception halls, and movie theatres are still at the old limits. While our infection numbers are as high as they were back in the spring, we have few hospitalizations which is very different. Personally, I go out only to grocery shop or cycle (with a few other stops sometimes) or to cycle. People are generally good at wearing masks, but we are starting to get some anti-mask demonstrations too.

Sad to say that British Columbia daily numbers are higher (over 100 or greater daily) than they have ever been during what we thought was the worst time in the spring. Restrictions have increased again...night clubs and banquet halls shut down and restaurants can only serve liquor until 10pm, close at 11pm. Highest increase in numbers are young adults so focus is really on reducing the opportunity for them to gather in large numbers or move about mingling with multiple groups. Fines are being issued for breach of the restrictions. Fines are also being given to USA citizens who have entered under false claims to directly pass through to a residence in Alaska (instead choosing to visit tourist sites, visit restaurants etc.). More and more people are wearing masks inside (and outside if keeping distance is not possible). I have friends who work on the Public Health Covid19 tracing teams which have been significantly expanded as unfortunately the contact tracing is a vast effort. 

51 minutes ago, franski said:

Our travel insurance carrier is very clear that they will not cover any travel booked during the travel advisory.  So,  travel - at least for us - is out until the government lifts the current advisory.  We can't book anything - but I can dream...

 

Fran

 

 

Us too Fran. Research and dreaming! And looking at photobooks from our previous cruises and travel. 

40 minutes ago, franski said:

So looking forward to travelling again...  We were supposed to be in Bucharest next week - spending a couple of nights there before joining our cruise with Avalon up the Danube to Budapest. Oh well...  maybe next year (or 2022...)

 

Fran

So disappointing to miss your Danube cruise. We too had to cancel travel plans (3 generation trip to Greece). Looking forward to travel again hopefully before too long!

Following with interest as we would like to cruise the Danube when pandemic settles and we are able to travel again. 

On 9/2/2020 at 11:57 PM, steamboats said:

 

Canadians are allowed to travel to Europe/Schengen without quarantine. So that´s a good idea to offer them for Canadians only.

 

steamboats

As others have mentioned, we Canadians are still required to quarantine in place for 14 days if we have left the country or in some cases between provinces and there is still an avoid all non-essential travel advisory. I can't imagine insurance coverage would support making travel plans within these dates of advisory and mandatory quarantine. Unfortunately our Covid19 rates are also increasing, resulting in many provinces and municipalities going back to some of the more vigorous closures and social bubble restrictions. Watching the daily number climb and watching the notifications about positive Covid 19 cases on various flights is enough to keep me at home. So sad, but health and safety is the priority. I have colleagues working on the Covid19 contact tracing team and it is not pretty. Looking forward to a day when travel opens up again (and then I will be booking our Danube cruise!  :)

15 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

As another Canadian it isn’t just the lack of flights (and fear of flying on them) or the 14 day quarantine on return. We still have an “avoid all non-essential travel” warning in place.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Including avoiding travel between Canadian provinces and even limited travel for some provinces within the province. International travel or even travel within our own country seems a long way off. Travel insurance would also not cover us as long as Canada still has an 'avoid all non-essential' travel order in place. 

6 minutes ago, HeinBloed said:

Canadians are welcome to enter Europe without quarantine! 

The bigger problem is the number of flights where Covid19 has been confirmed (we would have a long flight to get there) and the fact that upon entry to Canada, there is mandatory 14 day quarantine for everyone. Not worth the risk for us. 

Following along with interest. We have done Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel previously but  hope to return for more European river cruising again when safe to travel from our home in Canada. 

8 minutes ago, hernstro said:

Based on info kindly provided here, watching media, researching sites, and weighing all the facts, DH and I now concur that rescheduling is our best option. As much as we wanted to be supportive of the travel industry during this hard time, conditions have eliminated that choice. Banditoo, thanks for your concern.

Very tough times and very disappointing times for many travelers. This will eventually settle. First important to get our populations healthy again. 

11 hours ago, hernstro said:

Thank you, Notamermaid, for your helpful insight. It is good to hear from someone in Europe who can provide a glimpse as to what precautions are being made.

 

We are scheduled to arrive in Prague on April 5, then board Scenic Crystal on 4/8 in Nuremberg, disembarking in Budapest. While we are sure Scenic would do everything in their power to make this a worthwhile experience,  many things would be beyond their control.

 

Any information from others in Prague, Germany, Austria or Hungary would be appreciated. Our window to cancel or reschedule closes on 3/21.

hernstro

I am chiming in here as a healthcare provider in British Columbia Canada as I see you are Canadian. Effective today British Columbia and Canada have issued a travel advisory against any travel outside Canada. This will likely void any travel medical insurance you have outside of the country as the situation would have been in effect before you commenced travel. Effective today BC has implemented 14 day quarantine/self isolation for anyone returning from travel outside Canada. It would not be surprising to see other provinces follow suit shortly. Yesterday USA implemented a non acceptance of travelers from Europe; possibly Canada could follow suit. Most public events or sites across North America (sports, theater, amusement parks, Disneyland etc.) are being cancelled. These are unprecedented situations and decisions being made. Pretty risky time to be traveling abroad for many reasons. 

Good to know for future! Thanks for sharing Middleager.

2 hours ago, mchell810 said:

 

Do you know what the two ships were? TIA

One was our ship RAdiance of Seas. The other was Holland America; I believe Noordam?

Keep in mind that Akaroa is a tender port. During our recent port stop there, the tenders were backed up hours (apparently because 2 ships were in port and normally there is only 1 at a time?). Even the ship could not get their excursions off in time to meet the operators so the ship excursions had to be changed. Those who booked independent tours were very frustrated as tours had to be cancelled last minute as people couldn't get off the ship. Announcements were made on the ship to wait until later morning to let the rush for tenders settle; we waited until just after 1000 to pick up tender tickets and couldn't get on shore for another 2 hours.  Luckily our independent tour booking (not a farm tour) was for the afternoon!

11 hours ago, pink845 said:

Thanks Banditoo,  Do you recall if there was an agent at a counter where the ticket for the train could be purchased.  Or were there only the machines that take your Canadian credit card.   Any issues using Canadian credit cards during your travels in New Zealand, Australia as well.  

There was a transit info agent but not sure if train tickets could be purchased there as we just used the machines. Very simple to use and easily worked with Canadian credit card. We have traveled a number of times in Australia and never had problems using our Canadian Visa and Mastercards. Also used the credit cards in various locations throughout New Zealand and there were no problems. No issues withdrawing cash at ATMS with our RBC debit cards either. Very easy to spend our money. 🙂