oaktreerb

@Famgel1956 Enjoy your Holland America cruise tour. I hope the above information is helpful.

Ask your TA or HAL rep for a Booking Confirmation.

My response was not posted so in a nutshell. I have not purchased the meal plan. We have been given the vouchers by our TA. They work really well but you have to eat at the HAL/Princess properties which do have very good food. You will be eating in these venues anyway for breakfast as you will want to have a quick meal and get on your way. At the Chalets the breakfast can be a continental breakfast with oatmeal, fruit, etc or the more expensive buffet with all of the continental plus bacon, sausage, eggs, You can use the voucher for either. The voucher was good at Karstens or the Canyon Steakhouse on property, maybe at Princess lodge dining room. If you don’t have a voucher you just pay for your meal on property or off. We were given vouchers last year and I do not remember a $ limit. One year I ordered the most expensive entree on the menu and the voucher covered it. In Fairbanks we ate in the dining room or bar. Fairbanks also offers the buffet. You will also want to eat on the train but they will take your credit card. In Anchorage there are a lot of places in town you may want to eat. You can purchase the box lunch for the TWT but a box snack is provided which you can supplement with an energy bar you bring with you. The box lunch is probably not a voucher item. I would not purchase the voucher if I want to save money.

My reply about the dining was lost and hopefully will be reinstated!

@Famgel1956

@talpostalYou’ll have all morning to schedule an excursion or spend some time at the visitor’s center. You will be able to see on HAL’s website the excursions that will fit into your available time in the park. The first year we were in Denali we took a rafting excursion that was a lot of fun. The park has a free sled dog demonstration. You can catch the bus at the visitor center or walk out to the kennels. Line up in advance for the bus. I like to keep busy so free time is spent at the visitor center or walking the area around the hotel (Glitter Gulch across the highway, or walking over to the Princess Lodge. The Chalets have shops and activities available, also. The longest hike I have taken was out to the dog kennels and we hopped on the bus for the return trip.

The bus from Fairbanks to Denali will arrive late afternoon. You will be given your room keys on the bus and dropped off at your lodging. Your bags will be delivered to your room. You could plan an excursion for that evening. The TWT will probably be a 6 hour bus ride which is just a half day. You may have an early morning time and will still have the rest of the day free. The next day your train will be Denali to Anchorage and is about an 8 hour train ride leaving mid day. We usually meet the train at the station so that we have some time to visit the park exhibits and the bookstore. The daylight hours are long. The bus rides and the train are narrated journeys. I don’t know how long the ride to Homer is but it will be narrated and very scenic with stops along the way. Alyeska is just a couple of hours from Anchorage and Whittier. Do some reading about Denali and decide what you want to experience. The road into the park will probably not be finished to the full length TWT until 2026 according to latest estimates. Check the road progress on the National Park website nps.com, select Denali.

Holland America has a lot of inside viewing areas, Lido and Crows Nest just to name a few. A veranda gives you a nice large private viewing area but it will be cold. Blankets are provided in the room for warmth while you are sitting on the veranda. One nice thing about a veranda in Glacier Bay: it will be quiet so that you will actually hear the glacier as it calves. It’s nice to go out on the veranda when the ship pulls into a port.

I’ve been on a lot of HAL cruisetours and I coordinated one for myself including Alyeska and Kantishna in Denali. This summer I’ll be on the first of the 28 day Alaska cruises that sails all the way to Nome. Anytime HAL offers something new I want to try it. This year I’m already booked. The Dhl (Denali/Homer/Land first) is a new cruise tour itinerary and to have an overnight in Homer would be special. The Dhl is a 14 day itinerary. That is the one I would choose. You’ll have two nights at each location. Homer is beautiful with plenty to see and do. Two nights in Denali is plenty unless you have a lot of things you want to do there. Alyeska is a beautiful resort but better if you have a car for transportation. Homer will keep you active for two days or you can just relax and enjoy the beauty all around. HAL puts a lot of thought into developing new itineraries. This one should be good.

Can you book a balcony on the Princess ship? In Glacier Bay the ship will turn port/starboard so that you will be able to see the glacier from your balcony if it’s raining. If it’s a sunny day you can view from outside decks. Just be sure to have warm clothing, gloves, and a warm hat to pull down over your ears.

Did you have an option to waitlist for the ship excursion? Which ship are you on and when will you be in Skagway? The distance to the train depends on where your ship is docked. There are four locations the ORE dock, Broadway dock, and two Railroad dock locations which have been affected by the rockslide in that area.

Neptune Suites and Pinnacle Suites also have priority.

Which hotels does NCL use? This is a one sided discussion of Princess lodging. Maybe OP should ask this question on the NCL board for NCL land tour experiences in Alaska.

Princess has the best experience with their own lodges and the best docking locations for the cruise portion of your trip. The Princess Denali Lodge is near the national park visitor’s center and they have free busses running all day to and from, it’s also walkable. The Princess lodge outside Talkeetna is nice but not near activities unless you book an excursion. Princess uses the Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage. Nice hotel, great location.

Hilton is good, the Captain Cook is very nice. Where do you catch the shuttle? Does your cruise line have a hotel that they use along with a transfer to the ship?

Hubbard Glacier is a huge glacier. Holland America charges less ($299) for the small boat excursion from the cruise ship. You can look at the website for the Kenai Fjords tours. On a beautiful, sunny day I would choose Kenai Fjords for the beautiful scenery. It is much more than glacier viewing. We took the 6 hour tour. It’s hard to predict the weather if you want to book in advance.

Tundra Wilderness Tour vs Kantishna? Kantishna is out past the landslide/construction on the park road. Does Princess offer a flight excursion to Kantishna? That could be interesting.

The last thing I want to do on a cruise is wait for a machine to do my laundry. We were on a smaller, upscale cruise line that had a self service laundry. Waiting for a machine, waiting for someone to come back to retrieve their clothing out of the washer or dryer, wondering if we should remove someone’s laundry or restart the dryer if the clothes weren’t dry! Back to apartment living!

We have seen the entertainers coming and going from those rooms (like the singers and dancers). I’m pretty sure there are two assigned to each room.

Holland America will dock right in town in both Juneau and Ketchikan. The Noordam is a nice ship with plenty of inside areas for scenic viewing. The ship will open the bow in Glacier Bay and will stop in front of the glacier as it turns from port to starboard so everybody gets a good view even from the balconies. Skagway will be right in town for both cruise lines although HAL usually gets the best locations.

OP hadn’t indicated the cruise line and it was a leading question. OP indicated it was Princess. I’ve been there on HAL several years ago and ISP is a very nice port. We walked to Hoonah. ISP is welcoming a lot of cruise lines.

I made my Pinnacle reservations today for the same Alaska Solstice cruise. I was on my desk top. I went into our booking, selected itinerary, and dining, selected the day, the Pinnacle, chose a time, checked agree, went to the shopping bag, and it gave me my 2 HIA free dinners. I also have it confirmed by e-mail. I didn’t check any other dates. Maybe the date you chose was reserved for a special occasion menu. (?)

You can use the back arrow to check other categories but it is a cumbersome process.

I just made reservations in the Pinnacle for our June Alaska cruise. I went in through the itinerary page of our booking. Two weeks ago our cruise was not accepting dining reservations. I selected the itinerary, the day, then dining, I chose the pinnacle, then chose my time, checked the agree box, and it went to my cart and gave me my promo rate with HIA (0). Our final payment is early February.