Just back today from 6/19 Ryndam Cruise Tour #15-13 day NB

Lots of folks answered my questions here on these boards before we sailed. Here’s what I have to offer back to everyone else. I tried to touch on everything, but there’s undoubtedly more (or less) about some subject here than you’d care to read; I tried to format this for easy scanning so you can skip what doesn’t interest you. I’ll be happy to try to answer any questions you might have too

Pre Cruise two-day visit to Vancouver which we booked ourselves: Stayed at the Hampton Inn, which is just like every other Hampton Inn, but it alos has a free shuttle to Canada Place on cruise day. On our first night we had an excellent dinner at the Sequoia Grill in Stanley Park, great views too! The following day we took the Blue Loop Trolley, a hop-on, hop-off sort of deal (bought the tickets on line and I think we saved a few bucks, but you can get them on the street too and they’re good for two days) We rode the Blue loop to Canada Place and switched over to the Red loop to ride through Stanley Park, stopped for ice cream at Point Lookout and continued down to the Granville Ferry stop, where we got off and took the brief ferry ride (a one-way ride is included in the cost of the trolley ticket) over to Granville Island, where I would have happily spent the entire day. It’s huge waterfront market selling everything from smoked Himalayan salt, to finely crafted silver and gold, to mammoth ivory, to hand knitted baby caps. And there’s food for every possible taste too. But there’s only so much time, and we were off. You can walk over to the Blue Loop stop which will take you back up to China Town and Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Classical Garden which is definitely worth a visit. By then it was mid to late afternoon and mom was drooping. So we went back to the hotel and she rested while I walked down to the wine store to provision ourselves for the cruise.

GOOD TIP: bring a length of cotton clothes line or similar strong string to strap your wine box shut for safe transport to ship

The Cruise itself: Official embarkation day in Vancouver was smooth as clockwork, typical HAL fashion, we were out of the cab and onto the ship in perhaps 15 minutes tops. Quick lunch in the Lido, no trays but it seemed to be fine, everyone seemed to be getting what they needed and being helped when they needed it. Rooms were ready by 1:30; we were in a deluxe suite for the first time ever and it was wonderful, tons of space, the veranda seems immense although we were not prepared for the overhead noise from the scrapping chairs around the pool (I know, boo hoo) We unpacked and explored the ship (which already had one elevator not working)

Day Two was a Sea Day and I took the tour of the kitchen which was very short (I think I spent more time standing in line for it than actually being on it) But it was very interesting to learn that there are only 84 members of the kitchen staff who, in one week use: 8,500 lbs of meat, 2,800 lbs seafood, 2,000 lbs fish and 27,000 eggs among other ingredients.

The rest of the day we just lolled about (practicing our sea lion imitations)

Day Three brought us to Ketchikan @ 7am and at 8am I went on the “Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer” excursion, which I would highly recommend; the scenery was breathtaking even though it was quite cold and damp. I wore jeans with a long sleeved t-shirt topped with a fleece vest, topped with a denim jacket and the whole business covered with a windbreaker along with gloves and a scarf. Layers are the answer to all clothing questions in Alaska. After the excursion, I walked around town and after leaving the immediate dock area was able to find some locally-owned businesses (although it was difficult). I was told that 15 years ago Ketchikan had 3 jewelry stores, now they have over 50 and most of them are owned by outsiders. (Skagway has 80+ according to the same source)

This morning 7 of the 8 elevators were out of commission which made life very difficult for a lot of the people on board. By the time we returned from the excursion (around noon) only 2 were still non-functional.

Day Four brought us to Haines @ 10am, actually we docked at Fort Wm H Seward, a short walk away from town. Wandering around the Fort using the Historical Walking Tour brochure that you can pick up from the nice people on the dock was a pleasant way to spend the morning, at 2pm I took the “Off Beat Haines” Excursion, and liked the art studio we visited and the Museum too, but felt that Dalton City where they filmed White Fang was a waste of time.

I know there are people who were not happy with this port; they said there was nothing to do. But I really enjoyed having a chance to visit a town that only gets one, maybe two, cruise ships a week, a town that doesn’t have 55 jewelry stores owned by the cruise lines or a whole raft of t-shirt shops. Instead you get the chance to see (this summer anyway) a full size totem pole being carved on commission at the Indian Arts Center at the top of the hill or visit some quite charming locally owned and operated stores and talk with their owners, who have all the time in the world for you because you are one of a small group of visitors, not part of an endless tide pouring in and out day after day. Do not miss the really odd, but somehow enchanting, Hammer Museum (which is 2-3 rooms in a small house) You’ll see the rooftop sign, can’t miss it!

Again though, multi layer clothing is the way to go, at least three layers today.

Day Five and we were in Juneau @6am or thereabouts. Once again the weather is rainy and cold and once more it’s a multi layer day, two layers inside covered with a windbreaker and today a yellow plastic poncho over the whole thing. I carry a net bag to put the cast off layers in as the weather shifts. My excursion was the “Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest”, which was fine, not fantastic; we did see whales, a mother and youngster, some Stellar Sea lions and bald eagles too.

Juneau doesn’t rely entirely on tourism and cruise ships for its revenue stream. As the capitol, the city has a different feel to it and there’s a significant residential area (and the governor’s mansion too) to walk through on your own.

GOOD TIP: Free internet at the Library just to the right as you get off the ship… ANOTHER GOOD IDEA (that didn’t work for me at first, but will for you) I was beginning to accumulate art work and thought it would be a good idea to make room in my carry-on for the pieces. So I went to the post office in Juneau to get one of those flat rate boxes to stuff with dirty laundry, books I’d finished etc, just to make space for the new. I got the box packed, but I wasn’t allowed to take it off the ship, I was stopped at the gangway and to make a long story short, anything that leaves the ship packaged for shipping has to go through customs (which is a monumental hassle) So if you want to do something like this, take the things you want to send home off the ship in a back pack, go to the PO and stuff them in a box (they have tape) and send it all back home for $9 or so (it works, I did it later on in Sitka)

Day Six is Sitka @ 7am (our only tender port) I’m not sure how the tendering went for most passengers, for us it went smoothly although the wait for a return tender was quite long. We were only in Sitka until 3:30, I imagine it has to do with tides and such, but we could have easily spent more time there. Sitka has a rich Russian and European heritage, it is also home to the Sheldon Jackson Museum which is a must see for anyone interested in Native life and culture. I’m not sure I would’ve gotten there if I hadn’t been on the “Colonial Russian America and Cultural Tour” excursion (and you can certainly go there on your own) but the rest of the time I spent on the excursion was pretty slow, I would’ve rather been on my own frankly. Did get to the post office with a box of useless items to send home.

GOOD TIP (?) I was also told that there’s free WiFi at the visitor’s center here, but I didn’t try it myself so am not certain:o

Sitka was sunny and warm, down to one layer (with one spare in the net bag, just in case) There is a good chance for whale sightings when you leave.

Sitka was our second formal night (black pants, black sparkly popcorn shirt) the first was the sea day (same black pants, gold popcorn shirt with silk scarf)

Day Seven is Hubbard Glacier Cruising I got up at 6am to watch our arrival and by 8am we were at the face of the glacier, luckily for us we could see a Princess ship in front of the glacier has we came up to it and it helped give some sense of perspective. They call it Galloping Hubbard because it’s moving forward at a significant rate, unlike the majority of glaciers which are retreating. I don’t know if it’s the forward pressure that caused massive calving that we saw, but it was incredible to watch these huge chunks of ice, big as buildings, break off and fall into the sea. And the sound is like nothing that you’ve ever heard before. More seals and sea lions to be seen resting on the ice flows. We were all served hot pea soup on deck which is very welcome as it was extremely cold, not terribly windy but very very cold.

Tonight was the Master Chef’s Dinner and although we’d made reservations for the Pinnacle with the express intension of avoiding the whole thing, we ended up cancelling them because we knew we wouldn’t be able to eat all the food set before us

So here’s another GOOD TIP: make your Pinnacle reservations really early in your trip, before you get that “over stuffed” feeling so that you can still enjoy the experience. And as it was, my mom, who’d never been to a Master Chef Dinner show, enjoyed it and thought it was sort of sweet…so it all worked out fine…

Luggage has to be packed and outside the room, tagged for pick up by midnight, we keep only a carryon bag and our clothes for tomorrow

Day Eight and we are forced from our comfy ship @ 7:15am. We had upgraded our transfer to the “Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise” which was the best shore excursion of all. The weather was foul, windy, cold but the Captain of the Orca handled the ship with ease and for 6 hours we cruised around the Fjords seeing whales, sea lions, Dall porpoises, puffins, mew gulls, bald eagles, all kinds of other birds, plus fantastic scenery. All this, a box lunch (chicken caesar salad wrap), free coffee and hot chocolate and a fresh baked, warm-from-the-oven cookie when we got back to port. How great was that? :DAnd if you had a sunny day, it’d probably be nearly perfect. I’d strongly recommend motion sickness pills or wrist bands for anyone who is prone to queasiness though, just in case; ….plus the layers and layers!

After the lovely fjord cruise, we began the land portion of our trip, the motto of which must be “Hurry up and Wait” We all hurried over to the bus which would take us up to Anchorage and our hotel for the night. Nice comfortable motorcoach was waiting, and I think it took us about 30-45 minutes to finally get on the road. When we arrived in Anchorage (sometime around 5-6pm) the rooms in the Anchorage Hilton were not ready for the majority of our group and our HAL tour guide had left for the evening! :mad: Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with anyone. When we did all get into our rooms (which were not terribly nice), we were on our own for dinner and relied of the recommendations of guide books, taxi drivers, and hotel desk clerks; mom and I had a very nice (but expensive) dinner at Simon and Seaforts and I know lots of other people found good places too

Day Nine is the train to Denali --Luggage must be ready to be collected at 6am, so it’s up shower and dress at 5:30am. We are to meet in the lobby at 7am (at which point some of us meet our HAL tour guide for the first time) to board the bus which will take us to the train. (HAL/Hilton does not supply any sort of breakfast, not even coffee, which I think is unnecessarily stingy of them.:() Everyone troops over to the coffee cart, provisions themselves and sits down to wait. The train, btw, is scheduled to leave at 8:15, which is fine until you discover that the train station is about a 15 minute drive from the hotel and an even shorter walk. So the bus comes, and we all get on, and then we wait some more because we’ll get to the station too early if we leave right then and there. When we do finally leave, low and behold, we are too early to enter the train parking area, so we wait on the side of the road some more.

Finally the train arrives and we all climb aboard to our assigned seats in a nice two storey domed car with a dining car below. What is the Land Cruise Motto?

Both breakfast and lunch can be purchased in the dining room, which has tables, linens, china and silverware and is really quite nice.

Our domed car has an Alaskan RR guide who tells us about the history and geology of the gorgeous countryside we are passing through and points out animals (like moose and tundra swans) and we are lucky to be part of the 20% who actually see Mt McKinley when they visit Denali! :)

There’s a bus waiting for us when the train arrives at 5pm at the Denali stop to take us to the McKinley Chalets, a HAL property, on the outskirts of Denali National Park. We are assigned to Canyon Lodge and there’s a shuttle bus running through the complex. Our rooms are ready, clean and spacious, the luggage is waiting inside! GOOD TIP: Free WiFi in Canyon Lodge Lobby!

I scheduled “Steps through Time-Interpretive Hike” leaving at 6pm. It’s described as being 4 hours long and it was. I was a little daunted when the other two people joining me had brought their own hiking poles along (and also hadn’t been grazing on the Ryndam for the past 7 days!) But the guide had extra poles for me to borrow and the hike was great. We went up Montana Creek Trail for about 2 ½ hours and came back essentially the same way, with lots of pauses for rest and to learn about the native plants and flowers (loads of which were blooming) and animals and the various uses they were put to.

It’s quite a bit warmer here; a t shirt and light fleece were all that was really necessary, although I had my windbreaker in case it rained

Day Ten Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour departure 6:40 am (some poor souls drew 5:30am departures!) There’s a whole lot of talk about how terrible the bus box lunch will be, we were highly encouraged to buy the hotel box lunch (which is about $16) but we didn’t. And the box lunch was fine, it’s like camping food; there’s a little package of cheese, a little package of salami, a mustard packet and a brioche roll, slap it all together and there’s a hiking sandwich. A bottle of water and a wet nap finishes it all up.

The tour lasts about 6-8 hours depending on the weather and the number of animals who cross your path. You’ll be riding on a refurbished school bus and the windows are smaller than you’d like, guaranteed. But we saw a mother grizzly and her two year old cub and got to watch them for a while, Dall sheep, caribou, ptarmigan, snow shoe hares, golden eagles, bald eagles and another grizzly off in the distance. The guide/driver maintains a fairly steady stream of commentary and all the riders help spot the animals

GOOD TIP Bring binoculars and the best camera you can use

There is time after this to take another excursion, mom and I opted for dinner at the Nenana Bar and Grill in the McKinley Chalets which was surprisingly good (esp for a National Park Hotel) and well served. Good views too

Day Eleven takes us from Denali to Fairbanks by train I had signed up for the 7:30 am “Rocky Creek Trail-Interpretive Hike”, which was scheduled to be 2 hours, but turned into 3 because we went slowly to accommodate one of the slower walkers, it’s a very easy trail, and well marked. You could do it yourself and it made for a pleasant way to start the day. The Visitor’s Center can be reached from the Chalet and is worthwhile; there are several films that are showing on a rotating basis along with displays and artifacts. The Alaskan Geographic Society maintains a very nice bookstore/gift shop there as well. It’s a good place to pick up the Denali WPA poster or post card if anyone is collecting them. I had put my luggage out for pick up before I went on the hike, and left my carry-on at the Chalet’s manned storage area

Shuttles begin leaving for the train station around 3pm. You are assigned to a shuttle, ours got us there with 45 minutes to spare and not a whole lot to do but sit and wait. Dinner can be purchased in the dining car as before. I had my last Alaskan salmon, smashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots and a glass of wine, mom had prime rib. Arrived in Fairbanks at 8:30pm. The scenery on the ride up is beautiful. More moose were seen too. Our hotel is the Westmark Fairbanks, another HAL property, but it needs some refurbishing (carpets tatty and stained etc) and most of the staff seems under-trained

Day Twelve Fairbanks Full day scheduled by HAL: First a trip to Gold Dredge Number 8, which is on the National Register of Historic places. There’s a tour of the place, a demonstration of how to pan for gold, then the visitors are given a little sack of dirt and set to work “panning for gold” The gift shop behind is primed with ways to take that gold and all your paper money too. Oh and there’s a “Miner’s Stew” lunch included, some people really liked it. On the way out to the Gold Dredge we stopped at the Alaskan Pipeline for a look around and our bus driver provided commentary about the city of Fairbanks and its environs. In the afternoon, we all went on the Riverboat Discovery III to cruise the Chena and Tanana Rivers, stopping at “The Chena Indian Village” where there were young native high school students giving tours and demonstrations. The Riverboat was a pleasant change insofar as they had a “captive audience” but you could still get a hot dog and a soda for under $5. At the end of the tour they handed out smoked salmon samples and had their own smoked salmon to sell (and seriously, Captain Jim’s smoked salmon is the best I had the whole time I was there and I don’t think it was just because we were having our first really sunny day)

The temp in Fairbanks was mid 70’s with very few clouds, so the summer clothes did come in handy after all

I booked the Journey Above the Arctic Circle for 6pm that evening excursion, but that’s another topic, since this is getting too long

Day 13…Everybody on the planes; it’s over, go home! We left Fairbanks at 4:30pm Alaska time and I arrived in Philadelphia at 6:30 this morning. Trying to adapt instantly to EST by writing this all up for you

My suitcase weighed 43 pounds when I left and 50 when I came home (and I had an additional carryon with the arty bits I bought)...I myself added 5 lbs

THINGS I BROUGHT BUT DIDN”T USE (but I did use the ship’s laundry, which makes a difference)

• 3 short sleeved t shirts—I brought 6,used 3
  
• 1 heavy weight long sleeved shirt (too heavy, fleece was better layer)
  
• 2 thin long sleeved t-shirt-I brought 6, used 4
  
• All the pairs of thin socks
  
• Swiss army knife
  

THINGS I WAS GRATEFUL TO HAVE

• Fleece vest
  
• Fleece zippered jacket
  
• Denim jacket
  
• Windbreaker
  
• 2 pairs nylon convertible pants
  
• scarf and thin gloves
  
• clothes line
  
• post it notes
  
• small gifts for room steward and others !!!
  
• nylon shower puff
  
• 6 pairs of cushy sox
  
• A second pair of shoes that I could wear outside in weather (I brought walking shoes and Birkenstocks)
  
• Teeny tiny purse for evening, for room key etc
  

Cruise things I learned:

• We tried “As You Wish Dining” for the whole cruise. I know now that I don’t like it for 2 main reasons: one being that all your conversation tends to stay on that same superficial, cocktail party chat level-- but the second reason is that I’ve never paid the corkage fee every single night when I had fixed dining with the same wait staff and wine steward. Now it may be because of corporate belt-tightening but this time, every evening slapped another $18 fee on to the final bill
  
• Start each morning with a very early (but please be dressed) dash to the elevator to take a photo of the carpet so that the day on the carpet will mark the beginning of your pictures for the day…a lot of those glaciers and mountains begin to look the same.
  
• The Deluxe Veranda Suites and the Neptune lounge are really wonderful, whether they are worth the money is a personal decision, but they are very very nice
  
• Make a concentrated effort to find things made by local people, sold in local stores to keep the money in the community that does sacrifice something of itself when opening itself to cruise ships. You will be rewarded with a finer product more often than not, along with the knowledge that your money will probably stay in the neighborhood and maybe you'll have a nice conversation and a good memory too. Turn things over. There’s no reason to buy an “Alaskan Jade Bear” with a “Made in China” sticker on it; and if you aren't sure, ask
  

And probably loads of other things, but they escape me in the jet lag fog…all my laundry is done now, my bags unpacked and my debt to the Cruise Critics members who helped me along the way partially paid. A good day, I’d say:) and I'll be happy to try to answer any questions you might have

Welcome Home. Great Review.Thanks For posting..

Hi EKKC, and thanks! Great review, with good information and terrific, easy-to-read organized format! My eyes thank you!

I hope you don't mind that I have included a link to your post on our Ryndam July 17 northbound roll call. I felt we could all learn a lot from your observations.:) How did you like the Ryndam? Would you cruise on her again?

Thank you so much, EKKC! What a wonderful review! You obviously spent a lot of time and thought on this.

I especially appreciated your comments on what you wore, didn't wear, and what you shipped.

I'm puzzling over my own wardrobe for July 31, so have a couple question for you. Are you from anywhere that has snow in winter? What do you consider a good room temperature? I'm a bit of a penguin, and like it cool, or outright cold. I'm wondering if I need as many layers as most other people. :)

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

We near-sighted, tri-focal wearing folks know how to format stuff. Glad it worked for you too!

Posting the link is fine, it's actually perfect; maybe I can pay it forward a bit

But the serious question here was "Would I cruise on the Ryndam again" and my answer is Yes, Absolutely. But, I love ships that have served other before me well: I like being part of a steam of passengers. I also like a certain cushy comfiness. Not too perfect, not too stylishly sharp.

The Ryndam is showing her age, the elevators are struggling, you can see the foot traffic patterns on the stairwell carpets and there are a few chairs in the Crows Nest that have some pretty sorry upholstery on their arms; one of the big recliners that you can see on the video is aptly named: it only reclines --but there's a little hand-written note to tell you that. And I love that about the Ryndam.

So if anyone in the group is hoping for seemless perfection, this is not the ship for them; but it was perfect for me ...

Thank you so much, EKKC! What a wonderful review! You obviously spent a lot of time and thought on this.

 

I especially appreciated your comments on what you wore, didn't wear, and what you shipped.

 

I'm puzzling over my own wardrobe for July 31, so have a couple question for you. Are you from anywhere that has snow in winter? What do you consider a good room temperature? I'm a bit of a penguin, and like it cool, or outright cold. I'm wondering if I need as many layers as most other people. :)

 

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

(Ha! I'm so pleased that I figured out how to include your original question!:D)

I'm from just outside of Philadelphia; we have snow, but not like you guys do and we are very damp.

I do prefer to be cooler rather than warmer and if I'm active outside, as soon as I begin to get warm-ish, I'll start to unzipper jackets, then fleeces (with the aim of not sweating, at all, but still feeling comfortable) What I had with me was one fleece vest, one fleece zipper thing with sleeves--

--but too many 1st layers--nylon t shirts and long-sleeved t-shirts (had 12 total, used about 7 -- BUT used Laundry service, w.o laundry I would've been fine) and I had my hooded windbreaker, it's just a shell-- not insulated or anything, but it was well worth the space it took in my luggage

A lot of the time of the cruise portion you won't be active enough to take off too many layers if you are outside in the wind.

The Hubbard Glacier radiates cold...it's like standing in front of your open refrigerator on August, but more so. And it's too wonderful to experience in half measures by staying inside and watching through a window

But then when you get on land beyond Anchorage it will be quite warm (by end of July maybe 80?)and you won't touch the fleecy things

I'd say cut back on the "nice clothes" if you need space, it seems that HAL has expanded the definition of "smart casual" is include pretty much anything:(

We near-sighted, tri-focal wearing folks know how to format stuff. Glad it worked for you too!

 

Posting the link is fine, it's actually perfect; maybe I can pay it forward a bit

 

But the serious question here was "Would I cruise on the Ryndam again" and my answer is Yes, Absolutely. But, I love ships that have served other before me well: I like being part of a steam of passengers. I also like a certain cushy comfiness. Not too perfect, not too stylishly sharp.

 

The Ryndam is showing her age, the elevators are struggling, you can see the foot traffic patterns on the stairwell carpets and there are a few chairs in the Crows Nest that have some pretty sorry upholstery on their arms; one of the big recliners that you can see on the video is aptly named: it only reclines --but there's a little hand-written note to tell you that. And I love that about the Ryndam.

 

So if anyone in the group is hoping for seemless perfection, this is not the ship for them; but it was perfect for me ...

Thanks very much ekkc; I love your description of the Ryndam! She sounds like me - showing my age, struggling with the mechanics of movement, and I have some pretty sorry upholstery on my bones.:D:) I think I'll feel right at home!

• Start each morning with a very early (but please be dressed) dash to the elevator to take a photo of the carpet so that the day on the carpet will mark the beginning of your pictures for the day…a lot of those glaciers and mountains begin to look the same.
  

Great review - and just love the note above! Now, why didn't I ever think of that?:D

thanks so much. I've been wondering about clothes to pack & you answered that question. We're leaving for the same trip on 7/17. Your insights into the land portion especially helpful.

• Start each morning with a very early (but please be dressed) dash to the elevator to take a photo of the carpet so that the day on the carpet will mark the beginning of your pictures for the day…a lot of those glaciers and mountains begin to look the same.
  

Great review - and just love the note above! Now, why didn't I ever think of that?:D

I'd love to take creative credit for that idea! But I read it someplace (probably here) and now that I'm home again and fooling with the photos on Picassa it's been a god-send.:)

EKKC.... Thank you so much for a very thorough review. You've helped me decide on several packing options. I found a can of silicon spray waterproofing that we will apply to our runners and windbreakers, hats, etc. We both have the fleece jackets that will fit under the windbreakers when needed. We don't sail until 8/28 so who knows what the weather will be at that point. Many years ago we sailed the Inside Passage in August and you could have water skied the water was so beautifully calm. We wore simple jackets on deck, even in Glacier Bay but were down to short sleeves on land.

Again, thank you for all the wonderful information. I'm so looking forward to being back on the Ryndam, "warts and all". lol (The ship's, not mine.... then, on the other hand...)

Cheers!! Happy sails!!

Thank you for your excellent report, suggestions, and easy-to-read format. My DH and I will be on the July 17-31 B2B sailing on the Ryndam--our first cruise on HAL; second cruise to Alaska. Sounds like you got especially cold, wet weather--like Seattle in early spring. I'll heed your warning and take warm layers--and then hope for nice weather.:)

We've never been to Fairbanks or Denali, so I'll file your notes for when we take a land tour.

Thanks again,

Diana

Thanks for a great review. I noted that you visited Gold Dredge #8 in Fairbanks. We're scheduled for the same in September. But the Gold Dredge's website says they are "closed to the general public in 2009" in order to take a year out to redefine the place.

Did you get the impression that the Gold Dredge was open only to HAL cruisetour guests? Or that it was planning to close up shortly after your tour?

We did a similar cruisetour in 2006, and the Gold Dredge was memorable ... we wanted to share it with the folks who are traveling with us in September.

Thanks so much......

Thanks for a great review. I noted that you visited Gold Dredge #8 in Fairbanks. We're scheduled for the same in September. But the Gold Dredge's website says they are "closed to the general public in 2009" in order to take a year out to redefine the place.

 

Did you get the impression that the Gold Dredge was open only to HAL cruisetour guests? Or that it was planning to close up shortly after your tour?

 

We did a similar cruisetour in 2006, and the Gold Dredge was memorable ... we wanted to share it with the folks who are traveling with us in September.

 

Thanks so much......

I love your aardvark!

When we were at the Dredge, it was all HAL and only HAL as far as I could tell.

I was there once before about 10-12 years ago with my two boys and was so stunned by how much the operation has grown since then that I really didn't get any sense of it being ready to close... or even refurbish.

To me, it looked like a pretty well-managed (and very profitable) concern with no visible fraying around the edges. They definitely "move 'em in and move 'em out" at a fair clip. And they have their patter down to a seamless, entertaining show....

Maybe they're going to rethink the heavy emphasis on getting folks into the gift shop...?

Sorry not to be more help...

You were a great help! Thank you.

First, thanks for the kind comment on the aardvark. I think he's adorable, and you're the first person to mention him!

Second, the Gold Dredge. After reading what I did, and receiving your reply, I emailed them and got a very quick response.

They are open in 2009 ONLY for HAL passengers. They say the tours have lunch there and a brief tour. Then passengers are moved to El Dorado Gold Mine for a lengthier tour.

Did you pan for gold at the Gold Dredge? Last time we did (in a sluice with pans spiked with particles so that everyone found gold), and then they moved us into the gift shop where there were 1,563,711 ways to pay to have that gold encased in a locket or pendant or whatever. Is this what happened this year? Or was the gold panning at the other mine?

No big deal either way ... I'm sounding like I'm obsessing over this detail, and I'm not. I guess having been there before I'm just wondering what differences I'll see....

Thanks again.......

You were a great help! Thank you.

 

First, thanks for the kind comment on the aardvark. I think he's adorable, and you're the first person to mention him!

 

Second, the Gold Dredge. After reading what I did, and receiving your reply, I emailed them and got a very quick response.

 

They are open in 2009 ONLY for HAL passengers. They say the tours have lunch there and a brief tour. Then passengers are moved to El Dorado Gold Mine for a lengthier tour.

 

Did you pan for gold at the Gold Dredge? Last time we did (in a sluice with pans spiked with particles so that everyone found gold), and then they moved us into the gift shop where there were 1,563,711 ways to pay to have that gold encased in a locket or pendant or whatever. Is this what happened this year? Or was the gold panning at the other mine?

 

No big deal either way ... I'm sounding like I'm obsessing over this detail, and I'm not. I guess having been there before I'm just wondering what differences I'll see....

 

Thanks again.......

We arrived at the El Dorado first and they have a tour that you take riding on a train; it goes past a "Miner's Cabin" and there are demonstrations of some of the water intensive techniques to get gold out of the ground, load of old equipement too. We saw a gold panning demo there and then went off to pan for gold ourselves with our little spiked bags of dirt; then through the gift shop for free cookies (chocolate chip ones were really good!) and coffee to soften you up and get you to buy stuff (and it certainly seemed to work) After that we went over to the Gold Dredge #8 for Miner's Stew, biscuits and dessert (too late to help me, I discovered there was a vegetarian stew option available--I'm not a vegetarian, but next time, I'm getting that!) No more panning there, but there was a tour inside the Dredge (and the only way out was through another gift shop :)