Noordam D1L Land & Sea Journey Live-ish Info

I have been a Cruise Critic member for over a decade and while I have never posted before now, I have learned a great deal from all who contribute to this site. In an attempt to return the favor, I am planning to share the details of our family’s Alaska Land & Sea Journey.

A little bit about us: My husband and I are in our mid-40’s and our son is 14. We have cruised once previously as a family and that was a Disney Cruise in 2007. My husband and I have cruised together on 3 previous Caribbean itineraries. All 3 of our cruises were on Holland America and included time on the Zuiderdam, the Ryndam, and the Veendam. We have always sailed in Neptune Suite category cabins. We enjoy smaller ships and quieter experiences and feel that the size of the cabin and the graciousness of the staff, combined with itineraries that interest us, make Holland America and good choice and a great value for us.

For this trip, we are headed to Alaska and it will again be a family cruise. We selected the D1L journey which officially begins today, 6/20, in Fairbanks and will move to the cruise portion of the tour on Sunday, 6/25, when we board the Noordam in Seward. We booked this land and sea cruise last September and we have the Explore 4 package as part of our fare. We will be in stateroom 7068.

Our plans are tentatively set to include:

Sunday, 6/18-Flight from Orlando to Fairbanks; check in to Hampton Inn & Suites, Fairbanks

Monday, 6/19-Trip to Running Reindeer Ranch, Fairbanks

Tuesday, 6/20-Drive to Chena State Recreational Area for a hike; begin Holland America land tour; check in to Westmark Fairbanks

Wednesday, 6/21-Riverboat Discovery Tour, Fairbanks, included in land tour; bus transfer to Denali; check in to McKinley Chalet; Husky Homestead Tour in Denali

Thursday, 6/22-Tundra Wilderness Tour, Denali National Park, included in land tour

Friday, 6/23-Denali Raft Adventure Canyon Run Paddle Tour; Denali Flightseeing with Glacier Landing by Airplane

Saturday, 6/24-Denali to Anchorage transfer by train; check in to Westmark Anchorage

Sunday, 6/25-Anchorage to Seward tour upgrade to include Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise; embark MS Noordam

Monday, 6/26-at sea

Tuesday, 6/27-Glacier Bay cruising

Wednesday, 6/28-Haines; Takshanuk Mountain Trail by 4x4; Glacier Point Wilderness Safari

Thursday, 6/29-Juneau; Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest; Dog Sledding Adventure by Helicopter

Friday, 6/30-Ketchican; An Alaskan Fish Camp

Saturday, 7/1-at sea

Sunday, 7/2-disembark Vancouver; check in to Pan Pacific

Monday, 7/3-return to Orlando

I will work to share details as our trip progresses as time and wireless access allow. Clearly, almost 3 days of this trip have already been completed so I will share that information now.

We flew on Delta and the flight was as planned and expected. We rented a car for 2 days through Hertz. We booked the car in November and the rate was $45/day for a Corolla which was perfect to get us around town. The Hampton Inn on Harold Bentley Avenue was a great location. It was across the street from a WalMart, Barnes and Noble, Old Navy, a liquor store, Fred Meyer, etc. so we were able to get a couple of small things we forgot. And more bug spray! More on that later… The hotel was great. The room size was good, everything was clean, the staff was friendly, and wi-fi and breakfast were included. We would stay here again. Sunday happened to be the day that Fairbanks was hosting the “Land of the Midnight Sun” festival in preparation for the Summer Solstice later this week. Since it really did seem like one of the longest days possible after our plane ride and the 4-hour time change, we figured we would check it out. It is one of the largest festivals held annually in Alaska and the streets of downtown were filled with food stands and local merchants. It was a nice way to spend a few hours on our first day in Fairbanks.

Our son has hopes of becoming a veterinarian and that goal drives many of our activities and excursions. His interest in animals is what helped us identify Running Reindeer Ranch as an activity while we were on our own in Fairbanks. If you have 3 ½ total hours to spare in Fairbanks, I highly recommend this tour. The “Ranch” is really the home of Jane and Doug. Several years ago, they added a pair of reindeer to their family and now are home to 8 reindeer. Their home is about 25 minutes from Fairbanks and easy to find if you follow the instructions they send. Once you arrive, you may have several minutes to watch the reindeer herd walking around the property while you wait for the other members of the tour group to arrive. Once everyone was present, Jane gave an overview of the ranch and introduced us to the members of the herd which currently includes a calf who was born in May. We then headed off with Jane and the reindeer for a walk through the woods. Jane stopped frequently along the path to share information about reindeer. We had plenty of opportunities to pet the reindeer and were able to photograph them and get our picture taken with a member of the herd. At the end of the walk, Jane welcomed the group onto her deck where she offered us refreshments and shared a few more details about her herd and reindeer in Alaska. The tour was fantastic and a great way to start our Alaskan vacation. There were a fair number of mosquitoes and bugs present so I do recommend bug repellant.

Today, Tuesday, we planned to drive to the Chena State Recreation area to explore one of the trail heads. When we exited the car to begin our hike, we were met with a literal swarm of mosquitoes and bugs. That dampened our enthusiasm for the hike and once we defeated all of the bugs that let themselves into our car, we decided we would skip the hike. On our drive back to Fairbanks, we were lucky enough to see a mother moose and her calf in the edge of the river. We parked the car, walked over to the edge of the road, and watched them for about 10 minutes before the headed back into the woods. And on the edge of the road, while the bugs were still very present, they were manageable. This was a really awesome sight!

We returned to Fairbanks, dropped our bags at the Westmark, returned the rental car to the airport, and caught a taxi back to the HAL hotel. We could have waited for the airport shuttle that HAL and Princess run from the airport to the hotel but it would have been an hour before the next trip which is why we opted for the taxi. The Westmark hotel is fine for a one night stay in my opinion. We are in the “B” tower. I am not sure how that compares to the “A” and “C” towers but include that detail in case it is useful to others. The room absolutely needs to be updated. The walls and wallpaper look tired. The TV is sad. The laminate on the furniture is chipped in many places. Everything looks clean but it just seems like HAL and Princess would want a better visual to welcome their passengers when they choose the cruise line to host their land tour as well. I am very glad we stayed at a different property for the first 2 nights. The hotel does have 2 restaurants on site and they look like your average hotel restaurant. However, downtown Fairbanks is a short walk and there are many more restaurant choices there. Since we arrived, we have eaten at Wolf Run, Pump House, Soapy Smith’s, and Banks Alehouse. Only Soapy Smith’s is reasonable walking distance from the Westmark. All venues have been good and what we expected based on our Trip Advisor research.

We head to Denali tomorrow and I will add information to this thread soon.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Your trip sounds like fun so far. Thanks for posting and thanks for the great pics!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Your land and cruise trip sounds wonderful.

Looks like you are off to a great start.

Love the pictures.

Looking forward to more Live reports.

That is the tour we just completed. I will await your riverboat tour observations, being on the younger side of passengers. It set a bad start for my husband for the trip. He hated absolutely everything about it. I thought it was bad but wasn't as upset about it as he was.

Thanks for doing a review! Looking forward to more:)

So enjoy Alaska!!!

Thank you for taking time on your adventures to post on CC!!!

The pics are beautiful and you will enjoy the experience!

Denise:)

Looking forward to the rest of your report. I did the same trip at the end of May into June. I went to the Banks Alehouse for Trivia night when I was in Fairbanks. The food was average but the trivia was fun.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and photos. Hope your family has a wonderful vacation.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Tuesday and Wednesday Updates

Most of Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning were spent sorting the luggage. If there is one thing I didn’t spend enough time doing before we left, it is packing. We have everything we need and I did not approach packing from a minimalist view point. Where I could have spent more time is in the organization of how things were packed. We just wanted to get everything to Fairbanks so didn’t give much thought to baggage placement and that meant we got to move everything around to get to the “meet me on the ship” and “meet me tonight” configuration that had to be in place by 6:30 Wednesday morning. But it got done and the instructions from HAL were very clear. Bags had to be outside our room at 6:30 am.

We were in the lobby at 8:00 to meet the bus to head to the Riverboat Discovery attraction. We are from Orlando and therefore organized, scripted, predictable, and purposeful tourist activities are commonplace for us. I will add that we also found this activity to be sincerely delivered by all of the staff. Although we probably would not have planned this activity on our own, we enjoyed it. I think there should be some consideration given to the fact that this activity fulfilled several purposes for HAL; it allowed them to corral all of our tour group participants and gave them time to find any stragglers before the group headed to Denali and it also consumed 4 hours of time needed for the hotel in Denali to turn over the rooms to prepare for our arrival. The Riverboat trip lasted about 3 hours. We saw a float plane take off and land, learned about the riverboat history of the Chena River, learned about the native Athabascan culture, visited the Trailbreaker Kennels from the shoreline and saw a mushing demonstration (be on the port side for the best view), and spent time in the created “Chena Village” where we exited the riverboat and learned even more about the native American culture of the Athabascan people. We then re-boarded the boat and returned to the starting point where we had a family style lunch which was included in the activity. You can purchase beer and wine on the riverboat and at lunch.

View from the riverboat

After lunch, we boarded the tour coach for the drive to Denali. It is a 3 ½ hour drive. We saw a bear crossing the road. There is a 30-minute stop in Nenana which allows for a bathroom break and some shopping for Alaskan-made souvenirs. I think there were 5 tour buses stopped at the same time so 30 minutes turned out to be reasonable.

We are staying in the Cottonwoods building at the McKinley Chalet resort. The room is basic and comfortable. We did the Husky Homestead excursion at 7:00 and that was enjoyable. We had lots of time to cuddle puppies and learning about the details of sled dog racing was very interesting. The tour is well run and a good pick for families, especially if there are kids who like animals. We ate dinner at Prospector’s Pizza which is across the street from the resort. Dinner was very good.

McKinley Chalet Resort

Today we will be on the Tundra Wilderness Tour into Denali National Park.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Am enjoying your review, thanks for taking the time to do this!

Tundra Wilderness Tour

Not many words are needed to share this information. This is the tour that is included as part of the stay in Denali. It is approximately 8 hours in duration and the entire time is spent on a school bus that has had upgraded seats (extra padding, not leather reclining [emoji6]). If you are up for 8 hours on a bus traveling bumpy roads that should be one lane but function as 2 lane-DON'T MISS THIS EXPERIENCE! Weather and skies were amazing and the wildlife was plentiful.

Denali before the clouds stole the peaks completely

Moose

Bears-obviously

Caribou

Amazing-all day long!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Are a lot of people sick on the trip? Last one saw a much coughing, sore throats and aching joints.

Love your pictures! Are you using a zoom lens? We're doing a very similar itinerary this summer so this is very welcome. Thanks so much for posting.

We haven't noticed anyone with viral-like symptoms. We've spent a fair amount of time on buses with people the last 2 days and there hasn't been noticeable coughing or people talking of not feeling well.

We have the Canon T6 with 2 lenses-18-55mm and 75-300mm. The larger zoom lens really makes a difference when photographing the animals. The other great feature about this camera is that I can instantly push the photos to my phone using a wireless direct connection which makes sharing the higher quality camera photos simple.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Enjoying your report. Thank you for sharing.

Enjoying your review and the nice photos.

We were in Denali again on Friday. So glad we had 3 days because there is so much to see and do here! This morning we went rafting with Denali Raft Adventures. We did the 2 hour Canyon Run paddle trip. We booked directly with the company because HAL didn't offer a paddle rafting trip option for kids under 16. It was awesome-well run, great guides, and some true class 3 rapids. Our son even went swimming in the Nenana river for a few minutes. The dry suits they provide really do keep you dry.

This afternoon we took a flight seeing trip with Fly Denali booked through HAL. It included landing on a glacier on Denali. The entire trip was fantastic. If you have a chance to do an excursion like this, I can't recommend enough that you do it. Skies were cloudy, we hit some rain both ways, and it was still amazing. Denali's peak

. We spent about 20 minutes on the glacier

Tomorrow is our train ride to Anchorage.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We have the same summer vacation and photos!!! On the D1L we also do the paddle run (best excursion of the trip and we also swam!) and then did the flightseeing.

Are a lot of people sick on the trip? Last one saw a much coughing, sore throats and aching joints.

We were on the sailing from Seward to Vancouver June 11-18! First sea day captain came over speaker and said a lot of people were coughing and sick. Cover your mouth and cough in your sleeve. Not a good sign. In our group of 18 about 10 got sick with coughs and sore throats. My husband still can't get over it and went to doctor. Said it was a bad bacterial infection and he got some really strong drugs. A lot of people were coughing!

Sagsawbag love your pictures. Have a great trip!

You are a lifesaver! We are headed on this exact same trip July 3-16. I'm most interested in your comment from Tuesday/Wednesday where you talk about dividing your luggage into 'see you on the ship' and 'see you tonight'. Just so I understand, you packed for 3 days in Denali, a night in Anchorage and a night in Seward in your 'see you tonight' bag. Any chance you took a picture of the instructions from HAL on packing? I'm going to do this before we leave...thanks again for the heads up!

Catching up

Love all the details and pictures.

Looks like you are having a great time.

Question about boarding in Seward...my husband wants to do a halibut fishing trip that will put him on the ship by 7 pm. I know we are scheduled to leave at 8 pm. Did you hear anything about a deadline to be onboard?

You are a lifesaver! We are headed on this exact same trip July 3-16. I'm most interested in your comment from Tuesday/Wednesday where you talk about dividing your luggage into 'see you on the ship' and 'see you tonight'. Just so I understand, you packed for 3 days in Denali, a night in Anchorage and a night in Seward in your 'see you tonight' bag. Any chance you took a picture of the instructions from HAL on packing? I'm going to do this before we leave...thanks again for the heads up!

The instructions were online before we got to Fairbanks. All we got there was an envelope with tags for ship suitcases and for the hotel in Denali. There is one that is the meet me tonight you put your name on. Change the hotel one as you move between stops.

I am doing the opposite cruise starting in Vancouver on July 2nd. I would like to know how cold it is in Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage. Also do we bring our own umbrella or is one supplied on the ship? I guess on the land portion you would need your own. Right? Hopefully we don't hit any rain. Ha ha.