Confusing Alaska itinerary change - Not happy...

A few weeks ago we signed up for an August Alaska cruisetour with Princess and the land itinerary showed two nights in Denali and one night in Fairbanks. Now, the itinerary shows one night in Denali and two nights in Fairbanks. :mad:

Not only does that screw up our Denali visit (we arrive at 4:00pm one day and leave the following afternoon) but we now have to find a way to fill two days in Fairbanks.

There is not much you can do in Denali for a few hours one afternoon, or a few hours the following morning. This makes the Denali trip almost worthless.

Any thoughts on how we can make the Denali visit worthwhile? I'll also post on the Alaska board, but since we're booked with Princess, thought I'd start here.

Thanks...

If they did make this major of a change, I would probably be addressing this with Princess.

Can you change itineraries or do land on your own? I would not be happy with that either. I doubt you have enough time to get far into Denali.

Call Princess. Maybe they can move you to another tour that would work with your dates.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

A few weeks ago we signed up for an August Alaska cruisetour with Princess and the land itinerary showed two nights in Denali and one night in Fairbanks. Now, the itinerary shows one night in Denali and two nights in Fairbanks. :mad:

 

Not only does that screw up our Denali visit (we arrive at 4:00pm one day and leave the following afternoon) but we now have to find a way to fill two days in Fairbanks.

 

There is not much you can do in Denali for a few hours one afternoon, or a few hours the following morning. This makes the Denali trip almost worthless.

 

Any thoughts on how we can make the Denali visit worthwhile? I'll also post on the Alaska board, but since we're booked with Princess, thought I'd start here.

 

Thanks...

We have done a post-cruise trip to Fairbanks and Denali, with basically 1 full day in the latter. And that was more than enough time to do the 4-hr "Natural History" tour that I assume is still offered. Got us into the park with great views of Denali itself, plus a mother grizzly and her cubs in the valley below, etc. You'll be in Denali more than 24 hours so time to even do the longer tour offered. However, I do agree that there's not much to do in Fairbanks, unless you like to try panning for gold in the river there (that was only activity offered when we were there). Finally, in August, the sun is out in Fairbanks from about 5 am til 10:30 pm or so. Probably similar in the Denali area.

First off, I love your name! DH and I call each other that all the time.

Second and more importantly - I haven't heard of Princess changing the number of nights spent at each destination for a cruise tour before. You should definitely call Princess (or your travel agent if you used one) to find out what happened and also to move to a cruise tour that better suits your needs. It's well before final payment date so you should have no problem changing. And if there's different perks offered now than when you booked, Princess should work with you and extend those perks to your new cruise tour. Good luck. And definitely take a longer tour option in Denali (Tundra Wilderness Tour or Kantishna).

I've done the mainland twice and would agree 1 day in Denali is not nearly enough time to get a good taste of it. If an option, I would say re-book to another tour that gives you 2 days in Denali. I skipped Fairbanks on both my trips and opted to go south to Kenai instead of north to Fairbanks. Good luck and hope it all works out well for you.

Sounds like somebody moved you to a different cruise-tour.

 

We have done a post-cruise trip to Fairbanks and Denali, with basically 1 full day in the latter. And that was more than enough time to do the 4-hr "Natural History" tour that I assume is still offered.

We saw that hotel checkout is at 11:00am. If we do a morning tour, like the one you suggested, it will take us past the 11:00 checkout time. How do you work around that? Do they store your luggage?

We saw that hotel checkout is at 11:00am. If we do a morning tour, like the one you suggested, it will take us past the 11:00 checkout time. How do you work around that? Do they store your luggage?

When we did a Princess tour you either had to put the luggage out by a set time in the morning, or they collected it directly from your room (depending upon location). So you just make sure that your bags are packed before you leave on tour.

Which Cruisetour did you book? I find it odd that Princess would change the Itinerary from what was published in their Alaska book or on the website.

Did you contact Princess and ask them about it? Did they actually notify you of the change, or is this something you discovered on your own?

Seems like you probably have lots of options with travel this far out unless you booked thru a TA that has cancellation fees, etc

• when you initially booked does your confirmation have what you intended to book or has the booking been the same all along- not as you wanted from the beginning
  
• Have you called to ask for it to be changed?
  
• is what you wanted to still available?
  
• If the booking has changed from initial booking without your consent you can likely get it changed back if still available and possibly at the original fare booked
  
• If the booking was never what it was supposed to be and was a phone communication issue/mixup when the agent selected the tour you may have some trouble getting the price matched but could be possible. Most companies can listen to phone conversations to see what transpired, your error, their error, etc
  
• I have never experienced a change in a cruise tour booked but have only been on about 6. This would be surprising if Princess changed it-- and especially 2 day Denali vs 1 as this is pretty important to some cruisers and the entire point that most probably chose that specific option. I can't imagine that would go over well for most. (definitely not me- it would be a no go Cancel cruise tour, but they have many 1 night Denali and plenty of passengers choosing those)
  
• Either way I didn't see mention of contacting Princess or TA - that would be a place to start and if help needed or advice wanted posting what transpired would help others guide you
  

oops didn't read 3 posts ago that you are cool keeping things as is.

would be interesting to know if this was a booking error from the beginning or a Princess shuffle

I am sorry this happened. I would contact Princess and tell them this is not acceptable. You are going to miss Denali. You want the longer tour (not Natural History tour). At least the Tundra tour. I would be upset also. I would want a refund or to be put back on the original tour.

I think you have every reason to complain.

Having been to Denali a couple of times, once with Princess, I would strongly suggest that you want the Tundra tour. The natural history tour is rather poor in comparison.

I also would raise the issue about the change, check to make sure the tour numbers still match what you booked.

Gosh! I sure would hate that. I'd be talking to Princess about changing to a better tour.