Info needed on HA D7L FB to Vancouver

[normr]

Has anyone taken this cruise? We booked the 11 day D7L Holland America Land Tour/Cruise from Fairbanks to Vancouver, and when we log into our HA account and look at the itinerary for the land portion, there is really no information such as what times we will be leaving or arriving, how long we have in each location or anything like that. When I click on the link for excursions in the places during the land tour, on this new website of theirs, I get this : "There are no Tours available to be booked for this sailing at this time. Please check back later." Is this true, we are going to Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage and Seward but we can't do anything except maybe look around each town on our own and basically we are just going to see just scenery as we go from location to location? I wasn't expecting this. So if anyone who has been on this tour, if you can fill me in, I'd sure like to know

[Host Walt]

What are your dates? HAL (and most other cruise lines) post shore excursion and tour opportunities no more than 180 days ahead, and usually between 90 and 180 days ahead. I suggest you contact HAL and ask them directly. 1‐877‐932‐4259

Edited June 6, 2015 by Host Walt

[Cruising Is Bliss]

Has anyone taken this cruise? We booked the 11 day D7L Holland America Land Tour/Cruise from Fairbanks to Vancouver, and when we log into our HA account and look at the itinerary for the land portion, there is really no information such as what times we will be leaving or arriving, how long we have in each location or anything like that. When I click on the link for excursions in the places during the land tour, on this new website of theirs, I get this : "There are no Tours available to be booked for this sailing at this time. Please check back later." Is this true, we are going to Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage and Seward but we can't do anything except maybe look around each town on our own and basically we are just going to see just scenery as we go from location to location? I wasn't expecting this. So if anyone who has been on this tour, if you can fill me in, I'd sure like to know

 

Is this for 2016? You can look at the 2015 cruises and it's not going to be the same excursions you'll have, but it would give you an idea of what they might have next year. I googled holland america cruise DL7 and looked at the 2015 excursion PDFs and there are a lot of Denali excursions.

[normr]

The cruise is the end of this July There may be a problem because they are doing website maintenance this weekend,but I'm shocked there is no information posted about times for the land portion such as what time we arrive and depart in each location, what time we need our luggage outside and do we even have time to do any excursions in each of these places, how do you book excursions if you don't even know what times you'll be there.

 

My girlfriend called HAL, and didn't get much information, the lady she spoke to said if there weren't any excursions posted then there must not be one. This is crazy, for example, the first day in Fairbanks, it says arrive at your hotel, we don't know what hotel, what time we can check in or what time we leave the next day for Denali, this is what I am talking about, I expected detailed info once we paid in full, that's why I'm asking anyone that has taken this cruise before for help.

Edited June 7, 2015 by normr
Added info

[Browser495]

We are doing a Land-Sea holiday this July. Ever since I booked the trip, a few months ago, when I log in and go to my reservation, I have been able to book excursions, restaurants and indulgences. I actually thought the excursions booking was pretty slick because it doesn't let you accidentally overlap on times and only brings up excursions that fit the overall schedule, eg I don't know either when exactly we arrive in a town, but it is obvious that HAL's excursion options don't allow you to book excursions which conflict with HAL's schedule. My travel agent was able to send me a .pdf of HAL's itinerary which is somewhat more detailed like what hotel and so on, but it isn't as detailed as what you are looking for like luggage outside the door. However, upon doing our check-in and looking at the information packet that includes the boarding pass, there is a reference to picking up welcome packets at various locations such as the airport in Fairbanks. I presume that indeed you get the welcome packets at your hotels and that it specifies details like actual pick-up times and luggage out the door. Someone reading this who has first hand experience can confirm whether my assumption on welcome packets is correct. Of course, once you book excursions and indulgences you can print a personalized itinerary. It would be nice if somehow HAL could merge their detailed itinerary (as shown in the .pdf file my TA sent) with my personal itinerary that I can print. However, I have no idea what the cost and timing implications might be for HAL and perhaps it isn't feasible given all the changes people can make before their cruise. But, it is strange that you haven't been able to see the excursion page (hopefully for you, they are not sold out). You mentioned the HAL site was under maintenance. Perhaps try to log in to your booking again in a day or two. Good luck!

[oxfordgal]

We just returned from the trip you are taking DL7. We got back in late May. We didn't get into Fairbanks until around 8:00pm so it was too late to see Fairbanks. When you get to Fairbanks airport you will be given a package that includes your room keys and a schedule. You will be asked to tag your luggage with a special tag. You will be given the opportunity to send luggage ahead to the ship that you don't need. Your luggage will be transported to the hotel and left in your room. Do make sure you take a tote bag with you in your luggage. They do not have room in the buses or train for a small airplane sized carry on. Space is limited. I purchased at tote bag that was zippered and it worked out well. We kept meds and our camera and some clothes in the tote bag.

 

There were various (20 some) excursions in Denali. You are only in Denali from around 1PM to about 9:30 am. the next morning. Remember there are only a few hours of darkness and excursions go on until quite late. There is a tour desk there that you can sign up for tours if you are unable to do so on line or just want to wait. We did take the Jeep excursion tour at Denali. I would not recommend this trip. It was quite dusty when we were there and it was Memorial Day weekend so there were a lot of campers along the road and back in campgrounds. I suspect it scared the animals off. There were a good number of excursions open for Denali. I am not sure why they are not listed. The park service offers a good 7 hour one, but it doesn't coincide with your schedule.

 

The reason they are not listing when you are leaving the next morning is that there are several buses that are used. A lot of the different land tours come into the sites so there is mass transportation going on.

 

Each land stop you will receive a package with room keys and tags that you are to put on the luggage for the next destination and hotel. Make sure you take off the old ones. Times vary in regards to when you put your luggage outside your door. Denali for us it was 6:30am. Again on the land transportation part of the trip your paperwork will tell you when you are leaving the hotel.

 

Denali to Anchorage you are driven by bus to the train station. Expect a good 6-7 hour ride in the train to get to Anchorage. Food prices on this land portion of the tour are not included and everywhere we stayed the food was expensive. We really did enjoy the train ride though. Some very pretty country. The train is domed and so you get some great views.

 

Anchorage I do believe there is a bus tour through town and you can walk around after you get there. We chose to eat at the hotel.

 

From Anchorage to Seward there is also a bus ride of about 2 hours or so which is included in your cruise price. Again your package you receive will tell you when to be down in the lobby to catch your bus. There is a train excursion as well which we decided to take in lieu of the bus. We did enjoy it. The train gets you to the ship later than the bus. This train is run by the Alaska railroad. It was not crowded as I think it is a new excursion and not a lot of people know about it.

 

I would be interested in what you think about the land portion of the tour. I think if I were to do it again I would chose two days at Denali as the park service offers a 7 hour trip back into the park and that is included in your land/sea tour..at no additional cost. Later in the season the park service does offer a shorter tour and you may want to check that out. You can go to the National Park Service Website for that one. I believe it is a 4 hour tour. You are picked up at your hotel for all excursions.

 

I hope my explanation makes sense to you. We found the land portion of the trip to be hurried. We have done a cruise only before to Alaska about 3 years ago and really enjoyed it. We took the land/sea portion to see if we wanted to make a separate trip land only in the future.

 

We did have a good time on this and the ship was really great. The hotel accommodations on the land portion were good as well.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions. I will be happy to let you know what we experienced.

[sotiris]

We have just returned from HAL's Y2L tour and although the beginning of the tour is reversed, I hope I can give you some general timelines.

 

When we arrived in Anchorage around 4pm, we were collected our luggage, put on the tags the HAL rep gave us and then were transferred to our hotels. Our group used three, the Westmark, the Hilton and the Captain Cook. The bags went via truck and arrived within minutes of our arrival. We then filled out paperwork, received more luggage tags and had the rest of the evening to ourselves. We also received a booklet of optional excursions that had a few more than were listed on the website.

 

The next day we left for Denali. The Northbound train left at 9:15 and arrived at Denali around 5pm. (The southbound train left Denali at 9:45am and arrived in Anchorage just after 5.) We had to have our luggage out at 6:30am for an 8:15 transfer to the train depot. The seats on the train are pre-assigned. We needed photo ID to board the train. Our luggage went by truck and was in our room when we arrived.

 

In Denali, we did a shortened version of the Tundra Wilderness Tour which was included in our package. (The actual TWT did not start until 2 days later.) Our tour left at 2:50 (delayed from 2pm) and we were back around 7:30. There are early morning tours.

 

The third day we had completely to ourselves.

 

We left Denali for Fairbanks around 9am - luggage was out at 8. It was about 2.5 hour drive and we arrived just in time for lunch. We then headed out to the Gold Dredge, another included excursion. We arrived at our hotel, the Westmark, around 4:30 and our luggage was waiting for us.

 

I had a little gym bag that I used for my daily carry-on. It had camera, medications, snacks, binoculars etc.

 

Hopefully this will give you some idea of the timing. You just have to think in reverse. :). Have a great trip. Ours was spectacular!

[Browser495]

Great info. Thank you for taking the time to explain all this. We have 3 nights in Denali, so lots of time to explore, especially given how much daylight we will have in the summer! Don't have any other questions just now as your explanations and descriptions were so good! May ask later if anything pops into mind. We will post a post cruise review!

[sotiris]

I have posted reviews of the land portion and of our 4 day cruise on the Alaska board.

 

Here are the links.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2216641

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2217184

[pezhead]

Did it last summer, HAL had a desk in the lobby of the Chalet in Denali to book tours if your mind changed. Also, we booked everything 6 months out, but the shopping center right outside the park had plenty of independent tour operators.

 

In Anchorage the tourist center is right near the train depot. We grabbed the trolley Saturday night, then simply did the artist market before training it down to Seward. And at Seward you literally pull right up to the dock. After a week of running it was so nice to put feet up and unpack for more than 3 nights.

 

I splurged for ship laundry service-totally worth it to not have to spend first sea day in laundry room. 😀

 

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[normr]

Your info has definitely helped but I'm sure I'll need to contact you directly, one problem I see is that we are arriving in Fairbanks the night before around 7:30 pm and will need to get to the hotel (Westmark) on our own so there won't be any HAL reps for us to meet at the airport, we didn't want to arrive late on the first day, all the flights got in very late like 2 AM.

[oxfordgal]

Your info has definitely helped but I'm sure I'll need to contact you directly, one problem I see is that we are arriving in Fairbanks the night before around 7:30 pm and will need to get to the hotel (Westmark) on our own so there won't be any HAL reps for us to meet at the airport, we didn't want to arrive late on the first day, all the flights got in very late like 2 AM.

 

Our flight landed in Fairbanks at 8pm and we left around 9:30 am or so the next morning for Denali via bus. There were a good 6 or so HAL reps at the airport even at 8pm. The literature I believe states there was someone there as long as they had people coming in on flights. I am sure that one would give you info on a taxi. The Westmark is not that far away from what I remember..should be a short taxi ride. If they don't have your package at the airport as you came in a day early, (wasn't sure if you were arriving earlier and spending a day), you should check at the front desk in the hotel in regards to your room keys. They have a separate room for HAL tour office in the Westmark. It closes around 10:00pm. If you are going to Denali the next morning, they will have a packet at the airport for you. You tag your luggage at the airport and they take it separately to the hotel. If it isn't in your room when you get there it will be shortly and you will get a knock on your hotel door. The package you get at the airport will already have your room keys in it. We took HAL transportation at either end of the trip. Being an airport you should be able to get a taxi fairly quickly to the hotel. Note that the literature we got from HAL said that all gratuities for the luggage was taken care of so not to worry about that.

 

Food: We ate at the restaurant in Fairbanks as it was late and we are from the mid west and there is a 5 hour difference. I did hear several people say they went out and walked around and found some places to eat. Will tell you food is expensive at Denali. There are a group of places to eat across the street from the McKinley Chalet to include Subway. This area is called Glitter Gulch. I did expect to pay quite a bit so I wasn't surprised at a $45 dinner bill for a hamburger with fries and personal sized pizza. That was with 2 sodas. We did eat breakfast before we left Denali. It was a madhouse in there. If I had it to do over again, I would wait until I got on the domed train and go down to their dinning room and have a breakfast. It will be expensive, but so was the restaurant at Denali. They serve breakfast and lunch on the train as it takes about 6-7 hours to get to Anchorage.

 

There are various buses scheduled from the Westmark in Anchorage to the ship. In your packet you will be given a time to assemble in the lobby to catch your bus.

 

I hope this helps a little in regards to your land portion of the trip. I would be interested to hear what you all thought about the land portion.

 

The cruise was great as usual with HAL. We decided to try the land portion to see if we wanted to go back later to just do a land vacation.

Edited June 19, 2015 by oxfordgal
Add some info on excursions

[normr]

We finally got a more detailed itinerary in our cruise docs so now I just need to book the extra night we are staying in Fairbanks at the Westmark, I'm hoping that they just keep us in the same room that we book and don't move us to be near the other HAL guests, From the reviews it looks like we need to stay away from the south tower of the hotel and just book north tower, any thoughts on that?

[oxfordgal]

We finally got a more detailed itinerary in our cruise docs so now I just need to book the extra night we are staying in Fairbanks at the Westmark, I'm hoping that they just keep us in the same room that we book and don't move us to be near the other HAL guests, From the reviews it looks like we need to stay away from the south tower of the hotel and just book north tower, any thoughts on that?

 

All of our hotel stays within the HAL hotels were fine. The smallest room we had was in was in Fairbanks. As far as Fairbanks, we went with the HAL airfare as it was cheaper to fly in the day before with their prices than it was for an extra night at the hotel. There were no noise issues with the room we were in.

 

Would think that you should be able to do an excursion in Fairbanks if you are there the day before. If they are not listed on HAL's web site, you may want to check with the tour desk. They were very helpful to us.

 

Hope you have a great vacation.

[normr]

Since we are getting in a day early, I assume there is no HAL representative at the airport, so I'm not sure when we will get our info packet. Can you explain the smaller piece of luggage thing, when we leave Fairbanks for Denali

 

 

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[oxfordgal]

Since we are getting in a day early, I assume there is no HAL representative at the airport, so I'm not sure when we will get our info packet. Can you explain the smaller piece of luggage thing, when we leave Fairbanks for Denali

 

 

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Yes, they suggest you use a backpack or tote bag in place of a small airplane sized bag as there is little space on the train/bus for a carryon airplane type bag. I purchased a medium sized tote bag and it worked well for us. I believe if you look over your paperwork you can print out before you leave you will see where they recommend that. The HAL travel office at the hotel is open until around 10:00 pm. I would think if they are not at the airport that you should be able to go to that office and pick up your package from them. You may want to get out on the HAL website and chat with a specialist in regards to how that would work for you. I did that chat times when I had questions and they were helpful. Hope this helps.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

A number of years ago we did a cruise tour during the middle of July. My sister-in-law had done the trip and suggested we take a couple of pair of shorts and warm-weather clothes. So glad we did. It was 92 degrees in Fairbanks and none of the hotels had air conditioning. Each room did have a small fan on the dresser. Haven't looked at Alaska weather lately but the West Coast has been too warm all spring and summer so far. Have fun!

[normr]

Finished our D7L Cruise today, if anyone needs any info, feel free to ask, the packing situation is a lot easier then they make you believe, we could have just marked all our luggage as join us tonight, we also moved all the stuff we knew we wouldn't need to a separate suitcase and marked that as join us on the ship and that got moved to the ship.

 

I also brought home the menus and daily itineraries if anyone would like to see them. Also a few more hints for Vancouver, first there is a company inside the airport called CDS Limited where you can store your bags if you have a late flight, it's like $9 or less per bag for 24 hours, we got rid of our bags and then went to the 7-11 inside the domestic terminal and bought a 24 hour transit pass for $9.50 Canadian (you can't buy them at the transit stations, they only sell a pass that's good for 90 minutes. We then jumped on the train and went back to the city to explore (it takes 22 minutes), the pass is also good for the busses, so we also went to Granville Island which is a huge shopping market similar to Pike Place in Seattle, very nice, we spent a few hours walking around there.

 

 

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[oxfordgal]

Sounds like a great trip. I am happy you had a good time.

[Hobcat]

We finally got a more detailed itinerary in our cruise docs so now I just need to book the extra night we are staying in Fairbanks at the Westmark, I'm hoping that they just keep us in the same room that we book and don't move us to be near the other HAL guests, From the reviews it looks like we need to stay away from the south tower of the hotel and just book north tower, any thoughts on that?

 

We also arrived a day early in Fairbanks when we did the Land/Sea tour in June of this year. When I booked our room at the Westmark online I added a note in the comments area that we would be joining a HAL tour the next day. We were given the same room in the North tower for the entire stay.

Can't comment about your transfer from airport to hotel as we drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks, however, when we turned in our rental car at the airport we took the HAL shuttle back to the hotel.

We picked up our tour packet at the tour desk in the hotel. As others have mentioned your packets will provide the info you need for the next section of your trip. There were many tours coming & going & we found HAL's info very complete & specific.

Enjoy your trip.

[normr]

When staying at the Westmark Fairbanks, the north tower rooms are much larger, you don't get a fridge like in the south tower but the room are much larger

 

 

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[LetsTravel77]

Did you use a travel agent to book this trip or did you just do it yourself?

[LetsTravel77]

So for those that have went on the D7L cruise and land tour, did you book your own reservation for the trip or work through a travel agent?

[oaktreerb]

Call Holland America reservations to book the cruise. Right now they are having a View and Veranda sale. They may have another sale after the first of the year. Once you have a booking number you can watch to see if prices go down or if they have a promo that you like. Pay up front only what is required and make the final payment when it is required (see your booking confirmation which they will e-mail you.) Prior to final payment you can transfer the booking to a TA if you find one who will give you a better deal.

 

You can make your own flight arrangements or HAL will make them for you. You will also need to consider travel insurance which HAL can also provide. Wait until the day or two BEFORE final payment to arrange for the travel insurance since you can cancel your booking and get your cruise down payment back prior to final payment. When you make the final payment you need to have the travel insurance in place. Read the fine print.

 

The trip itself is well organized and there is no need for a TA. If you have not cruised before you may be more comfortable with advice from a TA but once you have booked through the TA you can only communicate with HAL through the TA.

Edited December 7, 2016 by oaktreerb

[oaktreerb]

You may want to reconsider your choice since this will only give you one night in Denali (you need a minimum of two nights to make it worthwhile). The more time you have the better but you may be restricted time wise. If you don't mind a long 10 hour bus ride between Denali and Seward the D6L would fit your time frame. Otherwise the D5L would be a very good choice if you want to start in Fairbanks.

Edited December 7, 2016 by oaktreerb