Semi live review Y1L Holland America’s Alaska Land and Sea CruiseTour, June 1 – June 19, 2022

[Alphen]

Semi live review Y1L Holland America’s Alaska Cruise Land and Sea, June 1 – June 19, 2022

I will attempt to make a (semi-live) review of our Y1L Land first, Cruise Second, Holland America Cruise tour.

In preparation of our tour, we could not find many reviews or planning information, so I decided to start this review. I will promise to complete it, I cannot promise that it will be completely live.

As far as current Covid regulations, sadly these are still fluid. In preparation of our tour, we were only required to be fully vaccinated and also for entry to Canada, we did not have to be tested. As for the Land/Cruise Tour, requirements were only current vaccinations and a test pre-cruise during the land portion, which will be taken care of by HAL.

Since we are now on Monday and our land tour will start on Wednesday June first, we were surprised by an overnight email from HAL, with new requirements for our tour, which took us by surprise!

 

Please be advised that we have implemented a new requirement and cruisetour guests 2 years of age or older must now produce a negative COVID-19 test at the start of their pre-cruise land tour. The test must be medically observed and can be an antigen test taken within two days of the start of your tour or a PCR test taken within three days of the start of your tour. You will not be able to begin your cruisetour without proof of a negative COVID-19 test. At-home medically observed antigen tests such as https://*****/optumtest are allowed. All guests over 5 years of age must also be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and bring acceptable proof of COVID-19 vaccination to present at cruisetour check-in. Boosters are encouraged for eligible guests. You will also require a negative COVID-19 test to board the ship for the sea portion of your cruisetour, which we will provide at no cost to you.

 

So we had to quickly change plans and find a location for testing in a hurry and have made an appointment for testing in the Canada Place Convention Centre, since we will be in town tomorrow.

[Alphen]

1. Pre Tour Vancouver

   We decided on a Hotel outside the city center in North Vancouver, which was an affordable option and suited for our way of travel.

   We have arrived several days early in Vancouver with a direct flight from Amsterdam. Our arrival was relatively smooth, customs and immigration was within 10 minutes after collecting our luggage. One of us was selected for a random test, so this took about 20 minutes in total and after that we were soon on our way.

   With 4 full days, we had plenty of time to visit this beautiful city. We did a guided highlights bike tour through Vancouver with Cycle City Vancouver. A five hours bike tour with Greg, who was a fantastic guide on this great tour. We visited the world-famous Stanley Park, riding trails through old-growth forest and taking in the spectacular sights of the seawall, English Bay past some of the hottest beaches in the city, a ferry over False Creek to Granville Island, pass the Olympic Village complex and Science World, Vancouver’s vibrant Chinatown, historic Gastown and many other sights.

   We also wandered around downtown Vancouver itself and spent a day in Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.

   We also intended to visit Grouse Mountain, but since not all attractions are open there and on the intended day we encountered low clouds and some rain, we decided to skip that. 

    

    

    

Edited May 30, 2022 by Alphen

[Alphen]

Highlights bike tour through Vancouver with Cycle City Vancouver;

 

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Alphen

[oakridger]

Loving your pictures so far!  Thank you!

 

~Nancy

[rajkr74]

Hey Alphen, glad to see your semi-live report.  We'll assume you got out of Amsterdam and the airport mess with not too much trouble.  Looking forward to your review.  

Rick & Joyce

[tundra1]

Thanks for posting this!  😀  I am excited to see how HAL arranges things!  I am going to need to find a testing place for our Covid-19 tests in Anchorage now.  I did not hear anything from them yet about the change in plans.

[Alphen]

7 minutes ago, rajkr74 said:

Hey Alphen, glad to see your semi-live report.  We'll assume you got out of Amsterdam and the airport mess with not too much trouble.  Looking forward to your review.  

Rick & Joyce

Yes we did, only two tests to go, one tomorrow and one before cruising, so fingers crossed!

[canadianbear]

Looking forward to your review and photos.  We had friends from Philidelphia cruise up to Vancouver who wanted to do a whale watching excursion but the weather didn’t cooperate and the company had to cancel it.  So glad you had a nice day for your bike tour.  It’s hit or miss our weather lately that’s for sure.  Although the 2 resident bears woke up recently up  Grouse mountain, it still has snow but the Grouse Grind is now open.  

 

It’s annoying the cruise lines changing requirements on such short notice.  
 

Have a wonderful time!

[LJProk]

I just called HAL today to ask if we needed to test 48 hours pre-land tour and they said no, did not receive an email from HAL or our TA either.  We start on June 1 in Anchorage. I can't find testing sites in Dallas tomorrow before we leave.

[Mary229]

11 hours ago, LJProk said:

I just called HAL today to ask if we needed to test 48 hours pre-land tour and they said no, did not receive an email from HAL or our TA either.  We start on June 1 in Anchorage. I can't find testing sites in Dallas tomorrow before we leave.

The reports I have seen are all people who are leaving from Vancouver, I wonder if that is the difference.  Maybe others will chime in.  CVS has plenty of appointments available.  You can always get the test in Anchorage if needed

Edited May 31, 2022 by Mary229

[Copper10-8]

Have a great time Jeroen and Annie! Looking forward to following you guys! Veel plezier in Canada & Alaska!

[Senior Sea Dog]

Jeroen, Thanks for posting and your photographs, looking forward to meeting you in person and sharing "sea stories" 

SSD

[luvn2cruzzz]

Jeroen, I will look forward to following your adventures on sea and on land!  Bon voyage.

We missed you today!

 

Laurel

[Alphen]

Downtown Vancouver

Last day before the start of our land tour, we wandered around in Downtown Vancouver. We already had covered a lot of ground of the city during our earlier bike tour, but wanted to see a few things closer by. The weather was beautiful, after a from what we heard, a long time of lower temperatures here.

 

We went through China Town, where, among many other sights, apparently worlds shallowest commercial building is located.

 

Next stop Gastown, where you can’t miss the Gas Clock.

 

Canada Place today was only visited by one smaller vessel, tomorrow I think Zuiderdam will be here.

 

The Convention center was also the location where we took our required Covid test, which was quick and smooth and luckily turned out negative, so…. North To Alaska it is!

 

We would have liked to go to the lookout, when we looked on line yesterday, it was still closed, only to find out in the evening in our hotel, it just opened today. Well, better luck next time

 

We had a nice lunch in the Cactus Cafe, nice food at a great location.

 

Tomorrow we will relocate to the Fairmont at Vancouver airport, where we overnight as start of the land portion.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Alphen

[canadianbear]

So glad our weather cooperated for you today, it was breezy but a lovely day here in Vancouver.   You saw lots and great photos-thanks for sharing again.  

 

 

[Alphen]

6 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

So glad our weather cooperated for you today, it was breezy but a lovely day here in Vancouver.   You saw lots and great photos-thanks for sharing again.  

 

 

Vancouver sure is a beautifull place and we sure hope this won't be our last visit!

[canadianbear]

1 hour ago, Alphen said:

Vancouver sure is a beautifull place and we sure hope this won't be our last visit!

Thank you, I love our city.  I was born and raised in Vancouver and still live right in Vancouver (close to the cruise port!) 

 

I hope you return one day again and get to see more.  

[Copper10-8]

7 hours ago, Alphen said:

..................................

 

 

Canada Place today was only visited by one smaller vessel, tomorrow I think Zuiderdam will be here.

 

..............................

 

That's Windstar Cruises' (formerly part of HAL) Star Breeze, herself formerly the Seabourn Spirit

 

Enjoy the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, one of my favorite hotels, used by HAL for newly joining crews in Vancouver to spend the night before embarking their ship the next day. Great views from your hotel window of the "flying machines" going to and from their gates

[RetiredMustang]

I will be following your blog closely, and I am glad you enjoyed Vancouver. 

 

Since you have entered Canada already, will you be required to do the ArriveCan procedures before embarking the ship in Whittier?  DW and I are booked for a D1L in July, and I would be particularly interested in how HAL and you handle the ArriveCAN registry and uploading of vaccination documents if you are required to do so.  The Canandian government site says that passengers entering Canada on a cruise ship have to do the registration within 72 hours of embarking the ship, which means you would have to do so while in Denali, or at the latest in Anchorage.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[Alphen]

1 hour ago, RetiredMustang said:

I will be following your blog closely, and I am glad you enjoyed Vancouver. 

 

The Canandian government site says that passengers entering Canada on a cruise ship have to do the registration within 72 hours of embarking the ship, which means you would have to do so while in Denali, or at the latest in Anchorage.

 

Thanks,

Dave

Yes, that is how we understand it at this moment, so we will be preparing to use ArriveCan again for our cruise arrival in Vancouver upon completion of our land and cruise tour. The 72 hours would indeed have us register in Denali or Anchorage.

[Alida9]

Love all the photos, never taken those myself. Thanks for sharing. 

[Alphen]

Vancouver Fairmont Airport Hotel

 

Today we made our way to the airport again, from North Vancouver. We made use of the bus and Sky Train, which is an excellent and affordable way to make your way in Vancouver.

 

Check in to the hotel was smooth, a local HAL representative is present and gave as a note with the particulars for today and our first flight tomorrow. In the note, the luggage handling was explained. For this particular tour, all of our luggage will stay with us until we reach Fairbanks, where we will have the option to sent one of our bags directly to the ship, or continue to take your luggage ourselves. Naturally, all luggage will be handled at every stop by HAL crew, all at no further cost. Luggage will be clearly tagged, so you only have to identify it at the luggage belt at the first stop in Whitehorse.

 

So far, nobody has asked for our test results. We have them, so if anybody asks, we can present them.

 

 

Hotel room is nice and spacious with coffee facilities and a mini fridge, but internet is optional at a price (I think starting at $14,95).

 

So far everything is pretty well organized, only thing I must say is that HAL keeps sending flight changes (in our case our booking has 5 flights listed) and you have to figure out yourself what the changes are. This morning we received another one and after checking all flight times, searching for a change, at turned out to be a change of flight number. This could be done more efficient I guess, but so far, that is all.

 

Tomorrow is our first flight over to Whitehorse, where we will be met by our tour host and we will receive further instructions. Our group seems to be a group of 35, so we will see who we will be meeting tomorrow.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Alphen

[RSWBADGER]

Great info, looking forward for more updates. 10 Day Denali, July 10th out of Vancouver.

[Alphen]

For those looking for details about the room in the Fairmont;

 

there are at least 3 outlets with power an USB ports;

fridge;

coffee and tea facilitie;

and for those who are afraid of being bored in their room:

 

[Alphen]

And this is our intended tour: