Alaska Cruise with Land

[KacyB]

Hi there,

 

I will be on an Alaska Northern Cruise July 15th with the 5 day land portion on the end. I will be cruising with friends and in the paper work it says that we should call to make sure we are booked in the same hotel and same land excursions. I was just curious as to how many folks do they book for the land portion? 

 

Yes, I have googled this question and found no answer and yes I will be calling to make sure we are all together. 

 

But curiosity has me at this point. I can see rooms available for the cruise but nothing for the land portion. 

 

Just wondering if anyone has an idea. 

 

Thanks,

Aney~

Edited June 22, 2022 by KacyB

[gracia98888]

Following as we are doing a land and cruise in Alaska in June 2023!

[Oceansaway17]

you have to book at a cruisetour so filter on 10 days or more and you will see them come up with the land portion and the itinerary.

[Oceansaway17]

I guess I should say each cruisetour as an assigned number like 4C of 5A.

So make sure you all have the same tour as each ship going 1 way between Vancouver and Seward might have 7-11 different tour packages.

[flamingos]

You won't know until you get on the bus, how many people there are. It is a full-sized coach.

 

We just did one and I have one piece of advice - book it with the land tour first. The land tour is great, but frenetic - new hotels, lots of excursions, a couple afternoons of downtime.  The cruise is much more relaxing.  If we did it again, I'd start in Fairbanks and take the tour first.  

[LindaD22]

We just got home from our Alaska land tour and cruise. Our pre-cruise tour group had 27 people. It is, as stated above, a very active tour with early mornings and long days, but entirely worth it. However, based on our experience, I would do the land tour following the cruise because of the COVID exposure risk. You are stuck all day in close quarters (bus, train, tour) with people. Out of our group, 3 tested positive at the end of the tour and were denied boarding on the ship. My husband tested positive 3 days later while on ship and was quarantined for the remainder of the cruise. The medical staff who tested us said that we were the sixth couple tested so far that day and all had been on land tours. So, while normally I would agree that doing the tour first and then relaxing on ship would be ideal, in the current COVID situation I would recommend the tour last. 

[KacyB]

Thank you for your answers!

 

After hearing about your experience LindaD22, I am so glad we are doing the land tour after the cruise. I am sorry to hear about your Husband having to be quarantined for the cruise! I could not even imagine that happening, ack! And to think that you test positive after the land portion and can not even get on the ship!

 

We actually booked this cruise while on a cruise back in October. Never thought about the exposure we may have during the land portion. So now I am glad we are doing that last. 

 

I called and was able to get our reservations connected with our travel folks so we can be together. There are only 4 of us total but wanted to make sure we could stay in the same hotel and do the excursions together.

 

Thanks,

Aney~

 

[flamingos]

1 hour ago, LindaD22 said:

We just got home from our Alaska land tour and cruise. Our pre-cruise tour group had 27 people. It is, as stated above, a very active tour with early mornings and long days, but entirely worth it. However, based on our experience, I would do the land tour following the cruise because of the COVID exposure risk. You are stuck all day in close quarters (bus, train, tour) with people. Out of our group, 3 tested positive at the end of the tour and were denied boarding on the ship. My husband tested positive 3 days later while on ship and was quarantined for the remainder of the cruise. The medical staff who tested us said that we were the sixth couple tested so far that day and all had been on land tours. So, while normally I would agree that doing the tour first and then relaxing on ship would be ideal, in the current COVID situation I would recommend the tour last. 

I had not considered that, thanks.  

[reallyitsmema]

18 minutes ago, KacyB said:

Thank you for your answers!

 

After hearing about your experience LindaD22, I am so glad we are doing the land tour after the cruise. I am sorry to hear about your Husband having to be quarantined for the cruise! I could not even imagine that happening, ack! And to think that you test positive after the land portion and can not even get on the ship!

 

We actually booked this cruise while on a cruise back in October. Never thought about the exposure we may have during the land portion. So now I am glad we are doing that last. 

 

I called and was able to get our reservations connected with our travel folks so we can be together. There are only 4 of us total but wanted to make sure we could stay in the same hotel and do the excursions together.

 

Thanks,

Aney~

 

 

Make sure all four of you are on the same bus, not just at the same hotel.  We did a cruisetour in 2018 and there were two couples that were traveling together but were on separate buses.  The two buses ended up in the same place at the end of each day but we were not on the same schedules, close, but about an hour different.  At more than one stop, the two couples met for lunch and caused one bus to have to wait for the late couple because they always chose the later schedule.  Led to some upset people as we sat on a bus and waited.  We were pulling away from one stop, leaving the couple behind to go with the other bus, when they appeared.  All they had to do from the beginning was get one couple to change from one bus and tour guide to the other, but they didn't.  Just make sure you confirm that you are on the same bus when you meet your tour guide.  🙂 

[KacyB]

Reallyitsmema I will for sure be checking back with them about the bus situation.  I would just wave at them from my bus and mouth "See you later". But would be more fun to be with them for sure. 

 

The person I talked to earlier today said that we were linked on the cruise and land portion. Never hurts to double and triple check!

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Aney~