grammi Posted July 30, 2022 #1 Share Posted July 30, 2022 While looking for information about cruise cancellations specifically for our triple Denali Southbound departing Aug 16th I found this. https://gohal.com/policies/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grammi Posted July 30, 2022 Author #2 Share Posted July 30, 2022 Just now, grammi said: While looking for information about cruise cancellations specifically for our triple Denali Southbound departing Aug 16th I found this. https://gohal.com/policies/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tundra1 Posted July 30, 2022 #3 Share Posted July 30, 2022 (edited) Congratulations Grammi for not being on the list! 🤗 Thank you so much for this article! I was so worried last night, I couldn't sleep. I then tried to call HAL today for confirmation, and ended up being routed to 3 different people before I got an answer. (Thank you Paul, you were very helpful!) While on hold, I started looking at options to rearrange our trip to keep our flights and do the land portion on our own. I found a nice VRBO up near Denali, a 2021 Jeep Wrangler with unlimited mileage from Turo, and another Airbnb in Palmer. I discovered we could take a southbound cruise from Whittier or fly to Vancouver from Anchorage and board our current ship for the round trip sailing. While the room choices are not as plentiful, we could have done it. It is reassuring that HAL is offering folks the chance to rebook on a cruise-only option should their Land portion be cancelled, and still have that future cruise credit for another adventure in 2023! Somehow the cruise gods were smiling down on us, and we got lucky. Although 5 tour groups leaving on August 24th were cancelled, miraculously our Y6L is not on the list. I have a feeling we will be a small group enjoying this adventure, but I will appreciate the opportunity to explore this great area of the world even more. On top of that, I will be that much more grateful to the service workers driving the buses, staffing the resorts, leading our tours, and preparing/serving our food throughout our journey! Edited July 30, 2022 by tundra1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grammi Posted July 30, 2022 Author #4 Share Posted July 30, 2022 Your welcome, I had been looking frantically for cancellation info for awhile when this finally popped up. Yes, I am still anxious but not sick to my stomach anxious. I am taking a family group that includes my 82 year old mother. We have been canceled and rebooked 3 times. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted July 30, 2022 #5 Share Posted July 30, 2022 Thank you for finding this information, this is exactly what people need. Excellent post 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted July 30, 2022 #6 Share Posted July 30, 2022 We actually loved doing a land trip to Denali, on our own. We flew into Anchorage (pre cruise) and picked up our reserved rental car. Since we arrived late at night we spent the night at an airport area hotel. The following morning we started the long drive to the Denali area and it was a wonderful day when we had some decent views of Mt McKinley (we prefer its long time name). We had booked a cabin near Healy which turned out to be very nice. Instead of being stuck at one of those touristy hotels our home was in the country and delightful. Healy is the town close to Denali where most of the workers live and stay. Unlike the Princess Lodge (with its touristy eating venues only open during tourist season) Healy has some real restaurants (open year round) that are reasonable and fun. We spent 2 1/2 days in Denali doing our own thing. The park has a pretty decent bus system which we used to get deep into the park where we did some hiking. The weather was quite warm (actually got into the 70s) and we enjoyed hiking several trails. Not having to be concerned about being on a tour group, keeping to a schedule, etc. made the hiking a lot of fun (no reason to look at our watch). While buying gas along the main road (outside of Denali) a large Moose walked by (almost caused a couple of accidents). On our drive back to Anchorage we stopped at Talkeetna which is a cute village visited by many of the cruise line bus tours. Because we were on our own schedule, we were able to enjoy an excellent long lunch (we met some Princess cruisers who complained because they had to rush back to their tour bus). We arrived back in Anchorage, checked in our hotel (within walking distance of the Railroad depot) and had a fantastic dinner (amazing king crab legs) at a local restaurant. Very early the following morning (day of our cruise from Seward) we walked (and rolled our luggage) downhill to the train depot where we caught the train to Seward and our ship. One interesting thing happened in Anchorage. We were outside our hotel taking a walk when a man in a pickup truck warned us to be careful because a mom bear and her cubs were nearby (we did see that about 100 yards distant). I guess they were in town looking for dinner :). Hank 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grammi Posted July 30, 2022 Author #7 Share Posted July 30, 2022 I normally would do my own thing and hook up with the cruise but I’m taking my 82 year old mother so This is a better plan for us. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now