Land and Sea....will I get guidance?

[Banana15]

I just booked a land and sea package through Celebrity for 2024. We will do the land tour BEFORE the cruise. It says we arrive in Fairbanks, but there isn't really much guidance on how everything works. Will we be picked up from the airport? Do we need to make any reservations for hotels? Do we need to book excursions? Is any dining included? The itinerary doesn't really tell me much, aside from where we'll be each day. I know I still have a year plus to go, but I just want to know if we'll get any instruction as we get closer. 

[CruiserBruce]

Did you ask this on the Celebrity board?

[Banana15]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

Did you ask this on the Celebrity board?

No. I just figured it may work similar to all the cruise lines. I did ask in a Celebrity group on another platform and haven't received a response, so I tried here hoping for some info. 

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, Banana15 said:

No. I just figured it may work similar to all the cruise lines. I did ask in a Celebrity group on another platform and haven't received a response, so I tried here hoping for some info. 

Its specific to Celebrity policy and procedure...the Celebrity board is a good spot to find out.

[Swordfish1949]

Banana15 - give this site a try - I found it helpful:

https://www.celebritycruisetours.com 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Swordfish1949

[CCJack]

My info is a couple years old, but we went on RCCL cruise tour... Good news is that it was really well run, with a good guide on board and we had a great time.   Bad news is we got very little info. ahead of time.   If I remember right the guide on the bus with you described the excursions and then asked about your interest.  I got the impression there wasn't a concern about excursions selling out like on the ship.  Things are in much smaller numbers than on the ship, and the guide spent time on the phone on the calling ahead to arrange enough guides / vans for people who were interested.   We went on very few excursions, I didn't think it was necessary.  We did a lot of hiking on our own, etc. 

 

They picked us up and took care of all hotel reservations and check-ins, etc.       I recall most dining was not included however.   

 

the tour guide who will be with you with your group is important.  They seem to make all the arrangements. 

[Banana15]

16 hours ago, Swordfish1949 said:

Banana15 - give this site a try - I found it helpful:

https://www.celebritycruisetours.com 

This is great! Thank you!!!

[Banana15]

15 hours ago, CCJack said:

My info is a couple years old, but we went on RCCL cruise tour... Good news is that it was really well run, with a good guide on board and we had a great time.   Bad news is we got very little info. ahead of time.   If I remember right the guide on the bus with you described the excursions and then asked about your interest.  I got the impression there wasn't a concern about excursions selling out like on the ship.  Things are in much smaller numbers than on the ship, and the guide spent time on the phone on the calling ahead to arrange enough guides / vans for people who were interested.   We went on very few excursions, I didn't think it was necessary.  We did a lot of hiking on our own, etc. 

 

They picked us up and took care of all hotel reservations and check-ins, etc.       I recall most dining was not included however.   

 

the tour guide who will be with you with your group is important.  They seem to make all the arrangements. 

Well, I'm glad it's not just me that feels completely in the dark. I was hoping we'd get more information as the time went on, but apparently that is not the case. Haha. -- We are thinking to arrive a day or two early, so hopefully the hotel will be able to let me know if that is in fact where we're booked, so that I can just add the couple of days there. -- Was the group you toured with the same individuals each day? I imagine it's JUST the people on the sailing or is that incorrect?

[CCJack]

2 hours ago, Banana15 said:

Well, I'm glad it's not just me that feels completely in the dark. I was hoping we'd get more information as the time went on, but apparently that is not the case. Haha. -- We are thinking to arrive a day or two early, so hopefully the hotel will be able to let me know if that is in fact where we're booked, so that I can just add the couple of days there. -- Was the group you toured with the same individuals each day? I imagine it's JUST the people on the sailing or is that incorrect?

Following our trip, I left a mixed review on my customer survey.  I said land tour was great in all aspects except lack of information ahead of time.   Looks like my review didn't cause any improvements !!!

 

We were with the same people each day on the same main transportation bus which took us city to city (not excursion vans/bus).    Our bus was about 75% full and everyone was from the same ship.  At the time, RCCL buses were much nicer than Princess and others that I saw.  I would suspect that Princess has upgraded their buses by now though.   Princess had the edge in lodging, they have their own properties near Denali, where as RCCL (and I suspect Celebrity) lodge in independent properties.

 

Many people recommend DIY instead of the cruise tours, but I actually really enjoy meeting some others on the group tours.  I also really dislike driving while on vacation, so for us it worked out really well.   

 

Not sure about the hotel question.. we did not go to Fairbanks.   RCCL lodged us at the Marriott in Anchorage, but I do think that RCCL told us that ahead of time, so if we wanted to stay longer we could have booked there.  

[Banana15]

33 minutes ago, CCJack said:

Following our trip, I left a mixed review on my customer survey.  I said land tour was great in all aspects except lack of information ahead of time.   Looks like my review didn't cause any improvements !!!

 

We were with the same people each day on the same main transportation bus which took us city to city (not excursion vans/bus).    Our bus was about 75% full and everyone was from the same ship.  At the time, RCCL buses were much nicer than Princess and others that I saw.  I would suspect that Princess has upgraded their buses by now though.   Princess had the edge in lodging, they have their own properties near Denali, where as RCCL (and I suspect Celebrity) lodge in independent properties.

 

Many people recommend DIY instead of the cruise tours, but I actually really enjoy meeting some others on the group tours.  I also really dislike driving while on vacation, so for us it worked out really well.   

 

Not sure about the hotel question.. we did not go to Fairbanks.   RCCL lodged us at the Marriott in Anchorage, but I do think that RCCL told us that ahead of time, so if we wanted to stay longer we could have booked there.  

Nope, they definitely have not changed that. Still not giving much info. Lol! 

 

After seeing what the cost was, I initially thought about booking individually and doing our own thing, but then I realized how far apart each location was and realized *I* would have to figure out that transportation along with what to do each day, so I figured the cost outweighed the hassle. 

 

I do also like the idea of having the same group for the few land days. It'll be nice to have familiar faces each day...meet new people. 

 

Thanks for all the info. It is helpful. 

[Swordfish1949]

4 hours ago, Banana15 said:

This is great! Thank you!!!

To give proper credit, thanks for Jim_lain  for the document. It was a real help to us.

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Swordfish1949