Denali Great Land Dining Plan

[KirbyMcK]

Recieved an email today describing a “Great Land Dining Plan” for our land portion of our trip for breakfasts, box lunches, and dinners. It did not list the cost, just indicated to contact our TA. Has anyone done this and is it worthwhile? Thanks!

[kelliebiz]

I got the same email and I too would like to know what the cost is. I’m not going to purchase it but I am just curious what they charge for it. I’ve stayed at the Denali McKinley Chalet once before and enjoyed walking around eating at different places other than on the Holland America property. But i do wonder what they charge hmmm

[POA1]

Your TA or PCC should be able to provide you with the cost. I'm not sure why they don't tell you the price in the email. It's pretty standard Every one of the tours in the same family has the same meal options and costs.

 

For example, all the D6C (Double Denali, Cruise first) have the same meal prices.

 

They probably want you to call because you are a fun person they love your witty banter.

 

 

Edited March 23 by POA1

[KirbyMcK]

Never considered that angle, but as I enjoy a good banter myself, guess I’ll chat it up with my loquacious TA! Thx, POA1. Now need opinions if it worthwhile to purchase, or explore culinary options on our own…

[terrydtx]

We did the double Denali with HAL in 2019. At that time the dining plan was ridiculous in price. We found that by crossing the street at Mckinnley Lodge we could dine at several excellent Non-HAL restaurants, including one very good Pizza and Italian food restaurant. The Loge had a very nice coffee venue where we got sweet rolls and coffee for a reasonable price for breakfast. The Denali tour had an option for a box lunch that was about $15pp as I recall. I was very happy we did not waste our money on the dining plan.

[KirbyMcK]

27 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We did the double Denali with HAL in 2019. At that time the dining plan was ridiculous in price. We found that by crossing the street at Mckinnley Lodge we could dine at several excellent Non-HAL restaurants, including one very good Pizza and Italian food restaurant. The Loge had a very nice coffee venue where we got sweet rolls and coffee for a reasonable price for breakfast. The Denali tour had an option for a box lunch that was about $15pp as I recall. I was very happy we did not waste our money on the dining plan.

Never considered that angle, but as I enjoy a good banter myself, guess I’ll chat it up with my loquacious TA! Thx, POA1. Now need opinions if it worthwhile to purchase, or explore culinary options on our own…

[KirbyMcK]

Thx for the feedback, terrydtx. Just what I was looking for!

 

[Crew News]

On one of my cruisetours to Denali, I tried the Meal Plan.  I found that to recoup the cost of the plan that I had to order the most expensive items to include dessert on each HAL restaurant menu.  The portions in the Canyon Inn (steakhouse at the top of the resort very steep hill) and the Karstens House (in the center of the resort village) are huge. The Karstens House has a continental breakfast with many choices that worked well for me.  Read carefully as not all meals are covered in the meal plan.

 

To get to the Canyon Inn, you need to take the shuttle bus unless you are willing to walk the very steep hill.  The Karstens House is a short walk from the lodges.

 

Here is a link that will give you a view of your Denali visit and includes a map of the resort:  Denali Experience Images

 

Here is a link to the HAL Denali brochure to help in your baggage planning: HAL Alaska Tour Tips

 

Enjoy your cruisetour planning.

[KirbyMcK]

Awesome resources, CrewNews- much appreciated!

 

[ladylawyer]

Thank you, so much, for asking this question. I called HAL, because you cannot find the info anywhere (easily, at least) on the website. I was emailed the Meal Plan flyer. As others have said, it was very expensive, and I'm so happy that my instinct was to skip it and find local restaurants. I don't know if I can do this correctly, but I'll try to attach the flyer to this. Fingers crossed.

2024 AK Cruisetour Dining Options Flyer (3) (1).pdf

[kelliebiz]

8 hours ago, ladylawyer said:

Thank you, so much, for asking this question. I called HAL, because you cannot find the info anywhere (easily, at least) on the website. I was emailed the Meal Plan flyer. As others have said, it was very expensive, and I'm so happy that my instinct was to skip it and find local restaurants. I don't know if I can do this correctly, but I'll try to attach the flyer to this. Fingers crossed.

2024 AK Cruisetour Dining Options Flyer (3) (1).pdf 1.18 MB · 22 downloads

Wow! That is incredibly expensive. Thanks for sharing

[PSR]

We were on a Triple Denali a few years ago and ate all our meals at Karsten's. The food was good and plentiful and we never approached the amounts the dining plan costs. The last question on the flyer above states that the plan is probably not cost effective if you prefer lighter meals.

Edited March 30 by PSR

[Alphen]

We also found the entire plan pretty expensive, however, since most days are long and start early in the land portion (tripple Denali, land first), not knowing exactly what to expect, we chose to do the breakfast plan only.

Was it more expensive than searching on our own?, probably yes, but we wanted to make a good start of every day and not wanting to wander around searching for breakfast options and we were glad with our choice.

 

On dinner choices, we had a couple of extra excursion that included a form of dinner and for other places, we searched internet for dinner options near our hotel(s), which made it easy not to go searching to much, but go directly for a dining option, sometimes with not too much time on your hands. We were successful in every stop we had, to find affordable dining options, including the Denali lodge, where there are a couple of acceptable options right outside the lodge, across the street.

 

You might find our report useful; 

 

 

Edited March 30 by Alphen

[Haljo1935]

On 3/23/2024 at 9:17 AM, terrydtx said:

We did the double Denali with HAL in 2019. At that time the dining plan was ridiculous in price. We found that by crossing the street at Mckinnley Lodge we could dine at several excellent Non-HAL restaurants, including one very good Pizza and Italian food restaurant. The Loge had a very nice coffee venue where we got sweet rolls and coffee for a reasonable price for breakfast. The Denali tour had an option for a box lunch that was about $15pp as I recall. I was very happy we did not waste our money on the dining plan.

Same experience when we did the Double Denali in May first cruise coming out of the restart.

Don't recall prices, but they were high. There's a couple options like breakfast only, dinner only or both.