Denali Fire - on Nieuw Amsterdam - July '24

[JimmyZ-1987]

As of this writing, Ship Management is saying the Denali land tour portion of our cruise is still a go.  HOWEVER the park is still closed.  I need to understand Holland America's plans for us before I commit blindly to continuing with the land portion.  I wish they were clear.  Any ideas/thoughts?

[BadgerRedux]

1 hour ago, JimmyZ-1987 said:

As of this writing, Ship Management is saying the Denali land tour portion of our cruise is still a go.  HOWEVER the park is still closed.  I need to understand Holland America's plans for us before I commit blindly to continuing with the land portion.  I wish they were clear.  Any ideas/thoughts?

How soon are you scheduled to depart?  Also, do you have any alternative to continuing with the land portion; i.e., is HAL offering to refund the land portion if you'd prefer that?   

 

My cruise tour isn't leaving for 10+ days, so hoping this will be resolved by then, but my concern would be if Denali might not be fully re-opened, such as if they were not back to running busses.  For me personally, in that situation, I'd prefer a refund on the land portion and would try a land trip some other time so interested to know whether HAL will offer that.

Edited July 5 by BadgerRedux
typos

[kelliebiz]

I’d want to know too. It’s a long long way to travel to the HAL McKinley Chalet and the only thing to see from there is the national park. If the park is closed, if the air is smokey, if electricity is not on 24/7, I wouldn’t want to go there. I will imagine HAL will call this unforeseeable (and it definitely is) and an act of god or some such, so who knows how much power the consumer has to make a change. Good luck trying to sort it out! I’d love to see some statements from HAL about their plans but so far I’ve seen nothing public from them. 

[Lido deck main]

2 hours ago, JimmyZ-1987 said:

As of this writing, Ship Management is saying the Denali land tour portion of our cruise is still a go.  HOWEVER the park is still closed.  I need to understand Holland America's plans for us before I commit blindly to continuing with the land portion.  I wish they were clear.  Any ideas/thoughts?

Other site is reporting Denali opened today, July 5th.  HAL customers were at Princess Lodge last night.  Mckinley Chalet has power and water.  What information as of today that you have that the park is closed. HAL Customers in Alaska indicate it is open.  

[sue1898]

HAL posted this on Facebook this afternoon 

[ShipWalker]

Alaska Railroad reports it is still bustituting passengers between Talkeetna/Cantwell and Healy today and tomorrow (Saturday, 7/6)

[JimmyZ-1987]

Thanks everyone for the information.  I will continue to update.

[JimmyZ-1987]

3 minutes ago, ShipWalker said:

Alaska Railroad reports it is still bustituting passengers between Talkeetna/Cantwell and Healy today and tomorrow (Saturday, 7/6)

So are you saying the Railroad is closed?  Is this the one owned/run by HA?

[ShipWalker]

No rail passenger service between Healy and Cantwell.

 

HAL neither runs nor owns the Alaska Railroad. 

[CruiserBruce]

Already being discussed in depth here:

 

 

[kelliebiz]

The national park is still closed as of today Saturday July 6.

 

 https://www.nps.gov/dena/blogs/riley-fire-update-saturday-july-6-2024-the-riley-fire-gains-containment.htm

 

 

[JimmyZ-1987]

1 hour ago, kelliebiz said:

The national park is still closed as of today Saturday July 6.

 

 https://www.nps.gov/dena/blogs/riley-fire-update-saturday-july-6-2024-the-riley-fire-gains-containment.htm

 

 

I cannot understand how HA is continuing with this portion of the landcruse when the park is closed.  Guest Services on this ship (NA) continue to say business as usual.  Somewhere, something is not right and I fear I will be caught in the middle.

[kelliebiz]

Looks like they are inching towards getting back to business. Here’s a screenshot from another platform with info from the railroad

[kelliebiz]

3 minutes ago, JimmyZ-1987 said:

I cannot understand how HA is continuing with this portion of the landcruse when the park is closed.  Guest Services on this ship (NA) continue to say business as usual.  Somewhere, something is not right and I fear I will be caught in the middle.

 

I hate how folks like yourself are caught up in this. If you still go, I hope you can still enjoy whatever form your trip ends up taking. 

[kelliebiz]

Screenshot from another platform: Denali NP to reopen Wednesday July 10