Alaska & HAL's Land Tours - Pro & Con

[serendipity1499]

Friends are planning on booking HAL to Alaska for Sept. 2007..Their TA has retired & they are asking for my opinion on HAL, Land Tours..I've been under the impression recently that HAL is great for Cruises, but not so great for Land Tours.:confused: .They like the idea of having Hal or a Land Tour Operator handle Air, Hotels, Rail, transfers etc. I suggested they book either an R or S Class ship rather than Vista, but don't know anything about HAL's Land Tours..They're planning on booking an Outside Cabin.. Since we've never been to Alaska have a couple of Questions:

 

Am I wrong in advising them to book their HAL Ship reservations & land separately with a good Brick & Mortar TA? I suggested they go on-line to get quotes first, so they have some idea about what it should cost..

 

Do any of the TA's which advertise on Cruise Critic also handle Alaska Land Tours? They really can't use our on-line only Agent as they are not prepared to book all their own reservations...

 

Any advice from experienced Alaska Cruisers would be most helpful..

 

Thanks everyone & Happy Cruising..:) Betty

[Gary & Judy]

We were on the Veendam in Sept 05. The first week we did land crusie tour #24 That was all thru Hal. It was absolutely out of this world. I know we were lucky because we had great weather and it was the best crusie we have ever had.

I know things can go wrong but that is a chance you take just getting out of bed. We have been on another crusie since then and are doing 2 more this winter One of which is too Hawaii but when we book our next one it will be back to Alaska w/Hal. We do want to do New Zeland and Australia.

Good luck on your choice and hope it is as good as what we had. By the way if I had still been 25 I would have stayed in Alaska. (still wishing. Long time past):) :D

[wander]

A bit of background. Besides cruising we have done many, many land trips - here and overseas. About half the time we do all our own planning, reservations, etc., about half are organized tours.

 

Last summer we did a HAL cruise/land tour in Alaska. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. As someone else said - the weather was beautiful which certainly helped. It went flawlessly in all respects. We could not have done any better on our own or with another tour company for the places we went. We took the tour from Seward north, with 2 nights in Denali (recommend this - the 2 nights in Denali). Ended in Fairbanks. We then took an optional add on tour from HAL and flew up to the edge of the North Slope for a day. That was an absolute highlight, but again the weather was crystal clear flying over the awesome Brooks Range.

 

HAL has a variety of cruise tour combinations. I know that there are other companies (not cruise lines) that offer interesting land tours of Alaska as well, be it was so easy using the HAL tour and it was fantastic! Of course, there are no guarantees about the weather and weather related problems, as some recently found out.

[serendipity1499]

Gary & Judy...Thanks so much for your reply..This is just what I need to give them..

 

Wander..Thank you too..Could you what month you were in Alaska..

 

Perhaps reading the posts of the group that had a bad experience colored my thinking & I was too quick to pooh-pooh a HAL Land tour..You are right can't control the weather...

 

My problem is they have never sailed on HAL..We keep telling them how wonderful HAL is..Then they say they want to go to Alaska & I'm getting nervous about HAL's ability to handle an emergency that occurs with their Land arrangements.. Apparently they hire only seasonal workers

which could be a major problem if an emergency arises..In the Airline Business, we always hired seasonal workers, but had many experienced workers & Supervisory people on hand to handle an emergency..

 

If I'm way off base on this, thanks for reminding me that weather is un-predictable..(like our FLA weather) Will have to tell them about the bad weather the last groups had..

 

Another question..Do you think this was unusual weather for Aug. or does bad weather occur most often in Sept.? I've told them that the beginning of Sept. is a great time to go to Alaska, but perhaps I'm wrong about that too..

 

Thanks again for your help & would love to hear from more Alaska cruisers.. Happy Cruising all..:) Betty

[DaveP]

We have gone to Alsaka twice, both times handling our own arrangements. What we found was that a very high percentage of tour guides and bus drivers were seasonal. A couple we talked to had been coming back each summer for over twenty years. I would have no qualms about going with the people employed by the cruiseline tours. Your safety is paramount to them.

As for the problems read about on this and other boards during the week of flooding you have to understand there were hundreds if not a few thousand tourist and residents who were affected. There is only one decent road and one railroad track between Fairbanks and Anchorage and everyone needed to get somewhere at the same time. It's called chaos.

Princess and Hal have been "doing" Alaska for a long time. Hal especially is booked solid every year. Yes they had some glitches during flood week but so did eveyone else.

My suggestion would be to find a TA with Alaska experience and let them do the work and worrying for you. Ship size is a personal choice. Amsterdam is my favorite but we took Celebrity's Summit last year and it was very nis too.

 

Dave

[serendipity1499]

Thanks Dave for putting it in perspective for me..I'll give them this info..Yes agree they should find a good agent experienced in the Alaska Market..

 

Amsterdam was my favorite till we sailed on the Prinsendam..Now Amsterdam plays 2nd fiddle, but still love the ship & crew..

 

Thanks again & Happy cruising all..:) Betty