Have you experienced an RCI Cruisetour?

[Got2goaway]

This will be our first cruise experience with RCI. We are a group of 10 booked for an Alaskan Cruisetour in June 09 and are trying to plan our land excursions. We have not yet found the informational desk at RCI helpful or courteous. We are looking for timelines while on land especially for the canned tours included in our itinerary. Various specialists have advised us that they cannot provide us with estimates nor can we deviate from the canned tours and must partake in them.

 

Is this for real? Would anyone care to share their experience.

 

I'm starting to fear that perhaps we have made a mistake by booking through RCI as they seem too rigid and unwilling to work with us.

[cruisePRN]

I did an Alaskan cruisetour and wouldn't do another one with RCL. They used the worst hotels far from town in Denali and although they provided a shuttle it was so dangerous we hated it. I recommend Princess for a cruise tour, they have better hotels in town.

I'm sorry that's not what you wanted to hear. We are booked on RCL to Alaska in May on the Rhapsody but only for the cruise. If I wanted to do a cruisetour i would look elsewhere.

[Got2goaway]

cruisePRN -

Augh.. I was afraid that we would get a response like yours. Thank you for your honesty. Did you have any included excursions with your cruisetour and did you have to partake in them?

[mation101]

We took our first cruise to Alaska last May on the Radiance and did a pre cruise tour. We LOVED IT!!!!!! We thought the hotels were just fine, and in great locations. We walked everywhere in the towns we were in, and loved the ambience and friendliness of the people. We had the same bus, driver and guide for the whole wee, and they were the best, the driver was great the bus new & clean, the guide was on top of everything, and if you aks a question he didn know the answer to he would look it up and know it by the next day.

 

There was not much time for side tours, but there was time in each stop to do things on your own, each town had a visitors center that could set up float plane tours, boat tours, fishing tours, hiking tours, etc.

 

We would not have changed anything about the whole trip, it was our 10th anniv and it was perfect from start to end.

[Aprille]

We had a fabulous time on our RCCL Alaska cruisetour in 2005. I would venture to say that CruisePRN's experience was atypical. We loved all of our resorts and had an incredible tour guide and driver.

 

You do not have to participate in the included excursions unless it is part of the transportation to get you to another city. We had a couple skip out on the Denali Park tour. Man, did they miss a great tour! We saw tons of wildlife!

 

I, like mation101, would not have changed a single thing about our cruisetour. It was wonderful!

[cruisePRN]

We had a 5 night cruisetour and Denali is where we thought they lacked the most. Our tour guide was a 21 year old boy who left us as soon as we arrived anywhere to go skiing or exploring on his own. The hotel "the Bluffs" were horrid and up a steep hill. The shuttle lost traction and slid a few feet and the gasps were audible. Is your tour going to denali?

[Aprille]

We had a 5 night cruisetour and Denali is where we thought they lacked the most. Our tour guide was a 21 year old boy who left us as soon as we arrived anywhere to go skiing or exploring on his own. The hotel "the Bluffs" were horrid and up a steep hill. The shuttle lost traction and slid a few feet and the gasps were audible. Is your tour going to denali?

We also did 5 nights on the land portion. We stayed at the Grande Denali Lodge and it was wonderful and had stunning views. This was in 2005. Our tour guide was "seasoned" and never dumped us anywhere. Our bus driver was amazing getting us up and back down some very treacherous roads (including the road to/from the Grande Denali Lodge).

 

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience and I've read your posts about it before. But I still say your experience was not typical of RCCL cruisetours. I've read far more positive reviews than negative ones.

[Got2goaway]

Thank you Aprille and mation101. Your posts gave me some relief. I'm feeling a bit of pressure as I am the coordinator for our trip. 4 members in our group have never done a cruise so I want them to have a memorable first cruise for positive reasons.

 

We do not want to take the Natural History Tour in Denali as we have read countless negative posts regarding that excursion. We would like to take the Denali Jeep Safari that RCI offers instead.

 

cruisePRN - We will be staying at the McKinley Village Lodge while in Denali. We are actually only in Denali for one overnight.

[cruisePRN]

We also did 5 nights on the land portion. We stayed at the Grande Denali Lodge and it was wonderful and had stunning views. This was in 2005. Our tour guide was "seasoned" and never dumped us anywhere. Our bus driver was amazing getting us up and back down some very treacherous roads (including the road to/from the Grande Denali Lodge).

 

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience and I've read your posts about it before. But I still say your experience was not typical of RCCL cruisetours. I've read far more positive reviews than negative ones.

 

Many people tend to remember a bad experience more then a normal one. This cruise tour was the worst experience I've ever had on a cruise. I have since cruised with RCL many times but never will I do a cruisetour with them again.

[Aprille]

We do not want to take the Natural History Tour in Denali as we have read countless negative posts regarding that excursion. We would like to take the Denali Jeep Safari that RCI offers instead.

You should have no problem skipping out on this tour. We spent 2 nights in Denali and had the full-day park tour and it was wonderful but I have also heard negative things about the Natural History Tour as it does not go very far into the park. It's the main reason we chose a package with 2 nights in Denali.

 

Is the Jeep Safari tour available for you to book online? If it is then that should answer your question about being able to skip out on the included tour.

[Got2goaway]

Thank you everyone for your insight. It is greatly appreciated!

[voyager70]

Have you looked into booking hotels & tours independently? I'm not familiar with the Alaska cruisetours but the Europe cruisetours are ridiculously overpriced. We booked hotels & tours on our own prior to our cruise for about half of what RCL was charging.

[cruisePRN]

 

cruisePRN - We will be staying at the McKinley Village Lodge while in Denali. We are actually only in Denali for one overnight.

 

That's a great location, don't worry. Look into a cabin dinner, it's a family style dinner with an Alaskan show and really fun. Your hotel as well as the princess hotel hold them every evening. they serve salmon and Ribs and side dishes in bowls on long tables and it's a really fun show.

[GMoney]

Have you looked into booking hotels & tours independently? I'm not familiar with the Alaska cruisetours but the Europe cruisetours are ridiculously overpriced. We booked hotels & tours on our own prior to our cruise for about half of what RCL was charging.

 

I second this. Independent AK tours are so easy to plan, and IMO are much cheaper and more flexible than CTs. have you considered the option? I'd be happy to help you plan, or there are tons of experts on the AK board.

[Sharkb8]

We had an amazing Cruisetour, loved our guide and driver. They took good care of us. That said, we will take the time to schedule our own land tour next time, just to visit some other areas that the tour doesn't accomodate. Visit the Alaska board, you'll get more advice than you can handle!

 

We took our first cruise to Alaska last May on the Radiance and did a pre cruise tour. We LOVED IT!!!!!! We thought the hotels were just fine, and in great locations. We walked everywhere in the towns we were in, and loved the ambience and friendliness of the people. We had the same bus, driver and guide for the whole wee, and they were the best, the driver was great the bus new & clean, the guide was on top of everything, and if you aks a question he didn know the answer to he would look it up and know it by the next day.

 

There was not much time for side tours, but there was time in each stop to do things on your own, each town had a visitors center that could set up float plane tours, boat tours, fishing tours, hiking tours, etc.

 

We would not have changed anything about the whole trip, it was our 10th anniv and it was perfect from start to end.