I am planing to go to same cruise line as you in July, 2023 and luckily found your video. I always have question about flight for last day and called Holland America but they couldn’t answer or provide soulation. I am glad to see your comments and finally I know I need to book 1:30am or 2:30am flight so won’t have nothing to do to wait for flight😂 Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thank you, I Enjoyed watching your videos. Keep in mind that you can still enjoy cruising the Caribbean without being on a “party boat”. There are plenty of other upper scale cruise lines that cater to a predominantly older, more mature crowd. We have enjoyed several Caribbean itineraries on Holland America and Celebrity over the years and have enjoyed them a lot. Oceania, Viking, and Azamara are also great for being non-party boats that cruise the Caribbean.
Thanks for your kind comments on our videos. We enjoyed making them. I understand about the Caribbean but we enjoy nice scenery and smaller crowds. The great thing about the Alaska cruise was we could sit in our room and enjoy the scenery passing the window. It was always changing and never old. A trip to the Caribbean would include several days of nothing but open sea. To each his own !!! Thanks again for watching.
We are getting onto this ship in a few weeks. Triple Denali and no Fairbanks in reverse order. The information and comments you provided are very helpful for us to prepare for the trip. Thanks a lot!
Thanks. I hope you have a great time. We really enjoyed the snow which might be mostly gone when you go. Please comment here again and let me know how you enjoyed the trip. We are thinking about going again in May 2023.
@@OurRetirementAntics Thanks! Will do. We probably won’t see much snow but more rain and mosquitoes. 😂 I will pack snacks onto Denali trip after learning the restaurants at McKinley resort may be under staffed. Would you go with HAL again or another one? I heard HAL and Princes are the best ones for Alaska.
@@OurRetirementAntics Wanted to let you know that we had a wonderful cruisetour with HAL in the 2nd half of July. We had no issue with getting dinners at HAL’s Denali resort during our stay. No need to wait at all both times. I like the Overlook restaurant just outside the resort the best though. Thanks again for your videos that helped me preparing the trip!
Thanks for these videos! I watched all of this playlist. We are going on the same cruise/land tour in one month. Our cabin is the same deck as yours but will be an aft balcony which we are looking forward too (butt of the ship as you say 🙂). We have cruised many times but this is a first with Holland America, a first to Alaska, and a first to include a land tour so we are newbies. Your adorable hat covers caught my attention and I am glad they did becuase I enjoyed your videos. I will try to make Mckinley Chalet Resort dinner reservations asap, thanks for the tip.
Enjoyed all of your videos! They were helpful as are the comments below. We've cruised AK with HAL 3 times, twice northbound inside passage and once a loop from Seattle. We want to do land/cruise combo so sought out videos such as yours that detailed that experience. We plan to do land first as want to get that "work" out of the way. Thanks again for lovely video footage and helpful and low key commentary! You might enjoy cruising the Norwegian fjords one day because will satisfy your love of daily scenery. We avoid party style cruising as well but have enjoyed 2 Caribbean cruises with HAL. We are in GA so the convenience of getting to the ports is a plus. We learned to love sea days as well. Happy cruising!
I have enjoyed your videos and I must say I am impressed by the steady camera you are using. Do you have a list of the equipment you used for this trip?
Thanks for your kind comment. I used a GoPro Hero 10 with a polarizing filter to get deeper colors. I edited the videos on an iPad Pro using Luma Fusion. That’s all.
I was interested in your comment about where your cabin was on the ship. I thought about getting a cabin right under the Lido deck (to have easy access to coffee) but thought there might be a lot of noise from people being at the buffet right above you. Apparently you didn’t have that noise problem.
No, we did not have that problem. We were concerned about being near the elevators but never heard them. The ventilation runs all the time in the room. It was not loud but probably masked some of the sounds of the ship. We would definitely get the same room again. It was very far from any of the entertainment areas so that was good. Thanks for watching.
We went June/July and had a horrible land cruise experience also. No staff, bad food and our last day we had to check out at 11 and sit until 6pm. Found out a flight left at 2 am the last day so we could have done the river cruise had dinner and gone to airport. Would have been home a day earlier and we hold HAL responsible for that snafu. Land cruise after wonderful ship experience was a huge letdown. Never again 😪
I agree, the last day was a let down. You will get a survey from Holland if you want to leave comments. However the survey is short lived, so complete it as soon as you get it. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for the beautiful video. I am planning to do the reverse in a couple of weeks - land first then cruise. I am a bit confused regarding the number of pieces of luggage you are able to take. We're you able to bring a checked bag, a carry on & a personal bag? And if so did all the luggage stay with you throughout the entire trip? Thanks!
I don't know if Holland has any luggage limits. My wife and I each had a single medium size piece of luggage and back packs. Every time we moved, Holland gave us luggage tags and instructed us to put the luggage outside our room at a specific time. They handled transporting the bags. We never had to handle our own bags and never had a problem. Holland definitely did that well. I also put Apple AirTags inside our luggage so I was able to track our bags most of the time. Thanks for watching.
Great videos! Im thinking of taking HAL's Alaska cruise trip. How many extra meals you had to pay for, that weren't included in the whole cruise+land package?? Denali and train meals?
Only one meal was included after we left the ship for the land portion. That was the river cruise in Fairbanks. Everything else, we had to pay for. Thanks for watching.
Don't judge us but Alaska is very expensive and quality of food is horrible. We took breakfast bars and chicken and tuna in a pouch which we ate in a pinch. Fairbanks has a thai restaurant, Anchorage has a pizzeria and everyone went to prospectors pizza x the highway in Denali. If you eat at McKinley lodge stick to Grizzlies for breakfast and have a burger for dinner. Ditto for Fairbanks on the burger at red lantern, food is sketchy. All the best🚢
A GoPro Hero 10. I had the GoPro 9 and 7 and they were miserable cameras that rarely worked. The Hero 10 seems to be mostly solid. II used 2.7k resolution. Thanks for watching.
Enjoyed your videos. We are doing the same trip next month only in reverse. Is there excursions you would recommend or advise not to take? Thanks, Jeff
We loved the train ride in Skagway but probably because of the snow. The float plane trip to the lodge was fun because we had never been on a float plane. If we ever go again, we want to take a couple of the wildlife centered excursions and will probably just spend more time in the port towns looking around. Thanks for watching.
These videos have been incredibly helpful. Do you think that doing the land portion first would have made things better, or do you think that it’s not even worth doing the land portion?
We enjoyed doing the cruise from Vancouver north because the scenery got better each day. We went in May so saw a lot of snow. We felt that doing the cruise North to South might have been a let down because you see the best stuff first. Glacier Bay was very nice and we looked forward to it. We enjoyed the land portion but it is definitely different from the cruise portion where your ship/room travels to the attractions vs on the land portion where you physically have to travel to the attractions. It was all good and we enjoyed the land portion but you have to do more work (figure out your meals). Thanks for watching.
Thank you so much for the beautiful video and information. You have almost been more helpful than HAR. I have a few questions about meals that I can’t find any answers to. When on the land portion at the lodge and on the train are the meals included in the cost? It seems to me that they should be, it is part of the trip after all. Thanks for your help!
Thank you for your kind comments. On our cruise, the land portion did NOT include meals. I think there was a meal plan we could have purchased but we did not. The boat excursion in Fairbanks included a meal and that was noted in the excursion description. So again with our cruise, we had to figure out our meals on the land portion. Thanks for watching.
@@OurRetirementAntics Was it hard to find the meals? Were they expensive? Could you tell or do you know if the meal plan covered 3 meals per day? Thank you very much for your video. It was extremely informational since this will be our first cruise and we are taking the same one. Looking forward to watching your other videos.
Thanks for all of your beautiful videos and helpful tips. We are planning to go next year and trying to decide whether to do the cruise with land tour or just the cruise. I was curious to know If you booked through a travel agency or just through Holland? I noticed you mentioned in a previous video that you booked flights using Holland and we happy with their service.
We booked through a family friend who is a travel agent so she could get the commission. It was no problem booking through Holland America so don't feel you need an agent. The best thing our travel agent did was get us on Holland America instead one of the other lines. We really liked Holland America. Definitely book flights through Holland America. They saved our trip when Delta cancelled at the last moment. Even paid for 1st class tickets on one portion. Thanks for watching.
The lodging was included in the land portion. But the food at the lodge was NOT. We did not try to make a food reservation before we arrived, so I really do not know about that. You might be able to do that thru their Navigator app.
We had a tour that was part of the land portion (no extra fee) but it was cut short because of a road blockage in the park. It was still nice as there was heavy snow (May 2022) and we saw lots of wildlife. Also saw Denali and apparently only about 30% of visitors see it because of clouds. Thanks for watching.
The grass is so-so. But my wife does a great job with the flowers. And we love the garden fish pond. There are two waterfalls and the sounds they make are very soothing. Thanks for noticing and for watching.
Thanks for the detailed videos We do this similar cruise tour this June but in reverse, our land comes first then cruise I have a couple of Qs The train ride Denali to Whittier is that scenic? Different scenery from the other White Pass railway at Skagway? Trying to decide if we Shd do both? And how long was that train ride? Thank you
If there is snow, take the White Pass railway tour. You have to take the Denali to Whittier train, I think, unless you take sone excursion. It was fine. Sorry I don't remember the length but it was not a big deal. Thanks for watching,
Hello. My husband and I are planning a cruise and land tour in August 2023. I was wondering did you just pack with a carry on and personal item or did you have a checked bag and then personal item? Also how expensive was the food on the McKinley Explorer and at the lodges? I just needed to know how much to budget for food, etc. once we hit land. Thanks in advance for any and all information.
We each had luggage we checked on the air plane and also had back packs we took as carry on. Don't worry too much about luggage. Holland did a great job transporting our luggage on the land portion. At each location we were instructed to place our luggage outside the room at a certain time. Then it magically appeared at our next lodging. They did a great job. i don't remember the prices of the meals, but everything is more expensive in Alaska. Maybe plan for at least twice what you would normally pay at your local restaurant. But I really don't remember. Sorry. Thanks for watching.
We took a one-way Princess cruise last month. After arriving in Whittier we went to Anchorage Airport, picked up a car and rolled our own land tour. We spent 2 nights in Healy and two more in Trapper Creek near Talkeetna and we loved it. Maybe, if you go back, that would be a better plan.
If we ever go back that is exactly what we plan to do. We have travelled the USA for many years and are comfortable with planning our own land trips. Thanks for watching.
Unfortunately a majority of the businesses at the ports are owned by big corporations that leave as soon as the tour season is over. As for the private independently owned businesses that are Alaska owned it's actually just a couple of families and it is hard for small businesses to get near tourists.
Cruise tours are not a great way to see Alaska.The cruise is. The land segment is too controlled. Its a fast paced race with them holding you captive to their plans. Alaska has low staff so everything is slower. We opted out of that and made our own week with a full day drive into denali (14 hours). The scam of tanzanite in port is pure rubbish....And dont underestimate the longer days. We had a bbq dinner at dusk..11pm at denali national park in our rv
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We’ll be doing this itinerary next month. Thank you for all the insight, it’s been most helpful and I’ll be more prepared when we’re on land.
Happy the videos were helpful. We are going to Norway soon. Thanks for watching.,
Great Video, glad you and your wife are enjoying your retirement!
Thank you for your kind comment and for watching.
I am planing to go to same cruise line as you in July, 2023 and luckily found your video. I always have question about flight for last day and called Holland America but they couldn’t answer or provide soulation. I am glad to see your comments and finally I know I need to book 1:30am or 2:30am flight so won’t have nothing to do to wait for flight😂 Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thanks for watching
Thank you, I Enjoyed watching your videos. Keep in mind that you can still enjoy cruising the Caribbean without being on a “party boat”. There are plenty of other upper scale cruise lines that cater to a predominantly older, more mature crowd. We have enjoyed several Caribbean itineraries on Holland America and Celebrity over the years and have enjoyed them a lot. Oceania, Viking, and Azamara are also great for being non-party boats that cruise the Caribbean.
Thanks for your kind comments on our videos. We enjoyed making them. I understand about the Caribbean but we enjoy nice scenery and smaller crowds. The great thing about the Alaska cruise was we could sit in our room and enjoy the scenery passing the window. It was always changing and never old. A trip to the Caribbean would include several days of nothing but open sea. To each his own !!! Thanks again for watching.
A very succinct summation at the end. Enjoyed hearing your overall observations. Thank you.
Regards.
We are taking a 14 day Norway Cruise with Holland America in May so you may want to turn on notifications or look for our videos. Thanks for watching.
We are getting onto this ship in a few weeks. Triple Denali and no Fairbanks in reverse order. The information and comments you provided are very helpful for us to prepare for the trip. Thanks a lot!
Thanks. I hope you have a great time. We really enjoyed the snow which might be mostly gone when you go. Please comment here again and let me know how you enjoyed the trip. We are thinking about going again in May 2023.
@@OurRetirementAntics Thanks! Will do. We probably won’t see much snow but more rain and mosquitoes. 😂 I will pack snacks onto Denali trip after learning the restaurants at McKinley resort may be under staffed. Would you go with HAL again or another one? I heard HAL and Princes are the best ones for Alaska.
We were very happy with HAL and will probably do at least one more trip with them.
@@OurRetirementAntics Wanted to let you know that we had a wonderful cruisetour with HAL in the 2nd half of July. We had no issue with getting dinners at HAL’s Denali resort during our stay. No need to wait at all both times. I like the Overlook restaurant just outside the resort the best though. Thanks again for your videos that helped me preparing the trip!
Thanks for these videos! I watched all of this playlist. We are going on the same cruise/land tour in one month. Our cabin is the same deck as yours but will be an aft balcony which we are looking forward too (butt of the ship as you say 🙂). We have cruised many times but this is a first with Holland America, a first to Alaska, and a first to include a land tour so we are newbies. Your adorable hat covers caught my attention and I am glad they did becuase I enjoyed your videos. I will try to make Mckinley Chalet Resort dinner reservations asap, thanks for the tip.
We love our hats. Thanks for the kind comments and I hope your trip is as fun as ours was.
Enjoyed all of your videos! They were helpful as are the comments below. We've cruised AK with HAL 3 times, twice northbound inside passage and once a loop from Seattle. We want to do land/cruise combo so sought out videos such as yours that detailed that experience. We plan to do land first as want to get that "work" out of the way. Thanks again for lovely video footage and helpful and low key commentary! You might enjoy cruising the Norwegian fjords one day because will satisfy your love of daily scenery. We avoid party style cruising as well but have enjoyed 2 Caribbean cruises with HAL. We are in GA so the convenience of getting to the ports is a plus. We learned to love sea days as well. Happy cruising!
We actually are going on a 14 day Norway cruise in May of this year. Thanks for your kind comments and for watching.
I have enjoyed your videos and I must say I am impressed by the steady camera you are using. Do you have a list of the equipment you used for this trip?
Thanks for your kind comment. I used a GoPro Hero 10 with a polarizing filter to get deeper colors. I edited the videos on an iPad Pro using Luma Fusion. That’s all.
I was interested in your comment about where your cabin was on the ship. I thought about getting a cabin right under the Lido deck (to have easy access to coffee) but thought there might be a lot of noise from people being at the buffet right above you. Apparently you didn’t have that noise problem.
No, we did not have that problem. We were concerned about being near the elevators but never heard them. The ventilation runs all the time in the room. It was not loud but probably masked some of the sounds of the ship. We would definitely get the same room again. It was very far from any of the entertainment areas so that was good. Thanks for watching.
We went June/July and had a horrible land cruise experience also. No staff, bad food and our last day we had to check out at 11 and sit until 6pm. Found out a flight left at 2 am the last day so we could have done the river cruise had dinner and gone to airport. Would have been home a day earlier and we hold HAL responsible for that snafu. Land cruise after wonderful ship experience was a huge letdown. Never again 😪
I agree, the last day was a let down. You will get a survey from Holland if you want to leave comments. However the survey is short lived, so complete it as soon as you get it. Thanks for watching.
@@OurRetirementAntics oh yeah, we did the survey. Oops, hit👎button instead of reply😪
Thanks for the beautiful video. I am planning to do the reverse in a couple of weeks - land first then cruise. I am a bit confused regarding the number of pieces of luggage you are able to take. We're you able to bring a checked bag, a carry on & a personal bag? And if so did all the luggage stay with you throughout the entire trip? Thanks!
I don't know if Holland has any luggage limits. My wife and I each had a single medium size piece of luggage and back packs. Every time we moved, Holland gave us luggage tags and instructed us to put the luggage outside our room at a specific time. They handled transporting the bags. We never had to handle our own bags and never had a problem. Holland definitely did that well. I also put Apple AirTags inside our luggage so I was able to track our bags most of the time. Thanks for watching.
Great videos! Im thinking of taking HAL's Alaska cruise trip. How many extra meals you had to pay for, that weren't included in the whole cruise+land package?? Denali and train meals?
Only one meal was included after we left the ship for the land portion. That was the river cruise in Fairbanks. Everything else, we had to pay for. Thanks for watching.
Now THAT is interesting. I never even thought about food not being provided on the land portion.
Don't judge us but Alaska is very expensive and quality of food is horrible. We took breakfast bars and chicken and tuna in a pouch which we ate in a pinch. Fairbanks has a thai restaurant, Anchorage has a pizzeria and everyone went to prospectors pizza x the highway in Denali. If you eat at McKinley lodge stick to Grizzlies for breakfast and have a burger for dinner. Ditto for Fairbanks on the burger at red lantern, food is sketchy. All the best🚢
Your video is so clear. What camera did you use? Loved your videos. We are there 6/13-6/24.
A GoPro Hero 10. I had the GoPro 9 and 7 and they were miserable cameras that rarely worked. The Hero 10 seems to be mostly solid. II used 2.7k resolution. Thanks for watching.
Enjoyed your videos. We are doing the same trip next month only in reverse. Is there excursions you would recommend or advise not to take? Thanks, Jeff
We loved the train ride in Skagway but probably because of the snow. The float plane trip to the lodge was fun because we had never been on a float plane. If we ever go again, we want to take a couple of the wildlife centered excursions and will probably just spend more time in the port towns looking around. Thanks for watching.
These videos have been incredibly helpful. Do you think that doing the land portion first would have made things better, or do you think that it’s not even worth doing the land portion?
We enjoyed doing the cruise from Vancouver north because the scenery got better each day. We went in May so saw a lot of snow. We felt that doing the cruise North to South might have been a let down because you see the best stuff first. Glacier Bay was very nice and we looked forward to it. We enjoyed the land portion but it is definitely different from the cruise portion where your ship/room travels to the attractions vs on the land portion where you physically have to travel to the attractions. It was all good and we enjoyed the land portion but you have to do more work (figure out your meals). Thanks for watching.
Lovely & enjoyed all your videos, we are planning sea land tour in 2023, wonder if it’s safe to drink from local tape water or buy bottled water?
We had no issues with water on any part of the trip. Thanks for watching.
Thank you so much for the beautiful video and information. You have almost been more helpful than HAR. I have a few questions about meals that I can’t find any answers to.
When on the land portion at the lodge and on the train are the meals included in the cost? It seems to me that they should be, it is part of the trip after all.
Thanks for your help!
Thank you for your kind comments. On our cruise, the land portion did NOT include meals. I think there was a meal plan we could have purchased but we did not. The boat excursion in Fairbanks included a meal and that was noted in the excursion description. So again with our cruise, we had to figure out our meals on the land portion. Thanks for watching.
@@OurRetirementAntics Was it hard to find the meals? Were they expensive? Could you tell or do you know if the meal plan covered 3 meals per day? Thank you very much for your video. It was extremely informational since this will be our first cruise and we are taking the same one. Looking forward to watching your other videos.
Thanks for all of your beautiful videos and helpful tips. We are planning to go next year and trying to decide whether to do the cruise with land tour or just the cruise. I was curious to know If you booked through a travel agency or just through Holland? I noticed you mentioned in a previous video that you booked flights using Holland and we happy with their service.
We booked through a family friend who is a travel agent so she could get the commission. It was no problem booking through Holland America so don't feel you need an agent. The best thing our travel agent did was get us on Holland America instead one of the other lines. We really liked Holland America.
Definitely book flights through Holland America. They saved our trip when Delta cancelled at the last moment. Even paid for 1st class tickets on one portion.
Thanks for watching.
Did you have the ability to make a reservation at the lodge prior to arrival?
The lodging was included in the land portion. But the food at the lodge was NOT. We did not try to make a food reservation before we arrived, so I really do not know about that. You might be able to do that thru their Navigator app.
When you were on the land portion of the cruise were meals included or did you have to buy a package? (for Denali Resort, Fairbanks & Dawson) Thks
We bought our own meals but I think there was a meal package we could have purchased. Thanks for watching.
Was the Tundra Wilderness Toyr in Denali worth it? Planning our first cruise EVER and have picked Alaska
We had a tour that was part of the land portion (no extra fee) but it was cut short because of a road blockage in the park. It was still nice as there was heavy snow (May 2022) and we saw lots of wildlife. Also saw Denali and apparently only about 30% of visitors see it because of clouds. Thanks for watching.
You, sir, have a very beautiful yard.
The grass is so-so. But my wife does a great job with the flowers. And we love the garden fish pond. There are two waterfalls and the sounds they make are very soothing. Thanks for noticing and for watching.
Thanks for the detailed videos
We do this similar cruise tour this June but in reverse, our land comes first then cruise
I have a couple of Qs
The train ride Denali to Whittier is that scenic? Different scenery from the other White Pass railway at Skagway?
Trying to decide if we Shd do both?
And how long was that train ride?
Thank you
If there is snow, take the White Pass railway tour. You have to take the Denali to Whittier train, I think, unless you take sone excursion. It was fine. Sorry I don't remember the length but it was not a big deal. Thanks for watching,
@@OurRetirementAntics thank you so much for the tips and guidance
Hello. My husband and I are planning a cruise and land tour in August 2023. I was wondering did you just pack with a carry on and personal item or did you have a checked bag and then personal item? Also how expensive was the food on the McKinley Explorer and at the lodges? I just needed to know how much to budget for food, etc. once we hit land. Thanks in advance for any and all information.
We each had luggage we checked on the air plane and also had back packs we took as carry on. Don't worry too much about luggage. Holland did a great job transporting our luggage on the land portion. At each location we were instructed to place our luggage outside the room at a certain time. Then it magically appeared at our next lodging. They did a great job. i don't remember the prices of the meals, but everything is more expensive in Alaska. Maybe plan for at least twice what you would normally pay at your local restaurant. But I really don't remember. Sorry. Thanks for watching.
We took a one-way Princess cruise last month. After arriving in Whittier we went to Anchorage Airport, picked up a car and rolled our own land tour. We spent 2 nights in Healy and two more in Trapper Creek near Talkeetna and we loved it. Maybe, if you go back, that would be a better plan.
If we ever go back that is exactly what we plan to do. We have travelled the USA for many years and are comfortable with planning our own land trips. Thanks for watching.
@@OurRetirementAntics Thank you for that suggestion I would love to see more of Alaska on our own.
Unfortunately a majority of the businesses at the ports are owned by big corporations that leave as soon as the tour season is over. As for the private independently owned businesses that are Alaska owned it's actually just a couple of families and it is hard for small businesses to get near tourists.
We heard the same thing. We are not big shoppers but when we did, we went to the back streets and made sure the owner was local. Thanks for watching.
Cruise tours are not a great way to see Alaska.The cruise is. The land segment is too controlled. Its a fast paced race with them holding you captive to their plans. Alaska has low staff so everything is slower. We opted out of that and made our own week with a full day drive into denali (14 hours). The scam of tanzanite in port is pure rubbish....And dont underestimate the longer days. We had a bbq dinner at dusk..11pm at denali national park in our rv
We plan to go back some day on our Gold Wing motorcycle and go through the Canadian Rockies. Thanks for watching.