DCL & ABD in Alaska

[HappyGrumpy]

So after watching DCL on the Travel Channel I watched the special on the RCL in Alaska and how they not only do the ports but also have a way to get into the interior into Denali.

Is it feasible to think that if the ABD/DCL is a successful marriage in the Med it could be brought to Alaska in 2011?

We are on the MV in Alaska and I would like to see the interior as well and ABD even though pricy would be the way I would like to go!

After doing the Quest for the West this past August w ABD they are worth EVERY penny!

Would love to know your thoughts!

 

[sayhello]

So after watching DCL on the Travel Channel I watched the special on the RCL in Alaska and how they not only do the ports but also have a way to get into the interior into Denali.

Is it feasible to think that if the ABD/DCL is a successful marriage in the Med it could be brought to Alaska in 2011?

We are on the MV in Alaska and I would like to see the interior as well and ABD even though pricy would be the way I would like to go!

After doing the Quest for the West this past August w ABD they are worth EVERY penny!

Would love to know your thoughts!

Hey, HG! My feeling is, they could not do it in the same way they are doing it in the Med. On the Med cruise, they are using ABD as the excursions for the cruise. The Alaska ABD doesn't go anywhere near where the Alaska cruise goes, so that wouldn't work. And you really wouldn't want that. What you want *is* a separate tour, before or after your cruise, that goes into the interior. You can't really do that from the cruise ports.

That said, they could *EASILY* use the Alaska ABD as a cruisetour add-on for *after* or *before* the cruise. That would absolutely work. But they would have to come up with a different way to administrate it, as DCL is really running the show for the Med DCL/ABD trip. Quite honestly, all they would need to do to turn the ABD into a cruisetour is to coordinate the start or finish date to coincide with the cruise, so that you could transfer directly from one to the other. That would really take a LOT less effort than setting this whole thing up like they are for the Med. It could actually almost be run like the old Land/Sea packages, but you'd substitute WDW after a Caribbean cruise with the ABD after the Alaska cruise.

Just my feelings. I think they'd be crazy to ignore that market. I haven't heard any official speculation, but they HAVE to be thinking about it!

Sayhello

 

[NancyIL]

Cruise lines that offer land tours in Alaska do so before or after their one-way cruises. They don't coordinate land tours with roundtrip cruises from Vancouver or Seattle - with the exception of some Canadian Rockies cruisetours. For DCL to have a tie-in with ABD in 2011 - it would involve another flight between Vancouver and Alaska (Anchorage or Fairbanks), and that would make the price of the trip even more expensive.

If you want to do an ABD tour in Alaska plus a cruise, I suggest you do so before or after a one-way cruise on Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, or Celebrity. For the record - it isn't difficult to fly to Alaska, rent a car, and visit Denali National Park (among other places) on your own.

 

[NancyIL]

That said, they could *EASILY* use the Alaska ABD as a cruisetour add-on for *after* or *before* the cruise. That would absolutely work. But they would have to come up with a different way to administrate it, as DCL is really running the show for the Med DCL/ABD trip. Quite honestly, all they would need to do to turn the ABD into a cruisetour is to coordinate the start or finish date to coincide with the cruise, so that you could transfer directly from one to the other.

The flight distance from Anchorage to Vancouver is 1327 miles, and that's just a bit further than the distance from Boston to Orlando. Just as there are no land/sea tie-ins with Boston and DCL out of Port Canaveral - it would be difficult to coordinate an ABD tour with DCL's roundtrip Alaska cruises from Vancouver.

 

[sayhello]

The flight distance from Anchorage to Vancouver is 1327 miles, and that's just a bit further than the distance from Boston to Orlando. Just as there are no land/sea tie-ins with Boston and DCL out of Port Canaveral - it would be difficult to coordinate an ABD tour with DCL's roundtrip Alaska cruises from Vancouver.

Unless they decide to change some of them to one-way cruises like they changed the 2011 Med cruises to 7 days...

Sayhello

 

[NancyIL]

Unless they decide to change some of them to one-way cruises like they changed the 2011 Med cruises to 7 days...

IF DCL offers one-way cruises in the future...THEN they can offer an ABD tour as an add-on. I doubt DCL will change their roundtrip cruises to one-ways in 2011.

 

[sayhello]

IF DCL offers one-way cruises in the future...THEN they can offer an ABD tour as an add-on. I doubt DCL will change their roundtrip cruises to one-ways in 2011.

Of course. But then, nobody thought they'd change the Med cruises for 2011, either, since they already had people booked. But yes, it would be more likely to happen in 2012 than 2011, since 2011 is the inaugural year, AND they'll probably wait until several of the Med trips go before making a decision like that.

Sayhello

 

[HappyGrumpy]

Hey, HG! My feeling is, they could not do it in the same way they are doing it in the Med. On the Med cruise, they are using ABD as the excursions for the cruise. The Alaska ABD doesn't go anywhere near where the Alaska cruise goes, so that wouldn't work. And you really wouldn't want that. What you want *is* a separate tour, before or after your cruise, that goes into the interior. You can't really do that from the cruise ports.

That said, they could *EASILY* use the Alaska ABD as a cruisetour add-on for *after* or *before* the cruise. That would absolutely work. But they would have to come up with a different way to administrate it, as DCL is really running the show for the Med DCL/ABD trip. Quite honestly, all they would need to do to turn the ABD into a cruisetour is to coordinate the start or finish date to coincide with the cruise, so that you could transfer directly from one to the other. That would really take a LOT less effort than setting this whole thing up like they are for the Med. It could actually almost be run like the old Land/Sea packages, but you'd substitute WDW after a Caribbean cruise with the ABD after the Alaska cruise.

Just my feelings. I think they'd be crazy to ignore that market. I haven't heard any official speculation, but they HAVE to be thinking about it!

Sayhello

Hi Sayhello!! Good Observation!

In my mind to able to plan ahead to try and do both an ABD/DCL together whenever possible completely amps me up! I don't know if you have had an opportunity to cruise DCL but its such a special experience Just as ABD is such a special experience! To partner them together is

Are you doing the DCL/MED ABD for sure?

Cruise lines that offer land tours in Alaska do so before or after their one-way cruises. They don't coordinate land tours with roundtrip cruises from Vancouver or Seattle - with the exception of some Canadian Rockies cruisetours. For DCL to have a tie-in with ABD in 2011 - it would involve another flight between Vancouver and Alaska (Anchorage or Fairbanks), and that would make the price of the trip even more expensive.

If you want to do an ABD tour in Alaska plus a cruise, I suggest you do so before or after a one-way cruise on Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, or Celebrity. For the record - it isn't difficult to fly to Alaska, rent a car, and visit Denali National Park (among other places) on your own.

Thanks so much! I am glad you commented based on the fact that you have had so much experience with west coast cruises!

Overall it will be interesting to see if ABD has the success in the Med to bring it to Alaska in any capacity w/DCL. Like I stated above I am hoping to do them both whenever possible. I have fallen hard for both of these products !!

 

[sayhello]

Hi Sayhello!! Good Observation!

In my mind to able to plan ahead to try and do both an ABD/DCL together whenever possible completely amps me up! I don't know if you have had an opportunity to cruise DCL but its such a special experience Just as ABD is such a special experience! To partner them together is

I think the combo of the Alaska DCL cruise and the Alaska ABD sounds fabulous. The ONLY downside is not seeing Glacier Bay, but I'd totally get over that! If it were me, if they *don't* do an official tie-in to ABD for 2011, I'd still see what it would take to arrange it myself. I'm not sure how much flights between Vancouver & Fairbanks would be, but it would be worth at least checking, assuming there's an ABD that jives date-wise with your cruise. I have a feeling if you called ABD and told them your intentions, they'd work with you to make it happen...

Are you doing the DCL/MED ABD for sure?

98% sure. I'm still giving Dotti a chance to work things out, but, honesty, it's been 2 1/2 weeks since I've heard from her, and I'm just thinking it's not going to happen. I'm waiting for either a) Dotti to come back with wonderful news, b) airfare prices to the Med to drop considerably or c) we get to Jan 15 (paid in full date for the cruise) to make the 100% decision. I've booked the cruise and the ABD add-on, but it's 100% refundable until Feb 15th. But I'm really, REALLY thinking I'm not going to be asking for a refund...

If it tells you anything about my mental state, I realized yesterday that I've been doing research and making some preliminary arrangements for the Med, and have done none of that for London or Paris.

Sayhello

 

[HappyGrumpy]

98% sure. I'm still giving Dotti a chance to work things out, but, honesty, it's been 2 1/2 weeks since I've heard from her, and I'm just thinking it's not going to happen. I'm waiting for either a) Dotti to come back with wonderful news, b) airfare prices to the Med to drop considerably or c) we get to Jan 15 (paid in full date for the cruise) to make the 100% decision. I've booked the cruise and the ABD add-on, but it's 100% refundable until Feb 15th. But I'm really, REALLY thinking I'm not going to be asking for a refund...

OMG!! I so want to be on that boat with you!!

Help me understand you have until Feb 15th for a full refund on both? Are you taking advantage of the 3 day cruise offer on the ABD side or did ABD let you use your $100 past adventure discount on the Med Adventure?

 

[sayhello]

OMG!! I so want to be on that boat with you!!

Help me understand you have until Feb 15th for a full refund on both? Are you taking advantage of the 3 day cruise offer on the ABD side or did ABD let you use your $100 past adventure discount on the Med Adventure?

I'd love to have you on that boat with me!

Even though the Paid in Full date is Jan 15th (120 days out) I can still get a complete 100% refund until Feb 15th (90 days out). Both the ABD portion and the cruise fall under DCL's refund policies, not ABD's. Unfortunately, since all the booking, etc, is being done via DCL (and DCL *DEFINITELY* looks at this as an add-on to the cruise and *NOT* an ABD at sea) I did not qualify for *either* the free cruise promotion or the $100 loyalty discount. I still plan to argue the loyalty discount with a supervisor; I spoke to a rep who passed the question on to a supervisor. I was supposed to call the supervisor after Christmas to get an answer, but she wasn't there, and the rep I spoke to spoke to some other supervisor who said "No" without talking to me. So I'm planning to call back on Monday & talk to the original supervisor. I understand the free cruise; that's only available for certain departures, and the Med cruise is not listed as one of those, but I don't understand why the loyalty discount shouldn't apply. The rep kept saying "I can't combine the loyalty discount with any other offer" but I couldn't get her to explain *what* other offer she was talking about. It was like talking to a wall, so I just finished up the conversation & hung up. I'll let you know what I find out next week!

(Oh, and we were not able to get either the free cruise OR the loyalty discount on the trip Dotti is putting together).

Sayhello

 

[HappyGrumpy]

The rep kept saying "I can't combine the loyalty discount with any other offer" but I couldn't get her to explain *what* other offer she was talking about. It was like talking to a wall, so I just finished up the conversation & hung up. I'll let you know what I find out next week!

I really would love to know what "what" is?

Just remind me.. are you doing the May 5th or 15th trip? Are you flying in a day early to Barcelona? Details Details...should we move this discussion back to the ABD thread?

 

[sayhello]

I really would love to know what "what" is?

Just remind me.. are you doing the May 5th or 15th trip? Are you flying in a day early to Barcelona? Details Details...should we move this discussion back to the ABD thread?

I'm doing the May 15th trip. Three reasons, really. One, for the same cost, you get an extra day of vacation (it's the 11-night vs May 5th which is 10 nights). Two, I think the sea day in the middle of the trip will be nice to relax & rejuvinate. It's a port-intensive trip, with long days. And three, my birthday is May 24th, so I'd be on the cruise for my Birthday. I haven't bought any airfare or anything yet, but I do have a reservation to stay at the Renaissance Barcelona Airport Hotel for the night before (the only flights I've found to Barcelona are ALL overnight flights, so I am going to be TIRED when I get there. I want a day to recover, and to not be worried about delays).

That's about all I've planned so far (except going to Park Guell the day in Barcelona!) and trying to figure out how to go to Pompeii the day in Naples, but still make the Capri trip.

Any more questions I can answer?

Sayhello

 

[Pluto 2]

i hope the excursions are better than the med for people to consider it.
some of the excursions in the med are make bread, make your own pizza, make gelato. no thanks. expecially at that price. they do offer some good ones thou, but not for that price.

 

[sayhello]

i hope the excursions are better than the med for people to consider it.
some of the excursions in the med are make bread, make your own pizza, make gelato. no thanks. expecially at that price. they do offer some good ones thou, but not for that price.

The thing is, those are typical activities for an Adventures by Disney trip. Families REALLY enjoy the time together doing things like making pizza, etc. They are some of the favorite activities on some of the trips. So I guess the question is, are they aiming this more for the "typical" cruiser, or for the Adventures by Disney type of family traveler? At least so far, it appears to be the ABD type of traveler. We'll see what happens after a few of these trips actually go.

Sayhello