Alaska Cruise ABD Add-on

[sayhello]

I just wanted to add here that this most likely was *not* ABD's decision. While ABD runs the trips, DCL runs the show, and makes all the administrative decisions.

Sayhello

 

[meajuly5]

Anyone have experience with how often the Alaska excursions are old out when the silver bookings open? I am hoping to go the helicopter glacier excursion and am helpful it won't be sold out. Members of my party only wants to book through dcl.

 

[comet1]

Anyone have experience with how often the Alaska excursions are old out when the silver bookings open? I am hoping to go the helicopter glacier excursion and am helpful it won't be sold out. Members of my party only wants to book through dcl.

I too would be interested in this. Hope they are not sold out

 

[kimdesimone]

I am so bummed and like many of you, am reconsidering this cruise for something else. The big draw for Alaska for us was the ABD excursions.

Any thoughts on a substitute trip? The Mediterrean is out. My hubby doesn't have enough vacation time for that big trip, with every thing else we have going.

I am so disappointed.

 

[sayhello]

Anyone have experience with how often the Alaska excursions are old out when the silver bookings open? I am hoping to go the helicopter glacier excursion and am helpful it won't be sold out. Members of my party only wants to book through dcl.

I too would be interested in this. Hope they are not sold out

I'd suggest you post this question over on the Disney Cruise Line board, also. You're more likely to get folks who have cruised Alaska with DCL over there.

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

Sayhello

 

[sayhello]

I am so bummed and like many of you, am reconsidering this cruise for something else. The big draw for Alaska for us was the ABD excursions.

Any thoughts on a substitute trip? The Mediterrean is out. My hubby doesn't have enough vacation time for that big trip, with every thing else we have going.

I am so disappointed.

http://www.princess.com/find/cruise...&duration=&tourdur=&orderBy=&filterBy=&order=

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[Calfan]

Anyone have experience with how often the Alaska excursions are old out when the silver bookings open? I am hoping to go the helicopter glacier excursion and am helpful it won't be sold out. Members of my party only wants to book through dcl.

We were silver when we did our Alaska cruise in Aug. 2012. I went on the DCL website right at 9:00 p.m. on the everning we could start booking (we are on the West Coast) and was able to get everything we wanted, with the exeption of the Disney Exclusive Dog Musher for a Day. That being said, we were able to book the Dog Sled Adventure by Helicopter and our friends were able to book the Mendenhall Glacier dog sledding excursion, so we weren't shut out of dog sledding completely. In Skagway, we did the White Pass Railway and Yukon Expedition (our first choice). We booked the Bering Sea Crab Tour in Ketchikan on our own. (We typically stick with DCL excursions, but this was the same boat as the DCL excursion for less money.) We also got our first choice excurion in Victoria but that might not be relevant for the 2013 cruises since they are leaving out of Vancouver. Plus, the ABD add-on for the 2012 cruises didn't include anything for Victoria (which is part of the reason we did not do it, even though we were very tempted -- mainly it is because they did NOT include dog sledding in the 2012 add-ons).

 

[meajuly5]

We were silver when we did our Alaska cruise in Aug. 2012. I went on the DCL website right at 9:00 p.m. on the everning we could start booking (we are on the West Coast) and was able to get everything we wanted, with the exeption of the Disney Exclusive Dog Musher for a Day. That being said, we were able to book the Dog Sled Adventure by Helicopter and our friends were able to book the Mendenhall Glacier dog sledding excursion, so we weren't shut out of dog sledding completely. In Skagway, we did the White Pass Railway and Yukon Expedition (our first choice). We booked the Bering Sea Crab Tour in Ketchikan on our own. (We typically stick with DCL excursions, but this was the same boat as the DCL excursion for less money.) We also got our first choice excurion in Victoria but that might not be relevant for the 2013 cruises since they are leaving out of Vancouver. Plus, the ABD add-on for the 2012 cruises didn't include anything for Victoria (which is part of the reason we did not do it, even though we were very tempted -- mainly it is because they did NOT include dog sledding in the 2012 add-ons).

Thanks so much! Did you enjoy your excursions? I definitely want t do a hei-dog combo but not wedded to any particular one. Was looking at the same excursion in Skagway. What did you think?

 

[Grifdog22]

I am grateful for the postings. We have taken three fantastic ABD trips, and for Christmas I told the family we would take our first cruise - to Alaska with the ABD add ons. I have had great difficulty getting information on the add on, and frankly a lot of hassle trying to set up the cruise. This was different than any Disney trip I have ever scheduled (I called through the Costco line).

My wife is not a fan of the cruising concept in Alaska (I think she watched the Titanic too many times), so with the ABD add on disappearing, we won't be setting this up. I regret that because this looked like such a good adventure.

I can see by the hassles in setting this up why not too many people signed up. The pricing isn't easily available, the dates aren't posted. On the cruise line website in December it would give absolutely no information on the availability of the add ons for particular cruises, and calling simply puts you on permahold (We are experiencing an extremely large call volume...) Come on - if you have such a large call volume for over a month, maybe you add some people....

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and postings.

 

[sayhello]

I am grateful for the postings. We have taken three fantastic ABD trips, and for Christmas I told the family we would take our first cruise - to Alaska with the ABD add ons. I have had great difficulty getting information on the add on, and frankly a lot of hassle trying to set up the cruise. This was different than any Disney trip I have ever scheduled (I called through the Costco line).

My wife is not a fan of the cruising concept in Alaska (I think she watched the Titanic too many times), so with the ABD add on disappearing, we won't be setting this up. I regret that because this looked like such a good adventure.

I can see by the hassles in setting this up why not too many people signed up. The pricing isn't easily available, the dates aren't posted. On the cruise line website in December it would give absolutely no information on the availability of the add ons for particular cruises, and calling simply puts you on permahold (We are experiencing an extremely large call volume...) Come on - if you have such a large call volume for over a month, maybe you add some people....

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and postings.

Why not do the actual ABD Alaska land trip instead? I did it a couple of years ago, and it is *fantastic!*. I have to agree with the communication issues that exist when it comes to the cruise add-ons. In my experience, this is DCL's issue, and is just as frustrating for ABD.

Sayhello

 

[Calfan]

Thanks so much! Did you enjoy your excursions? I definitely want t do a hei-dog combo but not wedded to any particular one. Was looking at the same excursion in Skagway. What did you think?

All of our excursions were great. The highlight was definitely the dog sledding in Juneau. The views from the helicopter were stunning, and the dog sledding was so much fun. It also happened to be my DD's 10th birthday that day, so that was a bonus. We enjoyed the Skagway excursion. The only downside is that it takes most of the day, and I would have liked to have some time to explore Skagway more than we did. Timewise, we could have fit in a little more time walking around town, but our kids were *really* ready to go back to the ship after such a long day. There also happened to be a biting wind and it was COLD. The excursion involves a bus ride up into the Yukon territory with stops at Caribou Crossing and Carcross. We had a little extra time before we were due in Caribou Crossing, so our bus driver drove a little farther on so we could see Emerald Lake. Caribou Crossing is a quirky little touristy town, but we found it surprisingly enjoyable, particularly the taxidermy museum (HUGE animals in there) and the opportunity to meet dog sledding puppies. The ride back down to Skagway from Fraser BC on the White Pass railway was enjoyable. Some terrific views. I got a lot of advice from the DCL DISBoards forum to sit on the RIGHT side of the train if you are taking it back down to Skagway, and that advice was spot-on. The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's tour in Ketchikan was also lots of fun. The crew of the Aleution Ballad was awesome and, in addition, to seeing and holding crabs and othe shellfish, they pulled up an octopus. We also saw tons of bald eagles. Again, my only issue is that it took pretty much the entire time in Ketchikan, and I would have liked more time just to poke around town. That might not be so much of an issue for you with the 2013 cruises. Our port times were a bit shorter due to the need to fit in Victoria on the cruises that departed from Seattle.

 

[meajuly5]

Thanks. Very much appreciate the information.