Anyone use their points for the Alaska cruise?

[DrMikey2]

Can anyone share their experience with the Holland-America cruise to Alaska booked with points? Which Alaska cruise was booked? What kind of cabins? What was the cruise experience like? Any comments about the excurtions? What time of year are the cruises?

Any info is appreciated.

 

[Luv2Dream]

I'm bumping this up as I'm interested in the response also. Anyone?

 

[kem330]

We did an Alaskan cruise but not with DVC points or Holland America. It is a fabulous trip, but I think you'll find that many do not use their points as such because there are great deals on Alaskan cruises right now. Much more supply then demand at the present. So many would opt to rent their points out and use that money to pay for a cruise on their own. Holland America is a wonderful line but has a reputation of being more for an older crowd.

 

[Mary Ellen]

My SIL checked into the Alaska cruise on points. I 'think' the points in the guidebook are for the lowest category outside cabin. Maybe if she stops 'lurking' here and registers, she can give more information.

We are sailing on HAL (Holland America) to Alaska this summer. This will be our 3rd time doing this cruise as it is DH's favorite itinerary. HAL is our cruise line of choice. We aren't using points (I have too many plans for them already ), but I do agree with kem330 that it is a better value to rent out your points and pay $ for the cruise with the cruise specials that are out there. We are paying ~ $1600/pp for a category B (minisuite with private verandah) on the Amsterdam out of Seattle in late August, to give you an idea. Inside cabins on lower decks will be much less.

This will be my 6th cruise on HAL. HAL isn't a 'party hardy' type of cruise line. I'd describe it as more relaxed elegance. There are a LOT of families on the Alaskan cruises and there is a children's program and special shore excursions available for younger age groups, so I don't think your children will be bored.

Despite what is written about HAL on the DIS cruise booking site, HAL is NOT 'no tipping'. It is 'tipping not required'.

Some other cruise lines will automatically add tips to your shipboard account (you can wait in LONG lines at the front desk at the end of the crusie to have the amount reduced if service didn't warrant the full tip - like who is going to spend time doing that???) and others have crew that will VERY overtly solicit tips (not my idea of a relaxing vacation). We've always found the service on HAL to be truely gracious and NO ONE has their hand out. We have always tipped more than the industry norm (which totals about $10/per person/per day).

The Alaskan cruise is a WONDERFUL experience. It was our first cruise in 1980 and sold DH on cruising. Now that we have DVC, we tend to alternate WDW and cruising as vacations. This year I'm lucking out and get to do both.

 

[DrMikey2]

Thanks for the above replies. I don't know if HAL gives you a choice of cabins with points. It is listed at 200 points PP. No range, so I wonder what type of accomodations are offered. I also don't know which cruise ship is offered.

 

[Mary Ellen]

From what my SIL told me, 200 pts is the starting point (least expensive outside cabin) and they could get a better cabin for more points. It would be NICE if the member guidebook did give the range. Any of the Alaskan ships could be booked, ALL of them on this itinerary are very nice. I wouldn't book the Noordam or Westerdam (others like them, I just prefer the newer ships), but they don't sail to Alaska anyway.

The best way to get the specifics (like the point range) is to call or e-mail MS.

Some categories on some sailings are all sold out already. From what I've heard, Alaskan bookings are up 20+% this summer as many Americans are staying in N. America. I know that for our sailing, ALL the cabins with private verandahs have been booked for several months now. My DB & SIL got the last handicap cabin, several categories down from what they had hoped, and they booked in early Feb.

Since we aren't supposed to have links to commercial web sites, I won't give one for HollandAmerica - but it is VERY logical. You can find itineraries and schedules there. By clicking on a date for a specific ship, you can find out what cabin categories are still available for that sailing. Combined with the point schedule from MS, that should help in your planning. Each port in an itinerary is also a hyper-link to what shore excursions are available there.

Good Luck!

 

[DrMikey2]

I could not have asked for a better reply. Thanks so, so much! You're great. I will definitely follow-up on your advice.