Points for Holland America Alaskan Cruise!!

[Toby]

Wow, what a wonderful time my family had on the Alaskan cruise, Inside Passage from Seattle last week. We used our whole allotment of points to "pay" for our trip. It was me, my husband, 18 yo son, and 21 yo daughter. While the cabin was spacious - putting 4 adults in it was rather tight. We did have a wonderful balcony, though, and that alleviated it some. I did have initial worries that my kids wouldn't meet anyone their own age. While most of the cruise consisted of older adults, they did meet kids their own ages, and basically had a ball. Alaska was beautiful - weather low to mid 70's, sunny, - Inside Glacier Passage was chilly, but we knew that - unbelievable with all the icebergs, and massive chunks of them breaking off randomly and smashing into the water. Lots of bear, bald eagles, and WHALES - so exciting. Food was great, decor nicely done, great casino, wonderful panoramic windows everywhere for scenary watching...I cannot recommend it enough. My only hesitation would be putting 4 adults in a "4" person room - 3 would be better or get two cabins, which then is another story...

 

[mom2alix]

Thanks for the report. It sounds wonderful. We really want to do this sometime. Glad you had a good time!

 

[bbowers]

Sent you a PM.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Toby,

Thanks for the info. We are hoping to do this curise next summer too. I have a 6 & 8 year old so I think I should be fine in the room. I am concerned about reserving a cabin though. How far in advance did you reserve yours? I ask because DVC does not have the points chart for 2005 HAL and said they won't get it until Sept or Oct. I am concerned because there are not many cabins that sleep 4 - at least the cruise brochure looks that way - we might not have a cabin available for us.

Also how is it booking air fare one way there and then another way home. If looks like we leave from one locations and arrive at another.

Any other pointers/tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know we will have to use several years points but really want to do Alaska.

 

[WDWguru]

We've done HAL to Alaska twice, the last time last summer using DVC points (the previous trip was in 1998 and before we were members).

Advance booking time depends on when you want to go. If you're looking at peak summer season (ie July), you want to book asap. If you are flexible and can go in May or late August/September, you have plenty of time. The points haven't changed much in the last few years, and I had heard at one point that you could book at 11 months out using this year's totals, but that they would simply adjust your points when the right charts come out. Not sure if that's true.

You will choose your itinerary and there are ships that do round-trip. Our first cruise was southbound, Seward to Vancouver, and our second was round-trip in and out of Vancouver. For airfare, a round-trip is much more affordable, and we saw the same ports and did Glacier Bay on both trips. I wouldn't hesitate to do the round-trip again as that flight to Anchorage (even from the West - we're in Salt Lake) and bus ride to the port in Seward made for a L-O-N-G trip.

There's a very nice, lengthy thread that I posted to many times with info and photos that I can't seem to find at the moment. When I do, I'll add a link here.

Found it! Here's the thread.

 

[Toby]

We booked our cruise last October and had no problem getting a 4-person cabin. However, we got wait-listed for the 2nd seating dining. Our waitlist never came through, so dinner was at 5:45. I learned later that a 1000 person religious retreat group booked the entire second seating. That was the only "complaint" I had about the cruise. I think HAL should have told people right up front that we were NEVER going to get second seating, and that this group pretty much had the run of the ship. Jason, the Cruise Director, a 26 yo, told my kids, "oh you should have been on the cruise last week, lots of twenty-somethings - hardly any on our cruise. I have absolutely no problem with any group booked on any cruise, but my kids wanted to meet others their ages..oh well. If we had know up front, we might have booked another week.

Our cruise was out of the port of Seattle with the ship returning to Seattle, so we just got round trip flights there. We went 3 days early to Seattle to sightsee before boarding the ship. We strictly did the Inside Passage trip, as my brother-in-law wanted to see "land" as much as possible!! This was a great introduction trip for him.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Originally posted by WDWguru
Found it!

WDWguru,

Thanks for the link to the other thread. I am learning tons from it. Are your photos still available online to view. I clicked the link to your photos but it is not working now. I would love to see any photos of this trip if possible.

I am also so glad to hear I can book the cruise without the new points schedule being out. I though I would have to wait until they posted the 2005 points. I hope to convince DH this weekend and call MS on Monday.