Get Ready To Go!

How Do I Reserve My Spot On A Tour With John Hall's ALaska?
What Are the Deposit Requirements?
How Do I Pay For Things On My Trip?
Where and When Do I Embark The Ship?
How Should I Pack For My Trip?
What Are My Dining Options While on Land and On Board The Ships?
What If I Have A Special Diet or Special Needs?
Will I Have Access To Laundry Facilities While On Tour?
What Are The Customary Tipping Procedures?
What is Your Cancellation and Refund Policy?
When Should I Expect My Travel Documents To Arrive?
Do I Need A Passport For Alaska Tours And Cruises?
How Many Suitcases Am I Allowed To Bring?
What Can I Expect on this Kind of Tour? What Should I Bring?

Space on each tour is limited, so please book early. Our price guarantee assures you that you will never pay more than those who book later on. We never conduct "fire sales" at the last minute. If a special deal does become available later, we will extend these deals to you too! Booking early ensures that you will have the best selection of departure dates and cruise cabins.

Reservations may be made directly to John Hall’s Alaska by mail, fax, telephone, in person, or by internet. (800) 325-2270. Fax (651) 345-1230. Alaskan Specialists are available for tour bookings 7:30am-5:30pm M-F and 8am-5pm on Saturday. If you want to call us before or after those times- Feel Free! We forward the phones into our houses and would be happy to answer your questions and give you advice about traveling in Alaska! REALLY!

We recommend reserving your spot on all land and shore excursions before you leave for your trip, as well. You may do this by contacting our office directly. We will add the land and shore excursions to your invoice separately. Should your excursion be cancelled due to weather you will be refunded the price of your excursion. Please use our staff as your personal excursion information resource. We know which tours our guests love and which ones to skip!

To confirm your reservation please send a deposit of $500.00 per person within ten days of your reservation. Your deposit and any money paid toward the balance our your trip is completely refundable up until 75 days prior to the departure date of your tour.
Final payments are due 75 days prior your departure date. (2010 Special Deal: If you make this final payment by check and it totals 75% of your total bill, you will be given a $50pp credit to your account). At this time you would want to consider some type of trip insurance.
Trip insurance would reimburse you for trip cancellation/interruption, medical emergency services, baggage loss or delay or medical assistance while on your Alaska Cruise/Land tour. We recommend CSA Insurance because they offer a consistently high quality product but there are others out there. You may also find www.tripainsurance.com a great place to shop around.

VISA, Mastercard and American Express are widely accepted all over Alaska. Of course, the US dollar is the currency accepted as well. If you would like to do a bit of shopping while in Alaska, we recommend that you plan to use your debit/credit card or bring traveler's checks. It is never a great idea to bring large amounts of cash with you when you travel.

A "no cash" policy is used on board all Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships. You will be asked to sign for all purchases and services provided. At the end of your cruise, you will receive an itemized bill which you may settle with the purser's office. You may use cash, personal check, traveler's checks, American Express, Discover Card, Visa or Mastercard. Currency used aboard all ships is U.S. funds. While on land ATM's are available and credit cards are readily accepted.

On southbound cruises, both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships will sail out of Seward, Alaska. Guests may start boarding the ship at 1pm. Passengers are requested to be on board atleast 90 minutes prior to sailing. Ships sail at 9pm.

On northbound cruises, both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships will sail out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Guests may start boarding the ship at 12pm. Passengers are requested to be on board atleast 90 mintues prior to sailing. Ships sail at 5pm.

Transfers to and from the ship and airport are included when you book a CruiseTour with us. If you have questions as to whether or not you will need to purchase a transfer please contact our office (800) 325-2270.

Alaska is a casual destination. While on land you should never need to bother with anything except casual attire. Sweaters, lightweight jackets, slacks and sport shirts are fine for day wear. Comfortable walking shoes are a must (closed-toes for ladies). You might want to bring along an umbrella and rain hat, and you will recieve a rain resistant windbreaker as part of your tour.

On the cruise portion, you will have formal and dressy-casual nights to plan for. Each evening, the program for the following day will be delivered to your room, announcing that evening's suggested dress. Casual: sports shirts and slacks for men, sundresses or pants for women. Smart Casual:Jacket and ties for men, dresses and pant suites form men. Formal: cocktail dresses or gowns for ladies and tuxedos or business suits suggested for men (jackets and ties required). We respectfully ask that our guests complement their fellow passengers by observing the dress code throughout the evening.

For weather forecasts and average temperatures in Alaska please visit our Map+ Highlights page here..

100% of your meals are covered on your CruiseTours with John Hall's Alaska.
On Land: We have hand picked authentic breakfast, lunch and dinner options for the land portion of your tour. In many cases you will be given a voucher that allows you to pick whatever item you want off of the menu. There is no assigned or requested seating on the land portion of your tour. Please note: Our meals do not include alchoholic beverages.

On the Cruise Ship: With more than 500 different food items on a typical 7-day cruise you will enjoy modern Continental cuisine, regional specialties appropriate to each cruise and traditional favorites. In addition to breakfast, lunch and five course dinner meals you can enjoy afternoon tea, a stir-fry or pasta buffet, an ice cream bar, hot hor'dourves, or late night snacks at the Terrace Grill featuring hamburgers, hot dogs and a taco bar. You may request anytime, first or second sitting and tables for two, four, six or eight. We'll do everything we can to honor your request based on date of booking. Royal Caribbean offers anytime dining. With this, you will have an assigned table and may show up to dinner at anytime during the dinner service. Dining room reservations will be confirmed by the maitre d'hotel, and you'll find a confirmation card in your stateroom.

Normal meal hours in the dining room are:
Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas
Breakfast: Open Seating 8:00 am*
Lunch: Open Seating 12:15 pm*
Dinner: First Seating 6:00 pm, Second Seating 8:30 pm, Anytime dining: 5:15pm until 9:00 pm

Celebrity's Millennium
Breakfast: Open Seating 8:00 am*
Lunch: Open Seating 12:15 pm*
Dinner: First Seating 6:00 pm, Second Seating 8:30 pm, no Anytime Seating Option.
* Breakfast and lunch times may vary depending on port times and activities.

Salt-free, vegetarian, kosher or any other special dietary meals must be requested at the time of booking. Please reconfirm when you board the ship. The Dining Room is totally smoke-free at all times.
Should you need wheelchair assessable rooms or rooms near an elevator, please let us know at the time of booking. Please also let us know if you have a CPAP machine (sleep apnia machine) or refrigerated insulin that must go with you on your trip. Inform us of anything you may need to make your tour the best ever!

Dry cleaning, pressing and shoe-shine services are available on board all Celebrity and Royal Caribbean ships. Washers and dryers for your personal use are also available, both on land and sea. On land, in the larger towns such as Anchorage and Fairbanks you will have time to do laundry. In Denali there will be laundry facilities but you may have limited access to them. If you bring layers you should be able to "recycle" your clothes and have a new look each day and this may help extend your wardrobe.

First of all, tipping should be done at your discretion and should reflect the job performance of your Tour Manager/Cruise Manager. We will only provide suggestions:

On Land: Your tour manager will take care of all included features of the tour. We suggest $7 per person, per day for your Land Tour Manager. Gratuities have already been included for such things as baggage handling, meals, attractions etc. Should you wish to tip over and above, this would be done at your own discretion.

At Sea: We suggest $10.00 per person for your John Hall's Alaska Cruise Manager.

Cruise Ship Tipping Policy: A gratuity of $11.00 per guest per day for dining and stateroom services will be automatically added to your stateroom account on a daily basis. We are confident that you will find the service on board exemplary and, should you wish to make adjustments, you may do so at the end of your cruise by contacting the front office. A 15% service charge will be automatically added to your bar charges and dining room wine account.

If a cancellation is made in writing at least 75 days prior to departure, a full refund will be made. For cancellations made less than 75 days prior to departure, the following per person charges apply: 75-46 days - $450 per person, 45-16 days - 50% of fare; 15 days prior to departure, 100% of fare. In the event of interruption or cancellation of your tour after its commencement, there will be no refunds. Rebooking is subject to availability at that time.

Tour documents, including detailed itinerary with hotel names and phone numbers, luggage tags, airline tickets, and passenger lists will be mailed approximately 14-21days prior to departure. This may be delayed if final payment is not received on time. Our staff checks your documents to make sure that the information contained in them is correct. Please contact us if you find any remaining discrepancies.

When departing the U.S. for Canada , a passport is mandatory and must be carried with you. Beginning January 1, 2008, all travel outside of the US will require a VALID PASSPORT or a VALID PASSPORT CARD. VERY IMPORTANT: Your passport must also be valid for 6 months after your expected re-entry into the United States. Also, the wait for a passport can be two months so you will want to get the process started right away. NOTE: The passport card CANNOT be used for international airline travel. If you are flying international you will need to get a passport book not a card.

Even if you are just going on an Alaska- Seattle to Seattle- cruise you will still be crossing international boundaries by landing in an international British port on some leg of your journey so a passport is required. On our tours that cross into the Yukon Territories, you will also need a passport.

We suggest that you take two suitcases per person on your CruiseTour; one for your better dress clothing on the cruise portion, and the other for clothing on the land portion of your tour. The suitcase for the cruise portion will be left on the motorcoach until you reach your ship. We will deliver, and pick up from your room, one suitcase per person throughout the entire land portion of your tour. Should you mispack and need something out of your ship bag, we can access it at anytime.
Please note: Almost every airline, nowadays, will charge you for checked luggage and oversized or overweight luggage. Please check with your airline for exact information about this and please pack accordingly. We do not like to limit what our guests may bring but the airlines have no problem charging you for their demands.

ON TOUR: Alaska is a very large state and our tours are attraction packed to make sure you get the most out of your vacation. Please expect there to be early mornings and scheduled activities throughout your day, unless otherwise noted as a "time to relax", "reflect" or "on your own time" in your itineraries. In consideration of all tour members, seat rotation will be practiced daily and a no-smoking policy will be enforced on the motorcoach. Frequent stops will be made every two to three hours to accommodate travelers. You will be well fed, you will see a bunch of stuff and you will be tired by the end of the land portion of your trip! HOWEVER, your cruise will be the opposite. You can relax, dine and dance when you want with limited scheduled activities. You will decide if you want to sign up for shore excursions or extend your trip with additional activities. You will also have a Cruise Manager on board to help you with anything that you need.

WHAT TO BRING: Be sure to bring your camera and/or video camera as there are many great photo opportunities. If you have a camera that takes film please bring extra with you because more may not be readily available while on tour. John Hall's Alaska motorcoaches are equipped with DVD burners for those passengers who wish to burn their digital photographs onto DVDs thus freeing up their camera memory for more photos! Remember your battery charger for your video camera and you may want to bring an extra battery. Binoculars are a good idea for wild life viewing. Unlimited water, tea, hot chocolate and coffee will be provided while on board the motorcoach.