Travel Agent Details
About Jeannine Dienst
Testimonials
Jeannine, here are some details about our trip that you may find helpful for others:
Even though we got in at 11 p.m., there was a Royal Caribbean agent at the airport and a shuttle ready to go. Our tour guide had left us a note of greeting and information on our excursions the next day. Cam stayed with the tour all the way to Anchorage as did our tour bus driver. Both gave running commentaries throughout the trip and clear instructions on what to do, where to go, when to be there, etc. Our bags were taken care of from our room to the bus and bus to room at each stop which was wonderful.
No meals are included and there are extra excursions available in Fairbanks and Denali. I don't think RC explained either of those facts.
The two included excursions in Fairbanks were wonderful - river boat cruise and gold mine tour/panning for gold. The hotel room was a suite. We were too tired for any evening excursion.We did hear from the ones who went to the salmon bake that it was not good.
The glass top train to Denali provided excellent scenic views and breakfast on board and drinks (extra) made it fun.
The lodge room in Denali was adequate and the main hall only a short walk away with excellent food and drinks. The nature tour was shortened due to snow the week prior but it was sufficient and informatively presented by park naturalists.
The next day we had signed up for an all -day mountain tour. (Mistake). The school bus on which we rode had small seats and was fully packed. We were on it 8 hours and our men were incredibly uncomfortable. The scenery and commentary was fantastic but the road was narrow and there were no guard rails on the steep sides so i was a nervous wreck. We did see some wildlife - moose, caribou, eagles, a grizzly bear, sheep, squirrels, and lots of birds.
That evening we signed up for the dinner show called Cabin Night which was fantastic. The performers, who also served as wait staff, got the party started before we even entered the lodge by singing, whooping, and hollering. We sat family-style and dined on salmon, ribs, corn, green beans, potatoes, salad, and cobbler, The performance was a sung history of Denali and we thoroughly enjoyed it and they were outstanding.
The next morning we left early for Anchorage and were treated to a great view of Mt. McKinley on the way, which we were told is rare. We had over two hours in Anchorage and had a nice lunch and shopping trip. The tour guide left us to pick up another group at the airport but our bus driver kept up the commentary all the way to Seward. Both she and Cam were great assets to the land tour.
The ship boarding was quick and easy. Our balcony room was lovely. I don't think I'll ever sail again without one. We used www.shoretrips.com for our excursions and gave your name so I hope you received credit for that. We toured a glacier and went whale watching in Juneau, went up into the mountains in Skagway to the summit, and ended up skipping the totem pole trip in Ketchican because we were all aching from walking so much for so many days. The tour guides on both trips were knowledgeable and thorough. The cruise was great, and I do highly recommend people take the 4 day land tour if they really want to see Alaska. We were too early in the season (and too old) for some of the more exciting excursions (river rafting, zip lining, ATV tours) but we still feel as if we now have experienced the real Alaska. The weather was unseasonably warm - we wore coats up on the mountains but we were never cold. Alaskans complained about it being so hot. We were happy.
I have posted an album on my facebook page if you'd like to see any of the pictures. I hope this is helpful to future customers. If there is anything you wish to hear more about, please let me know.
Thanks again,
Hi Jeannine.
The trip was wonderful! We were blessed with incredibly beautiful weather the entire trip. Blue skies. Temperatures generally 50 to 70 degrees. This was the first week of warm weather so everything was still blanketed with snow. It caused them to have to cancel all the water related tours at Denali, but made the views spectacular. We did the Mt McKinley (Denali Mountain) glacier landing and the flight and landing were very fun and the mountain views were stunning. Everyone had warned us we would be lucky if we could see the mountain. We saw it on the train ride on the way to Denali. On the Tundra tour. On a photography tour I took. Of course on the McKinley Glacier Landing tour. And on the bus out of Denali. In other words, it was viewable the entire time we were there. Remarkable!
Holland’s Denali Tundra tour was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend that for anyone. The driver/guide was very knowledgeable and articulate, as well as being a good spotter. The cameras hooked up to the TV screens gave you great views if you couldn’t see them from your side of the bus.
The cruise was great. We never experienced long lines for anything. Had a great views of everything. Food was very good. And thank you very much for the dinner at Pinnacle Grill! We had a very nice evening there – a nice way to end our cruise.
I took formal clothing for formal night, but Howard took only a nice pair of slacks, sports jacket, and mock turtleneck shirt. He was dressed similarly (or nicer) to 80 to 90 percent of the men. So I will never worry about the tux again. I neglected to make reservations for the first big formal night until late and got a 7:45pm reservation. Nothing else open. We went down and checked anyway at about 6:45 and were immediately seated. Maybe just lucky, but it worked out very well.
I overbooked the excursions, so we were on the go every day in port. Two excursions a day is really too much. I won’t do that again (unless it is two trips I just can’t pass up ïŠ). Like in Juneau, we did the wildlife and whale watching in the morning – which was incredible in my opinion. I thought you would see the whales way in a distance, but they were quite close to the boat. We saw Orcas and Humpbacks – including a mother and calf. Then in the afternoon we went on the 5 glacier flightseeing tour – absolutely incredible views. I would do both of those again no matter how tired I was.
While embarkation was absolutely painless, disembarkation was stressful. They were late into port, so we were stressing about whether we would make our flight. We were probably only 30 minutes late leaving, but it seemed much longer. Then you had to wait for the bus to fill up, so stress, stress, stress. But we actually were at the gate with about 30 minutes to spare – and the flight was delayed for an hour ïŠ. So the worrying was all for naught.
Anyway, it was a great trip. Thank you for your advice and help.
Hi Jeannine.
The trip was wonderful! We were blessed with incredibly beautiful weather the entire trip. Blue skies. Temperatures generally 50 to 70 degrees. This was the first week of warm weather so everything was still blanketed with snow. It caused them to have to cancel all the water related tours at Denali, but made the views spectacular. We did the Mt McKinley (Denali Mountain) glacier landing and the flight and landing were very fun and the mountain views were stunning. Everyone had warned us we would be lucky if we could see the mountain. We saw it on the train ride on the way to Denali. On the Tundra tour. On a photography tour I took. Of course on the McKinley Glacier Landing tour. And on the bus out of Denali. In other words, it was viewable the entire time we were there. Remarkable!
Holland’s Denali Tundra tour was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend that for anyone. The driver/guide was very knowledgeable and articulate, as well as being a good spotter. The cameras hooked up to the TV screens gave you great views if you couldn’t see them from your side of the bus.
The cruise was great. We never experienced long lines for anything. Had a great views of everything. Food was very good. And thank you very much for the dinner at Pinnacle Grill! We had a very nice evening there – a nice way to end our cruise.
I took formal clothing for formal night, but Howard took only a nice pair of slacks, sports jacket, and mock turtleneck shirt. He was dressed similarly (or nicer) to 80 to 90 percent of the men. So I will never worry about the tux again. I neglected to make reservations for the first big formal night until late and got a 7:45pm reservation. Nothing else open. We went down and checked anyway at about 6:45 and were immediately seated. Maybe just lucky, but it worked out very well.
I overbooked the excursions, so we were on the go every day in port. Two excursions a day is really too much. I won’t do that again (unless it is two trips I just can’t pass up ïŠ). Like in Juneau, we did the wildlife and whale watching in the morning – which was incredible in my opinion. I thought you would see the whales way in a distance, but they were quite close to the boat. We saw Orcas and Humpbacks – including a mother and calf. Then in the afternoon we went on the 5 glacier flightseeing tour – absolutely incredible views. I would do both of those again no matter how tired I was.
While embarkation was absolutely painless, disembarkation was stressful. They were late into port, so we were stressing about whether we would make our flight. We were probably only 30 minutes late leaving, but it seemed much longer. Then you had to wait for the bus to fill up, so stress, stress, stress. But we actually were at the gate with about 30 minutes to spare – and the flight was delayed for an hour ïŠ. So the worrying was all for naught.
Anyway, it was a great trip. Thank you for your advice and help.
Thank you Jeannine! We had a great trip, each of the ports were great. THANK YOU for the surprise!!! The bottle of wine was wonderful and it was a huge surprise. When we walked into the room and saw it, my first thoughts were, it not our anniversary, or birthdays and could not imagine who it was from. Thank you very much, it was a wonderful surprise and greatly appreciated. Yes, when we get ready for another one, I will definitely call you! Thanks so much!
Sandra
A note of THANKS for the spectacular Chardonnay we received from you.
This was such a shock, Larry & I just looked at each other in stark amazement
when we saw it in our room. We have never had this compliment before and really
appreciate your thoughtfulness. We had a marvelous time on our trip, beautiful weather, good food and friends.
With Sincere Thanks !!!!!!!
Jeannine
Thanks for your e-mail, we are looking forward to the trip. This will be our 2nd on this particular cruise but you can see so much each time you travel.
Will u be handling the cruise ships out of Bayport when they begin? No hurry just know
we would like to take a trip from this port.
Thanks Again you have been especially helpful.
Contact
Jeannine Dienst
Friendswood, TX 77546
Friendswood, TX 77546
