Hal Bus Tansfers Anc to Seward?

[John]

Can any of you experienced Hal Alaska cruisers tell me how the bus transfer works from Anc - Seward? Do they pick you up by bus or van, take over your luggage and take you to convention center first for processing or consolidation? Do the buses to Seward leave on the half hour or hour most of the day?There must be many buses since most fly in to Anc. We have an 8 pm sailing and wonder what time we would be able to get on the ship? 4,4:30, 5 ? When I called Hal, they weren't particularly helpful or specific. We may have to drive back from Denali on our cruise day morning in order to maximize denali and don't want to cut it too close to meet the Hal people at the airport. Thanks for all the advice as always. This portion of the message board is one of the best I have found on any site! Great work!

[Karen]

I never take the bus transfers, BUT I wouldn't consider the drive back from Denali Park- it is a 5+ hour drive and with a car rental return you would have to leave awful early. Instead, consider driving to Talkeetna and overnight there- then it's just 2 hours to Anchorage. I have seen buses leave early afternoon but perhaps if you try to contact HAL again- maybe Alaska cruisetour information operator would have more information.