Lodge reservation not honored: Fairbanks

On my recent cruise/land tour to Alaska, I was shocked to learn that the two nights I had paid for at the Princess Fairbanks Riverside Lodge was shortened to one night.

We arrived Monday at 2 pm on the Princess coach from their Denali lodge. Our reservations were for Monday and Tuesday night.

On Tuesday, we booked an 8-hour Princess-hosted excursion starting at 8 am. Our flight on Wednesday departed Fairbanks at 1:30 am (grueling but very common in Fairbanks). The info packet we received told us to have our luggage outside our door on Tuesday before our 8 am excursion. We thought this was a mistake (we would have plenty of time to pack on Tuesday evening for our Wednesday flight) so we went to the front desk to clarify.

The staff at the front desk, previously friendly and welcoming, got immediately defensive and told us to speak with the excursion desk. We went to the excursion desk (always very very nice) who told us it was a front desk issue. We went back to the front desk who finally told us we could only stay on Monday night. We showed them our invoice showing two nights paid (Monday and Tuesday) and they insisted we vacant the room by 11 am Tuesday. We asked to pay again for a room for Tuesday night (we'd sort out the reservation confusion later) and was told the hotel was sold out for Tuesday.

We asked where guests with a early morning flight where supposed to go between 4 pm and midnight? They told us to sit in the "hospitality lounge" ... a dimly lit greige 16x12' space with two loveseats (strategically too short for anyone to lie down) and two long tables. I can't imagine 30 people, who have been up since 7 am, huddled in there for eight hours. It was the antithesis of hospitality.

Luckily, we managed to find a hotel room elsewhere for Tuesday night under $600. Fairbanks has limited hotel options and, in cruise season, what should be a $199 hotel anywhere else becomes costly. Even the Princess lodge, which looks like a 30 year old Days Inn, was $349 a night.

So after our excursion, we had to get an Uber, transfer our luggage to the new hotel and then pay for an airport transportation because we could no longer use the Princess shuttle that was included in our paid package.

When transferring our luggage, I stopped by the front desk again to try and get a refund for the night I paid for but couldn't use. I was told that the staff at the lodge can't even make or adjust reservations at all. That can only be done by calling the Princess 800 number. The front desk staff is only there to welcome guests as they arrive, answer general questions, and arrange luggage storage. So, I ended up contacting my travel agent. Princess responded that they are working through a backlog of complaints and would need more time to review.

Bottomline: If you are travelling with little kids or seniors, please reconsider the Fairbanks leg of a Princess land tour. After a long day, you might not have a room for them to sleep or decompress at night!