Borealis Basecamp — Hotel in Alaska

My dad, my husband, and I spent 4 nights at basecamp and one in Fairbanks. Here’s my observations about the whole trip, not just the basecamp.|1. Fairbanks airport has no public wifi. Airport is small, but the whole travel process there was efficient and painless.|2. Not super impressed with Alaska Airlines. Out of 4 flights, 3 of them were delayed. BUT, the actual plane and flight was no more or less uncomfortable than any other flight. And flight attendants were nice.|3. At the very beginning and throughout my planning process for this trip, about a year before we went, I had lots of questions and emailed back and forth with them extensively. They were very helpful and responsive, which I appreciated!|4. Wifi at basecamp was fine, though sometimes a little slow when texting. My dad has a basic galaxy phone and uses AT&T – his phone worked great everywhere. Hubby and I have nice new galaxy phones and use Tello, which piggybacks off of T-mobile – our phones were basically useless everywhere! No google maps, no cell service, no phone calls.|5. We were in igloos. Heater is under the bed and blows out from there. It’s LOUD. Also, the person who sleeps hot should sleep on the side closest to the edge of the igloo, away from heater blowing. The person who sleeps cold should sleep on the other side. Heating the room is a balancing process and quite often you are either a little too hot or a little too chilly. |6. The bed is SOFT. As in soft, squishy, and you sink into it. My husband has back issues and hated it. I like a medium bed so I was a little more ok with it. The bed and bedding is nice and warm, which we appreciated!|7. The bathroom had a real toilet, not a dry flush. They must have updated since some of the older reviews. The bathroom was nice – good towels, plenty of hot water (though they encourage shorter showers and not wasting water), I liked the dispensers in the shower. There was even a little lotion and chapstick, which was much appreciated. As Floridians we are used to hot and humid, so dry and cold left my skin in constant need of moisture and protection.|8. The room has a tea kettle for hot water and a fridge. It’s stocked with teas and hot chocolate packs and you can ask for more. |9. Apparently, two weeks before our arrival they got an unseasonable early snowstorm which dumped a foot of snow. Then a week later they got a more typical 5-6 inches of snow. We rented a car because we wanted to go back and forth to Fairbanks for some sightseeing and dinners. Well, those roads were pretty nerve-wracking! If you aren’t comfortable driving on snow and ice, and you go when that’s likely, just use their shuttle and stay put. Thankfully, my husband was ok with it, but I was a nervous wreck. We did go into Fairbanks twice, but always made sure to be back before dark… and it’s important to note when that is for the time of year you are visiting. |10. We paid for a “professional” photograph of us with the Aurora lights. If you are at all handy with basic photo editing, have a selfie stick or tripod, or even a friend who does amateur photography – you can do without this. He was nice and friendly, but really – I edited the photos we bought on my phone and got better results than him. And my friend who does hobby photography edited them and got WAY better results. So if you can take your own pictures, do it.|11. Northern lights – we were there four nights. First night was a dud, way too cloudy. Nights 2 and 4 were spectacular, amazing, fabulous – everything we hoped for! Night 3 the lights were out faintly and briefly. Photos – we used our galaxy cell phones on “night mode” and took pics from both inside and outside our igloo (it was COLD so we’d take some, go in and warm up for 3 minutes, then go back out – and we very happy with the quality of pictures we got. Video wasn’t good, but we tried because we wanted to capture how they move and pulsate. With my very basic editing tools I could enhance the pics a little and now we have some great shots to remember the lights! |12. Restaurant – We ate in the restaurant one night and the newer “Pub” part one night. I preferred the pub meal and it’s a great alternative to the expensive, reservation-required part of the restaurant. Two nights we had late lunch/early dinner in Fairbanks and then just snacked in the room later. Free breakfast every day was fine. Plenty of options to fill you up. I didn’t like their coffee, but that’s personal preference I’m sure. But two mornings my husband said the coffee was full of grounds, which was yuck! Many reviews say bring snacks, which we did. We didn’t eat half of them, but its good to have them just in case.|13. Activities – We chose not to do the sunset tour and the atv riding that comes with the package and credit that money towards the helicopter ride. It was so cool and wonderful!! I was nervous because I often get motion sickness, but I took my Dramamine and had no issues at all. Reindeer meet and greet was adorable, dogsled experience was unique and cuddling the puppies was the best! Thankfully they give you insulated coveralls to wear for the dogsled part, because 15 degrees is COLD and you are outside for an hour.|14. Weather – Dress for the weather. As a Floridian, I actually had to purchase a real winter coat, warm gloves and socks, long underwear, a balaclava, a beanie, and warm hiking boots. Layering is key, as is keeping your feet and hands warm and dry. I had to laugh at the amount of time we spent getting dressed and undressed with all the layers! We also brought and used those little charcoal activated hand warmers for when we were doing outside things.|15. One last thing – Every staff person we met was great! Shoutout to Micah the helicopter pilot, Willow the dogsled lady, and our restaurant server Eugene. I did not get the names of the omelet guy at breakfast or the reindeer guy, but they were both great too. The activity center staff were very friendly and helpful. The people you meet for vacation packages like this can make or break your overall impression and the people at Borealis Basecamp get it right. |16. One more last thing – speaking of staff people – make sure you have cash on hand to easily tip these people. With room service, shuttles, activities, meals… there’s a lot of tipping going on! They deserve it, so don’t...

Husband and I from LA booked 2 nights directly with the staff over phone as it had been "bucket list" to see the Aurora and when googled and saw Borealis camp, it was perfect! wanting to have this experience as offered in places like Norway or Finland, right here in our own back yard. Articles about them accurately described some of their growing pains as it has only been opened for little over a year, hence understandable. The price per night though was very steep and one would expect best "glamping" experience. I have to applaud the owner, Dariel, for pulling this off. The place is amazing and being in those Domes is like nothing you've ever experienced -- with all of the kinks we had, we would do it all over again, and still recommend. Let me elaborate and I only describe it so that owner's can improve the experience and be even more successful: The reservation process is vague and a bit strange. Though we received an email confirming the reservation, once charged to credit card, there was no invoice detailing the breakdown. I asked for one and was told did not know how to do it, and as it turned out they had charged transportation to the total but I could not tell- they did quickly reversed it. Emaling back would go unanswered or I had to follow over the phone and still not hear back for days. Dariel, the owner, answered at times and he was always very helpful over the phone -- we wanted to know if safe to drive ourselves out there with all the snow and potentially icy roads and he assured us would be fine as long as we drove slowly. It turned out to be the best thing we did. We rented a big all wheel drive suburban with Avis and it was an awesome vehicle. This gave us the freedom to spend time driving around and visiting around Fairbanks prior to heading to the Camp and also buy water, food, provisions, wine- as they do not have these for sale, other than the restaurant on site (which as you've seen per other reviews) is pricey. I shared with the owner that the Ck In process can be quicker. They like to explain several things to you prior to taking you to the Dome which in our case took a long time and we really wanted to get to our Dome and enjoy the beautiful sunset that was already happening. This can be easily achieved by emailing these 'welcome instructions" ahead of time, then only ask if you have questions and proceed with just the absolute necessary to get you checked in.The Aurora... beware.... just know that it turns out what you see with your naked eye is not the amazing hues (as it turns out) only certain cameras can capture... We saw it but it was really muted, yet neighbors around us with good cameras could capture the splendor of the green hues. We were told sometimes if the Aurora is very very strong and under the right conditions you do see it at naked eye with the hues... To me it was still well worth it, but just know it so that you are not disappointed. The iPhone is a disaster to take these pictures. One of the inkeepers uses a Galazy Note and the pictures were amazing; other than bringing a good professional camera with a tripod and know how to use it before hand. They buzz the Domes when there is Aurora so you don't miss it if sleeping, yet we lament we had no Buzz the 1st night then felt really bad when next morning everyone was asking us "did you see the Aurora"? No, we missed it!! But night two, it was there again (again muted..) but we did see it. Sleeping in the Dome looking up at the sky full of stars is amazing regardless! The dog sled was awesome. They have winter gear for guests use which is a big plus.. We had an issue (warming trend) of water seeping to floor due to thawing snow underneath apparently.. and they had to bring towels to wipe out the pools of water.. Remember it is still Glamping and we did take it in good strides...I did share with Dariel who acknowledged they are working these issues and worked resolution with us. All and all, we loved it, it is a unique experience and know that the owners will keep improving and making it better!Wish them much...

Let me start off by saying that the property is very nice and the staff at the restaurant was attentive. Kudos there. The purpose of our stay was to celebrate my birthday which I reserved over 2 years ago to make this experience special and unique. Upon arrival, there was a miscommunication with all teams since I told repeatedly in our chat conversations (Please review communication portal) that we were not doing the dog sledding and instead we were doing the snow machines. Even after numerous times, we received our itinerary with the dog sled scheduled. After we walked into our igloo, we noticed that we had no chairs outside or slippers in the room. It may not sound important but we travelled from Florida and luggage space was a concern and since we knew slippers will be provided, we didn't take any type of footwear for walking inside the igloo. We called to report these issues and we were told that they ran out of slippers and that chairs will be provided but never did. I was expecting better service or at least some level of concern regarding our comfort and trying to fix things but it was a plain 'we don't have more'. This speaks to the level of commitment in checking each of the rooms. During our stay, we were told that housekeeping will be provided and we were counting on it. Nobody ever showed up to clean our room!!.. We reported it twice, once over the phone and once again via text at 12:58 PM. (Check text messages). Both occasions we were told that they will let the housekeeping manager know; however, during our entire stay, we did not get our bed done or new towels/sheets. To top it all off, we had a photography session in which we wanted pictures inside the igloo and of course we couldn't because the bed and the igloo were not clean. We never got our coffee replenished. Up to this point we were disappointed at the service provided and that no one took care of our needs after we raised them twice. On our first night, the lock that opens the igloo with the combination password, broke. We could not get into our igloo after our dinner and we were outside waiting for someone to bring a key to open up the igloo. We were told to keep the key and return it after our checkout but there was no intention in getting it replaced! This was a big hassle since we needed to pull out the key every time we wanted to go in or out. I wish the property would've done something to fix it, instead of giving us a key that we could've easily lost. The biggest disappointment was that our aurora alarm never worked. never. I was able to see the auroras the first night because I was checking the sky and it was odd that we were never notified. The last night of our stay, we were told and guaranteed that someone would call us (Including the photographer) if the auroras were out and guess what? Never happened. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the auroras were out and I rushed to call the front desk and the photographer since we never got a notification, alarm, or knock at the door. Out of all the disappointments, this one really got me in a very bad mood. Nobody knew where our photographer was, after sending radio messages, we were stranded in our igloo with no one to take pictures of us. When we got the photographer to show up in our igloo, we thought that we paid for a service that was just for us, but we found out that the photographer had other igloos as well. This was NOT stated in the description of the service. By the time it got to us, the auroras were not as strong as when I woke up. The idea why we chose Borealis basecamp was so that we could rest and not worry about when and if the auroras would be out because we were going to be notified. We were told that the alarm was broken in our room and that it was now 'fixed' but again, auroras were out and the alarm never went off. Our last day we checked out with a bad taste in our mouth wishing we could talk to someone about our experience but we were not even asked how was your stay? Which led me to write this email.

I emailed this to Borealis twice. They...