Help me with Alaska 2015

[loxley]

We will be planning a family cruise to Alaska in 2015 during summer break and a couple of the families are going to need to be going on the cheap and that is where I am unsure what to tell them.

 

It has been agreed we will keep excursions to a min but do want to salmon fish and gold mine and maybe do the train ride.

 

Everyone does have a passport so we do not need to worry about that.

 

I haven't kept up with Alaskian cruises because I never thought it would happen as a family where I would need to take in several considerations.

 

I assume for carnival they will still be using the miracle?

 

I have been reading about the 4k rooms but we will also have early saver and I know that cat is limited.

 

We will definately be doing roundtrip Seattle because of flying southwest. I have never flown to port because I live in new orleans so that will be new.

 

Any info you have would be a great help. I will be reading reviews as they come in this summer but any bargain tips would be esp appreciated. We are thinking this may be be our mothers last cruise and she has always wanted to see Alaska. If we do 2015 that gives family a year to save, I am just not sure what kind of ballpark figure we will be looking at on the low end.

[Tapi]

Feel free to read my review below. We really did Alaska on the cheap and had an absolutely wonderful time. In fact, our Alaska cruise ended up costing about the same as our 4 night cruise to the Bahamas on Royal this upcoming summer! :eek:

 

We also flew on Southwest (It was cheapest. Airfare from Atlanta had been hovering in the $600's on other airlines, but we finally found tickets for around $250pp). Southwest is far from being my favorite airline (their schedules suck, they were late, and they permanently lost one of our bags), but hey! we saved a lot of money on airfare :D. In their defense, they did reimburse us generously for the contents of our lost bag, everything that we had to buy in Seattle, plus they gave us extra money for our trouble. By the way, GET TRAVEL INSURANCE! Thanks to it, we walked away with almost $4,000 in reimbursement money (partly from Southwest's compensation and partly from the insurance claim).

 

We did a lot of research on Trip Advisor about what to do at each port and did most of it on our own. For example, we took the Glacier Express bus to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau ($8), hiked through the Sitka National Forest (free) and visited the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka ($12), did a land and sea tour in Ketchikan ($49) and took a taxi in Victoria ($7) and walked from the Parliament along the waterfront to the Fairmont, and had dinner at one of the restaurants downtown.

 

The BEST piece of advice I can give you is that, even though Carnival is a logical choice in the Caribbean, it is NOT in Alaska. Because they only have ONE ship there, their pricing actually tends to be the same if not higher than other cruise lines, and price drops close to sailing or special deals are almost non existent on them. Other cruise lines like Princess and Holland have 6-8 ships in Alaska every season and you're very likely to see price drops or special deals. For us, we booked with Holland America in big part because they offered a kids sail free promotion for their Alaska sailings, so our kids paid only taxes. Also, we had booked an oceanview stateroom on deck 1 but, just a few days before departure, prices dropped and we were able to upgrade to a balcony stateroom for free, plus they gave us an onboard credit! :) (no need for Early Saver). I monitored prices like a hawk even after we booked, and Carnival would've cost us a good $1,000 for a less desirable itinerary.

 

Speaking of, Carnival's itinerary is not the best, with a midweek departure, and only visiting Tracy Arm on most sailings (a narrow fjord, with a glacier at the end which, most of the time, the ship can't reach so you won't even see it). I recommend that you look at cruise lines that have a permit to visit Glacier Bay (without a doubt, the highlight of an Alaska cruise). The views are jaw dropping and you'll get to see several glaciers from a few hundred feet away, including the impressive Margerie Glacier. Had we done the Carnival itinerary, we would've also missed another highlight of our cruise, the Russian influenced town of Sitka. The views here were beyond amazing. Also, having a Saturday departure made it much easier to take time off work. Carnival's midweek departure would've meant having to take more time away from work (and loose pay in the process).

 

As mentioned above, look at more established and well known cruise lines in Alaska. If you'll only do this cruise once in your life, you want to do it right. Carnival is really the underdog in Alaska.

 

 

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Edited May 12, 2014 by Tapi

[GatorGirl57]

I very much agree with the above poster. I just booked Alaska for 2015 and went with Holland America - they have some amazing rates for inside rooms too. Maybe some of the family can get an inside? That will help tremendously with cost. Carnival has not yet posted for 2015, but everyone else has.

[Kamloops50]

Feel free to read my review below. We really did Alaska on the cheap and had an absolutely wonderful time. In fact, our Alaska cruise ended up costing about the same as our 4 night cruise to the Bahamas on Royal this upcoming summer! :eek:

 

We also flew on Southwest (It was cheapest. Airfare from Atlanta had been hovering in the $600's on other airlines, but we finally found tickets for around $250pp). Southwest is far from being my favorite airline (their schedules suck, they were late, and they permanently lost one of our bags), but hey! we saved a lot of money on airfare :D. In their defense, they did reimburse us generously for the contents of our lost bag, everything that we had to buy in Seattle, plus they gave us extra money for our trouble. By the way, GET TRAVEL INSURANCE! Thanks to it, we walked away with almost $4,000 in reimbursement money (partly from Southwest's compensation and partly from the insurance claim).

 

We did a lot of research on Trip Advisor about what to do at each port and did most of it on our own. For example, we took the Glacier Express bus to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau ($8), hiked through the Sitka National Forest (free) and visited the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka ($12), did a land and sea tour in Ketchikan ($49) and took a taxi in Victoria ($7) and walked from the Parliament along the waterfront to the Fairmont, and had dinner at one of the restaurants downtown.

 

The BEST piece of advice I can give you is that, even though Carnival is a logical choice in the Caribbean, it is NOT in Alaska. Because they only have ONE ship there, their pricing actually tends to be the same if not higher than other cruise lines, and price drops close to sailing or special deals are almost non existent on them. Other cruise lines like Princess and Holland have 6-8 ships in Alaska every season and you're very likely to see price drops or special deals. For us, we booked with Holland America in big part because they offered a kids sail free promotion for their Alaska sailings, so our kids paid only taxes. Also, we had booked an oceanview stateroom on deck 1 but, just a few days before departure, prices dropped and we were able to upgrade to a balcony stateroom for free, plus they gave us an onboard credit! :) (no need for Early Saver). I monitored prices like a hawk even after we booked, and Carnival would've cost us a good $1,000 for a less desirable itinerary.

 

Speaking of, Carnival's itinerary is not the best, with a midweek departure, and only visiting Tracy Arm on most sailings (a narrow fjord, with a glacier at the end which, most of the time, the ship can't reach so you won't even see it). I recommend that you look at cruise lines that have a permit to visit Glacier Bay (without a doubt, the highlight of an Alaska cruise). The views are jaw dropping and you'll get to see several glaciers from a few hundred feet away, including the impressive Margerie Glacier. Had we done the Carnival itinerary, we would've also missed another highlight of our cruise, the Russian influenced town of Sitka. The views here were beyond amazing. Also, having a Saturday departure made it much easier to take time off work. Carnival's midweek departure would've meant having to take more time away from work (and loose pay in the process).

 

As mentioned above, look at more established and well known cruise lines in Alaska. If you'll only do this cruise once in your life, you want to do it right. Carnival is really the underdog in Alaska.

 

 

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I agree with the answer. Princess or Holland are probably better than Carnival in Alaska . You could also consider Celebrity or NCL from Seattle as well . Both of these are mid week departures . Both HAL and Princess normally sail on Say or Sunday . HAL's Statendam sails mid week because it's doing 14 cruises all the way to Anchorage.

[loxley]

OK, I have never done HAL. So we could get price drops closer to sailing?

 

I remember last year getting some nice pricing in Nov for alaska on HAL. If we booked now, could I get the price drops?

 

I have everyone looking at schedules of school, ball, and whatever they can think of so we can pin down a date in the next couple of weeks. Well they actually have until july 4th to get it to me because that will be our next get together.

 

I will probably get an aft wrap so I guess that could be headquarters.

[GatorGirl57]

Until the final payment date, I have been told that HAL will either reduce the bill you have to pay on the final payment date, give OBC, or give upgrades. They don't have anything like early saver.

[can't hardly wait]

I did Carnival Miracle to Alaska in 2013 along with my sisters. I booked Early Saver, a 4K cabin, and ended up with about $700 in price drops. I was solo in my cabin and paid under $1,500. My 3 sisters shared an obstructed view and paid $700 each after price drops. I say be ready to book as soon as the dates are available to get your choice of cabins.

 

We did the train in Skagway and it was a highlight for me. The day cruising Tracy Arm Fjord was also exceptional. In Juneau two of us had a helicopter tour booked but it was canceled due to fog, the tram didn't quite make up for it, but was alot of fun.

 

I wasn't sold on Alaska until I went, only going to cruise with my siblings. But now I can say I will be going again.

 

We will be planning a family cruise to Alaska in 2015 during summer break and a couple of the families are going to need to be going on the cheap and that is where I am unsure what to tell them.

 

It has been agreed we will keep excursions to a min but do want to salmon fish and gold mine and maybe do the train ride.

 

Everyone does have a passport so we do not need to worry about that.

 

I haven't kept up with Alaskian cruises because I never thought it would happen as a family where I would need to take in several considerations.

 

I assume for carnival they will still be using the miracle?

 

I have been reading about the 4k rooms but we will also have early saver and I know that cat is limited.

 

We will definately be doing roundtrip Seattle because of flying southwest. I have never flown to port because I live in new orleans so that will be new.

 

Any info you have would be a great help. I will be reading reviews as they come in this summer but any bargain tips would be esp appreciated. We are thinking this may be be our mothers last cruise and she has always wanted to see Alaska. If we do 2015 that gives family a year to save, I am just not sure what kind of ballpark figure we will be looking at on the low end.

[Tapi]

OK, I have never done HAL. So we could get price drops closer to sailing?

 

I will probably get an aft wrap so I guess that could be headquarters.

 

 

Our experience with HAL was very positive. We took advantage of several small price drops before final payment. Then, the day AFTER final payment, there was a huge price drop. I called and they honored it! Then, 3 days before sailing, some balconies for 4 passengers became available at a lower price than we had paid for our oceanview, so they upgraded us and gave us an OBC. :D As someone said before, they don't have a special Early Saver rate or other tricky/gimmicky rates. And they may not advertise certain promotions like Carnival does. In fact, I learned that the 3rd and 4th passenger in our stateroom would be sailing for free when I went through the booking process and saw the price breakdown at the end. (I actually did it several times because I couldn't believe that we were being charged $0 for each child).

 

My parents booked a category SZ stateroom, which are the suites that jut out midship at an angle, which give you a side and aft view. It didn't cost much more than a standard balcony and it was HUGE. The balcony could fit all 14 family members. It was our "party central" since the other people in our group booked standard staterooms.

 

Another HUGE piece of advice: Shop around for different TA's. Unlike Carnival where the cruise fares are similar whether your book through them or a TA, HAL's pricing varies wildly from one TA to another. They offer preferential pricing to some TA's, so it pays to price out different sites. Unfortunately Cruise Critic doesn't allow me to tell you which one we used, but we found it through a site where different TA's compete. It allowed us to save around $700 over the pricing on the HAL website.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited May 12, 2014 by Tapi

[loxley]

All good things to know. I have been poking around HALs website which my computer does not like at all and it is very confusing. I am not even sure I could look for price drops.

 

I have noticed the prices for next year are about $500 more per person than what they are going for right now. I am going to keep researching and check out NCL too.

 

I have worked in alaska but I was in a tiny place with nothing but snow and completely flat. We had a couple of polar bears show up in town. They fire a warning shot and you have to stay inside until the ok to go shots are fired. So I am looking forward to the cruise.

[Crew News]

We will be planning a family cruise to Alaska in 2015 during summer break and a couple of the families are going to need to be going on the cheap and that is where I am unsure what to tell them.

 

I assume for carnival they will still be using the miracle?

 

I have been reading about the 4k rooms but we will also have early saver and I know that cat is limited.

 

We will definately be doing roundtrip Seattle because of flying southwest. I have never flown to port because I live in new orleans so that will be new.

Do not overlook cruising out of Vancouver.

 

We fly Southwest Airlines to Seattle, rent a car at the airport, drive to Vancouver (4 hours), and drop the car off at a local drop off four blocks from the Canada Place Cruise Terminal. Same for return trip to Seattle for a late afternoon flight back home.

 

Minivan cost us $122 one way and allowed us to stock up on soft drinks, liquid toiletries that we left at home because of their weight, and a chance to see some beautiful scenery.

 

Our Holland America Personal Cruise Consultant gives us a free hotel night before the cruise if we are in a suite. The hotel Pan Pacific is an elevator ride down to the cruise terminal.

[rjeffler]

I cannot say I've done this on the 'cheap' but I have saved a TON of money buy using Frequent Flyer miles and credit card points. I started planning my trip (06/06/14) last February. I have been trying to get every coupon and reduction I could. I even amended my rental car in Anchorage again today for another $25 savings.

 

We used Costco travel for the car rentals. Amazingly enough, they were always cheaper than any other place/coupon I could find. You do have to be a member though!

 

I also joined Groupon in all of the cities I am going to visit. Quite a few nice offers have come up. Even Seavey's Ididaride had a buy 1 get 1 a few weeks ago!

 

As for the cruise line, I'm a Platinum cruiser with Carnival and even I choose Royal Carribean for Alaska! I really wanted to take advantage of Vancouver again, though as we did it for 2 days a few years ago and loved it!

 

Check out the link in my signature. It has all of my pre-planning. I have 17 days to wait until we leave and I'll be sure to finish my journalling while I'm on the plane on my return home!

[LEtue]

You may also want to consider RCCL. I have cruised on the HAL Oosterdam once and with Princess 3 times in Alaska, the Island (NB), Sapphire (SB) and Golden (RT SEA) and loved them all.

 

On some of their 2015 itineraries the port times weren't long enough for my liking though. So, I took advantage of the great pricing on the Radiance OTS. You won't get to Glacier Bay - just Hubbard Glacier but it is still worth looking at. I needed a full day in Ketchikan to do the Anan Creek bear trip with Island Wings so the choices became very limited.....

 

Consider what you want to do in the ports and decide what works best for you. For me port times are very important but if cruising and scenery is your priority - then your choice may be different. You can't go wrong on Princess either. Have fun choosing and planning :D