A cautionary tale – be SURE before booking Alaska Cruise Tour

[fdpevey]

Background: My husband, sister, and I are booked on the Princess Denali Explorer Cruise Tour SB4, arriving to overnight in Fairbanks on July 8, then on to one night at the Denali Princess, one night at the McKinley Princess, and one night in Anchorage before embarking on the Crown Princess in Whittier for a 7-day southbound cruise. There are some tours included, and the Princess train. Nice package. We reserved this Cruise Tour the end of March (March 31), got a fine price but nothing special: no OBCs, no covered gratuities, free dinner, or covered drink packages. Just a nice Cruise Tour.

 

About two weeks later (April 15), looking more carefully at options, we thought it might be better to take the EB4 Cruise Tour – which is one night Fairbanks, two nights at Denali Princess, one night at McKinley Princess, and straight to Whittier. I asked our travel agent about changing, she checked with Princess, and the difference in cost would be $1,150 PER PERSON MORE.

 

That’s right, changing to add one night at Denali Princess and subtract one night in Anchorage (and I compared every component side-by-side – that is ALL the difference) would be $2,300 for me and my husband and right around $2,000 for my sister (a single).

 

This makes no sense. None. No one can explain. Travel agent tried. It just is. Needless to say, we did not change.

 

I’ve thought about this for a while, as you can see, but decided to share for those of you considering Cruise Tours – make SURE your first decision is EXACTLY what you want because changing will be cost prohibitive.

 

Having traveled with Princess before, I am confident we will have a wonderful time. I will always wonder if we would have had a better time if we could have made the change, but I will still enjoy my trip. I hope this caution allows others to avoid wondering.

[born2cruize]

Please clarify, I can not find any cruise tour starting with an S. Cruisetours are A - R.

 

Even if you are comparing an E cruisetour with another letter you are comparing Apples to Oranges. There are other factors other than nights at a lodge. Besides 2 nights at Denali is more valuable than (one night Denali and one night Anchorage). In addition transportation costs between the 2 cruisetours are not the same, more than likely because the EB4 is a train from McKinley to Whittier, that leg is more expensive.

[geoherb]

I'm surprised. It may be that you got a great deal on the first cruise tour that was not available on the second. For the dates given, you should have been before the final payment date and able to cancel the first cruise tour without a penalty.

 

If your cruise tour includes the Natural History Tour at Denali, I recommend upgrading to the Tundra Wilderness Tour. It's well worth the additional cost.

Edited June 15, 2014 by geoherb

[donaldsc]

There is a more important reason to be very careful when booking a CruiseTour. I am not saying that the cruise companies lie when describing the tour part of the itinerary but they are very good at making it seem that you are getting more than you actually get.

 

Before you book, read the detailed description very very carefully. Lay out the timeline so that you do not find that you spend more time getting from place to place than seeing things. Check on exactly what you get. Find out if the hotels that you stay at are close to interesting things or isolated so that you have to take cruise company tours so see and thing and remember that the cruise company will control what tour companies are allowed on their property and the cruise company will get probably 50% of whatever you pay the tour vendor.

 

If you are uncertain about anything, get onto CC and ask. The people on CC can give you the real information, not the cruise company's version of the information.

 

DON

[Av8tor]

The advice about being sure what you book is what you actually want applies to ALL travel options, not just Alaska cruise tours...

[Loonbeam]

It's REALLY important to note that the tours are priced independently of one another based on supply and demand. If there is less demand for tour X, even if it is almost exactly the same as tour Y, the two can be WILDLY different in price.

 

Even if you had looked at EB4 originally, it may have been significantly more than your current price at that time.

 

Here's an example - a couple of years ago, I got a non-binding quote for a package I was interested in. When I called back, the price had almost doubled. When I inquired as to why, I was told a group had booked 30 of the 40 some slots and thus the computer adjusted the price to reflect less seats available. My options became to wait to see if they didn't sell and the price went down or take the same package 3 days later that was the original quote price because only 7 slots were booked. This is why in almost any area where fares are refundable, it makes sense to book early as possible, as you can take advantage of downward movements without being stuck by upward ones.

[Pam in CA]

It's REALLY important to note that the tours are priced independently of one another based on supply and demand. If there is less demand for tour X, even if it is almost exactly the same as tour Y, the two can be WILDLY different in price.

 

Even if you had looked at EB4 originally, it may have been significantly more than your current price at that time.

I agree 100%. Each cruisetour is separate and priced differently. Not only are cruisetour prices different but when booking a new cruisetour, you'd pay the current rate, not the rate at the time you booked your original cruisetour. Your TA should have known this and been able to explain that in order to change cruisetours, the first has to be canceled and the second booked. As the tour sells out, prices go up, not down.

 

Sounds like you need a new/better TA.

[fdpevey]

All of you offer very good points - and, as I travel, I learn more each time. It's the primary reason I shared - to help the next person think about things I did not.

 

I am sure, as I said before, it will be a wonderful experience.

[deise17311]

We had a celebrity cruise canceled last year and many people on cruise tours got screwed...they would not refund that portion and the cruise price was very low, not compatible to cruise only- for instance we paid $1700 pp and cruise tour folks were only being refunded $900 pp...they claimed that you could still go on the tour even though many were stranded etc...not sure how princess works but I would imagine the same...insurance was null as the tour part were willing to go...ship had broken down...

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[we3peas]

We originally booked a cruisetour but when I really crunched the numbers and read people's reports we decided to go it on our own. I definitely would do it again this way. The price was way too high on the cruisetour and the schedule was not going to suit us at all.

 

Now I always make sure I read everything closely and then check it here on CC before booking.

[geoherb]

Our cruise tour was much cheaper than trying to do it on our own. There are still bargains out there for them.

[RDC1]

We did a cruise tour last year. The price was lower then doing the same trip on our own. However, if we were to do another one we would do it using the option where you stay at the Princess lodges, but travel would be via rental car, instead of by bus or train. We enjoyed the Princess lodges, but they tend to be remote and too much is driven by the bus/train schedules

[donaldsc]

We did a cruise tour last year. The price was lower then doing the same trip on our own. However, if we were to do another one we would do it using the option where you stay at the Princess lodges, but travel would be via rental car, instead of by bus or train. We enjoyed the Princess lodges, but they tend to be remote and too much is driven by the bus/train schedules

 

If you were planning a DIY which is wha tyou should do (I can not understand why people take the tour parts of Cruise Tours but that is another issue), why in the world would you stay at Princess Lodges? There are so many wonderful B&Bs in AK which are probably cheaper than Princess Lodges, they are in better locations, and you get to meet and talk with a wide variety of people including real Alaskans. We did 2 1/2 months in AK a few years ago and stayed in absolutely wonderful B&Bs most of the time.

 

DON

[RDC1]

If you were planning a DIY which is wha tyou should do (I can not understand why people take the tour parts of Cruise Tours but that is another issue), why in the world would you stay at Princess Lodges? There are so many wonderful B&Bs in AK which are probably cheaper than Princess Lodges, they are in better locations, and you get to meet and talk with a wide variety of people including real Alaskans. We did 2 1/2 months in AK a few years ago and stayed in absolutely wonderful B&Bs most of the time.

 

DON

 

We have spent a lot of time in Alaska (my wife's brother lives there). We do like the Princess Lodges in the areas they are in. While there are good B&B's there are also some not so good. The per night rate for the Princess lodges was pretty reasonable for summer season Alaska especially around Denali. The price for the Captain Cook in Anchorage was also a good deal.

[caribill]

Also realize that when you book a cruisetour, if the price of the cabin category you booked goes down, chances are that reduction will not apply to your cruisetour.

[geoherb]

If you were planning a DIY which is what you should do (I can not understand why people take the tour parts of Cruise Tours but that is another issue), why in the world would you stay at Princess Lodges?

I understand why people people book the cruise tours--convenience. We could have done things on our own--but not as inexpensively as going through Princess because of the last-minute bargain we got--less than $1,400 per person for the 12-night trip including taxes, fees, upgrade to Tundra Wilderness Tour, and insurance. That price included five nights in the Princess lodges and the hotel in Anchorage, the riverboat excursion and gold mining excursion in Fairbanks, the train trip to Denali, the bus transportation from there to the McKinley Lodge and from the lodge to Anchorage and from Anchorage to the port, and the visit to the wildlife rehab center.

 

I'd love to go back on our own for an extended trip, but we won't be able to cover as much of the state on our own and it's going to cost us a lot more unless we rough it part of the time.

[Loonbeam]

In our case, it was simply easier. We did it knowing their were tradeoffs in terms of flexibility and cost, but the flip side is we knew we were in the hands of an established operation and didn't have to worry about most of the details, and it worked fine for us.

 

While I am completely capable of planning my own trip, sometimes its nice to go the package route.

 

If you were planning a DIY which is wha tyou should do (I can not understand why people take the tour parts of Cruise Tours but that is another issue), why in the world would you stay at Princess Lodges? There are so many wonderful B&Bs in AK which are probably cheaper than Princess Lodges, they are in better locations, and you get to meet and talk with a wide variety of people including real Alaskans. We did 2 1/2 months in AK a few years ago and stayed in absolutely wonderful B&Bs most of the time.

 

DON

[we3peas]

And in our case if I don't feel like being packed in with 80 of my not so close friends and have to constantly wait on others when I could be actually doing something is when I book on my own.

 

We owned an RV for 10 years and totally loved it. Stopped when we wanted to. If we came upon something that we wanted to see or experience we did. No schedules, no hurry up and wait for others. So seeing Alaska like we did was great.

 

We recently went on the RT Panama Canal cruise out of FLL. The worst part of the trip was having to go through Princess to get off in Gatun Lake. But there was no way around it because of the government stipulations I was told. Next time I would stay on the ship instead and enjoy the emptiness and experience the return trip.

 

Each has their own way and I know we saved $$$$ on doing what WE wanted to do vs. what Princess offered.

[likeadisguise]

I agree 100%. Each cruisetour is separate and priced differently. Not only are cruisetour prices different but when booking a new cruisetour, you'd pay the current rate, not the rate at the time you booked your original cruisetour. Your TA should have known this and been able to explain that in order to change cruisetours, the first has to be canceled and the second booked. As the tour sells out, prices go up, not down.

 

Sounds like you need a new/better TA.

Yes, exactly. You can't just mix and match the land and sea portions -- a certain number of cabins on each sailing are alotted to each cruisetour.

 

And the promo you had on your "S" tour (which is exclusive to a particular travel agency whose name consists of only vowels) would certainly not apply to your new selection, at the height of the Alaska season, this close to sailing.

[caribill]

And in our case if I don't feel like being packed in with 80 of my not so close friends and have to constantly wait on others when I could be actually doing something is when I book on my own.

 

Our Connoisseur tour group had only about 36 people in it.