When to book lodging/transportation/tours

[Kelli0927]

Hello! I have just booked a northbound cruise from Vancouver to seward for June 2019. It will be myself and husband (mid 30s) and our son who will be 10 when we travel. We plan on staying in seward for a few days, then will rent a car and make a leisurely drive to Anchorage to fly out on our last day. How far in advance should I book everything. I hear places book fast, and our only option for rental car is Hertz. I find it difficult to book things when I'm not sure about flights, but I don't want to wait too long and have limited options. Thanks!

 

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[CruiserBruce]

Rental cars and hotels can't be booked more than a year prior to end of reservation date (check out date for a hotel). But in most cases, you can book then at no immediate cost, so why wait? You can rebook if the prices go down.

 

Most airlines start booking 330 days out from your return flight date.

 

As to tours...private tours in Alaska start booking pretty early...this fall (occasionally sooner) for next year.

[SuperCrewBear]

In Alaska, most likely the prices won't go down the closer to your date. The sooner you can get things set in place, the better. Don't be disappointed by waiting too late - popular items sell out quickly. In general flights leaving Anchorage for the rest of the USA will leave late at night or very early morning - basically midnight. Not all, but a majority, I'd say. You can do a mock booking for dates similar to what you'll want. That way you can see what the average departure time is to help get an idea of how your last day will play out. Allow plenty of time to get from Seward to Anchorage because you'll see plenty to see along the way - estimate twice what you would a normal trip at home. Once in Anchorage go right downtown to walk around a little - it's a nice city but not hectic and congested like your average large town.

 

Good luck! You'll love Alaska!

[cruiseguy1016]

You probably don't need to book now but you definitely don't want to wait until 2019 to do it. I would start booking things in a month or two. We vacationed in Alaska last year and booked most of our stuff way in advance. We had our car booked 15 months in advance. I heard that supply was limited and that prices tend to go way up the closer you get to your travel dates. We did a 7 day land vacation before our cruise so we needed accommodations in several places. None of the places we stayed at, nor the car rental facility, needed money in advance so it didn't cost us anything to book that far out.

[RHDZ]

Cruiseguy1016- Who did you use for your car rental? We are also going in June 2019.

[cruiseguy1016]

Cruiseguy1016- Who did you use for your car rental? We are also going in June 2019.

 

We flew into Fairbanks to start our land portion. We used Hertz.

[pr0pel]

If you're thinking about an independent glacier landing, let me tell you my experience. We're cruising in mid August and I just booked our helicopter tour last week and got the last 2 seats for the entire day. This is roughly 6 months in advance. Flights, I booked 7 months in advance since fares were low but I'm sure they might get lower with a sale or two.

[RHDZ]

We flew into Fairbanks to start our land portion. We used Hertz.

 

I am only able to look up to March of 2019. Did you call Hertz 1-800 number?

[#1packerfan]

Our trip is at the end of August and I had just about everything booked by Jan 1. We rented a car from Hertz in Anchorage and will be touring for 8 days prior to getting on the ship. A few excursions I had to wait to book, but I knew what I wanted by late last summer so booked as soon as I could. I was afraid if I did not book early I would not get what I wanted after researching forever it seems.

 

We have no excursions off the ship. Either renting a car or we are doing an on our own excursion with a tour company in Icy Straight.

[InternetAgeTraveler]

Our cruise is June 2018 (yay) and we booked last June. We also disembark in Seward and are doing land on our own. 2 couples traveling together.

 

Rental car. In July 2018, Hertz listed cars on their website for this year but at $999 a day. This seemed odd so I called the Seward office directly. They said they hadn't posted their inventory for this year yet. But they gave me a price and took my reservation. Cars eventually listed on Hertz website but slightly more than we were quoted. Price Has gone up since although with 60 days to go, cars are still available.

 

Lodging. This was a bit trickier to book in advance as not all places listed availability. Some didn't even list until the off season. Looking Last year we found quite a few based on the Healy website and online booking sites. One that we liked was already booked up even that far in advance. At this point, rooms are scarce, at least at the online sites.

 

Excursions. We booked independent. We booked them when we decided on them and the websites listed dates. We had most booked by end of the year. Most still have availability but we got times and tours we wanted.

 

Airfare. When these first showed up, they were high but after a few weeks dropped. We checked some of the price prediction websites and watched for good fares and booked once we found "good deals". Since it was a northbound cruise, we booked flights one way. Flight to Vancouver were booked first and from anchorage later. The current prices are about the same or just a bit lower than we booked.

[Tyskie]

We’re going this June -booked rental car last July (Enterprise Anchorage)

 

All excursions during the summer into the fall. Most private- one Princess

 

Lodgings were booked as soon as they took reservations (we’re doing DIY land first)

 

Tweaked a few things in Nov/Dec and ended up changing lodgings in Denali area this March. Very fortunate that we were able to get a place that was more convenient.

 

Recommend early research, early booking even with airlines-prices only seemed to go up. Enjoy!

 

 

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[cruiseguy1016]

I am only able to look up to March of 2019. Did you call Hertz 1-800 number?

 

Nope, I did it all on line. Maybe they changed their criteria so you can only book 12 months in advance.