Alaska- book early!

[RCLcruiser2012]

I do a mock booking a few days a week. We booked in January 2019 for a June 2020 cruise to Alaska on Radiance.  3ppl (2 adults-1child) OV= $3,000 (with insurance-$137)  The price has NEVER gone down once.  Our travel agent said it's a good thing you booked early.  We got a good price.  It's up $750-800 on average weekly.  Balcony....sheesh but I am thankful for an OV.  Bucket list cruise!  I know it's the whole supply and demand but I hate to think what the cost will be late summer for this cruise and even further on down the line. 

Edited May 22, 2019 by RCLcruiser2012
Failed to put ship

[OCSC Mike]

One exception...

 

We did Alaska last summer (beyond amazing, can't wait to go back).  I was checking for the heck of it like you and there were actually really good deals closer to the sail date in the Going, Going, Gone flyer.  The only problem with that, of course, is it's hard to plan a last minute Alaska cruise for most since flights can be limited and/or expensive depending on where you live.

 

Anyway, if you're interested (and have lots of free time), here's my insanely long trip report that includes our 10 days on land traveling from Fairbanks down to Seward before even boarding the Radiance Southbound to Vancouver...

 

Alaska Review: 10-Day DIY on Land & Radiance Southbound, 6/12/18-6/30/18 (VERY LONG)

[island lady]

Last month I booked Radiance August 2020.   GS cabin price I paid was 8023.38   Decided to book another leg for a B2B, and downgrade to JS for both legs to save some bucks.  Upon checking on that ....the JS has gone to 200.00 more than I paid for the GS....and the GS has gone up to 9600!!  Yikes!  😲😵 

[birdylady]

We booked a couple years back for our 2017 Land/sea Alaska trip, just weeks after the sailings opened for booking.  When we booked, there were only a handful of balconies left. SO, if location of your cabin is important (and lets be honest, Alaska HAS to have a cabin with a view), then book ASAP.

Erika

[RCLcruiser2012]

44 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

One exception...

 

We did Alaska last summer (beyond amazing, can't wait to go back).  I was checking for the heck of it like you and there were actually really good deals closer to the sail date in the Going, Going, Gone flyer.  The only problem with that, of course, is it's hard to plan a last minute Alaska cruise for most since flights can be limited and/or expensive depending on where you live.

 

Anyway, if you're interested (and have lots of free time), here's my insanely long trip report that includes our 10 days on land traveling from Fairbanks down to Seward before even boarding the Radiance Southbound to Vancouver...

 

Alaska Review: 10-Day DIY on Land & Radiance Southbound, 6/12/18-6/30/18 (VERY LONG)

Thank you!  I will check out your review!  Before we book flights I will see about deals like the going, going, gone..... Thank you! 

[RCLcruiser2012]

42 minutes ago, island lady said:

Last month I booked Radiance August 2020.   GS cabin price I paid was 8023.38   Decided to book another leg for a B2B, and downgrade to JS for both legs to save some bucks.  Upon checking on that ....the JS has gone to 200.00 more than I paid for the GS....and the GS has gone up to 9600!!  Yikes!  😲😵 

Holy cow!  WOW!  I might secretly be hoping they'll call and say you can pay xyz for a balcony bc we need your OV room. One can hope. LOL 

[ReneeFLL]

Booked almost 2 years ago for this June on the Radiance b2b 7 days each. Snagged jr suite 1100 for about 7000.00 each way.  Decided to cancel several months later and did a TP again last October. Did a 21 day cruise in a GS for 7300.00. Had 2 free round trip tickets from Mike's job to anywhere American flies. We definitely wanted to make the most of them so we chose one of the more expensive flights. Alaska is still on our list to do soon.

[ReneeFLL]

Just now, island lady said:

Last month I booked Radiance August 2020.   GS cabin price I paid was 8023.38   Decided to book another leg for a B2B, and downgrade to JS for both legs to save some bucks.  Upon checking on that ....the JS has gone to 200.00 more than I paid for the GS....and the GS has gone up to 9600!!  Yikes!  😲😵 

 

Hope you stayed in the GS and keep checking the prices which I know you will. Best of luck for getting the GS for a b2b with a good price. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. 😁

[island lady]

16 hours ago, RCLcruiser2012 said:

Holy cow!  WOW!  I might secretly be hoping they'll call and say you can pay xyz for a balcony bc we need your OV room. One can hope. LOL 

 

It's simple supply and demand.  Demand is very high, hence having to book very early, and the reason they can charge so much.  Everything is expensive in Alaska anyway.  They only have 4 months to make money off the tourists there.  😉 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

Hope you stayed in the GS and keep checking the prices which I know you will. Best of luck for getting the GS for a b2b with a good price. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. 😁

 

Thanks!  Yup, I kept the GS for both legs.  Will keep checking prices, but don't really expect a price drop.  Guess we will just have to "suffer" with the GS.  😉 

[JTBCruiser]

On our bucket list for 2021.  Any idea when those prices will be posted? 

[Clarea]

Just now, JTBCruiser said:

On our bucket list for 2021.  Any idea when those prices will be posted? 

 

Sometime between Dec 2019 and April 2020.

[vacationlover_mn]

When I booked a balcony on Radiance, the day bookings opened in 2017, for a 2018 Alaska cruise, the prices for a similar room never went down.

[Zach1213]

We were looking (at Princess) back in January for this May (as in right about now, if not a week or two ago) and it was pretty steep. Checked about two weeks before the cruise started, and it was dirt cheap...like seriously shockingly cheap. We couldn't pull it off because of scheduling, but if we could have...yeah, it was definitely way cheaper. So, I wouldn't say it never goes down, you just need flexibility and a willingness for it not to happen.

[akolasz]

I booked a balcony on Radiance for May 2020 back in November 2018 on the first day Alaska 2020 went on sale. I also booked cruise tour 3B. I check pretty much every day the price and most of the time it is higher however in the past few months I have been able to call 3 times for 3 price drops totaling in about $500 lower then my original price! 

[Saab4444]

If you search for last minute cruises to Alaska for June 2019 you currently find great deals with e.g. HAL, Princess and Celebrity. They all offer  balcony cabins for under US 1.000 per person for 7 days, some offers are even around USD 500!

 

I would never book early again with Royal and their current ridiculous prizing approach!       

[Robinhill]

the going, going gone sale had some interior cabins for 799 interior, 899 oceanview for 7/19/19 and 599 for interior and 699 for 8/2 both on the Radiance!  Sometimes it pays to wait until a few months before

[lovescats5]

We booked our Alaska trip on Ovation for Sept. 2020 in a Grand Suite and the price has gone up over $1000 since we booked.  Wish the rooms we like would go on sale but that never seems to happen.  Oh well.

[JTBCruiser]

Interesting comments and much appreciated.  We always try to book early but could be open to last minute pricing knowing air fare will eat up any discounts.  Since I'm retired and we are empty nesters, this gives us much more flexibility.

[frank808]

On 5/22/2019 at 9:01 AM, island lady said:

Last month I booked Radiance August 2020.   GS cabin price I paid was 8023.38   Decided to book another leg for a B2B, and downgrade to JS for both legs to save some bucks.  Upon checking on that ....the JS has gone to 200.00 more than I paid for the GS....and the GS has gone up to 9600!!  Yikes!  😲😵 

The July prices are even higher.  We booked 2 years out and for 3 of us and a JS was over $8k for one week.  Now I have to admit the star suite was reasonable for 4 adults and 3 children came in at about $17k when we booked.  But just for the 3 of us it was $14k. Couldn't get my brother to split suite with me so we have to "rough" it without a genie.

[dacsmom]

I booked a JS when the itinerary was first released. The price has almost doubled and the ship has been sold out for a while. I usually book early to take advantage of price drops, but not so with this Alaska cruise. Maybe it is because it is the first time for the Ovation in Alaska, but the price has only gone up and up.

[island lady]

57 minutes ago, frank808 said:

The July prices are even higher.  We booked 2 years out and for 3 of us and a JS was over $8k for one week.  Now I have to admit the star suite was reasonable for 4 adults and 3 children came in at about $17k when we booked.  But just for the 3 of us it was $14k. Couldn't get my brother to split suite with me so we have to "rough" it without a genie.

 

Oh no...poor baby...no Genie!!     Looks like it's time to rely on the Golds for you, my fellow Royal DS.  😉 😄 

 

Yeah, I could not believe the price on a JS on our August 2020 Radiance...over 8K.  Yikes!  Glad I booked the GS when I did.  🙂 

Edited May 27, 2019 by island lady

[wgeo]

We booked for June 2019 on the Radiance back in August 2018.  We did get a very large price drop (over 1500) for our extra large oceanview room (forget the exact title - room 8000).  Couldn't believe how incredible the price drop was, a lot of people on my roll call saw decent drops during that sale - can't remember if it was black Friday or just close to then.

 

Of course, not sure what our final price would compare to the opening day prices, but we're happy with the cost.

[tallgirl97]

My parents are treating 17 of us to an Alaskan cruise on Serenade in July 2020. Interior cabins - saving $ for excursions. We booked in January 2019 for about $18k total and are currently down to about $16.5k total. It’s the 4 person cabins that have dropped the most and then the 3 person cabin. My parents’ 2 person cabin, to the best of my recollection, has only gone up.

[frank808]

3 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Oh no...poor baby...no Genie!!     Looks like it's time to rely on the Golds for you, my fellow Royal DS.  😉 😄 

 

Yeah, I could not believe the price on a JS on our August 2020 Radiance...over 8K.  Yikes!  Glad I booked the GS when I did.  🙂 

Yes this would have been a great chance for us to try a star class suite.  Hopefully we will get to try one in the future.

 

Have to resort to what we have been doing every cruise we have been on without a genie. We did have a butler with MSC for a couple of weeks last year.  That was a very nice and unique experience.

 

Hope we get to cruise together one day.  I would like to hear about your experiences with land yacht.  Wife and I are considering doing this in 5 years and seeing the country with it.  Would love to talk to you about the pros and cons of the land yacht life.  

 

Will post a quick report on our Alaska cruises in about 5 weeks.  

Edited May 27, 2019 by frank808