Just booked first solo cruise: Island to Alaska and back

[geoherb]

I just booked my first solo cruise on the Island Princess to Alaska and back. DH has to work this summer. Princess has some great last-minute deals for solo cruises on the Island Princess--not the usual charging double. The roll call threads for both cruises are pretty sparse. Perhaps they'll pick up as we get closer. 

[Colo Cruiser]

29 minutes ago, geoherb said:

I just booked my first solo cruise on the Island Princess to Alaska and back. DH has to work this summer. Princess has some great last-minute deals for solo cruises on the Island Princess--not the usual charging double. The roll call threads for both cruises are pretty sparse. Perhaps they'll pick up as we get closer. 

Congrats on the booking.

2020?

[geoherb]

No. Next month. I leave in 24 days. I've been to all the ports before except Icy Strait Point. My prime motivation is to go to relax on the ship and enjoy the time in Glacier Bay, at Hubbard Glacier, and in College Fjord especially. I'm not planning on any shore excursions other than just walking around the towns.

[Crystal04]

I booked a solo trip to Alaska in July on Ruby. It will be my first time in Alaska.  I typically stick to the warmer climates so I'm a little nervous about it.  I think this will be a once in a lifetime destination that I won't want to go back to but at least I can say I have been there.

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, Crystal04 said:

I booked a solo trip to Alaska in July on Ruby. It will be my first time in Alaska.  I typically stick to the warmer climates so I'm a little nervous about it.  I think this will be a once in a lifetime destination that I won't want to go back to but at least I can say I have been there.

I never thought I would like Alaska. It turns out, I much prefer it to the Caribbean.

[geoherb]

13 minutes ago, Crystal04 said:

I booked a solo trip to Alaska in July on Ruby. It will be my first time in Alaska.  I typically stick to the warmer climates so I'm a little nervous about it.  I think this will be a once in a lifetime destination that I won't want to go back to but at least I can say I have been there.

 

While I don't see myself becoming "Budget Queen" (a frequent poster on the Alaska board), I'd love to go back to Alaska as often as possible. These will be my fourth and fifth Alaskan cruises. I've been to all the ports before except for Icy Strait Point. DH doesn't love it as much as I do, which is why I don't feel quite so guilty about leaving him at home.

[BarbinMich]

14 hours ago, geoherb said:

No. Next month. I leave in 24 days. I've been to all the ports before except Icy Strait Point. My prime motivation is to go to relax on the ship and enjoy the time in Glacier Bay, at Hubbard Glacier, and in College Fjord especially. I'm not planning on any shore excursions other than just walking around the towns.

That's a wonderful itinerary!  Didn't know it existed.  We've been to all three of the "glacier" places, but had to do it on three separate cruises!  And we've never been to Icy Strait Point, but have heard wonderful things about it.  Have a great cruise.

Edited May 26, 2019 by BarbinMich

[Coral]

I know you are not into tours on this trip - but if you have a long day in Juneau (usually NB) - the Tracy Arm trip with AdventureBound is worth it and not that pricey (in Alaska terms).

[geoherb]

3 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

That's a wonderful itinerary!  Didn't know it existed.  We've been to all three of the "glacier" places, but had to do it on three separate cruises!  And we've never been to Icy Strait Point, but have heard wonderful things about it.  Have a great cruise.

 

It's only because I'm taking the two cruises back to back. We went to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay on our southbound cruise a few years ago. I'm hoping I have better weather for glacier viewing on at least one of these cruises.

 

 

[TM]

We did this same trip on the Island last summer.  If you haven;t already done it I would suggest taking the 26 glacier cruise out of Whittier on the turnaround day.  You can book this directly with the vendor for a cheaper price than through Princess.  You get on that boat right next to where the Island will dock.  We got lucky last year and had spectacular sunny days in Glacier Bay and College Fjord.  

[kubies]

How/where did you find out about the solo special to Alaska?  Should I just contact my TA or Princess directly?

 

[geoherb]

6 hours ago, kubies said:

How/where did you find out about the solo special to Alaska?  Should I just contact my TA or Princess directly?

 

 

I found out about it on a travel agency website that has one page devoted to cruises with low single supplements. The Princess website also has the low single supplement show up when you go to book one person in a cabin on the Island Princess but not as low a price as that large travel agency. For instance, the northbound cruise on June 19 shows up on the Princess website at $588 per person double occupancy in an inside and $735 for a single, which is a lot better than paying $588 x 2 = $1,174. (Those are the prices without taxes and fees.)

 

The problem with the Princess website is that the default pricing that shows up is always per person based on double occupancy. You have to start the booking process and change the number of people from two to one to see what the price for a single person will be. 

So I would suggest contacting your TA. The price you get from your TA should never be more than the price directly through Princess. Each cruise also came with $100 OBC (which was a surprise that wasn't mentioned on the travel agency's website but I did find out from the travel agent) plus I'll get my shareholder credit, $25 for using future cruise deposits, and my loyalty OBC.

[kubies]

Thanks Geoherb.  Will do😎

[geoherb]

I woke up to the good news that I've cleared the waitlist for second seating traditional dining on the first cruise and moved from #11 to #1 on the waitlist for the second. I'm sure I'll make it. The last time we did back-to-back cruises, though, we did not clear the waitlist for traditional for the second cruise. Our headwaiter asked during the middle of the cruise if we liked our waiters. We got assigned back to the same table even though the cruise personalizer still showed us way down on the waitlist.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Sounds like a lovely relaxing trip.  And with the heat and lack of rain we are experiencing now in NC, a cool weather vacation sounds divine!! 

[geoherb]

I cleared the waitlist for traditional dining on the second cruise. My shareholder onboard credit hasn't shown up yet. I faxed in my info on Memorial Day. Perhaps they have a lot of requests from over the weekend that they're still catching up with. I hope it shows up soon so I can book an excursion for Whittier.

[CruzinNoony]

We are doing the same B2B on the Island July 31.  Are you going to book the 26 glacier cruise in Whittier?  If so, you can apply for the "best price guarantee".  Phillips cruises uses the same boat as Princess.  This will give you an additional $23.10 in OBC.

[geoherb]

Thanks. I was thinking of doing this since another thread was talking about the best price guarantee. I'm still waiting for my shareholder credit to show up before booking this excursion.

[Lucky TGO]

On 5/25/2019 at 9:30 PM, geoherb said:

I just booked my first solo cruise on the Island Princess to Alaska and back. DH has to work this summer. Princess has some great last-minute deals for solo cruises on the Island Princess--not the usual charging double. The roll call threads for both cruises are pretty sparse. Perhaps they'll pick up as we get closer. 

I hope you don’t miss the poor guy 😢 forget that just have a great time 🥳  

Tony

[geoherb]

I'm still waiting for the shareholder credit. Princess sent me an email about the shore excursion I had placed in my cart but not paid for yet on Thursday saying it isn't confirmed until paid for and would be removed from my cart in 24 hours. It gave me a number to call with any questions. The rep I spoke with (after nearly 30 minutes of bad music while on hold) said that she would have to check about my shareholder request after I let her know I was waiting for that credit to pay for the excursion. She put me on hold with the bad music another 10 minutes. She came back to tell me to send the info again. I used one of the free internet fax services to send the original request. I used a different one to send it again. This was Friday around noon. It still has not shown up on my account. I may call again on Monday or Tuesday if it doesn't.

[geoherb]

I called again tonight when the shareholder credit had still not shown up in either booking. The rep tonight put me on hold for a few minutes (and I was on hold for about 6 minutes beforehand) and then came back and let me know it was now there on both cruises. And it is. 

[geoherb]

Great news: I saw my cabin assignments tonight on the Cruise Personalizer. I got upgraded from a Cat. IF guarantee to a Cat. OB (from an inside to an unobstructed ocean view). And I got assigned to the same cabin for both cruises, so I won't have to move from one cabin to another.

[BarbinMich]

19 hours ago, geoherb said:

Great news: I saw my cabin assignments tonight on the Cruise Personalizer. I got upgraded from a Cat. IF guarantee to a Cat. OB (from an inside to an unobstructed ocean view). And I got assigned to the same cabin for both cruises, so I won't have to move from one cabin to another.

Sounds like things have worked out very well for you!!  Have wonderful b2b up there.

[geoherb]

I've been cooking some of our Princess favorites to get ready for the cruise. Tonight was the twice-baked goat cheese soufflé. Saturday was wild Alaskan salmon with dilled corn cream sauce from the Courses cookbook. Here is a photo of the soufflé. It turned out terrific. The recipe has by floating around CC for a long time. Here's one link that includes it at post #7: