Who Has Booked Alaska for '09???

[Queen of Picks]

We're traveling southbound on the Diamond Princess July 25 and already counting down the days until then!!:D

[raytownlady]

We just booked Star Princess for May 10, 2009 I'm already starting my research of the ship and ports

[Sandy Wum]

We are looking t book our first Alaska cruisetour for July 09. I am amazed at the flight cost to Anchorage. Are there any tips you have to reduce costs without compromising the trip itself? I know cruise - land is less expensive than land-cruise but doesnt seem by much. I will pay what I need to pay but I bet some of you all have tips to save. I appreciate this Board, I am learning a lot from you all.

 

Sandy

[boingy300]

We are going June 5th, 2009 northbound w/ our 15 year old twin boys. We are excited to explore Alaska.

Karen

[Host Caroline]

We are looking t book our first Alaska cruisetour for July 09. I am amazed at the flight cost to Anchorage.

 

Sandy

 

We booked ours last year as "roundtrip" from Seattle and then just booked a one-way ticket completely separate to Anchorage and saved close to $250pp over booking Charlotte to Anchorage and then Seattle (or Vancouver) to Charlotte.

 

You are going to be flying over/during tail end of the Fourth of July "black out dates" (not sure how long they go next year) so you may need to poke around for better rates or wait to see if they go down!

[linwood77]

We are booked on the NCL Star July 18th. 2009 out of Seattle. :D

[Cosmic Rays]

At last.........................Princess Alaska 2009 finally on sale here in the UK on June 16th!!!

 

Colin:) :)

[#1survivorfan]

ME..ME....ME...ME!

With our very good friends....we are going again.

We went with our friends 2 years ago when my husband retired. It was his retirement present. Now our friend is retiring and he choose a trip to Alaska also. So here we go again. Yeah...I can't wait

[binkey36]

Myself, DH, and 13 of our closest friends will be sailing to Alaska from LA beginning 5-11-09. I've never sailed Celebrity or been to Alaska, so it will be a trip of "firsts". I'm getting excited already! I love the research before each cruise...checking out the boards, the ports, the food! Everything!

 

We just got back from b2b Caribbean cruises on the Carnival Valor (fantastic!). We didn't even have time to recuperate from that when we booked Celebrity for next year.

 

I've reset my countdown calendar and am ready to go!

[anneinca]

We just booked another scrapbook trip to Alaska in September 2009. I can't wait!! We sailed roundtrip from San Francisco on the Dawn Princess last September. It was a perfect trip in every way. Looking forward to spending more time in Alaska.

anne

[Deeliteful]

Hi All

 

Any help appreciated. I am looking to go on my first Alaskan cruise - possibly in September 2009.

 

I would like to do a round trip so return to same port (Seattle or San Francisco are better flight prices for me than Vancouver but not a deal breaker).

 

Any thoughts on:

 

Best ship/cruise line

Ocean view or balcony

Best itinerary (i.e. any must see places)

Best time to go (don't want school holidays!)

 

What were your highlights?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Pat

[krogerlady]

I have been booked for three months, or there abouts, and have spent hours and hours on the boards, searching the web, etc, and also have had things mailed to me from each port city. Unless some of the other 26 people I am going with feel strongly about flying into Seattle and making our way to Vancouver, from what i have read, its just not worth it. You will have to wait at the border one way or another, so you might as well clear customs at the airport and have it done with. We are spending a night in Vancouver, although no one has decided where yet, so we are refreshed on the day of departure. I am really excited, and ready to plan some excursions, but the only one that is a must do for me is the Photo Safari out of Juneau. And I am sure will do the Roberts Tram. The anticipation is half the trip!!

[Pigmoon]

Booked for NCL Pearl to Alaska, 7th of June 2009! Took 2 months of research and reading every post/review on this entire site (or seems like it)! Only concern now is whether airfare will double in cost before then due to oil prices - didn't book thru the cruiseline.

[TYTY]

Booked on Radiance of the Seas ~ Southbound. Leaving Seward on 8/7/09. Can't wait, my son is already counting down the days!

[krogerlady]

Airlines won't book more than 330 days ahead, and I was counting the days, but my travel agent said not to get in a hurry, even though I wanted to!! Its a whole year yet, and a lot of things could change with the airlines. Just heard on tv United is taking 100 planes out of operation and reducing its flights, and I am sure that is just the beginning. We would hate to have a flight booked, and find out the airlines went belly up.

Jayne

[plaso20]

We booked the 14 day Pacific Princess cruise, for Sept.3, 2009. Looking forward to Kodiak and Valdez, but will miss staying in Alaska on our own, as we start and end in Seattle.

 

The wife and I are also booked on that cruise. In fact I started a thread for it just the other day. I know it is early but, what the heck.

 

We booked this cruise on the day before we left on our 2nd Alaska cruise. Been to Alaska on Celebrity and HAL also and have loved it every time!:D

[bylandandsea]

Like Binkey36 we are also sailing on May 11, 2009, but, out of San Francisco with Celebrity on the Infinity. 11 nights ending in Vancouver. This is our second time to Alaska and I am looking forward to new adventures. Only a little over 11 months to wait...:D

[HMK8273]

Booked on Coral Princess SB with Copper River tour package starting on 5/19/08 - cruise starts 5/25/09. We went with Princess because we liked what they had to offer with the land package tied in with the cruise.

[jmk22574]

Hi Pat - my husband and I went on our first cruise last September, and it was to Alaska. We chose Holland America (Noordam) roundtrip out of Seattle (Glacier Bay). Late September worked great for our work schedules, and September is also one of the more "budget" months for Alaskan cruises.

 

We loved it so much that we've booked Holland America (Amsterdam) roundtrip out of Seattle for May 2009 (Hubbard Glacier). We decided to see what it's like cruising up there at the very beginning of the Alaskan cruising season versus the tail end.

 

In late September, the deals on the ship and in the ports were wonderful. I think almost everything we purchased was 50 - 75% off. Yes, people talk about how the weather can get bad that time of year, but we definitely lucked out. I actually prefer cooler weather, so I would have enjoyed even cooler temperatures than we had.

 

We didn't do any major shore excursions, so I can't help you there.

 

We had a suite (with a balcony obviously), and I spent as much time on the balcony as anywhere else. We were provided complimentary binoculars and tons of blankets to take out on our balcony (again, this is for the SA, SB, and SC suites only - Oh, Penthouse too).

 

I would recommend Holland America simply because they made our first cruising experience memorable enough for us to plan a return trip just over a year later.

 

Have fun planning your cruise - I know that was half the fun for me the first time. There's a link below to a few of our pictures from the trip (we took close to 500 pictures, so I would never bore anyone with ALL those pictures). :)

 

Jill

[irisheileen]

I just checked thru kayak, which I had never heard of...thank you thank you thank you....and they found flights like you said, that run about 200 less than I was anticipating, and that is flying out of my home city, not having to travel to get to an airport that is even cheaper.

 

Sidestep.com will pull up many airline options and also has the multi city option as well. I got the best deal I could find at the time and it has a great "filter" that lets you narrow down your choices so it doesn't get too overwhelming to review all the flights they present. I was able to work out what we wanted as far as times for the flight, etc.

[scampi]

We will be on the Diamond Princess returning from Beijing and our ports/ destinations, after crossing the International Dateline( May 13, 2009) include Whittier, College Fjord, Glacier Bay cruising, Skagway, Juneau & Ketchikan and disembarking in Vancouver on May 23, 2009. We will have been on three Alaskan cruises in the month of September and are looking forward to seeing Alaska for the first time in mid-May.

[scampi]

www.itasoftware.com (log in as a guest) is also very helpful for finding open jaw (see multi-segment) flights, and at up to the minute rates.

[Deeliteful]

Thanks Jill - your pictures were fab!

 

Still trying to decide whether to go early September next year or May/June in 2010.

 

Decisions, decisions!

 

Pat

[brunolvr]

We've cruised to Alaska 6 times and I've already got the urge to go again next year!:o But my husband wants to try something different (like cruise Hawaii). We visited Hawaii about 20 years ago and I have no desire to go back. Now I've got the task of convincing him to go to Alaska again!:D

[NancyIL]

We've cruised to Alaska 6 times and I've already got the urge to go again next year!:o But my husband wants to try something different (like cruise Hawaii). We visited Hawaii about 20 years ago and I have no desire to go back. Now I've got the task of convincing him to go to Alaska again!:D

 

A one-way cruise plus a land trip would be different! :)