Who Has Booked Alaska for '09???

[wrp96]

I just finished getting frequent flier tickets to Seattle for next May.. now we can breath a sigh of relief and begin the real wait... switching to a Princess Rewards Visa and have some US Air miles left but the 50,000 went to good use and we are glad to have them redeemed as crazy as air fare is getting...

 

 

I have to wait 10 more days before I can book my flights. Hopefully AA will have frequent flyer seats available on the days I need them.

[Host Caroline]

Good luck on you American Airlines FF seats! Stay up tiil midnight and do it on "the" day.. although US Airways did have it up at 10pm for some reason.

... and to the other question, NO it is never too early to book.. if you believe half of what they say about airlines most of the "cheap seat" days will leave as the carriers cut the size of their fleet back and flights. . grab 'em now!!!

[paradise08]

We are now booked to take our first Alaska cruise in May 2009!!!! We are going on the Serenade of the Seas rt out of Vancouver. We were originally going to cruise on the SOS this November on the Southern Caribbean, however, a large group booked the same cruise and we decided to do another cruise.

 

We are looking forward to Alaska. We have heard and seen many great things about Alaska and now we are going to get to experience it ourselves.

[wrp96]

We are now booked to take our first Alaska cruise in May 2009!!!! We are going on the Serenade of the Seas rt out of Vancouver. We were originally going to cruise on the SOS this November on the Southern Caribbean, however, a large group booked the same cruise and we decided to do another cruise.

 

We are looking forward to Alaska. We have heard and seen many great things about Alaska and now we are going to get to experience it ourselves.

 

 

Which sail date are you on? If it's the 30th come join our roll call. We're already planning excursions!

[boingy300]

Thanks Cincinnatigal.

 

We are from the Cincinnati area also! We have booked on Radiance and after reading all the threads am concerned about our choice. It is our first Alaska cruise with a group of 6. I love RCCL of all cruises I have taken. I have traveled Carnival, NCL, HAL, and Cunard and I liked my RCCL cruise the best. We are doing a cruisetour in July 09 and can't wait!!

 

We are from Cincinnati,too and are cruising radiance without hesitation. I can't wait!

Karen

[brunolvr]

Looking at the NCL Star for May 30, 2009. :)

I'm trying to convince my DH that another cruise to Alaska on the Star is just what we need!:D Hopefully it won't take to much convincing!;)

[NancyIL]

Looking at the NCL Star for May 30, 2009. :)

I'm trying to convince my DH that another cruise to Alaska on the Star is just what we need!:D Hopefully it won't take to much convincing!;)

 

Have you considered doing a one-way cruise on another cruiseline and/or a land trip?

[Italy52]

4th cruise to Alaska; #2 on the Radiance - love the Radiance.

[Jenbo57]

We booked Celebrity (Infinity) for June 19, 2009, out of Seattle, the minute Celebrity opened the bookings! Second time for us (at least by cruise ship); first time for SIL, BIL, and the other couple we're going with.

 

We can literally walk to the cruise ship terminal in Seattle, so for us this is sooooo perfect! And of course Alaska is an amazing place.

 

Looking forward to this cruise, but with another trip to my beloved Hawaii in the meantime, that's what's on my mind for now! :D

[lovedeals]

My husband and I and 19 friends are booked on the Spirit for May 20, 09 southbound. Eight of us are doing a ten land tour first. I live in upstate ny and right now the fares are looking the best on Continental. I am going to fly out of seattle and take the shuttle from vancouer. Has anyone done this? Much cheaper than flying from vancouver.

[brunolvr]

Have you considered doing a one-way cruise on another cruiseline and/or a land trip?

 

Hi, Nancy! Yes, we've thought about a one-way cruise with a land trip but right now it's hard for us to be away for more than a week at a time.

 

Also, since we've been so pleased and happy with all of our cruises on NCL, we're very hesistant to try someone new:confused: . You know the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?;) I guess that's us; we kinda' set in our ways. And my husband is totally spoiled so he doesn't want to cruise without being in a suite with all the amenities (including VIP embarkation and butler).

[brunolvr]

We booked Celebrity (Infinity) for June 19, 2009, out of Seattle, the minute Celebrity opened the bookings! Second time for us (at least by cruise ship); first time for SIL, BIL, and the other couple we're going with.

 

We can literally walk to the cruise ship terminal in Seattle, so for us this is sooooo perfect! And of course Alaska is an amazing place.

 

Looking forward to this cruise, but with another trip to my beloved Hawaii in the meantime, that's what's on my mind for now! :D

 

Hi, Jenbo! We're neighbors just about 50 miles south of you. Are you doing a cruise in Hawaii?

[gertz]

Amen to that!

 

When I was a TA many moons ago and before my first Alaska cruise I didn't believe it.. after 8 I definitely do. It's the scenery and ports that are the draw here.. no matter what ship you are on, it will pale in comparison to this amazing destination...

 

... IMHO;)

Not trying to be controversial, just a slightly different view.

 

:o Totally agree with Caroline. BUT, there is always a but. We take into account the size of the ship, how many pax it carries which equates to overcrowding, ie extra deck on some Princess ships. The crew to pax ratio, etc, etc,. If the only criteria was amazing destinations and I concur with that we would only book Cruise West in Alaska every time.

 

Won't book 4th to Alaska (taking grand son) until Sept. 18th with FCC on the Tahitian Princess. We are booking the Island Princess August 17, 2009. Great ship.:D

 

Never had a bad cruise, some better than others but never a bad one. Including the one that lasted 4 years.

 

GERTZ

Princess Elite

Next Tahitian 9/18 Princess Vancouver to Honolulu .

Coral Princess 4/12 FLL to LA

[SnorkelMoose]

Booked the May 24 r/t Seattle sailing on the Star Princess!

[H2O babe]

We are booked on the Carnival Spirit 7/1/09 southbound sailing. We'll be in Juneau on the 4th of July next year - should be fabulous! This will be our second southbound sailing - we took the Island Princess the first time and it was a perfect cruise. Glacier Bay was impressive and we won't get to see that this time, but instead, will get to visit Sitka, which will be new for us. I started a roll call thread over on Carnival. I'll be looking for airfare as soon as it opens. This time we are doing 5-6 days before the cruise on our own landtour. And so the planning continues......

 

K.

[Cosmic Rays]

At last, booked a cruise tour with Princess on the Diamond 6-6-09 from Vancouver. Now all we need to do is book flights from UK to Vanacouver return and a singlr from Anchorage to Vancouver! Any suggestions please?

 

Colin:) :)

[kirstie101]

Not booked yet but it will either be the NCL Star or the Pearl in May. Our last cruise to Alaska we sailed the Star in 2006. This time we'll be bringing our 2.5 year old who was our little souvenier from our last trip! We're hoping our parents decided to join us as well this time around. I am so excited and cannot wait to get plans finalized so we can book!

[Jenbo57]

Hi, Jenbo! We're neighbors just about 50 miles south of you. Are you doing a cruise in Hawaii?

 

I know exactly where Lakewood is. We actually live in Bremerton, but I work in downtown Seattle. This time of year is soooo hard for me! I see Celebrity, HAL, and Royal Caribbean sail into Elliott Bay on Friday mornings as my ferry's coming in, and they're leaving Friday night as I'm going home!

 

No cruise...we fly to Honolulu, pick up a car, and drive to Kailua, which is on the windward coast. We love it there! This trip we're going to take a day to fly to Hilo so we can see the volcanoes, but other than that we'll be on Oahu the whole time. Thought about doing a cruise, but there's just always so much we want to see/do that this just works out better for us (and airfare is still pretty reasonable).

[Planmaam]

Alaska 9/13/09! We have been twice before; NCL Sun September 2003, NCL Pearl May 2007, and the Pearl again in 2009. Never cruised anywhere but Alaska. So far 13 others going with us. After our first cruise, some friends wanted to plan a cruise with us, and we couldn't decide where to go. They finally said, "but you've already been to Alaska." I told them I would rather return to Alaska than go anywhere else, so we did, and my DS & DBIL went along. Midway through the cruise, they all agreed about Alaska, and we set September '09 for our return!

 

We could have booked any number of different itinaries, but the Pearl itself was so great, we decided to do the same itinerary in order to sail on her again, and of course all of us have balconies!

 

One extra plus about taking the last Alaska itineraries of the year, no matter which cruise line: so many of the souvenirs are half price, great Christmas shopping!

[Fenn4Him@comcast.net]

We're booked for Aug. 9th for Alaska on the Serenade. Never cruised with RCCL before, but it had the best itinerary that was also round trip. Looking forward to it. I hope that even though it won't be warm enough to veg by the pool all day, that my boys will still find plenty to do (4, 12, 15).

[SSlither]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm taking my Mom on a RT Seattle cruise on Rhapsody middle of May. I splurged on a GS cabin, and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

:D

[krogerlady]

Finally today is the magic 330 days out to possibly book air, so have been looking lots of places, a lot. Pro's and con's I have come across, due to gas prices, book early, get lucky, but you will probably deal with several changes and you might not be told about the changes...sigh....also, just read yesterday something about fares going down in Oct.-Nov. due to Alaskans getting some kind of check and they try to stimulate the economy by reducing air fares....the group I am going with won't even look until next spring...they seem to think that is the best time for the best prices...spring. The best site to compare what is out there is, or one of the best, is kayak.com. I have checked with them a lot, and they are still staying in my budget, but remember, I am looking at 330 days out. Also, read a post that said there are a lot of disclaimers in the fine print as far as refunds and such if there are any changes. Some folks say book only with the airlines themselves.

Sorry so long...just some of the stuff I have come across....if I had to book today I would be in total turmoil. Good luck.

[FunInTheSun03]

Ok all you experienced Alaskan cruisers out there, I need your help. I have a few questions if I could get some help it would be greatly appreciated. Ok myself, dh, and ds we are planning an Alaskan cruise for any time after June 1, 2009, we are going to surprise out ds for his college graduation present. Ok I had a travel agent she wasn't that great, and she just left the travel agency the other day for another job. Anyway I'm not sure who to go through to get great prices, not sure which Cruise ship and from what I have been reading up on its better to leave from Seattle only because its cheaper. We are wanting to get a balcony to see the great sites. I know with the high prices of everything, we are trying to get away with as cheap as we can. :) Any help would be great. Thanks so much.

[krogerlady]

We have a great TA in Ocean Springs...not sure if I am allowed to post any names on here though...where will you be leaving from?

[Big Kielbasa]

I booked yesterday, Serenade of the seas. Sept 19th.:rolleyes: