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Sources for finding last minute deals on cruises from Seattle to Alaska?

Sources for finding last minute deals on cruises from Seattle to Alaska?

Old May 23rd, 2016, 11:31 AM
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Sources for finding last minute deals on cruises from Seattle to Alaska?

I'm thinking about a cruise to Alaska this summer. We live in Seattle, so would love to find a last-minute deal leaving out of Seattle.

Anyone have a website for these sorts of "deals?" I prefer Celebrity to Princess or NCL.
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Old May 23rd, 2016, 12:50 PM
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I used Vacations to Go, to find my last minute deal last year. I booked it just a few weeks out, if that, for the late season (We hit Glacier Bay on September 1).

The website has some useful sorting functions. They can also act as a travel agent if you want to book through them, but check with others including the cruise lines and see if there are on board credits or other incentives, or if they will match the price.
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Old May 23rd, 2016, 09:13 PM
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I subscribe to the cruise lines' web sites directly for last minute deals. You can always works with a travel agent if you have someone that you worked with all the time. If you just call some random travel agents / sites, then you don't know what you may get yourself into. Last minute deals usually means undesirable cabin location. It is not all about the price.

You don't have to wait for last minute deals if you know what is a good price. Here is a general rule of thumb:
Inside cabins: $50-$75 per person per day is a good deal.
Ocean view cabins: $75-$100 per person per day.
Balcony cabins: $100-$125 is a good deal.

This rule applies to the mass market ships, and it is a narrow range ball park. "premium" lines will be at the upper end, plus there are huge discounts for shoulder season cruises, but they are call shoulder season for a reason: meaning not optimal weather condition.
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Old May 24th, 2016, 08:15 AM
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mglb, thanks for the recommendation. I will check with them.

Eschew, I'm not looking for the cheapest way to cruise (no way we'd stay in an inside cabin, for instance), I'm looking for a good deal on a last-minute cruise. We would want at least a balcony cabin, perhaps a suite. I appreciate your "good deal" guidelines. If we can get a great deal, we'll go. If not, we aren't committed to doing an Alaska cruise this summer.
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Old May 24th, 2016, 09:01 AM
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BTW my weather in Alaska for a late season cruise was perfect last year! The only down day was the final day inside passage into Vancouver, which was overcast although not especially wet. The other days were clear blue skies. It didn't rain in any of our Alaska ports.

With a last minute fare, you can keep a watch on weather patterns and see if the drought continues.

I have been on HAL, NCL and Princess. They all have their selling points.

If you want comfort it's a good idea to read the individual ship reviews on cruisecritic.com

We had a small balcony on Island Princess, the shower stall was ridiculous! It didn't have a handheld device and you couldn't contort your body to rinse off the important bits!. The changes they made on that ship were very unpopular so Coral Princess didn't get them. But we thought the food was pretty good, especially the buffet. The dining room service was not the best. If you like to sit as a couple, I recommend NCL although the food is a notch more average, at least it comes out hot and with modifications as requested.
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Old May 24th, 2016, 09:23 AM
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I appreciate your thoughts, mlgb. I will want lots of that kind of detail before we'd book.

Frankly, we are not (yet) cruisers. The only cruise we have taken was a river cruise in northern Burma on the Pandaw Kalay - a mere 5 staterooms - so we have really been spoiled.

When I saw Celebrity has a week long cruise out of Seattle, that looked interesting to me. We'd like to try out Celebrity as it's the favorite trans-atlantic line for friends of ours. We'd like to cruise one way, fly the other for a Europe trip, but I wouldn't want to start with that long a cruise.
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Old May 24th, 2016, 09:43 AM
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I don't have any experience with Celebrity.

I don't know if you have looked at the itineraries.

I would try to find one that includes Glacier Bay, that was a highlight.

Not sure if the round trip cruises make it that far north.

If not I would at least consider a one-way cruise starting in Vancouver and then fly back from Anchorage.

I'm sure others have more experience with the Seattle itineraries.

An Alaska cruise isn't very "cruise like" since you have a lot of port stops and not much time to get bored on the ship. It's basically a floating hotel, and a sightseeing platform from which to view the glaciers.
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Old May 24th, 2016, 11:59 AM
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"An Alaska cruise isn't very "cruise like" since you have a lot of port stops and not much time to get bored on the ship." Yes, that's why it seems like a good thing to try out before we consider an Atlantic crossing.

The cruise on Celebrity goes to Tracy Arm, but not to Glacier Bay.

I do appreciate your comments, mlgb, as this is new for us - a completely different kind of trip.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 03:04 AM
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Kathie, I know you said you wanted a cruise from Seattle, but there are also many from Vancouver. You could drive or take the train and compare the cost and the stops/routes and find many more options. Often the closer you get to sailing time the more bargains show up.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 03:41 AM
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Kathie have you ever cruised a large ship before?

Typically a 7 day Alaska cruise has about 4 port stops and usually include Juneau, Skagway, Ketichan and one other like maybe Victoria. We did 7 days from Seattle and back in 2005 and ours also traversed Tracy Arm. The scenery is amazing but the best part is what you do onshore. It's the excursions that put the cherry on top. I think just pick what appeals to you most and get ready for a unique experience.

We took a copter to Mendenhall glacier in Juneau, a river boat in Ketchikan and tromped the forest too, saw an eagles nest and a totem park, took the White Pass RR in Skagway which is basically right off the dock and went up into the mountains and the views were just fab and in Vicroria took a boat from the harbor to look at Orcas. Saw quite a few of them.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 07:26 AM
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I'm aware of the cruises from Vancouver as well and will look at them. I know that sometimes cruise lines will offer very special pricing for those who live in the departure city.

I think we'd enjoy an Alaska cruise, but we live in Seattle so seeing eagles is common for us, as is seeing Orcas when we visit family in the San Juans. So some things about the Alaska cruise will be nice but not unique for us (yes, we are spoiled).

Larry, I've never cruised on a large ship before, and frankly, the idea is not appealing to me. I would like to try it out, as it will give us more info on whether we would enjoy a transatlantic cruise or a cruise to St. Petersburg, both things we think we'd like to do. We absolutely loved our Pandaw cruise and plan to return to Burma for another Pandaw cruise in November, 2017.

I am recovering from a partial shoulder replacement so this seemed like a good time to try out a large ship. We will see if it happens.

I appreciate all of the input!
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Old May 25th, 2016, 08:06 AM
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Those sights were unique to us so yes ones frame of reference matters a lot.,

We once did a 10 day cruise on the Baltic with 2 days in SPB and that was amazing. The czars knew how to live but sure failed on how to govern. Our cruise there had the added benefit of being during the 10 longest days of the yr. ending June 21 so we had the most of white nights.

We used to do nothing but land vacations but after our 1st cruise in 2002 it's been basically nothing but them, 15 so far, except for family visits to India for my wife. Maybe you too will like them. We love the over all experience.

Good luck with your rehab. I hope you recover fully!

Cheers, Larry. .
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Old May 25th, 2016, 11:54 AM
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Thanks for your good wishes, Larry. My rehab is going well, but I still have a long way to go. I've been told a year to regain 90% of my range of motion.
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Old May 25th, 2016, 01:20 PM
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Wow. Well if it's any consolation I limped for 20 mos. after my meniscus repair. Did all the PT and more. Finally after changing MD's and an orthopedic viscous injection it's ok. Never will be the same but it's pain free
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Old May 27th, 2016, 09:06 PM
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Kathie I have done two cruises to Alaska, one on a huge ship and one on a 630 passenger one and loved the latter more. We went in September year before last and thought the price would go down being the last cruise of the season, but no such luck.
I find the best deals are usually in the spring.
I find great deals on cruises on Expedia and cruise critic. I have started cruising as part of my travels. Just booked a mediteranian cruise for a great price I found on Expedia.

As you, we are spoiled with this scenery as well living here on the island, but I still loved it al the same.
My favourite part on both cruises was sitting out on our balcony on the last day and watching Vancouver island from the water side. It is magical. And we did see a number of whales which always excite me no matter how many times I see them.

The shore excursions I did not find that exciting, but again we do this stuff here all the time.
I did do a biking tour in Juneau which was nice, but perhaps that would not be in cards for you now. We also did the train in Skagway which was interesting.
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Old May 28th, 2016, 08:10 AM
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Thanks, Debbe. Tell me about of the smaller ship you sailed on. And I'm assuming you cruised in and out of Vancouver. We loved our Pandaw cruise - but the only way we'll get a similarly small ship would be a yacht cruise!
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Old May 28th, 2016, 09:19 AM
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We did Princess both times to Alaska. They had two smaller ships, the Ocean Princess and the Pacific Princess. We were on the Pacific Princess. If I remember correctly the small ships are the only ones that can get in to Glacier Bay.

We actually went on a 25 day cruise after that on the Ocean Princess from Florida to Easter Island and on to Tahiti and loved it.
We are booked on a 4000 passenger ship on our mediteranian cruise and not real excited about that, but like the itinerary and price.

We heard that the two smaller Princess ships were both for sale and that the Ocean did sell (to Oceania) and the Pacific is not in North america any more as I just checked

It looks like SilverSea has small ships to Alaska but they are very pricey
Oceania does sail as well and would be the same as the one we were one, but much more luxurious.

also there is Seven Seas Mariner from Vancouver, another small but pricey ship. That was why Princess sold the smaller ships, they could not make as much money as they could on the huge ships because they weren't luxury enough to warrant a higher cost.

Holland americas Maasdamm has just over 1,000 passengers. I have never been on Holland America
Both of the Celebrity ships to Alaska are big ones.

The smaller ships are nice, but it is only for seven days and there are a lot of port stops so I personally would go for the itinerary that you like and try it out on a bigger ship if you don't want to spend the money on this particular itinerary.
Happy hunting....
Debbe
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Old May 28th, 2016, 10:19 AM
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The ship I went on was Holland America Zaandam, still relatively small at 1432 passengers. Zaandam only does one-way cruises this season. Volendam is a similar size (although cabin classes are not the same) and does roundtrip out of Vancouver.

HAL does do r/t cruises from Seattle to Glacier Bay, but those ships are around 2000 passengers.
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Old May 29th, 2016, 06:49 AM
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To answer the original question I would definitely look at the Vacationstogo.com website. Almost every cruise line discounts and some would say you should NEVER pay the brochure price for any cruise.

The VTG site allows you to choose by destination, cruise line, month, embarkation point, etc.
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Old May 29th, 2016, 08:13 AM
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Thanks to all of you for the additional information. We are still up in the air about this cruise. It may come down to whether we find a deal we can't refuse...
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