UnderTheStars

I am in the beginning stages of planning a 7 day cruise to Alaska. This is all new to me, haven't cruised before and not sure where the best cruise deals will be found.

Where do you go to book your cruise? A travel agent or online?

What part of the ship do you book your rooms in?

What is the best way to cruise Alaska, roundtrip from Seattle or a one-way cruise?

Do you book onshore excursions ahead of time or can I save money and plan my own excursions?

Any insight you can give me will be much appreciated. Thanks!

gail

I was similarly overwhelmed last year at this time - we cruised in June 2008 - and booked late winter.

Spend some time reading cruisecritic message boards.

While others swear by their Travel agents, we booked on-line. After you decide on specifics, cruisecompete website can send your cruise "out to bid" - you get emails with various quotes. You can save a few hundred dollars - if something seems like a steal, run from it. You can then check out that on-line travel agent here or other boards. Pay by credit card and then make sure you are listed by cruiseline as having purchased what you think you did on-line. That will ensure your payment actually went to cruiseline. We have never had a problem, but you can always dispute it with credit card company if there is one.

RT and one-way do slightly different itineraries. Airfare is also an issue - RT to one city is usually cheaper. We did one-way Alaska-Vancouver.

Consider spending some time on-land in Alaska, 5-7 days at least, and seeing some of Denali and Kenai Peninsula as well. That is another argument for one-way.

If you are willing to do research, you can often (not always) save money booking excursions on your own. Only real advantage to using cruiseline is convenience and the guarantee the ship will not leave without you if you do not get back with excursion on time. Either way, do your research on individual ports of call. Most have little to offer if you just wander around on your own - you need a plan and often significant money to see something truly memorable.

Alaska is expensive - and cost seems to grow when you get there. Especially expensive are excursions involving other land transportation - helicopters, etc. But these are often the most impressive. So budget for these as well.

As far as which cruiseline, there are the standard big ships - and Princess and HAL are the ones most Alaska experienced - plus a number of smaller ships which offer a totally different experience. We were on Princess, but a high point was a one-day small ship wildlife and glacier cruise out of Seward.

Also, look at a map of Alaska - sounds condescending, but I had no idea of geography before planning this trip. It all starts to make a little more sense that way.

UnderTheStars

Gail,

Thank you for your post!

Did you do the one-way North or South?

Also, did you do the 5-7 day Alaska sight-seeing part before or after the cruise?

gail

Flew Boston-Anchorage. Spent 3 nights at Denali (really only 2 days with travel), 3 nights in Seward, one more night in Anchorage.

Took bus from Anchorage to Whittier. Cruised on Coral Princess to Vancouver. (Had 2 balcony cabins - could have saved a little money and just had ocean-view). Spent a couple of days in Vancouver (I did not want to leave - great city) and then back to Boston.

Expensive but great trip - went with husband and 2 almost-adult kids.

UnderTheStars

Thanks Gail!

Why did you choose Princess over HAL? I am also going with hubby and 3 adult children.

Would you mind sharing your approximate cost for your trip?

don512

I usually tend to book my own travel on-line, but for a cruise I have usually used a travel agent. A good travel agent can pretty much answer most of your questions and possibly find you some good deals. I have surfed the web and have found just as good of deals with travel agents. If I remember right, Princess and HAL have the best reputation as far as Alaska cruises are concerned. if you don't mind putting out the extra money, I think that a verandah room is the best way to go, especially on an Alaskan cruise. You are almost alway close to land and there is always something to see from your balcony. They say that center of the ship is best, especially if you are prone to motion sickness. Booking flights and excursions through the cruiseline, always pretty much guarantees that you will be back on the ship in time. If I don't bokk the flight with the cruiseline, I have always flown in the day before, so I wouldn't have to worry about delayed flights and the such. As far as excursions, if there are any that you really want to do, I would book them in advance, as some of the really popular ones (the train ride in Skagway is awesome) fill up fast and aren't even available by the time that you board. We did roundtrip out of Vancouver, but the advantage of a one-way is that you wouldn't do any backtracking, the disavantage would be that I would think that your flight prices would be higher. If you feel insecure about it, I would talk to a travel agent, and then do some investigating online and see where you can find the best deal. Talking to a travel agent doesn't commit you to using one.

UnderTheStars

Thank you Don!

gail

We chose Princess because we thought there was a chance of a slightly younger crowd (we are in our 50s, went with 18 and 22 year old kids). There was no one even close to their ages anyway. A couple of young kids, but mostly ages 40-70. They still had a good time - got my husband to do rainforest zipline, we all went in helicopter, some short hikes.

rncheryl

You have some exciting research to do to prepare for your cruise.

After reading CruiseCritic posts, I decided that a one way trip would be the best for us, and that Glacier Bay was a must. Then we went with a travel agent, and chose Coral Princess, Vancouver to Anchorage. We did have a balcony cabin, and enjoyed it very much.

I did book all the shore excursions myself. Whale watching, bear feeding on salmon, helicopter flight to a glacier. It was a wonderful cruise. Ship was nice, relaxed, not the frentic atmosphere of say a Carnival ship. But we were up early every AM for an excursion, so night life was not important.

We flew into Seattle and spent a couple of nights there, then Princess shuttled us to Vancouver. (don't remember the price, but it was modest).

Enjoy, and go to CruiseCritic to browse.

spirobulldog

Since the is your first cruise, it would be good if a few could post on here about cruising in Alaska. I have't cruised in Alaska, only in carribean. We did go to Alaska June 07 and it was fantastic. From the post I have read on here, most of the people prefer land over water when it comes to alaska. The only I would suggest a cruise to Alaska was if it wasn't your first trip, or if you had a ton of land time included as well.

UnderTheStars

Thank you Gail! We are also in our 50's and kids (one married) are in their mid 20's.

mcheryl, thanks for your post. I started reading on cruisecritic just today. There IS a wealth in info on that site.

Thanks spirobulldog! It is our first time to Alaska and our first time to cruise. Good point on land time vs water time. Our kids have 'flown the nest' and I thought a cruise would give us some great quality time together to create memories.

Why did you all choose Princess over HAL? What was your deciding factor?

ncounty

I would book online and look at various sites....one I like is vacationstogo.com.

I am thinking about doing Alaska this summer as well if I can find a great deal.

I do my own excursions; I think it is less expensive.

UnderTheStars

Thanks ncounty! Do you book your excursions through vacationtogo as well?

ncounty

No, I don't remember seeing excursions there. I am on the independent adventurous end of the spectrum and end up winging it till I get there. I do google excursions just to know what is available and what the best cost is and compare that with the ship's excursions.

I haven't done Alaska but all the warm water destinations usually have lots of venders at the marina with local excursions. My last one was in Cozumel....I ended up renting a Jeep and exporing beaches on my own. We found a perfect beach that we might not have been introduced to in an excursion.

spirobulldog

you won't find vendors standing in line for dogsled rides, fishing, etc. I strongly suggest to make as many plans as possible before going.

AAFrequentFlyer

Few years back I did a repositioning cruise on a Celebrity Mercury. Had a suite with balcony.

Started in Vancouver, went up the inside passage, stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, and couple of other stops (can't remember at the moment). Never had a problem arranging an excursion at each port. I made the decision depending on what the weather was like once we got there. Why commit yourself to something to only find out that it may not be an ideal day to do what you already paid for.

After Alaska we cruised down and stopped in San Francisco where my best friend and his wife lived so I just visited with them, than down to Catalina Island, where I just walked around Avalon and made new friends with a California couple that were there for a day on their huge sailboat. We still keep in touch. Finally we sailed to San Diego where my part of the cruise ended. The ship was on it's way to Miami through the Panama Canal. Unfortunately I did not have 2 more weeks to continue.

Point is that excursions can be fun, but just discovering a stop on your own can also be fun and you may see somethings that excursions won't let you or perhaps meet some people that you won't have a chance to do if you are on an excursion. JMHO, but I would wait to book the excursions for the day you pull up into any particular port, not before.

I would definitely get a balcony room for Alaska cruise. The inside passage is very narrow and there is nothing better than being able to have some privacy while observing the beauty of the land and wildlife, and having a drink or hot chocolate or whatever without having to be on the deck all the time.

I did use a travel agent for the cruise part of the trip. She was able to get a nice discount that U could not get anywhere on line. The agency specialized in cruises. Although I live in Sarasota, I used an agency located up north so I never actually had physical contact with the agent but few e-mails and couple of phone calls later, I saved few hundred$. Can't remember the agency's name so can't help you there.

www.cruisecritic.com is a great site for anything to do with cruising. Highly recommend the site.

Good luck and have a great trip!

UnderTheStars

Thanks you AAFrequentFlyer! Good point about considering the weather before booking an excursion. I am also in Sarasota. Yes, I agree the balcony suite is the way to go!