no1racefan1

Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, in that order.

I've been reading about Princess doing Alaska shore excursion 'sales' the last few weeks and I finally got the offer! Up to 20% off shore excursions. @Ken the cruiser mentioned in his Live review that one of his excursions actually became cheaper than when he booked it (yeah!!) so of course I had to check 'em out: Chilkoot Trail Hike & Float--originally booked at 164.95, was 239.95 before sale and currently 189.95 with the sale Bike & Brew Glacier View--originally booked at 139.95, was 169.95 before sale and currently 154.95 with the sale Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining--originally booked at 369.95, was 504.95 before sale and currently 419.95 with the sale So, no deals for me yet, but happy for Ken that he saved some cash and a reminder to all of us to periodically check on reservations. Deals can be sneaky!

They are through AARP Rewards, which is free to sign up for. Don't know about an app, I just use their website. https://www.aarp.org/rewards/?intcmp=GLOBAL-HDR-LNK-CLK-AARP_REWARDS-UXDIA If you search CC boards for AARP gift cards you'll find lots of threads about them.

Part of the reason I started this thread was to help people (and myself!) figure out how to budget for Alaska. This will be my last pre-cruise budget update! All the other categories are estimates that I won't really know until we get there. No, I will NOT be tracking every expense as we go during vacation, but I will do an accounting when we get back. Column on the left is with estimates, column on the right is what we've actually spent so far. I copied/pasted this from Google Sheets and I'm sorry I can't figure out how to make it less ugly! $1,000.05 Plane tickets $1,000.05 Plane tickets $219.07 Rental car $219.07 Rental car $80.00 Gas in rental car Gas in rental car $1,161.74 Cruise fare+protection $1,161.74 Cruise fare+protection $0.00 Lodging at Alyeska Resort $0.00 Lodging at Alyeska Resort $27.00 Parking at Alyeska Resort Parking at Alyeska Resort $192.00 Lodging in Anchorage $192.00 Lodging in Anchorage $512.94 Lodging in Seward $512.94 Lodging in Seward $178.00 Alyeska Nordic spa $178.00 Alyeska Nordic spa $100.00 Wifi on board Wifi on board $224.00 Onboard gratuities $224.00 Onboard gratuities $848.60 Shore excursions $848.60 Shore excursions $80.00 Anchorage bike rentals $80.00 Anchorage bike rentals $280.71 Orca quest tour $280.71 Orca quest tour $196.54 Seward kayak tour $196.54 Seward kayak tour $650.00 Dog sitting Dog sitting $120.00 Guide tips Guide tips $60.00 Extra ship tips Extra ship tips $650.00 Meals Meals $202.00 Train to Whittier $202.00 Train to Whittier $60.00 Taxi/Ubers Taxi/Ubers $150.00 Miscellaneous Miscellaneous $25.00 Fishing license Fishing license $30.00 Laundry Laundry $35.00 Bear spray Bear spray $400.00 Shopping Shopping $7,482.65 $5,095.65 My original goal was to do the trip for under $7,000 and it doesn't look like we'll make that. However, when I first started planning I thought we were looking at around $10K so I'm pleased with the areas we've been able to save. Splurges: our only real splurge so far was upgrading the 2 longest flights to economy plus for extra legroom Saves: booked cheapest cruise cabin possible, DIY land tour instead of cruisetour, AARP gift cards to pay off the cruise, early bird promos on most of our land tour excursions, credit card points to book hotels

I'm so excited for you and can't wait to hear about your trip! Thanks for delivering the ship to Whittier for us 😉

19 days until we're headed to AK! Which means 17 days until vacation begins... 12 work days.... I don't think I've ever been so distracted by vacation before but this one has been a LONG time coming! I'm going to try to do a 'live-ish' review of our trip. I don't spend a lot of time on my phone while on vacation but I have a whole year's worth of dedication to this thread so I owe it to my CC fam to report on the actual trip 🤣

That would be fantastic! I hope that's the case for you.

Can't wait to follow along! I'll be getting to AK the day your trip ends.

Oh YES, I need this in my life! Headed to AK in 3 weeks.

Since we were talking about the increased price of shore excursions, I decided to look at those as well: Chilkoot Trail Hike & Float--booked at 164.95, currently 239.95 Bike & Brew Glacier View--booked at 139.95, currently 169.95 Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining--booked at 369.95, currently 504.95 Lumberjack Show--booked at 39.95, currently 43.00 (I cancelled this one) I'll say it again--if you're reading this and haven't booked your shore excursions yet, even if you're going in 2025, BOOK THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

I was printing out all of our various travel confirmations and caught something interesting. When we originally booked the cruise, these two days were as follows: Glacier Bay 9:15am-7:30pm Skagway 7am-8:30pm They are now listed as: Glacier Bay 9:15am-6:15pm Skagway 5:30am-8:45pm I don't know when they changed as Princess never sent any kind of notification about a change in itinerary. I noticed the Skagway thing a few days ago so decided to review the rest of the itinerary. I saw somebody's post about a different Princess ship shortening their time in Glacier Bay, so maybe its just going to be a thing. Not going to affect us at all, it's just interesting to see what all changes might be a surprise to people who aren't reviewing things regularly. You might remember we also didn't get a notification when shore excursion times changed.

Yeah that's not open on Tuesday either, LOL. Which is just as well, it means I can't be tempted to spend that much!!

Unfortunately it looks like the Double Musky Inn is not open Tuesday nights. I do have The Bake Shop down for a breakfast/lunch idea!

it's almost certain to sell out early, based on what others have said. I'm sailing next month and that excursion, as well as many others, have been sold out for months. I just looked at excursions today just to see, and there's only a handful with openings.

I saw that today too! DH's fishing excursion in Ketchikan was booked at $369 and is now $505!

Absolutely brilliant advice, thank you!

28 days to go...... current status: 1. Making packing lists and figuring out if there's anything we need to buy. DH wanted a new water bottle and I needed some hiking pants, so those have been purchased. I also bought a fanny pack (or belt bag as the cool kids call them these days). 2. Stalking the NCL boards to see if anybody over there is talking about their Alaska trips (spoiler alert--they aren't) since that's the only cruise line visiting AK this early. 3. Reviewing and re-reviewing all of our bookings to make sure there are no more mistakes, and to see if there's any last minute deals that pop up. 4. Stewing over the upgrade process and trying to decide if I should bid $20pp for an obstructed OV. I don't want an obstructed OV, but I'm wondering if I bid on that if it would give me a counteroffer for a regular OV for cheaper than what the OV bid is....yes, totally overthinking it. There's no obstructed OVs listed as available on the website (but I know that's not 100% accurate). 5. Doing some spring cleaning around the house and staying busy at work and in general trying to keep myself busy so I don't spend so much time on #1-4.

39 days to go!!! Not gonna lie, I have major short timers syndrome... I can't stop thinking about being on vacation in Alaska 😅 Not too many updates as far as trip planning. I saw that the place where I booked a massage in Ketchikan has moved locations, and is no longer walking distance from the ship. I decided to cancel my massage. I could have figured out logistics of getting there and back, but that seems to take away some of the 'relaxing' aspects, lol. I thought about booking the fishing excursion with DH but it's up to $420pp so no thank you. None of the other excursions are really calling to me. So, I'm not sure what I'll do in Ketchikan while DH is fishing. Walk around, shop, enjoy the ship with way less people on it...? All of the above!? Other than that I reviewed our seats for all of our flights and decided to pay $154 to upgrade seats on one of the longer flights. I booked our flights almost exactly the day they were available, so roughly 335 days out. The one from Denver to Anchorage has continually crept up in price and is almost fully booked. I'm very glad I'm a crazy over planner that booked everything in advance!! For things that have gone down in price, I've been able to call and/or cancel and re-book at the lower price. This has been true for flights, the cruise, and several tours. If you are trying to travel to Alaska (or anywhere really) on a budget like we are, BOOK EARLY. And know what the cancellation policies are of everything you book.

I love my Keen hiking shoes/boots. They are mid-cut to provide ankle support, which can be important when hiking over uneven terrain. I'm bringing them to AK because we are planning to do a couple of hikes. For general walking,, I prefer Brooks Ghost running shoes. I'll be bringing those also!

Copied from another forum: UPDATE: Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in Juneau From Travel Juneau, the convention & visitors bureau: The Mendenhall Glacier is just one of Juneau’s many attractions. To make sure we maintain the vibrant ecosystem while providing a quality visitor experience at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center (MGVC), tour and commercial transportation capacity is limited. Travel Juneau highly recommends visitors book their transportation or tours to the glacier well in advance of their arrival in Juneau, as it’s probable that day-of purchase will not be available. Right now, indications are that excursions and activities are up to 80% booked. Capital Transit, the public transit system, is designed for resident transport and does not go directly to the glacier. The nearest bus stop is approximately 1.5 miles one way from the MGVC and very limited opportunities for return taxi services from the area back downtown. Visitors using Capital Transit may experience long wait times between runs and should be aware that there are no services between the bus stop and the visitor center. They may encounter bears along the walking path, especially early in the morning or late evening. Visitors arriving via car rental, on foot, or without a tour operator must purchase an entrance pass at the visitor center.

You're not crazy. That excursion was sold out by about 5 months in advance on my May 2024 cruise. And the price went up a LOT before it sold out.

I haven't been yet, so I can't say for sure how far it is. But--you should be able to check your luggage through to the ship when you board the train, so that should help.

Agreed

On the 'blue bus' website, several of their tours are not available to book--including the Glacier Express--so I wonder if they didn't get many permits this year. https://www.mmtoursofjuneau.com/land-tours

I copied this link from somebody else's post: https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1551 It's a schedule for 2024 cruise ships in Alaska. Looks like we're going to have a 6-ship day in Juneau, phew!