styme123

I did take the advice of one of the other posters and google float plane helicopter accidents in Alaska but I only got about 3? unfortunately one was 2015 from HAL passengers. My husband and kids are starting to rethink this excursion. :( Not sure if they are right or not. I haven't heard many reviews of the excursion that didn't say it was a wonderful experience.

My family of 7 will be on the Princess this July and wanted to take a floatplane excursion at one of the ports. Which port is better for floatplane excursions Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway? We are mostly interested in seeing glaciers and scenery. Since they are so pricey we don't want to combine it with a dog sled or salmon dinner option. The more time in the air the better.

I have also heard to book it on our own instead of through the cruise ship but the cancelation policies when booked by yourself are bit in advance. Whereas through the boat it can be very close to the time you port or when you embark. My concern is if the weather is bad (rainy/foggy) and they are still going out, I might not want to spend the money on the flight. For the 7 of us it's close to $1500,@about $220pp.

I know some have booths on the piers, but do they book up fast if I waited till the day we are in port to decide? Do the more well known places have booths there or just the not so well known ones? Are they okay to use?

We thought about the helicopter option but the weight restrictions of 250 might be too close for a few of us:D and they are more pricey.

@Budget Queen thanks for the link I went on their site and bookmarked them.

It sounds the the helicopter glacier trip is a once in a life time type experience. I'm wondering with our group if it's doable, since there are 7 of us. I guess we could split up and do 3, 4 in each plane. The other thing is the helicopters have weight restrictions the float planes don't. If your over 250# with clothes on some places charge $100 more, and some have you get an additional ticket:eek: 2/3 of us might not make the cut off. To put it in perspective, one of my son's is a 6'2" former Marine-football player type at probably 260-270#.

Has anyone tried both helicopter and float plane options, pros/cons preferences? I just started looking but the float planes seem to be a lot cheaper of a flight than the helicopters seem to be, but the helicopters land on the glaciers? Is walking around on the glacier worth the few hundred dollars more? There will be 7 of us so quite an investment. Since we will be sailing past them, is there such a different perspective? Is there a better port than the other to fly out of? For me the money aspect is an issue so if I do this excursion it doesn't leave me really much money to do other excursions at the other ports. Is it worth doing this and sacrificing the others? I'm just beginning to look into the other ports so I don't even know what they have to offer and how expensive they are. Maybe I can do more than I think:confused:

Ports are: Skagway, Juneau, Ketchican sailing by Glacier Bay in July 2016.

@triptolemus the photos are amazing!

I've heard that these aerial excursions are a must do. How safe are they? crashes? Are the helicopter rides better than the float planes? Is there a better port for them? We will be going to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchican, sailing through Glacier Bay. I was thinking to try and find something that goes by Tracy Arm so we have even more opportunities to see glaciers.

I think like "wishing on a star" I might be one of those people who has everything all planned out instead of just winging it. I think because there are so many of us going it makes it difficult to be as flexible. This trip is a "big deal" for us and only 2 of us have ever gone on a cruise. I think for me it's also about the money aspect being a big deal. After spending all that money, I want everything to go as well as it can with minimal bumps along the way. Having said that I think that's why I'm nervous to wait too long and not have one of the pieces in place. Ex. I booked the cruise but now there are no cheaper flights. I booked the flights and now I can't find a cruise for the same dates. Now we can't go at all.:(

If you use FF miles when you book a flight and you cancel or change your flight do you lose them the same way they would charge you $150 change/cancelation fee?

How do you get FF miles? Does the airline charge a fee? as you can tell I don't fly often:)

That's a good idea with car rental. As we could us it for 2 purposes, traveling around and luggage storage:)

@wishing on a star, I think that I was thinking the same thing. If it was just my DH and myself I think it would be easier to find a last minute deal but for 7 of us and needing 4 rooms that might be pretty tough, but I could be wrong. My youngest is 18 so he's the only one that the cruise need us near. Having all the rooms together would be nice but not a deal breaker if the price was great. I saw also that the N/S bounds were more popular and booked up faster. I guess also since they have smaller ships going on those, there are 1/2 the amount of interiors so they book up faster.

@Budget Queen 9-16 meaning July 9-16. So we can do either a July 2-9 or a 9-16 cruise or a similar combo to that. If I was booking airfare how would I know which week to choose? For example If I book July 9-16 and there is a great deal on a July 2-9 trip I can't do it. or maybe there are 3 seats available but not the 7 I need. If I would need to change the flight days and rebook that would make the price double practically. I don't have any FF miles as the last time I was on a flight was 25 years ago:D I don't even know how they work. Every time I've gone anywhere I've driven.

I already know that everyone can go from July 1 until the 16th. with adjustment on each end if needed. My husband can take any 2 weeks in the summer but only 2 weeks. How do I book a flight without knowing what the exact dates would be? What if I book say the 9-16 flight and the cruise I want is July 1-8?

Wow didn't know that about the travel agency holding rooms, doesn't seem fair. I was nervous that I would wait too long and get shut out of getting anything:( When I spoke to the different cruise companies they made it sound like it was urgent. (I am sure they have a hidden agenda) I guess they don't fill up as fast as I thought. When I checked Princess before they had about 120 inside cabins left on the ship. I'm not sure if that's a little or a lot not knowing much about cruises. I have till April 25 to give them the final payment I guess I can shop around and see what else is out there. I don't want to over pay for something I can get for cheaper, but I don't want to get shut out either. I am all about the bargains normally but not having cruised or traveled much at all before I don't know all the ways to get the sales:( I am learning though with your guys help:)

I looked at a bunch of the other cruise lines but each of them had something that wasn't a good fit as far as dates/price/ports.

Celebrity, Carnival- doesn't go to Glacier Bay from Seattle

RCC-not great ports

HAL,NCL-more expensive than Princess

My "kids" are all above 18 so I couldn't benefit from the "kids free" promotions. I saw that there were cheaper rates but not on the dates that I could go. The best weeks that everyone could go all together was the first 2 weeks in July. Otherwise we are working and can't go. Unfortunately prime pricing time. It is kind of a catch 22 with waiting till closer to the cruise time as the airfare keeps going up. So whatever I saved on the cruise I spent on air:( as it is the air far went up anywhere from $75-$100 more per ticket since I started looking.

I thought of the option of getting a 3 person obstructed window room but the increase to all 3 people made it a more expensive option than paying for the single. The cruise lines said those are the first ones to go often as families with younger children take those often and there aren't as many of them. I tried to even think of other family members to go to fill up the room but no good candidates;)

@ Budget Queen I had looked at a bunch of different cruise lines and itineraries and there were only a few that met the mark for my restrictions. I wanted Glacier Bay, Seattle/Seattle, toward the beginning of July, the ports didn't matter as much but was leaning away from Icy straight and Sitka.

I had focused also on Princess and HAL as many reviewers said they were the best to go to Alaska with. HAL was more expensive and went to Sitka. HAL also seemed to be for an older clientele.

Any suggestions on how to get better fares? I feel like I've been on the web for the last 2 weeks.Yeah it stinks about the 7 th person (I should of had an extra kid:)and rounded it out) but all the 3 room inside cabins were sold out everywhere. We can't use the OBC at the casino, but we will probably a little on some of the more fairly priced excursions. A few aren't that far off from what we would spend if booked it ourselves.

@Budget Queen

Yeah the $10,000 was for all interiors no balconies. There are 7 of us so that's about $1,430 pp. I thought it was about average:( I saw cheaper to Tracy Arm but went for the extra to see Glacier Bay. We also got $150 cruise credit per stateroom so it was an extra $600 to spend. We are locked into the 2 summer months due to work. What do you think it should have been?

I'm taking a Seattle R/T cruise in July. I have a later flight back home at about 10:00pm. Is there any good suggestions of things to do in the area. We are staying a day or 2 before the cruise too where we will see the Pike Market and the Space needle. Is there anyplace/thing we can do with our luggage?

Trying to make my final decisions before booking a family cruise for 7 this July coming from NY. I'll be footing the bill for pretty much everything so budget is a real concern. I'm a newbie to traveling so I've been trying to read a lot or reviews and posts from more experienced travelers than myself. It's a little overwhelming but I'm trying to educate myself and be as informed and prepared as I can be. We are pretty much set on the itinerary needs to include Glacier Bay. I didn't want to take a chance on not getting into Tracy Arm either.

Here are my options:

1. Seattle/Seattle on the Crown Princess to Glacier bay stopping in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway.

2. Vancouver/Whittier A/k Northbound on the Island Princess.ports the same

3. Whittier/Vancouver Southbound on the Star Princess.ports the same

My questions.

1. The Crown is a much bigger ship holding I think 1,000 more passengers. The others much smaller. Any pros and cons to that or did anyone like traveling one over the other? Did the ship seem more crowded?

2. The flights into Seattle are a little cheaper and more nonstop than the others but the one way trips have more opportunities for glacier viewing. In Seattle we would be flying in at least a day or two in advance. Is it worth the air travel troubles to cruise one way? My DD thinks I should just do the easier in/out of Seattle since it's my first time traveling, less moving parts so to speak.

3.Could we do a flight plane excursion on the R/T Seattle cruise and see the same Glaciers as you would on the one way trips?

4. How easy it to fly into and get to the cruise from Anchorage? If we wanted to stay over to make sure there were no delays are the hotels expensive there and in Vancouver? Seattle we found one for about $120 a night. I need 3 rooms.

The price of the cruises are about the same with the one way being a little cheaper, but the airfare is a little higher so I think price wise it's about the same I think.

Since the cruise is about $10,000 and the airfare $3,500 from NY I don't have much money really left over to spend much on extending the cruise in either Anchorage or Vancouver at each end. So not sure if it's worth the one way trip? Sorry so many questions.