sunflowers6

hi natalie! I completely understand your problem - it's the same one we had in our planning... The cost of our airfare made the land/ cruise/ excursion travel cost prohibitive. Our flights (had we paid in $) would have been about $950-$1050 each. The skymiles card was the absolute key to us saving about $3,000 in airfare, which funded our diy 6 day land portion of the trip. Without the "free" flights, we would not have been able to afford the land portion. So, yes, let me explain more about that. And, to be honest, i spent at least 2 hours on the phone with delta over 3 phones calls before we attempted this, to be sure it was for real.

 

First, go to delta's and search for flights in your time frame using skymiles (their search page lets you search using dollars or skymiles). This will give you an idea of how many you'll need in order to get "free" flights. For us, the flights ranged from 12,000-35,000 each way, with lots of variation in between. Note: The flights that were expensive when searching by dollar amount did not necessarily correspond to the flights that were highest in skymiles usage. And there's lots of fluctuation depending on the day you travel. Example: We chose to stay an extra night in vancouver because we could get a hotel room relatively inexpensively and the flights home on sunday were only 12,500 skymiles, rather than 35,000 on saturday.

 

The delta amex has promotional rates for 50,000 skymiles for opening the card with $2,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. I believe their "regular" skymiles bonus is 30,000 for opening the card, so you do have to wait for the promotion, which seems to happen every other month or so. My husband and i each applied for a card - each our own, not joint accounts. If the accounts are linked, you get one bank of miles. If they are separate, you each get 50,000 miles. That's key!! So, within the first 3 months you each have to spend $2,000 - we did this over the holidays, so that was easy for us, with family gifts, travel, etc. We also each paid $500 towards our cruise (merry christmas, honey!) as our christmas gifts to each other. From the time you pay the bill when you hit that $2,000 in spending, the skymiles get deposited into your delta account within 7 days. Once they're in your account, you can book the airfare! We booked our flights in january for our june cruise.

 

Our flights to anchorage were 20,000 miles each, our flights home from vancouver were 12,500. The best part? We actually booked red-eye flights home from vancouver, as they were the least amount of skymiles. About 3 months before we traveled, delta changed our flight times - really, just pushed it back by an hour. Not a big deal, but the flight change notification said that if the new time didn't work for us, we could change with no penalty. I called delta and sure enough, they swapped us to the afternoon flight (which "cost" significantly more miles), with no added charge at all. Sweet!!

 

The amex also gets your checked bag fees waived when you travel, which was another nice (small) savings for us. When we got home from the trip, we just called amex and cancelled the cards. We waited until we got home so that we could be sure the flights all worked out and we got those bag fees waived :) honestly, before trying this, we were skeptical. But, its absolutely worked out perfectly and was without question the biggest cost savings of the entire trip, by a lot! I hope i explained this well, but let me know if you have any other questions at all!

 

Lastly, i think we aren't allowed to discuss specific travel agents on cruise critic? But, yes, we use one. He's great and always throws in some extra perks for us. Upgrading before or after final payment has never been a problem for us. We do it all the time when prices drop. Just email me at katievriezen at hotmail dot com and i'll be happy to send you the info.

thanks so much :)

Your trip report is FABULOUS! Not only did you do an amazing amount of research, it was very well written! Thanks for sharing! Your itinerary is very similar to something I would enjoy. Airfare to Vancouver and Anchorage is pricey for me. I read your post about opening Delta Amex SkyMiles card. This might be key for me to be afford the high airfare. Did you have any issue receiving or using the miles or when you closed your account? Also, when you booked your Celebrity cruise, did you book directly through them or a third party? I have only cruised once before and it was a locked in price, so I was never able to upgrade. Thanks in advance for your help. - Natalie

Amindu,

I'm following this thread as we have some similarities in choosing a cruise. Wondering if you have made a decision on Princess or HAL? I'm also wondering about the size of the ship navigating near the glaciers too. Any comments or new research you've found would be appreciated. Thanks!!!!

About Us:

We are both 43 years old, with a dream to visit Alaska. It has been suggested taking a cruise would be a good way to visit for the first time. This will be my second cruise (Carnival cruise to Western Caribbean in 2015.) Husband has never cruised and isn't entirely convinced cruising will be his type of vacation (but he just hasn't done it yet!) We can travel anytime in June or July of 2018 (max of two weeks.)

Budget:

Budget is a concern. For this trip, I think we can only afford the airfares (from Denver), cruise (interior room) and excursions. Our ideal vacation would include a land package but we will have to return for another trip to explore Denali (at least this is what I believe.)

Interests:

Wildlife, nature, scenery, 'experiencing' different excursions, being active, Glacier Bay, train ride, possibly renting a car as hubby likes to drive.

Questions:

Seattle vs Vancouver. Seattle appears to be cheaper and are all return trips. We have already visited Seattle before and Victoria, B.C. It would be nice to see different sights. If we left out of Vancouver, we would also be able to enjoy a one-way cruise. Are cruises out of Vancouver more expensive or is it just the airfare (for Vancouver, Anchorage etc.) that costs more?

I will have more questions to follow, but for now am just trying to decide which cruise would be a good fit for us.

Thank you in advance!