Cruising Alaska As Cheap As Possible: How Do You Save Money?

[funcruiser1234]

How do you save money before you cruise Alaska and on your cruise?

 

I know the financial aspect is determined by multiple things, but surely there are ways everyone can save.

 

Do you book packages that include cruise and flight? Stuff like this would help!

 

Thank you in advance to everyone!

[CowPrincess]

Get on the mailing list for your embarkation city's tourism organization. You can sometimes get offers for buy 1/get 1 stuff. Sign up for Groupon, Living Social et al for the ports and embarkation city.

 

If you need clothes for the trip that you are unlikely to use again, check thrift stores for them.

 

Realize you do not need souvenirs ;)

 

Comparison shop for everything. E.g., If the cruise line is offering transfers from airport to ship, see what a cab or public transit would cost.

 

Those are things that come to mind immediately. If I have other ideas I'll post :)

[molme]

If you have to fly you might want to start checking fares. We are already booked for our May cruise. I found a good fare on Delta for $454 for flight from Atlanta to Seattle. Glad I was looking early. Also have booked our hotel in Seattle. We are all ready to go, just waiting for May to get here.

[funcruiser1234]

If you have to fly you might want to start checking fares. We are already booked for our May cruise. I found a good fare on Delta for $454 for flight from Atlanta to Seattle. Glad I was looking early. Also have booked our hotel in Seattle. We are all ready to go, just waiting for May to get here.

 

Thank you!

[bonvoyagie]

DIY touring - get tour books AAA and the like.

Checkout www.cruiseportinsider.com for info on the AK port cities - they list the various ship tours as well as some DIY ideas.

 

Most towns in AK are small and walkable - Juneau is probably the largest.

 

Rent cars (arrange this well ahead of time), use public transport.

 

Look for value over cost - often non ship tours - but similar tours offered by independent companies are not going to be cheap - but they usually offer smaller busses, boats, etc and therefore give you a better tour experience. Sometimes you actually end up saving money as well.

 

Plan for and budget for at least one big excursion - like a train trip to the Yukon or a helicopter ride and walk on a glacier, or a sea plane ride into the Misty Fjords.

[Budget Queen]

One way to keep costs down is to be flexible. Over many many past years, late booking cruise discounts have been significant. A strategy is to block time with flights- that would allow at least 3 cruises of interest. Book your flights ahead then late book a cruise.

 

I don't have any lodging issues with budget options. I see a lot of money spent on hotels that are important to some people. My slant is on the lower prices, since it doesn't matter to me. An example is staying out near Seatac, staying at the Marina instead of the Holiday Inn in Seward, staying at the Denali Park Hotel in Healy instead of the Denali Bluffs, etc.

 

I never skimp on my activities, so I never advocate "skipping" something you really want to do or "substituting" something way down your selection list. If funds are that critical, I would suggest alternative means to get the funds- pay yourself, forego gifts, if someone asks you what you "want", then mention the tour, and maybe set up a fund etc etc. Flame away- it's only an alternative that may work for some.

[funcruiser1234]

Thank you everyone!

[krazy4kruisin]

I purchased cruise 10 months in advance, Got a great fare, Still the lowest I have seen, received a $150 OBC, $100 excursion OBC, Got a new SWA visa and got 50000

points when I purchased our balcony fare of $2400 (for 2 people)and now have free airfare, Paid for our pre cruise hotel with credit card points that we have been saving for years, Get to stay at Grand Hyatt Seattle for nothing........We have already purchased 2 excursions thru the cruse lines. So we have a 7 day cruise in a balcony, 2 excursions, airfare, pre cruise hotel in a 4 star hotel for about $3000 total. We when we step onboard it will be totally paid for. Doesn't get much better than this!

[thinfool]

As you have read so far there are several strategies you can use. I would add:

 

Are you looking at a Seattle/Vancouver round trip or a north/southbound one-way cruise?

 

Round trips will likely be less $$ than a one-way.

 

Early season and late season sailings usually offer economies over high season sailings. However they also can mean more weather problems than high season sailings.

[laughing husky]

Another way to save (usually) a lot of $$$$ is to take transportation from Vancouver...or to Vancouver...to or from Seattle. There are buses and trains as well as ship shuttles that will take you from the ship to airport...usually less than $40.00....This can save a lot from doing an international flight....and the drive is about 2.5 hrs....Flights to and from SEA are usually pretty cheap....

[VermeulT]

I purchased cruise 10 months in advance, Got a great fare, Still the lowest I have seen, received a $150 OBC, $100 excursion OBC, Got a new SWA visa and got 50000

points when I purchased our balcony fare of $2400 (for 2 people)and now have free airfare, Paid for our pre cruise hotel with credit card points that we have been saving for years, Get to stay at Grand Hyatt Seattle for nothing........We have already purchased 2 excursions thru the cruse lines. So we have a 7 day cruise in a balcony, 2 excursions, airfare, pre cruise hotel in a 4 star hotel for about $3000 total. We when we step onboard it will be totally paid for. Doesn't get much better than this!

 

I'm looking at similar... got the USAir Mastercard for enough points for free first class tix... have the Holland Visa and will have enough points for at least $3K off my fare... so looking at 2 people, inside room on 2 week cruise, for about $2000-2500 with all excursions etc.

[JimAOk1945]

As others have mentioned, most of the ports of call are walkable. Usually, your ship will dock at a place that has interesting things nearby within a reasonable walking distance from your ship.

 

You might consider doing one or two shore excursions at the ports and then just "window shop" at the other ports.

 

Happy cruising. Alaska is amazing!

[Glaciers]

CC has a new feature that started near the beginning of this year that notifies by email when a particular cruise has a price drop. I just signed up to receive them for an Alaska Holland trip in May 2015. If there is a change they send the emails on Friday. Not sure how effective this is yet since I just signed up.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/price-drop/?src=TOCC

[Giantfan13]

Without knowing any details about you--your location, your age, what you are looking to do for fun, it is hard to be specific.

 

Whenever we cruise, it is ALWAYS on a budget. We usually opt for the inside cabins and since we don't drink or care to frequent the specialty restaurants on board, our ship's bill is usually just the tips and a few other minor expense.

 

In ports we ALWAYS opt to do things ourselves, unless it is necessary to book a private tour. We NEVER book any ship's tours.

 

Alaska can be very expensive, since most of the excursions are pricy, but you can do things a lot cheaper. If there is ONE thing that you really want to do, then go for it. In the other ports, you can rent a car for a day for about $100 or so and see many things outside the city, like in Skagway, drive to Emerald Lake. Just a wonderful day. or you can just stay in town, wander around a bit, see some of the local sites and just enjoy being in Alaska.

 

Last time we went, there were books before we boarded that had loads of coupons for many of the shops in the ports. My DW secured quite a few low priced items and free items which made great presents and souvenirs. I'm not sure if these books are available, but if they are, get one or two.

 

Maybe the biggest expense is the airfare. We fly from NY to Seattle, but we have always used miles to make the trip. depending on where you are, try and get a new credit card from an airline, that offers enough miles, if you make purchases over a certain amount, and you can fly for basically free. We use Southwest. They offer 50,000 miles/points for a minimum purchase, which is usually enough to fly to Seattle from the East Coast.

 

You have already gotten some great info, and I hope, this also, has helped.

 

Cheers

 

Len