Newbie to Norwegian

[youagain]

Need all information I can on Alaskan cruises. Never been on Norwegian. Have been on Carnival 2 times.We are 4 couples that would like all balcony's together. Best time to buy ? Best time to go? Best port to go out of? Any tricks in booking would be greatly appreciated. We would like to book in a couple of months or when ever the new schedule make good cabins available. Thanks in advance.

[www3traveler]

The Alaskan Season runs from late May to mid September.

 

This Season 2 ships will sail out of Seattle, Washington (round trip): The Bliss (which brand new) on Saturdays and The Pearl on Sundays.

The Jewel will do a ONE way cruise out of Vancouver, British Columbia on Mondays.

 

Balcony's are in high demand on an Alaskan.

 

My strong suggestion would be: find a local travel agent who is a Certified Travel Consultant and let them help you.

[cruisecraze96]

We are going to Alaska this July, the first thing I did was figure out what type of cruise and ship we wanted to go out on and dates. We decided to do round trip from Seattle to make it a bit easier on those traveling in and then decided on the Pearl because we wanted to see Glacier Bay. We chose July because there will be several kids so had to go prior to school starting and after all the different retreats or camps.

 

We have 6 cabins, 1 inside, 3 balconies next to each other, and then at the end of the hall the Owners Haven Suite for my parents. Depending on the size of the group when I was checking for additional balconies for this July they only had 1 left for a group of 4 so it can be better to book earlier, and the prices are higher now too than when we booked last June.

 

It just depends on your budget, travel needs, etc. We just decided to do a round trip vs a one way but if it was just us we would have done one of the land and sea packages, so that is a trip for another year ;)

[BirdTravels]

Need all information I can on Alaskan cruises. Never been on Norwegian. Have been on Carnival 2 times.We are 4 couples that would like all balcony's together. Best time to buy ? Best time to go? Best port to go out of? Any tricks in booking would be greatly appreciated. We would like to book in a couple of months or when ever the new schedule make good cabins available. Thanks in advance.

 

Depends on how much time you have. We would book a Northbound from Vancouver to Seward. Then a land package to Denali national park for a couple of days. Or skip the land if you want to stick to a 7 day cruise. From Vancouver, you stay on the inside passage. We spend hours each evening on our balcony watching the marine life (whales, dolphin). It's magical.

 

If you go later in July/early August, the salmon are running more. More chance of seeing bears (without dropping a lot of money for a flight tour).

 

The Bliss and Pearl from Seattle spend a lot of time at sea on the first and last days where there is less marine life. That being said, we are sailing on the Bliss out of Seattle this summer.

[newmexicoNita]

We did Vancouver to Seward, but that was years ago. Best tine to go: nice weather, July and Aug: best prices: May and Sept; best time to book, asap after the schedule is released. Normally the better cabins sell out quickly. It is amazing how popular Alaska is.

 

If time permits and the budget does as well, I would add a land tour for a few days to the end of the cruise. We did not. For that I am very sorry. Now, we are at a stage in life where our bodies don't work well enough to handle additional walking and sight seeing.

[jdvmd]

Best prices will be early in the season or late in the season.

[The Other Tom]

read through the posts on the Alaska ports of call board

Link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55