How early should I book Alaska excursions?

[Cali Viajera]

Hi Everyone! We are booked on a Celebrity Alaskan cruise for July 2020. I would like to book next year's local excursions this summer so we are all set and I don't have to think about it. Is one year out too early or just right? I know port towns are small and with many ships in a port that is thousands unloading there. Thank you for any input.

[CruiserBruce]

Are you talking ship's excursions, or private ones?

 

I have seen recently that private vendors allow booking almost a year in advance. That is a message. 

 

Otherwise, excursions with limited capacities, like helicopter, small boat tours, etc, should be booked as soon as possible.

[Italy52]

For us, we like to book our excursions ASAP especially if we are going with a small boat operator or a popular tour operator.  Some vendors will take a reservation in advance and some will put you on a list or ask that you call back when their reservation system for the particular year you are interested opens up.  If you know what you want you can always contact the vendor and see what they say. 

[Heidi13]

If booking private excursions, I would book once we have selected our excursions and they are available for booking.

[schlogee]

I found some of the private excursion companies wouldn't start booking for the next season till the current season was over - so October 2018 for our July 2019 trip.

 

[capriccio]

We cruised Alaska last July.  I had made excursion reservations (whale watching in Juneau and the White Pass railroad in Skagway) by the end of January.  On a past Alaska cruise I made all my reservations before the end of the previous year.

[Katwoman007]

I am less than 2 months out and still have plenty of open ship reservations and private as well that I have come across. We booked ours in January and I actually just changed one, because I realized I wanted a smaller group of 14 for a whale watching tour vs who knows how many 😉 So I guess it could depend on your boat and when. I have heard other lines selling out super fast on theirs. 

When I was looking last year, most companies were not ready till the same year to take reservations. 

[worldtraveller99]

We have booked already our small boat whale local excursions in Juneau and Sitka for July 2020. For Ketchikan and Skagway I am probably going with our ship excursions so have to wait until 120 days before the cruise. In the afternoon in Juneau I am hoping to get the local shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier and back - I wouldn't think I could book that until very near the date?

[masterdrago]

On 3/29/2019 at 10:11 PM, schlogee said:

I found some of the private excursion companies wouldn't start booking for the next season till the current season was over - so October 2018 for our July 2019 trip.

 

This is precisely what I found when trying to book third party excursions.

[Cali Viajera]

Thank-you for all your great input!