Planning Alaska Cruise

[brockstout]

I've never done Alaska but need to plan a cruise for 7 couples of varying economic situations.  Any recommendations on an affordable-ish, 5-day to Alaska that goes as far north as possible in June 2021?  So many options, I don't know where to start. 

[thinfool]

8 minutes ago, brockstout said:

I've never done Alaska but need to plan a cruise for 7 couples of varying economic situations.  Any recommendations on an affordable-ish, 5-day to Alaska that goes as far north as possible in June 2021?  So many options, I don't know where to start. 

5 day cruises are tough to find.  Standard AK sailings are 7 days.  This is true for either RT Seattle/Vancouver or for oneway north/southbound trips.

The main variable is longer sailings...from San Francisco and Los Angeles....usually 10+ days.

Edited March 29, 2020 by thinfool

[Essiesmom]

There is one 5 day cruise on NCL Sun from Seattle on 17 June 2021  It only calls at Ketchikan and Victoria (for the obligatory foreign port).  If five days is all they have, that's it.  There are no short cruises from Vancouver.  EM

[leaveitallbehind]

And as far as affordable-ish, Alaska tends to be one of the more premium in terms of itinerary cost, in addition to airfare.  If you could find a 5-day itinerary it would likely be priced similar to other region's - such as the Caribbean - 7-day itineraries for similar stateroom categories.

 

My suggestion would be to talk with a travel agent regarding your expectations and budget and let them assist in providing the best options for you to consider, especially since there are 7 couples involved.  That is a lot to take on by yourself.  Certainly the cruise lines would help if you decided to book directly, but that would only be after you've done the hard part of researching and selecting the cruise line to book with.

Edited March 29, 2020 by leaveitallbehind

[1025cruise]

I've never seen a 5 day cruise to Alaska. In all honesty, it would be way too short.

 

I would also agree with the suggestion of finding a reputable TA to work with.

[CruiserBruce]

14 hours ago, thinfool said:

The main variable is longer sailings...from San Francisco and Los Angeles....usually 10+ days.

Several cruise lines do 10-14 days from Seattle or Vancouver...HAL, NCL, for example.

[janetz]

I doubt you will find one under 7 days 

With that said you are taking on alot

Work with a travel agent to pick a cruise and then let everyone 

book it in their own

Or look at different sailings and pick one

Too many variables 

Location, cabin, pricing

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by janetz

[NantahalaCruiser]

17 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

There is one 5 day cruise on NCL Sun from Seattle on 17 June 2021  It only calls at Ketchikan and Victoria (for the obligatory foreign port).  If five days is all they have, that's it.  There are no short cruises from Vancouver.  EM

Agreed. OP, if you are only considering 5-night rather than 7-night because of price (rather than other constrants) then know that there are available 7-night June cruises at slightly less than the one 5-night cruise! See Star Princess 6/19/21 from Anchorage (Whittier) to Vancouver with a 1000% nicer itinerary - ocean view for $816 vs the 5-night Norwegian Sun 6/17/21 at $819.

 

I guarantee you that if you organize a 5-night Alaskan cruise you will end up with 14 very disappointed people with 13 of them giving you mucho grief for at least a year!

 

 

[leaveitallbehind]

One suggestion I would make would be to look at Princess as a prime candidate as they IMO are one of the best cruise lines with Alaska itineraries.  They have several ships and itinerary alternatives to choose between and are one of the few cruise lines permitted to sail into Glacier Bay, which is one of the key Alaskan highlights. 

 

If you go that route, I would also recommend booking your air through them as you get to choose your flights, have price protection allowing for capturing favorable price changes,  have full changeability and refundable with no fees with cancellations until final cruise payment, and have no separate deposit required for booking flights.  And the best feature IMO is that there is no payment due until cruise final payment. BTW, RCI and Celebrity also offer this flight service.

[Canuker]

I fear, brockstout, you are going to have to change at least one of your parameters, not least of which is going somewhere other than Alaska.
In June 2021 there is just one cruise the whole month that takes 5 days: Norwegian Sun, June 17, out of Seattle. Of the 4 days away from port, 2 are sea days, one is In Ketchikcan AK and one is in Victoria BC. Not much Alaska, and not very far north - Ketchikan is just north of the Canada  border - so no glaciers.

Up to you but a lot of effort for very little Alaska.

If you can wait until September, the Celebrity Millennium has a 6-day outing from Vancouver, visiting Ketchican, Juneau and Tracy Arm (glaciers). She sails September 03.
You've stressed "affordable", so the Disney Wonder on July 07, also 5 days, out of Vancouver doesn't fit the bill.

 

The irony is that there are 150 Alaska cruises currently available, but as others above has said, they are, by far, either 7 or 14 days.

[brockstout]

This is all super useful info. Thank you all.