Alaskan Shore Excursions

[tcrsolutoins]

My cruise to Alaska is in August. I am hoping Celebrity will have a sale on their excursions.  Question for you experts and experienced Celebrity cruisers: can I expect any sales for the coming months, maybe in the 20 - 30% range? 

 

Thank you in advance.

[Cinder22]

They had some excursions 20-30% off for our Alaskan cruise in June 2022. It didn't happen until closer to the sale date and didn't include all excursions. My advice: if there is something you REALLY want (like whale watching), book it because the popular ones sell out quickly. If you are willing to take a chance and wait it out a bit, then hold off for a sale. We got a discount on the Mendenhall Glacier with salmon bake (which I highly recommend). We also booked our own excursion in Ketchikan for a crab feast that was cheaper than what celebrity offered.

[AmberCascades]

You can probably book your own excursions for less money.  We did the Taku Lodge 5 glaciers flight and salmon bake.  It was about the same price as the ship, but we got a much better time than Celebrity was offering.  Their office is just down the street.   We also took the blue bus (at the dock) to Mendenhall Glacier.  No need to do that through the ship.

 

Vendors in Alaska will be reliable as they have a very short tourist season and they don't want to get a bad reputation.   They know we talk about them.  🙂

 

Other than that, ship excursions sell out quickly in Alaska so if you really want to do something, book it now.

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, tcrsolutoins said:

My cruise to Alaska is in August. I am hoping Celebrity will have a sale on their excursions.  Question for you experts and experienced Celebrity cruisers: can I expect any sales for the coming months, maybe in the 20 - 30% range? 

 

Thank you in advance.

Probably way to late even book most tours.  Short season and very high demand this year.

[LeeW]

Whale watching in Juneau definitely use independent, like Alaska Shore Excursions or Harv and Marv.  Either will have less than half the people on the boat (and Harv and Marv may have 8). Check the Alaska board for lots of suggestions.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

29 minutes ago, LeeW said:

Whale watching in Juneau definitely use independent, like Alaska Shore Excursions or Harv and Marv.  Either will have less than half the people on the boat (and Harv and Marv may have 8). Check the Alaska board for lots of suggestions.  

Agree that your roll call and ports forum will help you find tours.  On my upcoming cruise there are over 20 independent tours organized.

[Sunshine Bob]

Excursions in Alaska are expensive and booking them through your cruise line are often more expensive. Cruise lines earn good money on these , they are often over subscribed and the Alaska season is short. All of these facts mean that discounts are very unlikely.

 

Our Celebrity Alaska cruise is this August too and we booked an independent whale watching tour when in Icy Straight with https://www.g-wind.com/ . A small independent company reccomended to me by another poster on this forum. The price was about 20% less and its a smaller boat.

 

Be aware when booking independent tours to check what time the ship is due to arrive as unlike Carribean itineraries ships often arrive later in the day.