Alaska advice - and last day for huge Cunard discounts

[buchanan101]

Going to book Q526 (QE to Alaska in Sept 25) - PG2 at BC prices (essentially a 10 day cruise for the price of 7 - £5.3k)

 

So - port or starboard, or does it really matter for Alaska?

Was looking at the forward most deck 4 cabin as has corner balcony with a forward view as well...until I saw a picture of QE and a lifeboat blocks the view. Looking at deck 6.. port or starboard; starboard seems more popular. 5094 is free - and has corner balcony but smaller than deck 4...

 

Are deck 5 balconies slightly deeper than 6, or is this picture  just deceptive (4 is at level of lifeboats)

 

Edited September 2 by buchanan101

[buchanan101]

PG2 for Alaska.  Booking shortly. Was considering deck 4 on the corner so a forward view as well, but that's blocked by a lifeboat. There's a corner suite available on Deck 5... is this worth it?

 

Port or starboard better for Alaska (starboard seems to be more popular) but probably doesn't matter as even in Glacier Bay apparently the ship does some spins?

[MozzaG]

Just be careful with the deck4 cabin as we had one of these and it was above the toilets in the shopping arcade on deck 3

 It was noisy every time someone went out from the corridor into the toilets. A banging and scraping noise. Amazing balcony and great view. No worries with lifeboat. We asked to be moved re the noise.

[buchanan101]

Thanks. Moving away from Deck 4 despite larger balconies

[bananavan]

The Captain will spin the ship so that everyone has the views. 
From my memory, the corner balconies on Deck 4 are slightly smaller than the regular ones on Deck 4. 
Deck 4 PG have a covered area that might come in handy when we are in Alaska as the weather might not be favorable some days. The higher decks do not have this overhang. 

Here is a video of the Deck 5 corner suite. 

Your balcony will be very comfortable for seeing Alaska. 
I encourage you to book the private car for the railway in Skagway. There are 6 spots left. 

Edited September 2 by bananavan

[buchanan101]

3 minutes ago, bananavan said:

The Captain will spin the ship so that everyone has the views. 
From my memory, the corner balconies on Deck 4 are slightly smaller than the regular ones on Deck 4. 
Here is a video of the Deck 5 corner suite. 

Your balcony will be very comfortable for seeing Alaska. 
I encourage you to book the private car for the railway in Skagway. There are 6 spots left. 

So you get a nice forward view as well... ideal

 

I won't book Skagway through Cunard (did Flam direct and it was about 40% of Cunard price). Will look in to your suggestion

[bananavan]

1 minute ago, buchanan101 said:

So you get a nice forward view as well... ideal

 

I won't book Skagway through Cunard (did Flam direct and it was about 40% of Cunard price). Will look in to your suggestion

Usually Cunard prices are insane compared to private.  but there did not seem to be an option for booking directly in Skagway. 

[buchanan101]

7 minutes ago, bananavan said:

Usually Cunard prices are insane compared to private.  but there did not seem to be an option for booking directly in Skagway. 

Can you book on Cunard now from 12.5 months away?

[buchanan101]

@bananavan is it this one?

 

https://wpyr.com/excursions/product/summit-excursion/

[NE John]

For Alaska, port or starboard doesn’t matter for most views. The captain does 360 turns during scenic cruising in the fjords and glaciers. We enjoyed the Tracy Arm fjord via our balcony with the ship moving 360. We viewed Hubbard Glacier from the Commodore Club (highly recommended because you’ll also hear Rachel Carson’s commentary too). When leaving the glacier, we moved to our balcony and got to hear the ice crunch under the ship. That’s something you don’t get to see and hear everyday!
However, a minor reason for port side preference - when sailing back from Alaska to Victoria, you’ll have scenic views of mountains, etc from the port side as starboard side looks out at the open Pacific. You’ll be outside of the Inside Passage at that point. Check the itinerary map for your specific route. 
Finally, you’ll see wonderful starboard views from PG so mix your views with a cabin on the port side. 

[buchanan101]

Port side selected and booked on Deck 5... on the corner so gets a view forward as well.

 

Be asking too much to get a window in PG dining room after we got one on QA in the fjords.  Somehow... P2 this time, but a bargain

 

 

 

[buchanan101]

28 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Can you book on Cunard now from 12.5 months away?

Maybe not at $374 each v $172...

 

Direct price THIS year  $146, so will book through Cunard

Edited September 2 by buchanan101

[buchanan101]

Wow - the prices for the activities!!!

[NE John]

1 minute ago, buchanan101 said:

Port side selected and booked on Deck 5... on the corner so gets a view forward as well.

 

Be asking too much to get a window in PG dining room after we got one on QA in the fjords.  Somehow... P2 this time, but a bargain

 

 

 

You’ll still have sea views from PG/QG, even if your table is away from the windows. Below is picture of the view from the middle of the restaurant. However, a few tables are closer to the Courtyard with lesser sea views. 

By corner, do you mean 5001/5002? 
 

[buchanan101]

7 minutes ago, NE John said:

You’ll still have sea views from PG/QG, even if your table is away from the windows. Below is picture of the view from the middle of the restaurant. However, a few tables are closer to the Courtyard with lesser sea views. 

By corner, do you mean 5001/5002? 
 

No, on the corner of the middle block, so balcony has a bit of a forward view as well 5094.  Restaurant a lot smaller than QA - there were some not great tables in PG well away from the window that I fully expected to get. Instead...just second time Cunarders 

[newbie202020]

@buchanan101Hi, how are you able to get the 5.3k pounds (about CAD 10k) price? I'm from Canada and the lowest I can get for same voyage is CAD 13k for PG using Cunard website. Thanks

[bananavan]

58 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

@bananavan is it this one?

 

https://wpyr.com/excursions/product/summit-excursion/

Yes it is the same, but I could not find a way to book the private car on their site. 
We have taken the regular train before and it is very good but the seats are hard and decided that we are now only built for comfortable tours. 😇
I booked this earlier in July!! 
It apparently sells out very fast and when I looked the tour up on other cruise lines, the price was over $400 each as well. 
I normally arrange my own trips but this is one where I felt we had to do it with Cunard. 
When we were last in Alaska our Princess tour got us back very late in Ketchikan. We had gone on a kayak trip. We had our own kayaks at the time and used them frequently so we thought this would be great This was cold and miserable. BUT we were glad that we had taken a ship's tour otherwise the ship would not have stopped for us.
 

[buchanan101]

25 minutes ago, newbie202020 said:

@buchanan101Hi, how are you able to get the 5.3k pounds (about CAD 10k) price? I'm from Canada and the lowest I can get for same voyage is CAD 13k for PG using Cunard website. Thanks

Was a price that ends today. It's a P2 at a BC price.  A free cabin upgrade, plus $820 OBC. P1s way more expensive at £7.2k.  Can you use UK site to book? VPN?

 

[david,Mississauga]

1 hour ago, bananavan said:

The Captain will spin the ship so that everyone has the views. 
From my memory, the corner balconies on Deck 4 are slightly smaller than the regular ones on Deck 4. 
Deck 4 PG have a covered area that might come in handy when we are in Alaska as the weather might not be favorable some days. The higher decks do not have this overhang. 

Here is a video of the Deck 5 corner suite. 

Your balcony will be very comfortable for seeing Alaska. 
I encourage you to book the private car for the railway in Skagway. There are 6 spots left. 

 

We had that same stateroom on our 2022 Alaska cruise.  The balcony provides great views, but we found it to be cramped compared to other balconies we have had. We had to re-arrange the chairs a few times in order to get the door open.

 

I also highly recommend the luxury coach on the  WP&Y excursion. That can be booked only through cruise lines. There are only two of these parlour cars so not every train has one. We took it in 2023.  It was pricey - especially for Canadians as the fare is in US $ - but we enjoyed it.  The outdoor balcony on the rear is at least double the size of those on the regular coaches and there are benches to sit on.  

 

Being at the end of the train it sways and bounces more than the other coaches.  When this luxury service started there was a self-serve buffet for the generous snacks, but for safety a box of delectable "goodies"  is brought to the passengers. The wine was very  good too. This was our third trip on the WP&Y and the first in the luxury coach.

 

Now that there is a loop at Summit the excursion is a bit shorter than it was when the locomotives had to be taken to the rear in order to pull the train back to Skagway. 

[bluemarble]

19 minutes ago, newbie202020 said:

@buchanan101Hi, how are you able to get the 5.3k pounds (about CAD 10k) price? I'm from Canada and the lowest I can get for same voyage is CAD 13k for PG using Cunard website. Thanks

 

I'm seeing a "Labor Day Sale" fare being offered on voyage Q526 on the Cunard Canada site for $10,846.88 (CAD) for a PG suite double occupancy. The "Big Balcony Event" fare is $13,846.88 (CAD) on the Cunard Canada site.

 

For the record, the "Labor Day Sale" fare offered on the Cunard US site is $8,098 (USD) and the "Big Balcony Event" fare is $10,338 (USD). That's an approximate exchange rate of $1.34 CAD = $1.00 USD.

 

But yes, the fare on the Cunard UK website is £5,338 for their "Complimentary Upgrade Promotion" going on at the moment. That's clearly better than the US and Canadian fares even for the lower "Labor Day Sale" promotion going on now in North America.

 

The "Labor Day Sale" fares for North America include $300 (USD) OBC for a 10-night PG booking, double occupancy. The UK fare includes $820 (USD) OBC for voyage Q526. So that makes it an even better deal in the UK at the moment.

 

That's not unusual. We in North America get perks those in the UK don't get such as refundable deposits. And there is a long standing "Grill Suite Offer" for North America bookings although I can't tell whether that offer applies to the "Labor Day" Sale". The trade-off is that we in North America often (but not always) pay higher fares compared to the UK.

[newbie202020]

Thanks @bluemarble. My mistake. I was looking at QG instead of PG pricing. I see the PG pricing you're quoting above now and thanks for the explanation about the country differences.

 

I have to say that I'm very disappointed that Cunard is departing from Seattle instead of Vancouver. It would cost us considerably more to depart from Seattle and we love Cunard. I hope they come back to departing from Vancouver.

[buchanan101]

2 minutes ago, newbie202020 said:

Thanks @bluemarble. My mistake. I was looking at QG instead of PG pricing. I see the PG pricing you're quoting above now and thanks for the explanation about the country differences.

 

I have to say that I'm very disappointed that Cunard is departing from Seattle instead of Vancouver. It would cost us considerably more to depart from Seattle and we love Cunard. I hope they come back to departing from Vancouver.

Yes this is a shame - I'd have rather Vancouver. Would have spent longer before the cruise there - as it is will probably just have two nights before the cruise

 

so..Seattle... return BA flights (using Avios) are probably departing at 13:30 and 19.40. Which to take on day of arrival back in Seattle? One is a touch early for comfort, one is rather late...

 

And...things to do on one day in Seattle?

[buchanan101]

17 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

I'm seeing a "Labor Day Sale" fare being offered on voyage Q526 on the Cunard Canada site for $10,846.88 (CAD) for a PG suite double occupancy. The "Big Balcony Event" fare is $13,846.88 (CAD) on the Cunard Canada site.

 

For the record, the "Labor Day Sale" fare offered on the Cunard US site is $8,098 (USD) and the "Big Balcony Event" fare is $10,338 (USD). That's an approximate exchange rate of $1.34 CAD = $1.00 USD.

 

But yes, the fare on the Cunard UK website is £5,338 for their "Complimentary Upgrade Promotion" going on at the moment. That's clearly better than the US and Canadian fares even for the lower "Labor Day Sale" promotion going on now in North America.

 

The "Labor Day Sale" fares for North America include $300 (USD) OBC for a 10-night PG booking, double occupancy. The UK fare includes $820 (USD) OBC for voyage Q526. So that makes it an even better deal in the UK at the moment.

 

That's not unusual. We in North America get perks those in the UK don't get such as refundable deposits. And there is a long standing "Grill Suite Offer" for North America bookings although I can't tell whether that offer applies to the "Labor Day" Sale". The trade-off is that we in North America often (but not always) pay higher fares compared to the UK.

 The only flexibility we have with deposits in UK is one free switch allowed to a cruise of equal or higher value.  Always seemed strange that US deposits were refundable; a deposit to the UK is a commitment to pay the rest.

 

Back to Q526 - surprisingly not a single P1 seems to have sold (P2 uptake not great, so expect more discounting...)

[bananavan]

10 minutes ago, buchanan101 said:

Yes this is a shame - I'd have rather Vancouver. Would have spent longer before the cruise there - as it is will probably just have two nights before the cruise

 

so..Seattle... return BA flights (using Avios) are probably departing at 13:30 and 19.40. Which to take on day of arrival back in Seattle? One is a touch early for comfort, one is rather late...

 

And...things to do on one day in Seattle?

Have you ever used Cunard for your flights? 
I realize that things are different for UK customers vs USA, but we have always found that the International flights through Cunard are much less expensive. 
That being said, we will use points for our flights within the USA. 
We cannot book until 330 days out and I have been watching our flights  like a hawk on a daily basis. 
 

[buchanan101]

Just now, bananavan said:

Have you ever used Cunard for your flights? 
I realize that things are different for UK customers vs USA, but we have always found that the International flights through Cunard are much less expensive. 
That being said, we will use points for our flights within the USA. 
We cannot book until 330 days out and I have been watching our flights  like a hawk on a daily basis. 
 

A return for two in Club on BA will cost me 200,000 Avios (supposedly about £2k's worth, but I have 480,000 Avios) and £950. I have a 241 Amex voucher halving the Avios requirement  from 400,000. May fly out Premium Economy to save a bit.

 

That's a no brainer when Cunard want £1520 a head for - I assume - economy returns...so the same overall price as my Club class returns

 

355 days out for me for bookings, but there seems good availability for flights to Seattle year round. The return in Club is the really important one to get a flat bed on an overnighter