Cheapest Time of Year to Book an Alaskan Cruise

[vesw01]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[TRISHNBRAD]

I ve been researching this for next year, the cheapest times are May and September. My sticking point is the flight, it costs almost as much to fly to Vancouver as it is costing us to fly to Rome.

[MilliesMom]

I ve been researching this for next year, the cheapest times are May and September. My sticking point is the flight, it costs almost as much to fly to Vancouver as it is costing us to fly to Rome.

 

See if you can fly into Seattle and if the cruise line does a transfer by bus from Seattle to Vancouver. It's a 3 hour+ ride from Seattle to Vancouver.

 

Another option I have heard of is to fly into Seattle, then take Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver. The train leaves at 7:30 am tho and trains are NOT known for being on time, so I would do that the day before the cruise not the day of just in case. When I was in college I use to take the train from Bellingham WA (just 30 minutes south of Vancouver) down to Seattle. It is a beautiful train ride.

 

Another option if you are willing to change cruise lines is to do the Dawn or Sun Princess out of Seattle. It is a roundtrip and goes as far up as Skagway/Juneau.

[MilliesMom]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

For booking purposes, right now the rates are the best for the 2007 cruises. As you get closer to a cruise date the rates go up especially on the popular Alaska cruises.

 

For the rates themselves, no matter when you book, the cheaper rates will be seen for May and Sep cruises. Typically the last cruise of September and the first cruise in May have lower rates than the rest AND the summer cruises are the most expensive.

[NurseAngela]

I don't know about price wise, but the weather was perfect when we went in August.

[vic from vic]

I ve been researching this for next year, the cheapest times are May and September. My sticking point is the flight, it costs almost as much to fly to Vancouver as it is costing us to fly to Rome.

 

Given the option of May or September, I would definitely recommend September. The weather will be better.

 

Trish, welcome to my world. We are from near Vancouver and have to pay huge amounts to take a flight to Miami!

[vesw01]

I am going to check into the Sun an Dawn Princess - we have foster children and I would love to take them with, I would have to check to see if we need passports.

 

My parents and my sister went on seperate cruises this year to Alaska and both flew into Seattle and rented a car and drove up.

[dznymom]

We also found airfare into Vancouver was exhorbitant when we did Alaska, so we flew into Seattle and rented a car. We added a couple of nights in Vancouver pre-cruise and found it to be a wonderful city to visit. Even with the rental car & a couple nights in a nice hotel, we still came out ahead on the airfare (there were 4 of us). The drive was easy, other than a very long wait going through customs back into the US.

 

If you consider cruising from Seattle, just do plenty of research. There are itinerary differences and more open ocean to deal with. For us, we definitely were happier cruising out of Vancouver.

 

Oh, and we also had absolutely perfect weather in August. I do think the shoulder seasons have a higher liklihood of rain and fog, although it is fairly common anytime.

[MilliesMom]

I am going to check into the Sun an Dawn Princess - we have foster children and I would love to take them with, I would have to check to see if we need passports.

 

My parents and my sister went on seperate cruises this year to Alaska and both flew into Seattle and rented a car and drove up.

 

If you are traveling this year, just birth certificates & photo ID are needed. As of Dec 31, 2006 passports will be needd to re-enter the US. Also when traveling with the foster children I believe you need to have "legal" documents showing that you have custody/guardianship and have the right to take them out of the country (on the Alaska cruise going from Seattle, you stop in Canada for 5 hours - required by the Jones Act).

 

NOTE: Most DMVs will issue photo IDs for children for a small fee.

[crazidude1400]

I would try celebrity last minute. They were great. Around $450 pp w/all taxes/fees included. I did do inside cabins though. The last week in August through the end of the season is definitely cheap. Last minute deals are good too.