Travel Options To/from Seattle On North Or Southbound Alaska Cruise

[clofty]

Hi all,

Thanks guys for all the information you have provided me in the past.:)

However I am overwhelmed with options for Alaska.

Northbound or Southbound (Diamond Princess probably) - is my first decision?

Second is my family just arrived to live in Seattle.

We live in Tallahassee.

We will probably fly to Seattle and return from Seattle to Tallahassee or Jax or Atlanta or Orlando!

Now the other questions:

What are our best and cheapest (we are 4 adults and 4 children) travel options?

 

For northbound - getting to Vancouver and back from Whittier after independant travelling around.

 

For southbound - getting to Whittier and travelling around independant land tour and then getting back from Vancouver to Seattle.

 

Any ideas? :confused: I've tried looking at all the posts but everybody's questions are so specific it is hard to sort through all the posts.

 

And we need to make a decision for booking for 2007 as we would like Quads on Caribe deck and these are limited.

 

Appreciate any teeny advice based on experience anyone has. And as always it is sooooooooooo much appreciated:)

[Chenega]

If you want to get to Vancouver from Seattle and don't want to drive, take the Quickcoach shuttle from Seattle airport or downtown Seattle hotels. Their website is http://www.quickcoach.com They do offer trips that deliver right to the Canada Place or Ballantyne Pier. You might also consider arriving the day before departure and spending a night in Vancouver. Grayline and Land And Sea Tours both offer precruise tours of Vancouver that will take you directly to the ship.

 

From Whittier, you can travel by bus (train too if your cruise company has that option) to Anchorage and the Anchorage airport. There are multiple flights back to Seattle, especially on Alaska Airlines. Some train departures now even go directly to the new train depot at the Anchorage airport.

 

Given there are four of you, you might just check what it costs to rent a van. Might be cheaper than the shuttles even if you do a one-way with drop fee. Avis and Harley's are both located in Whittier.

[gail811]

Chris: this is what I am doing for the SB cruise. I booked a corner aft suite on the Carnival Spirit. We are flying Alaska air (me from DC and my mom from Orlando) We meet in Seattle and fly into ANC together. We spend the night in Anchorage, pick up a rental car the next morning and drive to Denali. We spend two nights there, spending one day in the park on the park tour bus. We leave Denali and drive to Seward for three nights. While we are there we are doing the Kenai Fjords tour, Exit Glacier, Alaska Sea Life Center and maybe a dog sled ride. We will depart Seward the day of the cruise and drive to Whittier; not sure yet what we will do along the way. We drop the car at the terminal. As for our return from Vancouver. I booked my flights months ago when prices were much cheaper, but now the schedules have changed. I am having a rental car pick us up from the pier and we will do some sight seeing around Vancouver before our drive to Seattle. Not sure of my route yet, but have some ideas. Will return the car to the airport that evening, check in to the hotel, catch the shuttle the next morning and return home.

I know how hard it is to plan. There were times I was ready to scream because I had too many options! I am glad it is all planned but the excursions at this point and I can relax some. I would go to a site like travelocity for your airfares and play around with your options to find the cheapest place to fly into in Florida. My mom could have gone out of JAX or MCO, just ended up MCO was cheaper. I was able to get a multi city ticket for her for $390. I watched prices for weeks and once they dropped I booked.

Good luck. Hope something in here helped.

[ktslp]

How far in advance do you have to book flights to get such a good deal?

[Budget Queen]

From Seattle to Vancouver, there is Quick Shuttle, cruiseline contracted buses, one way car rentals, Amtrak. Allow 4 hours.

the most scenic option is Amtrak, and there may be kids rates??? AAA gave 10% off, around $24. Plus $30+++ cab from airport and another cab or Skytrain to Canada Place.

 

To/from Whittier. Alaska RR, independent shuttles, listings http://www.anchorage.net cruiseline transfers, one way car rentals- Avis, or Harley's