2008 Princess Alaska cruisetours

[NapTown Jim]

Our TA tells us that Princess & Holland America do Alaska the best. We'd like to book as soon as we can for a cruise in September of 2008. I was wondering if anyone had an idea of when their 2008 cruise tour brochure will be out? We'll probably lean twards HAL as our primary choice, but will consider Princess as well.

[mii]

Jim, we are also waiting for the brochures and rates too. They usually come out this month or May.

 

Marilyn

[dchip]

Seems like forever ;-)) and then the next thing you know we will be on the cruise.

 

Hi Marilyn!!

 

Cheers, Denise

[LARGIN]

Waiting here also... Looking at a May 10th b2b2b on the Coral... SF/Vancouver.. Vancouver/Whittier.. Whittier/Vancouver.. fly home

[mii]

Waiting here also... Looking at a May 10th b2b2b on the Coral... SF/Vancouver.. Vancouver/Whittier.. Whittier/Vancouver.. fly home

 

That one interests me too.:D Guess we will have to wait.

 

Hi Denise.

 

marilyn

[Druke I]

That sounds like a good back-to-back.

 

We've done several coastals on Princess and HAL both, and like to Amtrak back. Have you considered the Starlate (as the wags call it)? I think it a much better alternative to flying back to the Bay Area.

[phabric]

Would be interested in the 2008 Alaska brochure also. I keep looking at the 2007 and am wondering if there will be any changes.

 

Carnival and NCL have the 2008 rates out.

[AlaskaGolden]

I heard Princess will have the following ships in Alaska for the Summer 2008 Season:

• Coral Princess
  
• Dawn Princess
  
• Diamond Princess
  
• Golden Princess
  
• Island Princess
  
• Sapphire Princess

[NapTown Jim]

Which one of those will do the Whittier to Vancouver cruises?

[Coral]

Waiting here also... Looking at a May 10th b2b2b on the Coral... SF/Vancouver.. Vancouver/Whittier.. Whittier/Vancouver.. fly home

 

I may be tempted to do that also :)

 

How long is the May 10th cruise? Are there any stops on that cruise?

[Teeara]

I'm hoping the dates and ships are close to what they have listed in the 2007 brochure. As my countdown shows, I'm hoping for the Diamond on the 10th/11th of May. Got my cabin selected and we will probably do cruisetour 6N after the cruise. My mom, roommate and her mom really want to do the train. I keep checking the Princess website everyday. Hoping...

 

Theresa

[flamomo]

Friends who have done the cruisetour recommend doing the tour first, followed by the cruise. They said the cruise was a good time to rest up after the tour part. They found the tour portion tiring.

Just a suggestion based on other's experience.

[LARGIN]

I may be tempted to do that also :)

 

How long is the May 10th cruise? Are there any stops on that cruise?

 

May 10th is 2 days.. SF direct to Vancouver

[Coral]

May 10th is 2 days.. SF direct to Vancouver

 

Thanks. I may be able to pull that off. I couldn't if the repo was a week.

[NAS-KARR]

Did the tour first..........then rested & relaxed on the cruise portion coming home.........that's the way to do it alright !

 

CIAO,

[CruisinLow]

The 2007 cruise schedule for Princess came out in August 2006. That was when I booked a group for this year. We are doing the land tour first starting in Fairbanks and then catch the ship in Whittier to do the south bound cruise.

Our tours for this year actually started appearing on line in January 2007. That was strictly a listing of the tours; no decsription of what the tour was; just a title. Then in late February or early March, they listed all the tours and their descriptions and you could start to book the tours on-line.

 

Hope that helps you with your time line for 2007/2008 Alaska season.

 

Ann:cool:

[lagbunch8]

My TA told me that the Alaska 2008 prices will not be out until September.

[NapTown Jim]

My TA tells me that the Holland America 2008 Alaskan iteneraries will be out in June. If Princess won't release theirs until august or september, well....as they say if you snooze, you lose. We don't want to wait that long to book.

[CruisinLow]

The best advise is to keep checking all the web sites on a weekly basis around June, 2007 to see if they have posted their '08 itineraries yet.

[NapTown Jim]

The best advise is to keep checking all the web sites on a weekly basis around June' date=' 2007 to see if they have posted their '08 itineraries yet.[/quote']

 

I'll certainly do that. I'd like to keep our options open between the two cruise lines....but I would be very disapointed in Princess if they were so slow to not have anything to offer us by June.

[Coral]

My TA tells me that the Holland America 2008 Alaskan iteneraries will be out in June. If Princess won't release theirs until august or september, well....as they say if you snooze, you lose. We don't want to wait that long to book.

 

Princess usually releases Alaska in May time frame - give or take a few weeks.

 

The brochures won't be out until fall as those take forever to print.

[cruise12004]

That sounds like a good back-to-back.

 

We've done several coastals on Princess and HAL both, and like to Amtrak back. Have you considered the Starlate (as the wags call it)? I think it a much better alternative to flying back to the Bay Area.

We are taking the "Starlate" to Seattle on May 23rd. Would love to share your experience

[sonomaphil]

I heard Princess will have the following ships in Alaska for the Summer 2008 Season:

• Coral Princess
  
• Dawn Princess
  
• Diamond Princess
  
• Golden Princess
  
• Island Princess
  
• Sapphire Princess

 

 

You can also start to read between the lines at the schedule already posted for next May and do some figuring! Such as:

 

The Sun Princess ends up in San Francisco on May 8th after a 31 day trip from Australia. I bet it does the 10 days R/T runs from SF.

 

The Golden does a one day from Vancouver to Seattle on May 10th and the Dawn ends up in Seattle after an Alaska Sampler on May 11th. So figure these are the two ships based in Seattle for the 7 day R/T runs. The Star end up in Seattle also on May 4th. Maybe a third in Seattle?

 

The Diamond, Island, Coral and Golden all end up in Vancouver at various times. Figure they all do the 7 day one way runs.

 

You could just extrapolate out from these schedules and you know when the cruises begin and end for the entire season.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Phil, check out the SF Port calendar for 2008.

[sonomaphil]

And there it is, the Sun does the 10 day runs in 2008 to Alaska from SF.

 

Leaving SF:

 

May 7th 17th and 27th

June 6th 16th and 26th

July 6th 16th and 26th

August 5th 15th and 25th

September 4th 14th and 24th (The 24th might not be Alaska, awful late for that)