Hotel recommendation Anchorage

[rhsjr]

We are arriving 3 days early for our southbound cruise out of Whitter and will be in Seward for the first 2 nights. Need to return car to ANC late on July 4th, stay overnight and then catch the transfer to Whitter next morning to start crusing. Any recommendations for a nice but cheap (haha) hotel in Anchorage?

[fti]

We are arriving 3 days early for our southbound cruise out of Whitter and will be in Seward for the first 2 nights. Need to return car to ANC late on July 4th, stay overnight and then catch the transfer to Whitter next morning to start crusing. Any recommendations for a nice but cheap (haha) hotel in Anchorage?

 

Where are you catching your transfer from? That might help you decide which area of the city you want a hotel in (though a taxi from the airport to downtown will cost +-$20 so not a fortune).

 

If your transfer is from downtown, try to return the car downtown which could help with logistics.

 

John

[rhsjr]

I would ASSUME we will catch the transfer from the airport (Princess transfer). That is also where we will be returning the car on the morning of Jily 5th, cruise day.

[coffee39]

I would ASSUME we will catch the transfer from the airport (Princess transfer). That is also where we will be returning the car on the morning of Jily 5th, cruise day.

 

I think DH and I will be on the same cruise, Sapphire Princess southbound July 5, 2008. We are also going to Alaska ahead of time and doing a land tour. We are tentatively booked for a cruisetour however, I am considering cancelling the tour and doing it on our own. Seems like it is a whole lot cheaper that way.

 

This will be our first ever cruise so we are very excited about it.

[rhsjr]

We did a Holland America cruise tour last year northbound and had a GREEEEEAT time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Captain Cook's Hotel - it is also the hotel where many Princess cruise people stay.

 

Handy to a lot of things.

[Suzanne123]

We're also on your Sapphire cruise and planning a week to tour pre-cruise on our own.

Re: Anchorage hotels -- Last year we stayed at the Fairfield Inn and it was OK, but surely not worth the $200 price. This time I got lucky and booked the Marriott Courtyard when they had their big sale a few weeks ago. The price has since doubled.

I'm not sure if it's more important to you to have "nice" or "cheap" but the Motel 6 was directly behind the Fairfield Inn and it seemed clean and quiet, at least from the outside. I think that was $40 or $50 cheaper. Good Luck!

[johninwpa]

If you opt for Downtown, they will pick you at Capt. Cook Hotel, which is in the middle of the Downtown area. We stayed at Day's Inn, about 6 blocks away. We were still able to walk around the downtown area and shop. The Anchorage nite was the one nite we opted for price, since we knew we were getting into town later after a day of sightsseing. Our main interests were choices for food and to walk around and shop. As I recall there are several places close to the airport, but food options may be limited.

[coffee39]

If you opt for Downtown, they will pick you at Capt. Cook Hotel, which is in the middle of the Downtown area. We stayed at Day's Inn, about 6 blocks away. We were still able to walk around the downtown area and shop. The Anchorage nite was the one nite we opted for price, since we knew we were getting into town later after a day of sightsseing. Our main interests were choices for food and to walk around and shop. As I recall there are several places close to the airport, but food options may be limited.

Just checked the price of the Captain Cook Hotel....260.00/night.:eek:

[NancyIL]

Well...I was going to suggest that since July 4th is a weekend day, perhaps the Courtyard in Anchorage still had the $104 breakfast lovers rate available. Unfortunately, that rate is now $204!

[rhsjr]

It is only money, I pick it off the trees in the backyard.:D :D :D

[mytime53]

It is only money, I pick it off the trees in the backyard.:D :D :D

 

Thanks, you gave me my first chuckle of the day! Although I agree that the prices are too high in Alaska in the summer, I'm trying to book a room in Miami for March. Although our cruise ends in FLL, we have friends flying in to Miami the next AM from Anchorage. We want a hotel with airport shuttle so that we're not up at the crack of dawn to go pick them up. The prices are the same there.

[NancyIL]

Thanks, you gave me my first chuckle of the day! Although I agree that the prices are too high in Alaska in the summer, I'm trying to book a room in Miami for March. Although our cruise ends in FLL, we have friends flying in to Miami the next AM from Anchorage. We want a hotel with airport shuttle so that we're not up at the crack of dawn to go pick them up. The prices are the same there.

 

Hotel prices tend to be high everywhere "in season." That's when I'm especially glad to have hotel points (Marriott, Starwood, Priority Club, Hilton, etc.) to use for a free night. Otherwise, I would try Priceline or Hotwire.

[nightingail]

Our trees are bare. Guess we had a bad crop this year! We are hoping for a better crop next fall when we sail on the Spirit! Hubby and I are leaving from Whittier next year and we were able to book a stay at the Fairfield Inn in Anchorage. We havent found anything for much less than 200.00 a night.

[sandikai]

We took the suggestion of someone on this board last year, purchased Priority Points, and stayed at the Anchorage Airport Holiday Inn the first night and last night of our 6 day land tour before our Southbound Cruise. We also stayed two nights at the Holiday Inn in Seward.

 

The cost of a room in Anchorage, with a whirlpool, was $216 or ten thousand points (same in Seward). The cost of purchasing ten thousand points was $100. You are limited to the amount of points you can purchase in a year. (I think twenty thousand)

 

My husband and I have our own accounts with a few points on them so we just purchased the amount we needed. We also applied for the Priority Club VISA card and received fifteen thousand points for that.

 

I am away from home right now and don't have my notes on our Alaska trip, but I think our out of pocket expense for the four night at Holiday Inns in Alaska was about $260.

 

We did have a rental car so didn't need to have a hotel within walking distance to anything.

[fti]

We took the suggestion of someone on this board last year, purchased Priority Points, and stayed at the Anchorage Airport Holiday Inn the first night and last night of our 6 day land tour before our Southbound Cruise. We also stayed two nights at the Holiday Inn in Seward.

 

The cost of a room in Anchorage, with a whirlpool, was $216 or ten thousand points (same in Seward). The cost of purchasing ten thousand points was $100. You are limited to the amount of points you can purchase in a year. (I think twenty thousand)

 

My husband and I have our own accounts with a few points on them so we just purchased the amount we needed. We also applied for the Priority Club VISA card and received fifteen thousand points for that.

 

I am away from home right now and don't have my notes on our Alaska trip, but I think our out of pocket expense for the four night at Holiday Inns in Alaska was about $260.

 

We did have a rental car so didn't need to have a hotel within walking distance to anything.

 

I believe I was the one who suggested buying points. Unfortunately now I believe both hotels (Anchorage and Seward, but for sure Seward) require 25K points per night, not just 10K points. Not a great deal at all anymore. Even for "off-season" (early May), the HI Express in Seward wants 25K points when they sell rooms for only $80-$100/night!

 

Correct in that you can only purchase 20K points in a 12-month period. However, I have heard of cases where people have been able to purchase more than that.

 

Using points is a great way to help reduce the cost of stays.

 

John

[Eleni2007]

Try priceline.com; you can indicate you want somewhere downtown and they will ask you what star category. If you choose 3 star hotel category, you will likely get the Sheraton. You get to quote how much YOU want to pay - more than likely they will accept it. I offered $120.00 for the night and it was accepted. I heard others got it for less - probably depends on the time of year... we stayed there 1 night (Aug 31).

 

We enjoyed it very much - clean, friendlyh staff, and shuttle you aroudn everywhere int he downtown area for free.

[NancyIL]

Try priceline.com; you can indicate you want somewhere downtown and they will ask you what star category. If you choose 3 star hotel category, you will likely get the Sheraton. You get to quote how much YOU want to pay - more than likely they will accept it. I offered $120.00 for the night and it was accepted. I heard others got it for less - probably depends on the time of year... we stayed there 1 night (Aug 31).

 

We enjoyed it very much - clean, friendlyh staff, and shuttle you aroudn everywhere int he downtown area for free.

 

Priceline has to have hotel inventory in order to accept a bid. Another poster bid up to $190 recently for a hotel in Vancouver next summer and was rejected. I don't think it's because the bid was too low, but rather because Priceline had nothing available at any price for that date in 2008.

[miss honey]

I bid 90 for Priceline for Anchorage next summer and was denied. I bid $70 two yrs ago and received the Sheraton. I didn make a reservation for the Hilton on 3rd. ave. . I paid $140. through Hilton. I may try Priceline later. I use Priceline alot around here and normally have good luck. Carol

[fti]

Try priceline.com; you can indicate you want somewhere downtown and they will ask you what star category. If you choose 3 star hotel category, you will likely get the Sheraton. You get to quote how much YOU want to pay - more than likely they will accept it. I offered $120.00 for the night and it was accepted. I heard others got it for less - probably depends on the time of year... we stayed there 1 night (Aug 31).

 

We enjoyed it very much - clean, friendlyh staff, and shuttle you aroudn everywhere int he downtown area for free.

 

I wish it were so easy :D . You are not necessarily more likely to get any one hotel than another unless you know something that hundreds of us who use priceline a lot don't.

 

Anchorage only has ONE zone - so you can NOT indicate that you want downtown. It has been that way since as long as I can remember. If you bid on priceline, you have to accept a hotel that might be downtown, near the airport or in "midtown." No guarantees of shuttles to/from anywhere.

 

If you really want to narrow your selection a bit, hotwire has three zones though they generally cost a bit more than priceline.

 

Best sources of information for priceline and hotwire: betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com

 

John

[Eleni2007]

If you choose the 3 star category for Anchorage, you will more than likely get the Sheraton..and maybe the Hilton. There is no harm in trying.;)