Best prices for Alaska?

[D.P. Roberts]

I'm slowly learning all the good strategies on this board for finding lower rates (look early & late, watch for price drops after you've booked, search everywhere on the internet, etc.)

 

As of now, it looks like the average inside stateroom on most ships is $800-$1000, outside from $1000-$1200, balconies $1200-$1800+.

 

However, in searching this forum I've seen all kinds of great deals on other cruises. I know many of those involve cruising the Caribbean in off or shoulder seasons, & we're stuck with high season in Alaska (mid-June to mid-August, due to school schedule).

 

Has anyone gotten better deals than the "ranges" currently offered on the various lines' web sites? I heard that HAL recently had balconies for $1000, which is almost 50% off, but I assume that was a late August/September shoulder season deal. Are there any deals to be had during high season?

[eandj]

If you are speaking of Alaska, the deals you will find generally are after final payments are due and they will be offered for the inside rooms. Alaska is a beautiful area and generally the balcony rooms go first because people want the sights up close. You also will find the best prices on the first 2 and last 2 cruises scheduled to Alaska because of the cooler weather.

 

Now if you are talking peak season for family cruises to the Carib., last minute (after final payments are due) would offer some discounts, but you again will have to settle with whatever rooms are still available. The best will be gone.

 

The problem to last minute planning is if you have to fly, the costs of that will often be more than the savings on the staterooms. ANd you may end up with no availablility on reasonable flights.

[Morgsmom]

You are correct in that the "best" deals are the first two weeks in May or the last two sailings in September, but that doesn't work with our school schedule, either. (since I am taking DD out of school this year to go the Mediterranean I don't think her principal would welcome me pulling her out again in May to go to Alaska...)

 

There are GREAT deals very last minute to Alaska - I saw these last summer when I had the flexibility to go - but as the previous poster said the air was more than the cabins at that point! Since most of the ships leave on the same day of the week (Fri,Sat,Sun) most people want to fly in and out to match those days of the week without burning time and money in hotels. Thus, the optimal flights were either sold out or terribly expensive. The midweek to midweek flights were still "reasonable" (and I am talking about flying from Orlando halfway around the world here so it is not really reasonable already!), but they didn't coordinate with a ship's sailing without having a couple of days hotel and extra expenses pre and post stay...

 

A viable option to look at are all of the "open jaw" itineraries that go into/out of Vancouver to Seward. The cruises themselves are usually quite a bit cheaper than RT cruises so if you can find reasonable air to accomodate then this might be something to look at.

 

Of course Seattle is the most "convenient" but you pay for that convenience in flights with higher cruise prices because of the demand.

 

For me, Alaska is still a desire, but with the price of the air and the usually much higher base fare (vs the Caribbean) and the very high "port charges and taxes" on Alaska, we are sticking to different itineraries for now.