When and how to book for late summer 2010

[gloce]

Wow - this is a wonderful community to have as a resource. I have read many, many threads before posting this question, which i must confess, might be a bit multifacted and more than a little convoluted. LOL.

 

Mom and Dad's 50th in summer 2010, thinking about booking a cruise (likely round trip YVR to Alaska) and I am a little confused. It would seem to me that many people have their cruise plans booked two years out, and yet, when I check online with the various companies, I see that many of them dont have anything listed as available in Aug or Sept 2010. Is it privileged information or is the state of the economy such that they are slow to post this information for a year and half out? Do i NEED to use a TA in order to get around this? I confess to being a dyed in the wool independent traveler, who has visited many third world countries with only a backpack the size of most folks' carryons...so this is an interesting predicament for me.

 

The second part to this is, which cruise line? We are considering an ultra luxury cruise, i.e. Silverseas, or Regent...can anyone shed any light as to just how amazing or how stuffy these are? I have read about the rum runners, and again, am blown away by the lengths by which people will go to drink their alcohol for cheap. I would almost rather pay the extra price to have a few cocktails included, but is it really worth it for the change in the level of service?

 

Sorry for the length of this post, I appreciate any and all comments.

 

Kind regards,

GJA:)

[paul929207]

Each cruise line announces their schedule when they want. Most of the lines will be announcing 2010 over the next two months or so. Just keep checking. In the interim, you can look at this year's schedule, next year is likely to be similar.

[wrp96]

Cruise seasons typically run from Summer to Spring, with the current season running through Spring 2010. The next set of cruise offerings (through Spring 2011) should be released within the next few months for most cruiselines (NCL is the exception as they have already released their cruises for that time period).

 

For Alaska, I think (and I could always be wrong) that Regent is the only luxury line that offers any Alaska sailings. Since you aren't certain about cruising though, I would definitely talk to a travel agent, at the least to get brochures etc. There is no requirement that you must book with a TA though.

[Shorex]

 

The second part to this is, which cruise line? We are considering an ultra luxury cruise, i.e. Silverseas, or Regent...can anyone shed any light as to just how amazing or how stuffy these are?

 

Kind regards,

GJA:)

 

We have sailed on both Silversea and Regent. Both are amazing and not at all stuffy. You might want to pose the question of the Silversea and Regent boards respectively, for more detail.

 

However, be warned -- once you experience the level of service, luxury, cuisine and individual attention on these lines you will never want to step backwards to the mass market lines. ;)

[Shorex]

Few more thoughts -- (btw, both Regent and Silversea cruise to Alaska and their 2010 schedules are online now) --

 

1) Definitely use a TA - and not just any TA. Find one who is affiliated with one of the several luxury cruise consortiums such as Virtuoso. There are numerous benefits including private shore excursions, private cocktail parties and on-board credits -- at no additional charge.

 

2) You will have a choice of length of cruise - anywhere from seven days (for example, Seward to Vancouver) or twelve days (round-trip San Francisco.) For this cruise, I'd splurge for the twelve days. That way your parents will be able to enjoy sea days on the ship.

 

3) Luxury cruise lines are scrambling to cope with the downturn in the economy. (Crystal is offering $1000 per person on-board credit on selected cruises. Wow.) Get a guarantee that if the price of your cruise goes down in the future, your price will go down. There are bargains to be had.

 

4) If your choice is between August and September, I'd choose September. School has started and there will be fewer kids, and it won't be as hot (Alaska can get hot).

 

The demographics of Regent and Silversea tend to be cruisers who are retired or nearly so, and social but not stuffy.

[gloce]

To everyone who took the time to reply, and Shorex, we know it will be hard to step backwards again - a risk we are willing to take. (LOL)

 

Are 'at sea' days something rather special?

[KCE]

I am glad you asked this question about when they post their schedules. We are wanting to make our reservations too and NCL are the only ones I could find that went that far out.