frugaltravel

How are you arriving to Seward? If by train, they will check your luggage right through to the cruise ship. If by coach, you could drop your luggage off at the cruise terminal starting late morning. Then you can take a taxi to Exit Glacier. Be sure to coordinate a return pick up time before they drop you off since there is no cell service at Exit Glacier. Another option is Exit Glacier Shuttle. https://www.exitglaciershuttle.com/

Cruise lines pay travel agents for a reason. Why bother paying a travel agent if the cruise line still needs to do a lot of the work? Sounds like you needed more than a simple online cruise agency who you just wanted to handle a booking. There are other more customer-service oriented agencies that can help you. Or as you said, book directly with the cruise line.

The public bus stops a block from the hotel and has room for luggage, so it is very convenient. Having said that, RCI has a rep at the airport almost all day. If you arrive late in the evening or in the middle of the night, there probably won't be someone there.

Using a third-party transfer can easily be worry-free. They do this all the time. I have used them in the past with no issues.

If southbound, Princess goes to both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier. That is a big win in my book.

When? How long? How many people? What amenities are you looking for? Will you have a car?

Sailed on Island once after the renovation (Panama Canal). Fewer public areas, more staterooms. Seemed very packed - queues for almost everything. I personally would never said on the Island again.

The date you are planning on flying must have an extra flight with Alaska Air. Their normal ORD-ANC departures leave in the morning during daylight hours.

That is a very unique flight time. Which airline? One of my hedges against flight delays is to look at options in case of a delay. If you have to leave later in the day, you would only be able to depart much later in the morning. Alaska Air has a non-stop at 10.05am arriving ANC 1.55pm. Other than that you probably need to make a connection, departing about 6am and arriving about the 1pm.

With any baggage fee with flights on one ticket, you only pay the baggage fee imposed by the first operating airline. so in your case, you pay the AC bag fee. The bags will be transferred to UA for no additional charge.

If you can't fly in the day before the cruise departure, I would definitely do the northbound cruise departing from Vancouver. As was mentioned above, your cruise doesn't even depart from Anchorage - it departs from Whittier, which is a 90 minute bus ride or 2+ hour train ride from the Anchorage airport. If you miss the cruise ship departure, you will miss three nights of the cruise at a minimum since the next place you could pick up the ship would be in Skagway (the first two full days are at Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, which are sailing days).

I am 99% certain that your checked baggage benefit with UA does not carry over to flights operated by partner airlines.

The may be some deals but for me it looked like bogus advertising. I booked an excursion in Alaska months ago and the 20% off price now is still $10 more than I paid.

Sounds like you would rather see the cruise lines not sail to Alaska at all 🙂

If you tell the independent operators which cruise ship you are on, they will get you back to the ship on time. I have never heard of an independent operator in Alaska not getting their guests back to the ship in time. In fact, many have "guarantees" to get you back to the ship in time or they will pay for your food, lodging and costs to get you to the next port. Then they usually say that in their X decades of doing business, they have never had to use the "guarantee." I would aim to be back to the ship between 8.30-9pm since all board is usually 1/2 hour before sailaway.