Booking early pays off

For those considering Alaska, booking early saved me a lot of money. I booked April 2014 for May 2015. Examples..hotel in Seattle is now $150 night. I got it for $71 night. My cruise with the single supplement is now $200+ more than I paid when I booked. My flight from ANC to home is up $400 than I paid.

After booking cruise and hotels, I read and read many reviews and decided on my excursions. Although I didn't save $ on my excursions I booked early and was able to secure my reservation. I know some people book last minute deals. For me I have assurance knowing the tours I want are not sold out.

I saved coins for the last few months and rolled them to be deposited in my vacation account.

I have not planned an extensive trip like this. I figured book early and I could always cancel or reschedule certain portions if a good deal came along.

Correction..my cabin is up $500

I totally agree with you. Our trip is booked from July. I can be rest assured that everything is booked for the trip. Now we just need the weather to cooperate. If not I have back up plans. Have a great trip!

I agree also, we are on a 14 day cruise tour and since booking in September I have saved 1,150 per person not counting the 400.00 per person on the flights! Plus you get the pick of the cabins and the one you want not what is left over. Kept looking for the price drops before final payment but now really happy with the price I received from the beginning. Just counting days down now!!!

Agree for sure ... We booked 2 cabins last year for our May cruise Vancouver northbound and now it would cost us about 800 more for those 2 cabins and we wouldn't have been able to book on the side of the ship we wanted since the balcony cabins are very limited already.

I booked my July 2015 full size SUV thru Costco when they became available to book last summer and it's costing me $700 for 9+ days at the downtown Enterprise location.. If I were to book it now thru Costco, it would be about $1700 and thru Enterprise, about $2000. I have several other things that I booked last summer and are now more expensive!

I have learned over the years, with Alaska, book as early as you can, especially for the land portion. In 2011, one hotel I booked doubled in price 2 months later. And the car we got that year went from $75 total for 6 days to $120 per day! It also pays to keep checking prices because they can change...

4 people with 1 Balcony cabin and 1 interior cabin on one Southbound and one northbound RCL cruise came to $A9500 when we booked about a year ago. I just repriced the same details and it comes to $A15873! Of course RCL has a 'deal' on at the moment where you get 'free' drink package and gratuities but somehow I do not think I could drink enough to cover the extra cost! :)

I also completely agree. I have seen people just booking things now or looking at it for May this year, after booking the cruise early last year and they comment how expensive it is - well it wasn't when we booked 11 months in advance of the stay.

We booked the cruise the day it opened and our category is no longer available but the one down is nearly double what we have paid. Our hotels pre and post cruise are all roughly 1.5x what we booked at but I am continuing to monitor this incase they do drop.

It pays to plan in advance, none of our hotel reservations have been pre-paid so these are flexible and we are looking to save where we can.

I have booked a Vancouver to Seward cruise for June 2016. How early can you book air, hotels, and car rentals?

I have booked a Vancouver to Seward cruise for June 2016. How early can you book air, hotels, and car rentals?

Most companies 1 year in advance. If your flight involves Southwest airlines, they take reservations 8 or 9 months in advance. I waited until about 6 months out to book my air in case I changed my land portion. Airlines have high fees for rescheduling.