Question on pricing for Alaska

Hi everyone, my family took a spur of the moment cruise to Alaska a few months ago with Princess and loved it (Sep 23-30, the inside passage with glacier bay). We would love to redo the vacation again next september and include my other brothers who didn't go along with us, but the prices seem quite a bit higher now than when we booked ($999 for an inside room vs the mid $800s that we paid, and now a balcony is $1,899 vs the $1,299 we paid). Should I just continue to keep an eye on prices and see if they drop later on in the year? Is there a cheaper time of year to see Alaska since so many of us are going? Any other advice or tips are welcomed, thanks!

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If you haven't, you can subscribe to email alerts from online TA sites while monitoring price movements on the Princess site.

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Oh that’s a good idea. I’m not sure on the rules but can someone point me to a few of them?

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Go to website of Princess & Cruise Critic. On their home page, click Deals on top. You can sign up from there.

For others, CC rules does not allow to name the others. You can try the sites where you can book your flight, or what travel agent your family or a friend uses. Sorry we can not name TAs here.

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Ah ok no worries, thank you for the help!

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Currently Princess is running their "3 for Free" promotion. When that goes away in mid-November the prices MAY come down until the next promotion. Alaska is a popular cruise destination, so prices tend to stay high, but if a sailing isn't selling well (late season for example) then Princess will lower their fares to get more passengers.

Get a travel agent and let them check for you. Tell them you may book a few cabins. You may get a discount

and a little more SBC. Good luck.

Tony

Alaska is traditionally cheaper "in the shoulder season": May and September. Ships have relocated to Alaska as it's gotten warm enough that people aren't cruising to Mexico or Hawaii, but demand hasn't risen to "full" until kids are out of school. Once "school's out for summer!", demand goes up, price goes up.

Check out Costco travel if you have a Costco account. I’ve notice that sometimes they have lower prices plus extra like $50-$100 ship board credit.

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Check out Cxxxxxx if you have a Cxxxx account. I’ve notice that sometimes they have lower prices plus extra like $50-$100 ship board credit.

 

 

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No mentioning of agencies on this site for obvious reasons. We really wouldn't want this to turn into a bunch of advertisements, after all.

No mentioning of agencies on this site for obvious reasons. We really wouldn't want this to turn into a bunch of advertisements, after all.

Thank you for reminding me. I forgot that we couldn’t do that.

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The real reason:

(NASDAQ:TRIP) own and operate a portfolio of websites under 20 other travel media brands: :evilsmile:

The cheaper fares you got were probably 'after the final payment date' Drop-And-Go type fares.

These last sailings of the season are also cheaper. And your sailing was probably not being sold-out.

Are you comparing Sept 2018 fares. Or other dates.

To book for Summer season will cost more.

We cruised at the end of May. It was cheaper than Summer...

The ship was not completely booked at final payment date. So, theoretically, we COULD have cancelled before final payment, and then come back some time later, and rebooked our cabin for a bit of savings. We had picked a cabin that we wanted to keep our name on, so we didn't try that.

Keep in mind that the PROMOs that Princess offers, such as the current 3-for-Free, (or Sip and Sail, which is now over) can add value to your cruise. If you see a Promo that looks good, then you can book at that time. There might be cheaper fares, such as last minute drop-and-go fares. But, if you rebooked, you would loose the Promo perks, such as free gratuities, Onboard Credit, etc...

There are some TA's out there who are able to offer discounted pricing, additional OBC, etc.

It can help to have such a TA, once you decide to make a booking.

Hope this helps!

You know, people may as well just type "Costco" because when the "big box" euphemism is used, we all know what it means. (I am not interested in their way of pricing and lack of service anyway).

Anyway, IDK why the OP doesn't plan and book the trip (hopefully they bought FCD's while on this season's trip). The deposit is fully refundable up to final payment date. You get the price and promotion of today and secure the type of cabin desired and location. Then, just watch for any better deal and re-fare or re-book if something better comes along. Or, if you don't like the price at all, just cancel later.

You know, people may as well just type "Costco" because when the "big box" euphemism is used, we all know what it means. (I am not interested in their way of pricing and lack of service anyway).

 

Anyway, IDK why the OP doesn't plan and book the trip (hopefully they bought FCD's while on this season's trip). The deposit is fully refundable up to final payment date. You get the price and promotion of today and secure the type of cabin desired and location. Then, just watch for any better deal and re-fare or re-book if something better comes along. Or, if you don't like the price at all, just cancel later.

I’m really new to cruising so I wasn’t aware of any of this. I’ll look into it, thanks.

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Agree that September prices are often much better than other times in the summer (plus lots of sales in shops and fewer ships in ports). But we have found that early pricing on Alaska is way too expensive. If you can wait until June or July they seem to routinely put all sailings on sale. Less choice on cabin, but we've done this several times and saved enough to do a B2B instead of single cruise. Note that this may not work on cruise-tours since the land portion tends to book up fully as much as a year in advance.

I tend to book after the final payment date. We used to be constrained by DH's school vacation dates. Sometimes we gambled that prices would go down but they kept going up. We ended up not going on a cruise a few times. But many times we saved a ton of money--more than any perks Princess offers before the final payment date are worth.