Alaskan Tour, what's the best price?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We're planning to go Alaska in June-ish 2015, and I noticed that the price jumps $1,000 per person by adding the tour to Fairbanks and Denali, at least if we were booking for next summer. We eventually want to do Holland's Gold Rush tour, which goes to these locations whether we take the RCL tour now or not.

 

Is there a better time to book this tour, such as late Spring? I also noticed that Princess has an early May sailing for $850, has anyone gone this time of year?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Kamloops50]

We're planning to go Alaska in June-ish 2015, and I noticed that the price jumps $1,000 per person by adding the tour to Fairbanks and Denali, at least if we were booking for next summer. We eventually want to do Holland's Gold Rush tour, which goes to these locations whether we take the RCL tour now or not.

 

Is there a better time to book this tour, such as late Spring? I also noticed that Princess has an early May sailing for $850, has anyone gone this time of year?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Land tours don't as rule go on sale. The price goes down because the cruise price goes down. Their land cost are pretty well fixed.

[MAHA]

The sailings for June 2015 should be available for booking either in mid to late March or early April of 2014. That's most likely when you'll get the best prices. We are booked on Radiance for June of 2014 and have only seen the prices go up for the cabins. If you want to potentially save on costs, have you considered a DIY land tour? We decided that the very structured land tour offered through the cruise line was not for us and are doing a DIY land tour prior to our cruise in June. We plan to go to Denali for 3 nights and then Seward for 3 nights. You may want to check out the Alaska boards on CC to get more information.

 

Mary Anne

[Tapi]

We booked our Holland America June 2013 cruise to Alaska on November 2012. Prices stayed steady until final payment date. Then the plummeted. I called twice (fully knowing that I wasn't entitled to any price adjustments but I thought I'd ask anyway). It was obvious that they waited until we were beyond final payment to drop prices to lock everyone in that was already booked.

 

Calling did work. We ended up upgraded from an oceanview cabin to a balcony cabin, PLUS we were given a couple hundred dollars worth of OBC.

 

It's my understanding that you are more likely to see price drops on cruise lines like Holland and Princess because they have so many ships to fill in Alaska every season. It was definitely our experience. We kept checking other cruise lines, like Royal and Carnival, for comparison purposes and their rates just kept going UP.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We booked our Holland America June 2013 cruise to Alaska on November 2012. Prices stayed steady until final payment date. Then the plummeted. I called twice (fully knowing that I wasn't entitled to any price adjustments but I thought I'd ask anyway). It was obvious that they waited until we were beyond final payment to drop prices to lock everyone in that was already booked.

 

Calling did work. We ended up upgraded from an oceanview cabin to a balcony cabin, PLUS we were given a couple hundred dollars worth of OBC.

 

It's my understanding that you are more likely to see price drops on cruise lines like Holland and Princess because they have so many ships to fill in Alaska every season. It was definitely our experience. We kept checking other cruise lines, like Royal and Carnival, for comparison purposes and their rates just kept going UP.

 

Great Information. I'm guessing Celebrity would be the same as RCL, in prices going up? We have a travel guide with Holland, who advised waiting until 3 months before sailing to book. RCL advised booking immediately when fares are released in March, so I guess both were telling the truth for their own line.

 

How was Holland's amenities, transportation, and lodging?

[Tapi]

How was Holland's amenities, transportation, and lodging?

 

We did a roundtrip from Seattle with no land portion. Do feel free to click on the link in my signature (Our cruise to Alaska on the Westerdam). Hope the review and the pictures are helpful answering some of your questions.

 

In a nutshell, the cruise was an amazing experience. The ports that were different than other itineraries we looked at (Sitka and Glacier Bay) were some of the highlights of this cruise.

 

Holland is IMHO very different than Royal. While Royal tries to wow you with beautiful, modern and airy ships with great entertainment, Holland tries to wow you with little details, like white glove service, fresh flowers in your cabin, room service served in HAL china, laundry delivered in tissue and a gold seal, etc. It's a much more traditional experience (reminded me a bit of my first cruise in the 80's aboard Cunard).

 

Keep in mind that Alaska is one place where the itinerary is primary and the ship is secondary, so I recommend that you focus more on going places you really want to see instead of placing more weight on which ship to take.

 

Have a wonderful time!

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Keep in mind that Alaska is one place where the itinerary is primary and the ship is secondary, so I recommend that you focus more on going places you really want to see instead of placing more weight on which ship to take.

Interesting perspective.

 

Obn our February cruise in the Caribbean, we sat with a very seasoned cruiser (more than 70) who has been on 4 Alaska cruises with 3 different cruise lines.

 

He indicated THE SHIP and it's features were just AS IMPORTANT as the destinations. If you don't enjoy the ride...when you arrive...you won't likely enjoy the experience as much. We'd tend to agree.

 

While the ports/sites are obviously the gem of an Alaska cruise...going on a ship with little to do, poor features, nominal cabins, and questionable dining offerings makes a HUGE difference.

 

He rated Radiance as the best ship to see Alaska, followed by the Norwegian ships. Folks are going to be on the ship for most of 7-10 days (depending on the selected cruise)...so it would be somewhat obvious that what the ship has to offer is AS IMPORTANT as the destinations themselves.

 

So the best advice might be to pick your preferred destinations or cruise path (North, South, or Round-trip) first, and then pick THE BEST ship available. Both are equally important.

 

CruiseCritic has tons of information on each cruise and ships to make that decision.

[Tapi]

While the ports/sites are obviously the gem of an Alaska cruise...going on a ship with little to do, poor features, nominal cabins, and questionable dining offerings makes a HUGE difference.

 

So the best advice might be to pick your preferred destinations or cruise path (North, South, or Round-trip) first, and then pick THE BEST ship available. Both are equally important.

 

I do agree with you. While I do think that selecting based in itinerary is still the most important, I would've not picked the itinerary we took had the ship been a total dump or poorly rated.

 

For us, the Westerdam was not the kind of ship we would've normally booked had we been sailing in a different region. It's interiors, while filled with fine artwork, was a bit on the gloomy and dark side and felt a bit closed in. But several areas of the ship also proved to be ideal for Alaska cruising. It had one of the most wonderful observation lounges (the Crow's Nest) which provided a 270 degree forward view. The front of the ship (where helipads are located on several Royal ships) was an observation deck, open on glacier sightseeing days. You couldn't get much closer to the action from a cruise ship. The thermal suite had heated tile loungers facing floor to ceiling windows which were a relaxing place to watch the amazing scenery go by.

 

We did salivate for a while about going on the Celebrity Solstice (we even had one of the huge family suites forward reserved for a while). Part of me wanted to be wowed by the ship, but eventually, we came to our senses and canceled it because we didn't care for the itinerary, plus the Friday departure would've been more challenging for us. :o

 

Overall, I'm VERY glad that I chose based on itinerary first. It kept us busy, and honestly, had there been more amenities on the ship, we would've had a hard time enjoying them because, simply, there was no time.

[Italy52]

Great Information. I'm guessing Celebrity would be the same as RCL, in prices going up? We have a travel guide with Holland, who advised waiting until 3 months before sailing to book. RCL advised booking immediately when fares are released in March, so I guess both were telling the truth for their own line.

 

We booked our Celebrity Millennium B2B Alaska cruise when bookings first opened (3/17/13) because we wanted a particular cabin. Since our booking, our cruise price dropped a tad once and then a little later, the booking increased in price. I usually book early and watch pricing to see if there are any changes.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I do agree with you. While I do think that selecting based in itinerary is still the most important, I would've not picked the itinerary we took had the ship been a total dump or poorly rated.

 

I agree with both of you guys, but there's really no one way to add up "What's the best value." The answer is going to be as different as the individual. This being our first Alaskan cruise, itinerary isn't so important. I mean, we want to see Juneau and the inside passage, and also do the tour into Fairbanks, so we can switch up the itinerary next time.

 

We've decided to go with Radiance, if the price released in March is right. If not, we'll shoot for a sale by Holland close to the sailing date. It would be interesting to try the traditional cruise experience that many of you had in the 80's and before. In some ways being on a smaller, cozier ship sounds appealing in Alaska.

 

There are a couple cruise lines we are not so interested in, so sailing on them would be counter productive. They're offering a good product that people enjoy, but they're just not for us. Being on the ship for a week, we want to appreciate it's amenities and enjoy a similar enthusiasm.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We booked our Celebrity Millennium B2B Alaska cruise when bookings first opened (3/17/13) because we wanted a particular cabin. Since our booking, our cruise price dropped a tad once and then a little later, the booking increased in price. I usually book early and watch pricing to see if there are any changes.

 

The Celebrity Millennium is another option, and we've got gift certificates! The Summit is for our intended 4th cruise, also a Millennium class ship.