Radiance of the Seas, 3 to a stateroom?

[nicksfix]

Hello! I'm looking into what appears to be a wonderful RC trip to Alaska, the Mountain Valley Cruisetour 3A from Vancouver to Anchorage on Radiance of the Seas. There will be 3 of us travelling, two of us in our mid-twenties and one person who is 70. We'd like to save money and are fine with choosing an ocean view (porthole) stateroom (would like to have some kind of view) or an inside stateroom if it makes a huge difference in price.

 

The trouble is, when I try to set up the booking to determine the total cost, I have it so there is a stateroom for me and my boyfriend, connected to a stateroom that sleeps our snoring, humming 70 year old travel buddy. Problem is, it charges over $5000 for just one person in that stateroom as if there were two people sleeping in it and four of us going! I'm unsure of why it does this, so I tried to set it up where we all sleep in one stateroom and the price is much more respectful.

 

My query is, would an ocean view stateroom on the Radiance sleep 3? If the couch turns into a bed, that's perfectly fine, so long as it's comfortable enough. I'd like to have it so we have 2 staterooms that are connected, but no such luck, possibly due to a computer error. If anybody has experience with this, please leave feedback here. We're looking to keep the trip under $10,000 including pre-booked, discounted flights from Ottawa and back. Since it is a cruisetour, excursions are included so we won't really have a need to be paying extra - perhaps for the flightseeing, but we'll see.

Edited July 12, 2015 by nicksfix

[kc320]

I've not been on Radiance...but have been on sister ships...I don't think the sofa in a OV is going to make into a bed...so if the cabin shows it sleeps 3...it will most likely be a pullman...which means you or your boyfriend is most likely going to be sleeping up there...

 

When are you looking to travel? If you have time I would keep watching the price & maybe there will be a sale or some special pricing...there is the bogoho sale now....would it be cheaper to book a "mystery" person in the other cabin who doesn't make it to the ship?

[nicksfix]

Thank you kindly for the quick response!

 

We're not sure yet due to determining when we can afford it, but it'll either be this July or next, as we hear that is when there is the most daylight and nice weather (hopefully - it IS Alaska). I'm fine with any sleeping arrangements that can accommodate 3, so long as it is comfortable enough. Would like it if it didn't feel tooooo cluttered - I'm trying to get these two bitten by the cruising bug quite desperately.

 

If anything, I will try contacting RC and have them assist me in figuring out a definite cost. Could be that their system reads my stateroom assignments wrong.

Edited July 12, 2015 by nicksfix

[kc320]

This is for the 11nt cruise tour? I looked at pricing for the end of August next year & booking your friend in a Studio cabin would be just under $5,000...and you & your boyfriend in an inside the total for both cabins was $9,800...it also included some obc for both cabins...for that long of a trip the prices are not that bad considering...if you are seriously considering this trip I would book now...and watch pricing until final payment...if it comes down you can get it adjusted...if it doesn't & you feel it is to much you can cancel & get your deposit back...

Edited July 12, 2015 by kc320

[nicksfix]

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it. It tells me online that for the 3 of us, an oceanview stateroom for 3 wouldn't even break $8000, which is perfect as we have to fly from Ottawa and back also. However, when I try to select just one stateroom, we keep getting a stateroom with connections, which obviously we don't want if we're all in one room, safe to say!

 

I'll contact RC and see if they can help.

[Ourusualbeach]

Thank you kindly for the quick response!

 

We're not sure yet due to determining when we can afford it, but it'll either be this July or next, as we hear that is when there is the most daylight and nice weather (hopefully - it IS Alaska). I'm fine with any sleeping arrangements that can accommodate 3, so long as it is comfortable enough. Would like it if it didn't feel tooooo cluttered - I'm trying to get these two bitten by the cruising bug quite desperately.

 

If anything, I will try contacting RC and have them assist me in figuring out a definite cost. Could be that their system reads my stateroom assignments wrong.

 

The pricing is not a mistake. Singles usually pay the full fare for the cabin or in other words they pay for 2 passengers except that they only pay 1 set of taxes and fees. I would stick with 1 cabin to keep costs down.

 

If you are looking to cruise to Alaska this year I have seen some drastically reduced prices (well under $1000pp for an inside room.). Example...July 31 on the Radience $504pp inside cabin.

 

Alaska frequently gets discounted last minute for inside cabins, but you may pay more in airfare.

[nicksfix]

The pricing is not a mistake. Singles usually pay the full fare for the cabin or in other words they pay for 2 passengers except that they only pay 1 set of taxes and fees. I would stick with 1 cabin to keep costs down.

 

If you are looking to cruise to Alaska this year I have seen some drastically reduced prices (well under $1000pp for an inside room.). Example...July 31 on the Radience $504pp inside cabin.

 

Alaska frequently gets discounted last minute for inside cabins, but you may pay more in airfare.

 

Good god, what a steep discount. Oh, it's very, VERY tempting to do so - I'd just worry of the airfare being too expensive, considering 3 of us are going there and back, it would come to a whopping $6,000 normally. Checking through Expedia, though, I see that flights in May 2016 are only as low as $923 or so (it won't let me choose anything further away). Would we be essentially be paying about the same for airfare by waiting? If so, I think we'll just wait and save money.

 

Or perhaps we'll travel to Greece, since we worked out a total cost through Celebrity including flights at just over $10,000. We wish to do both cruises, so it all boils down to what I can convince the others into pooling into doing first, really. Since none of us have cruised before, I think Alaska would work out better - with the cruisetour having included excursions, it makes it much more worthwhile without having to shell out hundreds of extra dollars.

Edited July 12, 2015 by nicksfix