Have you bought your UK to Vancouver / Seattle flights for July 2022 Alaska cruise yet?

[worldtraveller99]

Hallo UK people wanting to cruise to Alaska in 2022.

 

Have you bought your UK to Vancouver / Seattle flights for your July 2022 Alaska cruise yet? We had originally booked for July 2020, and then postponed it - so our cruise company has our money and hopes to run the Vancouver to Seward cruise in 2022, with mostly USA people on it. 

 

BA did refund us all our flight money in 2020. So I am thinking now that the USA is opening up to UK people (we are fully vaccinated) that I should book our flights for next July 2022.

 

Have you done so? Have you also bought insurance for your trip / the year of 2022, and if so with whom please? Thank you for your help.

 

[CruiserBruce]

Booked our SFO-Copenhagen flights for a July 2022 cruise in August. Totally refundable.

[Italy52]

Although not a UK citizen, I am someone that will be flying into Vancouver from the U.S.  At the present time, I am reluctant to make flight arrangements due to the fact that I don't know what the testing requirements will be when it comes time for my cruise (will I need a PCR test to get into Canada, will I need a test to embark on my ship)?  I know what they are now, but things can change.  Usually, we spend a few days in Vancouver pre cruise but that won't be possible if all the testing is in place.  Just something to consider when thinking about travel plans.

[worldtraveller99]

I see your point Italy52 - i was assuming we did 1 PCR test in the UK and that would be it. So we may need another one in Vancouver before the cruise. Maybe I should try and further move everything booked to 2023? Or maybe by next July vaccinated people won't need a test?

[d9704011]

2 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Although not a UK citizen, I am someone that will be flying into Vancouver from the U.S.  At the present time, I am reluctant to make flight arrangements due to the fact that I don't know what the testing requirements will be when it comes time for my cruise (will I need a PCR test to get into Canada, will I need a test to embark on my ship)?  I know what they are now, but things can change.  Usually, we spend a few days in Vancouver pre cruise but that won't be possible if all the testing is in place.  Just something to consider when thinking about travel plans.

If there are still a bunch of testing requirements in place to enter Canada and take a cruise out of Vancouver next July it's more likely the cruise industry in Canada will still be shut down.  So, I'd recommend you not worry about this scenario and start looking at your flights and accommodation.

[Italy52]

22 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

If there are still a bunch of testing requirements in place to enter Canada and take a cruise out of Vancouver next July it's more likely the cruise industry in Canada will still be shut down.  So, I'd recommend you not worry about this scenario and start looking at your flights and accommodation.

I will continue to monitor the situation and make plans when I feel more comfortable.  I had quite a few cruises cancelled due to COVID and it was a big pain cancelling and getting back funds, insurance vouchers, etc.  For now, I am leaving our Vancouver hotel reservations in place because they are at a popular hotel -- if things go south, I can easily cancel since the reservation was made using points. 

[worldtraveller99]

Thank you all - it is too scary to book flights knowing they may also be cancelled, so I have decided to postpone everything to 2023. We have 13 suppliers for what still should be a wonderful 3 week holiday to Vancouver, Alaska and Seattle, and I don't want to throw good money after bad. I hope they will all agree to this.

 

I will still be interested to hear about UK people's experiences in Alaska in 2022 if you are going ahead? Normally I book all my flights the day they come out, 11 months before we travel, so all this uncertainty isn't for me!

 

[cruiseryyc]

"Vancouver next July it's more likely the cruise industry in Canada will still be shut down. "

 

The Canadian Government announced a couple of months ago that cruises could resume in November 2021.  There will be cruises out of Vancouver next year the question will be whether pre-boarding and pre-flight testing will still be in place.

[Heidi13]

20 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

I see your point Italy52 - i was assuming we did 1 PCR test in the UK and that would be it. So we may need another one in Vancouver before the cruise. Maybe I should try and further move everything booked to 2023? Or maybe by next July vaccinated people won't need a test?

 

At present, Canada still requires a negative COVID test to enter. Cruises can resume after November and the latest announcement is that all pax would need to be vaccinated. No mention of pre-board testing.

 

However, since you will also be cruising in US Waters, you will also have to comply with the US CDC requirements, which currently require a PCR/Antigen test within 2 day before boarding.

 

At this time nobody knows what the US CDC requirements will be next summer.

[gilliansp]

On 10/25/2021 at 6:24 PM, worldtraveller99 said:

Hallo UK people wanting to cruise to Alaska in 2022.

 

Have you bought your UK to Vancouver / Seattle flights for your July 2022 Alaska cruise yet? We had originally booked for July 2020, and then postponed it - so our cruise company has our money and hopes to run the Vancouver to Seward cruise in 2022, with mostly USA people on it. 

 

BA did refund us all our flight money in 2020. So I am thinking now that the USA is opening up to UK people (we are fully vaccinated) that I should book our flights for next July 2022.

 

Have you done so? Have you also bought insurance for your trip / the year of 2022, and if so with whom please? Thank you for your help.

 

We are flying London - Anchorage via Vancouver September 2022. Just booked with Air Canada, fully refundable fare. Obviously there will be tests required, not sure which yet, but as we are fully vaccinated I am not worried. Tests and face masks are part of everyday life now. we just have to accept it and not let it put us off travelling.

[Ashland]

Our Alaska cruise RT out of Vancouver isn't until Sept 2022. Luckily we'll all be vaccinated including our 5-11 year olds by then. Waiting to book our flights LAX-YVR but have been checking prices and flight times. Looks like as far as timing we may have to use different carriers there and back.

[gardenfrog]

We are from the uk and booked to go in September 2022.  We haven’t booked flights yet. The refundable fare is way more expensive than the normal. Going to hold off till after Christmas & see what the world is like. We have booked Vancouver hotel as we didnt have to pay up front 

[worldtraveller99]

If they stop needing tests every few days, maybe we will come back to using our 2022 already booked (postponed) cruise, Vancouver hotel etc. I think you are right gardenfrog, we should know more by the end of this year!x

[Jeaannie55]

We are booked on the northbound Vancouver to Seward cruise Aug ‘22 (postponed from last year) flying into Toronto and doing a land tour first (Via Railways) we have a TA doing all the hard work,  but both the flights and train journey have rocketed in price, so possibly best to wait until things stabilise

[gardenfrog]

I meant to say that we did a lift & shift. Kind of wish we could just cancel & do a med cruise instead. But fingers crossed everything will be ok. The flights I’ve been looking at are BA from Heathrow. Working out around £600 each. But nearer 1k each for refundable ouch!!! 

[worldtraveller99]

How does the non-refundable work if you cannot travel - do they just say ha, ha and keep the money?

[gardenfrog]

I think you would get a refund if there was a lockdown & couldn’t fly. But if you want to cancel or change then you have to pay extra. I think that’s how it works! 

[YORKI1]

I have rebooked for July 2022. Flights with BA, using an American Express, Companion Voucher. Princess cruise, Vancouver to Anchorage, booked with Trailfinders. 14 night Car hire with Alamo (now considerably more expensive) and seven different hotels, all my bookings are refundable, including 3 nights Airbnb in Girdwood.

 

 

[worldtraveller99]

Really good YORKI1. Did you have to pay a lot more to have everything refundable? Also which Travel Insurance company have you gone with - would they give you money if you tested positive just before travelling, eg?

[YORKI1]

Worldtraveller99,

 

I booked the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, Hyatt House, Anchorage and Coast Gateway, Seattle airport, all are chain hotels and they generally charge slightly more for a refundable rate. I am happy to pay more for the option of being able to cancel the reservation easily.
 

The hotel in Talkeetna has to be paid in full by the 14 July 2022. Denali hotel required a $35 non refundable deposit, 100% cancellation terms are 72 hours before check in. Palmer hotel required a first night deposit, 100% cancellation terms is 30 or more days prior to stay. Seward hotel required a first night deposit, 100% cancellation terms is 7 days prior to arrival. Verbo reservation (not Airbnb as previously stated), required a deposit and balance is to be paid by 31 July 2022. 100% refund if cancelled before 24 July 2022.

 

We are covered if we get Covid before travel and our policy is through our bank account, unfortunately they don’t sell the product any more. I think in the U.K. travel insurance businesses are updating their policies to include Covid. The can not keep excluding covid or they would go out of business.
 

I had spent a lot of time researching this trip and just didn’t want to cancel again, if I could help it.

[worldtraveller99]

Thank you YORKI1, I feel exactly the same. We booked (and half paid) for our 2020 Alaska cruise and other places, in 2018! Have been postponing ever since - now would like to travel unless we all get banned from Canada / USA again. It's the flights which bother me. When I last looked BA was £2,000 Business return, but £5,000 Business return for refundable flights - far too much difference!

 

[YORKI1]

Worldtraveller99,

According to BA’s Book with confidence policy you can cancel a reservation and take a future travel voucher or amend your travel dates and destination. Have you considered doing this?

[worldtraveller99]

Aha! Yes that is probably what I will do, thank you. Because if we can't travel in 2022 I need to change everything once more to 2023. I was just going to do that with the hotels / cruise already booked and paid for (as they were ok about changing from 2020 / 2021 etc), but then I thought no I would like to get there in 2022 if we can. I shall wait a couple more weeks and see if people are still allowed into the USA etc ok.

[Ellen495]

We bought our flights out of Philadelphia to Anchorage and then home from Vancouver just the other day. I sure hope things aren't cancelled again. Cruise needs to be paid by April. I'm waiting until then. Flights aren't refundable, but can be used as credits. It's all so very tiring.

[worldtraveller99]

I'm going to go for it - waiting till end of November when the initial BA rush is over, as the USA only opened to us Brits yesterday (after 18 months huh). Hope flights are not silly prices. We have already paid for the cruise.