Alaska Excursions how early to book?

[avic77]

How soon do I need to book my excursions for May 2023. I don't want them to sell out but I want to have time to research what we want to do.

[AKStafford]

Which locations will you be in?

[Cruise Suzy]

 

Do as much research as possible as soon as possible. Then prioritize what you want to do and consider if it's possible to do similar excursions in more than one port. Are the excursions available only thru the cruise line, only thru an independent vendor or both? Then decide on Plan A. I normally do this at least a year before the cruise and have never missed an excursion we really wanted. Of course, the sooner you decide, the better your chance of booking what you want.

 

If a tour is available only thru the ship or only via an independent vendor, then you need to book sooner rather than later.  Same is true if the excursion has very limited capacity. Some lines indicate when there are only a few bookings still available for each excursion. You should check periodically on those you are considering.

 

Of course, you also may need to spread out bookings due to budget considerations. Whether booking with the cruise line or an independent vendor, book your most wanted excursions as soon as possible after deciding. Check the cancellation policies in case you later find a different excursion you prefer.

 

I booked the itinerary I did because it included Hubbard Glacier, and I wanted an excursion that hopefully gets much closer than the ship. I booked that excursion within days of booking the cruise. (We had been to Glacier Bay previously so that influenced my "need" for the excursion.) Then I researched the excursions in other ports, discussed the options with DH and booked what we wanted. Sometimes we take different excursions, sometimes the same one. All excursions were booked by mid-August for our upcoming July cruise - and then we changed our minds in November for one port. Had no problem cancelling one and booking the other.

 

 

[avic77]

We are doing this in 2023:

Princess / Crown Princess

Saturday, May 20 Seattle, WA 4:00pm

Sunday, May 21 At Sea

Monday, May 22 Juneau, AK Noon 10:00pm

Tuesday, May 23 Skagway, AK 7:00am 8:30pm

Wednesday, May 24 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK (Cruising)

Thursday, May 25 Ketchikan, AK 7:00am 1:00pm

Friday, May 26 Victoria, BC, Canada 7:00pm 11:59pm

Saturday, May 27 Seattle, WA 7:00am

Edited April 4, 2022 by avic77
Typo

[skrufy]

54 minutes ago, avic77 said:

We are doing this in 2023:

Princess / Crown Princess

Saturday, May 20 Seattle, WA 4:00pm

Sunday, May 21 At Sea

Monday, May 22 Juneau, AK Noon 10:00pm

Tuesday, May 23 Skagway, AK 7:00am 8:30pm

Wednesday, May 24 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK (Cruising)

Thursday, May 25 Ketchikan, AK 7:00am 1:00pm

Friday, May 26 Victoria, BC, Canada 7:00pm 11:59pm

Saturday, May 27 Seattle, WA 7:00am

ASAP,  used all our OBC to book our April 2023 excursions.

 

 

 

 

 

[nicoleinwi]

Does the cruise line have excursions out yet (if you want to do cruise ones)?  We are going in May on NCL and had lots of OBC to use up so I didn't look private.  Some of ours weren't out there until January.  

 

We usually know what we want and we book as soon as they are available as we don't want to risk them selling out. 

[MBP&O2/O]

21 hours ago, avic77 said:

How soon do I need to book my excursions for May 2023. I don't want them to sell out but I want to have time to research what we want to do.

 

We are booked for August 2023 and my research is 95% completed and we will be booking what we want this week as all the excursions are showing up as available on the cruise company website.

This cruise is costing me an arm and a leg and the excursions a few more digits so I want to make sure I can book what I want.

[LMKakaThing2]

13 hours ago, nicoleinwi said:

Does the cruise line have excursions out yet (if you want to do cruise ones)?  We are going in May on NCL and had lots of OBC to use up so I didn't look private.  Some of ours weren't out there until January.  

 

We usually know what we want and we book as soon as they are available as we don't want to risk them selling out. 

Does NCL allow you to book excursions before the cruise using OBC?  We have some OBC that we would like to use for excursions, but haven't booked anything yet through NCL since I thought we had to wait until we were onboard.

[nicoleinwi]

6 hours ago, LMKakaThing2 said:

Does NCL allow you to book excursions before the cruise using OBC?  We have some OBC that we would like to use for excursions, but haven't booked anything yet through NCL since I thought we had to wait until we were onboard.

 

They sure do!  Because of the FCC bonus with OBC and the discount to rebook within so many months of cancelling, we ended up with over $1,000 in FCC.  We don't cruise until May and we have used it all up.  Pre-paid gratuities then some to shore excursions.  You just call up the shore ex number and book it and let them know the latitude # of the person the FCC is under.  

[LMKakaThing2]

6 hours ago, nicoleinwi said:

 

They sure do!  Because of the FCC bonus with OBC and the discount to rebook within so many months of cancelling, we ended up with over $1,000 in FCC.  We don't cruise until May and we have used it all up.  Pre-paid gratuities then some to shore excursions.  You just call up the shore ex number and book it and let them know the latitude # of the person the FCC is under.  

We only have OBC and not FCC. I think they only allow you to “prepay” using FCC’s but not OBC. Obviously you can pay using a credit card, but I don’t want to do that since I have OBC. 

[nicoleinwi]

16 hours ago, LMKakaThing2 said:

We only have OBC and not FCC. I think they only allow you to “prepay” using FCC’s but not OBC. Obviously you can pay using a credit card, but I don’t want to do that since I have OBC. 

 

Yes, I think you're right.  I'm sorry I just assume all OBC is from FCC now!

[shemp2000]

On 4/4/2022 at 6:06 PM, avic77 said:

We are doing this in 2023:

Princess / Crown Princess

Saturday, May 20 Seattle, WA 4:00pm

Sunday, May 21 At Sea

Monday, May 22 Juneau, AK Noon 10:00pm

Tuesday, May 23 Skagway, AK 7:00am 8:30pm

Wednesday, May 24 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK (Cruising)

Thursday, May 25 Ketchikan, AK 7:00am 1:00pm

Friday, May 26 Victoria, BC, Canada 7:00pm 11:59pm

Saturday, May 27 Seattle, WA 7:00am

Are you able to book that far out?  We have a June 2023 Princess cruise and get an error when trying to book any excursiion.  We assumed it was too far out.  If you have had success I guess I need to call Princess

[texasweather]

I would do it as soon as you know which ones you want to do.  I missed out on the ONLY one I wanted to do and I'm really bummed about it.  

[DaveOKC]

On 4/4/2022 at 9:41 AM, avic77 said:

How soon do I need to book my excursions for May 2023. I don't want them to sell out but I want to have time to research what we want to do.

Keep in mind that early in the season you may not be able to get as close to the glaciers (or into Tracey Arm) as you may like (due to ice in the water),

Edited May 10, 2022 by DaveOKC