Alaska 5/6/2023

[Italy52]

Princess is adding a few more excursions to my itinerary --- still can't book anything.  The excitement is killing me --- don't think I have ever waited this long to book an excursion.  Anyone on the June or July itineraries having any luck?

[PurpleTraveller]

45 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Princess is adding a few more excursions to my itinerary --- still can't book anything.  The excitement is killing me --- don't think I have ever waited this long to book an excursion.  Anyone on the June or July itineraries having any luck?

 

Not so far for June 2 and I check every day. They have added excursions for Icy Strait Point but still can't book any. 

 

[Italy52]

24 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Not so far for June 2 and I check every day. They have added excursions for Icy Strait Point but still can't book any. 

 

Thanks for the reply.  So frustrating, I can book excursions for my August Alaska cruise on Royal Caribbean but not for my Princess cruise.  😔

[Oscar13]

i was having the same issue.  Talked to my TA, she called Princess and was told that the excursions for our May 2023 cruise would be out 180 days before.  

It just seems to be Alaska that it is an issue.

 

K2

[Italy52]

36 minutes ago, Oscar13 said:

i was having the same issue.  Talked to my TA, she called Princess and was told that the excursions for our May 2023 cruise would be out 180 days before.  

It just seems to be Alaska that it is an issue.

 

K2

180 days seems to be the statement from Princess this year.  Don't understand why as I haven't had this problem before --- it is what it is and I will just keep checking.

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 10/1/2022 at 1:36 AM, bafinegan said:

Excursions are there, just can't book.  I get "a error" when trying....

Call them on Monday

[Italy52]

40 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Call them on Monday

Princess excursions representatives are saying that the excursions will not open until 180 days before cruise -- I have called myself and the Princess excursions representative tried to book as well -- no dice at the moment.

[Italy52]

Just a heads up ---- I went into our 7/14/23 Alaska booking and I was finally able to book our excursions.  As I looked at the options, it appears there will be more excursions posted down the road.  For now, I have two that I wanted so I am good with that.

[PurpleTraveller]

8 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Just a heads up ---- I went into our 7/14/23 Alaska booking and I was finally able to book our excursions.  As I looked at the options, it appears there will be more excursions posted down the road.  For now, I have two that I wanted so I am good with that.

 

I was also able to book the two excursions that I wanted for my June 2, 2023 cruise. 

 

Glad you were also able to book your excursions. Happy sailing. 🛳️

 

[Italy52]

7 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I was also able to book the two excursions that I wanted for my June 2, 2023 cruise. 

 

Glad you were also able to book your excursions. Happy sailing. 🛳️

 

Happy to hear that you were able to book your excursions as well.  Is your excursion listing showing anything for Hubbard?  I am still waiting to see if that one will be available this year.  Happy sailing to you as well.

[PurpleTraveller]

6 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Happy to hear that you were able to book your excursions as well.  Is your excursion listing showing anything for Hubbard?  I am still waiting to see if that one will be available this year.  Happy sailing to you as well.

 

Still nothing for Hubbard on my excursion list yet. I'm just so glad that I've been able to book the two excursions I wanted. I'll let you know when any excursion appears for Hubbard for my cruise. 😊

 

[Italy52]

2 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Still nothing for Hubbard on my excursion list yet. I'm just so glad that I've been able to book the two excursions I wanted. I'll let you know when any excursion appears for Hubbard for my cruise. 😊

 

Thanks in advance for letting me know if you see an excursion for Hubbard, I appreciate it.

[Italy52]

On 11/2/2022 at 1:53 PM, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Still nothing for Hubbard on my excursion list yet. I'm just so glad that I've been able to book the two excursions I wanted. I'll let you know when any excursion appears for Hubbard for my cruise. 😊

 

FYI.  My Hubbard excursion just showed up and I booked it.  So glad it was available for 2023 -- went on it last year and it was outstanding. 

[rj59]

I went on 3 Alaska cruises last summer, and the constant theme was that with record numbers of cruisers and many Covid shutdowns of tourist businesses, most excursion companies were having huge trouble finding enough labor to handle all the demand. A lot of their labor supply comes from students and others in the lower 48, since the cost of living up there is so high, and the job market elsewhere is so good that it's difficult to attract enough workers to supply the demand, especially for remote lodges, and a lot of people didn't want to live in communal dorms with Omicron active. It's the human equivalent of the supply shortages of other things on ships. So it's difficult for cruise companies to plan for next summer when the companies they hire don't know how many workers they'll be able to handle, especially when there will be more passengers and more ships this year as restrictions have gone away. I found it's actually easier to book my own tours when I get off the ship, since most towns have kiosks or a tour center at the pier. Sitka has such a nice totem pole park and seawalk along their harbor that I wouldn't want to do anything else there, and there are other interesting options that don't involve sitting on buses or trains or overcrowded whale watching boats (I saw dozens of whales as Discovery neared the WA coast, all right next to the ship outside on deck 8). My favorite self-tour is renting an electric bike in Skagway and going out trails to Dyea, full of history and beauty. 

[PurpleTraveller]

1 hour ago, Italy52 said:

FYI.  My Hubbard excursion just showed up and I booked it.  So glad it was available for 2023 -- went on it last year and it was outstanding. 

 

Thanks for letting me know. I just checked for my cruise and even though it has the box "View Excursions" for Hubbard when I click to go into the excursions it says that there are no excursions available. I'll keep watching. So pleased that you were able to book your Hubbard excursion.

 

[Italy52]

3 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Thanks for letting me know. I just checked for my cruise and even though it has the box "View Excursions" for Hubbard when I click to go into the excursions it says that there are no excursions available. I'll keep watching. So pleased that you were able to book your Hubbard excursion.

 

That happened to me as well.  Earlier this morning, I saw the posting saying check back and I kept checking all day.  Went into the excursion listing tonight and it still said the same.  Ate dinner and went back to see if anything had changed and it finally posted.  Cost is $299.95 per person. 

[PurpleTraveller]

1 minute ago, Italy52 said:

That happened to me as well.  Earlier this morning, I saw the posting saying check back and I kept checking all day.  Went into the excursion listing tonight and it still said the same.  Ate dinner and went back to see if anything had changed and it finally posted.  Cost is $299.95 per person. 

 

Thanks for this. I'll keep checking regularly until it appears as I'm quite interested in doing this excursion. Thanks again. 😊

 

[PurpleTraveller]

On 11/11/2022 at 2:50 PM, Italy52 said:

That happened to me as well.  Earlier this morning, I saw the posting saying check back and I kept checking all day.  Went into the excursion listing tonight and it still said the same.  Ate dinner and went back to see if anything had changed and it finally posted.  Cost is $299.95 per person. 

 

The Hubbard excursion just became available for my cruise. Thanks for letting me know so that I could keep checking. Can look forward to the cruise now. 🛳️

[Italy52]

12 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

The Hubbard excursion just became available for my cruise. Thanks for letting me know so that I could keep checking. Can look forward to the cruise now. 🛳️

So happy to hear that the Hubbard excursion appeared.  Previously, we attempted the excursion twice and it was cancelled (once due to vendor issue and the other too much ice in the water).  However, we were able to go on the excursion this year and it DID NOT disappoint.  I have attached a couple of our favorite pictures --- hopefully, we will have the same experience on our upcoming July cruise.  Wishing you many wonderful cruise memories.

 

[Italy52]

Here is the other picture

 

[PurpleTraveller]

6 hours ago, Italy52 said:

So happy to hear that the Hubbard excursion appeared.  Previously, we attempted the excursion twice and it was cancelled (once due to vendor issue and the other too much ice in the water).  However, we were able to go on the excursion this year and it DID NOT disappoint.  I have attached a couple of our favorite pictures --- hopefully, we will have the same experience on our upcoming July cruise.  Wishing you many wonderful cruise memories.

 

 

Wonderful photos! Having never been to Alaska before we are really looking forward to our cruise. Hope you have a great cruise and thanks for your good wishes. 😊

[DougH]

If you are on a Northbound cruise check you port time in Juneau. If you want to get close to a Glacier I love the Adventure Bound tour to Tracy Arm. Much cheaper than the Princess Hubbard tour but you won't have time for anything else in Juneau. Capt Steve does a great tour and is the Tracy Arm expert. I have seen whales and bears on his tours. I take thus every chance I get and have done this 6-7 times

[Italy52]

1 hour ago, DougH said:

If you are on a Northbound cruise check you port time in Juneau. If you want to get close to a Glacier I love the Adventure Bound tour to Tracy Arm. Much cheaper than the Princess Hubbard tour but you won't have time for anything else in Juneau. Capt Steve does a great tour and is the Tracy Arm expert. I have seen whales and bears on his tours. I take thus every chance I get and have done this 6-7 times

Have taken this tour before and yes, it is a very nice tour.  For us, we use Juneau for our whale watching tour.