Our 2024 Alaska Adventure--including planning!

[no1racefan1]

18 minutes ago, cwsdks48 said:

 

Yes, the ship water is fine! We bring refillable bottles too. I like to have the bottled water on hand in case we're hanging out somewhere and forget to bring our bottle to fill, or to take off the ship, or to have in the cabin chilled.... we just really like water, lol

[Calico Mary]

On 11/28/2023 at 7:06 AM, no1racefan1 said:

There were issues with not enough permits to visit the glacier or something like that... for this reason, I think the best bet might be to book the ship excursion to go to Mendenhall. I didn't hear of any ship excursions getting cancelled this summer (I could be wrong though).

 

 

Thank you so much. I'll book through HAL.

[no1racefan1]

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! This morning I did a quick perusal of all of our trip reservations and discovered that one of our flights has gone down in price. I was able to cancel and rebook, saving us 2,000 miles. It's not a lot, but I'm grateful to get those miles back since I'm trying to save enough miles to upgrade our seats! When you book things far in advance, you should always regularly check reservations for any price changes.

 

I also checked in on Princess excursions just so I could share information with you all--the Hubbard Glacier excursion is, for the first time, under 20 spots available!! This being five months out, that's a good indication of how quickly this excursion can sell out.

 

DH is still the only person booked on his fishing excursion, but I'm sure that will change.

[Paula_MacFan]

8 hours ago, no1racefan1 said:

I also checked in on Princess excursions just so I could share information with you all--the Hubbard Glacier excursion is, for the first time, under 20 spots available!! This being five months out, that's a good indication of how quickly this excursion can sell out.

 

We don't sail until early June (cruisetour is last week of May) and our Hubbard Glacier excursion has been sold out for several months.  We booked it at $299 and it went up to $339 in the Personalizer a few months ago and has been wait list only for quite awhile.  Also every other excursion we have booked has gone up in price anywhere from $10 to $50 per person.  

Edited December 22, 2023 by Paula_MacFan

[Coral]

On 12/22/2023 at 6:15 AM, no1racefan1 said:

 

 

DH is still the only person booked on his fishing excursion, but I'm sure that will change.

If this is fishing in May in Ketchikan, I would re-think this. I often go in May to Alaska and nobody seems to catch anything in Alaska in May. And they pay an expensive cost to not catch anything.

[no1racefan1]

5 hours ago, Coral said:

If this is fishing in May in Ketchikan, I would re-think this. I often go in May to Alaska and nobody seems to catch anything in Alaska in May. And they pay an expensive cost to not catch anything.

Thanks, I'll mention this to DH.

[Sail away MK]

I looked into fishing in Ketchikan on June 3.  The vendor I spoke to was glad to take a booking but when asked about the likelihood of catching he kind of stuttered.  I asked if he would recommend a trip for his father at that time  Wellll no.  I did not book. 

[no1racefan1]

8 hours ago, Sail away MK said:

I looked into fishing in Ketchikan on June 3.  The vendor I spoke to was glad to take a booking but when asked about the likelihood of catching he kind of stuttered.  I asked if he would recommend a trip for his father at that time  Wellll no.  I did not book. 

I found who I think is the tour operator for this particular excursion, and they have great reviews on TripAdvisor, even in May. I'm waiting to hear from DH though--I sent him the excursion and the reviews and told him to decide if he still wants to try it. I don't really know what he's looking to get out of it, LOL.

[Calico Mary]

On 11/29/2023 at 3:50 PM, SirTomster said:

Now I am not sure if this is a deal or not.  I thought the prices were higher but they are cheaper now.

 

For me, the price to fly home from Vancouver is 1K over the price of flying from Seattle.  So I will be taking the QuickShuttle from the Canada Place pier to the Seattle Airport.  

 

Right now the prices seem to be 1/2 off.  I had a price of $130 for the bus but I booked it for $70.98.  I do not see them advertising any sale, but still it was nearly half of what I expected to pay.  That includes 2 bags for each of us.

 

So for those who end up in Vancouver at the end of the cruise, it might be an option to consider.  Or for someone that leaves from Vancouver.  Flying to Seattle and taking the bus to Vancouver to get on the ship. 

 

 I ended up deciding to stay a night in Seattle and not trying to catch a flight that evening since you never know if traffic will delay the bus.   

Wow. didn't know there was a QuickShuttle between Seattle Airport and the Canada Place pier. I really need to find a good travel agent.

 

[abbydancer2003]

Very interesting thread.  I've got no set plans for Alaska at this time, but I've done it 7 or 8 times (we live in California so not too bad - closer than the Caribbean).  I also did the land portion of the cruise tour in 2021, when they opened their lodges because they thought there wouldn't be an Alaska season.  (There wasn't for the interior, just RT Seattle that year).

 

And like many of you I'm a hyper-planner.  DH says that if I think something is worth planning, it's worth over planning.  He doesn't want to hear anything until a month before because he's sure I'll change it.  So this is fun.

 

 

Some notes for you all.

 

First, Taku Lodge is an amazing experience.  It's great for Glacier viewing.  If it appeals, there's absolutely no reason to pay the ships price.  The office is right next to the pier, and the folks on your excursion will be a mix of how people bought it.  In other words, exactly the same.  They're great people.  We were supposed to go in 2020, and they honored that price through 2 rescheduled (2022 was the charm).  

 

And by the way, if you see an excursion that's easy to get to on your own, and it's the same price on the ship, book direct.  These are usually local operators, and if you book direct they get all the money, whereas through the ship, I'm pretty sure they take a cut.

 

In Ketchikan, I think you can buy lumberjack show tickets when you get there.  And something no one has mentioned - there's a Duck tour.  It leaves right from the pier.  I've never done it, but it's on my list.  There's also a salmon ladder that's interesting at the right time of year (when they're running).

 

Feel free to ask questions.

[Calico Mary]

On 1/1/2024 at 3:09 AM, abbydancer said:

Very interesting thread.  I've got no set plans for Alaska at this time, but I've done it 7 or 8 times (we live in California so not too bad - closer than the Caribbean).  I also did the land portion of the cruise tour in 2021, when they opened their lodges because they thought there wouldn't be an Alaska season.  (There wasn't for the interior, just RT Seattle that year).

 

And like many of you I'm a hyper-planner.  DH says that if I think something is worth planning, it's worth over planning.  He doesn't want to hear anything until a month before because he's sure I'll change it.  So this is fun.

 

 

Some notes for you all.

 

First, Taku Lodge is an amazing experience.  It's great for Glacier viewing.  If it appeals, there's absolutely no reason to pay the ships price.  The office is right next to the pier, and the folks on your excursion will be a mix of how people bought it.  In other words, exactly the same.  They're great people.  We were supposed to go in 2020, and they honored that price through 2 rescheduled (2022 was the charm).  

 

And by the way, if you see an excursion that's easy to get to on your own, and it's the same price on the ship, book direct.  These are usually local operators, and if you book direct they get all the money, whereas through the ship, I'm pretty sure they take a cut.

 

In Ketchikan, I think you can buy lumberjack show tickets when you get there.  And something no one has mentioned - there's a Duck tour.  It leaves right from the pier.  I've never done it, but it's on my list.  There's also a salmon ladder that's interesting at the right time of year (when they're running).

 

Feel free to ask questions.

Thanks so much for the notes! Will look into Taku Lodge for glacier viewing. So happy I reached out to AAA for suggestion about where to park near Newark Liberty airport where DH and I will be departing. They arranged a deal that includes a night at a Doubletree Hotel, shuttle to and from Air Train AND all 10 nights parking for our car for LESS THAN I could find for 10 nights parking alone!

This is great because our flight LEAVES at 7 am.  We live in southern NJ, so driving in the middle of the night was not at all appealing. I tried looking into a stay/park and fly deal and couldn't find anything under $300.00. YAY triple A and their discount!

[no1racefan1]

18 hours ago, Calico Mary said:

Thanks so much for the notes! Will look into Taku Lodge for glacier viewing. So happy I reached out to AAA for suggestion about where to park near Newark Liberty airport where DH and I will be departing. They arranged a deal that includes a night at a Doubletree Hotel, shuttle to and from Air Train AND all 10 nights parking for our car for LESS THAN I could find for 10 nights parking alone!

This is great because our flight LEAVES at 7 am.  We live in southern NJ, so driving in the middle of the night was not at all appealing. I tried looking into a stay/park and fly deal and couldn't find anything under $300.00. YAY triple A and their discount!

Great deal! Our flight leaves at 5:15am but at least it's from our hometown 😴 

[no1racefan1]

We are only 122 days away from touching down in Alaska!! Can't believe we started at 400+ days.

 

DH called today to reserve our dog sitter. It's a big expense but she'll come to our house 3x per day to feed, walk, play with, and (if necessary) clean up after our dog. Our dog gets to stay in her home, where she's comfortable, and we can check on her with our Ring cam. So the expense is worth it! 

 

Haven't looked at shore excursions for awhile so decided to check just so I could share information with you all! First of all, is it just me or has there been a minor redesign on the website? This looks different:

 

Check out the excursion we have booked in Skagway. We booked for the morning time slot at $164.95 when it was the only time slot available. Then they raised the price a month or two ago. Now they've opened up a second time at the lower price. If anybody reading this had booked the earlier one at $199.95, I'd consider switching!

 

 

[bulldog]

I wish I found this board months ago when I started planning our Alaska cruise and vacation.  We are booked on the Southbound itinerary on Celebrity in August 2024.  We actually booked the cruise almost 2 years in advance to get the cabin we wanted.  We are flying into Fairbanks 5 days early, renting a car and going to Denali for 2 nights.  We have booked the Tundra Wilderness Tour. We will then drive to Anchorage where we will spend the night before taking the train at 6:30 AM to Seward to board the ship that afternoon.  The train arrives in Seward at 11:30 AM and we board the ship at 5:00 PM.  What should we do in Seward between 11:30 and 5:00?  Is there a place to store our luggage?  We will have plenty of extra time in Denali - any suggestions of what else we should do in the area?  What should we plan to do on our drive from Denali to Anchorage?  I understand it is a beautiful drive.  

[mncbabu_yahoo]

Hi no1racefan1

What a awesome and  detailed planning that you have developed ! Great effort. Motivated by your plan, I have booked 7 day inside passage in sapphire from Vancouver to Whittier; sailing starts on May 25. Also we are doing 7 day land (do it yourself style) tour. Will be staying 2 nights in Denali, one night in Matanuska glacier, one night in Girdwood and two nights in Seward after cruise..

I am now booking and tours/excursions and lodging..

Since this discussion exceeded 13 pages, can you please summarize your itinerary, lodging and tours..?

Thank you 

 

 

[Disney Deb]

So glad that I found this thread! I too am an overplanner but I feel like it's almost as much fun as the trip itself. For this trip, our first to Alaska, my husband has gotten on board early and is researching the things that he would like to see and do. Normally, he does that within a month of the trip and does a lot of Google mapping to figure out logistics. We're part of an organized cruisetour (local travel guide) through Norwegian. We've sailed with them before. If we had booked this tour ourselves, we would have likely paid $4000 more but at the same time, I've had to give up some control which is hard lol. We were supposed to take a My Way Alpine trip through the Rick Steves tour company but since this one was such a good deal, we changed plans.

The cruise portion starts August 12th southbound and beforehand we stay in Fairbanks, Denali and Talkeetna. Thanks for everyone's tips-there are so many good ones!

 

[aussielozzie18]

Hi everyone.  Nice to find this thread.  Interested to compare the OPs experience booking over a year in advance with mine, booking our May cruise just in the last couple of weeks.

  I love to research, so it’s been hours and hours online every night in a short space of time to get up to speed on all the info needed and deciding what to do & book.

We originally planned to go to Alaska in 2020. Fly into Anchorage and do a roadtrip before boarding a southbound cruise from Whittier to Vancouver.  I still have my notes from that planned trip.  As much I would still like to do that, it doesn’t work for us this time but it’s been really interesting reading the OPs and others in the thread who are doing that itinerary.

 

My son did visit Anchorage and Seward last year for 4 days.  He hired an e-bike and cycled to Tony Knowles Park and was delighted to see two Moose.  He wanted to do a helicopter ride to a glacier in Seward but they wouldn’t take a solo booking. Minimum of two.  It poured with rain for the four days so his walks in the area and visit to the wildlife centre weren’t the best experience.

 

I booked my Princess Excursions this week after a lot of research & decision making. Surprised that there was very little difference in price from booking with Princess rather than independently. Had no issue getting the excursions I wanted, although I suspect they are more expensive than if booked in 2023.

 

Weird that Princess don’t send out an email when you cancel excursions but right on 2 weeks, I got my refunds.

 

Car hire in Skagway is very pricey now $329 for the day and then I have  to convert to AUD - major ouch.  
 

Our itinerary:

Fly Sydney to Vancouver

Road trip around Vancouver Island for a week or so.

Sitka - unfortunately Quantum of the Seas is in port same day - so hoping we can do the bird & bear sanctuary independently.  If not, I have some independent walks planned.

Junea - Seaplane to Taku Lodge.  Promised myself I wouldn’t do a seaplane trip due to past fatal accidents here & in Alaska but I really want to do this tour. Booked last night. Today, a seaplane crashed on Sydney Harbour….,  Minor injuries only thankfully.

 

The other 3 in our group will make their way independently (taxi or long bus ride) to Mendhall Glacier and do the walk to the waterfall and then follow up with a longer hike elsewhere.

 

Skagway - after watching a zillion youtube videos and realising we are there too early in the season - Emerald Lake frozen, waterfalls potentially frozen and dog sledding not operating (not referring to Carcross) - I am cancelling the car hire and doing the White Pass Railway followed immediately by a quick up and back mini bus tour to the summit. Wanted to book  the train/bus excursion with Chilkoot Tours but they don’t start their season until the week following our week in Alaska.

 

The other 3 in my group will hire e-bikes and do a self guided 3hr tour.

 

Ketchican - Shopping in the morning then Deadliest Catch Tour. Other 3 will do hikes.

 

Now that the Alaska portion of our trip is sorted.  I’ve now got to start planning Vancouver Island….

 

Edited January 25 by aussielozzie18

[rnr4thatsme]

On 11/19/2023 at 12:09 PM, no1racefan1 said:

Hey everyone! Haven't had too much to report on lately, but I decided to check excursions this morning and to my surprise, the Hubbard Glacier small boat excursion has gone up in price from $299 to $359pp. That is a huge price increase for those of you planning to take this excursion!  It still shows at least 20 spots available. This is just another reason to book excursions as soon as you know what you want. 

 

Of course this made me curious so I started checking out some other excursions. The lumberjack show has gone up from $39.95 to $43.00. The fishing excursion I booked for DH has gone up from $369.95 to $419.95. Yikes! The interesting thing about that is it still shows 11 spots available, meaning DH is the only person booked.

 

Our other two excursions have not changed in price since we purchased.

Hi @no1racefan1, I'm sorry if you said this before, but when did the excursions become available to book on Princess?  

[aussielozzie18]

@no1racefan1 Apparently Princess in the US are offering 20% off excursions.  Be interesting for you to compare what you paid last year with the discount price they are offering now.  Your price is probably still cheaper.

 

We don’t get excursion discounts in Australia.

[SirTomster]

On 1/23/2024 at 4:21 PM, bulldog said:

The train arrives in Seward at 11:30 AM and we board the ship at 5:00 PM.

I would look into a Kenai Fjords cruise.   One of the shorter ones since you arrive at 11:30.

 

There are a couple of companies that offer tours there.   Major Marine and Kenai Fjord Tours are the ones with some larger boats.  I believe there are some companies with smaller boats as well.

 

I expect they will store your luggage for you while on the boat but I would double-check.

 

[no1racefan1]

On 1/25/2024 at 7:32 AM, rnr4thatsme said:

Hi @no1racefan1, I'm sorry if you said this before, but when did the excursions become available to book on Princess?  

They were available to book when the cruise opened up (so Feb 2023 I think?) although they added more throughout those first several months. And of course, pricing, scheduling, and availability has fluctuated. 

[no1racefan1]

On 1/25/2024 at 5:38 PM, aussielozzie18 said:

@no1racefan1 Apparently Princess in the US are offering 20% off excursions.  Be interesting for you to compare what you paid last year with the discount price they are offering now.  Your price is probably still cheaper.

 

We don’t get excursion discounts in Australia.

I saw that mentioned here on CC, but I haven't seen it anywhere when I sign on to Princess. Oh well, from what I've read the earlier prices are still the same or cheaper than the 'sale'. I think they raised prices on excursions and then put them on sale to the original price, lol.

[no1racefan1]

On 1/23/2024 at 6:32 PM, mncbabu_yahoo said:

Hi no1racefan1

What a awesome and  detailed planning that you have developed ! Great effort. Motivated by your plan, I have booked 7 day inside passage in sapphire from Vancouver to Whittier; sailing starts on May 25. Also we are doing 7 day land (do it yourself style) tour. Will be staying 2 nights in Denali, one night in Matanuska glacier, one night in Girdwood and two nights in Seward after cruise..

I am now booking and tours/excursions and lodging..

Since this discussion exceeded 13 pages, can you please summarize your itinerary, lodging and tours..?

Thank you 

 

 

Happy to! I have a much nicer itinerary saved on my laptop but that's currently at the computer hospital being repaired, which I guess is a great lesson in learning to use cloud storage... I'm like the oldest 41 year old ever. Anyways, this is what we're planning:

Day 1--fly in to Anchorage, pick up rental car, staying at Hyatt Place

Day 2--Rent bikes from Pablo's Bike Rentals and ride the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail; in the afternoon, drive to Glacier View. Staying at an airbnb cabin in/near Glacier View.

Day 3--Matanuska Glacier guided hike with MICA Guides in the morning; then drive down to Seward. Staying at Resurrection Lodge on the Bay.

Day 4--Orca Quest cruise with Major Marine Tours; stay second night at Res. Lodge

Day 5--Guided kayak tour w/ Adventure 60 North in the morning; then drive back to Anchorage, stopping to see sights along the way. Drop off rental car at airport. Stay at Hyatt House.

Day 6--Uber/taxi to train station; take Alaska Railroad train to Whittier; board ship

Day 7--Hubbard Glacier, we did not book the excursion

Day 8--Glacier Bay

Day 9--Skagway; Chilkoot Trail Hike & Float Adventure. Might rent bikes in the afternoon but we'll play it by ear.

Day 10--Juneau; Bike & Brew Glacier View

Day 11--Ketchikan; Alaska Fishing & Wilderness Dining for DH. I think I might book a massage in town.

Day 12--Sea Day

Day 13--Arrive in Vancouver & fly home

[Paula_MacFan]

1 hour ago, no1racefan1 said:

I saw that mentioned here on CC, but I haven't seen it anywhere when I sign on to Princess. Oh well, from what I've read the earlier prices are still the same or cheaper than the 'sale'. I think they raised prices on excursions and then put them on sale to the original price, lol.

 

I get the '20% off Alaska Excursions' banner when I log in, but the prices have all increased so much they exceed what we originally paid months ago.

[no1racefan1]

Only 89 days until we touch down in Alaska!! I'm so excited and so anxious that I'm forgetting some important detail, LOL. I had a dream that I forgot to bring our passports...

 

Where's everybody at in your planning? What should I be thinking about at this stage?

 

I'm hoping to get some upgrade bid opportunities to try for an OV or balcony, but we're happy with an Interior if we don't get it. Balconies are listed for $1,000pp more so yeah, that's not happening without some upgrade magic!

 

Everything else is holding steady! I still check flights regularly but haven't had any change. I downloaded the new Princess app but haven't done anything with it. I've done everything through the website so far.

 

I think I need to work on getting in shape for all the activities I have booked, LOL!!