7 day Princess Cruise to Alaska from Vancouver

[CruisingLAN]

I booked a 7 day Princess Cruise to alaska with a 3 day land extension to the Denali after we dock in Whittier.  Included in that portion of the trip is the following:

• Bus from Whittier to The Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge (8.5hrs)
• A night at the the Princess Wilderness Lodge for myself
• Bus transfer from the Denali Princess (2.5 hrs)
• A night at the Mt McKinley Princess Lodge for myself
• Then transportation to Talkeetna and a train to Anchorage. 

I have a friend who would like to join me for this portion of the trip but she isn't on the Cruise and Princess won't sell her seats on the buses.  We came up with the idea that we rent a car and drive to the lodges and have her stay in my room.  

Do you think this would be a problem?  Does anyone else have any suggestions for what I should do and what I should say to the Princess people? Will I lose my hotel rooms if I don't take their transportation will I lose my hotel rooms?

Thanks,

Lauren

[NavyVeteran]

I don't know if you can do this, but it would make things difficult. If you are not past final payment, I think you would do a lot better to book the cruise without the tour and book the nights at the lodges independently. Look at the Princess Lodges website for details on availability.

[CruisingLAN]

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm considering your suggestions.  However, I've booked and paid for a bunch of excursions as well as the tips.  If I cancel my trip will they be able to move all that to my new booking or will I lose all what I've booked?

Thanks for your help.

Lauren

[NavyVeteran]

1 hour ago, CruisingLAN said:

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm considering your suggestions.  However, I've booked and paid for a bunch of excursions as well as the tips.  If I cancel my trip will they be able to move all that to my new booking or will I lose all what I've booked?

Thanks for your help.

Lauren

If you cancel and rebook, you will have to start over. It is not a refare, since a cruise and a cruise tour are two completely different bookings.

Your will receive a refund for anything you paid for. Before doing so, you will need to look at the price and availability of any excursions you really want as well as the cost of the cruise. If you have booked Princess EZAir, you will lose those reservations, so you will need to look at the new prices. You may want to book the cruise first to make sure everything is the way you want it before cancelling the cruise tour. If you booked through a travel agent, the travel agent will need to handle it. If you booked directly, then you can handle it yourself.

You may want to consider getting a travel agent or a Princess Vacation Planner for booking your cruise even if you didn't use one for the cruise tour.

[Ken the cruiser]

I know you didn’t mention your cruising status. But if you are cruising solo and probably paying double for the cabin, why don’t you just include your friend as guest #2 on your booking? Just a thought if you’re cruising solo.

[Potstech]

Also if you have to rebook consider doing the land portion first then the cruise.

[NavyVeteran]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I know you didn’t mention your cruising status. But if you are cruising solo and probably paying double for the cabin, why don’t you just include your friend as guest #2 on your booking? Just a thought if you’re cruising solo.

Friend could not just be a no show, since cruise is before land portion. Friend could not no show for cruise and then join land portion without a deviation approved by Princess.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

Friend could not just be a no show, since cruise is before land portion. Friend could not no show for cruise and then join land portion without a deviation approved by Princess.

So the OP couldn’t either refare or worst case rebook her land-cruise and add the second person, where of course the second person would pay any modest increase in cost which you wouldn’t think would be that much if the OP is already paying the solo “double fare” price?

[NavyVeteran]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So the OP couldn’t either refare or worst case rebook her land-cruise and add the second person, where of course the second person would pay any modest increase in cost which you wouldn’t think would be that much if the OP is already paying the solo “double fare” price?

OP said the friend was not able to take the cruise and that the land portion was after the cruise portion. If OP rebooked the cruise tour to add the second person, the second person could not just show up for the land portion after not showing up for the cruise without a deviation approved by Princess in advance.