WeLoveOurVacations Posted September 29, 2006 #1 Share Posted September 29, 2006 :confused: Within the past 2 weeks we decided to go on a cruise with my family (husband, 13yo, 10yo, 10yo) and my parents (70s). Due to our schedules, I was planning a southbound cruise around Jul 6-8, 2007 with land tour activities prior to that. After reading all the great ideas on this message board of the various touring options, I thought I would begin to seriously investigate which cruiseline, rooms (balcony a must), prices. I've check Holland, Royal Carribean, Princess and BuyCruises.com - based on their websites they all appear to be booked. Have I missed the boat? Are my next options phoning the cruiseline or a TA? Now I'm also concerned that hotel rooms and car rentals will be unavailable. I consider myself an early planner - I thought 9 months in advance was getting a good start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyIL Posted September 29, 2006 #2 Share Posted September 29, 2006 :confused: Within the past 2 weeks we decided to go on a cruise with my family (husband, 13yo, 10yo, 10yo) and my parents (70s). Due to our schedules, I was planning a southbound cruise around Jul 6-8, 2007 with land tour activities prior to that. After reading all the great ideas on this message board of the various touring options, I thought I would begin to seriously investigate which cruiseline, rooms (balcony a must), prices. I've check Holland, Royal Carribean, Princess and BuyCruises.com - based on their websites they all appear to be booked. Have I missed the boat? Are my next options phoning the cruiseline or a TA? Now I'm also concerned that hotel rooms and car rentals will be unavailable. I consider myself an early planner - I thought 9 months in advance was getting a good start! You want to travel at peak season, AND you want balcony cabins. I doubt every ship that sails July 6-8 is sold out. Either adjust your travel dates and/or be less picky about the cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fti Posted September 29, 2006 #3 Share Posted September 29, 2006 I've check Holland, Royal Carribean, Princess and BuyCruises.com - based on their websites they all appear to be booked. Have I missed the boat? Are my next options phoning the cruiseline or a TA? Definitely check with some travel agents. They often have blocked group space but not for any particular cohesive/related group of people. They can plug whoever asks them for a cruise into those spaces. By booking group space they often can get better prices and more amenities like coupon books, free gifts, etc. Now I'm also concerned that hotel rooms and car rentals will be unavailable. I consider myself an early planner - I thought 9 months in advance was getting a good start! Think about how many nights you want to spend in AK before the cruise. Then as soon as you have the cruise dates nailed down, you can immediately book a rental car for the tentative dates. I myself am a very early planner but 11 months in advance for AK is not unheard of for flights/cars/hotels. Cruiselines start taking bookings something like 15 months or more in advance. Glad that I booked my flights using freq flyer miles when I did 10-1/2 months in advance. Some of those flights are now already sold out (tried to add someone else to some of the flights). If you end up at Denali NP shortly before your cruise, I will be there too. 3-6 July are my dates to be there :) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphakitty Posted September 29, 2006 #4 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Why not try Carnival too? :) I did a quick look and found Destiny sailing on July 8, southern route from San Juan for $1049 PP for a balcony. kitty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyIL Posted September 29, 2006 #5 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Why not try Carnival too? :) I did a quick look and found Destiny sailing on July 8, southern route from San Juan for $1049 PP for a balcony. kitty They want to cruise to ALASKA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaswhales Posted September 29, 2006 #6 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Try the "online" TA's. We went through a certain one (I don't know if it is OK to mention company names on here (if so, let me know, and if you are interested, I will post late tonight after work.) and she was able to book us into a group rate even though there were only 2 of us. She saved us about $1,200. We got our Sapphire Princess starboard, caribe balcony cabin for a total of $3,200 (that included all taxes, port charges, etc.) The cabin itself ran us $1,200 per person and that room normally goes for (and believe me, I checked it on on many websites) $1,800 per person. We had to wait until we finalized our air (used free miles for both of us) first before we could book a cruise, due to not knowing right away what cities we could fly into/ out of until 11 months out. We flew into Seattle, took a Princess shuttle to Vancouver, boarded the ship, got off in Whittier, took a van (we had norovirus, so they wouldn't allow us on our train previously booked) to Anchorage and stayed there for 3 more days, then flew out of Anchorage home! I realize that is 2 months different (you have 9 months, I had 11) but I also seriously doubt that all ships are totally booked. Look at the websites as I mentioned earlier. Happy hunting!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeLoveOurVacations Posted September 29, 2006 Author #7 Share Posted September 29, 2006 Thanks for everyones feedback. I am not sure what level of detail can be provided on these boards regarding TA contact info (web or non-web). I am interested in getting as much information as I can in order to do a thorough search for availability. We could very likely be in Denali on the 3rd/4th. Plan to take the shuttle to Wonder Lake... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyIL Posted September 29, 2006 #8 Share Posted September 29, 2006 There are some "Cruise Agencies" listed at the top of this board. You might try plugging in your desired dates with each of them and see if something turns up. Another option, which is what we're doing next June, is to do a northbound cruise and tour afterwards. Northbound cruises are less popular than southbound cruises, so you should have more choices available in your timeframe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunduo Posted September 29, 2006 #9 Share Posted September 29, 2006 I just checked bestpricecruises and there are balcony cabins available for your dates. Check out the Coral Princess. It has a great itinerary with long days in port, Glacier Bay and College Fjord. The ship gets great reviews, too. :) -Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halbfl2 Posted September 30, 2006 #10 Share Posted September 30, 2006 My experience with about three popular cruises is that they appear to be sold out at about 6-9 months out, and then when the 90 final payment time approaches, there are openings. Maybe a TA could book you in a cabin that's not your first choice, and then move you at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greatam Posted September 30, 2006 #11 Share Posted September 30, 2006 If you want Princess, the Island leaves Whittier July 2, the Sapphire leaves the 7th, the Coral leaves the 9th and the Pacific leaves the 11. All have balcony cabins available. Radiance of the Seas leaves July 6 from Seward and has balconies available. HAL has no balcony cabins available NOW. Look at the same place you looked before. I see all kinds of balconies available on the Sapphire, July 7 Southbound out of Whittier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaswhales Posted September 30, 2006 #12 Share Posted September 30, 2006 I just noticed that you are also from Michigan. How cool. If you would like to find out the name of the company I used, please email me at evilhousekeeper@yahoo.com and I will let you know. They could save you lots of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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