Budget for Alaska Trip - More than I expected!!

[erhoffer]

I've seen some questions on the board about cruise-tour vs independent. This budget info might of interest.

 

We are planning our first-time cruise/land trip to Alaska for Jun 2008. We thought a cruise would be great since so much is built in to the cruise fare. Then, I started adding excursions, trans, lodging, food... and I was very surprised to see the big totals come up in my decision-making spreadsheet.

 

We are estimating mostly independent bookings, including a 3-nt stay inside Denali and a long ride on the AKRR gold star service. No doubt there are much less expensive ways to do this, but we wanted to make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime experience to celebrate our 25th and our eldest child going off to college next year.

 

For a family of four taking 7 night cruise and 8 night land tour... estimates(until the big budget axe comes out).. for the total trip = $24-25K. (ouch!)

 

Air = $3600 (open jaw tickets, but can be reduced with ff miles) = 15%

Cruise = $6540 (one CC and one Inside cabin, Celebrity) = 27%

Pre- and Post-cruise lodging = $4140 = 17%

Activities (Excursions, mostly independent) = $5500 = 22%

Train (Seward-Fairbanks, gold svc) = $1740 = 7%

Food (besides basic cruise meals) = $2300 = 9%

Insurance and Souvenirs = $900 = 3%

 

Breaking down another way I found the Cruise period = $10,800, Pre-cruise (2 nights) = $ 950 and Post-cruise (6 nights inc Denali) = $8700 plus $3600 air.

 

Just curious - how does this jive with the experience/estimates of others?

 

(BTW I have a chart on this, but couldn't figure out how to insert a .jpg file into this post...Let me know if you want it and I can email it to you.)

 

- Erin

[PennyAgain]

Erin, this is fascinating!

 

I don't recommend Fairbanks. I jost don't care for it myself. I think that your numbers are high, but I don't know your lifestyle.

 

June 2008 is just around the corner. Did you mean June 2009?

 

Things book up in Alaska very early on and you may not be able to get what you want now for June 2008.

 

Read and learn from the postings on this thread. Although I've spend much of my life in Alaska, I learn new things all the time from the people who post here.

[whale-watcher]

I knew there was a reason I never total up what we spend on vacation ;-)

 

One thing to consider if you booked early...the cruise fares have dropped a lot for many lines, and if you not yet made final payment, you should check with your TA/cruiseline to see if you are eligible for a reduced fare....we just booked our june '08 cruise within the last few weeks, and the price had come down by 1000's (for our family group of 6) in the weeks prior to booking.

[8 Bells]

That comes out to $1600/day! :eek:

 

Have you checked out the Northern Lights coupon book? For $50 you might find some 2-for-1 coupons you could use to help reduce the price or some excursions and hotels.

 

Have a great trip and happy 25th anniversary!

[Budget Queen]

I'm at the other end. Although 2005 rates, my 19 day trip was about $5500 total for 2. Included three flights and heavy use of budget lodging- B&B's and toursaver coupon booklet probably shaved off $1000.

 

But, I'm a fequent budget traveler. NONE of my trips are "once in a lifetime", and my priority is frequent and cheap!! On average I always travel at least 8 weeks/year. Last year did 11 weeks, ( now in trouble since I think I'm now entitled to do this :) )

 

Looks like I may have to skip Alaska this year since I'll be in London/Scotland/Norway for a month this summer, and it's going to kill me. :) Going to New Orleans next month for a week at Jazz Fest. Another 2 late fall for a Panama Canal transit. Add in my NYC and Boston trips, about another total 3 weeks worth this year. :)

 

Yikes- wish I could do more!!!!

 

So bottom line- IF it's the trip you want- then money isn't all the issue. GO and enjoy yourself!!~!

[Chat Noir]

Wow!

 

Our family of 4 has cruised Alaska with a 8 night independent RV rental added following the 7 night cruise. Total was less that $10,000 for everything. Twice more we've gone, once again with our teens, and once just husband and myself. Not sure all three cruises would total up to your budget.:D In fact last year DH and I had 10 nights (7 were the cruise) and our total was right at $1,000pp for everything. We had no expensive excursion, but saw a lot of budget-friendly attractions.

 

However, much is a personal choice. I find it fun to bargain hunt, and my husband LIKES that I bargain hunt. Our family stayed in one cabin, not two. We didn't take flightseeing (airsick!!!) excursions. We used coupon books. While RVing we had sandwiches, fruits, veggies, cereal, and snacker stuff rather than eating out often.

 

You should have a very fulfilling trip with that budget, and will almost certainly return home with some amazing memories.

 

A word of caution, however, you may find your once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska turns into a once-every-year trip. :) The 2005 cruise we took was our once-in-a-lifetime, we've been back in '06 (RV rental year), '07, and now, I'm looking for '08 bargains.

[GMoney]

I knew there was a reason I never total up what we spend on vacation ;-)

 

I agree!

[CC Help Michell]

"No doubt there are much less expensive ways to do this, but we wanted to make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime experience to celebrate our 25th and our eldest child going off to college next year."

 

I think the above quote is the answer to why this is such a big bottom line number. Concierge class on the cruise ship, staying inside Denali itself for three nights (assuming you aren't planning on tent camping, but on staying at one of the very expensive lodges?), etc. That all will make for a marvelous once-in-a-lifetime trip, and amazing memories... but will obviously carry a big price tag. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

[vbmom87]

I've seen some questions on the board about cruise-tour vs independent. This budget info might of interest.

 

We are planning our first-time cruise/land trip to Alaska for Jun 2008. We thought a cruise would be great since so much is built in to the cruise fare. Then, I started adding excursions, trans, lodging, food... and I was very surprised to see the big totals come up in my decision-making spreadsheet.

 

We are estimating mostly independent bookings, including a 3-nt stay inside Denali and a long ride on the AKRR gold star service. No doubt there are much less expensive ways to do this, but we wanted to make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime experience to celebrate our 25th and our eldest child going off to college next year.

 

For a family of four taking 7 night cruise and 8 night land tour... estimates(until the big budget axe comes out).. for the total trip = $24-25K. (ouch!)

 

Air = $3600 (open jaw tickets, but can be reduced with ff miles) = 15%

Cruise = $6540 (one CC and one Inside cabin, Celebrity) = 27%

Pre- and Post-cruise lodging = $4140 = 17%

Activities (Excursions, mostly independent) = $5500 = 22%

Train (Seward-Fairbanks, gold svc) = $1740 = 7%

Food (besides basic cruise meals) = $2300 = 9%

Insurance and Souvenirs = $900 = 3%

 

Breaking down another way I found the Cruise period = $10,800, Pre-cruise (2 nights) = $ 950 and Post-cruise (6 nights inc Denali) = $8700 plus $3600 air.

 

Just curious - how does this jive with the experience/estimates of others?

 

(BTW I have a chart on this, but couldn't figure out how to insert a .jpg file into this post...Let me know if you want it and I can email it to you.)

 

- Erin

 

Yes, I am still in shock myself. There are two of us going. I just did the tallying up to see if I need to add more insurance coverage. We are on a 7 night one way cruise. Actually got that down quite a bit. We started wtih an inside cabin, but watching prices and keeping in touch with our TA, our price dropped $300 a person and we went from an inside room to an unobstructed Oceanview with that price drop. We are staying 2 days pre-cruise in Vancouver. We will then be on a 9 day independent land tour after our cruise. We got one free airline ticket with FF miles. The other was an open jaw, so not a bargain but I got a fare price. We are not taking any small aircraft excursions. Our more expensive excursions are the Tracy Arm boat tour with Adventure Bound, the Chilkoot 9 hour train ride, the Northwestern Kenai Fjords tour (2 for 1 coupon). We are taking the shuttle into Denali. We are taking the train from Seward to Anchorage. We are also doing the Sea Life Center (2 for 1) and maybe the Seavey Dog Cart Ride, so that is not in my total yet. I also have a few other lesser priced excursions planned and some maybes to decide on when we get there. We are thinking of a raft ride and a glacier trek. We are staying at all Bed and Breakfasts except one. I don't think the Saltwater is considered a B & B. That was our splurge. It sounded beautiful, and for this possible once in a lifetime trip, I decided to go for it. When I totalled everything up the other night I am at $6800. That includes all excursions paid for, all lodgings, air, 3 car rentals and cruise. It does not include the tours we are still considering. It does not include any meals we have to pay for on our own, souveniers, or gas for the cars we are renting. Indeed sticker shock!!! I am typically a budget traveller and did try to cut where I could, but it still is totally up to the most expensive trip we ever took and we used to travel with 5. This time it is only 2.

[CruizenSuzen]

Uh yeah, we're totally in the same boat as you.

 

Our Alaska trip is easily going to exceed the cost of our Mediterranean cruise two years ago, and our trip to Greece last year.

 

But like you said, it's a special occassion and we don't have the luxury of traveling more than our three weeks off from work. I haven't done a budget update lately, mostly b/c I don't really want to know, but I'm sure we're over 10K for the two of us, for the two weeks.

[cjnky]

You got my curiosity up, so I had to do some figuring!

 

For our 3 weeks, the percentages looked like this:

Cruise 36%

Tours 15.5%

RV, gas, food & campgrounds for 2 weeks 31%

Air 10%

Ins., souvenirs, tips, transfers 7.5%

[qiangf2]

The first RT cruise to Alaska costed two of us $2000 including RT air to Seattle. We didn't participate any paid excursion (independent or cruiseline). Instead, we rented car in every port and shared the cost with our friends. Well, I didn't count the $2000 I spent on zoom lens upgrade before the cruise though. On the 2nd trip with in land tour, the cost has gone up significantly. I think we still managed to keep it down to around $5000. Of course, we don't know what we have missed by booking inside cabin only. ;)

[NancyIL]

I agree with Budget Queen about "frequent and cheap." Although Alaska isn't a cheap destination, it can be done without spending 5 figures for 2 people. However, if you want to splurge - it is easy to do so.

 

My DH and I celebrated our 25th anniversary 4 months early in June 2007 by going to Alaska. We flew to Vancouver and home from Anchorage using FF miles. We spent one night pre-cruise in Vancouver using hotel points, stayed in an obstructed oceanview cabin on the Coral Princess (after prices went down and it was less than the inside we booked), and used 2-for-1 TourSaver coupons quite a bit on the land trip. We got a great rate on an 8-day car rental from Enterprise by booking almost a year in advance. Three of our hotel nights on the land trip were free using Priority Club points (Holiday Inn Express in Seward and Anchorage). We stayed our first night in Anchorage at the Extended Stay Deluxe for $37 thanks to a great rate on Hotwire that fti alerted folks about. We did flightseeing in Ketchikan and roundtrip flights from Chitina to McCarthy on the land trip, a whale watch in Juneau, and a Yukon rail/bus excursion in Skagway. The total for the 2 of us for 18 days was $6750. (Without free plane tickets and 4 free hotel nights, the cost would've been ~ $9000.)

 

I'll be back to Alaska in 2008 for 18 days - this time traveling with 2 friends. I estimated my expenses for 1 person would be $3500-4000, but I haven't totaled them lately! I'm using FF miles, a free hotel night in Vancouver, 6 cheap hotel nights in Alaska, another cheap Enterprise car rental, one flight (Mt. McKinley - hopefully), a PWS cruise, but I'm doing cheaper excursions on the cruise portion this time.

[msmoger]

But like you said, it's a special occassion and we don't have the luxury of traveling more than our three weeks off from work. I haven't done a budget update lately, mostly b/c I don't really want to know, but I'm sure we're over 10K for the two of us, for the two weeks.

 

 

We're WAAAAAAY over 10K for two. I've been planning this trip in my head for years. I saved the money. I don't know if we'll get back to Alaska and if we do I certainly plan on being quite a bit more judicious with funds. I may have set a record for a 16 day vacation in terms of the shear number of excursions booked (multiple versions of land, see and air :D ). Of course the way I figure it, given the unpredictability of Alaskan weather, the odds are I'll be getting some of my money back :rolleyes: .

 

I keep repeating the ol' cliche in my head: "You can't take it with you!!"

[ellbon]

Since my hotels wre included i nhte cost have no idea what they were but i spend more on shopping then you.. I ate at better places but thought prices were ok.

 

tours expensive-only way to go to see what you want.. flew 1st class and stayed in a super deluxe room in Vancouver. their upscale dinner was excellent. worth every penny.. the hotel at the cruise ship area.

[CowPrincess]

Okay, I'm feelin' MUCH better about the unbudgeted $77 I just spent for the onboard wine card. Thanks everyone! :D

[thinfool]

We are planning our first-time cruise/land trip to Alaska for Jun 2008.

 

I am feeling a little challenged/confused here...you mention an A." first time cruise" and then...

 

but we wanted to make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime experience to celebrate our 25th and our eldest child going off to college next year.

 

you go to B."once-in-a-lifetime".

 

You have wonderful plans and places to see and do. If "B" is correct, then you will surely enjoy your trip and make the tour operators very happy while you are at it.

 

If "A" implies that there may be a second, third, etc time, then be choosy about where you go, how much time you spend, what can wait till a subsequent trip.

 

BE WARNED--Alaska is addictive. Chances are very high that you will want another trip regardless of what you decide for your first one.

 

Seriously, with the resources that you seem to have, you and your spouse may very well decide to "do this again"...and again...:rolleyes:

[erhoffer]

Great feedback and interesting perspectives on ways to save - thanks! And a very good point - I forgot to add the TIPS!!!

 

The funny thing is, we thought a mostly US trip would be more cost-effective this year, because of the low value of the dollar against other currencies. Ha ha ha....

 

Well no turning back now.

- Erin "just a spreadsheet geek"...

[PennyAgain]

Erin, years ago in Alaska (during the Pipeline days) we learned to use our credit cards and NEVER look at what we signed for.

 

Prices were that crazy.

 

Now we do look and verify the total charged, but Alaska is still expensive, but it is no London.

 

We spend less on food than most people as we shop at Carr's/Safeway in Anchorage and stock up. WE also are willing to sleep in the car. Years of practice doing that.

 

Most of the places I go there are no hotels/ motels or even cabins to rent; so it is car camping or tent camping and I feel more protected from bears in a car.

[judynorth]

The funny thing is, we thought a mostly US trip would be more cost-effective this year, because of the low value of the dollar against other currencies. Ha ha ha....

 

Well, US trips might be more "cost-effective" now because of the weak dollar but they aren't cheaper except for foreigners. Foreign trips are just more expensive for us. :eek:

[whale-watcher]

Great feedback and interesting perspectives on ways to save - thanks! And a very good point - I forgot to add the TIPS!!!

 

The funny thing is, we thought a mostly US trip would be more cost-effective this year, because of the low value of the dollar against other currencies. Ha ha ha....

 

Well no turning back now.

- Erin "just a spreadsheet geek"...

We did save a quite a bit on the cruise when we rebooked from the Pacific Princess (Med) to the Tahitian Princess (AK) even though they are sister ships and the itinerary is longer...but mostly because we had to downgrade from minisuites to balcony cabins due to availability. We will probably spend more on shore excursions (not too many helicopter glacier landings and float plane excursions in europe!), but a whole lot less on airline tickets...in fact, the cost of round trip MSP-YVR tickets for my entire family of 5 is about the same as the cost of a single coach class ticket MSP-Rome/Athens-MSP.

[agabbymama]

WOW, some of you folks spend a lot more on vacations than I do.

 

There were 4 of us on a HAL 11 days cruisetour to the Yukon and Interior Alaska. We spent approx. $12,000 for airfare, cruisetour (with balcony cabins), excursions and food. I don't pay over $50 for any excursions though. I'm not adventurous, so wouldn't do flightseeing, glacier landings, etc. I was happy to do the Tundra Wilderness tour at Denali (included in the HAL fare).

 

You can budget and do things that don't cost an arm and a leg. It doesn't have to cost a fortune. It's all what you are willing to spend to do what you want to do.

 

My husband and I didn't spend that kind of money when we went to Australia for a month.

 

Now my upcoming Med cruise in Oct '08 is really going to be a blockbuster. With the dollar doing so poorly against the EURO, everything is terribly expensive. We are doing 3 days pre-cruise in Rome and 2 days post-cruise in Venice, so the hotels there really upped the price. But we are not doing a lot of excursions, but it will still be the most expensive trip I've ever taken.

[Podie]

We (two of us) have a balcony cabin on the northbound Carnival Spirit in May 2009. We have been to Alaska once before. Our total cost for the cruise including insurance was $2560, airfare from Florida to Seattle (train to Vancouver) and then Anchorage to Florida will be approximately $600 as one ticket is frequent flier miles. We plan to spend $1200 max on our four ports, and then spend 5 to 7 days in Alaska on our own after the cruise. Based on our previous visit and updated prices, we expect to spend about $1800 on this part of the trip. We are splitting a car rental and lodging with another couple which will help a lot. So all in all we're looking at $6200 or so for two people, 11-13 days total. The other couple is budgeting $8000 so it'll be interesting to see who comes out closer!

[Droste]

I am feeling a little challenged/confused here...you mention an A." first time cruise" and then...

 

 

 

you go to B."once-in-a-lifetime".

 

You have wonderful plans and places to see and do. If "B" is correct, then you will surely enjoy your trip and make the tour operators very happy while you are at it.

 

If "A" implies that there may be a second, third, etc time, then be choosy about where you go, how much time you spend, what can wait till a subsequent trip.

 

BE WARNED--Alaska is addictive. Chances are very high that you will want another trip regardless of what you decide for your first one.

 

Seriously, with the resources that you seem to have, you and your spouse may very well decide to "do this again"...and again...:rolleyes:

 

Um, yes - I have to agree with this. My wife and I are taking our 3rd Alaska cruise this year...

 

Incidentally, there's nothing wrong with a splurge trip for an important anniversary - we took a 21 day cruise tour with Princess for our 10th to Australia and New Zealand. That was one pricey trip! But so worth it...

[nana nancy]

You have to decide how you want to travel and is it worth it? We are doing 3 nts. in Seattle, free companion flight for DH. Staying at reasonable hotel, w/breakfast on bus route. Flight to Vancouver, easier for us then train, 7 nt. cruise, have booked all my own excursions, cheaper and got the times and tours I wanted. Then 11 days touring Alaska. Rental car, $70.00 per day, staying in very nice hotels, via toursaver coupon book, 3 nts. Denali in B&B. Fairbanks, found a Balloon flight! Something we've always wanted to do! Then to Copper River, looks very nice, see Wrangell-St Elias Natl. Park, flight to Kennecott. To Kenai Princess 2 nts. with day in Seward. Flying back to Seattle via Alaska Air, $50.00 companion ticket. We are see'ers not do'ers. He's 66 I'm 60 and not real mobile. We are doing a float plane to Anan observatory, whale watch, and White Pass RR, I think we will feel like we got our money's worth when done. I estimate it will run us $8,000.00. We are saving a lot with coupon book, and a number of tours and hotels are paid for now, not when we get back as they are buy 1 get 1! Heliocopter, 4 hotels, Kenai Fjords trip, Discovery Riverboat, Avis, and some other things. But I don't know if we will get back there so want to make it a trip to remember! I plan on it being spectacular!