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Wow Alaska Cruise Excursions are expensive! 3people and I've spent

cruisecastle

By cruisecastle,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Crusin6

Crusin6

Posted
Posted

I have heard from Alaska cruisers that this cruise is all about the excursions!

 

One person I know who has MS, and is going downhill, even did the helicopter ride!

 

Good for her!!!

 

BTW, I think an Alaskan cruise with all the extra would be just as expensive as a Med cruise.

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cruisecastle

cruisecastle

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I have heard from Alaska cruisers that this cruise is all about the excursions!

 

One person I know who has MS, and is going downhill, even did the helicopter ride!

 

Good for her!!!

 

BTW, I think an Alaskan cruise with all the extra would be just as expensive as a Med cruise.

 

My wife has MS and we too are doing the helicpter that lands on a glacier. I took the med cruise a couple of years back and you are right it's about the same in the end if you add on the 4 day post train trip which we did

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Crusin6

Crusin6

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My wife has MS and we too are doing the helicpter that lands on a glacier. I took the med cruise a couple of years back and you are right it's about the same in the end if you add on the 4 day post train trip which we did

The 4 days pre cruise in Rome was really really expensive for our family of 6. We couldn't wait to eat on the ship as we were starving! Only kidding of course but for 4 small pizza, 2 pasta dishes, 2 bottles of water and breadsticks........about $200.:eek:

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Crusin6

Crusin6

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If you can't afford it then you should not be cruising.

 

(Isn't that what your response would be if someone else posted your OP).:D

By your smiley grin...you are probably joking, Right?

 

It is hard to tell these days what posters really mean.

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firefly333

firefly333

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If you can't afford it then you should not be cruising.

 

(Isn't that what your response would be if someone else posted your OP).:D

 

I dont think the OP said a word about if they could afford it or not. He merely commented that the excursions were more expensive than he expected. Im glad of the warning. I wouldnt book Alaska until I have extra $$$ saved up or spending on fewer cruises some year.

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pe4all

pe4all

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I can only imagine what the excursions would cost us (family of 4). Even now, we spend ALOT of money each cruise on excursions - usually $900 or more for 3 ports. I wouldn't want to miss a thing in Alaska - price be damned. (pb and j for lunch for a year - who cares! - well, maybe not the pb with the scare going on:D)

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cruisecastle

cruisecastle

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Are you doing ship excursions, or private excursions ? There are some really good private tours that are less expensive than the ship's, and actually much, much better.

 

Right now they are all Carnival but I am thinking of looking around at some other alternatives. Any suggestions where to look?

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jeanarch

jeanarch

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We did Alaska with Princess last year and booked all excursions off ship except pre-cruise for 3 days at a Princess lodge. It seemed that most of what we booked were basically the same or better than the ship. Yes go to the port boards..That's where I got all of my info.

ou can probably do it for MUCH less.

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JayS

JayS

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Are you doing ship excursions, or private excursions ? There are some really good private tours that are less expensive than the ship's, and actually much, much better.

 

Last year on HAL they charged me the same as the independents quoted on the internet. :confused:

 

Most other cases especially Hawaii that is the case. In Jamaca the helmet dive was 1/2 price on the net BUT there were NO bookings for the period the ship was in port.:mad:

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LRene

LRene

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Cruisecastle is right. Alaska is just an expensive trip. We've been to Europe twice on the Liberty and the Freedom, spent a week in Rome and we're still spending more in Alaska. I didn't find Rome that expensive actually but I did a lot of homework and did better the second time than the first.

 

We have all our Alaska excursions booked privately with the exception of what we will do on the day of debarkation. We'll do that one with Carnival just for the ease of having them handle the luggage and get us to the airport after the tour.

 

Going with Orca Enterprises for whale watching in combo with Coastal Helicopters to the glacier in Juneau. Book them together - Orca can handle the details and it will save you a bunch of time in transports. We're going with Southeast Aviation to the Misty Fjords in Ketchikan. We booked a driver and van in Skagway to tour around at our leisure and Sitka is probably going to be a do-it-on-our-own day. Vancouver isn't cheap either but we booked nice accomodations for 3 days.

 

I highly recommend you book your excursions outside of Carnival for that many people. However, don't wait too long because they fill up fast. You'll get so much more for your money and you'll end up with more time to explore on your own as well.

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G'ma

G'ma

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Holy guacamole!!!!

 

To each his own, I suppose.

 

Amount I've spend on pre-booked shore excursions for the last 10 years or so?

 

-0-

 

Ooops! Forgot one; I paid for a one way transfer from POM to FLL airport once.......30.00.

 

If I'm visiting a place where I want to get out and about, I negotiate a taxi or walk or go directly to a vendor after some research.

 

But, that's just me.

 

I don't play bingo or buy photos either......

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Crusin6

Crusin6

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Holy guacamole!!!!

 

To each his own' date=' I suppose.

 

Amount I've spend on pre-booked shore excursions for the last 10 years or so?

 

-0-

 

Ooops! Forgot one; I paid for a one way transfer from POM to FLL airport once.......30.00.

 

If I'm visiting a place where I want to get out and about, I negotiate a taxi or walk or go directly to a vendor after some research.

 

But, that's just me.

 

I don't play bingo or buy photos either......[/quote']

Yeah but you cruise every other week!;)

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Sandgnat

Sandgnat

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Are you doing ship excursions, or private excursions ? There are some really good private tours that are less expensive than the ship's, and actually much, much better.

That is so true. I did all of mine for less than half of what it would of cost on the ship and had more offered then what the ship did. We were the only ones in the raft going through the eagle preserve, the Carnival one was packed like sardines. We also were on the river longer. The helicopter ride was fantastic, they let us stay up on the glacier while they returned other passengers since their helicopter crashed. They were out of it when the wind picked it up and it went into a ravine and busted the tail right off. Great pictures and story from it. Kayaking in Ketchican was about 2 hours longer than what Carnival offered. I would go with Dolly Varden again in a heart beat. They took real good care of us and saved me a lot of money.

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tess2cruz

tess2cruz

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I have reserched Alaskan Cruises and the expense of the excursions is why I haven't done one yet. Even saving the bucks on airfare, (live 2 hrs from Seattle, 6 to Vancouver BC) the excursions that I would want to do are so expensive. I guess I will settle for plopping my rear end on a tropical island untill I hit the lottery!!:D

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by_u_nurse

by_u_nurse

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almost exactly $4k on the excursions. It's about twice what I was expecting. YIkes!

 

Is this counting a pre or post cruise trip? What excursions are you looking into? Three of us will also be cruising Alaska this year. Our actual ship excursions we were estimating about $600 - $700 each, granted we were not doing any of the flightseeing which are a little higher. The pre cruise amount is what caused me to stutter a bit. Those 3 days are costing almost as much as the entire cruise but like many others have said " It's a once in a lifetime opportunity" I plan to make the most of it!!!!

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