How to Afford the Best Alaska Cruise Vacation Ever!

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Every day we get calls from interested cruisers who want to sail Alaska. We're located in Arizona and often many of our Arizona clients want to escape the summer heat for a cruise to Alaska. The season to cruise Alaska starts around the 1st of May(give or take a week) and ends near the end of September. This limited, 5 months of sailing time leads to high demand. It's not like the Caribbean where you can sail year round.

 

Cruising Alaska is very popular. More ships are sailing these waters than ever before. Norwegian is bringing the Norwegian Joy to Alaska in 2019. All the major cruise lines have multiple ships sailing Alaska every season. With this popularity, comes higher costs. It's simply a matter of supply and demand.

 

We recommend viewing Alaska from a balcony cabin. In fact, many of the ships sailing Alaska have a high concentration of balcony staterooms because this is the best way to view Alaska. There's nothing like sailing these waters and spotting whales, bears (when you're close to land near Skagway, Juneau, Glacier Bay, etc), Bald Eagles, and more from the comfort of your balcony cabin.

 

Imagine peering through your binoculars searching the waters for the signs of whales, the fine mist of water and air being blown from the whale's blowhole as they are at the surface. You realize at that moment, that you are not alone when you're doing this. You'll hear your fellow passengers, on their own balcony, doing the same thing and you'll hear them point out their sightings which makes the experience that much more memorable and enjoyable.

 

These cabins don't come with a low price point though, hence the title of this blog post.

 

So, How do you Afford the Best Alaska Cruise Vacation ever? This post isn't for those that can take a trip at the drop of a hat because they have the disposable income anytime to do anything. We love these clients! This is for those people who need to save and put aside money to take a nice vacation. There are ways to do it.

1. Plan for the vacation: Don't get me wrong. We love helping people take last minute vacations to places near and far. You need to realize that taking a cruise to Alaska next summer is kind of a last minute decision. Those 2019 Alaska cruises have been selling since sometime in 2017 and many of the best cabin spaces are already sold. If you want to be able to afford the best Alaska cruise ever you need to be putting a deposit on a cruise 18 months out. Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Holland America, and most other cruise lines sailing Alaska have their 2020 Alaska cruise itineraries already set. 
2. Know the payment options. When depositing for your cruise and securing a cabin you'll make a reasonable deposit. This can vary by ship and the promotions being offered at the time. The cruise line will then give you a FINAL PAYMENT date. This is typically 120 days from the sail date of the cruise. This date is important to help you afford the best Alaska cruise ever. If you know that your cruise will cost $2400 per person(this is just an example) and you know that you want to sail Alaska in May 2020 then you also know that the final payment date would be in January 2020. If you wanted to pay $200 per month towards your cruise you would need to book your cruise by January 2019 to be able to set aside or pay for this cruise.
3. Work with a Travel Agent that will take payments for you. Many of the cruise lines don't have payment options. You pay your deposit then they remind you near the final payment date. The cruise line expects you to set aside your money and hold it until that final payment date. That's fine for some but many that we work with want to get that money out and away from their own accounts(they don't want to spend it on other things that come up) and applied to their cruise. A good travel agent will work with you on a payment plan that you can live with. Many of our clients will tell us to charge their credit card on the 10th of the month(as an example) and so we do that for them. We create a payment document that the client signs authorizing us to do this and before too long the client has a paid for cruise.
4. Work with a Travel Agent(Part Two). Often, travel agents can get extra perks such as onboard credits that aren't available otherwise. Or, perhaps they are aware of group space that has a lower price or extra perks that are not available to the general public when booking an Alaska cruise. Take advantage of this knowledge and expertise to get the most bang for your buck.
5. Don't Settle for a lesser experience when sailing to Alaska. Alaska cruises are one of the best experiences you can ever have, don't lessen it by staying in an interior cabin just because that's what you can afford. Move your sail date out a few more months so that you can afford the best balcony cabin possible. Instead of sailing in May or June during the early part of the season, cruise at the end of August or into September. This will give you a few more months to be able to afford the best Alaska cruise ever.

 

Our goal is for every traveler to be wowed by their experience. Make sure you give yourself every opportunity to get the best experience possible on your Alaska cruise by planning far enough in advance that you can afford it. You won't regret it. 

 

If you want to work with experienced travel professionals that want you to have the best Alaska cruise ever then give us a call at 602-626-3740. We help clients nationwide #GetToABetterPlace. We look forward to hearing from you.