Alaska Cruise (Sep. 2019)

This page details information about the cruise we took on Holland America Line (HAL) from 09/15/19 to 09/22/19 for 7 days using the seaport in Seattle, Washington. This cruise is known as there 7 Day Alaskan Explorer.

The cruising season for Alaska is from the beginning of May to the end of September, so the best deals for Alaska cruises WILL ALWAYS be found for the months of May & September which are considered the shoulder months. June, July, & August are considered the prime time, summer vacation months, so prices WILL ALWAYS be higher priced then.

We opted for a balcony/veranda cabin and purchased the cruise the last 90 days before the sail date. I found the cheapest publicized price on VacationsToGo.com, and then I put in a request for the lowest unpublished price offers using CruiseCompete.com. We ended up accepting the lowest bid from Atlas Travel Vacations & Cruises in Marlborough, MA (Travel Agent Carmen Perez). You can often save an additional $100.00 per person by doing this two step method to find the absolute lowest current price for any cruise that is out there. To get these rock bottom prices, you must pay for the cruise, in-full, on the day of booking, with a no refund policy, and no changing of dates allowed, so you better be sure you will be going. The only change you can make is a cabin upgrade or downgrade (if available). We were lucky to get this cruise for $2,070.40 TOTAL COST FOR TWO ADULTS (including cruise, taxes, fees, & port expenses). The advertised price for this cabin in the HAL brochure was $1,499.00 PER PERSON (not including any of the add on charges). During the last 90 days or so before a cruise sets sail, you can often get a cruise at about 50% to 80% off of the brochure rate. So it can pay off in big ways if you can hang on for the huge sales that occur during the last 3 months before a particular sail date. It was important to us to find two back-to-back cruises using the same port so we could get the best RV storage deal, and to only take the round-trip ferry to Seattle one time.

Since our RV was placed in storage at a friend's property for free, we ended up driving our SUV to the cruise terminal. We utilized Seattle CruisePark for parking our SUV. Their normal price is $157.00 for a 7 night cruise & $199.91 for a 14 night cruise. I contacted this company, told them I am doing two back-to-back 7 night cruises and they created a special 14 night parking pass for the two cruise combo for $200.00 which saved us $114.00 on the cruise parking fees.

We booked back-to-back 7 day cruises out of Seattle, WA. We did a 7 day cruise from 09/15/19 to 09/22/19 on Holland America, then transferred our luggage for another 7 day cruise from 09/22/19 to 09/29/19 on Princess. We did not have to move the car from one long-term parking lot to another, because I had them make us the special two 7 night cruise combo parking pass. The returning cruise ship arrived at port at 8:00 AM and the departing cruise ship left port at 4:00 PM. Also take note, the Princess Star Princess went on a 7 day cruise to Alaska during 09/15/19 to 09/22/19, and it would have been very convenient to book that cruise ship for both cruises, and then to leave our luggage on the same ship for the second cruise; however; the Princess cruise to Alaska was $500.00 more expensive than Holland America for the same cruise with the same number of days. I even purchased these two cruises from different brokers to save $40.00, so you know I would never pay $500.00 more for the convenience of having our luggage remain on the same ship.

I called Princess Cruise Line directly to compare the CruiseCompete.com price for this cruise, and the absolute lowest price PCL could give me was more than $400.00 per person more expensive, and I get these same kinds of results each & every time I try to book a cruise directly from a cruise line. You would think you could save money by cutting out the middle man, but you will ALWAYS pay much more doing so. I also want to tell all timeshare owners, NEVER EVER buy cruises or airline tickets by using timeshare points & credits, no matter how convenient it may be for you, because you will ALWAYS pay double or triple price for anything you purchase that way. So as you can see, there are many ways to get deeper & deeper discounts on cruises by learning the game & then playing to win.

Our retirement goal is to take one or two cruises per year. Anytime we are near a cruise port, we plan on trying to capture some last minute deals. We love cruising and want to go on many of them while retired. Cruises we have been on in the past (before taking this cruise) include Alaska, Hawaii, Bahamas, Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, Southern Caribbean, and twice to the Mexican Riviera. We are more than happy to go to the same cruise areas numerous times. We feel that cruising, especially at a discount, is one of the best bangs for the buck since cruises include your room, meals, entertainment, and most soft drinks. The only thing not included in a regular cruise package is alcohol, soda, day tours, and specialty restaurants. If you have never been on a cruise, you absolutely need to go on one. As full-time RVers, cruising makes for a great vacation destination that you really should take advantage of. You should be able to acquire most cruises at the lowest possible prices.
 

Additional Information:

Carnival Corporation Shareholder Benefit Program (.Pdf)

VacationsToGo.com Fast Deal #23805

HAL Oosterdam Ship Tour (Video)

HAL Oosterdam Underway (Video)

HAL Oosterdam Food Menus For Alaska Cruises During Summer 2019 (Video)