Least expensive place to book DCL Alaska Cruise?

[MillauFr]

HAL and Princess are very similar. It is like trying to argue which car is better, a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord.

 

[BartmanLA]

DCL isn’t the best line for Alaska. Princess is considered by many to be the best mainstream cruiseline for Alaska.




www.costcotravel.com is definitely my choice.



Yep.

You should be aware that CostCo has changed their policy, and now you won't get a "Cash" Back card from Costco but a "SHOP" Card only good in the warehouse for purchases. So you don't get a rebate or refund of costs... just a discount you can get back to buy products at the store only.

 

[auntlynne]

southlake - I totally get the desire to cruise DCL, especially on a special cruise. We sailed them in 2011 (I think the inaugural year) with my three teen nieces and my sister. (My avatar is my sister and me on the way to Sawyer Glacier). And yes, the prices were so much lower.

We also minimized the cost by going before airfare prices go up in June. And we also stayed at the YWCA in Vancouver, as hotel rooms in the summer easily start at $300. We did fly into Vancouver, but have subsequently done the Seattle + Amtrak option. (Lower airfares are the same time as lower cruise fares - that’s a bonus).

We stayed in two sideways inside cabins and utilized Deck 4 for lounge chairs during our day of fjord/glacier viewing.

I looked at the Sep 2020 cruise that visits Icy Point, as it was the one of the best DCL AK priced cruises. I think it is on the 7th. That shouldn’t be too late to get excursions you’d like. I’ve done mid-May sailings and had all the activities going.

The running joke in our family is that I said nobody needs to do a (Disney) Cruise to AK two years in a row (we were discussing onboard booking). So, the next year I went to AK on Princess.

I have done three Princess AK cruises, mainly for cost, itineraries, and afternoon tea. We have had a cabin with a very large balcony for closer to DCL ocean view costs. I love Glacier Bay and College Fjords.

But none of the Princess ships are as attractive as Disney. The food is comparable but more normal/less chef-y than DCL. Their specialty restaurants aren’t as good as Palo. No DCL kids’ clubs for the 4 yo.

One niece loves Disney and AK so much she chose it for her honeymoon. She has also sailed Princess. But she chose a man who also loves the Disney experience.

I hope you can work it out to do Disney to Alaska.

One of my reasons for sailing DCL: characters on deck in regional garb.

 

[Intr3pid]

Want the cheapest DCL rates for Alaska? Move to Canada. No, seriously, look at those mouth watering 25% Canadian discounts in the middle of July!

DCL is actually a very good choice for cruising Alaska with kids. Our group of 20 - including several kids - visited in August last year. You see, the kids would look at the mountains and glaciers only so many times before it all would become a wallpaper to them. DCL did a great job of entertaining the kids while the adults dug in. It allowed us to do an adults-only excursion to go all the way to Whitehorse in Yukon.

We stay away from Princess and HAL - both of which have previously used Alaskan waters as their dumping grounds. Try NCL if you want to visit Glacier Bay.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

We sailed with DCL to Alaska this year. We booked on opening day with a TA using the onboard booking discount. We sailed the first sailing of the season in a secret verandah and an inside across the hall. *GT rates were released before PIF and we could have saved money that way, but we didn’t want to give up our rooms. We booked excursions outside of DCL. It was a wonderful sailing-easily our favorite to date. Yes, the ports matter, but there were only three port days, so the ship absolutely mattered, too. I took my then second grader out of school for the trip and have no regrets.