cruisemates newsletter
Commentary by Editor Paul Motter
Alaska cruise bargains are here already!
It must be all the focus on Europe this year, but we are seeing some of the steepest, and early in the season bargains for Alaska cruises that we can remember.
CruiseMates does not sell cruises, but our sponsors do. Our "Best of the Web" bargains newsletter, which we sent out yesterday, included a 7-night Alaska cruise on the new and beautiful Sapphire Princess starting at $435 per person. Celebrity Mercury, sailing roundtrip Vancouver with air discounts available is offered for $499. Holland America's Statendam and Ryndam sailing between Vancouver and Seward is selling for $449. And the best offer we saw, if it isn't sold out already, is just $399 for the Island Princess with up to $70 in additional savings. Cruise quotes always include port fees, but not taxes.
What is an Alaska cruise like? In its simplest form you sail roundtrip from Vancouver or Seattle, up the Inside Passage where the land on each side of the ship is almost close enough to touch. You might see eagles, moose or bear. Your ports include; Ketchikan, an authentic Klondike gold rush town of the 19th century where live salmon jump upstream in the river; Juneau, just minutes from Mendenhall Glacier, a massive block of beautiful crystaline blue ice; and Sitka, with remnants of its historic Russian heritage and a bay teeming with whales and other sealife.
Every ship spends a day near a calving glacier. Whether it is in Glacier Bay (limited to a select number of ships), Hubbard Glacier, or Tracy Arm, you will watch sheet walls of solid ice hundreds of feet tall peel away from the glacier and crash into the sea. It is a sight you will never forget.
Other Alaska cruise options include one-way trips that take you much farther north. You might disambark in Seward or Whittier and from there you can opt to fly home, or take a four to ten-day landtour by bus or rail to Denali National Park and various other attractions including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Lake Bennett and others. From there you can fly home, or cruise back.
For more information, see our CruiseMates Alaska Articles.
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7-night Alaska $499
Oceanview from $549 and roundtrip air discounts from select gateways!
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