Alaska 2016-transportation questions

[mom2of2]

We are booking a June sailing for next year and I was considering buying airfare through DCL. They are charging a little over $1400 for 2 RT from MCO. This gets us into Vancouver on the same day that we sail.

I'm pretty sure that I can get flights cheaper then that but can't get pricing yet because we are too far out.

So I have some questions:
Should I just suck it up and pay it now?
Should I make my own flights and if so do you think it would be much of a savings if I:
fly into Seattle...drive/train it in same day
fly into Vancouver day before/get a room

or any other combination that you can come up with

TIA

 

[Annabell]

I will always book my air tickets myself as I find it cheaper than booking with Disney.
I think it will be cheaper to fly into Seattle than Vancouver so if you don't mind driving or train than that may be an option to save some
money.

Also, don't fly on the same day the ship sails. Always fly at least one day prior to sailing date.

 

[mom2of2]

I get what you are saying however, how much of a savings am I looking at if I book it myself, hotel and trans from airport?
The Pan Pacific looks amazing but it's over $300 a night

 

[havoc315]

Round trip flights from the East coast to Vancouver are never going to be cheap, unless possibly if you want to fly at 3 am, or have 8 hour layovers. If you are willing to do things like that, I've seen airfares for $500-$600 each. But for reasonable times, I think it's going to be hard to do much better than $700 per person.

Seattle would be cheaper... But ask yourself how much cheaper, especially once you factor in car rental or train. And then decide how much your time is worth and convenience is worth. Four our family of 4, Seattle may have been $400-800 cheaper for the whole family, but that wasn't worth the inconvenience to us.

 

[MelSpees]

Round trip flights from the East coast to Vancouver are never going to be cheap, unless possibly if you want to fly at 3 am, or have 8 hour layovers. If you are willing to do things like that, I've seen airfares for $500-$600 each. But for reasonable times, I think it's going to be hard to do much better than $700 per person.

Seattle would be cheaper... But ask yourself how much cheaper, especially once you factor in car rental or train. And then decide how much your time is worth and convenience is worth. Four our family of 4, Seattle may have been $400-800 cheaper for the whole family, but that wasn't worth the inconvenience to us.

I guess it's relative. $400-800 is a lot to us.

 

[tidefan]

Have you looked into flying into Bellingham (BLI)? Alaska Airlines and Allegiant fly into and out of there and prices are very reasonable...

 

[bcwife76]

I just did a quick search - since you didn't give us much info other than 2 people travelling I just assumed it was 2 adults. So I picked a random week in June of this year (since like you said the flights aren't out for next year yet) - flights started at about $600pp round trip, that was with 1 stop. Non-stop started closer to $750.
This was MCO-YVR. I also looked at flights into Bellingham WA and it was WAY more expensive than flying into Vancouver; flights started at $850pp (not non stop) so would not choose that option for sure. Flights into Seattle from MCO started at $595 (not non stop) so you definitely have options. I would book it yourself instead of going through Disney.

 

[bcwife76]

Have you looked into flying into Bellingham (BLI)? Alaska Airlines and Allegiant fly into and out of there and prices are very reasonable...

I did a quick search and it was far more expensive to fly into Bellingham than Seattle or Vancouver.

 

[MillauFr]

I guess it's relative. $400-800 is a lot to us.

True, but aren't the Alaska cruises going for $25k for a family of 4 next year?

 

[MillauFr]

Flying non-stop into Seattle and then driving 3 hours to Vancouver might actually be just as fast as a taking a connecting flight into Vancouver. I always like non-stop flights as they reduce your chances of getting stranded somewhere when the connecting airport is shutdown due to weather. Also Delta is starting non-stop MCO-SEA flights so Alaska won't have a monopoly any longer. Prices should come down.

 

[havoc315]

I guess it's relative. $400-800 is a lot to us.

It is definitely relative, depends what you value the most. Is it more important that I get a balcony, or is cutting 8 hours of travel time with misbehaving children more valuable. What's the value of getting off the ship, straight to the airport, and getting home by a reasonable hour... Instead of driving for hours, and then getting home at 4 am when I need to be at work 5 hours later...

For me, super annoying travel really detracts from the vacation. So I'm willing to pay a bit more for convenience of travel. If I really didn't want to spend money on vacation, I'd sit in my house. If I'm spending $10,000 on a cruise vacation, I'll personally spend an extra $400 if it dramatically changes the travel convenience. Or I'll find other places to make the cuts. Of course, some people don't mind the additional travel inconvenience. So it's all how you personally price your time and convenience.

 

[tidefan]

I did a quick search and it was far more expensive to fly into Bellingham than Seattle or Vancouver.

We are flying from Bellingham to Honolulu for $149 in a couple of weeks…

It was much cheaper than going out of YVR or SEA. I think that it will depend if Alaska Airlines flies to your city or not...

 

[xlxo]

We are booking a June sailing for next year and I was considering buying airfare through DCL. They are charging a little over $1400 for 2 RT from MCO. This gets us into Vancouver on the same day that we sail.

I'm pretty sure that I can get flights cheaper then that but can't get pricing yet because we are too far out.

So I have some questions:
Should I just suck it up and pay it now?
Should I make my own flights and if so do you think it would be much of a savings if I:
fly into Seattle...drive/train it in same day
fly into Vancouver day before/get a room

or any other combination that you can come up with

Some thoughts...

• Seattle is $50 per person on Quick Shuttle. There's 5 to 6 daily trips from airport to downtown/Vancouver cruise terminal. Train means additional travel time/costs to get to and from the train station.
• Choose Alamo/National for a rental. They have drop off inside the Vancouver cruise terminal to save time.
• Budget 3 to 5 hours extra travel time to get from Vancouver to Seattle. Weekend travel across the border can be a few hours waiting on the road with NO washrooms in your car rental.
• Instead of a cruise terminal hotel (ie Pan Pacific), there are significant savings at airport hotels. Perhaps enough to fly into Vancouver.
• consider flying Tuesdays/Wednesdays when prices are lower.
• what about flying into Vancouver, but departing from Seattle? Best of both worlds.
• there's lots to do in Vancouver for a multi-day stay!
  

 

[dotfurio]

Cabs from YVR to downtown are around $30-35. You don't have to stay at the Pan Pacific. We stayed at the Residence Inn downtown and got a cab to the port for a few dollars. We chose a cheaper hotel because we arrived a few days before and stayed a few days after to sightsee. That's also the reason we booked our airfare and travel insurance separate from DCL. IDK if we saved any money that way, though, just wanted the option to extend our stay the way we wanted.

Just checked 2016 rates for fun It's only about $1200 more than we paid last year. I knew rates had increased but I expected it to be higher, $1200 doesn't seem too bad.

 

[tnshsms]

True, but aren't the Alaska cruises going for $25k for a family of 4 next year?

Holy cow.....our family of 3 was $5900....for a verandah...we wouldnt be able to do a $25k cruise!!

 

[bcwife76]

We are flying from Bellingham to Honolulu for $149 in a couple of weeks…

It was much cheaper than going out of YVR or SEA. I think that it will depend if Alaska Airlines flies to your city or not...

Yes looking on the Alaska Air website their prices are much better than what was quoted on priceline! And WAY better than what the OP is being quoted from Disney! less than $400/pp to fly into Seattle or Bellingham - take it and run lol Well, with any luck those prices will around for the OP for June 2016.

 

[MelSpees]

True, but aren't the Alaska cruises going for $25k for a family of 4 next year?

I guess if you go concierge, but we wouldn't pay that much either.
I do understand convenience can be worth a lot at times. I'm just not sure it's worth that much to us. If it's worth it to someone else and they can afford it, that's great.

 

[mom2of2]

thanks for all the ideas!

 

[MouseMomx2]

We have done this cruise twice now (well, the second one is in a couple weeks) and we chose to fly into Seattle both times. I got round trip airfare from the East Coast on JetBlue for $350 per person and then reserved a rental car. The drive up to Vancouver is very easy and only takes about 3 hours. You could probaby all fly for close to that $1400 if you do it this way, plus you can fly in early. Same day flights are not good for my stress levels.

As for the Pan Pacific, look for codes or cheaper rates. We were able to book it for our upcoming cruise for $195 per room + tax. The earlier you book the better your chances for deals.

 

[noahdove]

We will fly out of Rochester, NY to Toronto and onto Vancouver.
Our tickets were $584pp if I remember correctly. Non stop both coming and
going. We are flying in the day before the cruise as I didn't want to
have problems by going to Seattle.. Good luck with whatever you decide.