How To Plan An Alaska Cruise?

As of 2022 I had done 2 cruises. One with Disney Cruise Line and the other one with Royal Caribbean, both to the Bahamas and their signature private islands, and both lasted 3 nights. I enjoyed both the experiences a lot, and wanted to repeat the cruise but to a different place.

At that point I was a fan of Royal Caribbean Blog, which provides a lot of good info if you want to plan your cruise the right way, and they showed multiple times the cruises to Alaska. Both my mom and I had the dream to go to see this beautiful and isolated land. And this is how all this trip came to fruition, and I am going to explain it like I did with my Round The World Trip 2023:

May – June 2022: Conceptualization

I had a whole year before Summer 2023, and even though it looked far away, a trip like this requires a lot of planning. I started doing my research on Cruise Lines, Best Ports of Call and Ports of Departures, Best Excursions, Best everything. It felt overwhelming, but I do enjoy doing some investigation by watching YouTube or reading some blogs online.

I kind of knew I wanted a bigger cruise. Before, I had sailed in Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, and it had a lot to offer for a 3 night cruise. But this time, the cruise would have to be 7 nights since it’s the minimum offered to Alaska. Meaning, 7 nights of entertainment and things to do, having a few days at sea, and a bunch of time spent on the cruise. This is why I needed a bigger cruise, so I would not run out of things to do.

June 2022: When? Where?

A bigger cruise meant only 2 options: Quantum of the Seas or Ovation of the Seas. Both from Royal Caribbean. Not only the size attracted me, but also the Crown and Anchor Member Benefits that I would be getting, and for sure, the more moderate prices compared to Disney Cruise Line.

I started playing around on a Excel Spreadsheet with possible dates, prices, ports of departure, ports of call and cruises. I noticed that in late May the cruises were cheaper probably because it was the beginning of the season, and it would be still a bit cold. Also, May 29, 2023, was going to be Memorial Day, so one day less without asking for PTO. The choices narrowed to one Quantum of the Seas cruise and one Ovation of the Seas cruise. At the end, I picked Ovation of the Seas because it departed from Seattle. Meaning an American city, and that would make the trip a bit easier. The flights to Seattle and Vancouver, Canada, (the other option) were just kind of similar in price, but from New York City there were many options for Direct Flights.

I finally picked the cruise: 7 Night Alaska Glacier Cruise on Ovation of the Seas departing from Seattle, Washington on May 26, 2023.

This was the itinerary of this cruise:

DAY	PORT
1	Seattle, Washington: Departs at 4:00 PM
2	Cruising: Day at sea
3	Alaska Inside Passage, Alaska: Sightseeing
3	Juneau, Alaska: From 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
4	Skagway, Alaska: From 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
5	Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier, Alaska: Sightseeing from 7:00 AM – 12:00 PM
6	Cruising: Day at sea
7	Victoria, British Columbia: From 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM
8	Seattle, Washington: Arrives at 6:00 AM

The ports of call were interesting per the research I had done, and the only one missing was Ketchikan, but I was going to be ok. Also, it visited Victoria, which I had not been to.

July 2022: Buying Cruise, Airplane Tickets and Hotels

Not too many days after choosing the cruise, and thinking well about it, I decided to put a payment down. With Royal Caribbean you only have to pay a deposit, and then pay the full price a few months before the actual cruise. A few days later, I used my old friend Google Flights to pick the Roundtrip flight to Seattle, with the filters: Non Stop and Economy. It seemed that it was cheaper to buy separate flights, on the way there on Delta Airlines and on the way back Alaska Airlines. Also, I bought the Checked Luggage just because I knew that 7 days plus a couple of more nights would demand a bigger suitcase. This would mark the first time in years of travelling that I actually packed a checked suitcase lol.

Since I was flying in the day before and leaving Seattle the day after of the cruise, I had to book a couple of hotels. It makes me scared to travel on the same day of the Embarkation Day, and also I wanted to spend an additional night in Seattle after the cruise. For the first night I picked MarQueen Hotel since it looked closer to the cruise port. And for the last night we booked Hyatt Place Downtown Seattle just because it looked closer to all the fun, meaning the Space Needle and surroundings.

Everytime a new task would unlock, I would create a task on my Google Calendar, just to be safe about it.

November 2022: Time to Start Planning

A few months passed without any movement on my part, mostly because the excursions were still not available to be bought. The only thing I did in between was to continue my research watching the most updated videos of the 2022 season and see what I liked. In November 2022 I started to do a deeper research on each city I was going to visit on this trip, bookmarking the places to visit on my Google Maps, and also deciding what tours to do. The first excursion I bought was the Skagway’s The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway, which apparently would go fast. I would still have some time to think about the ones in Juneau, and maybe Seattle. Definitely I wanted to buy the entrance to Chihuly Garden and Glass and the Space Needle.

February 2023: Cruise Payment Due

Yes, the only thing I did this month was to confirm that I was actually going on this cruise, and pay the remaining of the trip. Now that it was a reality, I better started preparing for this cruise.

But for real, I also created a OneDrive folder to put all the documents for this trip in there in case I needed to access them quickly for my cellphone, and I joined a Facebook group of this cruise, which resulted very very helpful with ideas, advice, etc. Even during and after the cruise, the group was a blessing. If you want to join one, just search for the name of the cruise and the day of departure and you will likely find it.

April 2023: Check In and More Prep

Less than 2 months before the trip, I finally downloaded the Royal Caribbean App once again, which is needed for the check in as far as I know, since a pic is required. And talking about pics, if you are not in the same room with the other people traveling with you during check in, then try to get recent pictures of them, which you then can take pics of with your phone camera. The app does not allow (at least then) to upload pictures from your camera roll. Other things you need before the check in are the passports and visas. Make sure you have all in hand before the BIG DAY. Check In Day came fast and I did it as soon as possible to be able to pick the earliest possible time. I managed to grab a 10:30 AM check in time, YAY!

With check in, entertainment booking became available and we got ourselves some for Spectra’s Cabaret. Apparently the rest of the shows were walk in only.

The last thing I did before the embarkation month, was to make sure that we had the proper clothing for this trip. And it rains so much in Alaska that I forced myself to buy us some waterproof jackets on Amazon, and remember to pack some umbrellas.

May 2023: Last Minute Preparations

May was finally here, and even though I was flying at the very end on the 25, I still did some preparation. I listed all the places in the cruise and things I wanted to do within the cruise on Keep, my favorite Notes app from Google. I also checked last minute for massages on the cruise and there were still some available on the Days at Sea, so I booked them. They were a bit expensive but it was also a way of relaxing and pass time during those days. I also was tempted to book a dinner at Chops Grill, one of the restaurants on board, not included with the cruise.

Closer to the embarkation day, I printed the tags provided by Royal Caribbean, and put away a tiny stapler I would bring to attach the tags right before the cruise. I also printed the Sail Pass just in case I would need in physical.

There was only one clone cruise before ours, so the availability of info of what to expect on this cruise was limited, with no cruise compass or anything to see what to expect. But the Facebook group was a bit helpful, and thanks to them we knew was days were Formal Days. With this info we started packing a few days before, making sure we had clothes for all the days and all types of weathers we were going to encounter. We also needed clothes for the gym and to sleep.

May 24 we did Web Check In of the inbound flight and we were ready to go.

May 25, 2023: Alaska Cruise Trip Starts!

And you can readu each chapter of this adventure now:

• I Traveled From New York City To Seattle For An Alaska Cruise
• Day 1: How To Board Your Alaska Cruise
• Day 2: I Spent A Great Day At Sea During My Alaska Cruise
• Day 3: Whale Watching And Mendenhall Glacier In Juneau, Alaska
• Day 4: I Spent A Day On The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway
• Day 4: I Spent A Day In Skagway, Alaska
• Day 5: I Spent A Day Seeing The Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier
• Day 6: I Spent A Day At Sea During My Alaska Cruise
• Day 7: I Spent A Day In Victoria, Canada, During My Ovation of The Seas Alaska Cruise
• Day 8: How To Disembark From Your Alaska Cruise, And What To Do After?
• I Spent A Day Returning To New York After My Alaska Cruise

If you have any questions about my trip, please write them below in the comments.