Cruising Game Plan

This is our first cruise together for Tom and me. We each had done one prior in our pre-marriage life. We both had wanted to cruise Alaska. But this wasn’t exactly the one we would have chosen on our own terms.

We booked a family vacation to Los Cabos for my side of the family, yes, our annual vacation with all the siblings, spouses, and the kiddies; all 14 of us. But due to the swing flu scare, we canceled and subbed it for Alaska instead. The kiddies are very young and my mom is old, no one wanted to be responsible if anything happens, regardless of how small the chance might be. If it were only Tom and me, then we would certainly have taken the chance.

Brenda’s family already pre-booked an Alaska cruise with NCL for two weeks later after the Los Cabos trip. Since Tom and Sandy just started their jobs recently, they couldn’t alter their vacation block easily. So we are stuck with the original week we booked for Cabos.

After a bit of negotiations and conferencing with all the siblings, everyone agreed to change to Alaska cruise and covered the change cost for the Chow’s. With all the restrictions, we were limited with price shopping for best fares. And did I not mention? This is a FAMILY vacation. Yes, a bunch of kids plus 2000+ people on the big boat.

I set my expectations to this being a scouting trip, a preview of what Alaska has to offer, and to decide if we would return and in what fashion we would return. Before sharing more details, I have to say Alaska is well worth any trip, family, intimate, adventure, etc.

I traveled A LOT, both personal and business. You have to understand, I am not used to paying lots of cash for my personal travel, as I can normally find ways to reduce the overall personal out of pocket cash. I think that is why I am a bit addicted to business travel as you get hotel points, airline miles, used to get lots of Amex points with my corporate card (in my previous job, no more now), etc. It was a bit tough to digest that we would have to pay for the cruise at non-best rate.

Research does pay off. After a bit of work and lots of phone calls, I was able to cash in my Amex points to cover the basic cost of the cruise for Tom and me. Yes, there is still a tab for the onboard stuffs (which I will share later, more ridiculous). I used miles to cover our flights up to Seattle, and hotel points to cover the W Seattle lodging. Even with all that, they will get you one way or another. Alaskan Air charged us baggage fees as they no longer reciprocate with the Continental Elite program. And since we arrived late on Friday night, we were too lazy to leave the hotel for a late supper. Our room service (for a burger, a salad, and a soup) came to $75, 1/3 of that tab is in the service charge… our own fault. NO more room service, at least not at the W. That is just ridiculous!!!