For the summer of 2019, we had originally decided on a 10-night Mediterranean cruise on the Disney Magic. As we got into the Summer of 2018, we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t make the cruise work with our schedule and our budget. We already had a few cruises in the books that we had to pay for as well as a lot going on that would make it hard to plan a Europe trip. Canceling that cruise was a huge burden lifted off our shoulders.
Since we weren’t going to Europe, we still needed something to do for the summer. We decided to redo one of our favorite vacations, a cruise to Alaska. In August of 2013, we took the Disney Wonder to Alaska. We wanted to go again, but do it much cheaper this time and with a verandah. We narrowed it down to either Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) Bliss or Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. We sent an email to Michelle McKnight (the world’s best travel agent) to get her opinion. She sent back a lengthy explanation of why we might like the Ovation over the Bliss. She definitely hit all the high points for us, so we went with the Ovation.
Flights
Once the flight booking window opened, I checked through the various airline programs that we had points in to see what was available. We had lots of flexibility for dates at the beginning of the trip, but very little on the return. The cruise left and returned on a Friday. We had the entire week before the cruise to get to Seattle, but only Friday afternoon, Saturday or Sunday to return. The girls started school on Monday, so we had to be home before then.
I had saved up a number of miles using the Bank of America Alaska Airlines credit card. I wanted to use the miles I had accumulated, but there was no availability for the weekend that we needed to return. My main purpose in getting that credit card was for a trip to Seattle or perhaps Hawaii. There isn’t much opportunity to fly Alaska Airlines on the east coast. Not being able to use those points was a big disappointment and a waste of the annual fee I had paid for two years.
We eventually decided to book our flights on United using the Mileage Plus miles we have accumulated through work travel and signup bonuses from the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer card. We love holding this card because of the priority boarding we receive as well as the extra Saver Level availability (the cheapest type of reward ticket). We also receive free bags for up to two people on each reservation, which saves us the cost of the annual fee of the credit card.
United had flights at the Saver level (round trip flights for 25,000 miles per person) available for the Wednesday before the cruise. There were a number of different options available, but we found the perfect one. We selected a flight that gave us a long seven hour layover in San Francisco. We felt seven hours would give us plenty of time to leave the airport and explore a portion of the city. This would get us into Seattle late at night on Wednesday. We would have all day Thursday to sightsee before getting on the ship on Friday morning.
The flights back weren’t as simple. I found availability for two on a connecting flight back on the Saturday after the cruise. The flight left Seattle around 10:20 am and landed in Dulles at 10:20 pm after a three hour layover in Chicago. I decided to book Nancy and one of the girls on that flight while I searched for two more tickets for myself and our other daughter.
After looking around a bit, I found a flight that left Seattle on the same day at 11:20 am and landed in Dulles at 10:30 pm, after a two hour connection in Denver. This would get everyone to the airport in Seattle at the same time as well as head home from Dulles at about the same time. I ended up booking this flight through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal (so we could use Chase Ultimate Reward points to pay for the flights).
Lodging
We needed hotels for two nights before our cruise and one night after the cruise before we flew home. We had one free night from our Chase Hyatt credit card along with a pile of Hyatt points still sitting in our account. We found the Hyatt Place Seattle/Downtown, a few blocks from the Space Needle, which costs 12,000 points per night (it has since gone up to 15,000 per night). We had 26,000 sitting in our account, so it was within our points budget. We booked a room with two queen beds (and a sofa bed) for the two nights.
For the night after the cruise, we decided to use the free night from our Chase Hyatt credit card to book one room at the Hyatt at Olive 8. The hotel was located further away from the Space Needle, but I didn’t think we would be doing a ton of sightseeing once we got off the cruise. We booked a room with two queen beds.
Packages/Excursions
Royal Caribbean has a different package/excursion booking system than Disney Cruise Line. Instead of allowing cruisers to book based upon status in their loyalty program, they open the packages up at a random point in time. I don’t recall the exact date, but after logging into the Royal Caribbean website at some point, I saw that we could book various excursions.
Our first selection was to book the soda package for everyone. We are used to getting sodas included with our cruise fare on Disney Cruise Line, so I figured we should sign up for a similar experience on Royal Caribbean. The price of the package was around $9 per person per day. We also got the four night specialty dining package. I selected this package because there were a number of specialty dining establishments on board and we wanted to be able to try them all. The cost was $135 per person.
For excursions, we booked complimentary sessions of the RipCord by iFly (skydiving simulator) and the North Star (elevated gondola). We booked the White Pass & Yukon railroad excursion in Skagway and the premium North Star session during Endicott Arm day. While in Juneau, we planned to visit Mendenhall Glacier and walk around on our own.
Now we just had to wait for the cruise to arrive!
Planning | Travel | Seattle | Boarding | Exploring | Sea | Juneau | Skagway | Glacier | Sea | Victoria | Disembarkation | Travel
If you have enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out our Disney Cruise Line information page or our Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Information page, which has useful hints in addition to our cruise trip reports!
