jce2

And now the impatient waiting begins......only checked 8 times so far (today......)

Anxious?? Are you kidding me? I am going nuts! Last night the system went down for maintenance and I stayed awake waiting for it to come back up (1:00 AM eastern) just in case they posted 2020 early. When it finally came back, my heart was racing as if I was trying to grab tickets to a super-group concert! This will be my biggest vacation ever (#1 on my bucket list) and the wait is driving me nuts! Really hoping the last whole week in June is a south-bound Alaska on Radiance as my daughter-in-law says NO to any travel in July but I want to travel as late as possible in June. Will be happy with any balcony room but have one specific one in mind......so yes, I am ANXIOUS!!! Will be up past midnight tonight (just in case) and up early tomorrow (and every day until it releases)!

Last year prices dropped from $48 (I think) down to $42. With the increase to $50 this year i am hoping for a drop to at least $46. (These were LoS prices)

lol......I am going to lose a lot of sleep next week! (But it will be worth it)

Okay, a few long-shot questions (as in i doubt ayone can truly answer). They are saying "Week of November 5th" for Alaska 2020 release.....Form past experince should we expect the release will truly be on the 5th...or later in the week? What time of day do they normally release? Finally, I have been able to track the Radience cruises all the way to their sailing back to Hawaii in April of 2020 but alas they arrive on a day of the week that is different from this year. so from there it is impossible for me to extrapolate when the north vs south bound Alaska trips will occur. I know booking wont open until next week but any chance we might know the dates earlier?

That's my plan! Only wish I knew precisely when next week the sale will start. Needless to say i will be checking the site constantly. Worth it for the trip of a lifetime

Right now the plan is to grab an aft for me and my wife and a portal for my son and his wife....but depending on price diff i might as a surprise upgrade his to the aft next to us. No matter what, I WILL be in Alaska in 2020!

Exactly! Just did a spot check on an August 2019 cruise and it is about $600 (per room, not per person) more expensive

It doesn't on non-Alaskan cruises where you are essentially sailing aloop and most of the time nowhere near the coast. But for Alaska they do have borth-bound cruises (Vancouver to Seward) and southbound cruises (Seward to Vancouver) and it most definitely DOES effect the room price!

While you can see land on both sides only one side is actually facing the coastline (of the continent). southbound it is the port (left) side and northbound it is the starboard (right) side. Anytime I have checked the RC sire, the side facing "east" is always considerably marked-up from the other side. I can't compare against aft as there are no aft cabins available currently in 2019

Surely some TA out here must know the answer....I know that the balconies on the "coast side" of the ship have a considerable mark-up compared to the other side but what about the aft balconies? Same mark-up? even higher? Just trying to get all my ducks lined up before Monday......

Told my wife, when we do our Alaskan cruise i absolutely MUST walk into the Alaska Beer Company (Juneau) and order an Alaskan Smoked Porter. I consider myself a bit of a beer connoisseur and despite drinking many of Germany and Great Britain's finest, consider the Alaskan Smoked Porter to be exceptional. Really hoping to try it on tap while in Alaska.

I might switch my rez to a TA once I get the initial booking done.

Good point! I know the bars swipe so the sleeve definitely wont work there

Working in a secure buiilding with lots of scanners it would sem to me the answer is "I dont know!".....it really depends on the strength of the individual scanning device, reflections of light off the sleeve, scratches, stains etc.

The Alaska Southbound 7 day cruise but add more days and Kodiak and bering sea above arctic circle

I know on Alaskan cruises you pay extra to get a balcony on the "coastline" side. What about the aft cabins? Are they prcied in-line with the coastline side? Or even more expensive? what about the aft balcony on the corner (with the longer balcony)?

Very interested as we are definitely Alaska bound in 2020. Prefer RCL and am anxious to see how they compare. Was surprised to see NCL does NOT add a charge for "coastline" side of the ship. Also much smaller deposit but that wouldnt be a real decding point for me. Lookinga tht e ship i still gve RCL and Radience the edge...just need to see pricing and room choices EDIT---just compared NCL 2020 vs RCL 2019 (best I could do) and RCL a few hundred cheaper (wihtout the NCL "bonus" items) so dont see any reaosn to jump ship...yet. Anxiously awaiting RCL release but dont expect it until December.

Quick question; Do you youtube under the handle "Richard's World"? My wife and I were watching a youtube filmed on Caye Caulker (Belize) and it sure sounded like you, had the same high quality of video as you, and the same great "just enough" narration of you

Hi Twangster, First thanks for doing all this! Alaska is #1 on my bucket list and it looks like I might finally get there in 2020. I have two quick questions. First, your photography is outstanding and i simply couldnt get over how clear and rich the colors are in your pictures. I never get that kind of results with my camera, and I am sure it is due to a good quality camera in the hands of an amateur (me). For your typical scenic photos are you using any kind of filters on your lens , or post-processing of any kind? I have a Nikon but no filters at this time. Second, on the Mildenhall hikes you take a hike that eventually leads to a "beach" area near the falls. You state it is the "blue line" on the map you provided. alas, I am terrible with colors. I see three trials on the map, two of which are described on the map. One is light blue (to my eyes) and is described as "East Glacier", but a second one is a darker blue(?) and is not described on the map. Which one did you take (I suspect its actually the darker one...)

I could have sworn that at one time i saw an official RC graphic showing future release dates including Alaska 2020 as being December 2018 but now I simply cant find it

Have been virtually cruiing by watching all you periscopes for this trip. Awesome job, and realy gettign me pysched up for my 2020 cruise (waitng impatiently for RC to open up the dates...)

Sounds like we are kindred spirits. I too have a rather thorough spreadsheet including every financial, reservations, flight times, excursions..even how many total ships in each port and historical weather patterns! I am a bit of an info hound

Yea, I am waitng for April 28-May 5 for my Liberty cruise. They just this week released thru April 7th and announced they will release thru June 7th on September 27th. However, i should point out that this latest release was originally scheduled for August 16th and then was slipped to the 30th, so it is possible that the next date might slip a week or two as well but i doubt it

I have two rooms linked and that allows me to look at either reservation in the planner, it also allows me to "include guests" in things like dinner reservations across these two reservations...but it does NOT display a single calendar showing both reservations excursions etc.