Alaska Cruise Tours Luxury Charters Alaska Cruise Discount

You will probably continue to find some alaska cruise discounts to Alaska next year, but price is no't everything. Two recent reader questions illustrate some points you should consider before deciding which Alaska travel cruises to take. Despite increasing appeals to younger travelers, Alaska cruise tours market still leans to the senior demographic. There is not much you can do about that. A cheap alaska cruise operates small ship cruises to Alaska, the sort of program you seem to prefer. The big problem with boat and yacht charters is that its rates are several times what you would pay on a mass market line. In the small ship's current cruise only program, for example, rates start at almost $500 per person per day, and even after available discounts, that's well above a probable starting point of $800 or less per week on a mass market cruise line. You're certainly right about today's alaska glacier cruises experience, but only to a point. Yes, such ports as Ketchikan and Skagway do adopt a theme park atmosphere. But even if you opt for a big line cruise, you don't have to buy into that theme. To me, the port stuff has never been the big attraction on an Alaska cruise. Instead, the scenery is what matters in the Inland Passage itinerary. Except for part of one day, you remain in narrow channels with forested hills on both sides or in Glacier Bay. Although the question was about alaska yacht charter, I find the same problem with most ports of call in the Caribbean and Mexico. If your primary requirement is really interesting ports, your best bets are the Mediterranean, Aegean, or Southeast Asia. Overall, the luxury charters experience seems very enticing. But the price can be off-putting, to say the least. My solution would be to get a good oceanview cabin on a big ship, ignore the onboard entertainment and local hoopla, and just enjoy the scenery, for a fraction of the small ship price. But I can also see the value to the private yacht charter.