I'm Cheap

I can't believe how many people don't understand what cruise travel is all about. They think of it as some kind of confining, hoity-toity rich people vacation.

One of the most common responses we get from people about our cruises to Alaska is they'd, “much rather travel to Alaska on our own.”

Really?

We just did a ten day Alaskan cruise for $2534 dollars American. That's for two people. Let's compare that to a drive from Vancouver to Prince Rupert (with 2 nights in a hotel on the way), followed by a ferry trip to Ketchikan, a night there, a ferry trip to Juneau, a night there, and a ferry trip to Skagway and a night there.

From Skagway, I made two versions of the trip. Trip A goes back the same way it comes, while Trip B drives back with 4 nights on the way.

Both end up taking 9 days in total.

In both cases I allowed $100 a day for the two hypothetcial tourists to eat, drink, and pump gas into their car. Trip B is the cheaper at about $2900, while Trip A's cost is $3600.

Both are considerably more money than we spent on our cruise. Likely it would be much more than my hypotheticals allow, as nobody would do all that travel to get to places like Ketchikan and only stay one night in each. It would seem that our richy-rich trip is actually cheaper than one done on a shoestring budget. Must be that only poor people are being forced by cost to limit themselves to cruising.

Even at that, I left a lot of stuff out of my hypothetical trips to keep the cost down. On our cruise we saw all those places, as well as Sitka and Hoonah. They both have very limited schedules of ferry service. Hoonah only gets two boats a week. We also got to see all the places that we visited without doing multi-day mega drives. Every minute on the boat is wonderful.

But isn't being on a ship confining? In both hypothetical trips, day after day is spent crammed into cars, or onto small Alaskan ferries. I'd much rather be trapped on our 91,000 ton ship than on a 1,492 ton ferry, or a one ton car. I suspect that the Alaskan ferries don't have swimming pools at all, let alone the two we had (one indoor and one outdoor) or the gym, or the plethora of places to eat, to the bars, or the walking decks, or the shops, or the two-deck theatre.

Come with me on a typical ship day. That's one where the vessel doesn't visit any ports at all. There must be nothing to do.

I awaken early; dunno why, but I do. So that Helen can sleep on, I quietly get dressed and head up to deck ten. There I would meet with my friend, and we'd chit chat while drinking coffee. About 7am, we would head back down. Our entire party meets up at 8am and heads off for breakfast in the dining room. That is a leisurly affair that might drag on a bit as we enjoy our surroundings and companionship.

The next step is usually several people heading off to activities put on by the cruise line; painting lessons, kitchen tours and things of that ilk. I would normally hit the gym for about a bit. Bernie often goes to read in a comfy chair, next to a massive window, of which there are plenty.

Being traditionalists, we do lunch at noon, either in the dining room or in the kick-ass buffet.

The pool always gets a visit sometime later. I also like to take naps, and I often get too busy when at home. Around 4pm or 4:30 we meet up at the pre-designated cabin for happy hour. There we share a glass of wine or two. Did you know that most cruise lines allow 2 bottles aboard per cabin when passengers first embark? That becomes our stash. Of course, more can be purchased on board but at painful prices.

On this last trip, our dinner time was always 5:30. This was always a multi-course affair, but if that's not to somebody's liking, the buffet is always waiting. We would finish around 7-7:30. Most nights we'd all do to the show in the magnificent, two-story theatre. Afterwards some would visit the cassino, or go dancing or to a movie. We are not go-out-drinking folks, but there are dozens of venues for people that want to go for a snort or two.

And everything, everywhere, is always scrupulously clean and first rate.

Oh, yes. I almost forgot. The ship takes also you places.

That's a bonus.