Southwest Rapid Rewards - RR points & Alaskan Cruise?

I would like to use RR points to get to an Alaskan cruise for 5 people in July. The problem is that the cruise price is almost double in order to book RT Seattle. However, SW doesn't fly to Canada/Alaska to get the lower cruise price. The ideal cruise itinerary would be Vancouver -> Anchorage (or Seward), or vice versa.

Am I out of luck and stuck with Seattle, or can anyone suggest a budget friendly workaround, or partner possibilities?

I would like to use RR points to get to an Alaskan cruise for 5 people in July. The problem is that the cruise price is almost double in order to book RT Seattle. However, SW doesn't fly to Canada/Alaska to get the lower cruise price. The ideal cruise itinerary would be Vancouver -> Anchorage (or Seward), or vice versa.

Am I out of luck and stuck with Seattle, or can anyone suggest a budget friendly workaround, or partner possibilities?

Fly to SEA and take Amtrak to Vancouver. We did that a few years ago when it was $200 RT to SEA and $700 RT to Vancouver. Worked great.

I think you can rent a car as well and drop one-way not terribly expensively.

I just ran an Orbitz grid on a random day for a full size Seattle to Vancouver BC airport 1 day rental with drop off about $200 or less.

Amtrak or ferry SEA to Victoria (Vancouver Island) then BC ferry back to Vancouver (City), and spend an extra day or two on your trip I haven't ridden these ferries in a decade, but when I lived in SEA, I took them every chance I got. Victoria is a charming city to visit and the BC ferry Vancouver Island to Tsawassen (near Vancouver) is a gorgeous ride. BC ferries far superior to the Washington State ferries.

If you are looking for low cost and can work out the connections, BoltBus (https://www.boltbus.com/) can get five of you from Seattle to Vancoucer for a total of $26 or so. For background info see this NYT frugal traveler article (http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/a-guide-to-cheap-buses-including-how-to-score-1-tickets/).

Amtrak or ferry SEA to Victoria (Vancouver Island) then BC ferry back to Vancouver (City), and spend an extra day or two on your trip I haven't ridden these ferries in a decade, but when I lived in SEA, I took them every chance I got. Victoria is a charming city to visit and the BC ferry Vancouver Island to Tsawassen (near Vancouver) is a gorgeous ride. BC ferries far superior to the Washington State ferries.

Amtrak for a random date 2 weeks out shows $200 each way for five coach seats, Seattle to Vancouver, but I did not check availability and price of connections to SEA-TAC airport and the Vancouver Cruise terminal.

There is one WA-BC ferry that I could find and it goes to Sidney. There is a Sidney to Vancouver ferry but it leaves from the opposite side of the island. This route requires three land routes and connections. I did not check prices except the WA-SID and that ws $20 each adult, $14.45 children, $9 senior. The inside Canada route looks longer and may be more time and money. Just the WA to SID ferry is 5 hours and is one a day, 8 something in the morning.

The bus sounds intriguing if they can handle cruise passenger size luggage, but they are probably prepared for that.

Southwest to Seattle, Amtrak to Vancouver, Skytrain to the port. Seward to Anchorage by Alaska RR or bus and Anchorage to Seattle by Alaska Air. You will need Amtrak miles and Alaska miles. Figure out your Alaska and Amtrak miles gap and PM me if you are bent on that route. Then head over to Bank of America and get a checking account, the BoA Alaska debit card and the BoA Alaska credit card.

But a Seattle-Seattle inside passage trip is nor bad for a first time run. You could do worse than to be stuck in Seattle, especially if you hit the weather sweet spot in early July. A Seattle-Seattle RT is not double the one-way cost when you consider the return flight costs.

I would like to use RR points to get to an Alaskan cruise for 5 people in July. The problem is that the cruise price is almost double in order to book RT Seattle. However, SW doesn't fly to Canada/Alaska to get the lower cruise price. The ideal cruise itinerary would be Vancouver -> Anchorage (or Seward), or vice versa.

Am I out of luck and stuck with Seattle, or can anyone suggest a budget friendly workaround, or partner possibilities?

Thanks for the many options to Vancouver from SEA.
The cruise runs one way Vancouver to Anchorage (Whittier) (or vice versa). So, it appears the only way for me to get out of (or to) Anchorage is Alaska Air. (already doing BofA;) ) I was hoping there was a lesser known SW partner to avoid having to book something separately, since I have an abundance of RR points.
Sadly, it appears the easier way will be to bulk up on Oneworld partner points to get us to both cities involved & avoid the ground transfers altogether, and use the RR points for a different trip. Or, cruise RT SEA.

I was hoping there was a lesser known SW partner to avoid having to book something separately, since I have an abundance of RR points.

(emphasis added)

If you are one of those with an extreme case of abundant points, you should consider "More Rewards (http://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/redeem-more-rewards)."

Thanks for the tip... short of redeeming "more rewards" for GC & selling them to get the cash to pay for the extra segment, I don't see an easy solution.
I did try the intl flight redeemer option but it only gives me international flight options, ie: ANC > YVR : 351k pts for 5 to fly United from ANC to YVR (not a good value btw). Then, I'd still have to get back to Seattle to use SW.

As someone who has cruised Alaska frequently I'd highly recommend doing a back-to-back, Vancouver up to Whittier and then Whittier back down to Vancouver. This way you can do WN flights out of Seattle both ways and one of the myriad of methods discussed above to get from Seattle to Vancouver and back.

For flights to Alaska (and sometimes Mexico) at peak times one of the best deals is the $50 (?) companion ticket that you get with the Alaska Airlines Visa card. This requires a full year of lead time IIRC. The companion ticket is usable with a paid F ticket which on a peak flight is often only a few dollars more than coach class.

I did try the intl flight redeemer option but it only gives me international flight options, ie: ANC > YVR : 351k pts for 5 to fly United from ANC to YVR (not a good value btw).

Never expect good value from More Rewards; it is there strictly for the folks who have points out the wazoo from refundable fare business travel. (Well, for suckers as well, I suppose.)

I haven't searched anything on More Rewards since March '11 (which was for curiosity sake), but there should be Hawai'i and Alaska flight options from the contiguous 48. Perhaps someone with more recent experience can provide some more clues.