Originally Posted by
MiamiFlyer
Unfortunately, Alaska cruises are more expensive when considering total cost. Because of the Jones Act, you can't do back to back cruises. Port charges for Alaskan cruises are among the highest you will see per day. Then there are the transfer charges to/from Whittier or Seward. Last is airfare from ANC - generally not cheap.
Still, the fares are "bargains" compared to normal prices.
Why can't you do back to back cruises? The PVSA says you can't disembark in a different US port than you embarked in (unless there is a stop in a distant foreign port, which there are none on Alaska cruises). But Alaska cruises either go round trip from Seattle or Vancouver or one way between Vancouver and Alaska. There is no issue doing either of those itineraries back to back. In fact, lots of people do combine the one way cruises into round trips, because the airfare out of Alaska back to wherever is often times a good percentage of the cost of that second cruise anyway.