Alaska

Alaska

Make It Happen For: $3,600 for a seven-night cruise if you can drive to your cruise port; $5,000 if you're flying

Consider setting sail. "Your least expensive way to see Alaska is on a cruise,” says Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of CruiseCritic.com, which has a page dedicated to Alaskan cruise deals plus reviews. “There are a lot more ships than there used to be, and that’s driven down prices.” Other advantages to hitting the water: "You can’t drive into some of the magnificent places that the ships take you to, and if you utilized the state’s ferry system you’d constantly be packing and unpacking.” A cruise also lets you cross off three bucket-list activities: watching whales, seeing glaciers, and fishing for salmon, says Erin Kirland, author of Alaska on the Go: Exploring the 49th State With Children. 

Choose a cruise line. Spencer Brown says to start shopping for a cruise in late December or early January, when the lines have sales and tend to throw in perks, such as free shore excursions. Depending on what cruise line you choose, prices range from about $3,000 to around $5,000, including taxes and port fees, for a family with two adults and two children under age 12 sharing a stateroom. Compare cruises on Princess, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Disney, and Norwegian in terms of price, departure options, on-board activities, supervised children’s programs, and port excursions. 

Find deals on flights to cruise ports. Cruises generally begin in Seattle, San Francisco, or Vancouver. Reasonable prices to Vancouver are $400 round-trip from the East Coast and Midwest, and $250 from the West Coast. Subtract about $100 for flights to Seattle or San Francisco.