xqueenfrostine

6 hours ago, bouhunter said:

Not the case in Alaska.  Hotel rooms are now twice(or more) what we booked for August.  And there are little to no rental cars available.  So glad we booked our flights/hotels/car when we did!  Pent up demand for travel is here.

It’s not just pent up demand, there’s also a supply problem.  Hotel inventory has more or less rebounded, but rental car companies sold off a third of their fleets during the pandemic and it’s going to take a while for them to build that inventory.  So while there are still deals to be had on land vacations (though nowhere near as good as they would have been had you booked when hotels were desperate for guests), if you want a good deal you’re best off looking at places that are walkable/have good local transit options or are within driving distance so you can bring your own car.  Otherwise, any money you save by finding a good deal on a resort or hotel will be wiped out by rental car fees.

Weather update from the Ruby Princess: the weather at Glacier Bay and in Ketchikan ended up being surprisingly pleasant! In GB, I started out the day fully layered up, but shed down to just jeans and a sweater by 10:30. It wasn’t warm exactly, but it was more crisp than cold. We had sunshine all day so that helped a lot. Same deal in Ketchikan. Plenty of sunshine and so warm that I regret wearing so many layers as I’ve had to carry them all day. This definitely made up for the yucky weather earlier in the cruise.

I’m currently on the Ruby this week and so far Alaska has been pretty dreary and cold! It’s not so bad that I regret not packing a heavy coat, but it’s definitely cold and damp enough that I’m making use of all of my layers*. We’re in skagway today, and it’s raining and in the 40s though it was much nicer when we were up in the Yukon. It was sunny and felt like it was in the mid to upper 50s during all of stops on the Canadian side of the border. I was even fairly comfortable doing the entire White Pass train ride out on the outdoor viewing platform, though I doubt I would have lasted had I been in jeans and a T-shirt!

Juneau was similarly rainy and gloomy though a little warmer than Skagway. I think it was in the low 50s.

On the boat, it’s been cool but tolerable. It’s been too windy for me to sit through an entire MUtS, but I’ve still been able to make use of my balcony and walk around on deck without bundling up too much. Unless it’s raining, I usually just wear jeans, a T-shirt and a fleece jacket.

*for reference, my top layers are a camisole, a long sleeve shirt, a fleece jacket, and a Charles River water resistant pullover on top. For pants, I’m wearing a pair of fleece leggings under a pair of Columbia Anytime Outdoor pants. I’ve also been carrying around a scarf, hat and gloves, though I haven’t used them much.

Hope this all helps! It may end up being much warmer on your trip than it’s been on mine. From what I understand, cruisers last week were treated to shorts weather!

I'm going to be on this cruise as well. It's going to be my first time in Alaska, and I'm very excited.

Mosquitoes don't breed in salt water or heavy brackish water, so on the coast they are much less of a problem than the interior. I've never seen a problem with mosquitoes in Southeast Alaska or even along the Central Alaska coast unless you get away from tidewater in mid summer.

This is great information! Thanks for the reply.

We were in Alaska in a May .We did not hike but we did a shore excursion in Juneau that took us into a wooded area and did not see any bugs.The time we were there the temperatures were unusually warm,hovering close to 80.

Thanks Lenny, this was what I was hoping to hear! I'm a magnet for mosquitoes but really don't like to wear insect repellent if I don't have to.

"Mosquitoes aren't generally a problem in ports."

Howsabout when you leave the town and go into the woods? Say for ziplining?

This is what I really wanted to know (though not for ziplining specifically!). I figured mosquitoes wouldn't be much of a problem in town, but I'm less sure what to expect when I go nature walking/hiking in the Tongass National Forest.

I’m in the middle of putting together my packing list for my mid-May Alaskan cruise and am wondering if mosquitoes and other biting bugs are a problem that early in the year? I plan to do some hiking in wooded areas in both Juneau and Ketchikan if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

Unless your excursions take you into rural areas in the evenings, I wouldn’t worry about it. I am a magnet for mosquitoes and I didn’t get a single bite on my Western Mediterranean cruise.

We took a 7 day Alaska cruise from Seattle, back to Seattle last September, on the Emerald. The formal nights were on Day 2 and Day 6 because those were sea days.

Would a scenic cruising day count as a sea day here? I'll be on an Alaskan Cruise that's a roundtrip from Seattle and our sea day is Day 2, and our Glacier Bay day is Day 5. Day 6 is technically a port day (Ketchikan), though we leave port by 1pm.

Thanks for the responses guys! Looks like I need to start shoe shopping so I have time to buy and break in a suitable pair before my May cruise!

This may be a silly question, but what kind of shoes do people bring to wear to Alaska to wear on excursions? Do you wear your normal walking shoes that you might wear at home or on any other vacation, or do you need something that better copes with the wet weather and the terrain? I live in a pretty dry climate, so choosing footwear that’s good with rain, puddles and mud hasn’t been much of a priority. If it matters, I don’t expect to be doing much more than walking around town or doing some nature trail walking during my time on shore and our cruise stops in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria.