Alaskan Cruise

[pinkfloyd4]

We have been looking at an Inside passage, roundrtrip from Seattle. This cruise goes from May to September, it's my wife's birthday in August, is this a good time to do the cruise? Weather, sights i.e. whales, bears whatever.......?

 

Thanks in anticipation of your replies as I do need the help......

 

Dave

[lel5344]

Just be prepared for inclement weather. It can be cold and wet any time, but if you're ready for it, you will be awed by Alaska.

 

You need waterproof gear, layers and the right attitude! I'm told there's an old Russian saying: There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

[lyradd]

We have been looking at an Inside passage, roundrtrip from Seattle. This cruise goes from May to September, it's my wife's birthday in August, is this a good time to do the cruise? Weather, sights i.e. whales, bears whatever.......?

 

Thanks in anticipation of your replies as I do need the help......

 

Dave

I would chose May over Aug/Sept. I've cruised there at both times and the May cruise was wonderful. If either of you are prone to seasickness I would look for an Alaska cruise leaving from Vancouver. Cruises leaving out of Seattle go out into the open ocean around Vancouver Island before going into the Inside Passage.

[spunkie4]

We've cruised Alaska three time. All in May. First was seven days, second was 10, and the last (this May) was the seven day cruise followed by a six night land tour.

 

We take a denim shirt and a columbia lightweight/waterproof jacket. this combination has worked well for us.

 

Shirley

[ittterp]

Hi. I just recently booked on , in June. i was on a cruise in march and was told the summer months are good months to go. As you i am trying to find out what kind of clothes /jackets to take.

[flamomo]

My daughter and I sailed on the Star Princess, r/t Seattle. in September, and it was an awesome cruise. There were no issues with rough water, though I do know that's always a possibility on any cruise.

The weather was sunny and very pleasant in Seattle on both embarkation and disembarkation days. but we had cool drizzly weather every day in Alaska. But that did not affect our enjoyment of the cruise or AK.

We had read beforehand on the Alaska boards that it is always wise to be prepared for rain when going to AK, and we were. We each had gotten a waterproof jacket, and sprayed our sneakers with CampDry, a water repellant spray that we found in the shoe department at WalMart. So our clothes and feet stayed dry, and we were very comfortable. The morning we cruised Tracy Arm Fjord (incredibly beautiful place), we spent the entire 4 hours on our balcony, taking hundreds of pictures. We packed jeans and lightweight long sleeve tops, as well as a couple of short sleeve tops, in case it would be warmer than expected. We wore the long sleeves ones every day.

As a precaution, I took 2 digital cameras - a 10MP point and shoot, and my old 3.2MP Canon for a backup. I ended up having uses for both of them. The Canon took much better pics in low light situations, and the point and shoot took gorgeous pics where the light was good.

Re: whales: The people that went on whale watching excursions got some really great pictures of them.

Whenever you choose to go, be prepared to be awed by the beauty of Alaska. It was even more beautiful than I expected. We can't wait to go back again. That 7 days was too short, and there's much more we want to see up there.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We went on our Alaskan cruise on the Sapphire Princess when it was brand new in August 2004 RT out of Seattle. We got to Seattle when it was having a rare heat spell. Checking out of our hotel, we ran into a couple just getting off the Amsterdam who said they wore shorts the whole time. The weather changed when we were on our cruise, mostly the 60s and a lot of rain, but that's to be expected.

 

Layers work best, bring rain gear, and when it's time for the glacier cruising, grab your binoculars and go out on your balcony or the outside deck. Everyone on the ship will be up, even it's an early morning that day (our glacier cruising started around 7am).

[kimchee1212]

I've heard that May was the best time to go.

 

I went in late June and had absolute fantastic weather. We saw bears, tons of seals, and even a whale :)

 

You won't be able to see salmon spawning until mid-July or so, so don't expect that early :), but it was just beautiful.

 

Enjoy!

[Cruisin' Chick]

I forgot to say that we had a far forward inside cabin and this seemed our smoothest cruise.

[CFD130]

We went mid July Coral Princess. Awesome weather- lots of whales, seals, eagles and bears. A little rain in Ketchikan but that is rain forest area. Make sure to do the helicoper ride in Juneau. Awsome views,see glaciers and unbelievable scenery and you get to walk on a glacier-not to be missed!!!

[sept10dsm]

A cousin of mine just went on a round trip out of Seattle near the end of Sept. They had a great time. When I cruised Alaska, it was the beginning of Aug from Seward to Vancouver. We had great weather. No rain!! We were able to wear shorts on our 3 port stops!! The waters were the smoothest we ever had!! We sailed on the Dawn Princess and it was really beautiful. We did see salmon, porpoise, whales and even an eagle (in port).

[SGilly]

We did the Golden out of Seattle the end of August into Labor Day weekend-the weather was sunny & 60's every day! It was a spectacular!

[joand452]

We went the end of May 2006. It was the southbound cruise to Vancouver, beginning in Whittier (a four-day land tour preceded the cruise. If you do a cruise tour, do it first--you'll need the cruise to recover!).

 

Our weather was great--short sleeve t-shirts while sitting on our balcony. It was warm in Skagway, rained a tiny bit in Juneau, and rained longer and harder in Ketchikan, but nothing bad enough to spoil our tours. The only problem with going so early in the season was that we didn't see much in the line of wildlife, except for lots of orcas and humpback whales of Juneau.

 

I'd love to go back, but later in the season--even if there's the chance of more rain.

 

Loved Alaska; definitely one of my favorite places.

[flamomo]

One can almost always expect a good possibility of rain in Ketchikan. Their annual rainfall total is 13 FEET!!! Yes! FEET!

[sept10dsm]

One can almost always expect a good possibility of rain in Ketchikan. Their annual rainfall total is 13 FEET!!! Yes! FEET!

We were SO lucky for our entire cruise we had sunny nice days!! In Ketchikan we kayaked in perfect weather. I didn't even realize how lucky we were until afterward when I found out about all the rain they usually have.

[diamondsparkling]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm Daves (pinkfloyd) wife and answering on his behalf.

 

Thank you each and every one for the information it has only whetted my appetite more to see this beautiful country.

 

I'm sticking with the original date in August as it is my wife's birthday on board so off to book......

 

Dave

[Ga.Dawg]

We have been looking at an Inside passage, roundrtrip from Seattle. This cruise goes from May to September, it's my wife's birthday in August, is this a good time to do the cruise? Weather, sights i.e. whales, bears whatever.......?

 

Thanks in anticipation of your replies as I do need the help......

 

Dave

 

We did the inside passage in late July on Westerdam out of Seattle, it was absolutely fantastic, but if we had it to do over we would have left from Vancouver so there would have been more time in Ketichakan

[Kerry&LuAnn]

We went on an Alaska cruise in August, and although the weather was cool and rainy we had an outstanding time! Some friends went the next year on the same ship, the same cruise, and the same time of year... they had warm sunshine every day. Go figure. The weather in Alaska is very unpredictable, but the scenery and wildlife are awesome! Just be flexible and you'll have a great time.