Alaska in Sept?

[smyemar]

Just wondering if anyone has any advice about doing Alaska in Sept? How cold will it be? Will we see whales & seals? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.:)

[smyemar]

Sorry, just thought of another question. Which iitinery is better? I am assuming the one with the Tracy arm Fjord?

[pnjkeith]

Sorry, just thought of another question. Which iitinery is better? I am assuming the one with the Tracy arm Fjord?

 

Glacier Bay is best.

[ruthie101]

We did Alaska in Sept., it was the last one of that season. The weather wasn't bad, we needed a light jacket most of the time. There are not many people hanging out on the lido deck It's too chilly for that.

We definitely prefer our carribean cruises!! The ports we visited were very interesting. We did the inside passage.

[Gypsywych]

My husband and I are already booked on the Glacier Bay cruise for 2012. The very last Alaska cruise for the Spirit.

[Pee-ah]

Glacier Bay is best.

 

I second that! Glacier Bay is not to be missed!:D

[Pee-ah]

My husband and I are already booked on the Glacier Bay cruise for 2012. The very last Alaska cruise for the Spirit.

 

 

Your cruise will also do the Inside Passage as the Spirit then leaves Vancouver for Hawaii... I LOVED the inside passage. CCL only does i believe max 2 through the inside passage a year now as this is Canadian water.. and the ship either needs to leave from or arrive to a Canadian port to have access :D

[S.S.Oceanlover]

we did the last cruise of the season on Princess in 2009. We did Vancouver to Whittier. (Anchorage) Glacier bay was awesome.

 

Had some cold rain but not bad. You need to take layers.

 

When we went whale watching it was cold out there in the boat but we stayed in the heated cabin until they spotted some whales.

 

Bill

[Kiln Wood]

Just wondering if anyone has any advice about doing Alaska in Sept? How cold will it be? Will we see whales & seals? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.:)

 

On the subject of "any advice," there is something I want to mentioned that hasn't been addressed in the other postings so far. I am not "a shopper," but I have cruise buddies who are, and I understand there are some great bargains to be had in the Alaskan ports in September at the end of the season. Merchants do not want to carry nor store stock through the winter. I've also heard that the beginning of the season in May is another time for great shopping bargains because merchants need or want a cash infusion to "start the season off right." Enjoy your cruise!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

On the subject of "any advice," there is something I want to mentioned that hasn't been addressed in the other postings so far. I am not "a shopper," but I have cruise buddies who are, and I understand there are some great bargains to be had in the Alaskan ports in September at the end of the season. Merchants do not want to carry nor store stock through the winter. I've also heard that the beginning of the season in May is another time for great shopping bargains because merchants need or want a cash infusion to "start the season off right." Enjoy your cruise!

 

Ah forgot about that aspect of the cruise. My wife got a nice heavy coat she wore for the rest of the trip and all winter. It had an $75-$80 price tage on it and she got it for about $20. Also got myself some t shirts for $5 a piece.

 

Love a good bargain.

 

Bill

[tximprov]

My two cents worth....I did the round trip from Seattle over the first week of sept last year. Tracy arm Fjord was amazing. The weather too was awesome. It was a bit chilly on the tracy arm day, cold and drizzly with light rain. Skagway was perfect. the morning was chilly and cold once we landed in our helicopter on top of a glacier. But back in town as the day continued it got downright warm...shorts and t-shirt weather. Juneau was also nice. did whale watching there and saw more than a dozen humpback whales. Ketchican is one of the rainiest cities in the world....so I would say you have 99% chance of rain while your there. All in all I would say Sep is a great time to go. Its less expensive and I would recommend the roundtrip from seattle, airfare is more affordable if you have to fly in and out. Again, this is just my two penneys. ultimatley you have to decide what is best for you. I will say this......if money is an issue, as it is for so many in these tight times....make sure you can afford to do all that you want to do. The Helicoptor glacier tour was expensive but being caribbean kinda people, we knew this would probably be our only alaskan cruise, so we made sure we could do the things we wanted to do. A balcony is also a must. I just wanted to make sure I didnt later say, I wish we could have afforded to this or that. I worked alot of Overtime to make sure we could do those extra things....Have fun and take a lot of memory for your camera. We took over 4000 pictures.

[LucyR.]

Sept. will be a great time to buy a beautiful fur coat in Alaska. If I lived in a winter snow city I would buy me a beautiful fur coat for the winter months. I used to have fur coats but in Calif. it never gets that cold so I buy rabbit fur sweaters for the winter months.

 

My cousin says that the jewelry is real cheap too. Lots of diamonds to buy from the "Carpet Baggers". They are the salespeople who are just in town to sell and then they go back home to their countries.

 

If you prefer to buy from the Alaskan local people they will have a sign at their store doors stating they are Alaskans. They have beautiful things to buy that they make home-made. I like to buy their gem stone jewelry that is beautiful.... super cheap. Lucy

[lindan1020]

On the subject of "any advice," there is something I want to mentioned that hasn't been addressed in the other postings so far. I am not "a shopper," but I have cruise buddies who are, and I understand there are some great bargains to be had in the Alaskan ports in September at the end of the season. Merchants do not want to carry nor store stock through the winter. I've also heard that the beginning of the season in May is another time for great shopping bargains because merchants need or want a cash infusion to "start the season off right." Enjoy your cruise!

Yep this is true! We have been to Alaska in May, June and Sept. and there were ALOT of sales in Sept! I loved it! The time we saw the most whales was the May cruise but that could just be a fluke. Sept was a bit colder and the one with the most rain BUT we LOVED each triip! The beauty is amazing! Alaska is my favorite cruise.

[mrpayroll]

Our Alaska cruise was the first week of Sept. with Princess. Had great weather. Only rain we had was in Skagway. Agree with the good sales in town.

[yesterdaystime]

We did the Inside Passage the last week in Sept. It was absolutely "Fantastic"!. Glacier Bay is a Must! And to put the icing on the cake, a helicopter trip and landing on the Glacier was something I'll never forget.

 

On our bucket list is at least one more Alaskan Cruise coupled with a seven day Interior trip.

[sassyredhat]

Thanks to all of you. This is good to know. We are booked for the first week in Sept. I know we will probably get rain, but I was hoping we wouldn't get 'toad strangler' rain. :)

Last time we went in early May. It was cold, but only had rain in Juneau.

I'm packing lots of layers. Flying Southwest, so no luggage fees.

We have planned ships tours, mostly to see nature and some wildlife.

Pat