just got home from Alaska Cruise

[Dan G]

I just got off the Oosterdam on HAL from Alaska. First of all it rained every day so that was a bummer. Only sun we saw was leaving Seattle and returning. That was a surprise. Bring a hat or ear muffs as it was only 39 in Juneau. Clothes, and jackets were really cheap in Alaska ports so no worries. I found shore excursions on HAL to be ridiculously expensive. In Juneau there are shuttle busses to Mendenhall glacier for $8 each way and the cruise bundled that with something else for like $70. There was so much emphasis on shopping vs sightseeing I was amazed. The port maps given out by HAL listed the jewlery stores and said nothing of where the sightseeing may happen. This may be common but I'm a newbie so was shocked on the emphasis on buying. It was early in the season but the weather sailing around Vancouver Island was pretty rough and some people got seasick. Going into Tracy Arm the captain stopped before getting to the glacier as there was too much 'ice' so we never really had the Glacier Bay type experience, a lot of us was expecting. Overall it was an ok trip but certain things would have been a lot nicer if the weather had cooperated. I was frustrated with a very short port call in Ketchikan (we left at 12:30pm) and the late arrival into Victoria 9 pm vs 7pm so all shore excursions were cancelled. I'd love to do this trip on other lines or from Vancouver to compare.

[deladypilot]

Unfortuantly on the Alaskan cruises, you can almost count on rain and more rain. If it does not, then you count yourself lucky.

 

We did the Norwegian Star last year R/T Seattle and had a blast. It rained on us everyday except coming and going out of Seattle. Next year we are doing NCL Sun which leaves Vancouver and goes to Whitter. Seems to be better port times (longer). So it will be a nice comparison for us as well.

 

As for the shopping thing... you will find this on just about every mainstream cruise line. The stores pay big bucks to the cruise lines to promote them. When we are not booked on an excursion, we go straight for the visitors center and get a local map. Many times you can get these online before you go.

 

Skagway has a great historical walking tour you can do yourself or with one of the Park Service Rangers. It is free and takes you to the historial highlights of the town. Skagways tourism website has the maps online as well.

 

Alaska is beautiful and it is definately one place you have to do more than once. Go check out all the cruise lines and see what their port hours are.

 

Best of luck

[Splinter]

You took a very early season trip for Alaska. Cold & rainy weather should have been anticipated any time before July. Try this trip again later in the season. HAL is one of the better cruise lines for Alaska nearly always.

 

All cruise lines emphasize shopping at their port talks. We stop attending them long ago. We also rarely take ships tours. It is much better to do some research before you go (the internet is invaluable for this) and then plan your own shore excursions. This way we see what we want, and stay as long as we want without anyone else making those decisions, and we nearly always save $$$ over what the ship offers.

[caa]

It's still quite early in the season for Alaska. Things do warm up if you go later on, but even so, it's not really a "shorts and t-shirts" trip.

 

We did a cruise/land tour three years ago that had us on the shores of the Arctic Ocean on the day of the summer solstice. The outside temp in Deadhorse that day was 31 F.

 

We did have a couple of days where we were carrying more layers than we were wearing, but that was mostly in the interior around Fairbanks, and when we took the train from Skagway into the Yukon.

[PatriciaF]

Yep--that's why those early/late season cruises are so inexpensive compared to high season: July/August.

 

We did our HAL Alaska cruise in August--during a heatwave. I brought one pair of shorts--wore them almost every day--record breaking temperatures almost every day in port.