Alaska Inside Passage Cruise

[jjssmash0608]

We are planning a cruise to Alaska, this will be our first cruise. Unfortunately we are unable to go until the 2nd week of Sept (looking at the fall of 2017).

 

There are limited cruises in mid-Sept, but we found one on Princess that we like. My question is if doing the Inside Passage this late in the year is a bad idea? I'm worried that some ports may close up early, excursions won't be available, and of course the weather.

 

Any advice would be appreciated, and if anyone has traveled during this time it would be great to hear what your thoughts are. Thank you!!

[CruiserBruce]

You might want to do some reading on the portion of Cruise Critic devoted to Alaska. These topics and many more are discussed daily. Can't give you the link right now, but someone else will shortly, I'm sure.

 

Ships sail in Alaska until late September. Yes, it will be cooler, perhaps cold. But it might be okay as well. The weather is not predictable, really, it changes constantly.

 

Excursions will most likely be available. Might there be a little less touristy shops, etc? Maybe.

But the ports don't close up.

[jjssmash0608]

Thanks for the reply, I'll see if I can find the Alaska thread...thanks!!

[NW SOUTHERNBELLE]

Our 1st cruise to Alaska was 5 years ago with HAL the second week in September...we had excellent weather, great excursions, and everything was open and some shops had really good sales because it was preparing for the end of the cruise season. We cruised again 1 month ago (July2016) and it was high 50s to low 60s most of the time and drizzled a lot so you never know. I would not hesitate to recommend cruising to Alaska in September. Much less crowded as well.

[shadow8800]

We cruised in May and did not see much in the way of insects. I heard the insects are worse later in the season. Is this true or is it still tolerable , because I also heard some people spot more wildlife later as well which is always fun. I hate to miss out on anything good if later is a better time to go. We had beautiful weather for our Alaska visit and want to go back soon!

Edited August 13, 2016 by shadow8800

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

In order to fully appreciate the Inside Passage, you need to sail from Vancouver.

Many cruise ships indicate that you will see the Inside Passage when sailing out of Seattle, but those cruises as a rule take you out into the Pacific and you only see some of the inside passenger when you start to get into ports like Juneau.

[XBGuy]

I would advise the OP to not overthink it.

 

Cruising is a wonderful experience.

 

Cruising Alaska is awesome.

 

I am going to probably irritate many Cruise Critic posters with the opinion that, in the case of Alaska cruises, the itinerary is really not that important. I guarantee that you will see wonderful natural sights on any itinerary.

 

Our last Alaska cruise started on a Labor Day weekend. Every business in every port was open. The economies of each of these ports is very dependent on the cruise ships. So, they are ready to serve until the last ship leaves in late September. As one poster, above, said, yes, late in the season many businesses are trying to reduce their inventory, and, so, you will find sales. On our last cruise we visited a fudge shop in Skagway. (OK, I agree that there is no need to travel to Alaska to get fudge.) I really wanted some mint fudge. Well, the sales guy was very courteous, and he explained that they were out of mint because it was so late in the season. Obviously, this was not a tragic experience for me, but, happily, the next day we were in Juneau and found a shop that had mint fudge.

 

:)

 

Nobody can give you an solid assurances about weather or sea conditions. However, you can reliably predict that, generally, in the Northern Hemispere, it is going to be cooler in September than it is in July. On our September cruise, which, by the way, was a 10-day round trip out of San Francisco, I was able to take my daily constitutional, which is usually about two hours, on the promenade on the "sea days," and I don't recall wearing anything heavier than a hoodie. It was drizzling rain all day in Skagway. All the other ports were quite pleasant. In fact, in Ketchican, it was sunny and in the high 80s (Fahrenheit) when we visited.

 

If you hit a storm, then, yes, the seas may become rough.

 

Funny story. As is our usual custom our cabin was a balcony as far forward as possible. Mrs. XBGuy is definitely a "foul weather sailor." She wants to feel the motion. So, for that reason we like to be as far forward and as high as possible. On our first night out at about 3:00 am we were sound asleep until

 

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

 

We'd sailed into a fog bank. That was the ship's foghorn. Once we pealed ourselves off the ceiling and realized what it was, it was pretty cool.

 

I say book your cruise and start getting excited.

 

:)