Best time to do Alaska cruise

[Davidlmc]

We just got off Explorer on Saturday. We went over memorial day. We had great weather! No rain, little bugs, sun set around 1030 every night. The weather was 65+ most days. We were extremely happy with the weather.

 

I like this !!!! we are sailing Explorer this week and i hope we get this weather.:D

[Robinhill]

We are planning to do Alaska next year and need all of the advise we can get.

Which itinerary,which month. We will be flying from Fl.

 

Thanks

Barry

I like June- i have been twice- once in June and once in August. Salmon are running in August but in June i was able to fly by helicopter to a glacier and do dog sledding on the ice- you can't do that in late July or anytime in August.

[Baseballkurt]

Hopping on the Radiance this coming Friday (06-09). We'll see..

 

 

We are too! We fly out Thursday. Are you singed up for our events and the meet and mingle party yet? We have over 70 signed up for it.

 

 

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[JDR1986]

Not to commandeer this thread - but has anyone see any reviews of the Explorer sailings in Alaska for 2017 yet? I'm boarding on the 6/30 sailing and have been looking for reviews but haven't seen any yet.

[Biker19]

Not to commandeer this thread - but has anyone see any reviews of the Explorer sailings in Alaska for 2017 yet? I'm boarding on the 6/30 sailing and have been looking for reviews but haven't seen any yet.

Was on the 5/26 sailing and was great - mainly due to the weather.

 

Flowrider was all ripped apart for maintenance and fixes on the last day - but was able to use it the other days. Great to have it all to oneself, even if it was only one side and boogie boarding only.

[firegal2539]

Biker19,

Missed you at the M&G, did you attend? It was a mess checking in, we waited for over 4 hours. I am writing a letter to Adam Goldstein about the cruise terminal.

 

Candie

 

JDR1986,

Same as Biker19, just got off of the Explorer and the weather was absolutely the best of the 6 Alaskan cruises I have done. Sunny and warm.

 

There was a terrible problem at the terminal trying to get on the ship. I am handicapped and was forced to wait outside for 4 hours, no chairs, nothing. It was very poor planning on RCCL and Intercruise (terminal people).

 

The ship left over an hour late because of the terminal mess.

 

The food was good, I loved the MDR and even the Windjammer but had the worst meal I have ever eaten on board a ship at Johnny Rocket's. I had heard the hamburgers were better then Guy's Burgers on NCL but no way, they were terrible. Asked for a refund of my cost of my burger.

 

I am use to a much larger ship but it was easy to get around the ship. The Royal Promenade is where all of the Cruise Director's shows are held, so you can't get into the shops or cafes when there is something going on. The 70s Disco, British Invasion, and a few others were held there and blocked the whole promenade.

 

The entertainment, Ice Skating Show, Kivi Rogers, comedian, Hayden Smith, saxophonist/singer and the production show, Fast Forward and the ballroom dancers, Amanda and Sebastian, were out of this world, you have to see them if they are still on the ship.

 

Graham Seymour, Cruise Director, was fabulous, but I have heard that sometime in June or July he is retiring and will only fill in as CD when Royal desperately needs him. He wants to go home.

 

Hope this helps.

Candie

[MichaelCMTX]

I appreciate the insights offered here. Yesterday, DW noted to me that even though the lion's share of our cruises have been in January, in her current career that tends to be a fairly busy season. May/June has been when they tend to cut hours and scheduling a vacation then might be easier. My first thoughts veered to "finally doing Alaska" as that's off the table in January for obvious reasons.

 

Part of our reason for cruising in January is school-age kids tend not to be aboard. How are the Alaska cruises for that? My thinking was that the more young and lively set would prefer sun, fun and sand over glaciers and watching for whales. I'm obviously not expecting a kid-free cruise, but maybe reduced-kids or kid-lite. For those who've gone a few times, would we maybe consider another defection to Celebrity?

 

After bringing this up I was asked about sun by the pool; but judging from the temperatures and weathers noted on this thread I'll stick by my answer of "maybe if the Solarium roof is closed, but I wouldn't get my hopes up."

[RocCruisers]

We did a self tour of the state before doing the first southbound cruise in June. The crew and tour operators were still excited about doing their jobs. I would assume by the time August and September roll around everyone is kinda burned out.

[Hoopster95]

Was on the 5/26 sailing and was great - mainly due to the weather.

 

Welcome back Biker... glad to hear you had great weather.:D

 

Re the original OP's question and the various responses so far, today and tomorrow Vancouver area is getting 70-75 degree sunny summer weather. Starting Thursday this becomes 60-65 degree with rain for at least 5 days. Juneau & Skagway show rain and cold throughout the week with highs about 55-60 . Those getting on Explorer on Friday won't be on their balconies much or tanning in Explorer's "Solarium" for the next week.

 

Roll the dice, there is no good or bad time that anyone can truly rely on.

[JDR1986]

Biker19,

Missed you at the M&G, did you attend? It was a mess checking in, we waited for over 4 hours. I am writing a letter to Adam Goldstein about the cruise terminal.

 

Candie

 

JDR1986,

Same as Biker19, just got off of the Explorer and the weather was absolutely the best of the 6 Alaskan cruises I have done. Sunny and warm.

 

There was a terrible problem at the terminal trying to get on the ship. I am handicapped and was forced to wait outside for 4 hours, no chairs, nothing. It was very poor planning on RCCL and Intercruise (terminal people).

 

The ship left over an hour late because of the terminal mess.

 

The food was good, I loved the MDR and even the Windjammer but had the worst meal I have ever eaten on board a ship at Johnny Rocket's. I had heard the hamburgers were better then Guy's Burgers on NCL but no way, they were terrible. Asked for a refund of my cost of my burger.

 

I am use to a much larger ship but it was easy to get around the ship. The Royal Promenade is where all of the Cruise Director's shows are held, so you can't get into the shops or cafes when there is something going on. The 70s Disco, British Invasion, and a few others were held there and blocked the whole promenade.

 

The entertainment, Ice Skating Show, Kivi Rogers, comedian, Hayden Smith, saxophonist/singer and the production show, Fast Forward and the ballroom dancers, Amanda and Sebastian, were out of this world, you have to see them if they are still on the ship.

 

Graham Seymour, Cruise Director, was fabulous, but I have heard that sometime in June or July he is retiring and will only fill in as CD when Royal desperately needs him. He wants to go home.

 

Hope this helps.

Candie

 

 

Thanks for the info, Candie! Very helpful! Did you by chance save any of the Cruise Compass for any of the days?

[ace1zoe2]

We have done early June twice and had good weather both times. The second time was actually a heat wave!

 

We're booked again for June 2018. Love the baby animals we saw, the weather and some of the best prices of the season.

 

 

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[plus1cruiser]

We have done early June twice and had good weather both times. The second time was actually a heat wave!

 

We're booked again for June 2018. Love the baby animals we saw, the weather and some of the best prices of the season.

 

 

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What cruise date in June? Are you adding a land tour?

 

 

 

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[firegal2539]

JDR,

I did save them but I don't know how to post them on CC. If you would like I can take pictures and email them to you if you feel comfortable putting your email out for everyone to see.

 

The question about kids, I don't like to cruise with kids, some parents don't watch their own kids. I was very surprised, there were many kids under 2, many over 2, and lots of teenagers. Honestly I didn't even know they were on the ship with the exception of a set of twins who were uncontrollable.

 

I was on Deck 9 and it was so quiet. The only thing I heard was the shows in the promenade, they were extremely loud but only went on for 30 minutes.

 

The Solaruim roof was open the whole cruise. Even though the weather was nice on board it was only about 40-50 degrees, not a lot of pool people but lots of hot tub people.

Candie

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

What cruise date in June? Are you adding a land tour?

 

 

 

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We are doing the cruise only this next time. We will be doing the Southbound Seward to Vancouver with 20+ cabins of family & friends. Actually booked our first ever "group" cruise thru a TA to get the added OBC for everyone.

 

We sail 06.08.2018. Having done both a cruise and a cruisetour previously I would choose to do the land portion on our own in the future just due to the costs and down time of the organized tour.

 

Some of our group will go a week early and do a DIY land tour on their own. Unfortunately my DH changed jobs at the end of 2016 and now has limited vacation time he can only take a week at a time so our usual 2 week trips are cut back to only a week [emoji22]

 

 

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[plus1cruiser]

We are doing the cruise only this next time. We will be doing the Southbound Seward to Vancouver with 20+ cabins of family & friends. Actually booked our first ever "group" cruise thru a TA to get the added OBC for everyone.

 

We sail 06.08.2018. Having done both a cruise and a cruisetour previously I would choose to do the land portion on our own in the future just due to the costs and down time of the organized tour.

 

Some of our group will go a week early and do a DIY land tour on their own. Unfortunately my DH changed jobs at the end of 2016 and now has limited vacation time he can only take a week at a time so our usual 2 week trips are cut back to only a week [emoji22]

 

 

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Thanks so much for answering. We are taking our 1st Alaska cruise 06/17/18 with a 4b land tour. I understand about the vacation time challenges. I needed permission to take more than 1 wk at a time. This thread is very helpful already!

 

 

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[happy_trees]

A lot of people mention the weather. Another angle is the wildlife. You'll see that different animals are more visible/less visible in various places at different times. So if you want to see salmon climbing the ladder in Ketchikan, aim for July. Whales ar also easier/harder to see in some port and passages at various times. A good guide book will cover all the wildlife you'll see at the various times, so if you ally want to see salmon, for instance, you'll be able to plan accordingly.

[firegal2539]

On the Explorer cruise I just got off of we saw pods of Orcas twice from the ship, once sailing from Seattle to Juneau and once sailing from Victoria to Seattle.

 

 

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[SCcruiser123]

We went last year the first week of June and did a cruise tour. The weather was actually warmer than we expected. No rain but a few cloudy days. We were able to clearly see Mt. Denali- a fantastic sight!

[LeeW]

All four of our cruises (two with land portion) were September. Advantage - much less crowding in port and everything on sale in shops. Denali virtually cloudless on both Tundra Wilderness Tours (but socked in solid from Talkeetna on one trip). General temperature was 50-60, but one trip hit 72 in Fairbanks.

[SesameStreetCruisers]

We are planning to do Alaska next year and need all of the advise we can get.

Which itinerary,which month. We will be flying from Fl.

 

Thanks

Barry

 

we went at the end of May a few years ago and had fantastic weather. We actually flew from Orlando to Seattle stayed for a few days, then took a 3.5 hour train ride to Vancouver stayed for a few days and then stayed a few days in Anchorage after the cruise. The train ride is fantastic you get to see God's country and all its beauty. We still discuss which cruise is better Alaska or Mediterranean.