Packing for a southbound Alaska cruise tour

[grammi]

It’s been awhile since I had to know how to pack for Alaska. I’ve looked for this in the posts and didn’t find it(though I am sure it’s here somewhere). When packing for the SB Alaska cruise tour I think we need to:

 

Bag 1. Goes straight to ship from Fairbanks. 
 

Bag 2.  In the am goes to our overnight accommodations. 
 

Bag 3. We carry with what we need for the day to keep warm, keep cool, snacks, etc and must fit under seat on train or bus. 
 

Does this sound right still?

[LJProk]

We did Denali from Anchorage (just returned yesterday). Bag 1 - went straight to ship from Anchorage. Bag 2 was taken to Denali for our land portion (only needed stuff for a few days). Bag 3 was for the bus to Denali and the train to the ship. There was no under seat storage on the train btw, so don't take much. In fact, from Denali I sent my larger backpack to the ship and only carried on my small purse, small camera bag and a small backpack.

[Hlitner]

Packing for AK is a nightmare.  It can help to look at the long range forecasts just before you leave home.  But on our last trip we flew to Anchorage, rented a car and drove up to Danali for a few days, then back to Anchorage where we grabbed the train to Seward to embark on our Southbound cruise.  So what happened?  At Denali it was unusually warm with temps in the 70s.  That weather held for us until on our ship.  By the time we got to Icy Strait Point it was cold (low 50s with a bitter wind).  I recall some other days when temps were in the 50s and not nice.  

 

The old advice still holds which is to pack layers and some outer rain gear so you can handle anything.

 

Hank

[aliaschief]

Everyone should have their own set of binoculars. Hard to share when your whale watching or watching wildlife.