Alaskan Cruise: End of May vs. End of July

[TampaGambler]

We are in the process of planning an Alaskan cruise and have the opportunity to go when our kids get out of school at the end of May or at the end of July... Any recommendation on which time is better?

[www3traveler]

End of July would be PRIME ALASKAN CRUISE SEASON therefore very expensive.  By late July, every single port of call will be very crowded.  Excursions may be difficult to book.

 

If you can cruise prior to Memorial Day the cost would be much lower.

 

In late May, most of the glaciers should still be pristine white with just a little blue showing.  By late July, some of the glaciers would be receeding and not nearly as pretty.  In May, the mountain tops should still have snow, but late July probably not.

 

I always try to book as early in the Season as possible, but I am a solo passenger.

[bluesea777]

@www3travelerThank you for your answer! We're booked on two B2B Alaska on Spirit in May 2023, and we had thought it might be a bit too early, but after reading what you said, we are thankful!

 

 

[dfilpus]

If you are interested in Denali either before or after the cruise, the tour into the park does not run far into the park until June. This was our main timing issue when we were scheduling a May cruise. We cruised the last week of May and then went to Denali.

[Robkat]

1 hour ago, TampaGambler said:

We are in the process of planning an Alaskan cruise and have the opportunity to go when our kids get out of school at the end of May or at the end of July... Any recommendation on which time is better?

We went the week prior to Memorial Day, and we absolutely lucked out with the weather.  Of course, it was very cold on the days we were cruising through Glacier Bay, and each morning was cold too, but we were prepared for that, and then, as it got to be mid-morning, we'd have lovely sunshine and we'd be able to take layers off and be OK with just a long-sleeve t-shirt.  

AND, all our ports of call weren't yet teeming with visitors.  We thought it was awesome.  This is not to say, however, that it's  always guaranteed to have great weather, but that was our experience.  We knew that the weather  conditions in Alaska are always iffy, but we really liked going on the "shoulder season".

[Grampy M]

Of those choices, I would chose May,

July => more pricey and more crowded.  warm enough mosquitos will be a factor.  we have done 2 Alaskan cruises, both in September.  Worked excellent for us.. not crowded, cruise season winding down (bargain hunters like this), much lower than peak price. passenger profile is older, very few families w/ kids.

But since you are factoring in kids that go to school, September might not be the best for you.

That all said what ever you book, I highly recommend an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay National Park, it IS the best part of either of our Alaskan cruises.  And when you visit Juneau.. take a float plane (book locally, not / NCL) tour, you will remember it forever.  I also recommend against teh JOY for an Alaska cruise, we were on the JOY last week (NE/ Canada), it has no outside area to view forward other than the HAVEN, unless $$ are not an object the JOY (IMO) is a bad choice for ALASKA.  The kids may prefer the "toys" of the mega ships, but my opinion Alaska should be visited on a smaller ship, with far fewer passengers.

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

@www3travelerThank you for your answer! We're booked on two B2B Alaska on Spirit in May 2023, and we had thought it might be a bit too early, but after reading what you said, we are thankful!

 

 

We went on a week that spanned the end of May and early June.

 

As mentioned above, the snow-capped mountains were appealing.  (When we did a Norwegian coastal voyate on Hurtigruten, we selected late winter rather than early for the same reason... still before anything was melting, but plenty of time for snow to accumulate everywhere.  Again, gorgeous!)

 

Rain was forcast for every day, but... we had bright sunshine the entire time except for a few short sprinkles.  Never needed our rain jacket and pants (well, not until we got to Norway in the winter and needed that wind-proofing! 😉 )

 

If you have a choice, try to get an itinerary that includes Hubbard Glacier.  That was by far the most dramatic time of our entire cruise.  There was a lot of calving.  The captain kept the ship there for a very long time, slowly spinning it most of the time, so everyone would get a front row seat no matter where they were sitting.

 

When we arrived in Seward, we spent a couple of extra days, and took the longer-day version of a cruise to some of the fjords.  And we almost never stopped eating some terrific hallibut.  (They had some of the local catch hanging near the restaurant.  Those fish are BIG!)

 

Then we took the train to Anchorage, and were able to select the Observation car ("gold service"??).  The train stopped a few times for photo ops.

We also were along the water when a "bore tide" was coming in.

https://www.alaska.org/advice/alaska-bore-tide 

That was a very unexpected treat!

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

[TampaGambler]

Thanks everyone for the comments, this makes me really excited!!!!

[bluesea777]

@GeezerCoupleThanks so much!!

 

Our 2 b2b cruises are Vancouver-Seward (24-31May) and Seward-Vancouver (31 May-7 June) and both go to Hubbard Glacier 😁

 

The ship will be in Seward from 5am to 8pm, and we're looking into taking the NCL train excursion (leaving at 6:45am) to Anchorage airport, take a quick taxi sightseeing tour in city, and then take a bus excursion back to Seward (back on ship at 5:45pm). The latter will take us along the road where the bore tide is.

 

We're hoping that will happen because the NCL train is for the disembarking guests and we're not really disembarking! 

 

We're getting excited! The reasons we picked Spirit over the megaton ships are 1) far less people, and 2) longer port hours!!

 

 

[Crazy planning mom]

BluSea, we werent impressed with Anchorage. The Anchorage Museum was great but the scenery doesnt get pretty until you leave the city line.  Just our opinion.  We much prefer Seward.  The area around Seward is much more beautiful.  We loved our Kenai Fjords boat cruise, the Sealife aquarium, Exit Glacier.

11 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

@GeezerCoupleThanks so much!!

 

Our 2 b2b cruises are Vancouver-Seward (24-31May) and Seward-Vancouver (31 May-7 June) and both go to Hubbard Glacier 😁

 

The ship will be in Seward from 5am to 8pm, and we're looking into taking the NCL train excursion (leaving at 6:45am) to Anchorage airport, take a quick taxi sightseeing tour in city, and then take a bus excursion back to Seward (back on ship at 5:45pm). The latter will take us along the road where the bore tide is.

 

We're hoping that will happen because the NCL train is for the disembarking guests and we're not really disembarking! 

 

We're getting excited! The reasons we picked Spirit over the megaton ships are 1) far less people, and 2) longer port hours!!

 

 

 

[BirdTravels]

On 10/5/2022 at 12:45 PM, TampaGambler said:

We are in the process of planning an Alaskan cruise and have the opportunity to go when our kids get out of school at the end of May or at the end of July... Any recommendation on which time is better?

End of July is high season,,, because it is a better time to cruise Alaska. The salmon will be running. The bears will be out eating. We sail Alaska every year. This year, we sailed at the end of May over Memorial Day into June. While it was nice because there was still snow in the mountains, we missed seeing more wildlife.

[vacation44]

How is the very end of August?  We are booked on the 8/26/23 Jewel, Seward to Vancouver. 

[YVRteacher]

I’ve been to Alaska on 15+ NCL cruises.  Best ever was in May.  The scenery is spectacular and is far above and beyond what you will see in July.  However, if seeing whales is a priority May is not great.

[Grampy M]

On 10/5/2022 at 2:11 PM, bluesea777 said:

@www3travelerThank you for your answer! We're booked on two B2B Alaska on Spirit in May 2023, and we had thought it might be a bit too early, but after reading what you said, we are thankful!

 

 

We just completed (Sept) a 10 day Alaska on the Spirit:
 

NCL Spirit perspective:

We booked the Spirit based on the 10 day Alaskan itinerary (not the ship). As many of us “Friendly Norwegian Freestylers” this is a “make-up” cruise from our many (COVID) canceled cruises.

Knowing the Spirit is the oldest and smallest ship in the NCL fleet, my expectations of the ship were relatively low. HOWEVER the Spirit far exceeded my expectations. The $100 million upgrade NCL spent on her not only shows a commitment to and also an optimistic outlook for the future (NCL is also bringing 6 PR1MA class ships to the fleet).

Our cabin (Balcony) on the Spirit was fresh and new. The “electrical” was well thought out, 2 switches @ the entry door and on each side of the bed, controlled the rooms 2 sets of general lighting. USB outlets were spread conveniently. All Electrical recepticles had BOTH 240V European and 120V US outlets.

The bathroom though small was well laid out and efficient. The balcony door (when closed) had NO noise / whistle even in over 50MPH winds.

The ship “design” is old school elegance, catering to those of us “experienced” in life (aka 60+). Therefore the “megaship” features like water slides, race and rope courses and the like are absent. That said The Spirit was apparently NOT designed for a cruise with LOTS of children on board. I did NOT see any activities for the the few kids on this cruise.

Embarkation was very smooth, quick and orderly, especially for those of us that prepared with the Covid related requirements and the confusing but Canadian mandated “ArriveCAN” phone app.

Disembarkation was also very smooth, we opted for the SEA (Seattle Tacoma airport) offered “Port Valet”, our boarding passes for our flight and luggage tags were in our stateroom free of charge such that we tagged and left our bags in the hallway, the next time we had to deal with them was at our home airport. Also once @ the airport we only had to go thru security and head to the gate. As with most returns from cruises we "stress" over the potential for baggage fees since we buy stuff and test the airlines weight limits.. The Port valet service tells us not to worry about overweight bags, we packed everything that would fit, didn't worry and incurred no additional fees.

Disembarkation also incorporated facial recognition, a 'slight' walking off the ship, but the Immigration and customs were streamlined.