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Alaska in October

SC LTC

By SC LTC,
in Alaska

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Northern Aurora

Northern Aurora

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Just a comment from someone who lives in Alaska and has traveled to SE Alaska on business -- there is a reason why those October cruises are so discounted.  Expect rough seas and heavy rain.  Some folks have reported that they were lucky with the weather -- but be forewarned if you decide to cruise SE Alaska in October.  

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SC LTC

SC LTC

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38 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Just a comment from someone who lives in Alaska and has traveled to SE Alaska on business -- there is a reason why those October cruises are so discounted.  Expect rough seas and heavy rain.  Some folks have reported that they were lucky with the weather -- but be forewarned if you decide to cruise SE Alaska in October.  

What do you mean SE Alaska?

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disneyochem

disneyochem

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15 hours ago, SC LTC said:

What do you mean SE Alaska?

 

15 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

If you read this boards you will see this term often.  SE Alaska means Southeast Alaska.  When folks are on a cruise ship they are in SE Alaska.

And for most cruise lines, this means Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway port stops.

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Heidi13

Heidi13

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17 hours ago, SC LTC said:

Any information on taking a cruise to Alaska 2024, any input would be appreciated…

 

I assume you are most likely considering NCL,  as the Alaska cruise line experts have already left the region, for good reason. I haven't lived in Alaska, but did complete 2 seasons working on the ships, with us leaving the region mid-September.

 

Year round, I spent 30+ years working the waters just below SE Alaska, so no way I would pay money for that experience in October. To reach Alaska you must sail through the waters where I worked.

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AKStafford

AKStafford

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Below was  taken from a recent Facebook post in a group for advice for Alaska travel. I thought it was worth placing here as well:

"Hola Travelers,

As someone *very* active in the Alaska business & tourism field (and local to Juneau/Skagway since 2009), many of you chose to NOT book thru a travel agent and do not get the information I'm about to post; and the cruise lines and online booking sites don't know (or don't WANT you to know) this timeline of how business operates in Alaska.

This includes TOURS, shops, TRANSPORTATION (including the TRAIN), etc).

Our season has *always* been May 15 - September 15th. This is etched in STONE. Almost everything is open during this time period.

Here's how they staff:

April - workers start showing up, training commences.

April 15 - maybe 25% of all tours/shops/excursions are open

May 1 - 60%ish of businesses are open

May 15 - 80% of businessses are open. Alaska Railroad opens.

May 23/24thish: 100% of businesses are open

September 4/5ish: We lose 25% of our staff and businesses

September 15: About 50% of tours/businesses closed (including the Alaska Railroad)

October 1st: We are probably at 20-25% of businesses and tours open

Last Cruise: 5-10% of businesses are open (except for locals).

Keep this in mind when you book your cruise if you are NOT going to book thru an Alaska-based agency or someone who has been up here a lot.

In Skagway, it was rough on October 1st when we had only *** 2 *** full service restaurants open in town. JUST TWO. Yet we had 5,000 passenger ships still coming in. Most of our tours had already closed, except for a few ran by Skagway Tours, Southeast, and the railroad. I think Alaska X had a few still going. But it was NOT pretty for how the tourists were treating us (I even closed my shop due to how rude some of them were, and went on my own cruise in Florida). We had ships skipping ports due to horrible weather starting in late September, and every day I was getting an email from Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, or Sitka advising of another ship skipping a port that day or heavily delayed.

There's a reason the cruise lines drop the prices SSSOOO low in our off-season - please keep this in mind when booking. If you are perfectly fine in NCL's Thermal Spa or doing onboard activities, then fantastic. You'll have a wonderful time."

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wolfie11

wolfie11

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3 hours ago, Coral said:

After going to Alaska a ton, I wouldn't mind trying one in October for fall colors. I would never recommend it for a first time traveler.

I was on a cruise the last week of September this year.  The weather was a bit rough with wind and rain almost every day.  I’ve been on so many Alaska cruises I really don’t care if I get off the ship or not, but if I paid a lot of money for a bucket list cruise and actually expected to see something or have a wide choice of excursions to choose from I’d be very disappointed. 

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Northern Aurora

Northern Aurora

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7 hours ago, Coral said:

After going to Alaska a ton, I wouldn't mind trying one in October for fall colors. I would never recommend it for a first time traveler.

 

Well -- I've been in SE Alaska in October a number of times.  For years I attended the Museums Alaska/Alaska Historical Society annual meetings (the two groups meet jointly as so many folks attend both).  Don't get too excited about those fall colors.  The bulk of the forest in SE (or at least in the Tongass) is sitka spruce, western hemlock and red cedar.  But I will acknowledge that when the pelting rain moves from vertical to horizontal the green of the sitka spruce makes it easy to see what has happened.

 

In the Interior we  have lovely fall colors above tree line as the lichens and ground shrubs change colors.  And more folks now have been planting Amur Maples in their yards.  They are not native but the Georgeson Botanical Garden brought them into Fairbanks in the 1980s and local nurseries sell them.  They do change colors, as do our birch and aspen trees.  

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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19 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Well -- I've been in SE Alaska in October a number of times.  For years I attended the Museums Alaska/Alaska Historical Society annual meetings (the two groups meet jointly as so many folks attend both).  Don't get too excited about those fall colors.  The bulk of the forest in SE (or at least in the Tongass) is sitka spruce, western hemlock and red cedar.  But I will acknowledge that when the pelting rain moves from vertical to horizontal the green of the sitka spruce makes it easy to see what has happened.

 

In the Interior we  have lovely fall colors above tree line as the lichens and ground shrubs change colors.  And more folks now have been planting Amur Maples in their yards.  They are not native but the Georgeson Botanical Garden brought them into Fairbanks in the 1980s and local nurseries sell them.  They do change colors, as do our birch and aspen trees.  

Right after I wrote that - I was thinking that inland would have the colors as opposed to the cruise ports. Well - there is always the chance of Northern Lights, right??? 🙂 

 

Again, I would never recommend this for someone on their first or second cruise. For someone like me, it would be fine. We experience vertical and horizontal rain also!

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KruisinKath

KruisinKath

Posted
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On 12/28/2023 at 12:24 PM, AKStafford said:

Below was  taken from a recent Facebook post in a group for advice for Alaska travel. I thought it was worth placing here as well:

"Hola Travelers,

As someone *very* active in the Alaska business & tourism field (and local to Juneau/Skagway since 2009), many of you chose to NOT book thru a travel agent and do not get the information I'm about to post; and the cruise lines and online booking sites don't know (or don't WANT you to know) this timeline of how business operates in Alaska.

This includes TOURS, shops, TRANSPORTATION (including the TRAIN), etc).

Our season has *always* been May 15 - September 15th. This is etched in STONE. Almost everything is open during this time period.

Here's how they staff:

April - workers start showing up, training commences.

April 15 - maybe 25% of all tours/shops/excursions are open

May 1 - 60%ish of businesses are open

May 15 - 80% of businessses are open. Alaska Railroad opens.

May 23/24thish: 100% of businesses are open

September 4/5ish: We lose 25% of our staff and businesses

September 15: About 50% of tours/businesses closed (including the Alaska Railroad)

October 1st: We are probably at 20-25% of businesses and tours open

Last Cruise: 5-10% of businesses are open (except for locals).

Keep this in mind when you book your cruise if you are NOT going to book thru an Alaska-based agency or someone who has been up here a lot.

In Skagway, it was rough on October 1st when we had only *** 2 *** full service restaurants open in town. JUST TWO. Yet we had 5,000 passenger ships still coming in. Most of our tours had already closed, except for a few ran by Skagway Tours, Southeast, and the railroad. I think Alaska X had a few still going. But it was NOT pretty for how the tourists were treating us (I even closed my shop due to how rude some of them were, and went on my own cruise in Florida). We had ships skipping ports due to horrible weather starting in late September, and every day I was getting an email from Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, or Sitka advising of another ship skipping a port that day or heavily delayed.

There's a reason the cruise lines drop the prices SSSOOO low in our off-season - please keep this in mind when booking. If you are perfectly fine in NCL's Thermal Spa or doing onboard activities, then fantastic. You'll have a wonderful time."

I wish this could be a pinned post at the top of the first page!  I’ve been researching for my second Alaska trip and was surprised to see that the cruise lines have expanded the sailings earlier/later. Wasn’t surprised at the negative reviews I started seeing about tours/venues being shut down; though even just a few days of reading this and other forums would steer people away from these outside-shoulder seasons, but sadly many people don’t want to bother doing a little homework.

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SC LTC

SC LTC

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On 12/29/2023 at 9:39 PM, KruisinKath said:

I wish this could be a pinned post at the top of the first page!  I’ve been researching for my second Alaska trip and was surprised to see that the cruise lines have expanded the sailings earlier/later. Wasn’t surprised at the negative reviews I started seeing about tours/venues being shut down; though even just a few days of reading this and other forums would steer people away from these outside-shoulder seasons, but sadly many people don’t want to bother doing a little homework.

So true 

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wolfie11

wolfie11

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This video was taken last April. I believe it was late April because it took longer to clear the tracks to the Summit last year.  After you watch the people board the train, skip to around six minutes in.

 

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