Alaska in May

[Gaprofitt]

What are the Pro's and Con's of going to Alaska in May versus June or July, obviously it will be a little cooler.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

[SunFunCruiser]

We just got back from a trip that started May 29th.

I can tell you our pros and cons and what tour guides told us along the way about the different times of year.

 

May is still cusp of off season, some stuff is less expensive, especially the hotels and cruises. Some tours even give early season discounts. We manages a few good discounts.

Less crowded, which is a big plus. especially when you go on excursions.

Weather is usually nicer, but cooler. We did have a mix of weather throughout our 15 days in Alaska, ranging from cold, wet and 40's to Sunny, dry and 70's! lol

Mountains are covered more by the snow, a plus IMO.

 

Cons, less wildlife. We did see quite a few animals, but apparently they aren't our as much that time of year. Most are still coming down from the mountains and just had babies.

Bears are seen more frequently when the salmon run, which is not in May.

The flowers aren't quite in bloom yet either. I honestly saw very few the first week we were in Alaska, by the time we left, it seemed lke the wildflowers were blooming over night!

 

When you cruise in May and go to Glaciers, you may not be able to get as close to them for viewing. We were only able to get within six miles of College Fjords. I was talking to someone who went to Glacier Bay and it was a similar experince for them. It was still beautiful!!

You can't go to the end of Denali. Even on June 3rd, we could only go to Fish Creek.

 

I loved going when we did, it worked out well for us. Next time we go, I would like to try the end of the season to see the difference. I'm sure it would be just as beautiful, but a totally different look.

[gazingm42]

Because you are early in the season things are cheaper. But you will not

see as much wildlife as you will in June onward. The weather can play into

the factor on the ocean and glaciers viewing as well.

 

If you going on to tour alaska it can effect your tours there as well.

 

But on the otherside of the coin you can save some $$ on the trip.

 

We personally have found mid June to be very nice.

[LarryF]

We started our cruise on May 19 NB from Vancouver to Whittier. We had sunny skies in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway with morning temps in the high 30s and low 40's and warmed up to 70 degrees each day. Misty Fjords was like heaven as we soared above snow capped mountains, we spotted over 15 whales on our whale watching tour in Juneau. Our drive to the Yukon from Skagway was about as breathtaking a drive that you will ever see including watching a black bear from 15 feet away for over 30 minutes!

 

Glacier Bay and College Fjords were so spectacular I cannot imagine it being any nice any other time of the year. In Glacier Bay we watched in awe as a 200 foot high sheet of ice calved off Marjorie Glacier!

 

The weather during our 7 days of driving from Seward to Denali had 1 day two days of off an on rain with temps in the 40's and 50's, two days of mostly cloudy days with temps in the 50's and 3 days of sunny weather with temps in the 40's to 60's.

 

There is no predicting Alaska weather, but historically there is less rain in May and that definitley held true the two weeks we were there.

 

My pictures are attached on the link to webshots below and you can get an idea of what the weather was like in the pics.

 

Larry

[jadejay2]

We came back from a southbound cruise on Princess a few weeks ago. May is supposed to be the dry season, relatively speaking. But we still got rain about 50% of the time. On the plus side, there were less crowd everywhere we went while on land. We did get very close to the glaciers in College Fjords and in Glacier Bay. We also saw some good wildlife actions from whales, eagles, to bears at various locations. One thing we didn't see in May was the salmon run . . . I think I will still pick late May as the time for our next Alaska cruise.

[Budget Queen]

It also depends on where in Alaska you are going?? IF interior Alaska it is better end of may and in combo with a northbound trip. Key is to get in as far as you can into Denali Park.

 

And actually, there are only "less " crowds in INTERIOR Alaska, cruise ships are in full schedule mid May. So it is NOT less inside ports.

 

It's all great, go when you have the time, and with your choice, post on this board so your fine tuning will be the best choices since there are some differences depending on when you go.

[tee_harbor]

And actually, there are only "less " crowds in INTERIOR Alaska, cruise ships are in full schedule mid May. So it is NOT less inside ports.

 

This is completely true. They were up to 10,000 a day within the first week here in Juneau.

 

If this is your once in a lifetime trip to Alaska, I'd highly recommend going later, mid-June through mid-August. If you travel to Alaska regularly, I can see it would interesting to view the different rapidly flipping pages that is the book: Not Winter In Alaska. :D

 

But, my friends who visited the week of May 15 gushed on and on about how beautiful everything is, while I fussed about how if they were only here a few weeks later, so it may easily just be my outlook. In May, the evergreens are green, obviously, but everything else is still brown and very beaten down looking. The true, lush, rainforest of towering devil's club and fragrant skunk cabbage, the waves of wild flowers, bowing elderberries, bouquets of cow parsnip, are weeks off. The salmon won't run for months.

 

Yes, there was still plenty of snow and your tour leaders and wait staff will probably still have a spring in their step. But also everything's always behind up here--running on Alaska time--so some things may not be open or up to speed.

 

It seemed that the ships showed up a week earlier than the previous year but I think they're starting to push the limits. I remember looking out my window last September, through as absolute wall of sideways rain, over at the cruise ship huddled at the dock and muttering, Those poor people....

 

Now that I'm reading cruise reviews about eating ice cream in hot tubs, though, I'm wondering if I'm the poor sucker! :D

[SunFunCruiser]

It also depends on where in Alaska you are going?? IF interior Alaska it is better end of may and in combo with a northbound trip. Key is to get in as far as you can into Denali Park.

 

And actually, there are only "less " crowds in INTERIOR Alaska, cruise ships are in full schedule mid May. So it is NOT less inside ports.

 

It's all great, go when you have the time, and with your choice, post on this board so your fine tuning will be the best choices since there are some differences depending on when you go.

 

Here's my imput on that and I know you have way more experince, but I do talk to everyone I meet ;)

Even though our CCL Spirit ship was full, people that work on the ship said that the occupancy levels on the ships are a lot lower in May and early June. Less kids and most cabins only have 2 in them this time of year.

My son only had 4 kids in his age group in Camp Carnival, much to his dismay. The teen club was practically empty leaving my DD to play with my neice. lol

I also talked to a women that just got off a Princess ship and she said the same thing.

Also, all the tours we did during our cruise had plenty of room on them. Orca and Chilkook would be full in a week or two.

I even mentioned to the bartender at Annabelle's in Ketchikan how busy the port was, and she said, oh this is nothing, in two weeks it's even more crowded.

I was actually surprised at how crowded Denali was, it was hard to find a seat on a shuttle after getting off and hiking for a bit. We had to wait for three busses to get back on.

 

BTW, I think Princess has the monopoly on the Denali area @@

[Keith1010]

I would go for May vs. June and July. June and July are part of the height of the Alaska tourist season and while there will still be lots of tourists in May there will be less than what you see at the peak times. If it was me, I would go with either May or September.

 

Keith

[sayaguru]

Hi we went on Diamond Princess from Vancouver on 12th May last just gone.

We had perfect weather (cold only one day). We didn't need any of our cold gear. In Ketchikan and Junea we walked around with Tshirts. We were blessed with the weather.

College Fjord was breathtaking. Even the guide was raving about how he had never seen it so clear.

W were worried about not getting in close but it wasn't a problem. I know other ships had difficulty just before and after us. It did take quite a while to manoever out though because of all the ice cakes.

I think it's a bit of luck really. We were away in America and Canada for a total of 5 weeks. We had one rainy day and half a day of light drizzle the whole time. I was very worried about cold weather but didn't need half the stuff packed. We were VERY lucky.

[kingsgirl]

What are the Pro's and Con's of going to Alaska in May versus June or July, obviously it will be a little cooler.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

 

From my experience this year, we had superior weather (no rain while in port - just a little rain as we left Sitka and while at Hubbard). However, we could not get close to Hubbard and we didn't stay long to view. I think most of us are having a late spring here in Canada so I assume it's the same in Alaska making the glacier viewing not as superior as other years. Other than that, a GREAT time to visit.

[Coral]

From my experience this year, we had superior weather (no rain while in port - just a little rain as we left Sitka and while at Hubbard). However, we could not get close to Hubbard and we didn't stay long to view. I think most of us are having a late spring here in Canada so I assume it's the same in Alaska making the glacier viewing not as superior as other years. Other than that, a GREAT time to visit.

 

Once I was at Hubbard in July and we could not get close either. I don't think the month matters on Hubbard.

[plantlady095]

We returned home June 13 from our trip. We toured overland for 14 days and joined the Zaandam in Skagway June 9.

 

Our Tundra Wilderness Tour was June 1 and we saw every kind of wildlife except wolves. The TWT was incredible and our driver/guide, Bruce Lee, was superb. The Dall Sheep and Moose had given birth the week before our tour, so we saw lots of youngsters. Be sure to have two nights in Denali so that you will have the time to do the TWT. Princess does have a large complex, but so does HAL at the McKinley Chalets. We stayed in their Canyon Lodge which is a new building and very NICE. BTW, Mt. McKinley was out for us and it was so exciting. That morning, we had booked the self-drive jeep and GPS tour. It was a relief to get away from people and be off on our own. While driving on the Denali Highway (a gravel road), we saw a moose, red fox, beaver, ravens, and eagles.

 

We had perfect weather (if a little warm) from the afternoon of May 31 until we embarked, 6/9. Our Cruisetour was the second of the season for HAL's #6 to go inland and southbound on the Inside Passage. At one point we crossed paths with the northbound #6 and had a chance to quiz them about excursions and the ship. That was fun, too! In Glacier Bay, we could not go in all of the way because the seals were using the ice for their babies and they are protected. In spite of that, the Marguerite Glacier calved actively and it was a swell day. It did rain and we were glad to have our balcony for videotaping the glacier action.

 

From time to time, it seemed like some of the wait-staff in the overland portion were not fully trained. It was not a big deal to us, but simply more of a hiccup.

 

A posting I read before our trip complained of no place to sit on a Misty Fjords boat, but we did not have that experience. It was not quite full and the people were very congenial.

 

In Skagway, the Zaandam was the only ship in port, so there were no crowds. In Ketchikan, there were four ships and two of them left far earlier than the Zaandam, so the various groups of people seemed to flow fairly well. In Ketchikan, we were told that the salmon were beginning to run, but we could not see them in the creek. If the salmon run is important to you then late June might be more attractive. Mosquitoes were never an issue during our trip.

 

I would be likely to go at the same time if I had a chance to do it all over again. I do want to see the Northern Lights and we were told that we would have to be there after mid August to see them because the nights were just not dark enough before that. We were glad to have clothespins to keep the drapes closed in the various Westmark hotels.

[tee_harbor]

I would go for May vs. June and July. June and July are part of the height of the Alaska tourist season and while there will still be lots of tourists in May there will be less than what you see at the peak times. If it was me, I would go with either May or September.

 

Keith

 

IMO, it comes down to crowds in certain areas vs gambling on the weather. You are at greater risk of poor weather in SE Alaska in May/September. And a worse version of poor weather. Rain can be very cold and wind can be added to the mix. This year, I really wondered if the first cruisers were going to have snow coming down on them but it finally stopped snowing.

 

Depending on what you plan to do, there are no crowds in certain places, even when 5 ships are in. At least here in Juneau, they all stay downtown in the jewelry shops, or go to Mendenhall Glacier, and even then, a majority just walk out to the Photo outlook, creating a huge crowd there, then return to wait for their bus. If you take any of the trails, they're not there.

 

Because CC posters are so proactive, I'm not saying anyone here is like that, but it's thousands more people on the cruises. I go all over, from hiking trails, to stores, to many of the tourists sights--I enjoy photography--to museums, and although they're a bit more busy than in the depths of winter, they are in no way what I'd describe as crowded.

 

Even a lot of ships in port doesn't necessary translate to crowded streets. The expected number of visitors is printed in the paper every day (So locals can avoid downtown? :D ) and sometimes a 12,000 visitor day has meant just a few clumps on street corners. I find myself peering under tablecloths for them!

[Coral]

IMO, it comes down to crowds in certain areas vs gambling on the weather. You are at greater risk of poor weather in SE Alaska in May/September. And a worse version of poor weather. Rain can be very cold and wind can be added to the mix. This year, I really wondered if the first cruisers were going to have snow coming down on them but it finally stopped snowing.

 

I have gone once in July and 5 times in May. My July cruise was by far the worst cruise ever. It was never dry. It was always, cold, wet, windy and visibility th entire cruise was zero. I will take my May cruises any day.

[jamimi0]

we were among the first cruisers this may and we had beautiful, sunny weather each day. all temps were mild and in the 50s and 60s, as high as 72 in juneau. you just never know.

[fti]

I was actually surprised at how crowded Denali was, it was hard to find a seat on a shuttle after getting off and hiking for a bit. We had to wait for three busses to get back on.

 

One reason for the wait is that there are fewer shuttle buses operating in May than in June/July/August. I went in September a couple of years ago and had to wait for a second bus.

 

BTW, I think Princess has the monopoly on the Denali area

 

Fortunately I avoid Glitter Gulch as much as possible and try to stay inside the park as often as possible. Princess doesn't have any operations in Kantishna :D

[gambit57]

You are at greater risk of poor weather in SE Alaska in May/September. And a worse version of poor weather. Rain can be very cold and wind can be added to the mix. This year, I really wondered if the first cruisers were going to have snow coming down on them but it finally stopped snowing.

 

Don't most local Alaskans say May is the best weather for cruising? Especially mid to late May? Early May might get some rain/snow, but isn't May usually one of the driest months?

 

As I understand it, this past May was AWESOME weatherwise.

[SunFunCruiser]

Our trip pretty much mirrored your trip!! We started May 29th.

 

I have a picture of your ship from our ship, the Spirit, on the last sea day.

Email it if you want a copy.

I might even have one of it sailing away from Ketchikan. I'll look.

 

email addy is at the bottom in my siggy.