Amsterdam Sept 12 to Alaska.... Weather???

[darleen1421]

I am on the Amsterdam Sept 12 to Alaska and am wondering what to expect weather wise. Will it be cold on the ship? What about in the ports? Has anyone been there in Sept? Need to know how to pack. I live near Seattle so no problem with bags, but want to have enough warm if I need it.

[WaStateBG]

Hi Darleen, we're neighbors I see.

 

I'd be curious to know the answer to this too because I'm cold-blooded, and will I be cold on the ship? Can the stewards bring extra blankets to your room? I always need them to do that in hotels because of the veyr thin blankets on the beds.

[darleen1421]

Hi WAStateBG

Where are you in WA? Are you on this cruise?

[WaStateBG]

I'm not sailing til spring but I figured spring/fall weather might be similar since its pretty much winter up there then. A mountain climber friend told me that the climbing window in Alaska is May/June/July, anything before or after that is iffy. I'm in Seattle.

[darleen1421]

Daughter and son in law went last year in May. Took down jackets but hardly needed them. Weather was much better than they expected. I just haven't heard about weather in Sept.

[Sundagger]

I was on the last ship to cruise to Alaska in September a few years ago. It was sunny and pleasant the first and last day. Otherwise it was chilly and damp. It may have gotten into the 60's, but generally was cooler. It kind of misted on and off most days and the clouds were quite low.

 

The good part of that cruise was that it was uncrowded and all of the shops were having major sales. Some stores were literally packing up as I went in there to look around. Got lots of good gifts for the people at work.

 

I would think that the weather would be somewhat variable at that time of year and other cruisers may have had a very different climate in September.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We did this same week on the Noordam last year and I thought we had great weather. The only rain fall and couds we saw were in Ktchikan. We had a glorious sunny in Glacier Bay that was probably the warmest I evern remember near the Glaciers. But that is not to say you could hit the opposite weather. We also saw the most activity of whales.

[DFD1]

Weather anytime in Alaska is hard to predict. We sailed 9/15 last year and had very little rain, not much sunshine, but generally overcast cool days. I packed a warm jacket and a fleece zip-up with a hood, jeans and cords (not for dinner). Worked fine.

 

Sailed all the way to the top of Glacier Bay. Felt like we could touch the faces of the glaciers. Great fun.

 

For those who care, the shops were all clearing out and had discounts up to 70% or 80% off on lots of merchandise. I think they were all packing up to head to Mexico and the Caribbean for the winter.

 

We had a wonderful time.

[Boytjie]

We were on the Amsterdam last year around the same time. Juneau was cold and foggy, in the 50's. Glacier Bay was cold and wet, in the upper 30's (it cleared a bit around Margerie glacier), Sitka and Ketchican were sunny with blue skies in the low 70's.

 

The interior of the ship did not deel any different from when we were on Caribbean cruises.

 

And yes, there were a lot of sales in port in mid September! Also on the ship: got Alaska t-shirts and Dam Ship baseball caps for half price.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We are on the Amsterdam the week before the OP is. We also cruised Alaska on another line July 4-11. The weather at that time was in the 50s throughout the cruise and rainy in Juneau.Other ports were in the 50s and overcast and occasionally windy. The sunniest day was the last day sailing the Inland Passage.

 

For weather this summer, a good blog to follow is Captain Albert's (a HAL captain currently on the Veendam if I remember correctly).

 

http://www.avidcruiser.com/albert/

 

The ship itself will be quite comfortable. In July, we both had jackets with liners, hats, and umbrellas, and were quite comfortable both in port and on deck during glacier viewing.

 

We are looking forward to another visit in Alaska in just five weeks.

 

Barbara

[darleen1421]

Thanks for all of the info. I am especially happy about the sales. I am a shopper and it sounds great to me. Any good excursions for two women in their 60's that aren't too strenuous? I think I have a good idea about clothes. Looks like the weather in July wasn't much better than it will be in Sept.