Best Time & Ship For Alaska

[auburn77]

We've been on many cruises, but never on Princess and never to Alaska. Is early June ok if we are only cruising (no before or after land tour). My wife thinks it is too early. What Princess ship is best?

[mr green]

May and early June IMO is best for Alaska, it is the 'dry time'. We have put in over 50 days in this time frame, with just 2 days of rain.

Coral Princess is our favorite ship, doing a B2B.

 

john

[spyro1952]

We've been on many cruises, but never on Princess and never to Alaska. Is early June ok if we are only cruising (no before or after land tour). My wife thinks it is too early. What Princess ship is best?

 

I have done 4 ten day cruises to Alaska, doing one in early June. I prefer the 1st two weeks in August as the weather is quite warm compared to early June. I also prefer 10 days rather then 7 as there are a few less kids. We've never has a bad august cruise to Alaska.

[auburn77]

Thanks

[generichandle]

Our cruise to Alaska was on Coral. Service was beyond great.

 

That said, I doubt you can have a BAD Alaska cruise. It rained most of the time we were there, although we noted that both the previous and next sailing were blessed with great weather. It happens. BUT! Alaska was so absolutely stunning that no weather could dampen my enthusiasm. I will go back. I could even go on Holl .....err, I mean RC ...... err, Celeb ..... on another line and I am certain Alaska would be super. ;)

 

Enjoy!

 

Doug

[austinlw]

We were on Coral Princess the first week of June in 2009. We had blue sunny skies every day on the cruise (we got extra lucky). It even got into the 80's in Ketchikan, which is unusual. One thing I particularly enjoyed about cruising in June were the very long days. We stayed up on deck until late into the evenings watching for whales. Once you get up to the Juneau/Skagway area it doesn't get completely dark in June. One of my favorite memories of the trip was heading south in Lynn Canal after leaving Skagway watching the spectacular scenery and whales until after 11PM. Coral Princess is a very pretty ship, and there are nice viewing areas in the front and back of the ship to watch the passing scenery.

[scottam]

We cruised in early June and the weather was perfect. Almost no rain at all and beautiful blue skies!

[NancyIL]

I have cruised in May, June, July, and August. All had pretty good weather, but I think our June 4-11, 2007 northbound cruise on the Coral Princess had the best weather.

 

As to which ship, I would choose the itinerary first. I think the best Princess itinerary is the southbound from Whittier to Vancouver because it goes to both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. The northbound goes to Glacier Bay and College Fjord. College Fjord is lovely, but you can take a small boat cruise from Whittier to see the same area. Four ships do the one-way itinerary in 2012: Diamond, Sapphire, Coral, and Island.

[gertz]

Alaska is absolutely addictive at any time. Prefer Vancouver or Whittier but any departure port or time would be fine with us.

[Beopthtuh]

been to alaske twice in may and had great weather, the first thing to look at is itinery what you want to see or do.

first in 2001 was on ocean p and second last year was on sea p ,prefer the sun class ships they get nice and close to glaciers

[lovetoholiday]

We went last year 1st week in June and the weather was great, sun and clear blue sky. Just some drizzle in Ketchikan.

 

Alaska scenery is amazing!

[mimix5]

We sailed the third week of August and it was perfect. We had no rain and a wonderful time

[Leonid]

Just returned from two weeks on anther line. Left 8/26 & returned 9/9. Would not go again that late. Rain, wind, fog and just generally overcast. And this was our 4th cruise to Alaska. My suggestion would be mid July. High season, but much better chance of good weather.

[azdmelani]

We've been on many cruises, but never on Princess and never to Alaska. Is early June ok if we are only cruising (no before or after land tour). My wife thinks it is too early. What Princess ship is best?

 

Just returned from the Golden almost two weeks ago. We went 8/27 and had a fantastic cruise. Weather was perfect, hardly any rain. Would recommend both that timeframe and the Golden!

[captainron]

Just returned from two weeks on anther line. Left 8/26 & returned 9/9. Would not go again that late. Rain, wind, fog and just generally overcast. And this was our 4th cruise to Alaska. My suggestion would be mid July. High season, but much better chance of good weather.

 

Sounds like more bad luck than anything. Have done the southbound Alaska (Whittier to YVR last week Aug/early Sep). While we had a Force 9 storm the first night out of Whittier, the rest of the voyage was superb with slightly overcast at Hubbard Glacier, but warm (67F) and tee shirt short weather all day in Glacier Bay from sunrise to sunset. Skagway was clear blue skies and warm all the way up through the White Pass to Fraser, BC and Carcross, YT. Lovely weather in Juneau and the only drizzle we had was our day in Ketchikan, but still good enough to clean up ion the end of cruise season bargains in the shops.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[bob123]

Let me put it this way: I sat next to a guy at the Air Force football game two weeks ago (Sept 3) who was at the AF Academy for Parents Weekend. He and his wife were from Wasilla. He told me that they had two days of sunshine since June 1st. So it's hard to predict. Both times we've sailed out of Whittier during the latter part of July, it was overcast. But once we got going, it cleared up and we had great weather all the way to Vancouver.

 

It's too bad you are passing up land tours or self-guided tours. There is so much to see and enjoy in Alaska that the cruise almost seems anticlimactic. But we're doing it again next year anyway.:D

 

bob123

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

June or July if you like it warm.

[Princessmich]

We sailed on Celebrity the last week of August and for someone who hates the cold..we had great weather. Even the locals in Ketchikan were saying we were really lucky, it rained a little in Juneau but other than that it was great!

Michelle:)

[zahav1]

Alaska's weather is mostly unpredicable, you can have beautiful or terrible weather at any time. If you are interested in seeing more wildlife, as more eagles and bears, then go after June 25th or so. Salmon swims up stream during late June and that's when most of the wild life comes out so catch the salmon. We went mid June and missed the salmon, didn't know about it and didn't see many bears, whales or abundant eagles. So, weather and warmth should not be the only reason. Regarding the ship, the Coral or Island are best.

[Countrygirl44]

DH and I have cruised Alaska five times. Southbound, Northbound and R/T Seattle. Our favorite is from Anchorage to Vancouver. Three times we went the last week of May, one time the second week of June and one time the last week of August. Decent weather on all the cruises.

That being said, our favorite time is the last week of May. Rates are cheaper, days are longer and the snow in the valleys and ontop the mountains on the drive from Skagway to the Yukon are absolutely beautiful.

Next year we plan to go to Hawaii, but will be looking at the 2013 Alaska rates and my just decide to do our sixth trip. The date, the last week of May. The cruise may the R/T Seattle again, simply because of the easier flights from Charlotte...DH is starting to have trouble flying and the non stop from Charlotte to Seattle and Seattle to Charlotte is better for him.

I would always choose a cruise that has Glacier Bay over Tracy Arms, College Fjord and Hubbard. However, I truly like the Anchorage to Vancouver to get both the Glacier Bay and Hubbard. The problem is the long flights for DH.

You really cannot go wrong with going to Alaska the last of May through mid September. I have read that some of the most beautiful scenery is in September...I just do not think I would want the short days..."just sayin"

[Putterdude]

June will give you more light and if it is a cool spring then you will see more snow capped mountains. However given a choice I would choose mid-July thru mid-Aug for warmer temperates. Certainly no one can predict the weather is Alaska but I have something close to 150 days cruising to Alaska since 1963 and that is my favourite time...the trade off is a little less daylight for salmon starting to spawn in the rivers and lots of wildlife activity. My favourite ship(s) would be the Diamond/ Sapphire followed by the Coral/Island. We prefer the Diamond/Sapphire but your decision may be predicated on departure dates.

[NUGal]

We have cruised to Alaska five times and have always booked sometime in July or the first half of August. Weather has been fine every time. We did a B2B on the Diamond and loved it. Whichever time and ship you choose, Just be sure your itinerary includes Glacier Bay. It's spectacular!

[Starlaker]

We have gone twice in early September and the weather was great both times. On our first trip we did the land portion from Fairbanks to Whittier first, then cruised down to Vancouver. The fall colors were gorgeous. We were also able to see lots of Salmon. The second trip we just did the cruise portion. This is the end of the season and the ports were not crowded with a lot of cruise ships. Also no children. And all the shops had big sales going on. We still had plenty of daylight and were able to see the Northern Lights. However, as you can tell by all the varied answers, anytime in Alaska is a good time!

[mr green]

We have gone twice in early September and the weather was great both times. However, as you can tell by all the varied answers, anytime in Alaska is a good time!

 

On our one B2B in Sept., we had only ONE day that was 'rain free'.

Some Alaskans claim that when its raining you see the 'True Alaska'. For me I much prefer it if they lie a little.:)

[sashas_mom]

We sailed on the Coral on a b2b Vancouver to Whittier starting June 5th. Had gorgeous weather going North and rain almost every day coming South. We loved Alaska, want to do it again. We had a fantastic naturalist which made it so enjoyable as she would describe what we were looking at. Can someone tell me if they have a naturalist on all the ships?

 

Regardless of when you go, the Alaska boards have a wealth of information by Budget Queen and Murray (at least they did when we sailed a few years ago).