How rough are waters on summer Alaska cruises?

[perkydebrajean]

I'm trying to convince my husband to go on a cruise with me and I want to go to Alaska.

 

How rough are the seas during cruising season to Alaska? Would probably be going in June or July.

 

Thanks everyone for any help you can give me!

[rvsullivan]

Well, it is prime time, barring a major storm the odds are pretty good that you will have good weather. Inside passage would have a little better chance of good weather than outside passage. On average, you should be fine.

[bakerintn]

Its always hard to predict, because the size of the waves has to do with weather....storms bring the bigger waves.

 

A lot of the cruise will be in relatively protected waters...the most likely rough spot will be the first night out if your ship takes the "outside" route....and the route actually taken is also hard to predict...that is up to the captain at the time.

 

Even if it is "rough"...it should not be too bad.

[Keith1010]

Do you know what itinerary you are looking at?

 

In general we have found the sea conditions in Alaska to be not a whole lot different than say the Caribbean.

 

You may have smooth sailings for the entire cruise or a little rough waters or a little more rough but I would say the same on say a R/T Florida Caribbean cruise.

 

Boot a mid ship cabin and just come prepared.

 

Keith

[Basketweaverz]

Our three trips to Alaska have been fine with smooth water except for our last one on the first night when the Star tried to go outside of Vancouver Island. We ate dinner in Versailles with quite a bit of motion and noise. Woke up the next morning with land outside our port cabin (which should have been the Pacific)!!! We had turned around after dark and went inside of Vancouver Island instead.

 

The rest of the trip was smooth.

[Novastar]

I went in August 3 years ago and it was smooth sailing all the way!

[perkydebrajean]

I haven't decided which route I want to take. He's never been on a cruise and I just finished my first one a few weeks ago.

 

I took the NYC to Florida and Bahamas and it was smooth sailing the entire trip until our last sea day and then we had 12 to 18 foot swells for about half the day. Those I felt!!

 

I have a feeling since he heard me talking about that and it's turned him off on trying a cruise.

[donaldsc]

On our last 14 day Seattle to Seattle trip, the worse seas were as we came into Seattle. They cancelled dinner, the captain told us to stay in the cabin, and they brought sandwiches after we got into sheltered water.

 

I love rough seas so it did not bother me but the boat was bouncing around because of the course they had to take to get into Seattle.

 

DON

[Cubechick]

Our one Alaska cruise was in June and it was smooth the entire way.

 

Of course it is impossible to predict for certain.

[gra2172]

We just went in June and it was smooth the whole time.

[bonvoyagie]

Just got back from a RT out of Seattle and the entire first evening was calm and glassy, Monday it went to slight 1.5' seas and it stayed that way until the end of the cruise when we encounterd 3' seas on the return to Seattle. On large cruise ships you don't even feel these conditions. Living in the PNW I know that the weather and sea conditions can vary widely from day to day and year to year. Last fall was one of the worst for large storms. Your best chance of having smooth waters is to take a RT cruise out of Vancouver BC that way the worst seas you will see would be in the open area around Queen Charlotte Island.

[perkydebrajean]

Just got back from a RT out of Seattle and the entire first evening was calm and glassy, Monday it went to slight 1.5' seas and it stayed that way until the end of the cruise when we encounterd 3' seas on the return to Seattle. On large cruise ships you don't even feel these conditions. Living in the PNW I know that the weather and sea conditions can vary widely from day to day and year to year. Last fall was one of the worst for large storms. Your best chance of having smooth waters is to take a RT cruise out of Vancouver BC that way the worst seas you will see would be in the open area around Queen Charlotte Island.

 

Thanks for the advice! And thanks for everyones answers.