Alaska

[fitcruisecouple]

Anyone here have experience sailing with Carnival through Alaska?

 

What is the best time of year to do an Alaskan cruise?

 

Which ship is recommended?

[evandbob]

Anyone here have experience sailing with Carnival through Alaska?

 

What is the best time of year to do an Alaskan cruise?

 

Which ship is recommended?

 

 

Weather - wise, August seems best for Alaska cruising, but that is no guarantee of 60 or even 70 degree temps or calm seas. I would definitely avoid the shoulder months of May & Sept, if weather is a concern. Alaskan weather is known to change suddenly, as well as having some days that have 4 or 5 weather changes.

 

As far as cruiseline choice, we went with a land/sea Princess package (a Carnival Corp. entity) because of their long experience in the area and they have access to Alaskan bays that Carnival doesn't have. They offer 7 day one way routes as well, instead of Carnival's Seattle RT's. We started in Fairbanks mid August travelled south through DeNali and several other outposts to Anchoragefor boarding the Crown Princess, ending in Vancouver on Labor Day w/e.

 

Did it cost more than Carnival? Absolutely. Was it worth more to us? Absolutely. For a possible once in a lifetime trip, we wanted to make the best memories possible, so we went with the better experienced and recommended line.

 

Will Carnival serve your needs? By asking the question here, you will get many pro Carnival answers. Ask this same question on the Princess (or even Holland) thread to round out and balance your research. Enjoy!

[fitcruisecouple]

Thank you! I'll check out Princess

[winddawn]

I've cruised to Alaska on Norwegian, Princess, and Carnival. I agree with what evandbob said. Each line has good and bad, and Carnival was my least favorite because of the Seattle roundtrip. The other times I did Vancouver to Anchorage and Vancouver roundtrip which were both better than Carnival's Seattle roundtrip. The ports of call were a little different too. I cruised in May twice and in September once. The first May cruise was absolutely gorgeous weather with daytime 70's and crystal blue skies. The second May trip was a mixed bag of weather, and September had more rain. The May Carnival Alaska cruise had the Tracy Arm day altered due to ice jams. It hadn't warmed up yet enough that early in the season for the ship to be able to navigate the passages. That was a disappointment because I had booked the Explorer excursion for that day. I've always read that July is peak season for cruising Alaska weather-wise, but honestly you have to pack and prepare for varied weather no matter when you choose to go because Alaska weather is unpredictable and there are microclimates. If you choose Carnival out of Seattle, consider a pre-cruise stay at Cedarbrook Lodge. It's a Sea-Tac airport hotel that is nothing like an airport hotel. It sits on lush acreage and offers great, unusual amenities for an airport hotel. They have a free airport shuttle that you can take you to the hotel and back to the airport to catch the Carnival transfer to the ship on embarkation day. The staff and on-site food are remarkable. There is a small swimming pool, shared living rooms with fire places in each building with free snacks like bottled water, string cheese, yogurt, gourmet chocolates, and chips, etc. There are also outdoor eating areas with a fireplace. The lodge and grounds are gorgeous.

 

I hope you have a great Alaska cruise. It is a very worthwhile experience. I'd recommend you plan to spend a lot more on excursions for an Alaska cruise than what you might otherwise spend in the Caribbean. The best excursions like the float plane and helicopters are pricey but worth every penny. I did the float plane twice to Misty Fjord National Monument and it is breathtaking. The second time the pilot landed the plane on one of the small mountain lakes and let us out to stand on the pontoon to experience the scenery and serenity. I did the helicopter ride to land on the Mendenhall Glacier to explore on foot.

[SadieN]

Carnival is doing a 14 day Alaska cruise out of Long Beach in August. Goes to 6 ports and Glacier Bay.

 

 

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[marshhawk]

We cruised the Legend in 2016-the last cruise for the season, left Seattle, and came back to Vancouver, so we got two great major west coast cities.

 

Which is great if you like cities-

 

I loved Alaska! Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan-great excursions in each town, but the best part was Glacier Bay.

 

My advice for Alaska Cruises-be prepared to spend money, make sure you don't stay on the ship, the object of this cruise is to actually see something besides the port. And suck it up and go for it ! Live your dreams. You do pay a lot to get there, regrets don't help if you don't do something you want to do.

[winddawn]

Carnival is doing a 14 day Alaska cruise out of Long Beach in August. Goes to 6 ports and Glacier Bay.

 

 

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Glacier Bay is amazing! So worthwhile.

[mara93]

We cruised Alaska in early July & it was perfect. The day we were in Skagway it was 85 degrees.

Our favorite cruise to date.

[ricew001]

Go to Alaska. You will not regret it. Our very first cruise was a 7-day Alaska on Princess in 2002. I am not kidding you when I say at least once every single week in the last 16 years we've talked about that cruise specifically!

Yes if you can afford to combine land and sea, do it!

Our favorite excursions were the White Pass and Yukon train ride because you see so much and the Whale Watching tour - you just can't put that feeling into words.

 

We went on our anniversary - August 21. It was our 10th anniversary and it was awesome. I did get sick on the actual day of our anniversary sadly -

I found the motion on the inside passage worse than I did in the Carribean tours we've done. But take your drugs and you'll live. It is worth it!

 

The dates are May-Sept. May and Sept I've heard are the coldest. August was nice. Invest in a rain jacket and be sure to bring scarves, gloves, and hats. Something we forgot when we left the 90+ degrees of the Carolinas and had to buy them on board. We had coats but scarves, gloves and hats are a must for when you are watching the glaciers!!!

 

Enjoy. You will not regret it!

[SadieN]

We cruised Alaska in early July & it was perfect. The day we were in Skagway it was 85 degrees.

Our favorite cruise to date.

 

 

 

Has was glacier viewing? Our first timers Alaska it was t-shirt and shorts weather and Glacier Bay was fogged in. As white as the page.

[dsotm73]

Good thread, following along as we are looking at an Alaskan cruise in May/June 2019.

 

We've already done Anchorage and Denali so we're Ok with just the cruise portion.

 

Preliminary pricing shows that Carnival is not a whole lot cheaper than HAL. Anyone have any recent HAL-Alaska experiences they would like to share?

 

I've cruised to Alaska on Norwegian, Princess, and Carnival. I agree with what evandbob said. Each line has good and bad, and Carnival was my least favorite because of the Seattle roundtrip. The other times I did Vancouver to Anchorage and Vancouver roundtrip which were both better than Carnival's Seattle roundtrip.

 

What exactly is less desirable about the Seattle roundtrip?

[mara93]

Has was glacier viewing? Our first timers Alaska it was t-shirt and shorts weather and Glacier Bay was fogged in. As white as the page.

 

 

 

It was great! No fog & chilly. I did the tour that takes you up to the glacier. Very windy & awe inducing! Will definitely do it again.

 

 

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[cbelc]

For cost, do May or September. There is no weather guarantee, even in August. We went in July last year. In Skagway the weather was perfect and we could see miles from the pass. The day before had been completely socked in with fog with no visibility at all. You’ll still need to layer, no matter when you go. It’s cool to cold near glaciers and we encountered record heat in Seward. We also experienced Moose Flies on a walk. They swarm and chomp hard! Be prepared for cold, warmth, rain, biting flies, and to have the time of your life. We loved Alaska.

 

 

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[kctwinmommy]

Yep! Did it in July, 2016 and had pretty good weather. We had a lot of sunshine, no rain, but cool temps. My parents went in May about 10 years ago and had warm temps!

 

Like someone else said, be prepared to spend money, but it's so worth it! We did everything we wanted because we knew we wouldn't do it again. We had no problem with the itinerary, other than the really short/late stop in Vancouver. It would have been nice to have been there longer. But realistically, that wasn't what we were worried about. We wanted to see Alaska!

[BenjiRodney]

We did Royal round trip from Seattle in June 2012. Cold. Missed Tracy Arm due to way too much ice in the water, go figure. Not a fan of Royal.

 

2015 we went back and did an 8 night Vancouver to Seattle in May on the Carnival Legend, perfect warm weather in Juneau and Skagway. 50's in Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay. Loved this cruise.

 

2019 we are doing an 8 night round trip from Seattle and getting Icy Straight Point and Glacier Bay.

[WifeynMe]

Cruised Alaska on the the Legend last year at the end of August. First couple of days it was raining but later in the cruise the weather improved. A light weight rain jacket and dressed in layers and we were fine. Scenery is awesome and the legend is a very nice ship, just wish it had Guy's and Blue Iguana on it when we went ( hear they are getting those at drydock). It did have Bonsai sushi though. Just be prepared for changing weather and you will have a great time. I would definitely cruise on the Legend again!

[cbelc]

We did Royal round trip from Seattle in June 2012. Cold. Missed Tracy Arm due to way too much ice in the water, go figure. Not a fan of Royal.

 

 

 

2015 we went back and did an 8 night Vancouver to Seattle in May on the Carnival Legend, perfect warm weather in Juneau and Skagway. 50's in Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay. Loved this cruise.

 

 

 

2019 we are doing an 8 night round trip from Seattle and getting Icy Straight Point and Glacier Bay.

 

 

 

Consider calling up Glacier Wind Charters in Icy Strait Point. They do small group whale watching. It was the highlight of my trip last summer. They treated us like family, and we saw all manner of sea life to include orcas and humpbacks up close and personal. It was great!

 

 

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[4olivers]

Our one and only cruise to date was in mid July 2016 and we did the cruise-tour (4 days on land prior to a 7 night cruise) we sailed Coral Princess. We flew to Anchorage and did our 4 days on land then the cruise ended in Vancouver. TRIP OF A LIFETIME!

 

 

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[Nabisco]

We went to Alaska in 2012 on the carnival spirit. Think that ship is in Australia now. That was our first cruise and it was fantastic! We went end of May first part of June. Still pretty cold

 

 

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[Nabisco]

We also did a 4x4 excursion. We drove our own up and mountain stopped halfway and had hot chocolate and homemade cookies then stopped again on the way down and had lunch. Beautiful views! We took a ferry to Haines Alaska from Skagway

 

 

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