Which date is better for Alaska Cruisetour - Aug 17 or 31st?

[LadyLeo84]

Trying to decide which date would be better for our CruiseTour. . . August 17th or August 31st. Don't want to run into the rainy season, but we want to make sure there will still be plenty of animals to see if we do go on the 31st.

 

Any recommendations from anyone who has cruised and done the land portion the first week of September? Or would we be better off going a couple of weeks earlier?

 

Thanks for all of your help in advance!!

[CruiserBruce]

A little reading around the board would find many threads discussing weather in Alaska. First, it is quite variable. Secondly, it gets colder and wetter as September approaches. Nobody can tell you that you won't have rain, or even snow (we had sleet at sea on Labor Day a few years ago) during your land tour. However, you could probably decrease the chances a little by going in mid August instead.

[Coral]

If you want to avoid rain, can you go earlier in the summer?

 

Between the 2 dates, I would go on the earlier date.

[Northern Aurora]

Between the two dates, I also would opt for the earlier.

 

But I am also curious as to where the OP is going on their land portion. Several times we have won road lottery tickets for Denali. Those lottery tickets allow you to drive your private vehicle on the park road, and each time we seen a number of bears. The lottery dates are generally mid-September.

[wolfie11]

The fall colors in Denali peak around the third week in August....

[Keith1010]

I would pick the one that is more convenient for you.

 

As to weather it is anyone's guess these days.

 

Keith

[Herfnerd]

I would pick the one that is more convenient for you.

 

As to weather it is anyone's guess these days.

 

Keith

 

Ditto - not sure how much of a difference two weeks really makes

[LadyLeo84]

Will we still see lots of animals including the running of the salmon if we wait until the August 31st cruise? It's less money if we go on the 31st, but that doesn't matter if we won't be seeing much of the wildlife. We would rather pay about $250.00 more pp (Aug 17th) and have the possibility to see more then.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses!

[new_cruiser]

Will we still see lots of animals including the running of the salmon if we wait until the August 31st cruise? It's less money if we go on the 31st, but that doesn't matter if we won't be seeing much of the wildlife. We would rather pay about $250.00 more pp (Aug 17th) and have the possibility to see more then.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses!

 

Is it cruise first or land first? In other words, when would you be doing the land part? They haven't published the Denali shuttle schedules for 2017 yet (at least not when I last checked). In 2017, the shuttle schedule stopped Sept 14.

 

Our cruise started Aug 8 and land Aug 15 - 22. We saw lots of wildlife. The weather was pretty good - some light rain, some cloudy days and some sunny. We were lucky enough to see Denali completely clear of clouds one afternoon. In August, it was still staying light pretty well into the evening - we would wear out before the sun did. Through the end of August, sunset is after 9 PM; by mid Sept, it is around 8 PM.

 

In September you will have shorter days and some excursions that would be open in August are closing down.

 

IMO, it is worth $250 more pp to go earlier in August - you get bonus daylight hours. You are still saving money compared to going in July.

[LadyLeo84]

We will be cruising first, then the land tour, so if we go on the the ship on the 31st, then we will starting the land portion on Sept 6th. That's good to know about the shuttle schedule. I think that I had read somewhere that not all of the roads into Denali would be open in late May or after mid-September. The more I think about it, the more that the August 17th cruise sounds the best!!

[wolfie11]

The buses don't generally stop running in Denali until around mid-September.