Alaska Excitement

[Karin&Isaac]

I'm back. Just wanted to check in here and say that I'm available for continued Alaska wardrobe discussion!

 

I think we were blessed with really good weather overall. Vancouver was dry and warm.

 

Ketchikan had rain, no surprise, but it wasn't especially cold because the wind wasn't high. The rain was more of a light rain, not a southern gully washer...and it would come and go. Temps were in the 60s.

 

Icy Strait Point was dry. The sun was shining for a bit...but it was cloudy. It was cool on the water (we went whale watching)...but it also wasn't blustery cold. Definitely wanted gloves and hats though. Same moderate 60s temp.

 

Juneau was rainy off and on and overcast, with some patches of sunshine. Same temps.

 

Skagway was sun shine and beautiful. Probably the warmest weather...until we hit a spot at the lake that acted like a wind tunnel. The wind chill is severe...but getting away from it and into the sun shine was an immediate relief. Temps probably pushed toward 70.

 

Hubbard was sun shine and no wind. It was freezing cold on deck in the morning at 6:30 am...the wind was blowing. DS went back to the cabin to put on his long underwear pants and was much happier. I wore a cami, a long sleeved smart wool shirt, a furry fleece vest, my fleece pullover, and my raincoat. I also had on a hat, and I pulled my fleece hoodie on AND my raincoat hoodie on. I wore wind stop gloves. I wore my smart wool socks and my hiking boots, which really helped my feet and my core stay warm. I was wearing lined leggings and probably could have been more comfortable with a pair of jeans over those...or something else. As soon as the sun came out though...I was fine.

 

Seward was rainy and overcast and chilly on debarkation day.

 

Traveling to Anchorage that day, Anchorage was sunny and warm.

 

Traveling back into the Kenai Peninsula...it was overcast and had been raining, but the weather was on the clear and we had some clouds and a lot sunshine. There could be rain that could be described as the sky was dripping. The weather was warm and lovely on the Peninsula.

 

We were back in Seward over the weekend as well. It was also warm and sunny there. The locals were calling the 75+ degree weather a heat wave and were wearing shorts and spaghetti strap tops.

 

I didn't think to do this until we hit Anchorage on Friday (debarkation day):

 

Saturday Kenai Peninsula (this was taken in the evening...the high was higher earlier in the day):

 

Sunday Kenai Peninsula:

 

Sunday Seward...again in the evening...it was much warmer earlier in the day (I don't know why the actual high of the 24 hour day goes away if you pass by it):

 

Monday Anchorage:

 

Hi Anita. Do you think chinos with a nice sweater or a long sleeve dress shirt would be ok for Chic night for my husband? We don't want to have to bring dress shoes to go with dress pants. We will be on the Millenium next July. Karin ps - I enjoyed following your trip to Alaska on the Celebrity boards. :)

[Anita Latte]

Hi Anita. Do you think chinos with a nice sweater or a long sleeve dress shirt would be ok for Chic night for my husband? We don't want to have to bring dress shoes to go with dress pants. We will be on the Millenium next July. Karin ps - I enjoyed following your trip to Alaska on the Celebrity boards. :)

 

Yes. Absolutely. You will be within range of the dress on board...if more toward the casual side of the spectrum. Which is exactly where we landed. DH wore a short sleeved one night and a long sleeved button down for the other with nicer cargo pants and his Brooks sneakers (which we decided were just fine because they are basically all black). DS wore a sweater each night with nice enough looking casual pants and Converse... My guys like dressing up so they would have enjoyed being more dressy but they were not uncomfortable or feeling out of place.

 

There were people who were dressy than casual. I distinctly remember a family with two younger school aged boys. They were among the more dressy people I saw, with the Dad and boys wearing long-sleeved dress shirts with ties, dress pants, and shoes. Mom was in a cocktail dress. Still...point being, MORE dressy is still pretty darn casual for being dressy.

 

By and large...Alaska dress code is the most relaxed I've encountered...and there seems to be a general feeling on board that recognizes that Alaska requires a range of clothing that makes including dressier items challenging with today's luggage rules and regs. So no worries... *thumbs up* on chinos and sweaters.

 

PS--thank you! I'm glad it was a good read! It's fun to relive the vacation and it really helps to solidify the memories to take the time to go over it all afterwards.

[Karin&Isaac]

Yes. Absolutely. You will be within range of the dress on board...if more toward the casual side of the spectrum. Which is exactly where we landed. DH wore a short sleeved one night and a long sleeved button down for the other with nicer cargo pants and his Brooks sneakers (which we decided were just fine because they are basically all black). DS wore a sweater each night with nice enough looking casual pants and Converse... My guys like dressing up so they would have enjoyed being more dressy but they were not uncomfortable or feeling out of place.

 

There were people who were dressy than casual. I distinctly remember a family with two younger school aged boys. They were among the more dressy people I saw, with the Dad and boys wearing long-sleeved dress shirts with ties, dress pants, and shoes. Mom was in a cocktail dress. Still...point being, MORE dressy is still pretty darn casual for being dressy.

 

By and large...Alaska dress code is the most relaxed I've encountered...and there seems to be a general feeling on board that recognizes that Alaska requires a range of clothing that makes including dressier items challenging with today's luggage rules and regs. So no worries... *thumbs up* on chinos and sweaters.

 

PS--thank you! I'm glad it was a good read! It's fun to relive the vacation and it really helps to solidify the memories to take the time to go over it all afterwards.

 

Thanks so much. That makes it so much easier to decide what to pack. :)

[Lois R]

Well, Hoya is now on her cruise...….I totally forgot to wish her a BON VOYAGE......hoping they have wonderful time!:D

[Hoyaheel]

Formal night last night and it was FANCY!

 

Ketchikan today, so far so lovely!!!

[Lois R]

Formal night last night and it was FANCY!

 

Ketchikan today, so far so lovely!!!

 

Thanks for checking in with us.:) So, how are you enjoying Seabourn?

[Hoyaheel]

Thanks for checking in with us.:) So, how are you enjoying Seabourn?

It's wonderful! My worst problem is getting my water glass refilled - always prompt with the wine but I guess I'm the only person drinking lots of water? ;-) I'll try to do a full review when we get back - trying to keep some notes!

[cruise kitty]

Formal night last night and it was FANCY!

 

Ketchikan today, so far so lovely!!!

 

glad you're enjoying yourselves & looking forward to a little review maybe:)

[Anita Latte]

Hoyaheel...not sure when you were getting back. Hope you had a great vacation. What a situation to come home to though! My impression is you are more in the mountains. Lots of talk about mudslides etc. We’re down in the Triad and the reports are constantly changing. Anyway...hope you are safe.

[Hoyaheel]

Anita - no, we're to your northeast, actually. Storm not bad here until TODAY. I started to drive to work this morning but after the 4th flooded road, I turned around and came home. To find tornado warnings at work and classes cancelled until noon. Ah well. Yes, we were VERY lucky to make it home - we flew from Anchorage on Wednesday Sept 12 and many people on our SEA-RDU flight had been standby to try to get back home.

 

The cruise was perfect. I can't even find words, and I'm trying to find the budget to continue on Seabourn;p ;p We did actually book a future cruise but not a specific itinerary- just the deposit. I imagine it will be a couple years before we're able again. Though as soon as we got home, I got an amazing offer on a Holy Land/middle east itinerary for November (that's usually a cheaper option anyway, and we had actually been considering - I really want to do a Suez canal transit and visit Petra, which it would, but I'm still working and can't leave again for 20 days so quickly.... Maybe next year or 2020)

 

Lois - I'm not actually sure how different it would be from Silversea as they're the same category and size. We were on Sojourn, which is the smaller of Seabourn's current classes of ships, 450 passengers. The veranda cabin is pretty big for a small ship (~300sq ft if memory serves) and SO MUCH storage space, as well as a big bathroom - double vanity, tub and shower. For luxury lines, I'd probably continue to choose based on itinerary & price- I'm definitely open to Silversea if the right option pops up. But we know for sure we'll be sticking to the smaller ships - if they're too expensive for us to cruise often, we will do other things and save up to cruise the way we like. My in-laws are getting ready for their 3rd Oceania cruise later in the fall and they love that line, so we've considered it as well (I just can't get over their pricing being so high for a non-all-inclusive line).

 

Alaska weather was amazing! It was almost always warm, almost always dry. Ketchikan was the only port where I wore my rain hat, though I had my coat with hood in Juneau and used it. Used my fleece hat once on my balcony and never wore my gloves, not even on the zodiac to the glacier in Tracy Arm. So I packed a little heavier than necessary, but you just never know with Alaska - the cruise directly before us was wet & cold the entire trip we were told.....There were only 4-5 items I would have changed - things I brought that I shouldn't have (as opposed to didn't need, like the gloves) or things I left home (my fleece slipper socks) that would have been nice to have.....Likewise my husband was happy with his packing choices except he wants a couple more casual shirts as he ended up wearing button downs during the day more than he wanted. But he doesn't wear polo shirts and didn't want to pack any cotton long sleeve t-shirts, so I have no clue what sort of "casual" daytime shirt he wants!

[Anita Latte]

Hoyaheel...I'm so glad that you were able to get home safely! AND that you have such a wonderful cruise!

 

Yes, the slow moving storm has been relentless with the rain...inching it's way towards you...I hope you are able to stay clear of any mountain slides and other affects from the continued storm situation.

 

I've been thinking about cruising a lot. I think that I would really prefer to cruise one of the smaller more luxury lines. The pricing though...wiff. One reason why I really wanted to get a concrete total on our own vacation...to make sense of what the real difference would be. I'm very interested in hearing about your experiences. I haven't even tried to read any trip reports from similar cruise lines to learn about what the inclusive excursions would be like...but having gotten to know you from your postings on the board, I would be very interested to hear YOUR take on it all...what you did and how it all worked out for you. Please post a link here if you start a trip report...which I hope you do!

 

Stay safe.

[Hoyaheel]

Anita- we are not in the mountains. Triangle, but a little north. Sunny right now though just awful this morning. Looks like most of the storm bands have dissipated/slid north.....

 

Seabourn includes alcohol and gratuities, but not excursions. I know the per diem for this Seabourn compared to others I've looked at was a fair bit cheaper, which is why I jumped on it. As far as I know, Regent and Viking are the only ocean cruises who include excursions (some) in the fare? So if you're spending a few thousand on various excursions in Alaska, Seabourn isn't going to save you any money....

[Anita Latte]

Ha! I just got one thing in my brain and even though you wrote northeast, it didn’t compute! I’ve got it now.

 

Regent was one I was looking at...would have to look again to see the other. Both were smaller ships, the first being luxury but the second being more adventure class. I’ve been questioning how DH and I enjoy cruising, our pros and cons and think we might enjoy smaller ships more. They do seem to cost a lot more though so...trying to analyze it all.

[Lois R]

Hi, I am glad you made it home safely too...….:). Following the news all week, those counties/cities were just so flooded:(

 

Happy you had such a good time on the cruise:D

[cruise kitty]

Hoyaheel, glad to hear you're home safe. Hopefully you manage to stay high & dry. :)

[NorthernLite]

Wow! Love all the different lines and ways you ladies cruise. Also happy to hear your homes made it through all that water!

 

Anita, I believe Oceania includes a few free excursions on most cruises. We have friends that like them but I need an HP cabin and Oceania puts them all next to the medical center. We need a balcony!

 

Hoya, when you said Fancy! how fancy are formal nights? We were just confirmed for the Seabourn Quest for February of 2020 From Santiago down to Antartica where the DH can play on Zodiacs for 5 days then up the east coast, into the Amazon and then the Caribbean and Miami. Yea, 3 bucket list cruises rolled into one 57 day mega cruise. I will spend 2 years creating a packing list for this one. Help appreciated on what "elegant casual" and "formal" really mean.

 

Twin from Minnesota, if you are still reading this I think you should have a good list on what to pack. Do not take your winter coat/parka. In 2011 we left Seattle in late May for a 14 day round trip on the HAL Amsterdam and it rained lightly one day in Homer. We had several days hit 80. So definitely layers. People do seem to go a bit more casual for Alaska except maybe for Seabourn. When we did the Northwest Passage on Crystal the regulars got the line to go from all casual to adding 2 formal nights. Not many men wore tuxes or suits and most women wore a pantsuit or slacks and sweaters. On HAL I took along 2 pairs of Eileen Fisher washable crepe full length pants and those were fine for the dining room.

[Hoyaheel]

NorthernLite - 57 days sounds amazing!!!

 

We ate every dinner (except one) in the Restaurant (main dining room - our one exception was the Thomas Keller Grill - it has the same dress code but a smaller sample size ;-) Elegant casual is "country club" casual and yes, most men are wearing button down dress shirts. Sometimes a jacket. This is what my husband wore every night. I wore a knit dress or chicos travelers pants with a top and/or cardigan. On formal night, husband wore his sports coat & trousers. Still no tie. I could have worn my little black (knit) dress and been fine, but I had found a maxi dress I loved and really wanted to bring with me - so I wore that. I would say that's in line with what most people wore. But I did see a full length sequin gown (and most of us at the table who saw that wondered how heavy her luggage was ;-) So there were a few people who were on the dressier end. I saw some ties. Husband says he remembers a couple of tuxedos (I would say that the companion of the woman in sequins was dressed to match her). But as long as ties aren't required.....it's just not going to be *that* formal, is it?

[NorthernLite]

Sounds along the lines we were thinking but they have yet to change their website description. We saw a party of 6 on Azamara where the entire dress code is country club casual and the 3 generations of women all wore full length sequin gowns one night. Between those and just the shoes for the 3 tuxedos their luggage must have weighed a ton. I figured they were celebrating a family thing but Wow!

First thing my husband said was "time for a new navy jacket". And I think I will add more cashmere sweaters on the next 2 Nordstroms Anniversary sales. But these multiple weather changes will require a lot of planning for the Caribbean and Amazon parts. I think we did fairly well on the NWP cruise as far as not overpacking. That parkas and tall waterproof boots are rented and in the cabin on arrival helped and then near the end Crystal had shipping boxes so many dropped things off when we stopped in Boston at the nearest UPS or FEDEX. But this one end in Miami our first US stop so I think we will try and go with 3 checked bags and my backpack and my husband's overnight as carry on. One checked bag is a free medical equipment bag that is necessary but a pain to drag along. My EF crepe pants will work well in the Antartica part as I am not doing any Zodiacs stuff. While he showers and changes for dinner I change tops and jewelry and good to go. Those pants really are fantastic for travel. I am going to watch some videos on YouTube on packing with folders after the success of the cubes. I am still amazed the DH actually said they were very handy when we were unpacking from our road rip to Yellowstone. I didn't even ask after hearing his thoughts when we bought them; he just piped up with it as I took one in to start putting my unmentionables in the sink to hand wash. Yes, on the way home I started putting fine washables in a plastic bag in one cube. I love the things I learn on this board!

Will you be doing a review of your cruise? Just curious about what exactly is Seabourn Square and what any sea days were like as far as more lecture and classes or crafts and Bridge?

Sue

[Hoyaheel]

Just curious about what exactly is Seabourn Square and what any sea days were like as far as more lecture and classes or crafts and Bridge?

Sue

I wasn't going to do a detailed review - I don't think my notes were that good and there are plenty of photos available. But happy to answer questions! Seabourn Square is many things ;-) As a reminder, we were on Sojourn so one of the smaller ships. Customer service desks are in Seabourn Square. There are computers. There are library books (including travel guides) and lots of comfortable seating (including aft outdoor seating). There is also a coffee bar - as our cabin was also on deck 7, this is where we got our coffee each morning for dressing/waking up. The coffee bar had snacks too - pastries in the morning, light sandwiches around lunch, cookies/gelato in the afternoon, canapes in the early evening.

 

We definitely enjoyed the lectures - many given by the Ventures team on wildlife. The Ventures team are amazing! We only did one zodiac trip (and that was last minute but husband is sad we didn't do more). I don't remember any crafts. There were a couple of photography sessions. There was definitely bridge in the card room (and they had lots of other games available if you were interested). There was trivia. There were a couple of dance lessons. I'll look at my Heralds and see what else was offered during the day.....

 

All the lectures were livestreamed & then available on demand in the cabin. We enjoyed a few while getting ready for dinner or with our nightcaps before bed!

[cruise kitty]

Hoyaheel,  we are booked on our first Alaska cruise next year, in late May, on Celebrity.   I'm wondering, is there anything you didn't pack that you wished you had?  Stuff you brought that didn't need?  

 

I'm going to be reading your thread as well as Anita's a little more closely now.    We're headed to Northern Scotland as well as Iceland this May, so I'm guessing that the clothing needs will be similar (I hope)  

 

[Hoyaheel]

Cruise kitty - you'll have so much fun! This was my 3rd Alaska cruise and 4th trip to Alaska - I can't remember any glaring omissions or things I didn't use, actually.  There are a ton of packing lists on the Alaska port of call board too - some people bring everything but the kitchen sink, some bring a backpack and are good to go 😉 There's a new thread on this board with someone's carry-on only Alaska packing list and she'll be fine too.

 

*waterproof

*layers for adapting to changing weather minute to minute 😉

*binoculars/camera (we spend time on the balcony & deck with binoculars - and we don't share - this is very important to us!)

[Lois R]

Hi girls...I have been to Alaska multiple times and would say the layering recommendation is spot on.

[cruise kitty]

5 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

Cruise kitty - you'll have so much fun! This was my 3rd Alaska cruise and 4th trip to Alaska - I can't remember any glaring omissions or things I didn't use, actually.  There are a ton of packing lists on the Alaska port of call board too - some people bring everything but the kitchen sink, some bring a backpack and are good to go 😉 There's a new thread on this board with someone's carry-on only Alaska packing list and she'll be fine too.

 

*waterproof

*layers for adapting to changing weather minute to minute 😉

*binoculars/camera (we spend time on the balcony & deck with binoculars - and we don't share - this is very important to us!)

 

Thanks, I'm so excited!   I hadn't really thought about the good binoculars, I know they have pretty sad ones in the cabin so I'll look into getting some.  For us, it's such a short non stop flight with free luggage, so I'm not going to worry about trying to pack in a carry on or anything, so room for equipment :)

[cruise kitty]

3 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi girls...I have been to Alaska multiple times and would say the layering recommendation is spot on.

 

Hi Lois, this will hopefully be the first of a few cruises up there.   We flew to Seattle last month to visit our kids in Washington & couldn't believe how fast & easy the trip was :)   Saw a good deal (to me) on Celebrity with all the perks & decided to go for it.  

[Lois R]

10 minutes ago, cruise kitty said:

 

Hi Lois, this will hopefully be the first of a few cruises up there.   We flew to Seattle last month to visit our kids in Washington & couldn't believe how fast & easy the trip was :)   Saw a good deal (to me) on Celebrity with all the perks & decided to go for it.  

 

I love that area...….I have sailed from Seattle and Vancouver before.  When sailing out of Vancouver, I flew to Seattle and then took the train up to BC...it is an easy trip for sure.  Seattle has some great restaurants too..   Glad you found a good deal!

 

I am trying Azamara for the first time next month and found a good deal.....you probably know I sail solo and this was a good deal for me.....and it is for 11 nights