alaska cruise

[flipflap78]

Hello All!!

I know I have to wait until tomorrow to view Alaskan routes in 2020.
Meanwhile I ask you: better in May to see a more picturesque landscape and with fewer people, or better in August to see whales?
are really undecided!
Thank you
:-)

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I would choose May, having done both.  You could get rain on either, but the fog was much thicker on our August trip.  Gift shops will have sales at the end of summer, and there are no more mosquitos.  The picturesque scenery still wins, in our opinion.

[flipflap78]

thanks Stateroom_Sailor ! 

what purchases could be made? 

[patty1955]

We've been to Alaska in Sept. and April and never seen whales. Alaska was beautiful at both times and the Hubbard glacier was just breathtaking.

[Lastdance]

We saw whales in May, but just a few...

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Our best whale and bear viewing was in July.  August was 2nd for whales but not as many, and no luck with bear sightings.

[Northern Aurora]

Despite the fact that we live in Alaska we actually have done several Alaska cruises.  This state is so large an Alaska itinerary gives us an excuse to visit a different part of our state.

 

I don't think that May in southeast Alaska is more picturesque than other months, but historically May is one of the dryer months in southeast Alaska.  Remember -- there is a reason southeast Alaska is called "rain country."  While there are always aberrations, August and September tend to be much more rainy than May or June.  

 

And we have different types of whales here.  For example the Gray whale migration tends to end in early May as they move from the Baja to the Bering Sea.  But we have seen whales May, June, July and August in southeast Alaska.

 

I wonder of our OP is considering a land trip in conjunction with a cruise.  If so, and if they plan to visit Denali National Park, they need to consider the Denali shuttle bus schedule.  The park itself never closes but the shuttle operation is summer only.

[Cruise Raider]

We've sailed up to Alaska in May, August and September ... 12 times in all.  On each and every trip, we've seen whales, on some sailings, more than others but it had little to do with the time of year ... for us, anyway.  

Our sure fire stop to see whales has been in Icy Strait Point ... both from the ship and on tours.  Juneau also has been good for us to spot whales.  We've also found that we saw many whales on the way out of Tracy Arm / Endicott Arm as well as on our way to Glacier Bay.  We've been lucky enough to see Orcas on a few of these cruises as well.  

Most of those dozen cruises have been in late August / early September and love that time of year the best.  We've been lucky enough to have pretty good weather in that time of year, lending itself to going outside to spot whales just off the side of the ship.  

 

[keesar]

We enjoyed our cruise in August as we saw whales and the salmon were running.  We had rain for just part of one day and that was in Juneau.  It was crazy as we were out in really rough weather on a whale watching excursion and saw two breach right in front of the ship.  Spectacular.  Guides said it was a rarity.  

 

The scenery is spectacular.  Celebrity picked up fresh salmon and halibut for dinner at one of the ports.

[DrKoob]

We live in Seattle and have been on six Alaska cruises. Best one was last April/May. We were on the first ship into all the ports and we we were the ONLY ship in most of them. We had the place to ourselves. It was the closest to real Alaska we had seen in 20 years. We got to talk to local craftspeople, have a beer in the Skagway brewery without waiting to get in. It was fantastic. We had superb weather coming back. Read our review by clicking here. it will give you more detail. 

 

By the way, for the best experience, sail Eclipse out of Vancouver and not Solstice out of Seattle.

[flipflap78]

thank you very much to everyone for your experiences and your advice!
at the moment I am undecided whether to do two weeks with b2b or do a week's cruise and then stop a few days before or after departure.
Today the itineraries should go out (in Italy), so I can also look at the ships (they should still be Solstice, Eclipse without renewal and Millennium and Summit already renovated. I have seen and would prefer to leave from the same airport (the costs with two different airports rise a lot), it could be Vancouver or Seattle. 
Sorry about the ignorance, but in some stages are snow/ice perennial? I have seen that the temperatures are not as low as I thought, but I always see photos with white backgrounds from the ice  
Thanks again, now I'm trying to study the routes, but I'd say I'll start looking for May (2020, I'll book on board next March!!) 

 

[flipflap78]

Excuse me, but do you also see only 5 itineraries for May 2020? 
Alaska Hubbard Glacier Cruise with Eclipse
Alaska Dawes Glacier Cruise with Solstice
Alaska Northbound Glacier Cruise with Millennium
Alaska Southbound Glacier Cruise with Millennium
Alaska Dawes Glacier Cruise with Solstice

because I had found a beautiful one, but they do it in 2019 and not in 2020  😭

could it be that in Italy at the moment I only see these but then they will add more?

Thank you!

 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

These will be the available cruises to Alaska in May on Celebrity.  I know you don't want to fly from different airports but if you want more than one week I would recommend Millennium and a land tour in Alaska, either on your own or through Celebrity.

[flipflap78]

Indeed Millennium does 4 of the stages that would interest me most (Vancouver, Hubbard, Ketchikan, Skagway) unfortunately no longer does Victoria and Sitka
the ship is modernized and I could do a couple of days before leaving and a couple after...
almost...
I propose to her husband and start to ask for an estimate of the extra cruise at the agency :-)
Thank you very much!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

1 hour ago, flipflap78 said:

Excuse me, but do you also see only 5 itineraries for May 2020? 
Alaska Hubbard Glacier Cruise with Eclipse
Alaska Dawes Glacier Cruise with Solstice
Alaska Northbound Glacier Cruise with Millennium
Alaska Southbound Glacier Cruise with Millennium
Alaska Dawes Glacier Cruise with Solstice

because I had found a beautiful one, but they do it in 2019 and not in 2020  😭

could it be that in Italy at the moment I only see these but then they will add more?

Thank you!

 

 

Are you talking about the 10 day on Celebrity Eclipse?  It is only in 2019.  Sometimes the cruise lines will make an extra long or short cruise to start the season, so that the 7 day cruises begin on the weekend.

 

I would be tempted to do a B2B on the Millennium.  Or more expensive, but you could just go Northbound, do a cruise tour to Denali National Park, and then fly back to Vancouver. 

[flipflap78]

the b2b with Millennium would be an equal round-trip, same stages.
I take into account the one that goes north and now I look at the tours of Denali National Park (to see the fabulous pictures!) 
without renting a car, are there trains that then take me back to Vancouver?
 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

No trains to Vancouver, you would have to fly from Anchorage or Fairbanks.   There's not much to see in Fairbanks. Denali is worth seeing for 2-3 nights, Talkeetna should be included in the tour, very pretty too.

 

Choice Air through Celebrity could help with your airfare costs if you don't go round trip, allowing you to fly into Vancouver, and fly home from Alaska, at near the round trip pricing.

[Lolabunny488]

Id be really interested with people opinions I'm looking at one for 2019, we board connie next week and was looking at booking onboard and going in may 2019. however wondering what itineraries are best? 

[DrKoob]

22 minutes ago, Lolabunny488 said:

Id be really interested with people opinions I'm looking at one for 2019, we board connie next week and was looking at booking onboard and going in may 2019. however wondering what itineraries are best? 

 

That all depends on what you want. If you want a true Alaska experience, take Connie northbound or southbound and do a cruise tour before or after. Go to Denali and see more than what you will on a cruise.

 

Jim

[dkjretired]

WE don't have as much experience only taking the Solstice cruise in late August and were very happy.  Particularly we did the Catmaran excursion off the ship at the glacier, because of the lack of a lot of ice we got real close to the glacier.   Additionally we went into another area of the glacier on the Catmaran that the ship could not get to, saw loads of seals and some calving.   On the way back to Juneau we saw many whales apparently migrating.  We were told that the area we went to you would not be able to get to earlier in the summer due to ice. 

[flipflap78]

16 hours ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

No trains to Vancouver, you would have to fly from Anchorage or Fairbanks.   There's not much to see in Fairbanks. Denali is worth seeing for 2-3 nights, Talkeetna should be included in the tour, very pretty too.

 

Choice Air through Celebrity could help with your airfare costs if you don't go round trip, allowing you to fly into Vancouver, and fly home from Alaska, at near the round trip pricing.

 

thank you very much!!!!