Dressing for Alaska weather

[riversights]

This is one of those recurring questions that may drive cruise consiglieri crazy but that boobs at sea must ask: what outerwear is the best choice for next week's Alaska cruise?  Is a light leather jacket ever seen on deck?

[NRWPA]

I just got back 6/2. I wore pullover sweater and somewhat heavy hoodie and a lined windbreaker and was not cold. You may want to wear a long sleeve tee as your first layer instead of the sweater. Since I live in Florida and there were no gloves for sale, I bought fabric garden gloves just to keep the chill off my hands. Many days were pleasant but going through Glacier National Park was windy in the early morning (7:30). Later in the morning it got warmer.

[Thrak]

We just returned from a 15 day cruise tour to Alaska. Our cruise tour was late May and we disembarked on June 1st. We visited the Fairbanks Lodge, the Denali Lodge, the Copper River Lodge, and the Kenai Lodge. I wore tee shirts everywhere. I did wear a jacket while doing a long day excursion on the Kenai Fjord. In Glacier Bay I didn't even wear my sweatshirt. Your experience may differ. This was our 4th time in Alaska and I have had tee-shirt weather every time.

 

Our 4 Alaska trips have consisted of a 10 day round trip from San Francisco, a 13 cruise tour, a 7 week camping trip (in a teardrop trailer) that went from Northern California to Fairbanks (we were in Alaska for maybe two weeks), and the recent 15 day cruise tour.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Thrak

[Floating Prisoner]

Thrak had nicer weather than us! We had a few windy, cool, rainy days. I’d recommend t-shirt, long sleeve something, fleece, and windbreaker/rain jacket. At worst you’ll need all of them and at best you’ll need only t-shirt. The long sleeve stuff can be reworn as needed (black is good for that).

[CRUZBUDS]

I'll let others handle the outerwear -- the biggest tip I can share is to have waterproof shoes.  We just picked up a can of waterproofing stuff in sporting goods dept at Walmart and sprayed our tennis shoes.  nothing fancy 

 

On our first Alaska cruise the captain reported that in the 7 days we were in Alaskan waters, we had 6 major storms.  Dry feet was a  blessing  (spray your hats too) 

 

If you don't need it,  great - no harm 

[riversights]

Great insights from experienced voyagers!  Thank you.  Please add what may come to mind later.

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, riversights said:

This is one of those recurring questions that may drive cruise consiglieri crazy but that boobs at sea must ask: what outerwear is the best choice for next week's Alaska cruise?  Is a light leather jacket ever seen on deck?

Alaska weather is like Colorado. Wait 10 minutes and it will change.

The key? Layers layers layers.

We have sailed to Alaska many many times. We have had snow in July/August and 70’s in May and June. You just don’t know.

[leck57]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

We just returned from a 15 day cruise tour to Alaska. Our cruise tour was late May and we disembarked on June 1st. We visited the Fairbanks Lodge, the Denali Lodge, the Copper River Lodge, and the Kenai Lodge. I wore tee shirts everywhere. I did wear a jacket while doing a long day excursion on the Kenai Fjord. In Glacier Bay I didn't even wear my sweatshirt. Your experience may differ. This was our 4th time in Alaska and I have had tee-shirt weather every time.

 

Our 4 Alaska trips have consisted of a 10 day round trip from San Francisco, a 13 cruise tour, a 7 week camping trip (in a teardrop trailer) that went from Northern California to Fairbanks (we were in Alaska for maybe two weeks), and the recent 15 day cruise tour.

 

Thrak - we are doing a similar land portion to you and we have some excursions included at some lodges. However nothing is planned for Copper River - do you recommend any activities/excursions there? Cheers.

[mrell345]

how are the bugs and mosquitos?

 

 

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, mrell345 said:

how are the bugs and mosquitos?

 

 

 

I got a couple of mosquito bites. I can't remember for sure but they may have been at Denali lodge. My wife didn't get any and I didn't notice when I got them. 4th time in Alaska and first time I got bitten.

[geoherb]

I'm taking a lightweight windbreaker for my main outerwear. The coldest will be the days at the glaciers. I'll layer a T-shirt, long-sleeve T-shirt, and sweatshirt under the windbreaker as necessary. I have my gloves and knit hat for those days. 

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

Thrak - we are doing a similar land portion to you and we have some excursions included at some lodges. However nothing is planned for Copper River - do you recommend any activities/excursions there? Cheers.

 

Ohhhh... Now that is a question. 😏 Here is my Copper River Lodge excursion tale...

 

We tried to book a river rafting excursion for Copper River Lodge while in the Denali Lodge. The girl there was new and confused and we finally said we would just book the next day at the Copper River Lodge. We arrived at the lodge after a 9 hour bus ride during which the bus driver never shut up. He bored everybody on the bus with tales of when he was a state trooper. Nobody cared. Everybody wanted him to just shut up. When we got to the lodge we went to the desk and inquired about the rafting trip for the next day.

 

We were told that the snow melt hadn't proceeded enough to raise the rivers so that excursion wasn't available. D'Oh! We decided to book the more expensive boat trip into Prince William Sound. We had $100 in land vouchers so we combined that with a credit card and booked. We got three pieces of confirmation info. All listed 8:00 AM departure the next morning. At 7:50 AM we were in the parking lot out front. No people. No bus. What the heck? We went back into the lodge and inquired at the desk. "Oh, that bus left at 7:30. Didn't they tell you?" WHAT??? We said our paperwork showed 8:00 AM. We showed it to him. He asked, "Where did you purchase this?" We said, "Right here. Last night."  He said there was nothing he could do and would have to wait for a supervisor to come in.

 

We waited in the lobby for an hour or maybe an hour and a half. Finally a manager (Lynn Williams) came in and approached us. She apologized and said the excursion had always been at 8:00 and had only changed this year. She said the lodge had only been open for 5 days and it was the first day on the job for the girl who sold us the tickets. The tour was supposed to go into Valdez and then board the boat for the sound for most of the day. The manager laid out her plan and asked us if it would be okay.

 

She said she would refund our money (including the $100 in land vouchers) and give us a private driver into Valdez for the day. She said that we had a hike booked at Kenai Lodge the next day and said, if it was okay with us, she would cancel that hike, refund our money, and comp us the day long boat trip into the Kenai Fjord. (Slightly more expensive than the one we missed.) We agreed.

 

The private driver was Jerad White - someone we had met before (a group of Princess employees from that lodge sailed for port fees and taxes - and a reduced bar bill - on a 28 day cruise we had taken) and was a great guy. He stopped at all the cool places the bus would have just driven past and he knew all the guide stuff. It was a good day. He wanted to buy us lunch but we weren't hungry (we're weird cruisers) so we just stopped for beers. He knew everything about the place. (I also got to "howdy" briefly with Adam at the lodge who was also on that 28 day cruise. A great guy.)

 

When we got to Kenai Lodge there was all the cancellation paperwork in the cabin as well as the booking for the replacement excursion, a card, and a very nice bottle of wine. The next day when we boarded the bus to go to where we got on the boat the driver asked, "Why are there stars next to these names?" They were making sure I guess. The excursion was freaking awesome. We saw 3 kinds of whales and the orcas were all around the boat. I mean all around and really close and a lot of them.

 

Since this was our last stop before the cruise my wife was "forced" to spend the $100 land vouchers in the gift shop. Darn. Overall we came out waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead financially (I think the comped day cruise was something like $225 per person) had a great freebie into Valdez, got to talk with the guide we had met on the previous cruise, got a better excursion than the one we had booked, and got a nice bottle of wine. Princess really turned a bad situation into a fantastic deal.

 

I'd like to recommend an excursion at Copper River Lodge but, as you can see, we didn't really do a normal excursion at that lodge. 😎

[leck57]

Thanks Thrak, a great reply and it has given me some ideas despite your initial mess up.

[disneyochem]

Lots of good advice here and on the Alaska board for what to wear.  Been to Alaska on five trips — my only advice other than layers is to have a wind resistant outer layer.  Glacier watching is cold—wind off the ice is biting!  I wear a wind and water resistant jacket as well as a wind ( and water) resistant fleece hat and gloves.

 

BTW, our May trip was the sunniest we’ve ever had!  Ketchikan was actually hot!

[WisCruiser2]

13 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

Thrak - we are doing a similar land portion to you and we have some excursions included at some lodges. However nothing is planned for Copper River - do you recommend any activities/excursions there? Cheers.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but if you enjoy some hiking (about a mile) and want to see more of the area areound Copper Center, I highly recommend the Copper Country Duscovery Tour with the Wrangell Institute for Science and Environment!

[jagoffee]

17 hours ago, Thrak said:

We just returned from a 15 day cruise tour to Alaska. Our cruise tour was late May and we disembarked on June 1st. We visited the Fairbanks Lodge, the Denali Lodge, the Copper River Lodge, and the Kenai Lodge. I wore tee shirts everywhere. I did wear a jacket while doing a long day excursion on the Kenai Fjord. In Glacier Bay I didn't even wear my sweatshirt. Your experience may differ. This was our 4th time in Alaska and I have had tee-shirt weather every time.

 

Our 4 Alaska trips have consisted of a 10 day round trip from San Francisco, a 13 cruise tour, a 7 week camping trip (in a teardrop trailer) that went from Northern California to Fairbanks (we were in Alaska for maybe two weeks), and the recent 15 day cruise tour.

Our land portion starts tomorrow and we disembark on June 29.

This  is by far the most difficult cruise for researching what needs to be packed.  The packing portion certainly is challenging.  Lots of good suggestions.

What was the rough average highs for your time period?  I am seeing low to high 60’s for us.  Being warm enjoy to wear tee shirts would be a pleasant surprised. Do you wear tee shirts when the highs are in the 60s?

 

i suspect we are bringing stuff we might not need.

 

Thanks

We (our daughter and her family are joining us) are certainly excited.

 

[c-boy]

3 hours ago, disneyochem said:

Lots of good advice here and on the Alaska board for what to wear.  Been to Alaska on five trips — my only advice other than layers is to have a wind resistant outer layer.  Glacier watching is cold—wind off the ice is biting!  I wear a wind and water resistant jacket as well as a wind ( and water) resistant fleece hat and gloves.

 

BTW, our May trip was the sunniest we’ve ever had!  Ketchikan was actually hot!

^ this. Weather in AK can change in a heart beat.

[Thrak]

37 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Our land portion starts tomorrow and we disembark on June 29.

1. This  is by far the most difficult cruise for researching what needs to be packed.  The packing portion certainly is challenging.  Lots of good suggestions.

2. What was the rough average highs for your time period?  I am seeing low to high 60’s for us.  Being warm enjoy to wear tee shirts would be a pleasant surprised. Do you wear tee shirts when the highs are in the 60s?

 

i suspect we are bringing stuff we might not need.

 

Thanks

We (our daughter and her family are joining us) are certainly excited.

 

 

1. We are having similar issues with figuring out what to pack for out October/November cruises. We're going up to Alta, Norway in late October for the Northern Lights and then spending 4 days in Barcelona, Spain before taking a TA to Florida. How does one pack for this sort of thing?

 

2. I'm clueless. I'll need to ask my wife what the actual temps were and, unfortunately, she just now left and won't be back for 3 or 4 hours. D'Oh! It was nice and sunny all the time but I really don't know what the temps were. I'll try to remember to ask her when she gets home.