Alaska - Late May or Late August

[cruise*enthusiast]

Between the 2, which is better, ie one is a little warmer than the other, less rainy, more wildlife?  I heard the bears are more active in late August/ September because the salmon are running. 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@cruise*enthusiast

 

Personally as late as possible in the season.   Especially if you collect souvenirs or want presents for people, the shops will  be having BIG sales!!!   VBG

[smillerholmes]

I was curious about this as well.  I've always gone September/October and now I'll be going in May 2024.  I will be interested to see if the differences are important to me.  Let us know what YOU decide.

[www3traveler]

I much prefer late May-- hopefully more fresh snow in the mountains and glacier ice has not receded yet (pure white with a hint of blue along the edges.  Late May, most school systems have not let out for the Summer Recess so ships and ports of call might be a little less crowded.

[LatinaInTexas]

14 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

I much prefer late May-- hopefully more fresh snow in the mountains and glacier ice has not receded yet (pure white with a hint of blue along the edges.  Late May, most school systems have not let out for the Summer Recess so ships and ports of call might be a little less crowded.

I picked late May for my first Alaska cruise and hoping I chose wisely. I wanted coolish weather and less kids lol.

[TheDawg79]

September is a very wet month in SE Alaska, so late August may see some of that bleed over. May is one of the driest months. Just another thing to factor in. 

[SPacificbound]

Late May is when we cruised to Alaska and the weather was great.

[Pitzel]

We have done Alaska twice, both in August (one in mid-August, the other in late August/early September). Later in the season, there is less ice so it is easier to get close to the glaciers, if that is one of your stops. While it is often rainy/drizzly, we never found that that prevented us from doing what we planned to do there. In Juneau last year, we got amazing weather during the 3rd week of August. 

Plus, the salmon runs in August are pretty awesome to watch -- they literally jump out of the water at you!

[slavetoabunny]

We have gone to Alaska in early September.  The weather was great except for one rainy day in Juneau.  Next summer we are going in early August and doing a land/sea tour.  I'm hoping we enjoy it as much as the last cruise.

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

We've been to AK in April, May, July, September and October.  Weather was never a big enough factor to make any of those months more desirable to me than the others.  I focus more on ship and itinerary.  Give me Bliss or Encore and Glacier Bay and I'm good to go. 😎

 

[ihate2cruise]

On 12/11/2023 at 5:01 PM, LatinaInTexas said:

I picked late May for my first Alaska cruise and hoping I chose wisely. I wanted coolish weather and less kids lol.

We have done the same.

 

[BirdTravels]

On 12/11/2023 at 2:14 PM, cruise*enthusiast said:

Between the 2, which is better, ie one is a little warmer than the other, less rainy, more wildlife?  I heard the bears are more active in late August/ September because the salmon are running. 

We would pick August. But you are and the end of the high season with families onboard. We sailed on labor day last year 2023 and it was a bit too late (cold and rainy). We sailed in May in 2022 and it was a bit too early. We sailed in August in 2021 and it was still a bit too cold for us. 
 

September is too late for a lot of bears and it is the end of the salmon run. 

[Seas2mountains]

Late August. It’s fun to see the salmon run. 

[jimsig]

One thing to factor in, if important to you, is sunset times depending if you have afternoon/evening port times.  

 

From May 18 to the end of May in Juneau sunset will range from about 925p to 950p

 

From Aug 18 to the end of Aug in Juneau sunset will range from 833p to 757p.