Alaska Cruise Ports May 2024

[dwlmg]

We are on the 24 May sailing of Viking's Alaska Cruise. We are one of two Viking cruises in 2024 to go into Glacier Bay so the itinerary is slightly different than normal. The excursions in Juneau sold out incredibly fast. I wondered. I found a web site that lists the ships in port for a given day. The web site is listed in the attached document. It is no wonder the Juneau sold out so fast. We will have a lot of company! I put together a document listing what I found. There is also some somewhat dated material on each port included as well. Enjoy.

Alaska Cruise Ports May 2024.pdf

[Ready to Sail!]

I didn't take the time to look at the port for the given day but I can tell you this is getting to be a big problem for the Alaskan ports.  I am willing to bet that at least one or two of the other ships are large capacity. We have been on 3 inside passage cruises. '91, '03 and '18.  2 have been in early May to beat the crowds.  A bonus to that was they had much better weather than our first cruise that was in July.  So over a span of about 25 years we have seen more ships/bigger ships doing this itinerary.  We live on the west coast so a popular cruise from here but these mega ships are ruining it for travelers and residents of these small port towns.  It's a pet peeve of ours. In our opinion these ships are ruining the industry.  Look what they've done to ports like Dubronik, and Venice, just to name a couple.  We are so happy to see these ports starting to put limits on visitors per day.   Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a rant!!

 

Let me end this on a positive note. Of course you will be fine in Glacier Bay and it is spectacular. You will also be fine in Valdez as very few cruise lines go there, if any,  and Seward which is mostly a Embarkation/Debarkation port.  We were in Seward last June on our own and took a Glacier cruise. Viking was there overnight. We were in line with a couple from the ship and they said the cruise had been wonderful.  Not much to do in Seward so the Glacier trip is a highlight we saw lots of wildlife-otters, birds and a a couple of pods of orcas.  I would certainly recomment the glacier trip in either Seward or Valdez.  

 

We have done cruises in many parts of the world and the Inside Passage in still one of our favorites.  Have a great time!

[Ready to Sail!]

I'm back just to add some positive thoughts.  I looked at your schedule and think it's pretty good, crowd wise.   I only saw one mega ship-NCL Bliss.  I see you are all alone in Sitka and it is my favorite port. We have been twice, once via cruise and once on our own for 5 days.  Not a lot to do if you stay on land excursions but we really enjoyed the Totem Pole park. Just walking the main street and seeing the Russian church is interesting also. 

 

If you haven't done this trip before I really enjoy the Russian shops in both Juneau and Sitka. Both on the main streets.  They sell the Russian Lacquer Boxes and the Stacking Dolls.  If you are not familiar with the lacquer boxes there are 4 villages in Russian that make them, all painted by hand.  I have been fortunate enough to have collected one from each village .  2 I bought in Juneau, 1 in Sitka and 1 in St. Petersburg, Russia.  They are one my most treasured possessions.

 

Sorry, probably more information than you need or want but I get hyped about Alaska!!

 

 

Edited March 9 by Ready to Sail!