September in Alaska?

[CINCY40]

We are booked on the Ryndam's last Alaska cruise for 2004. Leaving September 24 from Vancouver. Does anyone have experience with Alaska weather at that time of year? Are there still whales around?

 

As a side note, this is a five day cruise. How many formal nights can we expect?

 

All information welcomed.

 

Thanks,

Nancy

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

The latest that we have been on an Alaska cruise was the second week of September. There were still a lot of whales but many had already left to winter in Hawaii - those lucky whales. Juneau was the best for whale watching on that trip.

We did a repostioning cruise a couple of years ago at the begining of October - didn't see any whales from Seattle to Vancouver and down to San Francisco. We did see a few whales off Cabo San Lucas.

Have never been on a 5 day cruise, but you will have at least 1 formal night. Your documents will list how many you will have.

:)

[CINCY40]

...for the reply. Guess we need to bring sweatshirts, etc for daytime. Have you sailed out of Vancouver? We want to make reservations for the Pinnacle the first night, but hope to sail under the bridge before going to dinner. Any idea how long it takes from port to the bridge?

 

We'll probably stay at the Hyatt in Vancouver as we are Platinum members, but do you have any suggestions about another hotel that would be more interesting? The Pan Pacific sounds really nice.

 

Thanks,

Nancy

[serene56]

I think I would take more then a sweatshirt for the day in Septemeber. I have been watching temps this summer because I want to plan an end of August begining of Sept trip next year. The high temps are like 55 degrees now. Cant imagine what they will be like in Sept.

[MISSYLOU]

We were on Summit's repo cruise last Sept. The weather is as always unpredictable. Lots of fog and showers each day. Cool temps. If you are going to a glacier gloves, hats and layers are advisable.

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

We have gone out of Vancouver several times. It takes about an hour from the pier before you go under the bridge.

Pan Pacific - great hotel - went up a couple of days early one time and watched the ships coming and going.

We always take lined, water-proof jackets with us and then layer.

:)

[Maryandi]

Went on the Maasdam last Sept.on her last cruise - little bit of everything -rain,coool,sun-just what we expected.

 

 

Then we stayed on for 21 more days and repo.ed back to FLL-dodged some hurricaines but had good weather.

 

BTW, in AK the stores on land and ship had all the gifts 50-75% off, we bought so much that we went to pack & ship in Ketchican !

And we were the only or one other ship in port-much more fun for us.

MaryAnn

[Tracyr]

We went on the last cruise on the Ryndam Sept 24, 2000. A little cool some days, but it was our favorite cruise. Wait until you go shopping in Alaska. You are the last of the year tourists, everything is marked down to at least 50% off or greater.

[Santa Fe Jim]

I was on the Veendam last Sept. 21st out of Vancouver (which seems to be a great city!). It was sunny and pleasant when going out to the Inner Passage, but that was almost the last sun for the cruise, until approaching Vancouver again. Some days the clouds were higher and thinner and other days low and heavy with light drizzle. I wore a medium-weight fall jacket most days (I prefer an umbrella to rain gear). The visibility was very poor entering Glacier Bay, but improved to almost clear when we reached the north end, thank goodness. Got some good pictures, but the wind was quite cold near the glaciers. Few whales. We were the last ship of the season and all the stores were busily packing their goods in boxes. As others have mentioned, very, very low prices on almost anything. Got a lot of smoked salmon to give to people at work.

 

I really enjoyed the cruise (and the ship & staff), but it was despite the weather, rather than because of it (although I prefer cool to hot weather). The best part was -- NO crowds. :) One Celebrity ship sailing near us at times in the Inner Passage, but they must have been beginning their repo. No crowds at Vancouver when we returned -- lots of cabs to go to the airport, which was very quiet that day also.

 

SFJ

[CINCY40]

Thank you all for the information. Seems as if we will have to bundle up a bit. We know this is very late in the year but the price for an S suite was right and with my husband's schedule at that time of year we really could not take a lot of time off. As it is, we will stay in Vancouver the night before we sail and then coming back, we will have to spend the night in Atlanta in order to catch the first plane back to Macon in the morning.

 

Appreciate all the help given by this board...

 

Nancy

[Sue's Mom]

We were on the last cruise through the Inside Passage (Volendam Sept 16 or 17 I think, 2003). I agree with layering clothes.

 

Before we left home, I waterproofed some items like fleece jackets, denim jeans and sweat pants in a solution bought from a camping shop. We did the white water rafting trip and, boy, did everyone get wet despite wearing the "waterproof" trouseres and jacket given out. It was raining as well. (It seemed to rain most of the cruise, if I remember rightly.) However, our home waterproofed clothing kept us dry. Highly recommended.