Best time of year for Alaska cruise?

[BarbGar]

A group of ours is considering a cruise to Alaska, can anyone advise us of the best time of year to go -- weather, seas, scenery, etc.?

 

Also can anyone recommend the best ship for this cruise?

 

Thanks.

 

3/19/04 Galaxy

 

[Roz]

Dany,

 

First thing I'd advise is to find yourself a good TA who will take care of the details involved in a group booking, and also determine your needs, likes, dislikes, etc. There's no one best ship...it depends on what you're looking for, budget, schedule, itinerary, etc.

 

The sailing season is short, so you really only have a choice of May - September. June, July, and August are peak, meaning more expensive and more families with kids. May and Sept. are colder but less expensive and mostly adults.

 

Good luck no matter what you decide.

 

Roz

[LindaKE]

If it is important, I've been told that the last week in May and the first week in June would, in general, have the most wildlife sightings from the ship. It is warm enough for them to emerge from their winter rest but is before they move up the mountains for the summer. The salmon run in late July and early August. You would see the salmon eating bears at this time of year, but you have to take expensive excurisons to really see them. I don't think you can get very far into Denali until mid June.

 

HAL and Princess have the best facilities for land tours, get into Glacier Bay more often (a preferred viewing area with limited access for ecological reasons), and have a naturalist on board for the whole cruise spotting wildlife and pointing out sights. The other cruise lines have the naturalists for only portions of their cruise.

 

LindaKE

 

Sun Princess(Alaska)

Carnival Inspiration

[ruvidu]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> You would see the salmon eating bears at this time of year, but you have to take expensive excurisons to really see them.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How much does it cost to see a salmon eating a bear? I would pay it in a minute.

Russ

 

SC Traveler

Until our Alaska Land/Sea Tour & Cruise

[Host Caroline]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LindaKE:

..... The salmon run in late July and early August. You would see the salmon eating bears at this time of year, but you have to take expensive excurisons to really see them. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

.... these aren't wimpy, chemically enhanced farm raised salmon either, lemme tell you that..

 

Host Caroline

<font SIZE="1">Join CC's "Alaska Live in 2005 Adventure"..you'll have a "whale" of a good time!</font>

 

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[mbisson]

Correct they're "Arnold Schwarzensalmon". Or is it just that the bears are whimpy?

 

-Monte

 

some of my cruising photos:

http://community.webshots.com/user/m1bisson

A bad day cruising is better than a good day at work.

 

The worst cruise I ever took was pretty damned good.

 

Platinum with RCI, a couple cruises with NCL and 1 with CCL

[LindaKE]

Russ,

I think you have to take a floatplane mainly from Ketchikan to reach the areas where the best viewing is. You might be able to see them from Denali if you are going there. We went too early to see them before, so I say all this based on answers to my own questions. On HAL the ship excursions for this run about $250 - $300. (We want to go back on HAL so I've researched their excursions.) I don't know how this compares to independent tours.

 

LindaKE

 

Sun Princess(Alaska)

Carnival Inspiration

[Budget Queen]

Denali bears are 1/2 the size of Coastal bears and nonsalmon eating. Out of Ketchikan- most sightings are black bears. There are tours out of Juneau and Anchorage for the salmon eating browns. Denali Park is supposed to be fully open by June 8 to Wonder Lake, June to Eielson.

 

Also - my experience- viewing for your cruise ship is far from ideal and not likely to yield many sighings and those you do see will be brief and distant. It requires a great deal of time invested at the front deck of your ship, dressed appropriately and with a good pair of wide angle binoculars. The brochures are greatly enhanced.

[amenuensis]

Has anyone been to Alaska in Early August? That's what we are planning, I'm hoping it's the warmest period. Do most of the cruise ships have covered pools?

 

7/31/05 Zaandam or Radiance of the Seas

[Wan]

Dany: I did the research for my group of 8, going to Alaska this June. This will be my second Cruise to Alaska. The first time, we cruised Celebrity because of a prior really good experience to Bermuda. For the first cruise to Alaska, we picked an itinerary including Glacier Bay. This year we are doing Princess because they include a whole day of Glacier Bay on their itinerary, and we couldn't find a Celebrity cruise that fit our schedule that featured Glacier Bay. My understanding is that cruise ship acess is being limited,and because Princess has been in Alaska so long, they get priority for Glacier Bay. You will need to decide what are your priorities for your group, ours was scenery/itinerary. If food is your priority, or teen activities, or night life, you might pick a different cruise. I am very excited about going on Princess, they have been very nice and helpful every time I've called. My parents have cruised RCCL and always have been very happy with that line, and I would have picked that line had the timing/itinerary worked out for us. Good Luck!!

[pam512]

Everything that I've read lately says that May is the driest month in Alaska. The sources are mostly printed material I've received from various places in Alaska. Also, I have friends that have been in May, June, July, and August. May seems to be the favorite month, with June running a close second. I'm going mid-May because it's less expensive and because most kids are still in school.

[EPD]

Amenuensis,

 

One our first Alaska cruise we did a Celebrity sailing that left Vancouver on August 27 back in 2000. We had questionable weather in Juneau(it was a very drizzly day) our weather in Skagway was wonderful, warm and sunny, T-shirt and shorts weather and in Ketchican it was overcast not as warm as Skagway but decent, didn't rain all day and our day cruising Hubbard Glacier was overcast but fairly warm...Brent wore shorts and a sweatshirt and I just wore jeans and a light jacket. This year we are cruising a bit earlier aboard Celebrity again departing Vancouver on August 14. Hoping for some good weather. We didn't have the option of going in May or June because we have teens traveling with us that are in school right till end of June up here in Canada. I think if Alaska is a cruise that you really want to do you will love whatever time you go and think its the best.

 

Erin & Brent

"Friends are the family that you choose for yourself"

[mii]

We have taken two cruises to Alaska; one in July and one in Sept. Between the two we really enjoyed the Sept. one the best. The fall colors, crisp air; it was wonderful. Of course I would not mind any month to go to Alaska.

 

 

Marilyn