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May can be one of the finest months across Alaska, as daylight reaches near-summer heights, while June is even nicer, with the last chill of the arctic winter departing for the season. Even when the daytime temperatures are well above freezing, nighttime temperatures can dip below 32 °F, even in the summer. This is why you must pack for all weather conditions if you plan an Alaska cruise. If you want to avoid the cooler temperatures and potential for rain, you may want to choose the late summer to early fall. With that in mind, recognize that you may have to contend with larger crowds and the dreaded Alaskan mosquito swarms. One of the major drawbacks of spending time in Alaska during the late summer is the significant increase in mosquito activity.
The Best Time to Cruise Alaska: Crowds, Weather and Cost Are All Factors
If you want to immerse yourself in the beauty of Alaska without the distraction of little kids, you’ll be in good company on Viking. Their gorgeous ocean ships sail with a maximum of 930 passengers, all over the age of 18, so you can indulge in adult conversation over a bottle of wine or a cocktail or two. These months are also incredibly popular times for Alaskan cruises, which is why there is some debate over which period is the best between the two. Given the warmer temperatures of July and August, many people who want to avoid the cold will choose to book during these months. As Alaska cruises have grown in popularity, the crowds have grown as well.
Ketchikan Weather
The larger crowds can add to the atmosphere and make for a lively and enjoyable vacation. Longer cruises, like the Holland America Alaska Arctic Solstice Cruise spans 28 days, and will take you from your port to the Arctic Circle. The course begins in Seattle and leads through the Inside Passage, Prince William Sound, and up to Anchorage. Then, you’ll travel over to Kodiak Island, out to the far stretches of the Aleutian Islands to Dutch Harbor, and around to Nome, and through the Arctic Circle. Some cruise lines offer pre or post-cruise fly-in opportunities to remote areas of Alaska, like leaving from Fairbanks to the visit the Arctic Circle. It is the rainiest month of the summer season, especially in Southeast Alaska, with Juneau averaging about 16 days with precipitation.
Best Time Of Year For Glacier Calving
Each month within the April to September stretch offers its own unique advantages and disadvantages. To help you choose which is the best month for you, we’ve created this month-by-month guide to the Alaskan cruise season. To ensure you don’t miss out, consider booking a later dinner time, or simply eat dinner elsewhere on the nights the sailaway overlaps with your dining time.
Princess Cruises
It is hard to top the majestic beauty of rugged glaciers, plethora of unique animal sightings, or huge mountains. Going on a cruise to Alaska is an extremely popular kind of cruise, because it offers an easy way to see so much in a compact amount of time. If you prefer to get off-the-beaten-track and travel with smaller groups, a wide array of small ship cruise companies offer more intimate cruises catering to adventure and luxury travelers. A downside to visiting Alaska in May is that the interior National Parks are still closed, along with many of the land-based attractions and shops that later cruisers will get to enjoy.
Royal Caribbean Cruises
As for land trips, June sees Denali National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park open, both of which offer stunning floatplane and flightseeing adventures. Alaskan railroad trips are also available, giving you access to interior hiking, cozy lodges and remote wildlife viewing. Down south, the waters around the southwestern and southcentral regions of Alaska teem with ships visiting Kodiak Island, the Aleutian Islands, Prince William Sound and Katmai National Park.
Best large ship
During long days of light, you'll find hearty Alaskans swimming in the sea and enjoying water sports. While early May often carries a chill in the air, by the end of the month, you might encounter temperatures in the 60s. The warmer weather means glaciers begin shedding ice more frequently, so you have a better chance of experiencing the sight and sound of a house-size chunk of ice calving into the sea.
The worst months to cruise to Alaska - Royal Caribbean Blog
The worst months to cruise to Alaska.
Posted: Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
That includes warm days, where even being near a glacier or a passing cloud (or socked-in rain) can make things chilly. While you might not be sunning yourself to a stunning shade of bronze on an Alaska cruise, you and everyone on board will want to take in the scenery. That makes having your own balcony a prime piece of real estate, especially near Denali National Park, portions of the Inside Passage or Tracy Arm Fjord. Holland America and Princess are the biggest mainstream lines for an Alaska cruise. But you'll also see Alaska itineraries from Carnival, Disney, Norwegian (NCL) and Royal Caribbean, which gives you an array of price points to consider. An Alaska cruise costs anywhere from $500 to $8,000 or more during high season.
October
October is one of the wettest months in Alaska, so prepare for low clouds and rain. Alaska weather in October is manageable if you pack the right gear and protective clothing. Weather in Alaska in August may keep some cruisers away, but there are still many excursions and experiences to enjoy.
It’s also an excellent time for wildlife viewing if you want to see Alaska’s more iconic marine life, like humpback whales, orcas, and various species of seals. You’ll be able to choose from a huge number of shore excursions from the cruise lines, including cruisetours from Princess Cruises and Holland America Line at Denali National Park. Warmer weather also makes glaciers more active, so it's quite likely to see impressive calving events while cruising in front of Hubbard Glacier, or through the beautiful Glacier Bay National Park. If fishing in Alaska is on your bucket list, July is a good month to book a fishing trip during one of your shore days. Just like June, expect your cruise prices in July to be higher compared to the shoulder season. The best time to cruise Alaska is in May or June, at the beginning of the cruise season.
Nights are dark again, and while your chance of seeing them in Southeast Alaska is low, taking a land tour package along with your September cruise gets you farther north into Aurora Borealis country. Both the peak season and shoulder seasons offer high-quality excursions, breathtaking scenery and memorable tourist events and cultural festivals. So the “best time to visit Alaska” looks different for each person, as your personal trip preferences are what determine the best month for you. In this post, I share a month-by-month guide about the best time of year for an Alaskan cruise.
Because I’ve been on several Alaska cruises alone, with my family and with my husband, I also based my choices on my own personal experiences. After combining all that information, we came up with this guide to the best Alaska cruises. Whether you're traveling as a couple, a family or solo, we've found the best Alaska cruises just for you. On top of that, you can anticipate significantly less rain and fog, which helps with comfort and visibility. Instead of transporting your luggage to the airport yourself, bags are collected outside your stateroom door in the evening prior to disembarkation.
On top of that, during the late summer and early fall, you will have a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights in all of their glory. Summer break, which is peak cruising season, is an ideal time for families to go on an Alaska cruise. Depending on your family’s interests, you’ll want to decide whether to book earlier or later in the season, since there can be a difference in weather and activities between the end of June and mid-August. The height of the Alaska cruise season (June, July, and August) is the best time to cruise Alaska on these itineraries to ensure you’ll be able to see and enjoy the glaciers on each of the routes.
It takes time for your ship to dock, get cleared by local authorities, and prepare for disembarkation. If all goes to plan, you could start disembarking by 7AM, but unexpected delays could cause a later disembarkation time. Due to the popularity of excursions on an Alaska cruise, they can fill up quickly, so it’s important to book excursions well ahead of time. If you have not yet booked excursions for your 2024 Alaska cruise, book them as soon as possible.
Cruisers can typically enjoy Alaska in October at lower rates than the Alaska summer cruise season prices. If you're on a budget, stick to interior rooms and look for the big cruise ships, which tend to have more inventory. If you're happy with a couple of historic tours and a guided hike, you could likely budget $500 or less per person for shore excursions in Alaska. But if once-in-a-lifetime Alaska experiences like helicopter rides and flightseeing in Ketchikan are more your speed, you'll need to triple that amount -- or more.
Wetter weather often sets in during the month of July, getting progressively wetter going into autumn. Juneau averages 15 days of rain in June, reaching 21 days of rain by October. In Anchorage and the northern part of the state, the rain often turns to “termination dust”—i.e.
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