The Best Time to Cruise Alaska Month by Month
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Get up close to Mother Nature’s masterpieces and listen for the crash of “white thunder”. Visit wilderness playgrounds like Glacier Bay National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – along with even more natural wonderlands like Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier, College Fjord and Hubbard Glacier. Situated on the Kenai Peninsula overlooking the Kenai River, the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge® is surrounded by mountains, rivers and wilderness inviting you to explore.
Why Choose This Itinerary?
Our cruisetours combine an ocean cruise with a land tour into Alaska’s interior. Watch northern wilderness views unfold from aboard our glass-domed train, the McKinley Explorer®. Stay up to 3 nights at the McKinley Chalet Resort near Denali National Park.
October 2024 Cruises to Alaska
When you cruise with Norwegian, the awe of Alaska stays with you throughout your vacation. The months of May through September make up the relatively brief Alaska cruise season. Shoulder seasons, which include May, June, and September, are times when the temperature is likely to be a little bit cooler and the number of tourists will be lower.
What to Do in Alaska: Top Things to Do in August
After a long winter, Alaska begins to wake up in April, and that includes the wildlife. A few big ships, such as the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Bliss out of Seattle, begin their season this month with discounted early season pricing. The season started late due to Covid, so some of the cruise lines decided to add some extra cruises on at the end to make up for it. We don’t know if some shops and restaurants may decide to stay open longer than normal because this isn’t normal.
If you cruise to Alaska this month, you can enjoy more shop and restaurant options in port towns but expect things to be slightly more crowded. Small-ship Alaska cruise lines like American Queen Voyages and Uncruise can go further into narrow passages and get closer to shoreline wildlife like Dall sheep and bears. May is a practical choice for Alaskan cruisers who are on a limited budget but want to have slightly warmer and drier weather and more chances to see wildlife. Your views will likely include snowy mountains, but they are gorgeous nonetheless. Alaska’s Stellar sea lions are an impressive sight for cruisers.
Norwegian Cruise Lines has the first departures of the season in early April from Seattle. Alaska is a primarily summer destination; over 90% of people visit Alaska during the summer season between the end of May and mid-September. This means that cruising during the summer is a very popular – and pricey – activity, and will probably give you some sticker shock even if you find a good deal. We have already been on two Alaskan cruises but we are going on b2b cruises this October on the Encore .
Best Places to Visit in Alaska
Unfortunately our whale watching season only runs through the end of September. The whales start to head down to Hawaii around mid-October, the weather drastically starts to change, and the daylight hours become shorter. Take a cruise across Alaska in October 2024 and soak up the stunning landscapes at one-of-a-kind sites.
You’ll experience less daylight
It should be a much needed relaxing break from the outside world. Then again, I'm not a big shopper/hiker/explorer, so even when weather is nice and excursions are plentiful I still often prefer to just enjoy the ship. Embark on an unforgettable Alaska cruisetour to the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge®, where you can take in the beauty of Wrangell-St.
From Alaska to the Panama Canal: Here are 9 of TPG's favorite fall cruise itineraries - The Points Guy
From Alaska to the Panama Canal: Here are 9 of TPG's favorite fall cruise itineraries.
Posted: Fri, 02 Sep 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Pros of End of Season Alaska Cruises
We're booked in October as a matter of fact, but then I'm from Cleveland. 😂 Mostly positives when you live in the UK and are used to the winter cold, fog and rain. My Alaska trips were usually in Aug due to work constraints, and even then the weather was often pretty rainy and windy. For all those cruising Alaska in October, I thought I’d start a thread to gather info on what to expect during this uncommon month.
For those who just want to get onboard and save substantial $$$ in cruise fare, Alaska will still offer amazing scenery even if you never leave your balcony. We were going to do two cruises this October on the Encore but cancelled both and one of the reasons was we pretty much got the same response from the company that we had used before in Icy Strait Point. We went for a chance at the Northern lights, which might be possible to be seen even on a big ship in October in Alaska (again, might). Juneau is big enough that shopping and restaurants should still be available, but like everyone else said, the smaller towns will have a lot rolled up. I was born on the East Coast and currently live in the Midwest – but my heart will always be out West. I lived for 15 years in Alaska, as well as four years each in California and Washington.
Plan your romantic Alaskan cruise with our adventurer’s guide to discovering the coziest vacation spots and most scenic restaurants for couples traveling in Alaska. Most people tend to focus on the Caribbean for summer cruises, but an Alaska summer vacation can be a great option, too. On our family Alaska cruise, we created lifetime memories by sharing glacier spotting, dog sledding, flightseeing and other adventures with our teens. Brilliance of the Seas makes it impossible to feel bored during a vacation! These top things to do onboard this beloved cruise ship make it a fan favorite for many. Planes are plentiful in Alaska, where they're a common form of transportation across the state.
Towering walls of ice like the Hubbard Glacier, Endicott Arm Dawes and the twin Sawyer Glaciers thunder as they calve massive icebergs. Some shore excursions allow up close interaction with these natural wonders. If your itinerary includes stops in Anchorage, Seward, or Whittier, you might experience rougher seas as you cross the Gulf of Alaska in September. Birds also haven’t started their migration, so you can spot both songbirds and seabirds as you cruise along the coast. Gray whales and Humpback whales begin their migration to warmer waters in October and November, so you still have a chance to see them in Alaskan waters in September. Warmer weather in Alaska also has an unexpected bonus for cruisers in the form of glacial calving.
For a view of the city and cruise port, take a ride in the sky on the Mount Roberts Tramway. Various wildlife-viewing trips (whale, bears and more) and visits to dogsled camps and salmon bakes leave from Juneau. Alaska cruises provide plentiful opportunities to learn about native Alaskan culture. You can get a taste of the Gold Rush life by trying your hand at panning for gold, attending a salmon bake or visiting a dogsled camp.
See how bald eagles and local bird populations receive first-class treatment at the Alaska Raptor Center. Encounter wildlife in their natural habitat at the Fortress of the Bear. Or experience the culture of Russian Alaska on a visit to St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church, and relive Native history at the Sheldon Jackson Museum. Known for its timber, Ketchikan hosts the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, where athletes throw, race and chop their way to victory.
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