There are many advantages to cruising in Alaska early in the season. We were on the Sapphire Princess April 28 - May 10. We had clear, calm cool weather except for rain at night a couple of times. We didn’t have any fog. We saw whales many times, including orcas and humpbacks in ISP. We saw 2 bears along the shoreline, many eagles, porpoises, and sea otters. The naturalist said that the glaciers are the most beautiful early in the season, before they turn black on top. There were very few other ships in the ports, which was nice!
We took ship excursions, and did our own thing a few times. There were local tour guides set up eager to work in every port. The weather rarely got above 50, but we were prepared.
We had a wonderful trip!