Late Sept NCL Jewel - Weather, wildlife, whales, etc.?

I will be doing a 10 day NCL cruise from Seattle to Vancouver (Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, ISP, Sitka and Prince Rupert, from Sept 23rd to Oct 3rd 2017.

Have been to Alaska (and most of those ports) in May, July and August.

I know this one is very late in the season, so, I'm wondering - excursion wise - what the chances are for bears and whales and salmon? Are they already "gone" for the winter?

Some of the private excursions I've seen stop operating in August even though the ship still offers them. Just wondering how successful any of them would be.

Thanks in advance for any information.

You are too late for salmon runs and bear tours. Whales are still seen on whale watch tours. Disadvantage of dark being by 7pm and a lot of tours shut down. Also the worse weather potential with expectation of rain and cold weather. (compared to earlier). Some chance of aurora, you'll be a lot more successful - if you- daily- check the prediction stats and look frequently if an active prediction- at least hourly.

I've picked up these sailings, only on the last minute price dump, which is pretty frequent. But always in addition for me, with in season sailings, the same season.

Thanks BQ that's just what I was looking for. This late trip is my only option this year due to work.

I can certainly tolerate rain and would love it if it snowed so I'll take whatever Mother Nature dishes out.

Do you recommend one port over the other for whale watching? Juneau, ISP, or Prince Rupert?

In Sitka I'm going to the Raptor Center and Fortress of the Bear (gotta get my bear "fix").

Thanks so much for your YEARS of information. Always the "go to" source.

I'd suggest selecting whale watching in either Hoonah or Juneau. Figure out your entire port time of activities and schedule it where it fits best.

Our cruise ended on Sept 24, it was the last cruise of the season for our ship the Star Princess. It was fabulous. We may have gotten lucky, but we had one great trip and got several special late season experiences! I wanted to go late in the season due to our schedule and I couldn't get a balcony room the week earlier. I worried so that we would be short changed on weather, accommodations, excursions etc going so late. I was not disappointed!

We saw the Northern Lights from the ship. The captain woke us up for it.

We saw lots of wildlife on both the land tour and cruise,,,,grizzly bears, caribou, Dall sheep, mountain goats, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, moose, 100's of Stellar Sea Lions, Sea otters, Orca Whales, Hump back whales, dolphins, an arctic ground squirrel, and harbour seals. We also saw the Salmon thick in the creek after spawning.

We were granted special permission for an unscheduled treat, to enter an additional glacier bay "Hopkins Bay" the park ranger said this was a first and she expected to never again be given this opportunity.

The captain appeared to go the extra mile on this last journey, the ships naturalist told me she has worked with Princess for 16 years and never got as close to the glaciers ever before. He made several comments about it being the last journey and wanting to give us or the crew a special treat.

Yes it rained, yes it was chilly at times. But that was one great trip. As nature lovers, we were so glad to have lucked out on such a great week. We did the land tour first then cruise and ended right before yours started. Some of the stores/venders were closed even when we were there. I guess the upside would be less crowds.

We did whale the watching in Juneau, but did not have the ISP or Prince Rupert stops on our trip.

Sounds like a wonderful trip. You must have had Captain Tuvo?? He's the most amazing captain. I was on the Star last year in August with him as the captain. He did everything possible to make it the best adventure ever. He'd announce and stop the ship for wildlife. We saw the northern lights too... after he woke us. I sure hope they do that on NCL.

Your info gives me hope. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. Can't wait to go no matter what!