Best time to Cruise Alaska

[joy1rn]

I am trying to plan our first trip to Alaska for 2012. We will probably do a 7 day cruise with Carnival or RC. What is the best time to see wildlife? Should we go northbound or southbound and does that make a difference if you go in May or say August? What is the best port to cruise out of?

Thank you!

[Keith1010]

I would post this on the Alaska Ports of Call Board.

 

If you want to spend extra time in Alaska before or following your cruise you'll want to do either a North or South Bound cruise.

 

If you don't want to spend extra time there we have enjoyed the R/T out of Vancouver or Seattle or San Francisco inside passage cruises.

 

To see wildlife you need to take excursions to get further inland or at sea.

 

We have gone to Alaska many times of the year and enjoyed it. Weather in Alaska is unpredictable. It can change by the hour.

 

Keith

[arlodog]

When we were planning our cruise to Alaska we wondered the same thing and essentially it ends up being luck for the weather from what I understand! We went at the end of July and only had one drizzly day but lots of fog which lifted everyday...kind of weird sailing and not being able to see over the rail of the ship.

 

We wanted to go when the salmon were running. It really was something to see and would highly recommend it. When the salmon are out so are the animals that feed on the salmon (bears, seals, ect) We saw a black bear at Mendenhall, Grizzlies in Glacier Bay, seals just floating on their back munching on salmon on Creek Street in Ketchikan. The whales were wonderful to watch in Juneau and we got to see them bubble feeding.

 

There is no guarantee for wildlife, but if you are interested in seeing some you need to get away from the ship and you may get lucky.

[Krazy Kruizers]

we have gone all months -- hated may and end of august and september -- unfortunately we had lots of rain and it was very chilly

 

we really like the middle of june through the middle of august