July 1 RT From Seattle Weather

[TheCooksinCT]

realistically, can we expect sunny and warm "sitting by pool in bathing suits" during sea days? Or maybe more like shorts and a sweater? I'm used to mid 80s and humid in July. We will be in Cali the week prior to sailing and the thought of packing for 2 weeks in different climates is daunting!

[shadowmeboy]

realistically, can we expect sunny and warm "sitting by pool in bathing suits" during sea days? Or maybe more like shorts and a sweater? I'm used to mid 80s and humid in July. We will be in Cali the week prior to sailing and the thought of packing for 2 weeks in different climates is daunting!

 

 

Seattle area should be high 70's, but you could get rain.

 

I have had both cold and rainy and warm and sunny on Sea days in Alaska. Bring layers in case it's cold or rainy. Sometimes it will start foggy and get warm in the afternoon, thus another reason for layers.

[TheCalicoCat]

realistically, can we expect sunny and warm "sitting by pool in bathing suits" during sea days? Or maybe more like shorts and a sweater? I'm used to mid 80s and humid in July. We will be in Cali the week prior to sailing and the thought of packing for 2 weeks in different climates is daunting!

 

 

On our early June cruise to AK, there weren't people laying out, but there were people in bathing suits in the hot tubs/pool... (AKA it wasn't too cold, but it also wasn't warm enough.) They were in the "indoor" pool (retractable roof = indoors?).

 

Since we are not pool people or hot-tubbers, I'm not sure that we will even be bringing our suits. I'm hoping for & looking forward for a reprieve from the heat & humidity.

 

(My perfect Alaska cruise weather would be pants and sweatshirt weather. Now that I have typed that...)

[dyeadave]

Skagway will probably be 60ish in the morning, but if you get up over the pass, into the YUkon, it could be 80 degrees or so.

We see 80ish in Skagway a couple of times a summer but in my thirty odd years of living here, I have never seen it stay above 70 degrees after evening comes. Something about that ocean current just two blocks from my house!

We can't raise corn or tomatoes outside of the greenhouses, but we have six foot plus on the rhubarb plants every year, so if you come by my house before the Fourth of July this year you may see that very plant which frequently wins the judging of the tallest ruby on the Fourth of July! We take our rhubarb very serious around our town! the rhubarb is also edible from late April first shoots, all of the way thru September! It just doesn't ever get hot enough here in Skagway to soften the succulence of the stems.

So as usual, I digress,but on the water, expect coolness on deck, especially in places like Glacier Bay which I haven't been there in thirty years or so but I expect that it hasn't changed much!?!

I recall one time years ago when we were returning to Skagway from our winter sojourn on POW and on the way past Tracy Arm we spotted a berg which sat high above the others and was a perfect Sphinx, so we turned toward the thing and with our little diesel we could make eight knots, tops, so we spent just under an hour finally pulling up and laying off at a safe hundred yards or so, whilst setting up the camera for the perfect still shot of said sphinxes we got the thrill of watching our subject do a roll over and expose a non discript bottom side and the Sphinx shot escaped the slow shutter person that day! ( it took a while to live that one down, but I blamed it on the always excited Visila who got in the way of the tripod that fine day)

If you get the chance, by all means, do that tour, if they offer it from your ship. I would even favor it over GB, but maybe it's just the personal memories from here?

Hope that this all helps a bit for you on the temps you may encounter in July, etc.?

[Sequim88]

In Seattle area we have a saying that summer starts "the weekend AFTER whenever 4th of July is." It ALWAYS rains around the 4th then turns nice (for Seattle) shortly after. The actual warm (for Seattle) and dry starts about the 1st week of August - that's why they set that period for Seafair. August and Sept. are the pool months.

 

The rest of the cruise the air temps will closely follow the water surface temp which at best will hit 60 or so. If wind is calm and it is sunny ship deck can create a micro-climate of its own and warm the air above the deck a little more - maybe 10?. Then again off-shore / down-slope winds from the east can warm things considerably. But most of the time wind is from the west and just came over 4,500 miles of north Pacific water.

[Coral]

Alaska is so unpredictable.

 

I did 2 different 4th of July cruises. One RT out of Vancouver and one RT out of Seattle.

 

The first cruise was incredibly cold, windy, very wet, sleet with fog all week. The ship sold out of jackets. The other one, HOT, HOT, HOT. I felt uncomfortable in jeans and wished I had packed more shorts.

 

The norm is probably something in between but the extremes happen.

[Budget Queen]

realistically, can we expect sunny and warm "sitting by pool in bathing suits" during sea days? Or maybe more like shorts and a sweater? I'm used to mid 80s and humid in July. We will be in Cali the week prior to sailing and the thought of packing for 2 weeks in different climates is daunting!

 

 

You don't see people "sitting" by the pool in bathing suits on Alaska cruises. Few people in the pool then running out in a hurry. :) I smile as I walk by in my jacket, gloves and hat on, heading for the open deck. Always some cooler breeze at the rail.

[sherryf]

You don't see people "sitting" by the pool in bathing suits on Alaska cruises. Few people in the pool then running out in a hurry. :) I smile as I walk by in my jacket, gloves and hat on, heading for the open deck. Always some cooler breeze at the rail.

 

 

Sure you do! This was sailing out of Seattle in July 2012:

 

 

But this was just a couple of days later:

 

[CruizinSherry]

I wonder if sailing out of Vancouver would be better weather, maybe for the first sea day?

[xlxo]

Vancouver and Seattle are only 145 miles apart. Not much of a difference from the sky.

 

Vancouver sailings do have calmer waters with the inside passage. You get a better night's sleep.

[miagirl]

realistically, can we expect sunny and warm "sitting by pool in bathing suits" during sea days? Or maybe more like shorts and a sweater? I'm used to mid 80s and humid in July. We will be in Cali the week prior to sailing and the thought of packing for 2 weeks in different climates is daunting!

 

Please forgive me because this may sound testy, but no one who lives in California calls it "Cali". Do you call Connecticut "Connie"?

 

Sorry about that. If you are going to be here for a week before, what you need to pack is pretty similar to the suggested packing for Alaska. It all depends where in the state you'll be. Here in coastal San Diego, you'll probably have "June Gloom" at the coast and what we consider cold at night. Inland it will be hot and get hotter as you head through Orange County (Disneyland) to LA. If you are spending most of the week in the bay area (SF) just remember what Mark Twain said - "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco".

[sherryf]

Please forgive me because this may sound testy, but no one who lives in California calls it "Cali". Do you call Connecticut "Connie"?

 

(y)

 

As a native "California Girl" I cringe every time I hear it!

[snowmc]

I have been on 10 Alaska cruises and have developed a packing list that works pretty well. It is on my travel blog....http://www.zest4travel.wordpress.com From our experiences in Alaska, you can get everything from 70's or 80's in one port and then cold, windy and/or rainy in another. Plus...it can get chilly while cruising, especially up to the glaciers. You just never know.

[dyeadave]

Isn't there a port called Cali which can be quite warm?

Skeemo is even less accurate (and much more offensive) but it is part of people's perception which we of the thick skins are tolerant.....

[TheCooksinCT]

I travel to CA at least once a year - I abbreviate a lot and call Connecticut CT. We will be in Santa Monica and the weather should be turning pretty nice by then and I think we can expect sun with temps high 70's. Hoping to get sun there as I don't expect much in AK

 

Please forgive me because this may sound testy, but no one who lives in California calls it "Cali". Do you call Connecticut "Connie"?

 

Sorry about that. If you are going to be here for a week before, what you need to pack is pretty similar to the suggested packing for Alaska. It all depends where in the state you'll be. Here in coastal San Diego, you'll probably have "June Gloom" at the coast and what we consider cold at night. Inland it will be hot and get hotter as you head through Orange County (Disneyland) to LA. If you are spending most of the week in the bay area (SF) just remember what Mark Twain said - "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco".