8 day Alaska on the miracle out of Seattle in August

[rebric]

This is my husband and I first Alaska cruise and have a few questions I hope someone can help with. Our itinerary is Juneau, Victoria, Icy Strait Point, and Skagway. 
Opinion of the Miracle?

Weather?

Do you see whales from the ship or would an excursion give better odds?

Anyone do the dogsledding?
that’s all I can think of for now.

thanks.

[TheSeagoer]

16 minutes ago, rebric said:

This is my husband and I first Alaska cruise and have a few questions I hope someone can help with. Our itinerary is Juneau, Victoria, Icy Strait Point, and Skagway. 
Opinion of the Miracle?

Weather?

Do you see whales from the ship or would an excursion give better odds?

Anyone do the dogsledding?
that’s all I can think of for now.

thanks.

There are some very informative YouTube  videos on Alaska.  It answers a lot

[rebric]

Thanks.

I never thought of that.

I’m headed there now.

[TheSeagoer]

11 minutes ago, rebric said:

Thanks.

I never thought of that.

I’m headed there now.

I’m going in September.  They have everything from excursions to weather to clothing

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, TheSeagoer said:

There are some very informative YouTube  videos on Alaska.  It answers a lot

 

1 hour ago, TheSeagoer said:

There are some very informative YouTube  videos on Alaska.  It answers a lot

We have been on the Miracle 3 times and a 4th to Alaska next year. The ship is one of the oldest in the fleet. The ship will go to dry dock this October for needed mechanical repairs and hopefully some updating. The decor is to say the least unusual. We enjoy the ships small size, less capacity than the new mega ships. It's a perfect size ship to do Alaska. Check the You Tube packing for an Alaska cruise. A general answer would be be prepared for any kind of weather. There will be whale sittings from the ship, but what side and will you be on tat side to see them. ( do an excursion, you won't be disappointed ). Juneau and Icy Strait Point are great whale excursion ports. We had a fantastic excursion from ISP on our last cruise. Skagway is a small town, pretty much one street, two blocks long. All wooden buildings, wood side walks. If you want to get a feel of the history of Skagway in the late 1890s there's lots of info on the internet. Victoria is a beautiful city, you dock pretty much right downtown. If you do a dogsled excursion, let's us know how it went. We are doing one next year. Have a great cruise, I will bet you will be going back again. Alaska is a one of a kind place to visit.

[tallnthensome]

There is an Alaska forum full of information as well. 

[Ferry_Watcher]

@rebric, are you sure it's Seattle that you are sailing from in August?

[Ferry_Watcher]

@rebric, I think it is the Carnival Spirit that you are on.

[rebric]

Yes it’s the Spirit 🤣

I have no idea where I got Miracle from.

[ohmandi]

@rebric  We just cruised Alaska on the Ruby Princess. We did the same cruise in 2019.  In 2019 the weather was 70-75 and sunny!  This trip July was in the 50's and we got a bit of rain in each port!  You just never know.  Keep an eye on a weather reports.  In 2019 in Skagway, we rented a car and drove up the Klondike Highway into the Yukon.  It was a gorgeous drive.  We stopped several times to enjoy the views and went as far as Carcross, ate lunch, and headed back to Skagway.  You can get maps/guides to the drive online from Murrays Guides or Bell's Alaska. 

On our most recent cruise in July 2022, we stopped in Icy Strait Point which frankly was very disappointing.  The zip line looks like a blast but it was sold out.  Right off the ship, you take a free people mover (or you can walk the 1/4 mile trail) into the cruiseline-developed shopping area.  From there, we took the $5.00 shuttle, round trip, for the short ride into Hoonah.  I had researched and found Hoonah ATV Tours prior to the cruise.  That made the whole port stop!  Joe, a Hoonah native,  was fabulous!  It's a self-guided tour in a 2 or 4-seater Polaris through the rain forest.  So fun and beautiful scenery.  We saw bears (way too close for me!), bald eagles, watched the fish jumping in the water, drove onto little islands, across great bridges, over streams.  It was wonderful.   He sets you up with a GPS device and you are off on your own.  For safety purposes, he can watch your progress on the GPS and has trackers on the vehicles in case of emergencies.  Great time!  Completely worth it.