Alaska veterans: list your 5 must have's for Alaska cruise.

[JerseyJT]

1) Over the door shoe holder - it was great for keeping organized on our cruise

2) Spare Memory cards for camera - we took over a 1000 pictures for Alaskan Cruise

3) Good Binoculars

4) An Iternerary with all of our reservations, confirmation numbers (and CC company numbers) on one sheet.

5) DW

 

Thanks for the suggestions...and reviving this thread. It's got alot of great ideas in it and now that we're getting closer to cruise season a good thing to review.

[Born4Travel]

1. Open Mind (there is no one right way to have a vacation)

2. Positive Attitude (I will enjoy this even if not everything is perfect!)

3. A good travelmate (assuming you are not solo)

4. Big Stomach (you need one to take all the food in)

5. Good Raingear (Because getting wet can ruin your positive attitude)

 

:)

 

Hey! I like your suggestion best so far. :D Thanks.

[SeattleCruiselover]

Digital camera, HDD camcorder, laptop, money (of course), binoculars.

[MeadMkr]

This will be our first cruise to Alaska but I've been traveling for years. My top five would be (with the caveat that I enjoy photography) :

 

1) camera kit ( dSLR, wide-angle and zoom), batteries, cards, filters, cleaning gear and small GPS for geotagging my photos

2) binoculars

3) notepad & waterproof pen with printout of things/places of interest

4) zip-lock bags in several sizes

5) some pocket-snacks ( ie, jerky, gorp, powerbars, etc) to tide you over between meals

 

Cheers

Chris & Kathy

http://www.pbase.com/meadmkr

[Donna_In_India]

2. the power strip, worked great...only had 1 outlet in the cabin, 1/2 of it had the coffee pot (for my hot chocolate every day) needed the extra outlets for the camera's battery, the laptop recharging and the phones battery (DH had to keep in touch with work).

 

 

Hi - Just wondering if you brought your own coffee pot or if any of the cabins have them?

[FSUFAN]

Hi - Just wondering if you brought your own coffee pot or if any of the cabins have them?

We are bringing two small stainless thermos'. One for my coffee and one for DW hot tea. They hold about 3-4 cups of liquid and will keep hot for a long time.

 

I'll run up and fill them up in the morning. Also, taking 2 large thermal mugs to use in the room.

[brunolvr]

1 - Camera w/charger and lots of memory

2 - Windproof & waterproof light weight jacket

3 - Fleecewear to layer under jacket

4 - Warm hat & gloves

5 - :) And a positive attitude that "hey, I'm on vacation & I'm on a cruise & I'm going to have a great time! :D (I can't believe all the negative people I've overheard on our cruises--they always find something to complain about)

[Flytanya]

Love the idea of slippers. Should they be waterproof on the bottom? Planning for first Alaskan cruise 2009.:D

[FSUFAN]

1. Laptop

For pictures, I've got a GPS program, watch DVDs, listen to music, I've got wireless access for internet as long as I get a cell signal, etc.

 

2. Digital Camera and Monopod

Extra batteries, charger, several 1Gb memory cards.

 

3. Warm clothes

40-50 degrees is COLD to a Floridian

Gloves, Jackets, flannel shirts, warm socks

 

4. Wine

Several bottles, or a box or 2 of some that we like. Might slip in some ready-made margaritas in a rum runner flask

 

5. Binoculars

I've got 2 pairs

[dizbuster]

1. Digital camera, you DO NOT want to be caught having to change out a film roll as you sail past yet another beautiful scene with wonderful lighting and miss the moment :) Also, if you are forced to choose, go for wide angle over telephoto. You will have many many more opportunites for great landscape shots than wildlife shots. A wide angle to moderate telephoto zoom is probably your most generally useful range (24mm - 200mm). My first Alaska cruise was what it took for me to go digital and I never looked back :)

 

2. Laptop with Google Earth installed, the only map you'll ever need.

 

3. Boundless Enthusiasm ... seriously. If you stay cooped up in your cabin or otherwise inside while on ship and are not resenting every moment that takes you away from seeing the beautiful sights float past you, then you should be sailing the carribean ;)

 

4. Good, sturdy and well broken in shoes or boots.

 

5. Windproof/water resistent jacket, the lighter the better.

[plenox]

4. Good, sturdy and well broken in shoes or boots.

 

 

This is one of the best advices I have seen. Don't put your new hiking shoes in the closet until the days of the cruise. It takes some time to break in.

[Putterdude]

It would depend upon what I was doing but a few of the obvious would be:

-Goretex or breathable jacket

-Goretex or breathable wind pants

- binoculars

-travel mug

-camera with extra media, batteries and battery charger

[jer_l]

1. disposable rain slickers

 

2. extra memory cards for camera

 

3. comfortable walking shoes or hiking boots

 

4. a warm jacket

 

5. a multi-plug extension to recharge camera batteries, laptop, phone . . .

[dhmom99]

We tend to overpack. And recent trip is no exception. We have luggaged around many items that we didn't end up using. But we do found few things recommended by the cruisers here that really helped.

 

1. Digital camera with a lots of memory cards. (DH rented a Canon wide angle lens and we used it a lot)

2. Comfortable walking shoes. They are life savers. We got ours from LL Bean for $69 when they are on sale

3. Binoculars (we got zen-ray Vista, we will miss a lot if we didn't bring our binoculars. It seems everything has been supersized in Alaska).

4. dress in layers. It is cold in the morning and evening. But we didn't use the handwarmer

5. Frommer's guide book. I learnt so much there, which compliment the CC very well.

[compulady]

I'm glad this thread was brought back to life, very informative! It should be made sticky.

[tupper10]

If you are going in June, July or early August you MUST bring bug spray with DEET. They call the mosquito the state bird of Alaska and they are not kidding. We have been there twice, once overland and once on a cruise and we are going back. I agree with everything being said but I note the following:

1. If you see a lot of birds on the ocean as your ship is sailing flying low - it means there are whales below since these birds (I forget their name) travel with the whale pods. By knowing this - just looking out of our balcony we saw the birds and saw about 100 whales on their migration to Hawaii - I cannot begin to describe how spectacular that was to see.

2. If you wish to see the whale migration than you need to go in late August when the whales are migrating.

3. Get off the ship and don't go shopping - you can do that anywhere. See as much as you can of Alaska so do the train rides, the long excursions and if you can afford it the small plane ride excursions that the ship offers or you can book yourself.

4. If you have time see the rest of Alaska - go to Denali and take a walk or a short hike. The hiking is not hard.

5. In Seward if you have time do the small boat cruise to see the largest water based national park - it is great and you end at the glacier. Then go to the national park and walk to the glacier yourself.

6. Eat at the Marx Brothers Cafe in Anchorage one of the best restaurants we have ever eaten at. Also visit the Asian supermarket for fresh baked bread and great home made sandwiches.

7. Even in the rain the scenery and light are incredible so take your hat and gloves and your layers and see everything as you cruise. We saw a double rainbow over our ship as the sun came out. It was huge. Again Alaska is like no place you have been so forget about it being 'cold', rainy, and windy - you are in Alaska where around the next bend you could see whales, seals, sea lions, bears, and the running of the salmon.

[sijid]

It's light, comfy and warm.

2. Slip-ons for walking around inside. I planned so well for wet weather and dressing for dinner that the only shoes I brought were rainboots and heels. I really wanted my Birkenstocks!

3. Don't panic about a camera. My friends and DH had digital SLR's, and I had a Kodak Easyshare with a 12x zoom. My pictures were just fine--not quite as good as the SLR's, but pretty close.

4. I also wished for a power strip. One outlet to take care of battery chargers, curlers and hair dryer, cell phone charger, etc. It was do-able but awkward, and power strips don't take up that much space.

5. Fleece vest under Gore-Tex. Man, did that work! It became my uniform.

[easyecho]

For those who use the laptop to backup the images (which is frankly all it should be considered is a backup as a HD is more likely to fail than that solid state memory card) might I suggest the following item:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Epson-P-3000-Multimedia-Storage-Audio-Video/dp/B000J3ZGXY/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IJG9GV840TBN9&colid=2Y3JK8DC6O5MU

 

This is great to just slide in the memory card and back it up -- now you have two copies of every picture -- on the memory card and now on this device. It sure beats the laptop even the lightest of them.

 

Just some food for thought

[kaisatsu]

I was just going to post our own laptop storage alternative!

 

My husband and I both go a little crazy with our digital cameras, and especially on long cruises, we need the extra space. A while ago, he picked up the most fantastic gadget for this:

 

the Apple iPod Camera Connector - Basically, it lets you turn your iPod into a hard drive to transfer all your photos off of your camera's memory card.

 

If you have a compatible iPod and camera model, this little gadget can be so handy! My husband always travels with his iPod to bring along music and audio books, and this lets us take advantage of all that storage space for our photos as well. Even with his older 60GB model iPod, if we limit the number of songs we carry, it easily leaves us up to 40GB of space for pictures! And it only costs $29!

[knorrisb07]

I will bring a portable HD for my trip next time

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

There is a great guide of animals in Alaska. It is a laminated card printed on both sides. I don't know the name of it off hand as it is packed in one of my boxes (moving in a couple of week). Binoculars (love mine with a built in digital camera) and reading books! Love sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee and reading while watching the sea go by (who cares if it is cold?)

[leahsdad]

Silk long underware and glove liners

perfect for those long days on deck at the glaciers--packs like air

 

we like having the laptop as we can review our pictures every evening --also e-mail a couple home to friends

 

Paul

[Cheryl H]

A couple of you mentioned silk long underwear. Where do you find these? Any certain brand? I've only seen the old fashioned thermal kind. Silk sounds thinner and easier to pack.

 

Thanks!

[rmock3]

Wow, I live in S.Florida and own no winter clothes! I don't suppose a Disney World poncho is going to cut it! We plan on going in Sept 09. Where do I start jacket/raingear wise?

[jstpshe]

Buy cuddle duds which you can find about anywhere. That's what I wear in the cold. Thin, lightweight and warm. I got mine at Dillards and JC Penney. Hope that helps.