My mother in law is treating my wife and me to a 7 night cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver. Everything included, flights, hotels, etc. We arrive in Anchorage on August 18th.

Reading post people have made from various cruises, a large number of people suggest warm clothing, fleece, hats, gloves, and long pants. I was going to pack shorts and a fleece, tee shirts and rain gear. They say dress warm as it gets cold when we go by the glaciers. We are doing day excursions also. Do I bring more warm clothing or something you would wear in the spring or fall?

Bug spray maybe? Someone told me the skeeters in Alaska were pretty bad.

I have a picture of my favorite wife and I out on the glacier standing by the helicopter we arrived on. We were happy to have sweatshirts and jackets and lined nylon running pants. The excursion outfit furnished the overshoes for traction.

We were there in early-mid September. It wasn’t terribly cold ashore. It seems like it is always cold out at sea.

We did Alaska last summer in August, I can vouch that you'll freeze your ass off at the glaciers, it's cold, jacket, hat, shirt, jeans and close toed shoes, once the ship made the turn for the Glacier the temps drop big time, in fact the water changes color where the cold fjord water is exiting into the warmer (but still cold N Pacific)

It probably will be wet on some of the excursions, bring a rain jacket,

If the suns out it will be tolerable in shorts for walking around however we never found it as such, it' just depends. Weather was crappy on the way up to the Glacier rain, nasty, cold, you end up being inside so bring something to read, once the weather cleared getting up on deck to walk was nice, but it was still cool-cold.

Other than the day at sea where we had nothing to do but eat, sleep and drink the trip was great, the scenery fantastic.


Couple pair of jeans, dress pants, a few pairs of shorts for walking around the ship if you feel more comfortable. It all depends on what happens weather wise on our warmest day at sea it was still cold, I was in Jeans and a pull over, in the sun.

Oh and bring very good well fitting walking shoes.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
I have a picture of my favorite wife and I out on the glacier standing by the helicopter we arrived on. We were happy to have sweatshirts and jackets and lined nylon running pants. The excursion outfit furnished the overshoes for traction.

We were there in early-mid September. It wasn’t terribly cold ashore. It seems like it is always cold out at sea.

Very similar experience. By all means, helicopter ride to a glacier is incredible.

I lived in Alaska for five years and my advice is to dress in layers. One of the things I saw with visitors from Houston was that they all did their layers wrong. They would start off at the base of the hike wearing clothes for winter even though it was summer, they got too hot as they were hiking, they would take off their sweaty outer layers, and then we could stop for a break they would have to put on cold sweaty clothing. Instead, they should’ve had all the layers at the base of the hike when we weren’t doing anything, taken layers off prior to starting the hike, and then put a layer back on when we got to a stopping point.

A good pair of binoculars.

I wore a longsleeve cotton shirt with rollup sleeves under a 5.11 vest, a Tilley hat, and carried a lightweight rain jacket in a stuff pouch that clipped to my belt and was comfortable throughout the trip

My brother complained about the suppers on his free 9 day trip.

Seems that when you have assigned seating , you may very well have to know 7 other languages, if you want to converse with anyone else.

and
know exactly what you will be expected to pay re: tip's and tipping.

they way over charged him on a daily basis , for food he did not receive and booze that he did not order. ($400.00 for the entire trip, that they took off of his bill )

also 2 1/2 hours is not enough time to see what you want to see in the small villages , he did not go farther than the docks, he was disappointed at that.

Bring warm clothing that will also keep you dry, think camping trip.
Fleece works best either inside or, underneath a windbreaker or, rain parka; when the wind blows it'll cut right through if your fleece isn't covered.

Bring solid shoes...Merril Moab, Keen Targee or, Lowa Tempest for example. Good for hikes and walking around town should it rain (it'll rain).

Bring good day pack for ashore excursions. Enough space for jacket, water bottle, lunch, hat/glasses, binoculars, gloves.

See if you can spend some extra days in Anchorage and explore the area before embarking on your cruise. The ship will be docked in Seward, which is 2.5-3 hours south of Anchorage.
You'll find Anchorage and the surrounding areas are a different part of Alaska than the Inland Passage you'll be sailing through.

If you like premium spirits, upgrade your alcohol card at the start of the cruise, you get to select top shelf drinks and spirits, since I prefer Single Malt to blended scotch I did this, more than paid for itself on the trip, Better Martinis make better cruise's.

You'll have a great time, oh and BTW your cell won't work while you are on the ship unless you want to drop some serious coin on wifi/calling plan, don't answer any calls incoming while you are on the ship, you will get charged mega big time rates.

I think it was something on the order of $200 per device, typically not included in the deal, and frankly, it was great to get away from the iConnectedworld for a change, you can still download books etc to your iDevice before you go just make sure you don't need to connect to read/watch.

A lot of good advice here. Thanks guys. I have a winter ski parka that I can wear either just the fleece lining or the shell, Is that too heavy a jacket? I have thought two pair of shorts mainly for the flights in and out and a couple pair of jeans, long sleeve tees, two sets of cloths- Dockers and a Polo for dinner, but I would rather not do the formal dinners if possible.
I was hoping tatortodd would reply (thanks) as I know he spent enough time in Alaska.
A small backpack for the town excursions to carry rain jackets and fleece.

It will rain. It’s SE Alaska. We stopped in Ketchikan and it wasn’t raining. Each and every local mentioned how strange it was. Most days were cloudy and cool. Skagway looked like rain, Glacier Bay was a wet drank foggy experience.
The tourist shops open for the ships. You’ll see T-shirts, lots of jewelry and the same cheap Alaskan souvenirs. The ship will have a map showing their preference shops. Then you’ll see shops advertising cheap prices as they are NOT on the list. My wife had some specific jewelry she wanted. The ship’s concierge gave us a list and a note for the shops. I’m sure she got a kickback. Oddly, we found the last piece on board.
Get your excursions trserved fast. I missed out on the eagle float trip because of that. There was a helicopter ride to a glacier Dog sled camp in Skagway. It was well worth the cost (you “drive”the sled that’s being towed.)just for the ride.