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Leaving June 26 for a June 29th cruise. RT from Vancouver. Radiance of the Seas.
Can someone tell me where a good packing list is?
Will I need my winter jacket? Or just a fall/spring jacket?
Do I wear jeans off the boat or shorts? I hear I am supposed to dress in layers.
Do people dress up more or dress down from Caribbean cruises?
What time will the sun set?
Are the menus the same as in the Caribbean?
Will there be lots of kids? Or is the age group older then the Caribbean.
I read somewhere that the "adult only" solarium/covered pool is open to kids in Alaska because no one swims in the regular open pool.
Do I need bug repellant?
Any other "must items" that I need to bring for the cruise.
Do you recommend the train in Skagway - if so, would you do it RT?
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I think I have the Caribbean down pat but Alaska is a whole new beast to me!
Any advice or answers to questions I didn't ask if welcome!
BTW - I just got another reduction in airfare to Vancouver. We are now looking at $440 which I think is awesome considing where I am flying from (middle of no where in the heartland).
Hi Theresa,
I can help you out with a few of these. We did the Vision of the Seas in June 1999 and it was fabulous.
Will I need my winter jacket? Or just a fall/spring jacket? We brought fleece jackets and pullover sweaters which kept us warm, especially layered with a turtleneck. After what you go through with a Nebraska winter this should do you just fine. We're from Florida and I thought we'd be colder than we were.
Do I wear jeans off the boat or shorts? I hear I am supposed to dress in layers. The layers work well. I wore long jeans on all the excursions but remember cruising around Ketchikan and Juneau on our own in shorts.
Do people dress up more or dress down from Caribbean cruises? Sadly, we've not done a Caribbean cruise yet but people were definitely dressing up.
What time will the sun set? It seemed to be dusk around 10:30 or so.
Are the menus the same as in the Caribbean? again, can't help there but the food was good. It seemed odd to us that the pirate came around at dinner to take pictures. I would've thought a prospector would come....
Will there be lots of kids? Or is the age group older then the Caribbean. There were plenty of kids on our trip but they didn't seem obnoxious.
I read somewhere that the "adult only" solarium/covered pool is open to kids in Alaska because no one swims in the regular open pool. there were people in the open pool, not I though!
Do I need bug repellant? We did an excursion that involved a hike through a rainforest down to a canoe landing where we canoed out to a glacier and yes, the mosquitoes in the rainforest were huge but they had some OFF on hand for us.
My inlaws did the train trip and raved about it. If we ever go back we'll definitly do that.
Have a great time planning...hopefully it'll be here before you know it.
Location: Wisconsin....about 100 miles south of the Frozen Tundra and 70 miles east of Camp Randall
Posts: 9,241
Re: Help - Alaska questions
Theresa - dress in layers, that should be fine. I would bring a pair of gloves though and maybe a hat if you are cruising Glacier Bay or anywhere near a glacier - it can be very cold in those areas. I did the Yukon and White Pass railway in Skagway..I did the round trip, but if I had to do it again, I would do it one way - do the trip up the railway and then do something else on the way down (there are some excursions that offer a combination of train/bus.) I noticed that it did stay light pretty late in Alaska - the farther north, the later the sun stayed out - I remember sunset one night about 11:00pm or so. People do dress up for formal nights on an Alaskan cruise, but other days do tend to be a little more casual. Some of the food items are the same, but there are a few regional specialities on the menu. I did not notice a lot of children on my Alaska cruise, but that was in late May on Princess, I would think that there would be more kids late June.
We did Alaska in July of 98 on Celebrity Galaxy. The other passengers made me feel young and I was 51. It seems in the past, Alaska got a big share of oldsters. Perhaps since 9-11,and the cruise lines sending more ships to Alaska, the age has lowered. We were lucky to have packed some wintery clothes. It seems that the Alaska weather is a crapshoot. Everywhere we went in the blustery wind and cold drizzle, we heard the words, "You should have been here last week! It was 80 degrees!". I felt sorry for many of our fellow passengers decked out in their Carribean cruise attire. I mostly blamed the brochures for that. They did not stress the fact that it can get quite chilly in the Alaskan summer. I wore my one pair of jeans all week. I kept sending them to the laundry express service. I had also packed a wool sweater, a sweatshirt, woolen gloves, a wool had that pulled over my ears, and a light 3/4 length raincoat. I had on most of those clothes while cruising Glacier Bay. But who cares if it's cold!! Alaska is incredible. I tell everyone that expresses an interest to go for it. And I also tell them just don't do the cruise. Next time we go we are doing a cruise plus land excursion. I also have to admit that I flew home, cross country, with those same damn jeans unzipped under my sweatshirt. Yes; the food was outstanding!
Have a ball and I hope you have the 80 degrees we didn't get.
Help - Alaska questions
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