Alaska Cruise Essentials?

[Shingebiss]

Dear Alaska Cruisers, what were the MOST useful items you packed for the trip? Eg best type of shoes, outerwear, equipment etc.

 

[diznymom]

Waterproof jacket, comfortable leather hiking boots. My own cocoa (I don't like Nestle). Clothespins for the curtains.

 

[WeLoveStitch42]

Clothing you can layer, especially for port days / excursions. It was often fairly chilly in the morning as we were debarking, and it would warm up through the day. Jeans & a t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt over that and a windbreaker. Sunglasses and a decent camera too!

 

[sc426]

I second clothing you can layer. Last year when my husband and I went on the August 10th cruise, the weather was beautiful! Hardly any rain and it was sunny and 70 just about the entire cruise. Going through Tracy arm it was very cold. That's where the layers come in. The clothing layers also come in as the sun sets as you are coming back to the ship after your adventurous day. It can get very cold.

 

[Mrs Green]

I second clothing you can layer. Last year when my husband and I went on the August 10th cruise, the weather was beautiful! Hardly any rain and it was sunny and 70 just about the entire cruise. Going through Tracy arm it was very cold. That's where the layers come in. The clothing layers also come in as the sun sets as you are coming back to the ship after your adventurous day. It can get very cold.

We are going the week of August 8 and I hope we luck out with weather like yours!!!

 

[saxmangeoff]

Rain suit. Keeping the bottom half dry is just as important as the top half, if you're going to be doing anything outside and it's rainy.

 

[AJaquins]

A good camera-you will see some beautiful scenery. Also clothing you can layer. I didn't take a heavy coat the last 2 times we went just layered. Just depends on the weather honestly how much you will have to.

 

[Ljbadfan]

Clothes are important, but don't over pack. On 3 cruises to Alaska I took a coat once. I have never worn rain gear, or dress in layers. I just wore jeans and a polo shirt, and my father the last time worn Hawaiian shirts. All the girls in the shop wanted to know what kind of shirt he was wearing everyday. It rained why we were in Juneau last year so take an umbrella.. I'm a big guy so I got one of those over sized family umbrellas. For my advice you can always see who is from warmer states cause they will have the coats. We went the next cruise after pervious poster above in August and our Tracy arm day was sunny in the 70's. That day is a gamble weather wise.

 

[rwhistler92]

Binoculars. There is so much to see!

 

[saxmangeoff]

For my advice you can always see who is from warmer states cause they will have the coats. We went the next cruise after pervious poster above in August and our Tracy arm day was sunny in the 70's. That day is a gamble weather wise.

Indeed. Probably the best advice for packing for the weather is "how cold does 60F sound to you?"

My wife and I live in Northern Idaho, and we were fine. Alaska Days are as chilly (generally) as our summer evenings, so we usually did light jackets, if anything for warmth.

If you're from Phoenix, however, you're going to want more layers.

 

[Jess_S]

A short sleeve shirt, a water resistant fleece jacket, backpack for carrying things on excursions, binoculars as rwhistler said -- we actually wished we had splurged for fancy ones, but our cheap pair was better than nothing. Our son was about 22 months old at the time and his umbrella stroller was invaluable for allowing us to be out exploring while he napped. We were lucky to have a dry week, so we didn't get any use out of our rain suits; better safe than sorry though.

For shoes, I brought my waterproof hiking boots for our one outdoorsy day (Mendenhall Glacier), a pair of Toms for all other days, running shoes for the gym and dress shoes for formal night. I did actually use all of them. Rather than investing in hiking boots for my son that he would outgrow immediately, we bought a spare pair of cheap sneakers that I carried in the aforementioned backpack in case my son's feet got wet.

 

[Chernabog1940]

Camera with zoom lens, binoculars

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Have a verandah room there are things to see every day from 6 am to 11 pm.

 

[jenf22]

In addition to what the others have said (good camera, binoculars, verandah, backpack, zip-lock bags to keep stuff dry, etc), I would add a waterproof camera and small umbrellas. Rain gear and ponchos are humid and uncomfortable (in my opinion) so the little umbrellas were nice to have since it's more Seattle-like drizzly rain (not Florida torrential downpour). I also like to have the small waterproof camera for days like this so I don't have to stress about the DSLR.

 

[amberwc]

I am curious about the "extras":
Clear over-the-door shoe holder
Pop-up hamper
Clothes pins / clothes line?
Air freshener
Bungee cord
Other crap that my DH will kill me for packing and not using???

 

[steves100]

Depends on when you are going. We were on the cruise over July 4th. The only time we couldnt where shorts was at the Mendenhall Glacier (its really windy).

We even could wear shorts doing the dog sledding on the glacier (we didnt), but could have it was around 50

Rain gear is a must

 

[saxmangeoff]

Rain gear and ponchos are humid and uncomfortable (in my opinion) so the little umbrellas were nice to have since it's more Seattle-like drizzly rain (not Florida torrential downpour).

For the most part, I would agree. But when we were at Mendenhall Glacier (July 4, 2014) it was raining fairly heavily. Not central Florida thunderstorm heavily, but still I-don't-want-to-be-out-in-this-without-a-waterproof-layer heavily. A little umbrella would definitely not have cut it. I was happy to be in a rain suit. Yes, it was hot & humid in the suit, but I was much drier than I'd have been with an umbrella or a poncho.

That day was the only time in the whole trip that we deployed the rain suits, but it was good to have them that day.

So, for the most part, think light rain, but be prepared for more.

 

[jetskigrl]

For the most part, I would agree. But when we were at Mendenhall Glacier (July 4, 2014) it was raining fairly heavily. Not central Florida thunderstorm heavily, but still I-don't-want-to-be-out-in-this-without-a-waterproof-layer heavily. A little umbrella would definitely not have cut it. I was happy to be in a rain suit. Yes, it was hot & humid in the suit, but I was much drier than I'd have been with an umbrella or a poncho.

That day was the only time in the whole trip that we deployed the rain suits, but it was good to have them that day.

So, for the most part, think light rain, but be prepared for more.

We had pretty good rain at Mendenhall Glacier in August 2014 also. We were so happy that we all had packable rain jackets and waterproof boots on. The trail to the waterfall was underwater in many places but we kept on going and it was so much fun stomping around in the rain. And I agree, an umbrella wouldn't have worked out as well.

So my recommendations for Alaska are long, packable rain shells. You most likely won't need a heavy jacket if you have layers on, but a good amount of waterproof covering is a must if it rains. Plus, if it is packable, you just keep it in your backpack in case you need it. No need to carry around a heavy jacket. And if you are planning any walking excursions, then some type of waterproof shoes. You don't want your only pair of tennis shoes to get soaked and then not be able to wear them the next day.

 

[Disneybridewifemama]

binoculars, rain jacket, clothes you can layer. rainboots (or some kind of water proof shoe), beanie for the evenings (frozen deck party) and tracy arm day

 

[labdogs42]

I am curious about the "extras":
Clear over-the-door shoe holder
Pop-up hamper
Clothes pins / clothes line?
Air freshener
Bungee cord
Other crap that my DH will kill me for packing and not using???

For the record -- over the door things aren't allowed any more, so skip that one.
I had no use for a pop up hamper, we just designate one of our duffel bags as the dirty laundry bag and fill it up as we go.
There's a clothesline in the shower, clothespins can be handy.
I didn't use an air freshner
not sure what the bungee cord is for, but, sure, why not?

Other crap -- get one of these 12x12 plastic craft cases to store all of your collected papers in. You can also put your shutter photos in here at the end of your trip. This keeps it all together and keeps the papers and photos from getting creased. Im a scrapbooker, so keeping paper stuff is important to me and I hate when it gets all mixed up and wrinkled! I have used one of these boxes on each cruise and it worked out great! That's my "secret" tip!