Alaska cruise Northern Lights?

[donutday]

I know that Disney posts a disclaimer that the ship is too far south to see the Northern Lights, however, when I booked my cruise the cast member told me she had sailed on the same dates last year and they were able to see them. Does anyone know if the lights happen to be forecast, does Disney offer any type of room alert service for those who want to get up for them, as they generally appear in the middle of the night or very early morning?

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

when I booked my cruise the cast member told me she had sailed on the same dates last year and they were able to see them.

What are the dates? We're booked on an Alaskan cruise and I'd love to see them too!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I'm not sure about an alert service, but like Disney said, you typically see the Northern Lights further north like in Fairbanks. You might want to consider a cruisetour that takes you further north if seeing them is a priority.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Unlikely in summer but can occur, they are very fast you need to be watching all the time. Better further north and better in winter, but can occur.

Note hard to see re long daylight hours there in summer.

 

[Geomom]

I'd love to see the Northern lights someday as well. We're doing the 8/8/16 cruise. I also read the disclaimer, and figure it's summer, unlikely to see them (but it won't stop me from checking the skies after dark!). I would think if there is any possibility, it would have to be in the Skagway area as that's the farthest north DCL goes. I looked up the sunrise/sunset data for our cruise. Our Skagway date has sunrise at 5AM, sunset at 9PM.

The closer you are to the summer solstice, the less likely due to the amount of daylight. Summer solstice (6/20/16) has sunrise at 3:43AM, sunset at 10:23PM--not sure how much full darkness there would be--the 5 hrs of 'night' would include dusk and dawn.

 

[Anonny]

Northern Lights have been seen in Anchorage and Seward in the past couple weeks, but I think it is unusual to see them this far south this early.

This was in Seward Saturday night.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Here's a really good site for the Aurora forecast:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Alaska/

 

[pjacobi]

Aurora Forecast:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

 

[princessnicchia]

It is possible to see the Northern Lights here in the fall (yes, here in Alaska fall starts earlier than everywhere else, LOL). The above website is really great. If the weather isn't cloudy, even if you miss the Northern Lights there is nothing more beautiful than a starry night in Southeast Alaska.

Keep in mind when you look at sunset that there is an hour of what is called civil twilight (i.e. dusk) and an hour of nautical twilight before it is inky black dark.

 

[Patsydust]

Northern Lights have been seen in Anchorage and Seward in the past couple weeks, but I think it is unusual to see them this far south this early.

This was in Seward Saturday night.View attachment 119132

Ummmm, what camera are you using? Cause those stars look redankulous, and by redankulous...I mean awesome! I am super jealous of your amazing sky view! Not only would I never get to see anything like the northern lights here, but the light pollution is so bad, we see...nothing! LOL! That's why I'd love to go on the Alaskan cruise! I hear as the fall rolls in you are more likely to see the lights?? True?

 

[Prose]

Also keep in mind that in the summer, the window of darkness is pretty darn small. This was first week of June, 2011, around 11:00pm:

And this was that same week, around 4:00am:

 

[Anonny]

Ummmm, what camera are you using? Cause those stars look redankulous, and by redankulous...I mean awesome! I am super jealous of your amazing sky view! Not only would I never get to see anything like the northern lights here, but the light pollution is so bad, we see...nothing! LOL! That's why I'd love to go on the Alaskan cruise! I hear as the fall rolls in you are more likely to see the lights?? True?

Sorry, I should've given credit, of course. Photo is by Kirk Alkire, found on the Alaska Magazine Facebook page.

I toured Alaska by cruise ship and land car your last summer and did not see the northern lights. My sister is at the end of her third summer working as an Alaska tour guide on motor coaches and she had not seen the northern lights. The northern lights made appearances at home in Maine a few weeks ago and I missed them. Thirty years ago I saw a green glow in the sky, that was my only sighting.
To me, they are a very rare treat.

 

[Anonny]

I think they northern lights sightings are more common as the nights get longer. My sister the tour guide was complaining last week that the sun was setting too soon, at 9:30 instead of 11:30.
She's says that's when she knows it's time to leave Alaska and head to Boston to do the New England leaf peeper tours.