Alaska cruise questions - Footwear & Excursions

[smashndash]

Hi everyone, we are going on our first Disney cruise in June and have a couple questions I’m not seeing information on.

1) For Alaska, do you need shoe covers or would it be okay for tennis shoes? Other suggestions?

2) We have picked out 3 excursions, but because we are first time Disney cruisers, we will book last. Is there any information that we could look at to know ahead of time if the ones we’ve picked would be available for us. Curious if they typically would be sold out prior to our opportunity to book.

Appreciate any feedback or advice you can provide.

TIA

 

[Disnsyncey]

One thing you could do for your shoes is to scotch guard them, it won't make them completely waterproof but it would be on the way....

I used my hiking boots most of the time and it was good enough for me

You don't have to limit yourself to just the Disney excursions, there are many other options (there is another thread raving about the tour company I used, Chilkoot Charters in Skagway), but I would definitely say get your priorities and JUMP on them as fast as you can (or at least have an order to book them).

 

[jimmymc]

Tennis shoes are good for 95% of Alaska excursions. The excursion description will say if you need anything beyond.

A lot of the helicopter excursions, the earlier White Pass Railway times, and the Glacier Explorer boat sell out fast. Almost anything will be available 3rd party.

 

[jcarwash]

Even if you don't do an excursion, it could be raining like crazy and sneakers/tennis shoes will get soaked. All we did in Ketchikan was walk around town and I was so glad we had waterproof hiking boots.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

Hi everyone, we are going on our first Disney cruise in June and have a couple questions I’m not seeing information on.

1) For Alaska, do you need shoe covers or would it be okay for tennis shoes? Other suggestions?

Appreciate any feedback or advice you can provide.

TIA

We went in May of 2022 and brought both tennis shoes and waterproof hiking boots, since we were not sure what to expect weather wise. The weather for us, was light rain the first sea day and then cold when we visited Dawes Glacier. The rest of the stops the weather was warm. We did wear the boots, instead of the tennis shoes at each of the stops. We just felt that if it rained or if there was any muddy/snowy ground the hiking boots would work better to keep our feet dry.

If we ever go again (which I would love to do), we will end up bring both types of shoes, since the weather in Alaska can be unpredictable, and I wouldn't want to be caught walking around in wet tennis shoes for hours at a time.

Psy

 

[Mathmagicland]

2) We have picked out 3 excursions, but because we are first time Disney cruisers, we will book last. Is there any information that we could look at to know ahead of time if the ones we’ve picked would be available for us. Curious if they typically would be sold out prior to our opportunity to book.

Some may be sold out by your booking window but I would encourage you to keep checking back if your first choices are not available. People have until three days before departure to change their minds. I have seen several “sold out “ later open up as people finalize their plans.

 

[Calantha]

We did our third cruise to Alaska and were only Silver. We could not get Glacier Explorer, but we were able to get our Photo Safari after going back and checking the website multiple times (could not book independently). We did an independent tour in Ketchikan but there were Disney people on it (the Deadliest Catch Boat).

We wore our hiking shoes on the plane and packed tennis shoes. I'm glad we had the hiking shoes because it was cold and rainy multiple days we were there. But, my MIL had friends who sailed the following week, and it was sunny and warm the entire time. You never know...

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Bring both-nothing worse than wet feet and it rains there-alot. Have a great cruise!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Light weight waterproof hiking boots are your friend, and wool socks if you've got em. Glacier Explorer is the only excursion we booked through DCL and it was 100% worth it, the rest we booked independently. We packed layers, fleece, packable down jacket, and rain shell, one per person. It was perfect for late May/early June. I wish I had brought a wool long sleeve ski base layer for the whale watching and glacier boat tours because the wind coming off that water can be very cold.

 

[Chemist]

We brought hiking boots and tennis shoes. Ketchikan was rainy, and we liked our waterproof shoes, but the rest of the trip was glorious. I think we wore our hiking boots for our helicopter flight to the glacier and they gave us overshoes to go on top.

As for excursions selling out... You can EASILY do everything you want for less if you book it yourself. Don't miss out on something you want to do. In fact, you can start booking NOW!

 

[Anna131517]

It rains a lot in Alaska. Waterproof boots, rain jackets, puffer jacket or fleece, rain pants, and a baseball cap will mean you can enjoy any excursion no matter the weather. Nothing ruins a good time like wet shoes, especially if it’s cold.

 

[GMG_3]

I'd suggest trail running sneakers.

We had a party of 12 and did the privately booked helicopter excursion out of Skagway. Everyone voted it as the best part of the trip.

You can walk from the boat to Temsco. We still did the dog sledding & gold mining excursion and had time to walk around town.

Ages of our party was 5 to 75.

 

[sadiecatie]

I'll throw out the suggestion to also look into waterproof sneakers if you don't already have hiking boots and aren't looking at excursions that would require heavier duty hiking shoes - our entire family brought Vessi sneakers and those worked great for us. Our feet stayed dry on rainy days, and we are much more likely to wear those in our everyday lives as well (the waterproofing finally failed recently on my husband's and he's been wearing them basically every day for 2 years - time for a new pair). We didn't really see the need to buy and pack hiking boots just for the waterproofing (but having waterproof shoes was very nice on the one cold/rainy day we had).

 

[CruiseGoon]

We went on an Alaska cruise in 2023 over the Independence Day holiday. We planned for lots of rain and had extra shoes in the event ours got wet on any given day. To our surprise, it didn't ever rain and we had the most spectacular weather the entire length of the cruise! That included our pre-cruise stay in Vancouver.

Maybe plan for an extra pair of shoes of you have any shore active excursions where your feet could easily get muddy or wet.

I guess, plan for the worst and celebrate if it turns out for the best.