Check Your Port Schedule!

HAL ship tied up in Skagway.

Alaska cruising can be peaceful and beautiful - until you have to tie up in port.  More and more ships are plying the Alaskan waterways bringing many more passengers to see the pristine and quiet north - making it at times anything but peaceful. In the summer of 2018 mega ships are beginning to arrive in Alaska as ports are installing larger piers for these ships.  Additionally, there are just more ships in general in Alaska in the summer.  During the shoulder seasons there are not quite as many ships, but from the middle of June until the middle of September, it is busy up there.

If you don't want to share a port with over 13,000 fellow passengers on a given day, consider some of the following workarounds:

• Plan your trip for earlier or later in the season.  It is becoming unnaturally warm in Alaska - weather in May now can feel a lot like the middle of summer so it is not a hardship traveling earlier in the year.  The end of September, and even into October still provides warm temperatures and interesting fall colours.  In a port like Juneau there may only be two or three ships in port near the beginning of the cruise season and only one ship in the fall.  In the middle of summer there may be up to six ships in port at any given time.
  
• Look at the cruise schedule to determine how busy any given day will be in the ports you are visiting. Using the Juneau 2018 schedule as an example, on August 14 there are six ships in port with a total of over 13,000 passengers milling about in town and on tours.  Compare that to September 21 when there is one ship in port with about 1400 passengers.

Mega ships can hold enough passengers to fill two large cruise ships so when they pull in to a port it inevitably becomes very crowded with people milling about on the street, shopping and looking for their tours. You might, therefore,  want to avoid being in port when these ships arrive.  Unless you have kids and need to go on vacation in July or August, aim for the shoulder seasons - Alaska will seem more like a wilderness then rather than a Moroccan bazaar.