Alaska – When is the best time to go?
A question a lot of nonrev travelers have is, “when is the best time to go on an vacation to Alaska?”
The simple answer is, “it depends”. Each season has advantages over another season.
The cruise season runs from May to September. Here are the differences you will experience during those months. You decide which is the best time to go.
May – You are early and ahead of the summer crowds. So it is cooler than later in summer but the animals have not been scared away. Also the snow melt is high so you will see spectacular waterfalls. As for whale watching, they will be further south, nearer to Vancouver and Seattle as they migrate north for the summer. Kids are not of our school yet and people in the lower 48 are not tired of hot weather. Prices are low.
June – The later in June you go the higher the price. As kids get out of school the more families head for Alaska. Also the later in June you go, the warmer the weather gets and at the same time the warmer it is getting in the lower 48.
Late June – Jun. 22 makes for the longest amount of daylight and in Alaska that pretty much means you have daylight or twilight all day. The farther north you are in Alaska the more daylight you will have even in the middle of the night. For the most part it will never get “dark” at night, just dim light or light like you would experience at sunset in the lower 48.
Mid July to Mid August – This is high season. Folks from the lower 48 US are wanting to get away from the heat and to the cooler weather Alaska offers. Prices are the highest and this is the most popular time to cruise to Alaska. Mid August is also kind of last call on Alaska cruises for families as the kids get ready to go back to school.
September – Late in the season, harder to see animals as they have been spooked off by a season of tourists. However, things are winding down, the weather is getting cooler and if you are lucky a cold snap has moved through then you might get to experience fall foliage scenery. Also the kids are back in school so few families are cruising.
So are you can see there is not bad time to go to Alaska. It is just a matter of what you experience you are looking to enjoy.
The next question we usually hear is “when is the best time to book”? Or “when do the deals show up”?
Another question we hear is “When is the best time to cruise to see the Northern Lights?”
We address those questions and more next……
So when can you get the best deal?
Again, it all depends.
If you want to go to Alaska, the lowest rates from the hotels will be in the winter time, then fall and spring. High season for the hotels is summer.
Don’t discount winter as there is an excellent ski resort at Alyeska, south of Anchorage and it is the absolute best time to see the Northern Lights!
As for when do you get the best rates on an Alaska cruise it varies.
There will almost always be a sailing on sale for when you want to go. We are talking a deal like $399 or $499 for a balcony. Yes we even see rates as low sometimes as $199 or $299 for an inside cabin, but……..
The problem is it might not be the itinerary you want, say a sailing goes on sale for $199 from Vancouver to Anchorage and we all know flying standby from Anchorage in the summer is next to impossible. So is this a deal?
The sailing dates might not line up for you if you only have an 8 or 9 day window to take the cruise including travel time to fly up and back.
It might be for only inside cabins and you had your heart set on a balcony.
It might be for double cabins only and you need a cabin that will sleep 3 or 4.
It might be a great deal but when you look at loads you need to fly in 3 days ahead of time and hotels can be expensive in summer in Seattle, Vancouver and Anchorage. As a result the savings on the deal for the cruise get eaten up by hotels and meals since you have to fly in ahead of time and spend a day or two at the end trying to get home.
Or you are looking for a balcony cabin with an inside across the hall to put the kids into. Well by the time the deal comes out 30 days out, those cabins are not available.
So can you get a deal on an Alaska cruise? Yes! Will it work for you when it comes out? Maybe.
So when should you book?
Once again, the answer is….. It depends and we address the options on the next page….
How to get the best deal and when to book an Alaska cruise.
When to get the best deal on an Alaska cruise depends on what your needs are. If you are very flexible, don’t‘ care what kind of cabin, itinerary or ship you go on, then wait, there will be a deal.
If you have a specific cruise and date you want, especially if you want a particular type of cabin, cabin location or groups of cabins, then book as far in advance as you can and lock in the rate and cabin(s).
The key is to book with an interline agency when you do, even if the interline rate is not available or open. If you book with an interline agency like InterlineTravel.com, then when the interline rate comes out, the interline agency can usually then adjust the price on your cruise, IF the final payment date has not arrived.
If you book with a non-interline agency, then they can’t adjust your price when the interline rates come out and you are out of luck!
Traveling with family and/or friends? Then again book everyone with the interline agency. The interline agency, one such as InterlineTravel.com, can book both interliners and non interliners and cross reference everyone for dining and work to get the cabins together as needed. They can also get everyone the best deal, past passenger, senior rates, military, resident rates, even group rates in many cases so everyone, including you the interliner, gets the best rate they qualify for.
If you are planning on traveling with your extended family or a group of friends, again book early. Everyone should book early. Yes there might be deals later, close to departure, even great last minute interline rates, but by waiting your non interline friends who have to buy airfare or use miles, will find the airfares much higher closer to departure and the miles seats long gone.
Plus for the public the cruise lines pretty much give them their best rates booking farther in advance. So book yourself and all of your family and friends with a good interline agency like InterlineTravel.com, as soon as you can and then hope interline rates come out for you later but before final payment date. That way you get the benefits of booking early, getting a great cabin and the interline rate later when it comes out.
Now when to go to Alaska to see the Northern Lights…..
Winter! When it is the darkest the longest. Yes Northern Lights do happen year round. BUT in the summer with the sunlight, it is hard, if not impossible, to see them.
Going farther north does not help in the summer as you only get more daylight even in the middle of the night.
If you want to see and experience the Northern Lights, go in the winter. You can even set up with most hotels in Alaska so they will wake you when the Northern Lights are happening.
Understand the Northern Lights do not appear every night. They are a result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere.
Winter in the north is generally a good season to view lights. The long periods of darkness and the frequency of clear nights provide many good opportunities to watch the auroral displays. Usually the best time of night (on clear nights) to watch for auroral displays is local midnight.
Northern Lights can be seen in the northern or southern hemisphere, in an irregularly shaped oval centred over each magnetic pole. The lights are known as ‘Aurora borealis’ in the north and ‘Aurora australis’ in the south.
Because the phenomena occurs near the magnetic poles, northern lights have been seen as far south as New Orleans in the western hemisphere, while similar locations in the east never experience the mysterious lights. However the best places to watch the lights (in North America) are in the northwestern parts of Canada, particularly the Yukon, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Alaska. Auroral displays can also be seen over the southern tip of Greenland and Iceland, the northern coast of Norway and over the coastal waters north of Siberia.
Areas that are not subject to ‘light pollution’ are the best places to watch for the lights. Areas in the north, in smaller communities, tend to be best.