Hi there!
Now, these are big generalizations.
It’s possible to have a good time in Alaska no matter what month you go… depending on what you’re looking for and what your expectations are!
But when we are generalizing as a whole and what many people go to Alaska for, there are some things that you’ll want to know before booking an Alaska cruise in these months.
What makes any particular month a terrible time for an Alaska cruise?
In short, bad times for a cruise to Alaska mean higher chance for bad weather (on land and at sea), rough seas (higher chance of seasickness), and canceled ports and glacier days.
Other things that you might not like include less chance to see wildlife, closed shops and restaurants, the epic Alaska excursion you saw on social media not being offered because it’s out of season, and even colder weather.
If you accept these things, then you may not mind going at the worst time of the year.
If you don’t want to accept things, then these are the top months you want to avoid for your Alaska cruise!
And with that…
Let’s go!
Or rather… let’s NOT go to Alaska during these times. ðĪŠ No but actually I have been to Alaska during 2 of the top 3 “worst” months and there can still be incredible experiences to be had! BUT there is also an increased chance for disappointing experiences to be had too. Many of the reasons for what makes a bad time to cruise to Alaska has to do with the weather.
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What are the worst months for an Alaska cruise?
In order, the worst months for an Alaska cruise are October, April, and September. But I must emphasize, it is still possible to have your own version of a perfect cruise if you go during these times!
1. October
October is very late season for Alaska cruises.
In fact, there is only one major cruise line that offers Alaska cruises throughout October, and that is Norwegian Cruise Line.
Generally speaking, “everyone” will say that October is the worst month for an Alaska cruise.
There are people who say, “I don’t even know why Alaska cruises are offered in October!” because the weather is known to be that bad in October.
October has the greatest chance of having bad weather, both on land and at sea. That also means the greatest chance of having rough seas.
Bad weather means not only might it be raining in all your port stops, but it’s an increased chance for ports to be canceled altogether.
This means the cruise ship will skip going to that port, and it will turn into a sea day.
This can happen on any cruise going to any destination, but you have a higher chance of this happening when you go to Alaska in October.
And since cruises in October are out of Seattle, it means that you’ll be sailing out into the wide open water to start and end your cruise.
As opposed to sailing on a smaller ship out of Vancouver, where it sails through the Canadian Inside Passage to start off your cruise. “Smaller ship” means smaller ship for a mainstream cruise line.
There are less daylight hours in October. In the summer, if your cruise ship is in port until 8pm or 9pm, you can be out and about on land and it’s still light out! And even if you do get an earlier cruise port departure time, sailing the Alaskan Inside Passage means that you can see Alaska’s scenery even as you sail, until after 10pm!
In October, you won’t be able to see much by 6pm. So you’re missing out on that.
October is one of the colder months for an Alaska cruise, so you also need to be prepared for the cold weather. Rain and cold together can make for miserable conditions… if you’re not prepared!
The wildlife sightings continue to be less and less in October. If wildlife is a high priority, you might be disappointed if you cruise to Alaska in October.
Why should you definitely avoid cruising to Alaska in October?
October has the highest chance of bad weather and rough seas.
This means you have a higher chance of missed cruise port and canceled glacier days.
It means higher chance of rain in ports.
If you are prone to seasickness, you’ll want to think twice about doing such a late season cruise.
If you do an Alaska cruise in October, you should expect bad weather and missed ports.
Then, if it doesn’t happen, your expectations will be exceeded! ðĪŠ
Why might YOU want to go to Alaska in October?!
October is the best Alaska cruise month for a chance to see the northern lights.
And in 2023, tons of people that were on cruise ships that went to Alaska at the end of October got really great pictures of northern lights on their phones.
But in order to see the northern lights, you’ll need clear skies at night.
And that might happen, but there’s also a good chance that you may not! If you understand that, then you may love going to Alaska in October to chase the northern lights!
See more about my experience with northern lights from a cruise ship.
My Alaska cruise in October
I did an Alaska cruise in October.
Based on my experience, I surely can’t say that you’ll have a terrible time. I actually really did have a perfect Alaska cruise!
The weather was as perfect as it could be for October. You can see what I did in Juneau in October.
The problem is, you’re more likely to have bad weather than great weather.
I was trying to find a picture from October that demonstrates how October is the worst time to go to Alaska. It was hard! There wasn’t a single day of bad weather! I chose these ones because the worst thought I had during the cruise was about the terrible sun position when we were in Glacier Bay National Park! ð
ð When we were at Johns Hopkins Inlet for glacier watching in Glacier Bay National Park, the sun was hiding behind the mountains so there was a shadow over the glacier. But otherwise this was a fabulous Alaska cruise day in October, which is not to be expected.
ð When we were facing Lamplugh Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park, the sun was directly shining at the cruise ship. If this is what makes the day terrible, it’s a pretty good day. ð
ð An actual possibly terrible thing that you should prepare for on an Alaska cruise in October is that it is COLD. Like, possibly in the teens cold in Glacier Bay National Park! But otherwise again, it was a marvelous Alaska cruise day in October! This is not to be expected.
2. April
April is very early season for Alaska cruises.
In fact, once again there is only one major cruise line that offers Alaska cruises throughout April, and that is Norwegian Cruise Line.
As you get towards the end of April, like the very end, that’s when other major cruise lines like Princess or Holland America will start to offer their first Alaska cruise of the season. But in those cases, the cruise STARTS at the end of April, but most likely your first day in Alaska itself won’t be until May. (The days you are on the cruise ship you will be at sea.)
If you do an Alaska cruise in April, you should understand that it will be really cold and it’s too early for the vast majority of the most epic Alaska excursions so they won’t be available.
Wildlife still won’t be out as much in April. If wildlife is a high priority, you might be disappointed if you cruise to Alaska in April.
April is cold. You are likely to see lots of snow, and that is one indication of how cold it is in April, so you should be prepared for that.
Why should you definitely avoid cruising to Alaska in April?
If your goal is to see wildlife during your Alaska cruise, April is one of the worst chances you have to see most types of wildlife, so you shouldn’t cruise to Alaska in April. If you really really don’t like the cold, you should avoid cruising to Alaska in April.
Why might YOU want to go to Alaska in April?!
The biggest reason to do an Alaska cruise in April is to see the snow-covered mountains! If you’re content to not do any of the epic summer excursions Alaska is known for, and you want to just see the scenery, then you just might love going in April.
In 2024, there were people posting their northern lights pictures from their Alaska cruise in April! (But again, you should not do a cruise with the expectation of seeing northern lights.)
My Alaska cruise in April
I was on a cruise that started at the end of April, but that cruise never actually was in Alaska in April.
But early May (and even into mid-May) did get plenty of beautiful snow landscapes, so I imagine April would be similar if not even more white!
ð Snow-covered mountains are beautiful, but it also means it will be COLD! This was on May 18, so you can expect to see snow on an Alaska cruise in April!
3. September
Overheard in the elevator during an Alaska cruise in September: “The most disappointing part about this cruise has been the weather.”
Basically all the weather things about October apply to September, except maybe it’s not as bad.
This means that compared to spring and summer, an Alaska cruise in September has a higher chance of bad weather and rough seas.
So this means that you have a higher chance of canceled ports and glacier sea days.
Wildlife sightings in September start to become less the later in September that you go.
Excursion offerings become less by the end of September. You can’t do a glacier dog sledding tour in September. That usually lasts until mid-August.
If you book a cruise with a Hubbard Glacier scenic cruising sea day or Endicott Arm/Dawes Glacier scenic cruising sea day, you won’t have the option to do the small boat wilderness excursion at the middle to end of September. While you will still be able to see the glacier from the cruise ship, these glacier wilderness excursions allow you to get closer to the glacier than the cruise ship does. You step off the cruise ship directly onto a small boat that gets you up close to the glacier.
Why should you definitely avoid cruising to Alaska in September?
September has a good chance of bad weather. This means you have a higher chance of missed cruise port and canceled glacier days. It means higher chance of rain in ports. If you do an Alaska cruise in September, you should expect bad weather and missed ports. Then, if it doesn’t happen, you will be happy! ðĪŠ
Why might YOU want to go to Alaska in September?!
September cruises will be cheaper, and you may still get some of what you can get during a summer cruise, especially if you go early September.
If you go in early September rather than late September, you will still have a better chance for wildlife. (Generally speaking, it will still be better in the summer.)
You still might have a good chance to see whales. The whales start leaving Alaska at the end of the summer but you might still be able to see them in September.
Also in early September, you can still have a chance to see the jumping salmon climbing up the ladder in Ketchikan.
You can still go hiking in September, you just want to be prepared for rain! There is something special about hiking in the rain in a rainforest! (Juneau and Ketchikan can be great for rainforest hikes. There are guided rainforest hikes in Ketchikan.)
You might have a chance to see northern lights during your Alaska cruise in September if the sky is clear.
My Alaska cruise in September
I was on Alaska cruises in September from September 2 to 23, which was really 3x 7-day cruises. When I think about my Alaska cruises in September, bad weather comes to mind.
I had several days where I was out hiking or walking in the rain to the point that my shoes were soaked by the end. (Because I wasn’t wearing waterproof shoes. ðĪŠ If you’re going in September, pack waterproof shoes for Alaska!)
When I think about September in Alaska, I think about how I was trying to dry my shoes in my cabin with the hairdryer. ð (There are hairdryers in all the cabins on Princess cruise ships.)
I think nearly every day I was in Ketchikan and Juneau, it rained. (So that’s 6 days over 3 weeks, including the canceled port.) By comparison, I don’t think it rained at all in Skagway.
The sea days I was in Glacier Bay National Park were cloudy/foggy to the point where one of the days you couldn’t even really see the main glacier.
ð Where’s the glacier?! You can barely see it, and it’s really not the same experience when it’s foggy. There’s a higher chance of this type of whether during an Alaska cruise in September. This was September 14.
I was supposed to go to Hubbard Glacier 2 times in September, but both times were canceled.
One time was canceled because we were waiting for cruisetour train passengers (land + cruise package) who were delayed because of a mudslide on the train tracks. They were on a train from Denali. They were supposed to arrive to the cruise ship around 7pm or so (I think), but didn’t arrive until around 1am. That meant our cruise ship departure was delayed and as a result we wouldn’t have time to go to Hubbard Glacier.
So a bad weather event on land affected our cruise!
The second time, Hubbard Glacier was canceled because of rough seas in the Gulf of Alaska. We did go to College Fjord instead though as a way to “wait out the storm” since it was nearby in calmer waters.
There was also a canceled cruise port, when we missed going to Ketchikan once because the seas were deemed too rough to safely dock the ship. The cruise ship actually got all the way in front of downtown Ketchikan where the cruise ship docks, where the decision was made not to dock. So we saw Ketchikan from the cruise ship and that was it.
So overall, I feel like I experienced what it’s like to do an Alaska cruise in bad weather season!
But rain doesn’t need to stop you from doing all activities. I did some great hikes and lighthouse boat tours.
My early September whale watching tour was the best whale watching experience I’ve had. There were so many whales you didn’t know which direction to look! There were also people who got pictures of northern lights, which means that there were some clear skies in September. So it’s not all bad!
The day my cruise started on September 2, it was actually amazing weather to see glaciers and the kittiwake rookery during a Whittier glacier boat tour. That night is one night where some people saw northern lights.
ð Super foggy day during an Alaska cruise on September 14 in Glacier Bay National Park.
ð At the main glacier on September 14 in Glacier Bay National Park. You couldn’t really see much.
ð It was cloudy on September 18 in Glacier Bay National Park. But even with this sort of weather, it was possible to clearly see the glacier when it came time for glacier watching! So, just because it’s cloudy doesn’t mean you’ll have a bad glacier watching day. If you do an Alaska cruise in September, hope for the best, expect the worst!
ð It was a rainy day on September 15 in College Fjord. The weather wasn’t the best, but you could still see the glaciers so it was possible for it to be a pretty good glacier watching day… But it might prevent you from spending a lot of time outside to really take in all the glaciers of College Fjord!
4. May
Early to mid May is still early season for Alaska cruises, so for the purposes of when to avoid doing an Alaska cruise, you may want to avoid early to mid May.
Wildlife still won’t be seen as much in May, since summer is prime time for wildlife sightings.
May is cold. There may be too much ice in early May to go to some of the glaciers by sea.
On the Hubbard Glacier sea day of my first cruise, which was on May 2, when we arrived to the glacier, the naturalist actually said the captain was uncertain if we would even be able to sail all the way up to the glacier because he didn’t know what the ice situation would be like.
Not all tour companies and shops are set up to open until closer to the summer, so the excursions you’re most interested in may not be available because they haven’t started operating yet. Dog sledding on a glacier doesn’t start until mid-May.
Why should you definitely avoid cruising to Alaska in May?
If your goal is to see wildlife during your Alaska cruise, May might be a bit early. If you don’t like the cold, you should avoid cruising to Alaska in early May.
Why might YOU want to go to Alaska in May?!
May cruises will be cheaper, and it’s possible to still do many of the epic Alaska excursions.
May is considered to be one of the best times to go to Alaska because it’s one of the driest months of the year. (If not THE driest month of the Alaska cruise season!)
This means that as long as you don’t mind the cold and your priority is not wildlife, then you might actually love going in May. Many of the classic Alaska excursions will have started up, so you can do them too.
Flightseeing tours in May are incredible! You’ll fly over snow-capped mountains and snow-covered glaciers and it’s amazing.
I did a glacier seaplane tour in Juneau on May 4, so you can do them in early May… weather permitting of course! I also did a helicopter tour with a glacier landing on May 5.
Also, on the flip side of potentially having your glacier sea day canceled because of too much ice, this also means that you do have a better chance of seeing floating ice chunks in the water if the cruise ship is able to navigate through the waters!
There are a lot of things to love about an Alaska cruise in May. See my pictures from my Alaska cruise in early May!
My Alaska cruise in May
Except for 3 days in the middle when I was on land in Vancouver, I was on Alaska cruises out of Vancouver from April 27 to May 20. Once again, I can’t say that you will have a terrible time in May. In fact, once again, I would say I had the perfect Alaska cruises in May.
But, I didn’t see as much wildlife as you would in the summer, so that would be a downside if that is a big priority for going to Alaska for you.
I was quite excited to see the “little” wildlife I did see. Although I didn’t see as much wildlife compared to what you might see in the summer, considering it’s not like I’m seeing wildlife every day in normal life, I would actually say I saw quite a bit of wildlife! It’s all relative! Bring binoculars! (I did not and still thought it was great.)
ð Floating chunks of ice are a beautiful sight to see, but if there’s too much ice means you won’t be able to sail through at all! This was an Alaska cruise on May 2 on Hubbard Glacier day. So you have a greater risk of getting your glacier day canceled from too much ice on an Alaska cruise in April and May.
ð An Alaska cruise in April or early May can be rainy, windy, and COLD! This was on May 2 on Hubbard Glacier day.
Why you might want to cruise to Alaska in the worst months for an Alaska cruise
The worst months for an Alaska cruise are early season (April and May) and late season (September and October).
If you understand and accept the reasons stated above for why they are considered the “worst,” then one of the BEST reasons to do an Alaska cruise in April, May, September, or October, is because these cruises tend to cost less. So you will save money on an Alaska cruise compared to doing a cruise in the peak Alaska cruise season’s summer months of June, July, or August.
As it usually goes for cruises anywhere, early season cruises and late season cruises will be the cheapest cruises you’ll find, and this is typically the case of Alaska cruises.
So if you’re looking for a “cheap” Alaska cruise, consider going in one of these worst months, managing your expectations about certain things so you won’t be too disappointed!
Alaska repositioning cruises
Another big reason you might want to cruise in the “worst months” for an Alaska cruise is if you want to go to multiple cruise destinations in one cruise!
If you are on the last Alaska cruise of the season of any cruise ship, afterwards the cruise ship will be headed to another destination! So if you book the cruise that immediately follows that last Alaska cruise, then you can go to another epic cruise destination!
Similarly, if you are on the first Alaska cruise of the season on any cruise ship, that cruise ship will be coming from another destination! So if you book the cruise that is immediately before that first Alaska cruise, then you can also go to another epic cruise destination!
These are called “repositioning cruises” because they are “repositioning” from one region to another. In the case of Alaska repositioning cruises, regions that you can go to by booking a cruise immediately before the first cruise of the season or immediately after the last cruise of the season include California, Hawaii, the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, Florida, and even Japan.
So for example, I was on the Grand Princess cruise ship for that ship’s last Alaska cruise of the season. During the season, it was doing 7-day one way cruises of Vancouver to Anchorage and Anchorage to Vancouver (also possible to be booked as a 14-day round trip cruise out of Vancouver). Upon return to Vancouver on the last Anchorage to Vancouver cruise, the cruise ship started “repositioning” and making its way to New Zealand and Australia, first making stops in California, Hawaii, and the South Pacific. I stayed on the cruise ship through New Zealand, so it was an Alaska, Hawaii, and South Pacific cruise in one!
I was also on the Norwegian Sun cruise ship for that ship’s last Alaska cruise of the season. That was based out of Seattle, and upon return to Seattle after the last Alaska cruise, it started making its way to Florida. This was a cruise through the Panama Canal, with stops in Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. I got off in Seattle, but for those that stayed on (and there were many), it was an Alaska and Panama Canal cruise in one!
Here are some sample repositioning cruises:
How to find out where a cruise ship goes before or after the Alaska cruise season
If you go to a cruise search on any cruise line’s website, you can filter your search by cruise ship, departure port, and month (among other things). So if you know the name of the cruise ship, then you can filter by cruise ship and the month. If you don’t have a specific cruise ship in mind, then you can search by departure port and month. For the departure port you can select Vancouver and Seattle. There are also some Alaska cruises out of San Francisco, so you might want to search for that too. For the months, you can choose April, May, September, and/or October.
Why summer is the worst time for an Alaska cruise
If you are not a fan of: 1- crowds, 2- the most expensive cruises, and 3- sold out excursions before you have a chance to book any, then you will find that summer is the worst time for an Alaska cruise.
To be clear, most people will say summer is the BEST time for an Alaska cruise.
Summer is when you have the best chance to see wildlife, you have the most daylight hours (not only great for being on land, but also great for being on your balcony or out on the open deck as you’re sailing the inside passage too), and you will have the warmest weather.
But the worst time to go for one person can be the best time to go for another!
What cruise lines go to Alaska?
The major cruise lines that go to Alaska include:
Best cruise lines for solo travelers for Alaska
When it comes to COST, the best cruise lines for solo travelers for an Alaska cruise are Princess and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL).
Overall, NCL is generally known as the best cruise line for solo cruisers, as they have dedicated solo cruiser events onboard often times with a dedicated cruise staff member who hosts the event. Some cruise ships also have special designated solo cruise cabins.
Otherwise, if you look at Alaska cruises in the early season and late season on Princess and NCL, you can find relatively good deals for regular cabins even if you are traveling alone. It is not unusual for other cruise lines to charge MORE THAN double the rate of the double occupancy cost per person.
The good news is that both of these cruise lines also go to Glacier Bay National Park! (Not all cruise lines do.)
For a true immersive onboard Alaska experience, Princess is best!
HAPPY CHOOSING THE TIME OF YEAR TO CRUISE TO ALASKA!