Alaska cruise May vs August? Wait until Gold status or will Silver be fine?

[trainingupmy4princes]

Our daughter is now a teen so looking at more adventurous trips. I have always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise so was looking at next year. We have only been on 2 cruises so at silver level. Do we need to be Gold to book the best excursions ie a lot of higher levels take Alaska cruises so book everything early or the excursions have small number that they book up by the early bookers? We also can't travel June or July due to dance schedule so looking at May 20 or beginning August? Would one be better for excursions especially the sled dog ones? We are especially interested in the Glacier dog sledding in Juneau, the Yukon Expedition in Skagway and the Misty Fords National Monument by Seaplane as well as the Alaska Family Fun and Exclusive Lumberjack show in Ketchikan and the glacier expedition on the glacier viewing day are any of these hard to book for silver. We found a date that works with our dance schedule next year but if we need to wait a year to get to Gold until 2025 that is fine. This is a more than likely once in a lifetime based on cost as well as other things on our to do list so absolutely want to do the excursions. Thanks for any advice for planning.

 

[AgentMama]

You can easily book Alaska excursions directly with excursion operators, outside DCL. You'll be able to book any excursions you want without having to worry about what is available and will be cheaper.

There are a ton of operator recommendations here if you search.

 

[soniam]

Some stuff will fill up as Silver. There should still be stuff available or you can book outside excursions. Many of the Alaska operators have guarantees that you will arrive back on time. They offer accommodations and transportation to the next port if you do miss the boat. They also have good cancellation policies. I ended up booking most of ours from outside companies for Alaska. I usually don't. I bought them before our silver booking date arrived.

 

[jimmymc]

The only excursion you'll struggle to book without status is the Glacier Explorer on the glacier viewing day. It's a small boat that gets closer that the ship can to the glacier and some of the waterfalls in the area. Things like dog sledding, helicopter tours, or whale watching will be no issue.

August is generally better in my opinion, especially if price isn't an issue. The weather is warmer and clearer, which matters because any excursion involving a plane or helicopter will get cancelled for poor visibility. Your ship can also get closer to the glacier later in the season, and it's prime whale viewing time.

The only advantages to May 20 are the ports may be less crowded and the cruise is probably cheaper. But if you're on an excursion, the crowds won't be much of an issue. And prices are always liable to fluctuate, so book as soon as you can.

 

[Mrlogboy]

You can easily book Alaska excursions directly with excursion operators, outside DCL. You'll be able to book any excursions you want without having to worry about what is available and will be cheaper.

There are a ton of operator recommendations here if you search.

We did this last September and most excursions we were on 50% were disney official people and one only us and another were Disney not through Disney.
Saved a bundle and booked like 6 months out/ way before Disney official booking

 

[CaptainMarvel]

I'm silver and sailed Alaska this past August. Glacier Explorer was still available when our silver booking window opened. My family and I did not originally plan on doing it, so we didn't book it then, but, after changing our minds a few weeks before our sailing, we were able to get spots first on the 12 pm excursion, and then, after we continued checking multiple times a day, on the 3pm excursion (our preferred time).

 

[Karin1984]

Downside of May, lower chances of wildlife. I was on a wildlife & nature watching excursion on the first cruise mid May. And the first thing our tour guide said was "this is not the time of year for wildlife". So, if that is important to you, I would go for August.

 

[Flossbolna]

I was on the 8/7-8/14 Alaska Cruise this year. I was surprised how many first time cruisers there were on the ship. Very few Gold/Platinum people. We are Gold and it seemed that nearly nothing was sold out before Silvers could start booking.

Just as previous posters mentioned: outside your companies are a great choice for Alaska. We booked early (started researching in January), well before DCL opened up booking. And even got some early booking discounts.

We did the Yukon Adventure with Chilkoot Charters. Fantastic tour with a great guide. https://chilkootcharters.com/

In Juneau we did whale watching with Jayleen’s. This was a small boat for only 6 passengers with a wonderful captain that had loads of stories about the whales. https://jayleensalaska.com/

Both were considerably cheaper than DCL excursions and they gave us smaller groups and less of the herding people around than on DCL.

We loved the time of year even though the weather was not good on our cruise. Overcast and sometimes rainy. But it was bearable and not cold. We were fine with raincoats over sweatshirts. No hats and scarfs needed. I think in May it can be much colder. Also, we got to go very close to the glacier, I have heard that early in the season there might be too much ice in the water.

 

[Stormypetrel]

Thank you for this thread. I had started looking into an alaska cruise for 2025 and was worried about excursions booking up because my (very cursory) research so far seemed to indicate that the non-Disney providers have higher age limits for a lot of activities? Is that true? My youngest will be 7 and want to make sure we could do things like whale watching with her (I am not interested in anything that involves getting in a plane or helicopter so no worries there ). But from this thread it seems like if we have silver status we should probably be ok?

 

[AgentMama]

Thank you for this thread. I had started looking into an alaska cruise for 2025 and was worried about excursions booking up because my (very cursory) research so far seemed to indicate that the non-Disney providers have higher age limits for a lot of activities? Is that true? My youngest will be 7 and want to make sure we could do things like whale watching with her (I am not interested in anything that involves getting in a plane or helicopter so no worries there ). But from this thread it seems like if we have silver status we should probably be ok?

Our experience was non-DCL had lower age limits and where DCL starts charging as an adult sooner, non-DCL providers have a lower age limit for children.

 

[soniam]

The only excursion you'll struggle to book without status is the Glacier Explorer on the glacier viewing day. It's a small boat that gets closer that the ship can to the glacier and some of the waterfalls in the area. Things like dog sledding, helicopter tours, or whale watching will be no issue.

August is generally better in my opinion, especially if price isn't an issue. The weather is warmer and clearer, which matters because any excursion involving a plane or helicopter will get cancelled for poor visibility. Your ship can also get closer to the glacier later in the season, and it's prime whale viewing time.

The only advantages to May 20 are the ports may be less crowded and the cruise is probably cheaper. But if you're on an excursion, the crowds won't be much of an issue. And prices are always liable to fluctuate, so book as soon as you can.

Glacier day was available for us as Silver in June. I wouldn’t do it again. It was rather disappointing compared to what we have seen in Patagonia. The ship seemed to have great views.