What to pack for an Alaskan Cruise…
Earlier this month, my husband Kyle and I celebrated our 16th wedding Anniversary. This trip was actually an incentive trip through his work, and it happened to coincide with our wedding Anniversary, so we were pretty thrilled. If you follow me on Instagram, I shared a few photos from our week in Alaska, and I had a few friends and readers chime in that they too had plans to go on an Alaskan Cruise this Summer and they wanted me to share our favorites from the cruise, so I thought it would be fun to share it here.
First up…what to pack for an Alaskan Cruise. I am a changed packer after this trip…because I had to learn the hard way! This cruise was on the Celebrity Solstice ship. We flew to Vancouver, Canada to board the ship, and the airlines had lost both of our bags (one for Kyle and one for me). I know, right?! It’s one thing for the airline to lose your luggage when traveling to a city where you can shop, but when you’re about to board a Cruise ship for 7 nights, it’s a completely different story! I was worried that our bags had possibly been stolen, since the line was so long at Customs in Vancouver. The people at Alaskan Airlines were very kind, they told us that we could shop for what we needed to have a nice cruise, and they would pay for it. The problem is that we had very limited time. I mean how can you replace everything you had packed for 7 nights in 1 hour?! Once shuttled to board the cruise ship, we ran over to a near by shopping mall that had a Sephora and an H&M. Thank heaven for those stores! I felt as if I was on one of those shopping spree shows, it was crazy. Even though there was still a bunch of things I was missing, I managed to get the basics to try to enjoy the trip. Thankfully we were only without our bags for 2+ days. Our first stop in Ketchikan, Alaska on Sunday, both of our bags were amazingly returned to us. I was thrilled! I was really trying to not let that get me down for the 2 1/2 days we were without our bags.
Here’s what I learned:
If you plan to check a bag and carry one on, really try to duplicate the necessities in both bags. Things like: underwear, makeup, toiletries, hair styling items are good to have in both bags. I’m an over-packer by nature. If you’re going to overpack, you might as well strategically place your favorites into two bags to play it safe.
Here’s what you’ll want to pack for an Alaskan Cruise:
-binoculars to spot wildlife in the mountains and at sea
-sunglasses + sunscreen
-your good camera + your camera phone + a waterproof case (affiliate link)
-cash + passports
-layers of clothing with the ablity to shed layers as you need to
-wrinkle free formal attire for the fancy nights on the ship
-water proof coat for rain
-an umbrella
-a thin warm coat to layer under the waterproof one
-a swim suit
-exercise clothing + exercise shoes
-good walking shoes
-a lanyard if you’d like to hook your cruise ship room key to something easy to wear
-a selfie stick so you don’t need to rely on others to take your photo + a camera timer app is helpful
-books, an e-reader, your laptop for the days at sea
-the usual casual clothing you’d pack
Things you cannot bring on board: an iron or power strip. Our cruise line was very cautious of possible fire hazard items.
Things to do before you leave:
– Get a passport in time for your trip.
– Call your bank in advance and tell them that you’re going on vacation and that you’ll be making purchases out of state. This is to avoid them flagging your account while you are away.
– Check with your cell phone carrier to see what type of plans they have for while you are out at sea.
We recommend not purchasing the wi-fi packages on board the ship because they are expensive and the wifi on our ship was really slow. If you can wait until you are in Alaska on land, you can set up a hot spot and create your own wifi. One of the things I loved about this trip was that it was a time to disconnect for a few days. For the days at sea, I kept my phone in airplane mode to avoid charges. This trip was so relaxing, and I’m sure it was because I was really disconnected for a few days, it was such a good thing for our marriage…a little marriage maintenance as I like to call it.
Our ships first stop was in Ketchikan, Alaska. We were there on a Sunday, we attended church with our group with those who wanted to while we were there. I loved visiting their cute LDS church chapel in Ketchikan.
After our church meeting and being reunited with our luggage again, we were limited with our time at this port. We had a little time to stroll through town and shop for souvenirs for our kids. I loved the feel of this small Alaska town. We loved learning about the history of all these small towns the ship stops at.
There were a bunch of really big totem poles in Ketchikan.
Historical Creek Street was also another cool thing to visit while in Ketchikan.
Our next stop, was actually not a stop at all. We woke up early Monday morning in a fjord: Tracy Arm Fjord. This was by far my favorite part of the cruise. Listening to the guy talk over the loud speaker about the beauty all around us was so neat. Our ship was the biggest ship to go through the Alaskan inside passage to date, and it was also the first ship of the season this year for 2015. The stops we visited in Alaska receive so much rain annually, and it was pretty crazy that we had no rain during the entire week. Having the sun peek out really helped bring out the beauty all around in the fjord.
The sunset that night was gorgeous reflecting off the water.
Our second stop was in Juneau, Alaska. We went Whale Watching in Junea. We did see a few whales, which was exciting. I was worried I would get sea sick on the smaller boat, but I took a little dramamine before hand, and I was fine. One thing I loved learning about Juneau is that it’s landlocked, meaning that you can only visit Juneau from a boat or a plane. I thought that was so interesting since it’s the capital of the State of Alaska. All the locals were so nice to all the tourists. The cruise lines in the Summer have a big economic impact on these Alaskan towns.
There are plenty of cheesy photo opts on a cruise ship, but I prefer to take our own (wink). Gotta love a good camera timer app.
On the days at sea, the Solarium was such a nice warm place to get a little sun and relax.
We had a lot of fog on one of our days at sea.
Our third stop was in Skagway, Alaska. We took a tour bus ride up to the top of the mountain where Alaska meets Canada. It was pretty to watch Spring turn to Winter as we made our way to the top. It felt a lot like Utah to me, it was beautiful.
Loved this unique storefront covered in driftwood in Skagway.
Where the ship docks in Skagway, there is a wall with many painted rocks. My favorite was that painted skull. I’m really not a big fan of skulls on things, but the artist really had a vision with this one…it fits perfectly.
That night we celebrated our anniversary. The view leaving Skagway during dinner was beautiful.
It’s always fun to dress up on the formal nights of the cruise.
Our final and fourth stop before the end of our cruise was: Victoria, British Columbia. I really wish we had more time in Victoria. It was beautiful! By the time we got off the boat, it was 7 PM. We wanted to visit the Butchart Gardens while we were in town, but with it being still so early in the season and with limited day light hours, we didn’t want to pay for it. We ended up renting bikes, and it was SO FUN! We really hit it off with another couple from our group, and we had a blast touring Victoria with them.
You eat so much on a cruise, that it felt so good to get out and get some exercise in the fresh air.
Our first stop on our bike tour was Beacon Hill Park. It was really pretty with peacocks roaming all over, plus so much gorgeous foliage and flowers to see in the park.
There’s this giant tree in the park that was just screaming for an “awkward family photo”…or in this case an awkward double date photo. We laughed so hard as we all tried to get up onto this big branch.
The sunset that night in Victoria was pretty magical reflecting off the water.
One more night on the ship, and I was sure going to miss the amazing food.
…and the cute towel animals greeting us in our room every night.
We got off the boat in Seattle and flew home. It was an incredible trip, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity we had to visit this beautiful part of the country. If you get the chance to take an Alaskan cruise, take it, you’ll be so glad you did.
*Looking to go on your first cruise?
Here are some tips for a first time cruise> Mexican Riviera with Norwegian Cruise lines > or if you’re interested in cruising the Caribbean.
