Clothing recommendations

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Polar Bear

Guest
Hello;
We will be going on our first Alaska cruise (NCL) next June 18 (2006) with a land tour up to Denali. Any recommendations on what type clothes to take due to the weather? I've heard it's cool enough at night that we'll want sweaters or coats , warm enough in the day to go with a long sleeve shirt. The wife (Artic Fox) wants to know, on a 12-14 day trip, if and where you can do laundry?
T.I.A. Polar Bear a.k.a. Charlie
 
C

Clerky96

Guest
Polar Bear, I also would like to know the answers to your questions. We are going with RCI on June 10th, and are also going on a land tour after the cruise. Maybe if you asked this in the general questions someone will answer. No one seems to be answering posts here.
Donna
 
Y

Yukon

Guest
You'l find very good packing recommendations for Alaska cruising at http://www.alaskacruises.com/what_to_pack.asp and http://www.cruisedirectonline.com/what_to_pack_for_an_alaska_cruise.htm

Basically, you want to be ready for anything, though - what happened last year on one person's cruise is absolutely NO indicationn of what will happen this year.

As far as laundry goes, it seems a shame to waste your very limited port time in a laundromat, but if you don't want to use the ship's service, Skagway has a good one just 2 blocks from the NPS visitor center (4-10 blocks from your ship depending on your docking position). If you go first thing in the morning you can probably be in and out in not much more than an hour.

Murray
 
A

Anonymous User

Guest
Layers is the key. You can wear things twice. Dont laugh but I disposable travel. For the first few days, I packed clothes in good condition, that havent been worn in a while, threw them out and wore the t-shirts I bought there. I have an obsession with t-shirts. :grin

I also bought wind pants from places like Walmart. They are a light weight, nylon type pant. Some I bought from Dicks Sporting goods that convert to shorts. 8 pairs of these pants equaled the weight of 2 pairs of jeans.
 
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PEB

Guest
The best thing that anyone can tell you about clothing for Alaska is to wear layers and to be prepared for most anything even in June. You may have sun and warm or even hot weather or cold and rainy weather. June is considered one of the dryer months however you must still consider that Ketchikan and Juneau are rain forests.

When you go into some of the fjords to see the glaciers it can be rather cool for many. Of course there are always the odd ball people like me that live for the cold and will be in shorts regardless of the weather on an Alaskan cruise LOL.

In other words you know what your comfort level for cool weather is so bring enough layers that would cause you to be comfortable. The temps could run from the 40's to high 70's so be prepared.
 
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barbee524

Guest
I purchased a waterproof jacket with a zip out liner made by Columbia. You get three different options for a coat with this. We went south from Faibank last yeare starting on May 29. It was 84 in Fairbanks, snowing in Denali and then between 40 to 75 for the remainder of the trip.

So as you can see the weather varies. I purchased my jacket online in April and got 50% off. Since I live near Chicago and can always use a winter coat, the purchase was worth it for me. If you really won't be able to use the it again I don't recommend making a special purchase. Just get a waterproof lightweight jacket of some type and bring a sweater or sweatshiret that you can wear underneath.
 
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Polar Bear

Guest
Thanks barbee524, that is one of the clothing issues we were wrestling with. Polar Bear aka Charlie
 
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