I'm planning an inside passage cruise. I'm thinking about one of the first cruises in May. What weather/flaura and fauna considerations are there in going early in the season? Thanks.

I know this will sound nuts, but the best weather in Alaska occurs during May and early June. The later in summer it gets, the more rain there is. The optimum time to cruise Alaska is the last two weeks in May and the first two in June in my experience.

Since most of the Inside Passage is located in a rain forest, you should be prepared for some showers. But, don't be surprised if you are met with warm temperatures and sunshine in May. Plan to dress in layers and you will be fine.

May is also one of the best months to visit the Inside Passage because the snow pack will still be abundant. The scenery is absolutely breath taking.

Enjoy and have a great cruise!

Tom

We went on the first northbound cruise of the season offered by the cruise line we chose. Tom's right, the scenery was spectacular, which it always is, but probably made more so by the snow on the mountains. The weather we had was cold, as we expected - probably 50s during the day on cloudy days, 60s on sunny days. Standing on the bow of our (small) ship most of the day, we had to wear many layers, including winter-weight clothes and windbreakers, but of course had to peel about half of them off when we went inside! If the sun was out (about half the time on ours), and we were out of the wind, we were comfortable in sweatshirts, maybe with a fleece vest worn over that. We had rain in Ketchikan (again, definitely expected) and on a few other days for part of the time. We were told later that this was one of the colder Mays they had had in southeast Alaska!

We had no issues with going that early in the season. We saved money, as prices are of course higher from June through August, and saw everything we wanted to see except orcas - I believe they normally get to Alaska just a bit later in the season. Plenty of humpback whales, though, and we saw sea otters, puffins, bears, etc.

Another advantage of the earlier cruises is that you may have fewer cruise ships in any given port - which means only 2500-4000 tourists walking around, instead of upwards of 6000!

Hi All
My wife and I are doing our first ever cruise on the Oosterdam leaving Seattle on 6 May 2006.
We are from Australia near the Great Ocean Road.
We expect the temps to be whatthey are back here in Autumn from what I have found.
Not sure about what wildlife we will actually see or what the weather will actually be like but hope it's reasonable

I believe also that end of May beginning of June is when the newborn baby animals are coming out.