we were in alaska a number of years ago at the end of august...it was cool but not miserable...sweaters, jackets.... but what about the third week of september...have we lost our minds???? does anyone have experience?

It's a bit late in the season and weather becoems less predictable, not that weather is predictable to begin with. That would be the last Alaskan cruise north bound before re-positioning to Asia, right?

My first cruise was a HAL Inside Passage R/R from Vancouver starting on 18 Sept a few years ago. While I loved the cruise and am now addicted to cruises, it was very wet the entire trip. Only 1 day of sunshine, and we had to skip Sitka because weather made it too rough to tender ashore.
The bottom line is that so long as you can adapt and don't mind rain, it sould be great.

It doesn't matter when you go. It is going to rain. Juneau rains (or snow) 250 days of the year, which is almost 70% of the time. I don't even recall being in Alaska once and not encountered rain. Last summer was very dry for them till mid August where they had long strech of dry days which is rather unusual. I have seen great weather in September where you can dress in t shirts and shorts and snowed in June, but both are exxceptions. Late September would be cooler for sure, but not by all that much (unless a weather system moves in)

Boom_boom, sorry that didn't get a chance to get off the boat at Sitka as it is one of my favorie stops in Alsaka. We were lucky that we tendered ashore early when the weather was good. It was raining but wasn't too windy. Other people were not so lucky as they stopped the tenders after the wind picked up. Funny that they can take passenegers back from shore to the ship but not the other way around. Many were stuck on the ship. The tender ride back to the shp was fine so we didn't know that people cannot get off until we get back.

Sept has the WORSE potential of weather of the cruise season and end of Sept. you have to be open to cold and rain, for most of the trip. Temps in 40's, rain, and dusk by 7pm. I used to pick up these cruises when they gave them away, and it was always at least my second trip that year. Always, the earlier trips were way superior.

The discounts are not significant enough, now for me to consider them.