TGanner Loc: Haines, Alaska

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ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

I totally agree. Unless you are covering the trip for National Geo, you should enjoy the trip. That is why on vacations I take my Sony HX400. It has a Zeiss lens and leave behind my a99ii and a7s. On an Alaska trip I would also take my a6000 as backup. Be prepared for rain. Enjoy your trip.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

I have done this before on cruises and a whale watching side trip in Alaska. I found that with a full frame camera, you can do a fine job with a 200-300mm lens and cropping in post production. The whale watching boats tend to get you within 100 to 200 yards much of the time and often closer. Therefore, I would take a smaller 70-300mm for that purpose. That will save you size and weight. Also, unless your 200-500mm is a VR lens, you may have trouble holding it steady and maintaining frame on a rocking boat. I have an older Nikon film era lens that I bought for under $200 that did a beautiful job, is small and light weight and only requires modestly increased shutter speed for its lack of VR.

For your other photos, your other two lenses are fine, but you will miss some fine opportunities for gorgeous broad landscapes and seascapes if you don't bring a super-wide lens such as a 14mm or 10-24mm DX lens, which did a great job for me. If you don't want to spend the money, rent on for the trip. You will be happy you did.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

Ah...Ah-laska! So much to see, so little time. You're all set to go. Your long lens will do for the whales. (I had the Tamron 18-400 mm. Great pictures.) You may also encounter sea lions, bald eagles, etc along the way. You will need the faster lens for indoor shooting on your "Sea Day" or Cruising Day. (Taking pictures of your family/friends and areas of interest of the ship for your trip's story. For example, the cruise line we took has great art collection on board I took pictures of.) Unless you must, leave the tripod behind. Most likely won't need it. Your lens image stabilizer should take care of that. Re: humpback whales - once you see a spout, get ready for the shot. Hope they breach for you. Pray for a sunny day. Unfortunately, Alaska weather is unpredictable. Mendenhall Glacier is also in Juneau. Hope it's included in your itinerary. Nugget Falls just a (walk) mile away; Mendenhall Ice Cave, a beauty. Hope you also included in your itinerary Denali by land/train and may be, air. Not to forget, Glacier Bay National Park. I hope you get to see one of the big glaciers calving. See them now before they're gone. I hope you booked a room with unobstructed view. Haines, AK excursion is also a 5-star. (Took catamaran, walked through forest, canoed, walked again just to be up, close, and personal to a glacier.) Take some good pictures and enjoy the trip.