KYBOB

I have taken this cruise twice, loved every minute of it. I know nothing about Canon cameras (DSLRs or mirrorless) but my suggestion would be get a mid range mirrorless body and a 24-70/f2.8 or 24-105 range to go with your 70-200. Those are my go to lens for just about anything non-wildlife. For video the iPhone works great but kind of a pain to have your phone tied up doing a Timelapse, for that the old GoPro is great for this and you can pick up and older model kind of cheap. But the 11 delivers some amazing video and is easy to program for time lapse shots. Only thing is kind of have to watch battery life. I am not sure this is possible or not but would be great to plug external battery into it for long time lapse. Other wise you have to shove batteries in it every 45-60 min. Ok I do have one Canon non SLR camera and suggestion, is to go super light and small is the Canon G7 X Mark iii it is a great little pocket camera that allows control over the settings and has good quality photos, zoom range is good nothing too extreme. It is an older model but is decent autofocus. Also shoots video. A lot of YouTubers use this camera for video. So is kind of a good at stills and video. I think Sony has a model similar but is a little more pricy. These would be my suggestions. But I am a drag your kitchen sink along kind of guy. I would freak out with just one camera and a phone. ( which I will admit the iPhone 13 Pro is not bad )

This is who we went with both times. They have the small boats that the windows swing up out of the way on the sides as well as a front and rear outside viewing areas that are small but work. With the windows swing up a lot of the phone users will stay in there. In the afternoon you will have the issue of the sun being somewhat directly over head and casting bad shadows (been there done that). Might think of using a polarizer to cut some of the glare on the water, just another reason to bring that 70-200.

I did the whale watch on a small boat, go as early as possible we were the first out of the bay that morning. Water was calmer and the whales more active. I knew a guy on the boat right after ours they barley saw a few tails. It could be the luck of the draw but I went the last time and it was the mid morning group and saw only one. Now what did I shoot? I used the 100-400 and 70-200 (early morning) In using the 100-400 it worked great on the tails and when they were slapping the water with their fin. (this is kind of slow and you can kind of get when it is going to happen. But jumping out of the water, happens with out warning. So when zoomed all the way out to 400 I had a hard time finding them. (bouncing boat, etc) so I would zoom out to 100 to find them then zoom in but old fingers (mine is a rotating zoom, not push pull) by the time I zoomed back in to 300/400 it was over and all I go was the splash, great splash just no whale. So next time I pulled it back to 100/175 to find them and just left it there letting the mega pixels on the camera do the work. I think next time I will take the 70-200 it is much shaper lens and faster focusing than the 100-400. Now for birds the 100-400 will work great or from the ship sometime there are some great opportunities going into Glacier Bay or Hubbard.

With the lens you have I would take it because the only 'low light' lens in the list above is the 50/f1.8. I love the focal range of the 70-200 plus the Sony version II is a lot lighter than the 100-400 (do not know how your 70-200 compares to your 100-400) and the 2.8 gives the nice blurry background when you need it. Alaska weather is very unpredictable and rainy and overcast sky's were a wider aperture will come in handy. The bear was shot with 70-200. I also use it for landscapes shooting pano's and then stich the shots together.

Well our experience on the Skagway photo tour was great, our guide was Dale Cunning he was very good and a wildlife photographer, he took us to some great spots where he knew there was some animals and good shots. He helped others with camera settings angles, etc. The only time he did anything with a phone or even mention it was when he offered to take our photo next to a water fall. Here he taught me a cool trick with my iPhone, the photo of my wife and I, hey I was impressed the phone could that. I am over 60 and I know you push a button and it takes a picture or movie, it rings and you talk on it. Beyond that...you might say I looked down on ...camera phones..... I was quite pleased with this tour. Photos below. Now we did another photo tour in Ketchikan that was bad and I was very disappointed in, it was called Ketchikan Photo Safari - "off the beaten path". The lady that was the guide was not very knowledgeable about photography at all and it was solely based on how to take photos with your iPhone camera and she did not even have that down to well. What was really bad was it was just my wife and I on the tour, yes just us and the guide. She tried but kind of was "phoning" it in, get it...bad joke. It was advertised as "off the beaten path" and while some stops were 'off the beaten path' some places were and some were not. It was not complete loss I did manage to get some good shots of Creek Street. I have taken other photo tours and they have all been very good and came away very satisfied. This one would get a hard pass from me.

I used the Sony 1.4x teleconverter on the Sony 100-400 with the Sony A1 and have never had any issues with focusing or the speed in which it focuses on this trip or other times. I am an avid bird photographer and have used them all the time on this lens or others. I cannot speak about other manufacturers.

I have returned just last week and thought I would share some of the shots I took.

Was the "carry on bag" a Or a "backpack" that weighed 10lbs or less?

It will literally hold a ton of stuff. With everything packed including jacket, pills, etc. it weighs 32lbs.

Enjoying hearing about your travels. We leave next week for the same tour, and interested on hearing the rest of the story.

For our last trip to the Caribbean I took about the same gear I am taking to Alaska this time less one zoom lens. Two Sony bodies, 24-70 /f2.8, 100-400 f/5.6 and the 16-24 f/2.8 which all fits nicely in the ThinkTank Airport Essentials backpack. I found I used the 24-70 and 70-200 the most. I also had a GoPro for underwater and video.

Thanks! You are correct there is a typo it is the Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM, too many 4's it is a nice little lens great sharpness in the corners.

Well, went to the doc today arm is healed and can now resume normal activity no weight restrictions. And we leave in 19 days for Fairbanks. I have packed my carryon bag and after much debate have settled on the following; Sony A1 and A7RV with the following lenses, 14mm f/1.4, 24-70 /f2.8, 70-200 f/2.8, 100-400 f/5.6, 1.4x and 2x teleconverters. Along with GoPro 11 and iPhone 13Pro. I will carry one body w/lens and 70-200 in a ThinkTank Holster and the other gear will be in a Shimoda Action X30 with enough room to have my laptop, iPad, travel CPAP, meds, my travel EDC, chargers, spare batteries (6), power supply (2), binoculars and assorted cords.

I have taken a tripod on every cruise and never used it except to attach a GoPro to it. I would never use it for my camera while on the ship to take photos off the off the ship. I will admit I did use it once a long time ago to take some shots of the pool fountain on the Regal Princess when they did the light shows at night and wanted the people to disappear. The reasons why a tripod is useless to take photos of things from the ship to the shore is it is moving in several directions forward, sideways and up and down (it is floating in the water) then there is the old vibrations coming from the engine thing. It is better to just hand hold it, just up your shutter speed to compensate for all this movement. If it is low light just up your ISO to allow you to up you shutter speed. This trip I will probably lug the thing again but doing the land portion and will be on land, which does not move forward or bob up and down for some long exposure landscapes and water falls, but once I get on the ship probably will stay in the suit case.

When do you go? Are you just doing a cruise or land and cruise? I too love the 70-200 gm2 supper light weight and tack sharp and is the lightest weight 70-200 f2.8 lens I have ever owned. You should also try the new 24-70 f2.8 GM2 an amazing lens.

I have wondered the same thing. But in looking at some of the flight times it looks to be about 2 hour flights so not to bad to be in economy.

I think I saw some of the menus posted on Facebook in a group called Alaska Cruises on Princess you might join and then look there.

I took that tour back in 2018. I too really enjoyed it. These were taken with a Nikon 70-200 F2.8 and a Canon G7x MarkIII.

The camera gottagoacruzin has I think he said it was the Kodak pixpro fz151 looks like it will not accept an off camera flash. Good suggestion though.

I second this I never change lens on an excursion or for that matter once I am out side my cabin. I will take the lens that I think I will need; typically 24-70/f2.8 on one body and either the 70-200 or 100-400 on the other. For the whale watch I will probably take the 70-200 on the slower frame per second camera and then on the fast on put the 100-400 with more than likely the 1.4x teleconverter and what softness I loose regain with Topaz AI Sharpen. I would rather have the 200-600 but that lens now with the arm not going to be a choice. I just hope I can even do the 100-400.

Thank you so much for this information!! It is much appreciated!

Yes thank you for the information and photo. Since the question was raised how was the luggage handled? Were the planes regular commercial flights or charter? Just trying to figure out how to pack.

Well fate has decided for me! With 120 days until the first leg of the AAA tour I am calling it. (Alaska, Australia and last Africa. I fell last Tuesday and broke my left elbow, like snapped it in two. I go Monday for surgery to have a plate installed to reconnect it. So I have 4 months to be able to hold a camera so…looks like the 100-400 will be the one to go this trip. Even it may get sidelined for the 70-200 f2.8 Sonys new version ii is super light and the lightest 70-200 I have ever used. I still have a Nikon Z7ii and a Z24-200 lens that would be super light if I am not back up to strength by then.

I agree a mono pod would useless on both excursions. The best bet is practice hand holding shooting manual, setting the shutter speed and f stop the setting you ISO to auto ISO. This will allow you to control the camera stopping motion ( boat and the whale ) and what is focus. The camera will then adjust the iso to the correct exposure by adjusting the ISO. below is my favorite shot of a whale from a small boat 6-15 people which allows you closer shots to the water where you can blur out the back ground slightly to make the whale in sharper focus. This shot was with a 70-200 f2.8 w1.4 teleconverter. 1/2000 sec, f8, iso 800, 280mm. The others are out the window of the train, used circular polarizer and lens hood. Shutter speed was from 1/2000 to 1/2500 sec. 24-70/2.8. I was sitting right behind the stove / heater in the car.