Juneau canceled- NCL cruise

[jm1225]

Nothing NCL is doing will really help me. Only 2 of us get to go to see Cosby so what are we going to do? Draw lots. SUCKS!!!

[jm1225]

Tried to change to the Star. No rooms. Also, we paid $1,500 each so we are losing 1/4 of that on destinations and 1/7 on cruising. They are after all saving fuel.

[dustyroad]

Unfortunately we can't, we leave in a week- we have everything booked(staying in Seattle the week after), vacations cannot be changed because of work- there are 11 of us going. :( I agree $150 is an insult!!

 

since you will be in seattle for a week after maybe you can get a whale tour from there. sorry about the ship problems. have a great time anyway :)

[stevenikkij]

since you will be in seattle for a week after maybe you can get a whale tour from there. sorry about the ship problems. have a great time anyway :)

 

Thanks!!! We do already have an orca tour booked- so maybe that will appease us. :)

[mapleleaves]

Is there no chance at all you'll get to Juneau? Is the trip delayed by 24 hrs? As others have said you will probably see humpbacks around Glacier Bay and Icy Strait. It's a better vantage point closer to the water, so if you come across whale activity find the public area that is lowest on the ship.

BTW, the orca trips have been having great success day after day! Lots of activity and babies. So hopefully the orca trip will appease.

http://blog.island-adventures.com/

[stevenikkij]

Is there no chance at all you'll get to Juneau? Is the trip delayed by 24 hrs? As others have said you will probably see humpbacks around Glacier Bay and Icy Strait. It's a better vantage point closer to the water, so if you come across whale activity find the public area that is lowest on the ship.

BTW, the orca trips have been having great success day after day! Lots of activity and babies. So hopefully the orca trip will appease.

http://blog.island-adventures.com/

Yeah- we are very excited about the orcas. :) we booked Mystic sea charters for that one.

[vbmom87]

Yeah- we are very excited about the orcas. :) we booked Mystic sea charters for that one.

 

My mind is a big foggy at the moment, but I do remember reading that for the best chance of seeing whales from Seattle it was recommended you drive north of Seattle to pick up a whale watch cruise. Perhaps someone else can fill in more details.

 

I am really sorry your cruise was shortened. I would try to get more than the $150 they are offering for compensation. It truly is an insult.

[stevenikkij]

My mind is a big foggy at the moment, but I do remember reading that for the best chance of seeing whales from Seattle it was recommended you drive north of Seattle to pick up a whale watch cruise. Perhaps someone else can fill in more details.

 

I am really sorry your cruise was shortened. I would try to get more than the $150 they are offering for compensation. It truly is an insult.

 

Yeah we are heading north of Seattle to Anacortes to see them.

[mapleleaves]

Yeah- we are very excited about the orcas. :) we booked Mystic sea charters for that one.

 

Either vendor will provide a great experience. I thought the captain's blog would make it more real.

[Budget Queen]

Yeah we are heading north of Seattle to Anacortes to see them.

 

If orcas are a priority, then you really need to look at going out more than one trip. You are on the east side of the Vancouver Island's Southern resident pod, and they are not sighted from there consistantly. Victoria is the mid point, for their hundreds of miles of range. Take a look at a map for the detail.

[Budget Queen]

I ALWAYS see plenty of whales from a cruiseship.

 

On your Glacier Bay day, IF coming from Skagway, be up and out at the front deck (unfortunately the Pearl has some of the crappiest upper deck viewing), at least a 1/2 hour prior to the posted dawn time. IF going to Skagway, stay out for several hours after you leave Glacier Bay.

 

Necessary is forward viewing, and a good pair of wide angle binoculars.

[InternetAgeTraveler]

One of the new things I have added to some of my time lapse vidoes this year is marking the best spots to see whales. Of course, your cruise will be different than others have done. In particular, before reaching Skagway while I know the general course you will take, not sure when you'll be in these waters.

 

However, we did see a periodic whale almost every day on our last cruise although none close up.

 

The picture below shows some prime areas is the SouthWest Alaska waters.

 

 

This is an example of what you might expect to see if lucky. This was taken from the deck of the Pearl as we were leaving Glacier Bay in 2007.

 

 

 

Another picture from the Glacier Bay area in 2007, although a bit blurry

 

 

As I noted above, we only saw a few whales in 2010 when we went and these were all much further away.

[stevenikkij]

One of the new things I have added to some of my time lapse vidoes this year is marking the best spots to see whales. Of course, your cruise will be different than others have done. In particular, before reaching Skagway while I know the general course you will take, not sure when you'll be in these waters.

 

However, we did see a periodic whale almost every day on our last cruise although none close up.

 

The picture below shows some prime areas is the SouthWest Alaska waters.

 

 

This is an example of what you might expect to see if lucky. This was taken from the deck of the Pearl as we were leaving Glacier Bay in 2007.

 

 

 

Another picture from the Glacier Bay area in 2007, although a bit blurry

 

 

As I noted above, we only saw a few whales in 2010 when we went and these were all much further away.

Thanks!!! I will definitely be on the lookout. I will take what I can get. LOL

[sharecruises]

Sooo sorry to hear this disappointing news

 

I hope that you can do the whale watch or "? orca?" watch from

Victoria and/or Seattle

 

and of course I hope you have a MARVELOUS WONDERFUL CRUISE

[stevenikkij]

Sooo sorry to hear this disappointing news

 

I hope that you can do the whale watch or "? orca?" watch from

Victoria and/or Seattle

 

and of course I hope you have a MARVELOUS WONDERFUL CRUISE

 

Thanks all!!!! I know things happen- and I certainly want the ship to be fixed(thinking about the Titanic), just disappointed on a personal level. I have wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise since I was very young- my father and I used to watch alot of nature shows from there and we always said we would go. Well he passed away a few years ago unexpectedly, so he couldn't go with us on this cruise, so I wanted to see the whales kind of as a "tribute" to him. He will be with us in spirit though and maybe send some whales our way when we are heading though Glacier Bay. :)

[SandSeaSail]

Sorry you're missing your whale excursion.

 

Enjoy Bill Cosby. I saw his show last November and he is funny as ever. It was a great show.

[kirschstra]

Very sorry to hear that. We were on the Pearl July 10-17 when you received that disappointing email. If they knew it then, I wonder why the very next cruise wasn't the one with the change in plans.

 

None-the-less, I bet you will not miss out on some humpback viewing on the cruiseship itself. When going into and out of Glacier Bay, we saw many, MANY whales, and tons of them breaching. While they were further away than the ones on our whale-watching excursion out of Juneau, the show was much better. But if you have a good pair of binoculars, you'll be able to view all the excitement. The excursion was pretty incredible, I will not lie. We saw a lot of humpbacks from closer up, but they weren't as active. We did see one paduncle slap, which was a great highlight.

 

MAKE SURE you are on the decks and watching in the first couple hours into the Bay and out of the Bay, as that is where they are sighted. We heard from several people that they also spotted Orcas, but we must not have been in the right place at the right time. Basically, this is a day that you do not for one minute want to be inside without some sort of eye on the outside. One of my favorite spots was the back of the boat at the outdoor eating area where you are shielded from the wind and under cover if needed. You get a 180 degree view and there weren't a lot of people fighting for space. Another spot was the Spinnaker Lounge with walls of windows all around if you prefer to be inside, but keep in mind the window seats fill up fast. We had an very foggy start to our Glacier Bay day and it was quite cool, but I had no trouble staying outside the whole time with a knit cap and gloves and layers.

 

Good luck to you and may you find some peace in this unfortunate turn of events.

[JGetCRUSING]

Ive heard alot about this, I just got off the star on the 16th and Juneau was my favorite port. i think $150 is an insult. We had a leak in our window and they gave us $100 OBC for it. I would fight for more, or they should atleast give you 1/7th of your cruise pymnt back

[mapleleaves]

Anyone back from this cruise? So how was it?

I was hoping NCL was able to squeeze in a visit to Juneau afterall.