Seeing the stars at night

[Marfalump]

We'll be on Liberty of the Seas next week. My wife and I will be on our second cruise. Our first was 6 years ago on carnival. This time, we'll have a little one with us.

 

Our favorite part of the Carnival cruise was seeing the stars at night. The captain would turn off all of the lights on the front of the boat. At sea, when we were far from land, we could see BAZILLIONS of stars. (We never get to see that at home because there is too mch "city light.") We layed on the ship's front deck for hours, gazing at the stars.

 

My question- Will we get to see stars on Liberty of the Seas? Is there an unlit front deck we can escape to after dark?

 

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Desertbelle]

I have never noticed that ever happening on a RCI ship. Sadly I usually can't see the stars well because of all the lights on. :mad:

[Ken at the beach]

The helicopter landing pad is up front on deck 5. Take the outside walkway on deck 4 all the way to the front and take the stairs up to deck 5. I'm sure the lights would be off as it would interfere with the navigation on the bridge I just don't know if they allow access during the evening or if it only during the day.

 

Great idea though I will try it in March.

[Cigar King]

You can see some of the brightest stars at night, but, there is a lot of light pollution from the ship. It's been very disappointing to me. You can see planets though, so binoculars could let you see the moons around Jupiter. I've hoped to catch Venus, but, I always over sleep.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[ssb]

We watched a meteor show most of the night one night. :)

It was phenomenal !

[ehfl]

Head to the helipad. It's dark there so the bridge crew don't get night blindness. Perfect spot to see the stars.

[Marfalump]

Awesome! Thanks for the help everyone! We'll give the helipad a try. Hopefully it's open at night and nice n' dark! :)

[bouhunter]

Awesome! Thanks for the help everyone! We'll give the helipad a try. Hopefully it's open at night and nice n' dark! :)

 

It's open at night. They only close it for high winds, poor conditions, etc.

[senrab]

It's open at night. They only close it for high winds, poor conditions, etc.

 

Open idea for RCCL: One (or more) nights during the cruise, have a member of the crew (CD Staff, bridge staff, doesn't matter) come out and point out some of the more visible and notable features in the sky. For many lifelong city dwellers, they may never have seen them or been able to recognize them.

[mollyeilis]

All we had to do (last week's FOTS cruise) is go outside when it was dark and look up. Stars stars stars. Keep looking to get your eyes acclimated, and more stars appear. AMAZING.

 

Then again, there were a ton more stars visible in Florida than we ever get to see on a normal, not-going-looking-for-dark-places, night in Tacoma WA. So we were already feeling pretty lucky with stars. :)

[sjb317]

The view on Liberty from the helicopter pad is amazing! It's very dark up there, I started to sit on a bench and almost sat on a man who was lying there as I couldn't see him in his dark clothing. :D

 

Sherri:)

[DrD]

It's very nice up on the bow at night.

 

I do see though that you will have a 3/4 moon that won't set until 4:30 am, so that may limit some of what you see.

[DEIx15x8]

Open idea for RCCL: One (or more) nights during the cruise, have a member of the crew (CD Staff, bridge staff, doesn't matter) come out and point out some of the more visible and notable features in the sky. For many lifelong city dwellers, they may never have seen them or been able to recognize them.

 

The Oasis has her bow off limits to the passengers. When we were on 1/2/10 they didn't offer it and may not any more, but they were offering group solar tours at night. A crew member would escort passengers to the bow at night and give a lecture on the solar system. I'm not sure if it was for a fee, included as a dinning package, or free though. Maybe someone else can comment more on it.

[Essexlass2]

The view on Liberty from the helicopter pad is amazing! It's very dark up there, I started to sit on a bench and almost sat on a man who was lying there as I couldn't see him in his dark clothing. :D

 

Sherri:)

 

The thought of that really made me laugh! :D

[zombiehunter]

Great thread. I'll have to check out the helipad. It's been years since I've seen the Milky Way and it's exactly what it says it is. A large swath of so many stars the sky looks milky. Light pollution is something not many people pay attention to but you should. The night sky is a thing of sublime beauty and not enough of us get to experience it. Consider Googling "dark park". There's one in PA where the light pollution is cut down enough to make the sky something special.

 

Good luck!

[DrD]

The view on Liberty from the helicopter pad is amazing! It's very dark up there, I started to sit on a bench and almost sat on a man who was lying there as I couldn't see him in his dark clothing. :D

 

Sherri:)

 

Hmmm, I'll have to remember to bring some dark clothes.

[alfaeric]

Open idea for RCCL: One (or more) nights during the cruise, have a member of the crew (CD Staff, bridge staff, doesn't matter) come out and point out some of the more visible and notable features in the sky. For many lifelong city dwellers, they may never have seen them or been able to recognize them.

 

I use an app for that- works really well. It's called SkyView- it uses the GPS in the phone with a small database. It tracks where the camera is looking- so some of the brightest stars show up. I know there are a lot of others, but that's the one I use.

 

It's great to use an app like that. One of our favorite things to do on ships where you can get to the darkened bow.

Edited February 4, 2014 by alfaeric

[ehfl]

Open idea for RCCL: One (or more) nights during the cruise, have a member of the crew (CD Staff, bridge staff, doesn't matter) come out and point out some of the more visible and notable features in the sky. For many lifelong city dwellers, they may never have seen them or been able to recognize them.

 

Until then, simply load SkyMap onto your phone or tablet. Then you can take a "tour" of the night sky above you, picking out the planets and constellations.