Inside Passage

[akacake]

I live near the coastal part of BC and have travelled the "BC inside passage" from Vancouver to Prince Rupert several times on ferries, sailboats etc. Spectacular!!

 

Do the HAL cruises take the "BC inside passage" up through the Grenville Channel or does it start cruising inside once it gets past Prince Rupert and takes the "Alaskan inside passage" towards Ketchikan?

 

The route map online is misleading as it shows the cruise out in Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait! Just curious as it gets very rough in the straight compared to the sheltered water inside.

 

It would be great if it did both parts of the passage. I guess I will find out in a few short weeks :)

[solocanadian]

It has always been completely inside when sailing out of Vancouver. The ship never sails on the west side of Vancouver Island, only out of Seattle.

[akacake]

It has always been completely inside when sailing out of Vancouver. The ship never sails on the west side of Vancouver Island, only out of Seattle.

 

It's not the part between Vancouver and the tip of Vancouver Island that I am wondering about :) that portion will go up the Strait of Georgia, past Campbell River and Port Hardy etc.

 

It is the portion after Vancouver Island towards the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). The map shows the cruise in Hecate Strait?? There is a route that BC Ferries takes up to Bella Bella past Hartley Bay and on to Prince Rupert...I am wondering if HAL takes this route up through the Grenville Channel?

 

It could be that the map picturing the route on the HAL website is just for illustration purposes....

[TiogaCruiser]

I'll pull out a chart when I get home but I'm pretty certain they cross queen Charlotte sound. We were away from shore that first day and captain Bos warned us to hold the rails until we crossed and went back inside in the afternoon.

[CowPrincess]

>SNIP< Do the HAL cruises take the "BC inside passage" up through the Grenville Channel >SNIP<

 

 

On a very rare occasion, one of the smaller HAL ships has gotten into the Grenville Channel. I was fortunate to have been on the Ryndam when it was able to use Grenville Channel, due to specific conditions. As far as I know, it is the exception, not the rule, that a mainstream cruise ship can sail Grenville Channel.

Edited April 28, 2014 by CowPrincess

[1of4]

as already stated, I think it is weather dependant. When we did the inside passage we were on the same route as the BC Ferries and the captain commented that it is not normal.

[maxie99]

I live near the coastal part of BC and have travelled the "BC inside passage" from Vancouver to Prince Rupert several times on ferries, sailboats etc. Spectacular!!

 

Do the HAL cruises take the "BC inside passage" up through the Grenville Channel or does it start cruising inside once it gets past Prince Rupert and takes the "Alaskan inside passage" towards Ketchikan?

 

The route map online is misleading as it shows the cruise out in Queen Charlotte Sound and Hecate Strait! Just curious as it gets very rough in the straight compared to the sheltered water inside.

 

It would be great if it did both parts of the passage. I guess I will find out in a few short weeks :)

Hi akacake, im also interested in the route the ships take, im sailing Aug. 30 on the zuiderdam, im interested as to how early and late the sun stays up being that fact its 9 weeks since June 21,, also tell use about that photo-- how dramatic it must have been to even take the shot :eek:

[akacake]

Hi akacake, im also interested in the route the ships take, im sailing Aug. 30 on the zuiderdam, im interested as to how early and late the sun stays up being that fact its 9 weeks since June 21,, also tell use about that photo-- how dramatic it must have been to even take the shot :eek:

 

I will post the course we sailed once I return...we don't sail until May 23.

 

By the end of August the long evenings are almost done , it is starting to get dark earlier. I can't remember the exact time but by 9 pm where I am around N55

 

Yes, the photo on my profile was quite exciting to capture! I was in the right place at the right time with my camera! It was taken where I live In Terrace BC in April 2008 :)

[jlocole]

Did the eagle make a meal of the big bird? It's both a fascinating and a disturbing picture....

[akacake]

Did the eagle make a meal of the big bird? It's both a fascinating and a disturbing picture....

 

The bald eagle is much smaller than the trumpeter swan so it wrestled with the swan, but the swan got away! There were feathers everywhere though and the swan was fairly quiet after it landed in the water :)

[jlocole]

Originally Posted by maxie99

Hi akacake, im also interested in the route the ships take, im sailing Aug. 30 on the zuiderdam,

 

Hi Maxie. I am on the same cruise as you! There is a very small thread for it in the Roll Call section. I just upgraded to VB to get the super sized balcony that I read about on CC.

 

It sure is tough to decide on which Alaska excursions to take.

[terrascape]

I have sailed the "real" inside passage on the ferries and working on tugboats between Seattle and Southeast Alaska. Am very familiar with the route up thru Bella Bella, Fraser & McKay Reach (Butedale) and Grenville Channel. The cruise lines advertise the inside passage route but it is really only Discovery Passage & Johnstone Straits. Northbound out of Vancouver that is all done at night. Some go up Principe Channel and Laredo Sound to Triple Island (usually the ones with Ketchikan as first stop northbound). Most are now going up Hecate Straits which as you know is about the same as being in the Pacific (those with first stop in Juneau). We have done Grenville Channel once in nine cruises. We were on the Ryndam in 2010 and the tide at Seymour was earlier enough they had some extra time to make Juneau and the weather was perfect so they cut in at the Southern end of Grenville Channel. It was spectacular. I always consider the idea of "cruising the inside passage" to be a misnomer in the cruise line industry.

[akacake]

I have sailed the "real" inside passage on the ferries and working on tugboats between Seattle and Southeast Alaska. Am very familiar with the route up thru Bella Bella, Fraser & McKay Reach (Butedale) and Grenville Channel. The cruise lines advertise the inside passage route but it is really only Discovery Passage & Johnstone Straits. Northbound out of Vancouver that is all done at night. Some go up Principe Channel and Laredo Sound to Triple Island (usually the ones with Ketchikan as first stop northbound). Most are now going up Hecate Straits which as you know is about the same as being in the Pacific (those with first stop in Juneau). We have done Grenville Channel once in nine cruises. We were on the Ryndam in 2010 and the tide at Seymour was earlier enough they had some extra time to make Juneau and the weather was perfect so they cut in at the Southern end of Grenville Channel. It was spectacular. I always consider the idea of "cruising the inside passage" to be a misnomer in the cruise line industry.

 

thank you for clarifying this. The Inside Passage to me also means exactly what you said, the Inside Passage all the way from Vancouver up to Ketchikan. I have done it in on the ferry and also a sailboat and it is unbelievable! I guess I will have to take BC Ferries to see it again if the Zaandam doesn't take us that route.

[maxie99]

Originally Posted by maxie99

Hi akacake, im also interested in the route the ships take, im sailing Aug. 30 on the zuiderdam,

 

Hi Maxie. I am on the same cruise as you! There is a very small thread for it in the Roll Call section. I just upgraded to VB to get the super sized balcony that I read about on CC.

 

It sure is tough to decide on which Alaska excursions to take.

 

-:confused: hi, jlocole, im with you,, with all of the selections, im thinking more on going on a float plane rather than a helicopter, I see them all the time taking off and landing on the lake at our cottage here in the Ontario, -- Maxie :D

[carri cruiser]

thank you for clarifying this. The Inside Passage to me also means exactly what you said, the Inside Passage all the way from Vancouver up to Ketchikan. I have done it in on the ferry and also a sailboat and it is unbelievable! I guess I will have to take BC Ferries to see it again if the Zaandam doesn't take us that route.

 

Back in the mid "80s we sailed the inside passage to Juneau, and loved it!!

last year we sailed the inside passage again, and it was not anything as I had remembered it... wonder if the route has changed... the first time we went up the inside, it seemed to be in a channel, and I can remember we could look for the "golf balls" in the trees., (bald eagles)... we passed a lighthouse fairly close, and land was not very far off.... last year it was nothing as I remembered!! am I getting senile?, did I imagine all that I saw the first time?

is my memory playing tricks on me??? or has the route changed??? I'm thinking the route has changed... and..... the practically the whole time was at night!! Both ways!!! I was disappointed... but still enjoyed our cruise!!

[terrascape]

No, you are not getting senile. Way back when, the smaller cruise ships used to do the "real" inside passage. The ships were much smaller and the schedules were not as tight as now. Many of the cruise ships used to go into Ocean Falls and did scenic cruising in Gardner Canal and Douglas Channel. The cruise lines would time the schedule so at least one direction was always done in daylight. This began to change in the late 70s and early 80s as the ships got larger & speed became more critical. Foggy conditions are always a concern in these confined channels. Also the number of yachts and fishing vessels transiting these waters were a cause of real concern for the BC Pilots. Some BC pilots have told me the risk of an "incident" in the narrow channels is much higher than ever before. As much as we would like the cruise lines to do the entire inside passage, it probably wont happen - except on the small "pocket" cruise ships. Of course we can always take the Alaska ferries or the BC ferry to Rupert if we need an inside passage "fix"

[akacake]

I have just checked the routing of the Zaandam this week and it is sailing up through the Hecate Strait, in the rough water between the mainland and Haida Gwaii, not the protected channels of BC's "inside passage" from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert.

 

I will update this after my sailing next week and see if the route differs at all.