Can I see land form the ship.

[Hpcomcom]

Hello, first time cruiser here. When sailing from Seattle to Juneau on the Pearl on June 21, 2015, can we see land from the ship during most or all of the voyage?

 

Wondering just how wide the "inside passage" is.

 

Thanks for info.

[CruiserBruce]

Come over to the Alaska board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

The basic answer is most ships sailing from Seattle go out to sea for awhile, before coming back into the Inside Passage. So, yes, you may see land for a portion of your voyage, but also some of the time you are in sight of land is at night.

[Thecat123]

Hello, first time cruiser here. When sailing from Seattle to Juneau on the Pearl on June 21, 2015, can we see land from the ship during most or all of the voyage?

 

Wondering just how wide the "inside passage" is.

 

Thanks for info.

 

Years ago we were doing our first cruise which was the Alaska cruise and found our balcony cabin wasn't on the "land" side of the ship so we changed the sail date to get the "land" side

Talking to a cruise line rep later he asked us why we changed? When I told him why he laughed and said the ship sails at night

Very obvious when one thinks about it as the ship spends all day at a port but not for a first time cruiser like us :)

From what I remember the passage isn't very wide and one can't see much as its dark, just shapes of the islands

Edited April 3, 2015 by Thecat123

[indigosails]

True the ship sails at night, but it "usually" sets sail around 6 PM, and because it stays light so late in the summer in Alaska, if you go out on the aft deck (not so windy back there) you can see beautiful vistas as late as 10PM.

[navybankerteacher]

While you may be within sight of land for a good part of the time, you will rarely see much more than a gray lump on the horizon - land from several miles off shows very little detail.

[Hlitner]

Cruise ships stay pretty far from land for several reason. Number one is safety..in that distance from land means deeper waters and a bigger safety margin. And another very important reason is that they cannot open the Casino until they are out in International Waters. To be clear of US regulations they must be 12 miles out to sea. And those casinos mean revenue for the cruise line (except for Disney). And you do not see much land from 12 miles (it is beyond the horizon on most decks) and even less at night :)

 

Hank

Edited April 3, 2015 by Hlitner

[cb at sea]

IN the "inside passage", you should be able to see land. In other parts of the world, you will not see much but ocean, until you're ready to dock. They sail about 12 miles out, so they are in "international" waters, and can use the casino and shops!

[mapsmith]

On our Alaska Cruise we were seldom out of sight of land. In most cases we were about 1/4 mile to 4 miles off the land. (and most of the time we were not outside of the "12 mile Limit".

The first part of the Inside Passage is through Canadian Waters. And I believe that the Cruise lines may have a specific exemption on the Casinos that they can operate in the Southeast part of Alaska as long as they are a specific distance from the port, rather than 12 miles out in international waters. I do remember one section where it seemed as if we were only about 100 yards off the shore. And we were able to see wildlife on shore. The Casino was open.

 

Part of the awesomeness of an Alaskan Cruise is watching the scenery go by. And that means that the ship is close to land.

[CruiserBruce]

On our Alaska Cruise we were seldom out of sight of land. In most cases we were about 1/4 mile to 4 miles off the land. (and most of the time we were not outside of the "12 mile Limit".

The first part of the Inside Passage is through Canadian Waters. And I believe that the Cruise lines may have a specific exemption on the Casinos that they can operate in the Southeast part of Alaska as long as they are a specific distance from the port, rather than 12 miles out in international waters. I do remember one section where it seemed as if we were only about 100 yards off the shore. And we were able to see wildlife on shore. The Casino was open.

 

Part of the awesomeness of an Alaskan Cruise is watching the scenery go by. And that means that the ship is close to land.

 

Was this a sailing out of Seattle, or Vancouver? The OP asked about Seattle- yours sounds like Vancouver. Usually sailing out of Seattle is an open ocean sailing for a while, Vancouver stays Inside Passage for awhile after departing Vancouver.

Edited April 5, 2015 by CruiserBruce

[navybankerteacher]

On our Alaska Cruise we were seldom out of sight of land. In most cases we were about 1/4 mile to 4 miles off the land. (and most of the time we were not outside of the "12 mile Limit".

The first part of the Inside Passage is through Canadian Waters. And I believe that the Cruise lines may have a specific exemption on the Casinos that they can operate in the Southeast part of Alaska as long as they are a specific distance from the port, rather than 12 miles out in international waters. I do remember one section where it seemed as if we were only about 100 yards off the shore. And we were able to see wildlife on shore. The Casino was open.

 

Part of the awesomeness of an Alaskan Cruise is watching the scenery go by. And that means that the ship is close to land.

 

I seriously doubt that you were within 1/4 mile (440 yards - think about it) of land for much more than a few minutes immediately after or shortly before being alongside a pier. Most ships on Alaska cruises are over 900 feet (100 yards) long - to give you an idea of scale. Distances at sea are hard to guage.

[Hlitner]

I seriously doubt that you were within 1/4 mile (440 yards - think about it) of land for much more than a few minutes immediately after or shortly before being alongside a pier. Most ships on Alaska cruises are over 900 feet (100 yards) long - to give you an idea of scale. Distances at sea are hard to guage.

 

The last Captain to take his ship that close to the coast was recently convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. His name is Schettino.

 

Hank

[mapsmith]

The trip from Ketchikan to Juneau, among other parts of the Southeast channel, does go through the Gastineau channel. Which can narrow to about one mile before arriving at the dock in Juneau.

 

And to visit Ketchikan, it is necessary to pass through the Tongass Narrows.

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&sqi=2&ved=0CDgQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seapa.com%2Fwaterway%2FTongass%2520Narrows%2520VWG.pdf&ei=UbUgVf-zA6PbsASVj4G4Bg&usg=AFQjCNHkCnTo1AFwbYrRxiY6UXYMWMArxw&sig2=AfYTxuCocE5kBa0d_QtYZg&bvm=bv.89947451,d.cWc&cad=rja

 

And you will find that in both cases, the channel is within 200 meters of the shore.

 

You will also find that in both cases, the ship will have a local Pilot for much of the passage through these narrow waters.

Edited April 5, 2015 by mapsmith

[searoses]

Get an aft cabin.....180 degrees of views.....awesome!

[subtchr]

Get an aft cabin.....180 degrees of views.....awesome!

 

I concur! These views are from our balcony on the stern of the Radiance of the Seas a couple summers ago. We sailed over the summer solstice, so especially at the northernmost ports, it was light until after midnight. If you look at a sunrise/sunset chart, you will see that for Seward the third week of June, civil twilight ends after 1 am, and begins again before 3 am. We loved it!

 

Tongass Narrows:

 

DSC_0286 by suegee57, on Flickr

 

Inside Passage, I think Seymour Narrows (last night before Vancouver, southbound):

 

IMG_0772 by suegee57, on Flickr

 

DSCN2364 by suegee57, on Flickr

 

IMG_0775 by suegee57, on Flickr

 

IMG_0767 by suegee57, on Flickr

[HiCSailor]

I seriously doubt that you were within 1/4 mile (440 yards - think about it) of land for much more than a few minutes immediately after or shortly before being alongside a pier. Most ships on Alaska cruises are over 900 feet (100 yards) long - to give you an idea of scale. Distances at sea are hard to guage.

 

The last Captain to take his ship that close to the coast was recently convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. His name is Schettino.

 

Hank

 

OK, you both beat me to it, but I was thinking the very same thing. Very difficult to visually gauge distances at sea, even for a pro. Like in your rearview mirrors, objects tend to appear closer than they are. As has been suggested, using ship lengths or widths is the best measure... short of bringing your own laser range finder, nautical GPS chartplotter, or radar set, of course. :)

[sail7seas]

Beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing them.

 

There were stretches for quite a while when we could see the gorgeous snow capped mountains while sailing. As pointed out, it does not get really dark summer in Alaska until late.

 

[sail7seas]

OK, you both beat me to it, but I was thinking the very same thing. Very difficult to visually gauge distances at sea, even for a pro. Like in your rearview mirrors, objects tend to appear closer than they are. As has been suggested, using ship lengths or widths is the best measure... short of bringing your own laser range finder, nautical GPS chartplotter, or radar set, of course. :)

 

Once while at sea, we had a lightening storm and I saw lightening at what appeared to me to be the horizon. I later saw the Captain and asked how far away that was. He asked from what deck I was watching and could compute approximately the distance to the horizon. I forget now the way he computed it. :o

 

[HiCSailor]

Once while at sea, we had a lightening storm and I saw lightening at what appeared to me to be the horizon. I later saw the Captain and asked how far away that was. He asked from what deck I was watching and could compute approximately the distance to the horizon. I forget now the way he computed it. :o

 

He used the deck to estimate your height of eye and from there geometry (simplified with some sailor's rules of thumb) gives you the distance to the horizon. I'll spare you the details, but if you're really interested google answers all. :D

[navybankerteacher]

Once while at sea, we had a lightening storm and I saw lightening at what appeared to me to be the horizon. I later saw the Captain and asked how far away that was. He asked from what deck I was watching and could compute approximately the distance to the horizon. I forget now the way he computed it. :o

 

 

I believe I recall that the formula is 1.17 times the square root of the height of your eye above sea level. So if your eye was 9 feet above sea level your horizon would be 3 x 1.17, or 3.51 miles. If your eye were 36 feet above sea level, it would be 6 x 1.17, or 7.02 miles. My memory may be off, but I think that is it.

[Hlitner]

Our ability to do math formulas has faded with the years :). So we just use a quick approximation. If you are standing at sea level the horizon is approximately 3 miles. At 100 feet high (a higher deck) the horizon is about 12 miles. But since lightening is in the sky well above sea level you can actually see lightening at a very long distance with even 100 miles being possible.

 

Hank

[agabbymama]

Back to OPs question. Yes, you may see land, but you might want to take a good pair of binoculars. Seeing land and being able to distinguish what is on that land are two different things.

[donaldsc]

Seeing land and seeing anything on the land are 2 completely different issues.

 

DON

[Sandy Sails]

Good choice sailing out of Seattle in June, near the Summer Solstice. It stays light here until 10 p.m. The beginning of your journey takes you through Puget Sound through the beautiful islands, then through the Strait of Juan De Fuca, which takes you between the northern Washington border and the southern Canadian border out to the Pacific Ocean. All beautiful scenery before it gets too dark.

Enjoy all of the scenery the Pacific Northwest, especially Alaska, has to offer!

[dsrdsrdsr]

By and large, the coastline wiggles but the ship travels in a straight line (it's cheaper). So unless there is a specific advertised scenic sail-by, the chances are you will only be close to land once or twice between ports, except when going through a narrow passage - eg. most of southern Norway.