Stargazing?

[Nitemare]

One of the reasons we like to go to remote places like Hawaii, Alaska, Iceland and Atlantic Canada (and now Antarctica) is we like looking up and seeing ALL the stars up there.

 

A few years back on a SA cruise on Oceania we bumped into the Navigator one morning and asked him if he could do a brief star class one evening on the upper deck (it was pretty warm off the coast of Brazil!), and he arranged for a small group to meet him on a dark part of the ship after sunset to show us some sights in the southern skies that we had never seen before (like seeing "the Southern Cross for the first time").

 

Does Silversea do anything like this as a scheduled activity? Or is it something we can request? I imagine in the Antarctic seas the sky is going to be pretty darn dark, and if they can turn off some/all of the top deck lights at night the skies should be spectacular!

 

Thanks for the info!

[les37b]

Funnily,it’s a huge interest for me and I did think myself looking up without city light pollution would give unprecedented views. Alas the ship lights put paid to any hope of that.i may be wrong, but suspect the ship has to be visible (so lights on) but I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs.

 

Fingers crossed they’ll organise something if it’s possible.

 

 

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[Randyk47]

Funnily,it’s a huge interest for me and I did think myself looking up without city light pollution would give unprecedented views. Alas the ship lights put paid to any hope of that.i may be wrong, but suspect the ship has to be visible (so lights on) but I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs.

 

Fingers crossed they’ll organise something if it’s possible.

 

 

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Of course all ships have basic navigation running light requirements but I’m thinking cruise ships go way beyond that with lighting for passenger safety issues. The only time I’ve seen a cruise ship almost totally dark was this past November on the Spirit in the Gulf of Aden in the potential Somalian pirate area. The captain, under direction/agreement with an Indian naval escort, turned off virtually every outside light except navigation lights and closed all verandahs and outside decks after sunset for the night. Got one little peek outside and it was DARK, amazingly dark. Would have been a great stargazing experience but that wasn’t happening.

[rosepark]

The only time I have come across a scheduled star gazing activity was on the Explorer. Whist it is true that the are never truly dark, the Observation lounges are wonderful places to go to at night. The blinds are drawn and the lights dimmed to ensure those on the Bridge have a clear view and you can step out on to the deck. We have often had the entire area to ourselves with superb views of the night skies.

Rp

[MBP&O2/O]

..... and it can be a pain in the rear end when, as OOW you can see a blaze of lights on a distant ship and not be able to pick out the red and green navigation lights on said vessel due to what is effectively a form light of light pollution[emoji3]

The unwritten rule was wherever possible no accommodation lights etc visible forward of the bridge.

 

 

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