Daytime Activities/Alaskan Cruise

[TexasCruiser84]

I have only sailed to the Caribbean and Bermuda and my sea days are usually occupied with sun, pool time, and a glorious adult beverage induced, post-sun nap.  I've never paid much attention to what is going on around the ship during the day.  I am cruising on the Joy out of Seattle on 5/4 with my husband and in-laws, and given the temperatures, I do not foresee any pool time.  Do Alaskan cruises have more activities going on during the day in terms of shows, games, etc?  How do you do you spend your sea days on an Alaskan cruise? Thanks!

[roger001]

The Alaska cruises are much about scenery.  From the first morning on, you will generally be within sight of land and beauty.   Also, that being early season, it will be light until pretty late evening.  So just positioning yourself to look (while enjoying adult beverages of course) is a lot of what it's about.  

[zqvol]

Alaska is all about Alaska, however since you are round trip out of seattle, the first and last dasys there is nothing to see since you are west of Vancouver. There will be the usual activities on the ship

[bonvoyagie]

OK you are on the same trip we did on the Pearl in 12. Departure day you will have a wonderful view of Vancouver Island on the right and the Olympic Mts on the left - You will swing towards Port Angeles to pick up a pilot. It will be dark before you enter the open ocean. The next day will be spent traveling up the ocean side of the island - usually too far away to see it. The Joy has various activities including the go carts - which will probably be busy - otherwise you will probably have the same old same old activities onboard. On the next day you will enter the inside passage and head towards Juneau - here you truly have a SEE day with mountains and wildlife on both sides. Juneau is visited during the late PM early evening - it will be dark when you leave. You will wake up the next day in Skagway and spend the day - the following day you will spend mostly in the wonderment of Glacier Bay - you will exit the bay around 3:30PM and head down the inside passage to Ketchikan. You will wake up there and spend the AM doing tours and shopping. That PM through the next day you will be at sea arriving late PM in Victoria BC. While I have not been on the JOY I would presume they have the art auctions, bingo, etc. I know on the Pearl they had various talks from the departments on how to run a cruise ship, make towel animals etc. These newer ships tend to have more to do than the older ones. To answer your questions about the pools - on our three AK trips we have only seen kids in the pools - now the hot tubs - that is another story.

[darwinsrule]

On the last day,  esp mid afternoon from our experience there may be opportunities for whale sightings from the ship.  We had probably 90 min of whale after whale, including a breach maybe 30 metres off our balcony.  That was pure luck,  but it was one of the highlights of  the trip and ranked up there with the bubble feeding we saw on our whale watch in Juneau.