Inside Passage of Canada

[Alaska0799]

It seems I recall reading a few years ago that one or more of the larger ships (Princess line) could not traverse the Canada Inside Passage to get back to Vancouver so they had to cruise down the west side of Vancouver Island.  Researching for family who are cruising on the Royal Princess late this month.  Thank you to anyone who has current knowledge to share!

[YVRteacher]

Ships that leave from Vancouver do the Inside Passage.  Ships that leave from Seattle sail west of Vancouver Island.

[martincath]

The entire Royal Class remains unable to traverse the 'BC Inside Passage' due to their lack of maneuverability - it's mandatory to have a pilot on the bridge for most of it, and the local pilots association flat-out refuses to take responsibility for this class of vessel in those waters.

 

The only good part of the whole mess is that Princess finally started to admit that the routing is different. If you check on their website - NB: not a third party site! - you will clearly see that whether it is a one-way or a round-trip the Royal class are routed outside the Island from Vancouver in both directions.

Examples: 7-day RT, 7-day Northbound (the latter actually has a separate dotted line pointing out that while all the other ships do sail inside, Royal and Majestic go outside!)

 

Unless the rudders are replaced this class will never sail Inside - and even has trouble getting into Ketchikan due to approach angles and wind conditions. Between this and the lack of good viewing areas the Royal class basically sucks for Alaskan cruising!

 

 

[PACD_JG]

12 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Ships that leave from Vancouver do the Inside Passage.  Ships that leave from Seattle sail west of Vancouver Island.

12 sailings to Alaska and yet still this misinformation....

 

Listen to MartinCath.

[5waldos]

1 hour ago, PACD_JG said:

12 sailings to Alaska and yet still this misinformation....

 

Listen to MartinCath.

What is incorrect about this? Other than the fact that there is an "inside passage" north of Vancouver Island so I suppose that would count. But having taken the Seattle round trip claiming to sail the inside passage, I was very disappointed. It is the section from Vancouver to the end of the island which has the amazing scenery. 

[don't-use-real-name]

4 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

12 sailings to Alaska and yet still this misinformation....

 

Listen to MartinCath.

INSIDE PASSAGE - any passage with - land - island - something between you and the open

Pacific Ocean.

Commonly the passage between Vancouver Island and the Canada mainland is what folks

think is the Inside Passage - true it is - BUT there are also inside passages in the southeast

panhandle of Alaska (USA).

Ships sailing out of Seattle see the Alaska inside passageways - those sailing out of and

returning to Vancouver see the Canadian one which is spectacular because of its narrowness -

almost can reach out and touch land in passing.

[Heidi13]

18 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Ships that leave from Vancouver do the Inside Passage.  Ships that leave from Seattle sail west of Vancouver Island.

 

The Canadian "Inside Passage" continues all the way up the coast to Dixon Entrance (Prince Rupert). Unfortunately, these days, very few cruise ships use the "Inside Passage" north of Queen Charlotte Sound.

 

While most of the Vancouver based cruise ships navigate Johnstone Channel, between the Mainland and Vancouver Island, a class of Princess ships does not. The Royal Princess class of ships have a conventional propulsion system and Carnival went cheap, installing only basic spade rudders, instead of a high lift rudder. Therefore, this class of ship displays poor directional stability at low speed and the ships don't even respond to a kick ahead.

 

Due to the poor manoeuvrability, the BC Coast Pilots and the ship's Masters, do not navigate through Johnstone Strait, due to the more challenging sections at Seymour Narrows, Race/Current Passage and Blakney Passage. On departing Vancouver, these ships must take a pilot to Brotchie Ledge, then sail out Juan de Fuca and up the West Coast.

[PACD_JG]

11 hours ago, 5waldos said:

What is incorrect about this? Other than the fact that there is an "inside passage" north of Vancouver Island so I suppose that would count. But having taken the Seattle round trip claiming to sail the inside passage, I was very disappointed. It is the section from Vancouver to the end of the island which has the amazing scenery. 

 

Just in case I was unclear...I'm saying MartinCath is correct and YVRteacher is wrong.

[YVRteacher]

13 hours ago, PACD_JG said:

12 sailings to Alaska and yet still this misinformation....

 

Listen to MartinCath.

Yes, 12 trips to Alaska.  The 2 on which we left from Seattle sailed west of Vancouver Island did not do the Inside Passage.  The other 10 sailings were either from Vancouver or Seward (we do B2B) and did do the Inside Passage.  Actually, we did both the Alaskan Inside Passage as well as the BC Inside Passage.

 

Sometimes life isn’t just right vs. wrong.  Sometimes people have experiences that may be different from yours.  
 

This May on our B2B on the NCL Jewel the Inside Passage in BC was completely grey and foggy both days so we couldn’t see anything.  So, even a cruise departing from Vancouver doesn’t guarantee views of the IP.  

 

if you don’t like my posts, feel free to skip on by or use the ignore feature.  That is what I am doing with you.

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by YVRteacher