May 27 Vancouver embarkation

[decrepit old man]

Arrived at Canada Place at 11am. In my cabin at 12:30pm. No priority, no Nexus. Not bad at all

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

That is good news.

[Cruising-along]

Glad to hear that it's better than a few weeks ago.  

[cabland]

And looks like a 3 ship day no less...including the Majestic princess which, I think, holds about 3600 passengers.  Now the only question for the Koningsdam is...will she take the true inside passage going North (or skirt around Vancouver island like the last 2 cruises).  We should know in another 90 minutes or less!

[decrepit old man]

We're delayed. Majestic Princess has already left before us 

[Lido deck main]

1 hour ago, decrepit old man said:

We're delayed. Majestic Princess has already left before us 

Let us know about the route.   Have a great cruise.

[cabland]

Looking at cruise mapper it APPEARS the Koningsdam is headed North BETWEEN the mainland and Vancouver Island...the Majestic Princess, conversely, has made the turn to Port and is heading South toward the West of Vancouver Island.  Will watch the map for another hour or so...

[decrepit old man]

Yes checking Google maps it does appear we're sailing east of Vancouver Island

[nw gardener]

I believe part of the confusion is cruise mapper website that shows the incorrect route for most of the cruise ships out of Vancouver.  Also going NB I think the Koningsdam goes west of Haida Gwaii ( Queen Charlotte Island),  which is more open but allows the ship to make Juneau on time. And probably to dump gray water as well.  After leaving Ketchikan and going SB the ship stays east of Queen Charlotte Island.  

 

[adoris]

2 minutes ago, nw gardener said:

I believe part of the confusion is cruise mapper website that shows the incorrect route for most of the cruise ships out of Vancouver.  Also going NB I think the Koningsdam goes west of Haida Gwaii ( Queen Charlotte Island),  which is more open but allows the ship to make Juneau on time. And probably to dump gray water as well.  After leaving Ketchikan and going SB the ship stays east of Queen Charlotte Island.  

 

Do you really think it goes on the outside of Haida Gwaii?  Looks like we have solved the inside of Vancouver controversy ….now we are going to start a new one on Haida Gwaii??

[mightycruisequeen]

Have a great cruise!  I really like your screen name! 🤭

[nw gardener]

21 minutes ago, adoris said:

Do you really think it goes on the outside of Haida Gwaii?  Looks like we have solved the inside of Vancouver controversy ….now we are going to start a new one on Haida Gwaii??

I'll check vessel tracker tomorrow to see if I'm correct.  Several of my previous AK cruises have done that and that would explain why several previous cruisers thought they skipped the inside passage going NB.

[adoris]

Just now, nw gardener said:

I'll check vessel tracker tomorrow to see if I'm correct.  Several of my previous AK cruises have done that and that would explain why several previous cruisers thought they skipped the inside passage going NB.

Thanks for watching it.

 

[visagrunt]

There's no way that a NB vessel ex-Vancouver would go west of Haida Gwai.  That's a ridiculous route when you need to drop the Canadian pilot at Prince Rupert.  Hecate Strait is never narrower than about 50 km providing plenty of room for a vessel to proceed at her most economical speed.

A vessel northbound from Seattle which has not embarked a Candian pilot, on the other hand, could go west of Haida Gwai and then enter at Dixon Entrance to pick up an Alaskan Pilot at the AB line.

Edited May 28, 2023 by visagrunt

[nw gardener]

I hope I'm wrong!  

[visagrunt]

Interestingly, Koningsdam followed a route between Texada I. and Lasqueti, Jedediah and Jervis Is.  That channel is quite a bit narrower than leaving Lasqueti to starboard, but I suppose it does save you a tiny bit of distance.

[cabland]

I can't help but wonder if there was some reason SPECIFIC to the two earlier cruises in May that may have "forced" the Koningsdam to go West of Vancouver Island when traveling Northbound.  Maybe it was a scheduling issue (late departure, etc.)?  Perhaps it was a "traffic" issue going through the narrow passage to the East of the island, etc.  Obviously, ships do it for a reason.  I ASSUME the Majestic Princess (who left right before the Koningsdam from Vancouver and traveled West of the island) does it for a reason...I ASSUME that ship is, perhaps, too large to comfortably traverse that inside passage at night???  Are there restrictions on traffic through there?

 

Obviously, I'll be doing this same dance (watching the maps) again this coming weekend!

[nw gardener]

Appears Koningsdam is going to the east of Haida Gwaii and I'm happy my guess was wrong as it is traveling the normal inside.  Really looking forward to next week!

[sunviking90]

3 hours ago, cabland said:

I can't help but wonder if there was some reason SPECIFIC to the two earlier cruises in May that may have "forced" the Koningsdam to go West of Vancouver Island when traveling Northbound.  Maybe it was a scheduling issue (late departure, etc.)?  Perhaps it was a "traffic" issue going through the narrow passage to the East of the island, etc.  Obviously, ships do it for a reason.  I ASSUME the Majestic Princess (who left right before the Koningsdam from Vancouver and traveled West of the island) does it for a reason...I ASSUME that ship is, perhaps, too large to comfortably traverse that inside passage at night???  Are there restrictions on traffic through there?

 

Obviously, I'll be doing this same dance (watching the maps) again this coming weekend!

Yes, the Majestic Princess (and the other Royal Class Princess ships) is too large to take the inside passage. 

[Copper10-8]

23 hours ago, cabland said:

And looks like a 3 ship day no less...including the Majestic princess which, I think, holds about 3600 passengers.  Now the only question for the Koningsdam is...will she take the true inside passage going North (or skirt around Vancouver island like the last 2 cruises).  We should know in another 90 minutes or less!

 

As a rule of pinky finger, cruises that depart from Vancouver leave English Bay behind and sail up the Strait of Georgia on a northerly course between the Canadian mainland and Vancouver Island, Seymour Narrows and Discovery Passage are next (Canadian pilots are mandatory) bright and early around 0200 hrs. / 2:00 AM during slack tide. What follows is Chatham Point and its 90-degree turn, Race Passage, Johnstone Strait, Blackney Passage (another 90-degree turn), and Blackfish Sound, passing Port Hardy. The ship will enter Queen Charlotte Strait into the open (Pacific) ocean arm of Queen Charlotte Sound, keeping the Haida Gwaii Islands (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) to her west and dropping off the two BC pilots at Triple Island, continuing on to either Juneau or Ketchikan.

 

Cruises that depart Seattle, transit Puget Sound northbound, enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca (aka the Salish Sea) and drop their U.S. pilots off at Port Angeles, WA. The ship will then enter the Pacific Ocean proper and sail northbound hugging the west coast of Vancouver Island. North of Vancouver Island, she will also enter Queen Charlotte Sound and starts following the same course as the ships that departed Vancouver. That course only changes if the destination is/are the ports of Whittier, Steward, Kodiak, Anchorage in which case the ship will remain in the open Pacific

 

Will attempt to find out why K-dam followed the No. 2 option for her last two cruises

 

[decrepit old man]

So the inside passage is really not that special. We went through most of it at night time. During the few daylight hours it was just a bunch of trees. No wildlife to be seen

[xlxo]

24 minutes ago, decrepit old man said:

So the inside passage is really not that special. We went through most of it at night time.

• One of the biggest benefits at night are the calm protected waters trying to sleep.  The waters on the other side of Vancouver Island is much more rougher.
• at this time of the year, there's sunlight until 10pm.  The sunlight also returns around 4:30am.  Darkness is very limited near the land of the midnight sun.

[adoris]

30 minutes ago, decrepit old man said:

So the inside passage is really not that special. We went through most of it at night time. During the few daylight hours it was just a bunch of trees. No wildlife to be seen

Going north a lot of the trip might be at night ( depending on when you go) but coming back down the inside passage is most of your last day and the scenery is gorgeous.  We saw orcas and porpoises several times during the day.