HAL Alaska Inward Passage, North bound Cruise - D6C (Nieuw Amerstardam). Room questions

[RetiredTravelered]

Hi. This is our FIRST CRUISE.  We asked a few questions in the NEW TO CRUISING Board, and are now wanting to be a bit more specific. 

We are leaning towards HAL. We hope to Book on a North Bound (out of Vancouver) Inside/Inner Passage Cruise.

Our questions related to Room and Deck choices.

 

We understand that Mid Deck seems to be popular for Motion issues. 

 

Q1:On an Alaska Inside/Inner Passage Cruise, is there as much tendency towards Motion (and therefore sea sickness) - as compared to a Cruise in the Open Sea?

 

We are looking at Room options, and nearly all rooms in the MID section are taken (in fact, most in MID appear to be Suites, on a few decks. We find some ending with VD#013, VD#039, VD#041 (where # is the Deck number). Those are slightly ahead of MID, in the Forward / Front section. 

If there is "movement", are those close enough to MID, that we would be OK?

 

(We are hoping that on an Inside/Inner Passage North bound Alaska Cruise that there is not too much motion?)

 

Q2:  We have read that Deck 8 has rooms that can encounter noise (below the Pool, and other areas?)

If it is true that Deck 8 can be loud, is Deck 7 enough of a separation, Or is Deck 6 even better. 

Seems like if we look lower, ex: Deck 5, there are view obstructions (lifeboats, etc.)

 

Q3: If we are heading North, on an Inside/Inner Passage Cruise, is there more to see on the RIGHT (Starboard?) side? Or, is there plenty to see on the LEFT (Port) side, on an Inside Passage?

 

We thank you ahead of time for any responses, suggestions, and even corrections if we have incorrect information. 

 

thanks

 

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Inside Passage cruises will generally be calmer, but seas can be rough any time. 

 

One deck separation is sufficient. So Deck 7 should be less noise affected than Deck 8.

 

There is no. "better" side of the ship. Scenery is on all sides, and is big picture scenery. Plus you will be out and about, not locked in your cabin. 

[Moriah]

Deck 7 is considered by many the prime real estate on the ship.  It will have no noise whatsoever from the Lido area, which as you mentioned, is sometimes problematic on Deck 8.  As for motion, that of course depends on the luck of the weather, but in general it's not a problem on Alaska cruises - especially in the Inside Passage.  I've heard from others who tend to have sea-sickness that forward is better than aft.  And I've heard mixed as to whether higher decks are better than lower.  Welcome to cruising!  Alaska is the BEST place to start IMO! 

[DAllenTCY]

Northbound via the Inside Passage you would want to be on the starboard side.  Your chance of seeing moose, bears, and eagles would be greatly improved.

 

On the port side, there will be many small islands with less wildlife.

 

David

[oakridger]

10 hours ago, Moriah said:

I've heard from others who tend to have sea-sickness that forward is better than aft.  And I've heard mixed as to whether higher decks are better than lower. 

 

In my experience more aft is much better than far forward for motion. Mid is best.  Lower decks definitely have less motion than higher decks.

 

~Nancy

[Birdhunter67]

Deck 6 or 7 are the best in my opinion. Deck 5 is OK if you don’t mind the orange “glow” of the lifeboats below you. On a northbound inside passage cruise, I also think the starboard side is better. You will see more coastline rather than islands. Unless you are in some sort of storm, you shouldn’t experience any ship motion in the inside passage. There will be 1-2 days of open water sailing where you could feel some movement. Keep in mind the ship is almost 1000 feet long and has stabilizers that do a great job in reducing the motion. 
 

This was our first ever cruise as I wasn’t sure I would like it. We leave in 6 weeks for our 8th cruise. You will have a good time!

[cruiseaholic78]

If you get a bit further with your planning this is an invaluable site for checking each individual cabin.

Happy planning

https://halfacts.com/signature-class/

[AKJonesy]

Here is the stateroom pdf for NA.  https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/ships/NA/pdf/hal-na-deckplan-01222024.pdf Stay away from noise areas.  Those staterooms surrounded by staterooms will be most quiet.  Stay away from staterooms close to the World Stage, or the Lido.  You don't want carts rolling over your head at night.  

Check out windalert.com or windy.com.  Use the LIVE WIND tab on windalert and for both, just pull the map in the direction where you want to check the live winds in the coastal area of Canada and Alaska.  Wind makes waves.  Sometimes the seas can be a little rough OUTSIDE of Vancouver island and those sailings generally begin in Seattle.  Either side of the ship is good IMO.  If you are on NA, I would spend more time on the Promenade Deck instead of on your veranda.  You get the wide open view instead of standing peering over your deck railing and you can walk around the entire ship for better views.  

[luv2travel06]

On 9/26/2024 at 3:58 PM, DAllenTCY said:

Northbound via the Inside Passage you would want to be on the starboard side.  Your chance of seeing moose, bears, and eagles would be greatly improved.

 

On the port side, there will be many small islands with less wildlife.

 

David

Sailing inside passage right now. 
 

Dolphins and Orcas we saw today would have been on the port side of a nb ship. 
 

YMMV

[jlawrence01]

I have had Oceanview rooms on Decks 1 and 4.

 

I thought deck 1 on the front of the ship was quite pleasant in terms of motion.

 

Deck 4 midship was also quite good.  The "fully obstructed" view was only about 30% obstructed which was very satisfactory for the low fare that I paid 

 

The northbound to Whittier was fantastic as you got a day at Glacier Bay, a few hours at College Fjords and nearly a full day at Whittier before returning southbound.

[Tradestock]

On 9/26/2024 at 4:51 PM, RetiredTravelered said:

Q3: If we are heading North, on an Inside/Inner Passage Cruise, is there more to see on the RIGHT (Starboard?) side? Or, is there plenty to see on the LEFT (Port) side, on an Inside Passage?

Not sure if it interests you, but we chose our room based upon the schedule for the aurora borealis.  We chose highest deck, forward, and port side based on the northern light schedule for the cruise.  We were able to see the northern lights from the balcony at approximately 0200-0300.  We were able to see the wildlife from the balcony, during the daytime too.  A small amount of planning reaped huge rewards for our Alaska cruise.