Which side of ship for Westerdam to Alaska?

[ParrotTops]

I would like to book a cabin on the cruise leaving from Seattle--does anyone have any suggestions as to which side of ship would be best, especially for seeing the glaciers in Glacier Bay? Thanks!

[cecilterwiliger]

We took the NCL Sun from Seattle in June 2003. My travel agent suggested that this was the one trip that a balcony was best. She was right. We had a port side balcony for Glacier Bay and the ships took a clockwise direction, very close to the glaciers. We started viewing them about 11 am and I got great shots from the balcony. When we decided to go down for lunch and view from the buffet window, it was REALLY crowded and all space taken up on that side of the ship.

[lougee1043]

We had a port side balcony for Glacier Bay and the ships took a clockwise direction, very close to the glaciers. We started viewing them about 11 am and I got great shots from the balcony.

 

and on our cruise we had a starboard cabin/verandah and the ship took a reverse clock direction so our side was perfect

[Gramsk]

I would like to book a cabin on the cruise leaving from Seattle--does anyone have any suggestions as to which side of ship would be best, especially for seeing the glaciers in Glacier Bay? Thanks!

 

We are on the Westerdam now, I would suggest a balcony and Port Side. We are Starboard and even though the ship does a complete turn around at Glacier Bay, and we could see the glacier up close we would have been the first to see it if we were port side and I wouldn't have gone up on deck to see it, I could have sat on my balcony for a wonderful first view.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Most of the scenic view is on the port side. And the captains tend to keep the port side of the ship facing longer at the glaciers.

[arzz]

What about the view from the aft balconies? Do you suggest that we to go on deck to view the glaciers?

[sarasmile]

we had a verandah on the starboard side... (westerdam 5/21 sailing) we saw the glacier first, but the port side had it for longer and might have been closer. We very much enjoyed our verandah and the view we had, we never wished we had gotten the port and DH even mentioend a few times he was happy with the starboard side so I guess it's personal preference.

 

We saw TONS of whales/orcas and had plenty of scenic viewing. We spent hours, most days, on our verandah- not sure I could ever cruise without one now!

[RedmondCruiser]

I'd take the port side. In Glacier Bay they seem to rotate the ship so that both sides get a chance to view the glacier from their verandas. At the Hubbard glacier ships seem to pass in a line and it depends on which ship starts the conga line first. Remember that the amount of ice in the water can dictate what the captain will do therefore you can never count on what will happen. Have a great time --

[ParrotTops]

Thanks everyone!

[5 in OK]

We had the same questions about Port or Starboard. We were on the May 18 Westerdam. Hope this helps.

Port or Starboard? One of my questions when we were planning our trip was whether the ship docked on the port or starboard side at each port. We were trying to choose the side that faced the town we were docked at - we thought this would be more fun with the balcony. Our suites were odd numbered and on the starboard side. Here is how the ship docked at each port on our trip:

Seattle - the Starboard side was facing Seattle.

Hubbard Glacier - both sides of the ship get equal viewing time.

Juneau - the Port side was facing Juneau but the Starboard had a nice view of mountains and scenery on the our side.

Sitka - we tendered - I believe the Starboard side was facing Sitka (quite a distance away).

Ketchikan - the Port side was facing Ketchikan.

Victoria - the ship backed into this port - but the Starboard side faced inward.

We were a little sad when we docked each day and we weren’t facing in - but we were delighted when we realized that we had a fantastic view each day too!

[ParrotTops]

Thanks everyone for the reply! I really appreciate it!

[7continentKaren]

We just came off the May 28th trip. We had a port side veranda and we actually spent almost all day in Glacier Bay in the Crow's Nest because I did not want to watch just one side. Otherwise, I would recommend port for our cruise because it was socked in going up from Seattle to Glacier Bay and not so bad coming down from Prince Rupert. That is just the luck of the draw, however. I did like having a veranda and we spent more time out on it than I expected, given it was a bit chilly in Alaska. We watched the docking in Victoria from the back of the Lido deck. It amazed me how few people were in the Crow's Nest so it is an option for those who do not have verandas.