Cruising Inside Passage and Glacier Bay

[Likethesearchengine]

Greetings cruisers,

 

I am going to be taking the Norwegian Pearl Seattle round trip to glacier bay in two and a half weeks. I am concerned that I will get misled by the cruiseline like on my last cruise with them - my 'unobstructed balcony' there had a metal pipework lattice (for launching life rafts) which prevented me from taking photography of beautiful Bermuda from my cabin. There were 4 cabins obstructed thusly, and mine was one. I reserved a full year in advance to ensure I got a premium cabin. Needless to say, still very angry, but I digress.

 

My question boils down to this: does it matter which side of the ship my cabin is on? Does one side the majority of the good views and the other side not? I'm not sure of the mechanics of the cruise, so I don't know if one side is often to the glaciers while the other is to the sea.

 

Any advice would be welcome, thanks.

[Toyz711]

going through glacier bay, if you want to spend time on the balcony...the port side is where the action is. the ship stays close to the port side, the rangers will talk about what is being seen on the port side..etc.

best views are on the top deck, where the views are 360 degrees:D

for people staying on their balconies..forward and port side gets the 1st views and the longest. the ship does turn around, to allow views to the starboard side, but sometimes (like on my NCL cruise), another ships came in and blocked the views for the starboard side.

this is only for glacier bay, otherwise...what you don't see going, you will coming back south.

i do suggest going up to the top decks and enjoying the views. i stayed on my port side balcony and missed the calving at one of the glacier bay glaciers. my DH saw it, he was on deck 12.

[rhondakap]

I agree, you won't want to be in the room. I viewed from the Sports Deck (9th deck). Our ship turned so both port and starboard viewed the glaciers, with port side first and longest. The view of the Inside Passage is beautiful from either side. Our cabin was port side and we awoke each morning to a great view.

[Budget Queen]

.best views are on the top deck, where the views are 360 degrees:D

.

 

Actually the Pearl has some pretty poor deck viewing in my experience. The top deck is all enclosed, looking through plexiglass, and the front sides are obstructed with navigational equiptment. The sides, are mostly high plexiglass too.

 

My preference is definately the lower open deck with going back and forth between the sides, no front view. The NCL Sun and Star are FAR superior in this aspect. I've sailed Alaska on them all, with the sorry departure of the best of all deck viewing NCL ships, the Wind. :)

 

IF you want to see the most, then get out and move. I find the "ship turns" comments, for my priorities just not enough, since the "turn" segment is only a small portion of the overall available viewing. :) Being well prepared in your attire will make all the difference in your comfort.

[KK11]

I was on HAL, Statendam, and the right side saw the glaciers first and for a longer time, and then the ship turned to give the left side a view of Marjorie glacier.

[dorijo]

We were on the Golden Princess 7/26 and we didn't get to see glaciers. We went into Tracy Arm and sailed thru the fiords for a couple of hours and when we were to go to the glacier the captain turned us around saying the ice was too thick and dangerous to go thru. So, Tracy Arm is not the place to see glaciers do a different itinerary..I did Hubbard glacier with the old Sky Princess 10 years ago and it was magnificent so i am sorry my two grandchildren did not have the same experience. We did go to mendenhall glacier in Juneau but that is NOT the same. There is nothing like the really blue ice and calving up close and you do not see that at Mendenhall. You have to go to Glacier Bay and Hubbard to see the real thing. Also before we left for Alaska all we heard about were all the bears this year and how they were coming into residential areas..We didn't see any bears except the one little cinnamon black bear someone baited with fish and the rangers were trying to get it away from the visitors parking lot at Mendenhall. We liked the whale watching, and the bering sea deadliest catch tours the best.

[Budget Queen]

We were on the Golden Princess 7/26 and we didn't get to see glaciers. We went into Tracy Arm and sailed thru the fiords for a couple of hours and when we were to go to the glacier the captain turned us around saying the ice was too thick and dangerous to go thru. So, Tracy Arm is not the place to see glaciers do a different itinerary..I did Hubbard glacier with the old Sky Princess 10 years ago and it was magnificent so i am sorry my two grandchildren did not have the same experience. We did go to mendenhall glacier in Juneau but that is NOT the same. There is nothing like the really blue ice and calving up close and you do not see that at Mendenhall. You have to go to Glacier Bay and Hubbard to see the real thing. Also before we left for Alaska all we heard about were all the bears this year and how they were coming into residential areas..We didn't see any bears except the one little cinnamon black bear someone baited with fish and the rangers were trying to get it away from the visitors parking lot at Mendenhall. We liked the whale watching, and the bering sea deadliest catch tours the best.

 

 

It is posted over and over on this board- do not count on any glacier viewing of Tracy Arm, UNLESS you are on NCL and it is highly recommended you purchase their excellent add on jet boat tour. It rarely has anything to do with the "excuse" of too much ice, etc. But that sounds good to passengers. It has to do with time, and the ships simply time out and have to exit. Conditions have to just about perfect for the cruise ships to make the full 60 mile round trip transit, probably less then 25% of the ships do.

 

You should not sail Tracy Arm for a glacier experience.

[fsdj1097]

The itenerary that I see on the NCL website for the Pearl is not a true Inside Passage cruise.

 

While you will see a lot of beautiful scenery while in Tracy Arm, and up the Lynn Canal to Skagway, the first and last days of your cruise will be sailing outside of Vancouver Islande.

 

True Inside Passage cruises depart and/or arrive in Vancouver.

[NancyIL]

I was on HAL, Statendam, and the right side saw the glaciers first and for a longer time, and then the ship turned to give the left side a view of Marjorie glacier.

 

Hmmm...did your ship BACK in? If the ship was moving forward (as I assume most ships do), then the left (port) side would've been facing Marjorie Glacier.

[gg3]

It is posted over and over on this board- do not count on any glacier viewing of Tracy Arm, UNLESS you are on NCL and it is highly recommended you purchase their excellent add on jet boat tour. It rarely has anything to do with the "excuse" of too much ice, etc. But that sounds good to passengers. It has to do with time, and the ships simply time out and have to exit. Conditions have to just about perfect for the cruise ships to make the full 60 mile round trip transit, probably less then 25% of the ships do.

 

You should not sail Tracy Arm for a glacier experience.

 

Keep "talkin' the talk and walkin' the walk" B/Q !!! :D Your advice, as always, is "on spot." On only one of our Alaskan cruises did we truly not see the majesty of glaciers.......when we cruised to Tracy Arm. A huge disappointment. Now it is always a Glacier Bay trip. I think the most important advice you have given me is that if you want to see wildlife or great scenery from your ship...YOU HAVE TO BE OUT ON THE DECK....A LOT !!! And that is the reason we go to Alaska. Thanks for your great and sound advice. gg