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If Gastineau is available, I highly recommend them. Their boats are quite stable, plenty of room inside (butt benches facing into an open area), great windows.

Highly recommend Gastineau Guiding (http://stepintoalaska.com). Small yet stable boats - 14 pax for the photo safari, 20 pax for the others. Huge windows that the crew will lift in/up out of the way so PLENTY of room to see and take pictures, plus a bow platform when stopped (and stern on the 20pax boats). We've toured with them five times with fantastic results.

Several years ago, we were shooting full-frame DSLRs and owned a 14mm f/2.8. For one of our Alaska cruises, I rented the 11-24 f/4 and stuck it in my wife's bag. We were out on the Tracy Arm small boat excursion and my wife went digging in her bag to see what wide lens I packed for her. On goes the 11-24, and a few minutes later I hear her say "yep, we can buy this lens." So for at least some people, wide is good.

Go with LensRentals.com. I live in the Seattle metro, and last I rented lenses from Glazers, they were BEAT UP. Last I checked, LensRentals will not ship to a hotel, but they will gladly ship to a FedEx Office location where you can pick it up. I have gone that route with all of my rentals over the past seven years, along with gear that I've shipped to other cities for jobs I've done.

Depending on exactly where you have the gear shipped, I've often seen the FedEx drivers go straight from the Redmond hub/base to the nearby FedEx Office so they can get my package off their truck quickly and have room for the day's pickups. If you're getting into town early, try to pick up your stuff and check it out to be sure. With the time zone difference, you've got to jump on issues quick so LR can ship a replacement overnight so you can have it in time for your trip.

I recommend Gastineau Guiding. We've done two different tours with them, and I strongly suggest their Photo Safari. Great opportunity to learn about photography, smaller boat (14 vs 20) than their other tours, and a short trail hike to learn about the recession of Mendenhall Glacier. That said, any of their tours are top-notch.

Consider the Photo Safari tour from Gastineau Guiding. Small boat that's a lot more stable than H&M, opportunity to learn some photography, and a short trail hike to learn about the recession of Mendenhall Glacier.

When I did a bear watch out of Ketchikan, I had the freedom to take three cameras but had to stow my third camera and 600 in the luggage area while in transit. The telephoto was of minimal use. 24-70 was likely the perfect choice start to finish.

1 hour ago, kazu said:

It’s sad.  I don’t think it makes a difference if it’s a HAL tour or a private one.  They use the same planes.

In many cases, the cruise lines negotiate exclusivity, such that the operators are highly motivated to only sell to the cruise lines or to non-cruising individuals, never independently to folks who "happen to be in town via the cruise ship".

We knew who the operator was for one of the whale watches, and wanted to arrange to go out twice, even though Princess didn't offer enough options to be able to do that through the cruise line (let alone it wouldn't be packaged as conveniently as if we simply stayed at the dock for the second tour). They couldn't commit until the day of the tour, and actually couldn't commit until we were out on the first tour, yet they made sure we had paper tickets in hand so we could pay as if we were taking another tour through the cruise line. That's how scared the tour operators are regarding being caught selling tours to cruise passengers outside the system.

Very late to the party, but I usually do my excursions with a 14/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 100-400, and 600 with a 1.4x. And yes, I did still feel the need to crop some of my shots with the 840mm equivalent bad boy. You've got to decide what you want to carry...

Another enthusiastic vote for Gastineau Guiding. Their boats are the best around - stable, roomy, two of the best designs I've seen for whale watching. Their photo safari tour ("Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari") uses 14-passenger boats, while their other tours use 20-passenger boats, with similar designs between the two. All of the side windows are hinged and swing up to the ceiling, so they're 100% open when the boat is stopped, making viewing (and photos) so much better. There's also 1 (on 14 pax) or 2 (on 20 pax) outdoor viewing platforms that are open for use while the boat is stopped, so you never have to stand behind anyone else.

We've done five tours with them, and would repeat in a heartbeat.

1 hour ago, Jnsplace1 said:

I am using Chilhoot charter & tours and I"ve booked the Bennet lake.  https://chilkootcharters.com/

 From reading the itenary, it's pretty packed.   You have 45 min at Bennet lake/Carcross to check out the area before heading back.

 

I don't think there's a lot of time to add anything else.  Perhaps you may explore private tour option vs small group?

Bennett Lake and Carcross are two different stops: the lake is in the middle, Carcross is at the end. There's not much to see in Carcross...grab yourself an ice cream cone a block from the train stop and you're set.

For the sake of mention, the Bennett Lake run does alternate: one day it's outbound, the next day it returns. You've got 50% odds that it'll be a returning run. Just like you'll take a bus in the opposite direction, the outbound train crew reverses the train using the triangle in Carcross, parks the train, and hops in a van for the drive back to Skagway. The next morning, the inbound train crew drives to Carcross in their van and does the run. No big deal one way or the other, just be ready for it.

It's not necessarily the megapixel count (my 5DsR is 50mp and it's still CR2), just the file format. And yes, every now and then you've got to get updates for software to remain compatible with the newer cameras. It doesn't even have to be CR3 to be a problem - any time there's a camera newer than the software, there's apt to be an obstacle.

It's not about the camera, it's about the lens. Zoom lenses are OK to start with, but you can get a heck of a lot of performance out of a "prime" (non-zoom, aka fixed focal length) lens for the same or less money. Sure, you've got to find the right focal length for your needs, but for outdoor sports, all too often, the limit is your wallet. Indoors, the spaces aren't big enough to gamble on focal length: you probably want to try with a zoom or ask others who've shot in similar spaces what lens they used (and if a zoom lens, what focal length it was at most of the time). In a nutshell, you want lenses with a low f/ number; this means it lets in a lot of light, and hence can capture the image in a shorter time. You want fast shutter speeds to freeze action and avoid blur. Something as simple as a "nifty fifty" (50mm f/1.8), often in the $125 range, can blow you away with what it can do on any DSLR, though it wouldn't be enough for soccer.

And yes, companies sell teleconverters that make your lens 1.4x, 1.5x, or 2x the focal length. LensRentals Blog Post on TCs Or in short, don't do it. If you're going to do it, you've got to have a screaming good lens to start with, or you'll just be disappointed.

We've done two NB, two Seattle RT/Tracy Arm Fjord, and one Seattle RT/Glacier Bay (we moved to the Seattle area between the first NB and the second NB, then did all the others from Seattle). NB is the most relaxing of the three if you look at just the cruise, but the travel logistics on either end make it a little rougher. GB is in the middle if you ask me, but TAF is usually cheaper.

On 9/17/2019 at 8:05 PM, gottagoacruzn said:

Hey shadowmeboy, not sure about autofocus on sports setting, how do I get that?

Very camera-dependent, but it boils down to a decision between "focus once and stop trying" (which people love for portraits) or "keep focusing as long as I've got the button half-pressed". There can be a lot more to it also, such as whether you or the camera picks the "focus point", whether the focus points will track the subject, perhaps how the focus logic decides whether to stick to the original subject or jump to a newer closer one, etc.

We've done several tours with Gastineau Guiding and have been thrilled every time. They're very good at being exclusive via the cruise lines, but don't let that turn you away: their boats are better and you'll appreciate the difference. At least through Princess, it's JNU-670, JNU-700, and JNU-705, though they have boats in many of the ports and therefore can offer tours there.

On our last cruise, we wanted to maximize our whale-watching time. Although most of their whale watches have a secondary component, that part is most definitely optional. I called ahead (two months, two weeks, morning of Juneau) and essentially made arrangements to do a "double tour". They tend to not commit until they get final day-of numbers from all of their cruise lines, but what they did was issue us hand-written tickets for the second tour at the pier, and told us to expect an update from our captain or guide while out on the water. Sure enough, they had room, and when we got back to Auke Bay they told us to wait by the dock and another boat would be there in 15 minutes where we'd go right back out for a second time, then join that group's bus for the ride back to town. That was a great way to enjoy our time in Juneau! It was a little tricky for us as we couldn't successfully book a double tour directly through the cruise line - none of the offerings were staggered enough to do it, nor did we want to bother with a bus ride back to town and another ride back out to the dock, but a few phone calls and it was fairly easy to do.

I can't speak directly to the Anchorage/SB itinerary, but we've done the NB twice, the Seattle RT/Tracy Arm Fjord twice, and the Seattle RT/Glacier Bay once. I do feel the NB/SB itinerary is more relaxing as the events are more spread out, RT/GB is not too crazy, and the RT/TAF is a serious case of hurry-up/wait/hurry-up/wait/hurry-up/get-out (board fast, at sea a day and a half, four stops in <60 hours, 49 hours at sea, quick stop in Victoria, short sleep and disembark). That said, we live 40 minutes drive from the Seattle cruise terminal so it's a no-brainer for us: the logistics of Vancouver and Anchorage just don't make sense when we can do it with a ride from a friend.

Understand the boundaries to evaluate the benefits: if you travel on your own, prefer anytime dining, tend to not sit with others at meals, and/or tend to dine in the hot traffic time of 5:45 to 6:45 (such that 5:30 or 7:00 is too early/too late for you), it's for you. If you travel with others who won't be in CC, you can't pull them into CC.

We love the Adagio Bar on Ruby, and how it works with the adjacent specialty restaurant and the outdoor patio that's adjacent.

Now that we understand how the "four half-sized midship MDRs" work on Diamond/Sapphire, those are appealing.

Golden or Star would be next on the list. Grand is nice but I personally dislike the lack of passenger-accessible midship stairs; it puts more burden on the midship lifts and the other stairwells.

Like Havoc said, rent. Try for lenses with lower zoom ranges (like Havoc said) for better optics. A non-zoom lens ("prime lens") will almost always have better optics than a 3x-4x zoom lens, which will almost always have better optics than a 10x-15x zoom lens.

The 4-day cruise is likely a way to reset the schedule to days of the week that work better for the overall marketing of the ship - it shifts the subsequent 10-day cruise to not end right at Christmas (likely a terrible time to have cruise passengers flying into or out of the embarkation port).

My understanding is that there is ONE table in the Princess fleet that'll seat 12; all the rest are 10 or fewer. That one table is on the Ruby, perhaps #119. The telltale clue is that it usually takes two tablecloths; none of the stock tablecloths are big enough to cover the table properly. It's in Botticelli, 6/aft, so only available to TD as I understand it. Even so, good luck getting that table. I've seen it go to bigger families/groups, but I've also seen it go to a group that requested our waiter by language...

Cocktail per person, half-bottle of wine or something like that. Petit fours to start, salad, appetizer, main course (steak, lobster, or combo), dessert (that's only offered during UBD). We've done it three times: August 2015 in a starboard mini-suite leaving Skagway, February 2017 in an aft-facing penthouse suite (with my parents) leaving Mazatlan, and September 2017 in a starboard mini-suite leaving Skagway. Interestingly, that month of difference (plus/minus normal weather fluctuations) meant that we did that last UBD from inside because of the cold/wind. Something to consider...

If you want to drool, here are photos from two of our UBDs:

UBD leaving Mazatlan Feb 2017 (arrow-right to scroll through)

UBD leaving Skagway Aug 2015 after a fantastic private photo tour in Skagway

On 7/25/2019 at 5:39 PM, DJDiver said:

There's absolutely no time to change lenses or add the 1.4xTC on the whale watching trip.... when it happens, the action is fast and random.  If you don't have the right lens already there, you'll miss it.  I used my 100-400 mm lens exclusively.  I tried to remember to have it at 100mm in between action, just in case a whale breached or dove close to the boat (we had a bubble-net feeding pod surface right next to us once).  Then, practice quickly zooming in if the action is further out.  It's also easier to find the whale in your viewfinder if you are zoomed out a bit.  I brought a second camera body with a 70-200mm lens, but never used it.

 

Wholeheartedly agree. Don't "try to carry every millimeter (of focal length)". Use multiple cameras if that's the answer to having options at the ready. Good stuff about zooming out for readiness too!

A751 is a Penthouse Suite. Potentially more expensive than a Vista Suite. As others have mentioned, it's under a pool deck.

C749 is a Penthouse Suite. Potentially more expensive than a Vista Suite. It's an awesome cabin; we've sailed there twice.

E732 is a Vista Suite, so smaller (460-495sf vs. 524-531). This one also has a steel beam within the volume of the balcony.

If the fare difference wasn't an obstacle, I'd be picking C749 hands-down.

Here's a few pictures of the cabin (start here then arrow-right to scroll through): Photos from Mexican Riviera

Here's a few photos of Ultimate Balcony Dining (start here then arrow-right to scroll through): UBD in C749 leaving Mazatlan