NCL has the least scenic sailing route in Alaska?

[kkorman]

The add-on Tracy Arm boat tour hinges on your time in port in Juneau, as it is a long trip and meets the ship very early. Perhaps that is why it isn't offered on your sailing - port time may not be conducive to this tour?

 

You need to have 8 hours in port.

[thawan]

If your ship is in port in the am, you leave on the catamaran before they do and get back on the ship in Tracey Arm. So it's about a 4 - 5 hour excursion.

 

ps one reason they may not offer it, is because usually only the middle two months will make it all the way into Sawyer G.

[36kruzes]

In my opinion, the captain has the perrogative of chosing the exact route taken on any given sailing, Alaska or otherwise. I would not count on a route map in some marekting material to be a commitment. When you read your contract, you will see that the cruise line not only can change the route, but also the ports, times, etc without any recourse available to you.

 

How much rock and evergreen trees can one tolerate in a day anyway??

 

************

 

We are thinking about Alaska and NCL in May (coming right up!) and believe we want to sail to and from Seattle for flight travel reasons. I have been on inside passage cruises twice, saw Glacier Bay one trip and Sawyer Glacier the other. Loved both of them and both were on Royal Caribbean years ago.

 

Even though the sail from, and back to, Seattle would likely be west of Vancouver Island on open sea, I think Glacier Bay for my companion would be worth it, especially since he wants to avoid the one way to or from Anchorage routine (which I personally love).

 

It's true that by the time you get to the Ketchikan area and north, you are always in the 'inside passage' --

 

Do you experts agree that Glacier Bay, which is not available on many cruises, is worth the 'outside' sail nearer Seattle, especially when one passenger is a newbie to AK?

 

Thx.

[Alvarado]

The Tracy Arm tour is not available on our May 15th Star cruise but is offered on the 22nd. You come back and meet the ship in the Inland Passage so it doesn't really matter how long you are in Juneau. At least that is the way it was last year on the Star.

[terrymtex01]

That was our experience as well. VERY scenic the first sea day (land on one side, islands on the other). The last sea day we were packing and finally taking a much needed nap and glad for that "ocean" day. :D

 

That was our experience also. We were in the AE Aft and we could see land "up close" on both sides. Very pretty scenery.

[socalhal]

Regarding inside passage sailing on the northbound leg: Does it matter given that most of this transit would be made overnight? Anybody know if the ship has cleared the northern end on Vancouver Island by dawn, or is there still some of this scenic sailing on day 2?

[TomAndJane]

You need to take a look at a map.

 

Seattle cruises ARE the least scenic of Alaska routes. Even though, it looks like a coastal cruise, it is not. Your first and last sailing day are open ocean a good part of it.

 

In contrast, sailing inside Vancouver Island is nonstop scenery the entire way. It also is home to the northern resident orca pods, of which I frequently see.

 

I have sailed out of Seattle many times. NCL does do a good job with pricing in Alaska.

 

Last year- they did a trail of sailing northbound, INSIDE Vancouver Island on the Star. It was not adopted as the fixed route the rest of the season. I did personally talk to the cpt several times, and he said the decision would be from the head office, but he was in favor.

 

.

 

We sailed the Star in September and it was doing the Inside Passage the first sea day. Not sure about the rest of the summer but it was Inside passage in September.

[klingoncruiser]

Budget Queen, in an earlier post, made the following statement: (sorry - I have not figured out how to cut and paste the original posting)

 

"A significant factor, is with NCL, and their current- only, round trip Seattle itineraries, these are the LEAST scenic sailing routing of Alaska cruises. Essentially you have 2 sea days.

 

It remains to be seen, IF the Star, will do a scenic sailing route. Last year they did a 4 week trial, which was spectacular, but I did hear, some of the later sailings did go back to the open ocean route."

 

Can Budget Queen or someone else 'splain what this means? If I look at 2011 Alaska itnerary, 7 day Glacier Bay round trip Seattle, the Pearl appears to sail the inside passage - is that not preferred?

 

Thank you!

 

Ollie.:confused:

 

BQ has very strong views about Alaska. Her advice in general is very good though. With 17 straight years (18 on the way this summers) in Alaska, she is right about those cruises from Seattle. They tend to chop out ports and sail out at sea. The ones leaving from Vancouver go up past Vancouver island on the inside. No cruise lines go some of the old routes that really were the Inside Passage. I prefer Hubbard to Glacier Bay, but both are WELL worth the trip. Our favorite cruise would include Sitka. With the dearth of ships in Alaska now, the pickings are slim. Most are doing the same run. While I dislike Princess food, they still have some of the best runs. Followed by Celebrity (Best food) and RCL. NCL only goes out of Seattle, that lets them out quickly. Same old ports as the others, but less time there than the others, except in Skagway. (my least favorite port) To each their own...

[cele2351]

Hi-can you tell me what time of year these pics were taken? Not sure when the best time is to see all of that wildlife. Thanks.

 

Celebrity used to sail one way Inside Vancouver Island.

 

As I mentioned, it was not determined last year if this was going to be a fixed route on the Star, going inside Vancouver Island on the northbound route. (it is definately FAR superior to do this southbound, since a good portion of the northbound sailing is at night :( )

 

The one trip mentioned above about "close up" land viewing is not typical. The Pearl very often has 2 sea days, with "land" viewable WAY off in the distance. Sometimes with even binoculars it's far off.

 

A signficant feature of the Star is the availability of the add on Tracy Arm boat tour. I can NOT stress enough, how significant that tour is and superior to anything seen from your cruise ship. In my opinion it is a must do.

 

I put together a photo sample on Tracy Arm. The reason is for the glacier example. The photo of the cruise ship is the CLOSEST it got to the South Sawyer Glacier. Compare that to the harbor seals and glacier access. :)

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/budgetqueen

[flashdog_1]

Regarding inside passage sailing on the northbound leg: Does it matter given that most of this transit would be made overnight? Anybody know if the ship has cleared the northern end on Vancouver Island by dawn, or is there still some of this scenic sailing on day 2?

 

Remember that in Alaska it is daylight much of the night (very short period of darkness) so you'd have longer viewing at night. I love getting up early and taking a cup of coffee or tea to the open decks to see the scenery, going from one side of the ship to the other. There are some rock formations that are gorgeous. Saw them on both northbound trips (on X out of Vancouver).

 

We also did the Inside Passage on the Southbound route, again, walking from side to side of the ship for views of each side on the last day.

 

Plus sailing the inside passage is much smoother than sailing open ocean, I understand.

[vbmom87]

I am sailing on the Star at the end of August and this excursion is not offered for our sailing. I don't know about any of the others sailings. After reading about the Tracy Arm boat tour I was interested in booking it but it is not listed under shore excursions for our cruise.

 

Did you call to see if it was sold out? I know on my Hawaii trip if the tour is full, they do not list it any longer.

[Wingtips56]

I can't speak for the other lines, or even the other Princess ships as we've only done one Alaska cruise. It was a Vancouver-Whittier northbound on the Pacific Princess (3), one of their three small ships acquired from the late Renaissance cruises. It was Inside Passage all the way, to the east of Vancouver Island. The ship's size let it into tighter spaces than the big shops, so we did a half day or so in Tracy Arm. We skipped Glacier Bay in favor of Yakutat Bay, right up to the Hubbard Glacier, practically up to the face of College Fiord, through ice fields and between islands that we couldn't have done on the big boats, and Prince William Sound. We had spectacular weather and did see smaller calving that you might not have noticed much from farther out. For that, the small ship was superb.

 

Regarding the Pacific Princess, being small with only 650 passengers was nice, and felt elegant, but there was not a whole lot to do on board. You can only look at two gift shops so much. 1-story theatre/lounge, so I thought the broadway dancers would bounce off the ceiling. Bottom line: it was good for a port-intensive cruise, but I'd go stir-crazy on their World Cruises. Ocean (formerly Tahitian) and Royal Princesses are in the same class.

[rsohn65820]

Did you call to see if it was sold out? I know on my Hawaii trip if the tour is full, they do not list it any longer.

 

It is not offered on our cruise. I called NCL and they said the last Tracy Arm Excursion of the year is August 17th and we cruise August 28th.