portside vs starboard-Regatta sailing Aug 14

[littleshipbigship]

This Alaska cruise begins in Vancouver and travels north to Hubbard Glacier (via Ketchikan-Icy Strait Pt.) and returns to San Francisco. The return ports are Juneau-Sitka-Prine Rupert-Victoria and Astoria. Can not decide which side of ship is best. Help. littleshipbigship.

[JimandStan]

This Alaska cruise begins in Vancouver and travels north to Hubbard Glacier (via Ketchikan-Icy Strait Pt.) and returns to San Francisco. The return ports are Juneau-Sitka-Prine Rupert-Victoria and Astoria. Can not decide which side of ship is best. Help. littleshipbigship.

 

Everybody who sails to Alaska asks this, but which side of the ship your cabin is on makes little difference.

 

The ships are not typically within site of land unless they are entering or leaving a port.

 

When the ship IS being used as a viewing platform (Glacier Bay comes to mind) they will maneuver the ship so that everyone gets a look.

 

Hope this helped-

[ebobh]

Everyone will no doubt have their own opinions, so the split may be 50-50 depending on preferences. For me, the NB leg, which is when you'll cruise through the Inside Passage, will mean you'll spend lots of time at the front of the boat in the lounge watching the world go by (or in your cabin, and the view is similar on both sides). In Glacier Bay, you'll also be running from side to side looking at things most of the time, and the view is stunning to say the least

 

Once you get to the top and head south, though, the land will primarily be on your port side, so I'd choose a cabin that has that view (unless, of course, you just want to watch the whales, seals, otters and sunsets, which means you'd take the starboard side). Port for me, then, would be the pick.

 

One note of possible interest- after you leave Glacier Bay, head towards the Pacific, and make a starboard turn to go north to Anchorage, have them point out Lituya Bay about 50 miles north of the exit from the Glacier Bay channel.

 

Although most ships don't mention it (for reasons that seem obvious once you know the story), in 1958, a 7.9-8.3 earthquake caused the highest recorded wave in history from the head of that bay (the mountain and glacier wall) outwards from the collapse of the mountain and glacier there. It was cited at 500-550 meters, about 1800 feet...reminds us how magnificent, and how untamed, nature truly is.

 

Bob H