Pools open on Alaskan cruise???

[NotADude]

This may sound like a strange question, however, my curiosity is getting the better of me ....

 

Are the pools open on the cruise ships to Alaska? If so, are they heated or covered or would one just freeze in the open? lol

 

Thanks to anyone who can satisfy my curiosity!

 

------ Terri

[Hoyaheel]

1) Yes, pools are open

2) An Alaska cruise is not a winter arctic expedition. It can actually get quite warm. It's the summer. And you're mostly in a rain forest.

 

Whether or not pools are heated or covered depends on your ship. On the Princess and HAL ships I've been on in Alaska, no, the pools are not heated, and yes, the water was chilly, and yes, there were people swimming anyway:D Some of HAL's older ships have Lido decks with roofs that open & close. Don't know about other ships.....

[Essiesmom]

The hot tubs are always in use. Diamond and Sapphire Princess have a covered pool. EM

[dsrdsrdsr]

Only the oldest ships have unheated pools so far as I know. But I've been to far colder places than Alaska (Norway, mainly) and the pools have always been open - both heated and unheated.

 

The record low was in Northern Norway on the Hurtigruten in February. One of their ships has a heated saltwater pool, which was fine; but as the air temperature was several degrees below zero Fahrenheit, you can imagine you don't waste much time getting in. And getting out is not easy. :eek:

[LindaKE]

Alaska can be cold. The pool was open, but we only saw one person brave the cold the whole week we were there.

[chipmaster]

YMMV but on our ships the pools had people in them. We were lucky that the week we sailed most days were dry and sunny so think mid 60's. You could see anything from overcast and 50's to 70s plus. Hot tubs were in use and kids seem to fear nothing.

 

This may sound like a strange question, however, my curiosity is getting the better of me ....

 

Are the pools open on the cruise ships to Alaska? If so, are they heated or covered or would one just freeze in the open? lol

 

Thanks to anyone who can satisfy my curiosity!

 

------ Terri

[beachchick]

Only the oldest ships have unheated pools so far as I know. But I've been to far colder places than Alaska (Norway, mainly) and the pools have always been open - both heated and unheated.

 

The record low was in Northern Norway on the Hurtigruten in February. One of their ships has a heated saltwater pool, which was fine; but as the air temperature was several degrees below zero Fahrenheit, you can imagine you don't waste much time getting in. And getting out is not easy. :eek:

 

To be fair, northern Alaska is as cold and even colder in February as northern Norway. The gulf stream flows up Norways coast, allowing many of the ports to be fairly temperate compared to Alaska's ports at similar lattitudes. Since mainstream cruise lines don't cruise Alaska in winter, it's not an issue there. We are hoping to do Hurtigruten some winter, definitely on one of the newer, larger ships. I know we'll love it as much as we loved it when we took the old Midnatsol several summers ago.

 

beachchick

[uppitycats]

The pools are usually open and available, but as someone else already noted, there are several factors to consider: some ships have covered pools, some don't; when you go -- May and September can be chilly, June through August pretty warm; some days are warmer than others; some days are downright cold! But the hot tubs are available.

 

We've been to Alaska 3 times. The last time, in early September, while the pools were open (on a Princess ship) only the bravest were actually swimming in there. One person did her laps regardless of weather...the rest dipped in, got out of there! :)

 

I didn't know any of the Hurtigruten ships had pools! I knew they had hot tubs... We'll find out in 2 weeks when we head up the coast of Norway what the Nordnorge has....

[Krazy Kruizers]

the pools are open

 

hal's lido pool is covered

 

aft pool -- no cover

[Putterdude]

Many of the ships have covered pools and they are very much in use particularly by children. The pools will be closed in the event of rough seas.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I didn't know any of the Hurtigruten ships had pools! I knew they had hot tubs... We'll find out in 2 weeks when we head up the coast of Norway what the Nordnorge has....

 

As of five years ago, Finnmarken was the only one with a pool. They may have built one or two new ones since.

[SuiteTraveler]

Last Alaskan cruise we were on, the pools were open on the first day, then it got cold and only the indoor pool was open after that.

[mali06]

Carnival Spirit to Alaska has a retractable roof over the main pool area.

[TrinaP1204]

While we were sailing to Hubbard Glacier there were kids in the pool! CRAZY CRAZY haha. But they were young and braver than I for sure. It just looked funny in my pictures of Hubbard Glacier surrounding us and have kids in swimming pools.

 

But yes others are right about the temps. When we went in August, it was almost 80 a couple days. But the day at Hubbard Glacier was another story altogether! Everyone that was outside was bundled up and they were serving hot drinks.