Sealife Question

[twinkle toes]

My DH and I have never been to Alaska. So I need a few questions answered to help me decide which one to book.

 

1. Since we are mainly interested in sealife, which month is best for that?

 

2. With this being our first Alaskan cruise, we are mainly interested in the visual aspect of the cruise from the boat, not the ports that it visits for tours, land excursions, etc. So, which route is the most beautiful if you plan on staying on the boat and sitting on your balcony most of the time. We don't mind the cold, so temp isn't an issue.

 

3. Which route has the most open water (no land seen) and which has the most visual land?

 

Thanks for any answers you can give. Sue.

[Budget Queen]

My DH and I have never been to Alaska. So I need a few questions answered to help me decide which one to book.

 

1. Since we are mainly interested in sealife, which month is best for that?

 

2. With this being our first Alaskan cruise, we are mainly interested in the visual aspect of the cruise from the boat, not the ports that it visits for tours, land excursions, etc. So, which route is the most beautiful if you plan on staying on the boat and sitting on your balcony most of the time. We don't mind the cold, so temp isn't an issue.

 

3. Which route has the most open water (no land seen) and which has the most visual land?

 

Thanks for any answers you can give. Sue.

 

Your most scenic sailing could be HAL and their round trip Vancouver sailings. But frankly if this is indeed your only priority- then getting away from the major lines would be far superior. Especially scenic would be one of the one way, Ketchikan/Juneau itineraries. Being on a big cruiseship, is not the best, being decks high and on "scheduled".

 

You also have no control over any ship routing- they can and do vary, significantly. I have been on round trip Vancouver which did go out to sea, for a day. You also are not going to get your "sealife" priority with only selecting the "sailing". This is best seen with tours, and out of ports (not sure why this isn't of importance?) Varied sealife tours are excellent out of Sitka and Seward.

[PennyAgain]

Rainy conditions and overcast skies which are not uncommon in Alaska make spotting sealife from any large ship very difficult. In order to have any success at all you need to spend many hours on deck looking out for what might be seen.

 

I am a very good wild life spotter having been trained to do so and still I have a low success rate from on board a big ship.

 

If you can stand to pay the price for small ship cruising, you will have a much better experience. I prefer the small ships and travel on one whenever possible. Fair warning! Small ships are very, very expensive.

 

Take a look at American Cruise Lines trips to Alaska. http://www.americancruiselines.com/Find-a-Cruise/alaska-and-pacific-northwest