Confused about ship's route from Skagway back to Seattle

[redfish1955]

We will be on the Infinity RT from Seattle. Does the ship take the same route coming back to Seattle from Skagway (with a stop in Victoria, B.C. on the way back) as it does going up. Of course, without the stops at the same ports as when going up. I have the mile-by-mile guide with the map, but couldn't figure that out. Call me "map impaired," I guess....:D As always, thanks for any information.

[Putterdude]

Yes, it does use pretty much the same route the variable is that they can exit on either side of Prince of Wales Is. southbound. But don't feel "map impaired" I just looked at the map you are looking at and it is confusing.

The reason ships out of Seattle stay on the west side of Vancouver Is. is that they just can't make the itinerary work time-wise in Inside Passage on the east side of the island. The biggest issue being the tides and currents in Seymour Narrows above Campbell River. With current speeds reaching or exceeding 16 knots, ships only go thru the Narrows at slack water or with the current on the bow. To go thru with it being on the stern they could loose steerage. The full Inside Passage routing works for itineraries to/from Vancouver but not Seattle.

[redfish1955]

Thanks, Putterdude! I think one of the reasons I was confused too was that on our itinerary, it lists the "Inside Passage," after we leave Skagway, arriving at 6:30 p.m. and departing at 10:30 p.m. Not sure exactly what that means, esp. if we are going back on the same route. The day after the Inside Passage is at at sea day, and then we arrive in Victoria the day after that, at 6 p.m.

[Putterdude]

This a kind of a marketing ploy of the cruise lines. Arguably the Inside Passage extends from Seattle up thru southeast coastal Alaska, it's Puget Sound to Strait of Juan de Fucia to Strait of Georgia and onward north to in your case Skagway. So when you ship departs Skagway it does sail very briefly in the "Inside Passage" before entering the Pacific at Prince of Wales Is. be it north or south of the island....the cruise lines really want you thinking "Inside Passage" not Pacific. You will then enter the Strait of Juan de Fucia just south of Vancouver Is., make your Victoria stop, then carry on to Puget Sound and Seattle.

[PennyAgain]

Long ago when cruise ships were tiny by comparison to most today and fewer in number, there was more actual 'Inside Passage' sailing to and from Alaska.

 

Now the cruise ships head out to open water (Pacific Ocean) for several reasons including getting the casinos and shops open!

[bonvoyagie]

I agree that the combination of larger ships, more ships, and the Seymour Narrows bottleneck are the contributing factors to using the outside of the island - even though it is longer and I think they also must burn more fuel as well.

 

To support this - I look at 10 yrs ago when all seattle and vancouver sailings went up through the Narrows and the Seattle based ones came back down the outside to hit Victoria. Back then most ships were closer to 2000 passengers and were at least 100' shorter than todays ships. If I remember right ten years ago there were fewer lines and fewer ships in AK I remember back then we only saw the other ships in port - now I bet that you will see them in the water as well. Princess has at least 8 alone, NCL 2, HAL 7, RCCL 2, Cleb 3, Carn 1, Disney 1 for a total of 24 10 yrs ago I only remember seeing Princess, HAL, RCCL, Carnival,and NCL There were perhaps 12-14 ships total. More and larger ships means more waiting around the waters on either side of the Narrows for your turn to pass. Not to mention that there is a limited amount of time when ships can pass. The only recourse is to take the long way around on the outside of the island.

[Putterdude]

Actually it is more a result of distance that ships out of Seattle use the west side of Vancouver Island. Now I haven't taken a set of dividers and scaled this off to the exact mile but if a ship sailing out of Seattle were to sail on the inside of Vancouver, to the north tip of Vancouver Is. it is about 440 miles using the west side of Vancouver Is. the elapsed distance is only about 350 miles so there is about 4 hrs of cruising time difference. Add to that 4 hours the need to meet the tide at Seymour Narrows and it just doesn't work. Celebrity tried it southbound a couple of years ago and gave up, they just couldn't meet their time in Victoria.

We live on the coast about an hour north of Vancouver and our summer sport is watching the cruise ships heading to Alaska....some nights the ships literally race by in order to hit the tide in the Narrows and other times well they just float out in front of us for hours as there is no need to rush for the tide.

[SeattleCruiselover]

Actually it is more a result of distance that ships out of Seattle use the west side of Vancouver Island. Now I haven't taken a set of dividers and scaled this off to the exact mile but if a ship sailing out of Seattle were to sail on the inside of Vancouver, to the north tip of Vancouver Is. it is about 440 miles using the west side of Vancouver Is. the elapsed distance is only about 350 miles so there is about 4 hrs of cruising time difference. Add to that 4 hours the need to meet the tide at Seymour Narrows and it just doesn't work. Celebrity tried it southbound a couple of years ago and gave up, they just couldn't meet their time in Victoria.

 

We live on the coast about an hour north of Vancouver and our summer sport is watching the cruise ships heading to Alaska....some nights the ships literally race by in order to hit the tide in the Narrows and other times well they just float out in front of us for hours as there is no need to rush for the tide.

 

We are leaving from there (Vancouver) on Tuesday, and coming back here on Sunday. I am not in the least enamored of the weather forecast for the north Pacific....would far rather be in the "true" Inside Passage, at least a little calmer....