Pearl Alaska Question

[fivesenuff]

DH and I are cruising out of the Seattle on the Pearl in July and are trying to figure out when to make dinner reservations. We like to sit on our balcony and watch the scenery. We are wondering on the day that we leave Seattle, how long does it take to get out to the ocean. If it takes 4 or so hours, we will make a late reservation but if it is longer than that, I guess it doesn't matter what time we make reservations for unless there is some spectacular that we won't want to miss along the way that someone might recommend.

 

I hope this post makes sense.

 

Thanks

[VideoTech]

DH and I are cruising out of the Seattle on the Pearl in July and are trying to figure out when to make dinner reservations. We like to sit on our balcony and watch the scenery. We are wondering on the day that we leave Seattle, how long does it take to get out to the ocean. If it takes 4 or so hours, we will make a late reservation but if it is longer than that, I guess it doesn't matter what time we make reservations for unless there is some spectacular that we won't want to miss along the way that someone might recommend.

 

I hope this post makes sense.

 

Thanks

 

My memory of our Pearl / Alaska cruises is that on that first day, you're some distance from land fairly quickly (within an hour or two). You pass Port Townsend and you're out in the strait which is quite wide. I seem to recall you can see land masses nearby, but not much detail as they obviously don't cruise close to the shore here.

 

The really spectacular scenery comes once you're inside Alaskan waters, the day after the sea day. From that point on, you won't want to leave your balcony at all! :)

[BirdTravels]

DH and I are cruising out of the Seattle on the Pearl in July and are trying to figure out when to make dinner reservations. We like to sit on our balcony and watch the scenery. We are wondering on the day that we leave Seattle, how long does it take to get out to the ocean. If it takes 4 or so hours, we will make a late reservation but if it is longer than that, I guess it doesn't matter what time we make reservations for unless there is some spectacular that we won't want to miss along the way that someone might recommend.

 

We sailed out of Seattle on the Jewel last year. I can remember at least an hour worth good balcony time. Now,,, I will confess that we had a forward facing balcony and had 180 degree panoramic views.

 

We spent hours each evening on the balcony watching the whales and the Dolphins. And the magnificent Alaskan scenery.

 

Have a great cruise! You WILL enjoy every minute.

[bonvoyagie]

We were on the Pearl in 12 and with the departure time of 4:00 PM you will have a good 4-5 hrs of daylight. As I remember we sailed past several of the San Juan islands - dropped off the sound pilot at Port Angeles - and continued down the strait. We had an aft balcony and enjoyed the scenery from there.

 

We were able to get a window table in Tsars Palace (the aft MDR) so we got to watch the islands go by while we ate. Similar views can be had from Cagney's if you get a window seat.

 

We then retreated to our balcony to enjoy the scenery until dark.

 

The next day was away from land all the time - it was not until Tuesday when you began to hit the inland passage all the way to Juneau.

[phissy]

On the Pearl the MDR is Summer Palace. Aft windows are best view.

Great Outdoors is on upper deck aft and as implied, open air off Garden Buffet.

[bonvoyagie]

Summer, Tsars - it is Russian themed:D

[shadowmeboy]

The OP also posted this thread on the West Coast departures board and hopefully got better answers, because the responses were more on point.

[bonvoyagie]

Apparently I left something out of my first post - we actually went to dinner around 5-5:30.

[hawgwildterry]

This photo was taken from the Ft. Casey Campground, Coupeville WA @ 6:04PM. The three ships in the photo all had a 4PM Seattle departure time. By approximately 6:45PM they were in pretty much open water with Port Angeles Washington on the port (left) and Victoria British Columbia/Vancouver Island British Columbia on the starboard (right).

[quercus alba]

La Cucina also has window views.

[fivesenuff]

Thanks everyone for your help. I think we decided on a 7:00 seating in a specialty restaurant and hopefully we will can get a window view. Thanks for all the replies.

[fivesenuff]

We sailed out of Seattle on the Jewel last year. I can remember at least an hour worth good balcony time. Now,,, I will confess that we had a forward facing balcony and had 180 degree panoramic views.

 

We spent hours each evening on the balcony watching the whales and the Dolphins. And the magnificent Alaskan scenery.

 

Have a great cruise! You WILL enjoy every minute.

 

We have a forward facing penthouse suite booked specifically for those awesome views. Glad to see you go good use out of it.