Early May, northern lights?

[kona_wahine]

Cruising 2022 early May with NCL. Anyone with experience for that time, we are wondering if you saw northern lights? Does the cruise line notify people in their rooms, even in the middle of the night, if there is a light show? Tia!

[1025cruise]

In order to see the northern lights, it needs to be dark. 

 

Where the ships cruise, its not really dark. While there is a chance, its extremely slim.

[Coral]

Nope! Too late in the season.

[donaldsc]

If you really want aurora, go to Fairbanks in March and then head north to get away from city lights.  Make sure that you pick a time when there is no moon.  I froze my butt off but I had 5 days of wonderful aurora.

 

DON

[Heidi13]

In May, you are so close to the Solstice that it doesn't get dark enough, even on the 12 - 4 watch. However, I have seen them later in the season by late August and September, but clear skies are required.

 

During my multiple Alaska seasons, I have only seen them a couple of times and that was spending 4 hrs every night on the Bridge.

 

We certainly didn't make P/A announcements through the cabins at night and I highly doubt any ship would make them, even if the lights were visible.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, donaldsc said:

If you really want aurora, go to Fairbanks in March and then head north to get away from city lights.  Make sure that you pick a time when there is no moon.  I froze my butt off but I had 5 days of wonderful aurora.

 

DON

In March! And farther North.

 

May is too late and the cruise is too far South.

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

In March! And farther North.

 

May is too late and the cruise is too far South.

 

My point was that if you really want to see aurora, you have to do a special trip to see them and not to expect to see them on a cruise.  I did see them once on a cruise but they were really faint and hardly visible.  When I did my aurora trip, they were super intense and visible every night.

 

DON

[Coral]

14 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

My point was that if you really want to see aurora, you have to do a special trip to see them and not to expect to see them on a cruise.  I did see them once on a cruise but they were really faint and hardly visible.  When I did my aurora trip, they were super intense and visible every night.

 

DON

I completely understood your point 🙂 I was just emphasizing it. May has really long days of sunlight.

 

Glad you did the trip!

Edited December 5, 2020 by Coral

[Heidi13]

16 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

My point was that if you really want to see aurora, you have to do a special trip to see them and not to expect to see them on a cruise.  I did see them once on a cruise but they were really faint and hardly visible.  When I did my aurora trip, they were super intense and visible every night.

 

DON

 

If you only have limited time, then I agree a special land based trip or Northern Lights Cruise has a higher chance of actually seeing the lights.

 

However, in the winter months, I have seen them many times from the North & Central BC Coast. Away from ambient light they weren't washed out and the moon phase had no effect. The limiting factor on the coast was weather, as we have very few clear nights.

 

I've also seen them from some winter flights between Vancouver and London and also UK to Japan.

[masterdrago]

It needs to be dark and unfortunately during the longest dark hours in Fairbanks (December), the weather is mostly cloudy. Advice to go in March is supported by many for aurora viewing. If you look at most of the good images of aurora, few are taken in Fairbanks. Most from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greenland & Iceland. We do plan on taking a trip to Fairbanks for aurora because it is the most cost effective way to spend a week trying to view. Another issue is that we are just coming out of solar minimum and the aurora activity is just starting to cycle up. Have had some great activity recently.

[gottagoacruzn]

Was in Haines in Sept, 30 yrs ago an saw them on a clear night, tried to video tape them, but all you could hear was voices.

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, masterdrago said:

It needs to be dark and unfortunately during the longest dark hours in Fairbanks (December), the weather is mostly cloudy. Advice to go in March is supported by many for aurora viewing. If you look at most of the good images of aurora, few are taken in Fairbanks. Most from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greenland & Iceland. We do plan on taking a trip to Fairbanks for aurora because it is the most cost effective way to spend a week trying to view. Another issue is that we are just coming out of solar minimum and the aurora activity is just starting to cycle up. Have had some great activity recently.

 

Assuming that they are still having it, check on the dates for the Ice Carving Festival in Fairbanks before you decide on your winter aurora trip.  The ice carvings are fantastic.

 

DON

[kona_wahine]

Thanks everyone for the input! I’ve been thinking about planning a march trip to Fairbanks and will not look more into that. It’s just a hop and skip up there from Portland. 🙂 

[bottom-dragger]

I agree with DON. If you really want to see the northern lights, schedule your visit to see the northern lights. But if you do see them during your cruise they are frosting.

 

Can't repeat enough DARK DARK DARK and no full moon. No competition from other light sources.

 

SO.... I had an office in Kake, southside of Frederick Sound (used to transverse east/west from/to Juneau, summer whale feeding ground in SE) where we'd spend the late night on the back porch in the dark discussing how the world would be much better when I became philosopher king. We could watch from 15 miles away an incredible bright glow of lights that could only be a cruise ship crossing our horizon. You'd never see the northern lights under those conditions.

 

The lovely Ms B-D has a weekly late night jazz radio show where she doesn't come home til past midnight and gives me a northern light report in the morning. Nothing we get during the summer is going to make the cover of Nat'l Geo.

 

but they're still cool as cool can be

 

 

[Ashland]

We have seen them on an early September cruise (RCI Radiance) thanks to our adult kids calling our cabin late at night...otherwise we would have missed them.

[Dollshoe]

On 12/5/2020 at 12:42 PM, Heidi13 said:

In May, you are so close to the Solstice that it doesn't get dark enough, even on the 12 - 4 watch. However, I have seen them later in the season by late August and September, but clear skies are required.

 

During my multiple Alaska seasons, I have only seen them a couple of times and that was spending 4 hrs every night on the Bridge.

 

We certainly didn't make P/A announcements through the cabins at night and I highly doubt any ship would make them, even if the lights were visible.

I am told by my Princess vacation planner if the aurora appears an announcement will be made on the ship or at the lodge, even if it is two in the morning!

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Dollshoe said:

I am told by my Princess vacation planner if the aurora appears an announcement will be made on the ship or at the lodge, even if it is two in the morning!

 

I wouldn't believe everything the vacation planner (aka salesman) says, as they probably haven't read the Fleet Regulations. Making a pax cabin announcement at 02:00 was a guarantee of a flight home from the next port, which was highly detrimental to career prospects, as you didn't get another ship.

 

When you work on the Bridge of a ship, the Deck Officer's follow the direction of the Captain & Fleet Regs, not somebody in an office. Prior to spending almost 30 yrs as a Captain, I worked as a Princess Deck Officer for 7 years and we NEVER made P/A announcements in pax areas at night, unless an emergency. Our son also worked for Princess for 10 years as a Deck Officer and will tell you the same.

 

Not saying it wouldn't happen, but from experience it is highly unlikely. Whales on the Stbd bow. by day - yes, but mostly on the outer decks/public spaces.

 

 

 

 

[Dollshoe]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I wouldn't believe everything the vacation planner (aka salesman) says, as they probably haven't read the Fleet Regulations. Making a pax cabin announcement at 02:00 was a guarantee of a flight home from the next port, which was highly detrimental to career prospects, as you didn't get another ship.

 

When you work on the Bridge of a ship, the Deck Officer's follow the direction of the Captain & Fleet Regs, not somebody in an office. Prior to spending almost 30 yrs as a Captain, I worked as a Princess Deck Officer for 7 years and we NEVER made P/A announcements in pax areas at night, unless an emergency. Our son also worked for Princess for 10 years as a Deck Officer and will tell you the same.

 

Not saying it wouldn't happen, but from experience it is highly unlikely. Whales on the Stbd bow. by day - yes, but mostly on the outer decks/public spaces.

 

 

 

 

Oh wow, guess you can’t trust anybody

[wolfie11]

Cruise ships are a terrible place from which to view the Northern lights unless you're on the bridge, which has to be kept dark at night.  I can barely see the stars at night from anywhere on the open decks.  Every possible space is brightly lit with scant opportunity to observe the cosmos.

[donaldsc]

5 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Cruise ships are a terrible place from which to view the Northern lights unless you're on the bridge, which has to be kept dark at night.  I can barely see the stars at night from anywhere on the open decks.  Every possible space is brightly lit with scant opportunity to observe the cosmos.

 

The one time that we saw them very very very faintly in late August, we were on a small ship w ~50 passengers.  In that case, they did make an announcement and they also turned off all of the lights on the ship except the required navigation lights.  As Heidi13 has said, I am reasonably certain that they would not do that on one of the Monstrosity of the Seas ships although he did not use those words to describe the ship.  I don't want to be accused of putting words into his mouth.

 

DON

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

As Heidi13 has said, I am reasonably certain that they would not do that on one of the Monstrosity of the Seas ships although he did not use those words to describe the ship.  I don't want to be accused of putting words into his mouth.

 

DON

 

Haha - fortunately in my day they even looked like proper ships and only had 700 to 1,700 pax. but totally agree today's equivalents are Monstrosity of the Seas, Gargantuan Princess, etc.

[Turangi!]

To even know if Northern Lights are active, especially in shoulder months, try signing up with this Alaskan website... not quite sure how it works, but imagine it is similar to our AuroraWatch out of the Uof Alberta! 

 

https://auroranotify.com/

 

Living in Northern Alberta, we get Northern lights occasionally... the city has moved out and we don’t see them as well as we did 30 years ago. But the only way to know if Northern Lights are active is to follow our local University’s AuroraWatch and get notifications ... and unfortunately I am not awake at 2 am when emails are often sent out!  We had faint strands last week not worth photographing according to my son, who get the twitter notifications.

 

Photo taken outside of Edmonton, Alberta in 2019.

[Donald]

I worked 21 seasons on ships in Alaska, for 7different cruise lines.

We did not make midnight announcements on the rare evenings we saw the Aurora. But we did place a notice in the daily program, advising anyone who wanted to be awakened in case we saw something, to sign up at Reception.

If the bridge watch did see anything of interest, they would call Reception, who would then telephone everyone who had registered.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, Donald said:

I worked 21 seasons on ships in Alaska, for 7different cruise lines.

We did not make midnight announcements on the rare evenings we saw the Aurora. But we did place a notice in the daily program, advising anyone who wanted to be awakened in case we saw something, to sign up at Reception.

If the bridge watch did see anything of interest, they would call Reception, who would then telephone everyone who had registered.

Interesting...In addition to my post #15 experience...was it a coincidence that once we got up we also noticed that the ship (RCI Radiance) was also sounding it's fog horn.

[donaldsc]

This site will give you the answer to your question - https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/anchorage.

 

DON