Great Bear Rainforest cruise from Seattle 2025 and 2026 - Noordam

[paiagirl]

Blackduck59, I have another question.  We were on an NCL ship that docked at Victoria for the day and to my amazement, the streets that we walked on were lined with cherry blossoms that I could not believe.  Which of these places in Vancouver be the best place to see cherry blossoms in April: Stanley Park or Queen Elizabeth Park?

 

Thank you.

[Blackduck59]

@paiagirl, I wish I could be more helpful, my wife is from Vancouver and she says Queen Elisabeth park. The Cherry blossom trees in Victoria were a gift to our city from the Japanese community and they are a well loved feature of our city for a few weeks every spring.

Edited March 29 by Blackduck59

[paiagirl]

Thank you, Blackduck59, for the info.

Edited March 29 by paiagirl

[RSWBADGER]

Discover the essence of Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival through an array of annual events, installations, and frequently asked questions. Immerse yourself in the spirit of our celebrations and explore the rich tapestry of experiences that define our festival.

 

The Festival - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (vcbf.ca)

 

Tree Talks & Walks: Stanley Park

April 6, 2024 | 10:00AM-11:30AM
Leader: Nina Shoroplova
Language of Instruction: English

Nina will lead participants through ten locations. Along the way, she will point out ‘Somei-yoshino’ and ‘Shirotae’ cherry trees. Participants will walk along the Promenade and stand in the shade of a fernleaf beech, a tree with an enormous canopy. The walk goes through the two parts of the Shakespeare Garden and through the Air Force Garden of Remembrance, and ends at the ‘Ojochin’ sentinel tree at the Japanese-Canadian War Memorial.

 

Tree Talks & Walks: Queen Elizabeth Park

April 7, 2024 | 2:00PM-3:30PM
Leader: Alex Downie
Language of Instruction: English

Join former Vancouver Parks Supervisor, Alex Downie, on a guided walk through the exotic and native trees of Queen Elizabeth Park’s arboretum. Founded in 1949, the arboretum features tree species from around the world. This walk will focus on the ornamental and garden-worthy qualities of Vancouver’s diverse tree palette.

[paiagirl]

Thank you.  Hopefully, the blossoms will be in bloom in 2 years for the April cruise.

[cruisingrob21]

Well, we booked the October voyage of this itinerary instead of our usual alaska voyage. It's nice to have some variety in alaska voyages and nice (for us) that they are RT out of Seattle.  Usually a voyage like this would be RT from Vancouver.

 

 

[dmwnc1959]

I did a little mock up of the track I remember us doing years ago through the Canadian Inside Passage from Prince Rupert. I still remember this part of it quite vividly. One main aspect of my job in the US Navy was navigational charts. Also included here is the text from Holland-America for comparison.

 

“The ship overnights in Prince Rupert before scenic cruising in Greenville Channel, past the first nation’s village of Bella Bella, Johnstone Strait and Seymour Narrows.”

 

The third image would be a rough estimate of the transit from the end of the Seymour Narrows to Nainamo, Vancouver, and Seattle.

 

 

 

 

Overall track 

 

😁

Edited March 31 by dmwnc1959

[jeh10641]

On 3/30/2024 at 5:35 PM, dmwnc1959 said:

I did a little mock up of the track I remember us doing years ago through the Canadian Inside Passage from Prince Rupert. I still remember this part of it quite vividly. One main aspect of my job in the US Navy was navigational charts. Also included here is the text from Holland-America for comparison.

 

“The ship overnights in Prince Rupert before scenic cruising in Greenville Channel, past the first nation’s village of Bella Bella, Johnstone Strait and Seymour Narrows.”

 

The third image would be a rough estimate of the transit from the end of the Seymour Narrows to Nainamo, Vancouver, and Seattle.

 

 

 

 

Overall track 

 

😁

Is the pink line the route? It looks like it is going through land.

Jim

[dmwnc1959]

17 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Is the pink line the route? It looks like it is going through land.

Jim

 
It’s a very, very narrow passage mostly used by inland ferries, small boats, and on rarer occasion smaller cruise ships. I took a screenshot from Marine Traffic and used red arrows to point towards the Canadian Inside Passage.

 

In the first image Prince Rupert is circled in the upper left corner, and Grenville Channel (the dotted line) leads away from that heading basically southeast. 

 

The second screenshot has Bella Bella circled in the Canadian Inside Passage area that Noordam will navigate. 
 

 

Edited April 1 by dmwnc1959

[jeh10641]

7 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

 
It’s a very, very narrow passage mostly used by inland ferries, small boats, and on rarer occasion smaller cruise ships. I took a screenshot from Marine Traffic and used red arrows to point towards the Canadian Inside Passage.

 

In the first image Prince Rupert is circled in the upper left corner, and Grenville Channel (the dotted line) leads away from that heading basically southeast. 

 

The second screenshot has Bella Bella circled in the Canadian Inside Passage area that Noordam will navigate. 
 

 

Thanks for the clarification. That looks like a great voyage.

Jim

[dmwnc1959]

8 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Thanks for the clarification. That looks like a great voyage.

Jim

Fingers crossed, and weather cooperating, it’ll be fairly impressive. I’ve cruised Alaska five times - on a repositioning cruise; northbound, southbound, and roundtrip from Vancouver; and one cruise a long time ago on Cruise West, that started in Juneau and ended in Victoria visiting some pretty amazing places most cruises ships never go to. The Canadian Inside Passage was the most memorable. 
 

😁

Edited April 1 by dmwnc1959

[1robinwood]

On 4/1/2024 at 11:53 AM, dmwnc1959 said:

 
It’s a very, very narrow passage mostly used by inland ferries, small boats, and on rarer occasion smaller cruise ships. I took a screenshot from Marine Traffic and used red arrows to point towards the Canadian Inside Passage.

 

In the first image Prince Rupert is circled in the upper left corner, and Grenville Channel (the dotted line) leads away from that heading basically southeast. 

 

The second screenshot has Bella Bella circled in the Canadian Inside Passage area that Noordam will navigate. 
 

 

Wow thanks so much for this. It looks amazing. Can’t wait

[Bimmer09]

The passage dmwnc1959 outlined has many expansive sections as I have found out by watching some YouTube videos this past week.  

For example

 

Norris

[dmwnc1959]

1 hour ago, Bimmer09 said:

The passage dmwnc1959 outlined has many expansive sections as I have found out by watching some YouTube videos this past week.  

 

Norris

I believe that videos and pictures will often betray the size of something unless you are physically there. Standing on top of an 11 deck high, 930’, 82,000 ton cruise ship, positioned at the rails, sailing with land on either side up the approach to Skagway or Juneau is much better in person.
 

It’s sort of like that through the Canadian Inside Passage. You have to see it in person to truly appreciate it.
 

And it’s a lot like my Alaska pictures from the Inside Passage - it’s visually more impressive actually being there than looking at an image.

 

😁
 

 

Edited April 5 by dmwnc1959

[Euby]

Just put a deposit down for this cruise along with my sister and her husband.  Looking forward to it!

[Monarda55]

When I first started looking at this cruise several weeks ago, the itinerary map for April 2026 showed the ship sailing east of Vancouver Island both going and coming. The October 2025 map still shows that, but the April 2026 map has changed— now the ship sails west of Vancouver Island on the northern leg. 

 

The charm of this itinerary, for me, was getting Inside Passage scenery for both legs. Any idea why they would have changed it for one sailing (April 2026) but not the other (October 2025)?  I hadn’t yet booked it, and I’m glad. 

[jeh10641]

12 minutes ago, Monarda55 said:

When I first started looking at this cruise several weeks ago, the itinerary map for April 2026 showed the ship sailing east of Vancouver Island both going and coming. The October 2025 map still shows that, but the April 2026 map has changed— now the ship sails west of Vancouver Island on the northern leg. 

 

The charm of this itinerary, for me, was getting Inside Passage scenery for both legs. Any idea why they would have changed it for one sailing (April 2026) but not the other (October 2025)?  I hadn’t yet booked it, and I’m glad. 

Bummer on the change.

Jim

[dmwnc1959]

15 minutes ago, Monarda55 said:

When I first started looking at this cruise several weeks ago, the itinerary map for April 2026 showed the ship sailing east of Vancouver Island both going and coming. The October 2025 map still shows that, but the April 2026 map has changed— now the ship sails west of Vancouver Island on the northern leg. 

 

The charm of this itinerary, for me, was getting Inside Passage scenery for both legs. Any idea why they would have changed it for one sailing (April 2026) but not the other (October 2025)?  I hadn’t yet booked it, and I’m glad. 

I actually have a screenshot of that original image map that they posted. My guess is that the October map will eventually change as well, and that it was an error in the folks that made the maps.

Going from Seattle to Ketchikan it is much quicker going on the west side of Vancouver Island, and then coming back down - since they are so far over into the Canadian Inside Passage - it only makes sense to continue down to the east side of Vancouver Island heading back to Seattle instead of diverting out to sea and going around the island. 
 

Either way it would have transited the east side of Vancouver going northbound in the dark. 
 

Then vs now maps 

[Monarda55]

5 minutes ago, dmwnc1959 said:

Either way it would have transited the east side of Vancouver going northbound in the dark. 

That’s a very good point, thank you. 

[dmwnc1959]

3 minutes ago, Monarda55 said:

That’s a very good point, thank you. 

It may be too the reason why the SB portion leaves from Prince Rupert at 4am 😳 in the morning, so they can transit the vast majority of the scenic cruising all the way down to the Johnstone Strait east of Vancouver Island before it gets dark. I remember once on a roundtrip from Vancouver when we got close that latter point it was getting closer to sunset, there are some pictures posted back on Page 4. Sunset at Alert Bay for the date of our transit is at 8:35pm

 

 

[dmwnc1959]

Some stats on Prince Rupert that morning when we start heading south, sunrise is at 620am with it starting to gett lighter outside around 5am-ish.
 

[LHARTWICK]

Just found this cruise today - considering the October 2025 sailing date.  Lots to digest on this thread so I skimmed through it. Seems the consensus is 50/50 on it being a good cruise or not. Like that we'd be in Victoria all day - would give us a chance to see the gardens again. Assuming the stores and excursions would already be closed for the season in Ketchikan? We've done the AK cruise 5 times, but this one looks interesting and different from the others obviously. There's already a number of excursions listed for Prince Rupert. Nothing listed for Nanaimo? Sounds like the scenic cruising would be scenic for sure.  

[Blackduck59]

@LHARTWICK, if you do book the cruise and have a stop in Victoria maybe look at other options than "The Butchart Gardens". While they are indeed lovely, they are a long way from the cruise port (as anyone who has been there will know). Also keep in mind the time of the year when this cruise happens, not really peak blossom time. I would suggest doing some research and look into some almost secret gems much closer to the port. Check out Government house, the grounds are nice, the gardens are tended by volunteers and it is free. Craigdarroch Castle is also a great place to spend some time. Maybe take a little harbour ferry, it's a great little boat ride around the inner harbour, and can save part of the long walk from the port into downtown. Anyone who chooses this cruise enjoy the experience and remember there is way more to Victoria than the Butchart Gardens, which is a 45 minute drive each way from the port.

[LHARTWICK]

14 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

@LHARTWICK, if you do book the cruise and have a stop in Victoria maybe look at other options than "The Butchart Gardens". While they are indeed lovely, they are a long way from the cruise port (as anyone who has been there will know). Also keep in mind the time of the year when this cruise happens, not really peak blossom time. I would suggest doing some research and look into some almost secret gems much closer to the port. Check out Government house, the grounds are nice, the gardens are tended by volunteers and it is free. Craigdarroch Castle is also a great place to spend some time. Maybe take a little harbour ferry, it's a great little boat ride around the inner harbour, and can save part of the long walk from the port into downtown. Anyone who chooses this cruise enjoy the experience and remember there is way more to Victoria than the Butchart Gardens, which is a 45 minute drive each way from the port.

Yes - we've visited the gardens before and would love to go back!  We haven't had another chance since every stop at Victoria since then has been just for a few hours in the evening. We've also done the other Victoria experiences you mentioned.  Victoria is so beautiful for sure!

[ChinaShrek]

15 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

@LHARTWICK, if you do book the cruise and have a stop in Victoria maybe look at other options than "The Butchart Gardens". While they are indeed lovely, they are a long way from the cruise port (as anyone who has been there will know). Also keep in mind the time of the year when this cruise happens, not really peak blossom time. I would suggest doing some research and look into some almost secret gems much closer to the port. Check out Government house, the grounds are nice, the gardens are tended by volunteers and it is free. Craigdarroch Castle is also a great place to spend some time. Maybe take a little harbour ferry, it's a great little boat ride around the inner harbour, and can save part of the long walk from the port into downtown. Anyone who chooses this cruise enjoy the experience and remember there is way more to Victoria than the Butchart Gardens, which is a 45 minute drive each way from the port.

I noticed HAL has a microbrewery tour for Victoria. Is Victoria known for its beer? I might take that tour if you guys have good beer.