Northern lights from the Summit

[alexandria]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

In that situation  you may wish to avoid booking an Alaska or Iceland cruise.  

 

My experience has been that 99+% have raved about the enjoyment to see possibly a once in a lifetime Northern Lights experience.   I've never recall them making an announcement after 11:00 PM.  

 

I think it would be almost an impossibility on a ship but on a Pre-Cruise Alaska excursion the hotel had the option of having the front desk call your room should the lights appear.   There were probably fewer than 200 guests at the Lodge.

We've been on several Alaska cruises on other lines, including a few voyages where we had a wonderful display of the northern lights.  None, however, made announcements at night about them.  I recall that the cruise director on at least one of those cruises talked about how to see the northern lights during his normal "here's what's coming up later this evening" announcement.  I also had one or two sailings where they had a few paragraphs in the daily about it with viewing tips (one of them may have been the same cruise where a daytime announcement was made, I don't recall).

 

But in all of those cases, many passengers were already aware before boarding that there was the possibility of seeing the northern lights and those who were interested took the time and initiative to stay up late and look for themselves.  Quite a few of them were on their balconies or on deck to see them (without the need for a near midnight prompting from the announcement system). 

 

IMO, as a matter of courtesy to other passengers, those who really want to experience a "once in a lifetime" viewing of the northern lights can make the sacrifice of missing a few hours of sleep to watch for them so that everyone else may enjoy a peaceful night.  Of course, the fault here (if any) lies entirely with the officers on the Summit, not with the passengers who enjoyed the experience.

 

But clearly that is an unpopular opinion among those who have responded in this thread, including a couple who were incredibly disrespectful and unkind in their comments (subsequently deleted by the moderators).

[SusieAV8R]

On 8/31/2024 at 10:28 AM, alexandria said:

Northern Lights are a beautiful sight to behold, but do I understand correctly that they made the announcement about them at 11:30PM?  😲

 

I would be pretty torqued if I was awoken by three loud bongs and a "look at the pretty sky" ship-wide announcement at 11:30pm. 😠

 

They should have just made an announcement earlier in the evening along the lines of "for those who are interested, be sure to keep an eye on the skies tonight, it is the beginning of aurora borealis season and you may see a spectacular light show later tonight.  Come on out on deck or enjoy the view from the Observation Lounge which will be open all night"

 

IMO, announcements after a certain hour should be strictly limited to emergencies.

We were on the southbound cruise last week which disembarked on Sat.in Vancouver.  The weather was very unfavorable all week (LOTS of rainy days)  & no Northern Lights.  DH & I would have been torqued if there was no such announcement had the crew sighted Northern Lights!!