Announcements when approaching wildlife while on board

[mkejaws]

We southbound on the Sapphire Princess from June 23rd to the 30th. Had a great time, but we have since learned something that has tempered our enjoyment. We found out we passed two pods of orcha's on our last sail day and the bridge never said a thing. (In our balcony cabin packing at the time.) Except for the naturalist in College Fjord and the ranger in Glacier Bay, we never we given any updates as to what we were seeing, passing or approaching by any staff or crew members. Who knows what else we missed?

 

We have since spoken to past Princess passengers, as well as other passengers from lines who were cruising at the same time as we were. The Pricess passengers were provided wirh regular updates. On Holland America, sailing the same time we were, the Captain would even make announcements from the bridge when they were approaching wildlife.

 

Any similar experiences or pros and cons as to having it each way? We will most likely do Alaska again, but we would prefer more information from the ship's personnel and select a line accordingly.

[LEtue]

In 2006 I sailed on the Island Princes from Vancouver to Whittier and the captain did make a few announcements. However, by the time you could look the whales were gone. The on board naturalist did a great job in Glacier Bay though. We did see lots of whales, seals, orcas, and otters on our own from the Horizon Court, our balcony and up on deck.

 

This year I sailed on the Oosterdam (Holland America) round trip from Seattle and there were no announcements. We did see a lot of whales - again by spending time looking for them....

 

So, it really pays to be watching on your own and as often as possible. Announcements are nice but you can't count on seeing things when others do ;) Most passengers on the ships miss a lot of wildlife!

[Italy52]

We did a southbound cruise last year on the Island Princess. We did get announcements from the captain and the naturalist. However, the real kudos went to our cabin steward who called our room to tell us that was a whale outside of our balcony. Now that is service!

[birdergal]

When we were on RCI Serenade in 2004, the captain always announced when wildlife was spotted. He even spotted a bear! Of course that didn't always mean you were in the right place to see it. Unfortunately, I missed the bear.

 

When we were on Celebrity Mercury two weeks ago, no announcements were ever made. We saw quite a few humpback whales, dolphins, seals, and a couple of orcas by watching ourselves.

[photodoodle]

I really hope the captain on Statendam next week is the kind who likes to make announcements.

[qiangf2]

It seems it really depends on captain and on board naturalist. Last September, there was one whale right front of the ship at about 600 yards away when we sailed toward to Juneau. The captain made an announcement with genuine excitement. Then, on our way back, sailing toward Ketchikan, the naturalist predicted whale spotting 3 hrs ahead so I could really enjoy my lunch without worrying about missing anything. Maybe for some captains, it is just another wildlife encountering which they have seen way too many. Hence they choose not to make a big deal out of it.

[Coral]

Did you have the announcement station on in your room? Unless you have this, you will not hear this type of announcements - you will only hear emergency type announcements. Some people don't like announcements in the room, thus, they don't pipe everything through. You need to have that station on to hear this type of announcements.

 

After saying that, every naturalist is different. Most of the time on Princess, they have made several announcements about this.

[trvlcrzy]

I read in another post that the naturalist's talk was being broadcast over the bridgecam channel on the TV. I wish I had heard that before we went to Alaska. We enjoyed our balcony in Tracy Arm, but I only heard a rare mumble from above (we were deck 11 on Sun Princess) to know that the naturalist was saying something.

 

The other post suggested turning up the TV volume to be able to hear it on the balcony.

[carol459]

We were on the Carnival Spirit 2 years ago heading so. into Vancouver and there was a running dialogue by a naturalist. You had to be on deck to hear it and it was great. We saw 2 Orca pods and 5-6 humpbacks.

 

Rick

[chewap]

2 years ago on the Saphire Princess, the Capt was coming on every 15 minutes telling about Orca sightings in the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Must have seen at least 100 Orcas. You had to be out on the deck to hear the announcments. Was on the Osterdam last year, no announcements at all and they had an new onbaord naturaulist thet didn't know where the whales were and could care less. She was more interested in global warming and how the glaciers were melting.

[jbm205]

We were on the Sapphire at the same time and we saw the whales on the last day. We learned early on that when we were in our room, that we left the balcony door open so that we could hear people pointing out the wildlife.

[mii]

I have been to Alaska 4 times and as Coral mentioned you have to have the correction TV station on to hear the bridge, Captain or the naturalist. Now to the naturalist. There have been some really good ones that time they see even a flying bird they let us know. On the other hand this past May the naturalist on board was rarely up on the bridge, and when he was it was a short 2 minutes talk that frankly left us disappointed. My opinion is if you have a great naturalist he is the bread and butter of announcements and makes the cruise that must more enjoyable. I have sailed on both Princess and Celebrity in Alaska and both have had very good and very bad.

 

Marilyn

[qiangf2]

yes, the announcement happens only out on the deck or a selected public area.

[Budget Queen]

There definately has been an overall reduction in ship announcements. The trends seem to be to keep you in the spa, bingo, and casino.

 

Also with the ship big sizes, many times most people can not get to viewing in time, then you have disappointed passengers. When they sailed the little ships, a quick step outside was easy, up/down a few decks. Now you can be walking and walking if you don't have an outside viewing, or on the wrong side.

[cattman]

On our recent Radiance cruise there were no announcements or naturalists... very disappointing after many Princess sailings with plenty of both. We would sail past huge pods of whales, with nary a mention or slowing.

 

We found nothing beats a good guide to your route(and the best spots along the way for sightings, for example, Point Adolphus for whales), a deck chair, a pair of good binocs, and plenty of patience. Check the ships log for the route the Captain will be following(in the daily newsletter).

[Coral]

There definately has been an overall reduction in ship announcements. The trends seem to be to keep you in the spa, bingo, and casino.

 

There are people on the Celebrity board who think "any announcement" is bad and that is a reason to sell their line over other lines.

[Coral]

On our recent Radiance cruise there were no announcements or naturalists... very disappointing after many Princess sailings with plenty of both. We would sail past huge pods of whales, with nary a mention or slowing.

 

There were not any on my RCCL cruise several years ago either. It was my first Alaska cruise and it was lacking in several areas in this area. It is night and day from how Princess handles naturalists and speakers.

[trcori]

We've sailed Celebrity to Alaska three times. First time, 8/03 on Infinity, no announcements. Second time, 8/05 on Mercury, announcements, courtesy of an EXCEPTIONAL naturalist, Kate Spencer, who also told us at her lectures when we were most likely to see whales the next day, and when she would be on the bridge "narrating" that whale watch so that we could be in the observation lounge or on the forward deck and "participate." As a result, we learned about humpback "bubble feeding" and saw it while sailing toward Juneau. Third time, last week on Mercury, no real naturalist (two scientific lecturers instead), no announcements. We did see TONS of whales, including many humpbacks in that same area the morning before Juneau, but only because we spent lots of time on deck. The scenery is so much better this time of year, we have concluded, there's really no point in wasting time in shows, casino, spa, unless you really don't care about the scenery (in which case, why cruise Alaska?) ... just stake out a spot, keep the binoculars close (though we saw and heard many with our "naked eyes"/ears), and good luck ... TR