Infinty Ak. 2009 .. Inside Passage ????

[LeftcoastBC]

Wondering about this years change in Itinerary in regards to northbound Inside. How's it working out ?

Any comments on the timing and actually how much you see ?

How far north do you get in daylight first evening out of Seattle ?

 

any other comments?

[greydog]

Wondering about this years change in Itinerary in regards to northbound Inside. How's it working out ?

Any comments on the timing and actually how much you see ?

How far north do you get in daylight first evening out of Seattle ?

 

any other comments?

 

I hope you can get confirmation of your route and its true inside channels. After 4 great inside-inside passage sailings on Celeb thru 2007, this past May my supposed-inside passge cruise from Vancouver with RCL-Serenade looked at only water all 1st cruising day Queen Charlotte sound? and Hecate Strait - no scenic narrow channels with close-by forests for hours of sightseeing. Big letdown on RCL route vs. past trips with Celeb. Good Luck

[pertfred]

On my June 19 sailing of the Infinity, we went from Seattle to Ketichikan to Juneau. Somewhere in there was the inside passage along with Hubbard Glacier. Then from Juneau to Victoria we were out in open waters, and you could tell. Around 3am the ship was really rocking. However, I heard from a crew member that it usually isnt that bad. Good thing it was in the middle of the nite and most pax were asleep!

[GRBlizz]

I was out on the deck the whole time that we were supposed to be in the narrowest part of the Inside Passage, and I have to say, I was underwhelmed. However, I don't have any point of reference. Here are the pictures I got. I also trained my 400mm telephoto lens on the shores frequently, and didn't see anything move.

 

http://lachances.com/Lachance_Family_Website/Alaska_Photos/Pages/Inside_Passage.html#grid

 

 

The return was by open ocean, nothing to see. In addition to the rough water that perfred mentioned (which I missed), it was fairly rough the morning of the Inside Passage day - so much so that there was a long line at the sundries shop of people buying dramamine and wrist bands.

[LeftcoastBC]

pertfred... :) thks

 

GRBlizz.. your pictures don't underwhelm that's for sure. thks.

Were you aware or made aware of when you went past Vancouver and then into closer quarters of the Seymour Narrows ?

[greydog]

I was out on the deck the whole time that we were supposed to be in the narrowest part of the Inside Passage, and I have to say, I was underwhelmed.

 

On past Celeb trips we sailed for at least couple daytime hours where forested shore on left and right were as close at 100-150 meters either side. On map this may have been Grenfeld? channel or Juan de Fucca? On maps I see there are alternate inside passage ship routes, some used by AK Marine Hwy Ferry. Obviously, some routes are much more scenic than others.

[GRBlizz]

You know, I forget what they said the route was. Next time I do this itinerary - and there will definitely be a next time, it was wonderful - I will bring a detailed map of the area and track where we are. They had that map on 3, but it wasn't convenient to keep popping down there, and I forgot a lot of what they said.

[harryfat1]

Since I will be sailing on the Infinity in August, I have a vested interested on the route she sails on.

 

From the other post last week, Putterdude had posted a link to couple web sites that one can have an idea where the ships are and I have been tracking the Infinity on it as much as I can. On this past Friday (6/26), at around 4 PM, per the web site, Infinity sailed north from Seattle sailing in-between Victoria and Vancouver, being on the east side of the Vancouver Island (more or less the way the online brochure has it mapped out).

 

That same Friday, Millennium was sailing northbound from Vancouver at around 5:30 PM, so it had a head start compared to the Infinity. But Infinity was chugging along at 22+ knows while the Millennium was only doing 12+ knots in the beginning. I don’t recall the exact hour, but sometime in the middle of the night/next day, Infinity went past the Millennium before they both past the north east tip of the Vancouver Island on Saturday and headed up north for Ketchikan on Sunday for their scheduled 7 to 3 stop.

 

The web site also give you the wave conditions and last week at the open seas in route to Hubbard Glacier from Ketchikan, I noticed some 10 to 14 foot waves at some stretches as well as the western side of the Vancouver Islands on the way down to Victoria. For some, that’s nothing. For people like myself that is motion sensitive, that’s Bonine time (which is why I pay so much attention to this).

 

But like many people have always said, Alaska condition changes regularly. On today (6/29), looks like Infinity’s journey to Hubbard Bay at the open seas is less turbulent at around 5 foot wave. Hope we get these conditions on our sailing.

[winddncer]

Since I will be sailing on the Infinity in August, I have a vested interested on the route she sails on.

 

From the other post last week, Putterdude had posted a link to couple web sites that one can have an idea where the ships are and I have been tracking the Infinity on it as much as I can. On this past Friday (6/26), at around 4 PM, per the web site, Infinity sailed north from Seattle sailing in-between Victoria and Vancouver, being on the east side of the Vancouver Island (more or less the way the online brochure has it mapped out).

 

That same Friday, Millennium was sailing northbound from Vancouver at around 5:30 PM, so it had a head start compared to the Infinity. But Infinity was chugging along at 22+ knows while the Millennium was only doing 12+ knots in the beginning. I don’t recall the exact hour, but sometime in the middle of the night/next day, Infinity went past the Millennium before they both past the north east tip of the Vancouver Island on Saturday and headed up north for Ketchikan on Sunday for their scheduled 7 to 3 stop.

 

The web site also give you the wave conditions and last week at the open seas in route to Hubbard Glacier from Ketchikan, I noticed some 10 to 14 foot waves at some stretches as well as the western side of the Vancouver Islands on the way down to Victoria. For some, that’s nothing. For people like myself that is motion sensitive, that’s Bonine time (which is why I pay so much attention to this).

 

But like many people have always said, Alaska condition changes regularly. On today (6/29), looks like Infinity’s journey to Hubbard Bay at the open seas is less turbulent at around 5 foot wave. Hope we get these conditions on our sailing.

 

Harry, Share the link please. Something new to watch besides web cams. :D (BTW: 45 days left for us!!!)

[harryfat1]

Harry, Share the link please. Something new to watch besides web cams. :D (BTW: 45 days left for us!!!)

 

Sure thing.

 

Here is the link to Putterdude’s original post as I need to give him the credit for showing everyone the web sites. Look at post #42.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=20071790&highlight=#post20071790

 

From what I can find by playing around in the web site, the marine traffic web site updates its data more frequently and shows detailed info like speed. However, once the ship gets sufficiently far north of the Vancouver Island, it falls out of coverage. Then you need to switch to the other sailwx web site. That one only has ship location updates few times per day, so it’s less “real time”, but that web site has ocean waves/temperate and other info that most people are not interested in. Just keep in mind the measurement is in metric system, so you need to convert it back to feet.

 

Here is the path of the Infinity on last Friday/Saturday per the web site. You can see it going on the east side of Vancouver Island.

 

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=249048000&zoom=10&olddate=6/27/2009%201:51:48%20AM

 

So by late Wednesday/early Thursday of this week, we can track the Infinity as it makes it way southward toward Vancouver Island on way to Victoria.