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Live from the true Inside Passage

cdkempton

By cdkempton,
in Alaska

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cdkempton

cdkempton

Posted
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This is for all those people who say they don't get to sail the REAL Inside Passage when cruising to Alaska. They must not be on the Ryndam! We are so inside the passage you can almost touch land on both sides of the ship. We left Vancouver on Friday at 5 pm and it has been just georgous all the way. A bit of fog in spots but nothing serious. The Islands are beautiful and the water is peacefully calm. We are truly sailing the REAl Inside Passage. We will get into Ketchikan tomorrow and expect a little rain, which is normal. I wish I could map out our passage so you could see the wonderful route we are taking. Gotta go back out on the bow. Beautiful!! :D:D

Colette

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CowPrincess

CowPrincess

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This is for all those people who say they don't get to sail the REAL Inside Passage when cruising to Alaska. They must not be on the Ryndam! We are so inside the passage you can almost touch land on both sides of the ship. We left Vancouver on Friday at 5 pm and it has been just georgous all the way. A bit of fog in spots but nothing serious. The Islands are beautiful and the water is peacefully calm. We are truly sailing the REAl Inside Passage. We will get into Ketchikan tomorrow and expect a little rain, which is normal. I wish I could map out our passage so you could see the wonderful route we are taking. Gotta go back out on the bow. Beautiful!! :D:D

Colette

 

Oh my, I sooooooooooo hope that obnoxious woman who harangued me all during first formal night dinner on the Ryndam about NOT being in the Inside Passage, and how I didn't have ANY CLUE about ANYTHING about cruising and Alaska (OR anything else), and how my cabin could not POSSIBLY be anywhere NEAR the same deck as hers, and how SHE was the only one who knew the TRUTH about the Inside Passage is reading this. She'll be having a stroke :D

 

PS -- I'm nostalgic, too, and getting more committed to getting up there again next year!

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Putterdude

Putterdude

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I agree with Yukon's point and I think that HAL does a better job then most in getting off the beaten path that most of the other lines use. Another for instance is when HAL's ships leave Vancouver and if there is going to be some wait for the tide at Seymour Narrows they will enter Howe Sound at Pt. Atkinson, go around Bowen Is. and re-enter Georgia Strait at Gower Pt. which is quite pretty rather than just a slow cruise straight up Georgia Strait.

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Putterdude

Putterdude

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Whether you get to use Grenville Channel will be a decison made by the captain. Many things go into this decision not the least of which are tides, currents, winds and traffic also using the channel. However the single biggest factor is tide at Seymour Narrows as currents there can reach 16 knots so ship want to go thru there at slack tide or when the current is on the bow; they do not want the current on their stern as this could cause them to loose steerage. This obviously is a timeing issue. So while you will be in the Inside Passage you may not be in what the OP refered to as the "true" inside passage.:)

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bottom-dragger

bottom-dragger

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travel on the "real" inside passage?

 

how does your route align with that of the alaska marine highway or that used by lindblad/cruisewest/national geographic cruises? as the ships increased in size, the cruise lines started marketing the 'inside' futher 'outside'. do you go through sergius narrows (complete with plastic flamingos), zimovia straits, wrangell narrows (67 nav markers in less than 20 miles)?

 

inside passage snob?? i most certainly am. been there, done that, got the t-shirt, certified to instruct.

 

you do have to pay to play; time, convenience, planning, and maybe a few extra $'s. but you do get to wear the t-shirt.

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Putterdude

Putterdude

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wrangell narrows (67 nav markers in less than 20 miles)? quote]

 

Back in 1963 when I crewed on the SS Prince George (only 5500 tons) we used to sail thru the Wrangell Narrows but only when the tide was right...but even at that she was know to rub her bottom the narrows.:)

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cdkempton

cdkempton

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Came through fog this a.m. into Haines. Now it's beautiful, warm, perfect. Jackets off by 11 am. We have pilots on board to guide through the various channels and, as others have stated, pay great attention to the tides for safe passage. All's well. :):)

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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It's nice to see that some ships are going into Grenville Channel, which is one of the more impressive parts of the "true" Inside Passage ( http://encarta.msn.com/map_701571709/grenville_channel.html ). The Ryndam is hardly a "small" ship, though - it's larger than most of the towns she sails past.

 

Last year the Volendam went through the Grenville Channel on our NB cruise. From what others said, it did not go through the Grenville Channel SB. This was a true highlight for us. We had maps of the inside passage and this routing was labeled "small craft route." We were so thrilled!!!! Up until our last day of sailing, we saw land on both sides of the ship. It was a truly gorgeous and scenic route. I was told that HAL does this route more than the other lines. I was so happy I picked this itinerary. So many on this board recommended SB over NB. However, for various reasons we needed to do NB. I was so glad I did!!!

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Yukon

Yukon

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Is it inside passage out of Seattle? the stops are Glacier Bay,Juneua,Sitka and Victoria. I leave on Sunday!!!!!!!!

 

Seattle departures get far less of the "Inside Passage" than Vancouver ones do, but most of the ports are on what is commonly called the Inside Passage now (that means most of the sheltered passages).

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DaveOKC

DaveOKC

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Colette - we are sailing out of Vancouver in 2 weeks on the Volendam and I am trying to set up our plans for that first day. Question - how long did the scenery last once you departed Vancouver? SHould book a late dinner so as to not miss the view along the way? We have a nice veranda, so it would be great to watch the Inside Passage from it that first day.

 

DaveOKC

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Putterdude

Putterdude

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Dave;

When you depart Vancouver, if you will see a fair amount of scenery, I happen live on the starboard side of the ship about an hour after you pass under the Lions Gate bridge. On the port side you will see Vancouver Island. You will run out of daylight at about 7:30/8pm. On your first full day, yes I would have a later dinner as you will see a great deal of scenery....now that remark will be tempered a bit by which route your captain decides on. If you sail the Granville Channel the scenery will be in your face non-stop if he sails in Hecate Strait the scenery will be a bit remote. If you are on the port side you won't see much scenery at all for a couple of hours as the ship sails thru Dixon Entrance. Balcony sitting may prove to be a bit cold this time of year but for your sake I hope not.

I will be watching for you to sail by at about 7 pm.:)

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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Colette - we are sailing out of Vancouver in 2 weeks on the Volendam and I am trying to set up our plans for that first day. Question - how long did the scenery last once you departed Vancouver? SHould book a late dinner so as to not miss the view along the way? We have a nice veranda, so it would be great to watch the Inside Passage from it that first day.

 

DaveOKC

 

When we were on the Volendam last year we did sail through the Grenville Channel. We had non-stop scenery. It was an amazing journey. I hope you, too, will go that route. On the Joe Upton Inside Passage Maps, it is called the "small craft route."

 

We had a late dinner our first night and we had scenery the whole time. We had "as you wish dining" and when we boarded our ship, the first thing my BIL did was go and make a dinner reservation for a table by the window. It was perfect!!! Actually, since we liked out waiter we asked him if we could have him for the rest of the week, and he graciously accommodated us. And we didn't even have to eat at the same time every night. We were thrilled.!!

 

Since we went in June, it was light much longer and we were following our Joe Upton maps as we cruised along...even in the dark we were watching the light bouys and tracking where we were going. (I know, a bit nerdy, but it was great enjoyment to both me and my BIL)

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Overtime4me2

Overtime4me2

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Came through fog this a.m. into Haines. Now it's beautiful, warm, perfect. Jackets off by 11 am. We have pilots on board to guide through the various channels and, as others have stated, pay great attention to the tides for safe passage. All's well. :):)

 

 

Hope you enjoyed Haines. I just got off the Ryndam last Friday and we were not able to dock at Haines the previous week due to high winds. It looked pretty from what we could see from the ship! Loved the cruise and Alaska again!!

 

ENJOY....I'm jealous and missing my cabin stewards, Aan & Rosman and also Dani in the Lido. They were all wonderful!

 

:)

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jer_l

jer_l

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This is for all those people who say they don't get to sail the REAL Inside Passage when cruising to Alaska. They must not be on the Ryndam! We are so inside the passage you can almost touch land on both sides of the ship. We left Vancouver on Friday at 5 pm and it has been just georgous all the way. A bit of fog in spots but nothing serious. The Islands are beautiful and the water is peacefully calm. We are truly sailing the REAl Inside Passage. We will get into Ketchikan tomorrow and expect a little rain, which is normal. I wish I could map out our passage so you could see the wonderful route we are taking. Gotta go back out on the bow. Beautiful!! :D:D

Colette

We experienced the same thing on the Ryndam in June. It's amazing, isn't it?

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Putterdude

Putterdude

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Since we went in June, it was light much longer and we were following our Joe Upton maps as we cruised along...even in the dark we were watching the light bouys and tracking where we were going. (I know, a bit nerdy, but it was great enjoyment to both me and my BIL)

 

I don't think that it was nerdy at all, I think it was a great way to get full enjoyment out of your cruise. So many cruiser do the Christopher Columbus thing....they don't know where they are going, when they get back they don't know where they have been and they have done it all on borrowed money. Sorry I couldn't resist that.:D

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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I don't think that it was nerdy at all, I think it was a great way to get full enjoyment out of your cruise. So many cruiser do the Christopher Columbus thing....they don't know where they are going, when they get back they don't know where they have been and they have done it all on borrowed money. Sorry I couldn't resist that.:D

 

So true!!! :D

 

Yes, we did thoroughly enjoy our trip. Those maps were with us all the time. I learned so much and am just dying to go back, but unlike the many you mentioned above, we don't do vacations on borrowed money. So, I will just have to be patient.

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