Alaska: Vancouver or Seattle?

[billroddy]

For a 7 day round trip, which port would you recommend?
Via Vancouver the route is the Inland Passage. Seattle goes to open sea.
Can this be rough in Aug or Sep?
Bill

[bellebaby]

We had our first sailing out of Seattle this May after 5 previous sailings out of Vancouver. In our opinion, Vancouver wins ... without a doubt.

The open sea sailing from Seattle was extremely rough. While we did not experience seasickness, many, many others did. We also did not like the mandatory short stop in Victoria. Plus, the beauty of the Inside Passage itself is not to be missed.

Others will certainly have other opinions, but we will return to sailing out of Vancouver in the future.

Enjoy Alaska, whatever you choose. It's awesome!


B

[pipedreams62]

How beautiful a city Vancouver is if you can spend a few days there.

[traveler1980]

We did Vancouver rt last summer and chose to do a one way out of Vancouver to Seward this year. I chose this mostly because of others stating that it is much more scenic and not such a risk of having rough seas.

[Barek]

For a 7 day round trip, which port would you recommend?
Via Vancouver the route is the Inland Passage. Seattle goes to open sea.
Can this be rough in Aug or Sep?
Bill
We chose the Seattle sailing; in part because of convenience (we live just north of Seattle), but also because it had the overall itinerary we preferred (the glacier viewing that we wanted, the three Alaskan ports that we wanted, and a longer than average stop in Juneau).

My suggestion is to determine which ships offer the itinerary that you prefer. After you have it narrowed down to that, and if both cities have cruises that offer that itinerary, then choose either Vancouver or Seattle at that point.

Both have their down sides; Seattle has open ocean which brings a risk of rougher waters. Vancouver can be more expensive to fly into (to reduce those costs, I've often seen it suggested to still consider flying into Seattle, then either take Amtrak or a shuttle bus to get up to Vancouver - depending on which meets your schedule).

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done quite a few Alaskan cruises. This past May we did our first one out of Seattle -- it was very rough!! Many people were sick.

I much prefer Vancouver -- it is a beautiful city and there is a lot to do right at the pier area.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We have done 4 Alaska sailings with 3 of the 4 out of Seattle. The one we did out of Vancouver in May 2006 was by far the roughest seas and the first time I actually turned a bit green with motion sickness. Now that is not to say that we did not have some rough seas occasionally out of Seattle it is just saying that you can also have some motion in the Inside Passage. Severe undercurrents were to blame, the seas looked calm but the ships was jerking bad:o We loved going out of both cities so like suggested I would select by ship/intinerary. The other thing that has recently been brought to my attention is that flying to Vancouver is considerably more expensive than flying to Seattle and to me would be a huge hassle flying to Seattle and taking the bus or some other mode of transportation to Vancouver so that could be a factor in your consideration.
We are within 10 days of going yet again out of Seattle and planning on booking the Zuiderdam out of Vancouver for September 2009.

[PathfinderEss]

We've done both, but much prefer going out of Vancouver and if you do go out of Vancouver plan on a few days in that beautiful city. It would be worth your time to do so...

[Bill S]

If the key factor in deciding is minimizing the likelihood of rough seas, my choice would be Vancouver. We have sailed out of Vancouver 3 times and Seattle twice. On our recent May 16 cruise from Seattle, it was a rough ride the first night and second day.

[kenish]

Cruises out of Seattle spend a day in each direction going to and from the "beginning" of Alaska; Vancouver cruises have more Alaska-focused iteneraries.

I also looked into flying into Bellingham, WA. It's about 30 miles south of Vancouver, just south of the border. Delta, Horizon (Alaska), and Allegiant fly there. It saves a lot of airfare taxes and is close to Vancouver. Someone who has done this or lives locally can comment whether or not this is a good option.

[Barek]

Cruises out of Seattle spend a day in each direction going to and from the "beginning" of Alaska; Vancouver cruises have more Alaska-focused iteneraries.

I also looked into flying into Bellingham, WA. It's about 30 miles south of Vancouver, just south of the border. Delta, Horizon (Alaska), and Allegiant fly there. It saves a lot of airfare taxes and is close to Vancouver. Someone who has done this or lives locally can comment whether or not this is a good option.

Not really - because cruising east of Vancouver island (Canadian waters) requires slower speeds than open ocean, they actually have about the same amount of time in the "beginning" of Alaska. More scenic to get there by cruising out of Vancouver - but roughly the same amount of time in actual Alaskan waters (when comparing cruises of the same overall length). A bigger difference is that from Seattle the only cruise options from HAL are 7-day round trips; while from Vancouver are the options of one-way north-bound (or end in Vancouver on one-way south-bound), as well as both 7 and 14 day round trips - so more variations available.

As mentioned earlier - better to compare itineraries first, then choose the city at that point if the itinerary you want is available from both.

[trvldog]

I think Seattle is just hit or miss with the weather/rough seas

I have sailed 3 times to Alaska- round trip from Seattle and round trip from vancouver and last year started in Vancouver and returned to Seattle- Each time a different month also once in May, June and July.
I never had a problem with rough seas -although I do take pills :). but I do have a problem with motion sickness and just taking the pills I never had any worries and actually never even felt any swaying on any of the trips was always smooth!

I would just go with cruise you like the best for stops. I love Vancouver & enjoyed going up their a couple days prior but I do live only 30 minutes from Seattle so that is why leaving from here is nice too.

Now watch I say this in a posting and now my Sept Cruise will be rough as heck out of Seattle- I better go knock on wood or something!!-- Maybe DH's head!!

[Koshlong]

Hopefully one of the Vista class ships will sail out of Vancouver next year. The lack of affordable balconies on this year's Vancouver sailings might be a factor.

[Barek]

Hopefully one of the Vista class ships will sail out of Vancouver next year. The lack of affordable balconies on this year's Vancouver sailings might be a factor.
In 2009, the HAL schedules show the MS Zuiderdam to be doing 7-day round trips out of Vancouver.

[billroddy]

I appreciate the fine responses to my question of choosing Vancouver or Seattle.
Bill