First time cruiser afraid of not seeing land coming with seasoned cruisers

We have a first time cruiser coming with us next summer to Alaska. We have cruised 6 times to the Carribean but never alaska. Our first time cruiser is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general. I heard that Glacier Bay is not to be missed but wasnt sure if that can be combined with an inside passage trip? Looking at the glacier bay maps it doesn't seem like you are far from land can you still see land kind of?

We have a first time cruiser coming with us next summer to Alaska. We have cruised 6 times to the Carribean but never alaska. Our first time cruiser is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general. I heard that Glacier Bay is not to be missed but wasnt sure if that can be combined with an inside passage trip? Looking at the glacier bay maps it doesn't seem like you are far from land can you still see land kind of?

Why would someone who is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general take a cruise. Makes as much sense as someone who is afraid of heights driving to the top of Pikes Peak. How are they planning to get to AK - by car?.

Check out this site - http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm. If you are 20 feet about the ground, your line of site to the horizon is 5.5 miles. You will be more than 5.5 miles from the shore for much of your cruise.

DON

We have a first time cruiser coming with us next summer to Alaska. We have cruised 6 times to the Carribean but never alaska. Our first time cruiser is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general. I heard that Glacier Bay is not to be missed but wasnt sure if that can be combined with an inside passage trip? Looking at the glacier bay maps it doesn't seem like you are far from land can you still see land kind of?

I took an inside passage cruise on NCL. It stopped at Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Victoria and we also spent a day cruising through Glacier Bay National Park. You can definitely take an inside passage cruise that cruises through Glacier Bay, you just have to search the right cruise lines. There are a few threads that thoroughly specify which lines cruise Glacier Bay.

I found that I saw much more land than the other cruises I have been on (Caribbean, Mediterranean, Pacific Coast), but probably not enough for someone who is afraid of cruising and not seeing land. Especially at nighttime.

Why would someone who is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general take a cruise. Makes as much sense as someone who is afraid of heights driving to the top of Pikes Peak. How are they planning to get to AK - by car?.

 

Check out this site - http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm. If you are 20 feet about the ground, your line of site to the horizon is 5.5 miles. You will be more than 5.5 miles from the shore for much of your cruise.

 

DON

She understands its an unreasonable fear and wants to conquer it. We are taking a family cruise with many generations and she doesn't want to miss out on the family time. I am really looking for suggestions from people that have actually experienced the cruises not just commenting to comment but thanks

I took an inside passage cruise on NCL. It stopped at Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Victoria and we also spent a day cruising through Glacier Bay National Park. You can definitely take an inside passage cruise that cruises through Glacier Bay, you just have to search the right cruise lines. There are a few threads that thoroughly specify which lines cruise Glacier Bay.

 

I found that I saw much more land than the other cruises I have been on (Caribbean, Mediterranean, Pacific Coast), but probably not enough for someone who is afraid of cruising and not seeing land. Especially at nighttime.[/quo

 

Thanks I haven't come across any itineraries that include both I will keep on the hunt for that.

We are hopeful she will be fine once she is onboard she hasnt actually tried it.

Cruise from Seattle will go outside Vancouver Is. and might get out of sight of land but not likely. The mountains on the island run 3,000-5,000 feet so can be seen from quite a ways out and most of that stretch is done at night anyway when you can't see anything. Not many towns on that side so lights are rare. Sailings from Vancouver take the "inside" route and are always within a mile of two or land. Even the one-ways that cross the Gulf of Alaska can see land because the mountains there are 11,000 to almost 20,000 feet tall. Our first cruise was inside passage precisely because DW wanted to see land. Our next though was a transatlantic - no land there. ;)

I'm confused .

Are you saying that you have a cruise lined up at this point but don't know if it includes GB? Or are you looking for itineraries that include GB ? or do you just want to know if you can see land when you're at GB?

Land will nearly Always be seen on an Alaska Cruise especially if you are doing the inside passage.

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HAL has some Vancouver RT cruises that do Inside Passage and Glacier Bay. The one ways (Seward-Vancouver and vice versa) do it, too.

We sailed on HAL's Volendam round trip out of Vancouver.

It included Glacier Bay.

While I was not looking for land "all of the time" I don't recall vast open water like on Caribbean cruises.

You can see the "map" of the itinerary here to get an idea.

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacations/FindCruises?destCode=A&regionCode=A,GB1&durationCode=6_8&departurePortCode=YVR&page=0

 

Thanks I haven't come across any itineraries that include both I will keep on the hunt for that.

We are hopeful she will be fine once she is onboard she hasnt actually tried it.

As another poster mentioned, HAL from Vancouver has itineraries that go to Glacier Bay, AND cruise between the mainland and Vancouver Island, so land is visible for much of the cruise. It's been a few years since I was in Glacier Bay but I am close to positive that land is visible all the time while IN Glacier Bay.

Cruise from Seattle will go outside Vancouver Is. and might get out of sight of land but not likely. The mountains on the island run 3,000-5,000 feet so can be seen from quite a ways out and most of that stretch is done at night anyway when you can't see anything. Not many towns on that side so lights are rare. Sailings from Vancouver take the "inside" route and are always within a mile of two or land. Even the one-ways that cross the Gulf of Alaska can see land because the mountains there are 11,000 to almost 20,000 feet tall. Our first cruise was inside passage precisely because DW wanted to see land. Our next though was a transatlantic - no land there. ;)

Our experience sailing R/T Seattle was that on the first full day and last full day, we didn't see land.

As for the OP's friend's fear, it is real. It may not be rational to many of the posters here, but for her (him?) it is real. OP, be prepared to help keep your friend diverted the times that land isn't visible.

You'll see more land out of Vancouver B.C. than leaving from Seattle, but even so there will be passages where land will not be seen. Another factor is bad weather as in rain and fog. That will limit visibility. To help your friend, and also give you some idea about what actually constitutes "the inside passage", I recommend Joe Upton's Alaska Cruise Handbook, which contains wonderful, detailed maps and is a "mile by mile guide" to cruising Alaska. You can purchase it directly, or via Amazon, a book store, or even check it out from your local library:

http://www.alaskacruisehandbook.com/achbook.html

I won't be taking my "first" Alaska cruise until this September (2017), so can't comment on where you do or do not see land. But looking at all the maps I've looked at, it appears that most of the way you'll be able to see some land.

Now, to what I hope I CAN help with! I'm 62 years old, can't swim, and have had a lifetime fear of water. Guess what? I finally went on my 1st ever cruise 8 cruises ago, in 2010 I believe it was. A 5-day one. I could barely breath thinking about not knowing if I could handle all that water and no land in sight! I thought I might have a panic attack. But I really wanted to do this. It was a Western Caribbean one, to Cozumel and Progresso. Guess what, again? By day 2, I knew I had fallen in love with cruising, and was mad at myself for waiting until I was in my 50s before doing this! So much wasted time. So this fall's AK trip will be my 9th cruise. I plan to take many more and more often when I can retire in a few years!

So, not to say your first time cruiser will feel the same as I did, but there is a good chance she may do much better than she expects. Although my first one was on a small ship where you could feel the movement (didn't bother me!), you may want to consider booking on as big a ship as you can to reduce motion. But I understand that the inside passage waters are much calmer anyway. make sure she has her motion sickness meds. And if she appears anxious, try to get her doing things on the ship--there is so much to see and do that you can pretend you are just in a big hotel!

I hope she can relax and enjoy it, and realize she will get the views of everything you can't get anywhere else! Have fun!

Princess and HAL have the most cruises that go to Glacier Bay. NCL has one ship that goes into the bay and Carnival comes in May and September. Royal Caribbean, Disney, and Celebrity and the luxury cruises don't have permits except Crystal but I don't know if they are doing Alaska this year. I think I might be missing a line... my brain cells aren't what they used to be

Going out of Vancouver keeps you close to land most of the way. You have open water crossing Queen Charlotte Sound, but that is usually at night.

This is an interesting post :cool:.

I can only add a couple of thoughts..

1) Not sure how much time the OP has to plan the cruise, but consider going on the websites that track cruise ships via satellites and you may get a better feel for different cruises. Problem is I am not sure if any of them allow you to back date and look at last summer's Alaska cruises, as an example.

2) During our Alaska cruise I tracked the ship using maps.me on my phone. Gives much more accurate locations than say the map they put on your cabin TV or the satellite websites. I don't know if this would be helpful to the OP's friend or not. Perhaps seeing that land is not far off even though out of sight may help. Maps.me worked pretty well. You have to download the maps ahead of time using 4G or wi-fi, but then it just uses your phones GPS which should work fine in the open seas without wi-fi or 4g. . My phone did not track well when I was in the interior of the ship, but did very well on the outer decks, balcony, etc. I find it very interesting to know where we are. When the inside passage islands pass by it is always fun for me to know which islands they are.

This is an interesting post :cool:.

 

2) During our Alaska cruise I tracked the ship using maps.me on my phone. Gives much more accurate locations than say the map they put on your cabin TV or the satellite websites. I don't know if this would be helpful to the OP's friend or not. Perhaps seeing that land is not far off even though out of sight may help. Maps.me worked pretty well. You have to download the maps ahead of time using 4G or wi-fi, but then it just uses your phones GPS which should work fine in the open seas without wi-fi or 4g. . My phone did not track well when I was in the interior of the ship, but did very well on the outer decks, balcony, etc. I find it very interesting to know where we are. When the inside passage islands pass by it is always fun for me to know which islands they are.

That's a cool app. I'd love using that as well. Thanks for the post.

I'm another Maps.Me lover when travelling. Just download the latest maps before your trip. Works great on cruises where wireless options are limited.

On my sailings.... Port side got more land exposure. To clarify... going North ships sailed on the East side of Haida Gwaii. Going South ships sailed West of Haida Gwaii.... thus port side got more land exposure. The land reference might be helpful on the rougher unprotected segments.

When cruising out of Seattle you can see land until you clear the Strait of Juan de Fuca and enter the Pacific Ocean, it’ll be about 9pm when enter the Pacific Ocean. On day 2 your first full sea day you CAN NOT see land. You might be able to see a speck of land, that’s just a big maybe off the Queen Charlotte Island. Last year both trips we made it was clear out on the ocean but foggy on the coast. The year we cruised across the Gulf of Alaska from Kodiak is was so rough and stormy you couldn’t see land. It’s kind of a crap shoot if you’re going to see land. You can’t see much on land when you can see land.

We have a first time cruiser coming with us next summer to Alaska. We have cruised 6 times to the Carribean but never alaska. Our first time cruiser is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general. I heard that Glacier Bay is not to be missed but wasnt sure if that can be combined with an inside passage trip? Looking at the glacier bay maps it doesn't seem like you are far from land can you still see land kind of?

We did a 10 day NCL inside passage cruise last September out of Seattle and back to Vancouver that included Glacier Bay. There absolutely were times that you could not see land although some of it occurred at night. There was also a lot of fog some mornings that obscured land. We are doing a Whittier to Vancouver cruise on Princess in May that includes Glacier Bay and is also an inside passage trip. Maybe an inside cabin and staying in the interior of the ship away from windows might help when there is no land to be seen?

Glacier Bay is not to be missed! So a cruise line that has it part of its itinerary is ideal. We always go with Princess and we love them. They're inside package itineraries include either Glacier Bay or Tracy arm Ford. I was surprised how often we saw Islands or land. The days that we were completely at sea of course we did not but I would say that's only about two days of the entire trip. One of the beginning, one at the end. Maybe that would help your family member? If they are split up? I was very surprised how often I saw these beautiful little Islands or Horizons with evergreen trees. It was really pretty. Don't worry about the nasty comment you received right away. I get harassed by that poster quite a bit myself.

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We have a first time cruiser coming with us next summer to Alaska. We have cruised 6 times to the Carribean but never alaska. Our first time cruiser is terrified of not seeing land and cruising in general. I heard that Glacier Bay is not to be missed but wasnt sure if that can be combined with an inside passage trip? Looking at the glacier bay maps it doesn't seem like you are far from land can you still see land kind of?

HAL has a number of cruises that cruise the inside passage and Glacier Bay. We sailed with them a few years ago and had a wonderful cruise.(Only caveat, HAL seemed geared more towards the older guest than other lines we have sailed with. That wasn't much of a problem for us since we booked the trip for the itinerary and not the ship's activities.).Glacier Bay is totally awesome and really something to experience. I seem to remember seeing land the whole time we were in GB, although it may have been covered in ice lol. And I agree with another poster, you definitely see land much more on this cruise than others. The suggestion to get her interested in onboard activities is also a good one.

I hope that her (and your) concerns are not an issue once she gets on board and you all have a wonderful cruise.

Kathy

For those of you using the maps.me app, which maps did you download? I am cruising RT out of Vancouver in mid June, so was looking at Vancouver, British Columbia and Alaska, and assume you can zoom in to those areas as you pass through? There doesn't seem to be a way to look for more ocean-centric areas like "Inside Passage." Will those three maps cover me? I haven't used the app before. And as I am typing this I am finding I am unable to download the British Columbia map, but have Alaska and Vancouver.

To clarify.... Which app did you download? Was it Maps.Me? The are 7 BC maps. Did you tap the blue plus sign to add maps?

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I would also download any available cities such as ketchikan, Juneau, seward, anchorage, etc.

Downloaded maps.me and did finally get British Columbia to load. Couldn't find Ketchikan or Juneau specifically, but they seem to zoom in from the Alaska map.

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