terrascape

It is true that Alaska cruises can be "iffy" in September. However we did a mid September cruise on the Ryndam in 2010 and w never saw a cloud for 4 days & broke temperature records for all of SE Alaska that week. I would certainly avoid Gulf of Alaska crossings in September, however. The weather patterns change in late August and the storms from Russia and the Bering Sea begin to take aim on the Gulf of Alaska. The Amsterdam was affected also. Had to skip Hubbard Glacier & did Endicott Arm instead today.

Checking AIS positions this morning (Tuesday) the Maasdam is bypassing Homer, Kodiak & Hubbard Glacier. Dropped their Alaska pilot off near Homer spit at 0645 & are making a beeline for the sheltered waters of Icy Straits. Looks like they may be making a port call in Skagway Wednesday afternoon by the looks of the AIS report. The Gulf of Alaska forecast is for 45-65 knot winds and 20-24 foot seas by late Wednesday. The Westerdam is staying inside & is heading from Glacier Bay to Ketchikan, eliminating their stop in Sitka. Tough break especially for the Maasdam passengers, but safety of ship, crew and passengers is paramount. This time of year is always a bit of a challenge in the Gulf of Alaska.

No, you are not getting senile. Way back when, the smaller cruise ships used to do the "real" inside passage. The ships were much smaller and the schedules were not as tight as now. Many of the cruise ships used to go into Ocean Falls and did scenic cruising in Gardner Canal and Douglas Channel. The cruise lines would time the schedule so at least one direction was always done in daylight. This began to change in the late 70s and early 80s as the ships got larger & speed became more critical. Foggy conditions are always a concern in these confined channels. Also the number of yachts and fishing vessels transiting these waters were a cause of real concern for the BC Pilots. Some BC pilots have told me the risk of an "incident" in the narrow channels is much higher than ever before. As much as we would like the cruise lines to do the entire inside passage, it probably wont happen - except on the small "pocket" cruise ships. Of course we can always take the Alaska ferries or the BC ferry to Rupert if we need an inside passage "fix"

I have sailed the "real" inside passage on the ferries and working on tugboats between Seattle and Southeast Alaska. Am very familiar with the route up thru Bella Bella, Fraser & McKay Reach (Butedale) and Grenville Channel. The cruise lines advertise the inside passage route but it is really only Discovery Passage & Johnstone Straits. Northbound out of Vancouver that is all done at night. Some go up Principe Channel and Laredo Sound to Triple Island (usually the ones with Ketchikan as first stop northbound). Most are now going up Hecate Straits which as you know is about the same as being in the Pacific (those with first stop in Juneau). We have done Grenville Channel once in nine cruises. We were on the Ryndam in 2010 and the tide at Seymour was earlier enough they had some extra time to make Juneau and the weather was perfect so they cut in at the Southern end of Grenville Channel. It was spectacular. I always consider the idea of "cruising the inside passage" to be a misnomer in the cruise line industry.

John was Security Officer on the Oosterdam on our Alaska trip June 16-22. He told us he was just covering a few trips for vacation relief and that he would be aboard the Statendam in late August to end the Alaska season and make the South Pacific round trip. Great individual to chat with if you all get the chance sometime. He did mention that he rarely posts when aboard the ships.

I haven't had a chance to read through all 27 pages yet, but reading the history on so many of these ships is very interesting. Here is a challenge for John to come up with a photo -- my first cruise was with my parents in 1963. We made a nine day round trip from Vancouver to S.E. Alaska on Canadian National's S.S. Prince George. It was a small enough ship we made the entire inside passage, not the "modified" inside passage as the ships do today. There were stops in Ocean Falls, BC, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Juneau, Skagway, and a day of sceinc cruising in Douglas Channel, near Kitimat, B.C. Later, I spent one semester ( 114 days) of my junior year of college in 1971 on a world cruise aboard the SS Universe as part of the World Campus Afloat program sponsored by Chapman College. We made 13 port calls, staying in each port 3 to 5 days while sailing West from Los Angeles to New York. The real "bug" of cruising began several years after I was married when we sailed on the Regent Sea, the first ship for Regency Cruise Lines, in the Western Caribbean in 1987 - a great classic ship. Since 2002 it has been all HAL for us.

I haven't had a chance to read through all 27 pages yet, but reading the history on so many of these ships is very interesting. Here is a challenge for John to come up with a photo -- my first cruise was with my parents in 1963. We made a nine day round trip from Vancouver to S.E. Alaska on Canadian National's S.S. Prince George. It was a small enough ship we made the entire inside passage, not the "modified" inside passage as the ships do today. There were stops in Ocean Falls, BC, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Juneau, Skagway, and a day of sceinc cruising in Douglas Channel, near Kitimat, B.C. Later, I spent one semester ( 114 days) of my junior year of college in 1971 on a world cruise aboard the SS Universe as part of the World Campus Afloat program sponsored by Chapman College. We made 13 port calls, staying in each port 3 to 5 days while sailing West from Los Angeles to New York. The real "bug" of cruising began several years after I was married when we sailed on the Regent Sea, the first ship for Regency Cruise Lines, in the Western Caribbean in 1987 - a great classic ship. Since 2002 it has been all HAL for us.

Our first cruise was on the Regent Sea in 1987. It was a 7 day R/T out of Tampa to Cozumel, Montego Bay & Grand Cayman. That hooked us on crusing. We later did three cruises on the Regent Star from Montreal to NY in 1990, a coastal from San Diego to Ketchikan & Vancouver in 1991 & a one way from Whittier, AK to Vancouver in 1992. We had booked a trans canal on the soon to be Regent Isle from Acapulco to Jamaica I think in the late fall of 1994. Three days before final payment was due, I heard a rumor in the maritime commmunity of Seattle that the Fair Princess was in Victoria, & the scheduled charter to "some other cruise line" had just fallen through. Our travel agent had heard nothing & so through my connections I was able to get the whole scoop & immediately told the travel agent; did not make final payment & somehow I actually got the deposit back about a month later.

We enjoyed every cruise with Regency. The food was great and so was the service. The ships looked & felt like the cruise ships of olden days. They were great, and yes they are missed by our family.