Stargazing

Has anybody actually experienced this new activity that Princess is advertising?

I've not seen this happen anywhere except on the Pacific Princess during a World Cruise when there was an Astronomer on board, and even then the captain was loathe to turn off the lights on the upper decks so we could actually do some star gazing properly.

Just curious, I would love to do this and probably book a cruise specifically to do this if I knew which ones they were doing this on.

TIA,

Has anybody actually experienced this new activity that Princess is advertising?

 

I've not seen this happen anywhere except on the Pacific Princess during a World Cruise when there was an Astronomer on board, and even then the captain was loathe to turn off the lights on the upper decks so we could actually do some star gazing properly.

 

Just curious, I would love to do this and probably book a cruise specifically to do this if I knew which ones they were doing this on.

 

TIA,

Not exactly however there were a lot of us on the upper decks on the Ruby last fall during a transatlantic as we watched the northern lights while on the north side of Iceland. They weren't the most colorful but they were still exciting to see the first time.

We just did it on the Caribbean Princess. CD Staffer Toby ran it and he was great. We had a good, clear night for stargazing and went to Deck 17, where the lights were significantly dimmed to aid our viewing ability. It's a great addition to the Princess product this year!

I would love to find out more about the star gazing.

This post reminded me of our December cruise to Mexico. i was sitting on my deck one night and the stars were gorgeous. A few cabins down a woman yells out, "Honey! come out and see the stars. I think it's that Dipper thingy.'

The man says "What are you talking about?"

The woman, "the stars - the dipper thing"

The man, "I don't know nothing about those Zodiac Things'

We just did it on the Caribbean Princess. CD Staffer Toby ran it and he was great. We had a good, clear night for stargazing and went to Deck 17, where the lights were significantly dimmed to aid our viewing ability. It's a great addition to the Princess product this year!

Ahh! You're on the Caribbean Princess this year! Me too! I'm sorry that I haven't been up to date with your blog. Last year we were on the Emerald together but I was silly and didn't introduce myself when I saw you at dinner. If I see you around the ship this time around, I will stop by and say hello! On board March 7 for a week!

I attended the first every stargazing on the Regal Princess the week of Jan. 18th. At least the person from the cruise staff said it was the first ever. It was held up on 19 and it was hard to see to get up the 2 flights of stairs from the meeting spot at the pool bar on 17. It was also very windy but a beautiful dark night. From my perspective it was much too introductory. A microphone would have helped as well. I have a good telescope and have seen a lot of stuff through it. I left early because of the wind and level and just went to my cabin and used my binoculars to look at stuff. I think it is pretty good for what it is. You should go and enjoy it.

We'll be on the Caribbean Princess in a few weeks and I'd love to do this! Do they list it in the daily program, or is it scheduled according to the weather that particular night?

I would think that it would be difficult to watch the "heavens" on a ship that is rocking, especially through a pair of binoculars. And at a top deck even more so. Certainly worth checking out if I have the opportunity, though.

I would think that it would be difficult to watch the "heavens" on a ship that is rocking, especially through a pair of binoculars. And at a top deck even more so. Certainly worth checking out if I have the opportunity, though.

Yes it is harder on a moving ship. I have a pair of 12x with stabilizers but I didn't have them with me. I could see the nebula in Orion's belt pretty good and I could see Jupiter but I couldn't see any moons. I would assume that was due to motion although the moons are usually very bright through binoculars. I could see Cassiopeia but I couldn't find the Andromeda Galaxy that she points to. There were no clouds in the sky most nights but too hazy to see that clearly. The bright swath of the milky way wasn't noticeable. This was when the moon wasn't up or new on my forward facing balcony with lights out for navigation. It was suprisingly bright out there anyway as there were lights in the Sanctuary left on all night. It was beautiful out there in any event.

I will be on the Emerald soon and hope it is offered also. I have seen the sky on a cloudless and no moon night in the western US in a very remote location where there isn't any man made lights and the sky is fabulous.

We just did it on the Caribbean Princess. CD Staffer Toby ran it and he was great. We had a good, clear night for stargazing and went to Deck 17, where the lights were significantly dimmed to aid our viewing ability. It's a great addition to the Princess product this year!

Was it posted in the patter for that day and did they only do it the once?

Love your blog btw ;)

On the Regal Princess it was posted in the patter, usually around 9:30 and 2 or 3 days per week.

I love looking at the stars on my TAs and discovered on a forum an app for my iPad called

STAR WALK by Vito Technologies

It is simply awesome and I think I paid just $2.99 for it.

You don't need Internet, you just point it at the sky, night or day. I take it up on a high deck, but it works from my balcony or even my bed.

Best money I ever spent!

Susan

I love looking at the stars on my TAs and discovered on a forum an app for my iPad called

 

STAR WALK by Vito Technologies

 

It is simply awesome and I think I paid just $2.99 for it.

 

You don't need Internet, you just point it at the sky, night or day. I take it up on a high deck, but it works from my balcony or even my bed.

Best money I ever spent!

Susan

Since I am somewhat tech challenged, will it work on a Samsung 8 tablet? Thanks for the info.

Just Mike

 

STAR WALK by Vito Technologies

 

 

 

You don't need Internet, you just point it at the sky, night or day. I take it up on a high deck, but it works from my balcony or even my bed.

Best money I ever spent!

Susan

But you do need GPS on.

On the Regal Princess it was posted in the patter, usually around 9:30 and 2 or 3 days per week.

Thanks ;)

I will be on CB for spring break with DS so he may enjoy that or NOT depending on how the 17 yr old feels at that moment in time ;)

I use Google Sky Map on my Android phone to identify constellations. It's free in the Google Play store.

We just did it on the Caribbean Princess. CD Staffer Toby ran it and he was great. We had a good, clear night for stargazing and went to Deck 17, where the lights were significantly dimmed to aid our viewing ability. It's a great addition to the Princess product this year!

Another fan of your blog! I've been following along and watched your sail away yesterday from Fort Lauderdale on this latest leg of your trip (we live about 25 miles from the port). We'll be on the Caribbean Princess in a couple of weeks - looking forward to it and hoping they offer the stargazing.

I would think that it would be difficult to watch the "heavens" on a ship that is rocking, especially through a pair of binoculars. And at a top deck even more so. Certainly worth checking out if I have the opportunity, though.

Binoculars work fine on a cruiseship because the person is holding them to their face and any vibration is 'damped down' by the person's body. On the other hand, a telescope is useless because the movement of the ship is magnified by the magnification of the telescope.:)

Crew in Florida got trained in it Jan 18 from the Regal and the Royal.

They held the actual Stargazing event on the Jan 27 event. hubby went that sailing and the Feb 7 sailing.

It was well attended, held at the aft top deck. David (CD Staff) used an app to help identify the stars in the sky.

Hubby liked it and said he would do it again

On the Regal, the CD staff waited for enough people and then phoned the bridge to kill the lights in the area. They had iPads with SkyView loaded. It is free and does not need a net connection. It functions as a 'window' you look thru to see the sky. When you hold it up near Orion, you see the major stars of Orion and it fills in the constellation and name. Very cool and not too much memory space needed on the device.

However, I have taken cosmology at a big university and ship staff knowledge of stars is basic. It is fun but not if you star watch on land. Still, young peeps may start here and move onto more.

Crew in Florida got trained in it Jan 18 from the Regal and the Royal.

 

They held the actual Stargazing event on the Jan 27 event. hubby went that sailing and the Feb 7 sailing.

 

It was well attended, held at the aft top deck. David (CD Staff) used an app to help identify the stars in the sky.

 

Hubby liked it and said he would do it again

Sounds great. I'm downloading the app as I type. Was that David who also runs the Princess Pop Choir? We got to be good friends on my last cruise and he is one of the smartest and nicest young men ever. I imagine he'd be fun doing the stargazing. Hope he's on the Regal in October and November!

Maureen

Not exactly however there were a lot of us on the upper decks on the Ruby last fall during a transatlantic as we watched the northern lights while on the north side of Iceland. They weren't the most colorful but they were still exciting to see the first time.

We were in Iceland the same day on the Royal, passed and tooted horns with you guys, but we missed the lights completely because the sky was so cloudy, as we headed back to Scotland! Glad you got to see them...

Thanks everybody for your responses, I am glad they are doing this and hope to participate in this on the 28 day Tahiti cruise next October.

Star Walk is a great app, we use it all the time. Its nice to have some digital help, especially floating in the ocean. I also get aurora alerts, silly thing since I live in Ventura, Ca, but what the heck! Big bucket list thing for me its too see the Northern Lights, which have eluded me so far!

We have seen a few meteors while cruising, its easier to look from a balcony where lights are less of a problem, of course when the captain turns off the upper lights for stargazing, that is the place to be!

We were in Iceland the same day on the Royal, passed and tooted horns with you guys, but we missed the lights completely because the sky was so cloudy, as we headed back to Scotland! Glad you got to see them...

We will be cruising Iceland later this year and I'm hoping to see the northern lights, we have a call tree list on the roll call too ;)

Did the ship staff let you know about the lights?