What type of wildlife did you see from the ship?

[flipflops84]

We are leaving for a cruise on the inside passage in a few weeks and we have our binoculars all ready to go. So I wanted to ask- what type of wildlife did you see from the ship? Seals? Whales? Bears? I'm curious to know what type of sightings are common and which are rare. Thanks!

[Rickey 88]

Don't mean to disappoint, but your chances of seeing wildlife from your ship are rather remote - although there's always a possibility.

 

The reason is that most large cruise ships sail at quite some distance from the shore, and should there be wildlife nearby, it will be so far away, you would need powerful glasses to bring them close.

 

However, you will be seeing some of the most beautiful scenery in this hemisphere, so plan on enjoying your cruise....

[mjroseville]

We saw a few whales, but never any close up. There was also a bear on shore while we were in Glacier Bay, but it was way off in the distance. It looked like a black dot in our binoculars.

 

I wouldn't bank on seeing too much from your ship. So much is just a matter of luck. If you definitely want to see eagles, take the crab fisherman tour in Ketchikan because you're guaranteed a close-up of a lot of them then (see reviews here of this tour for more info.). We also saw seals close by on an island on that tour. Our "wildlife tour" in Juneau was nothing but things off in the distance.

[Budget Queen]

I've seen, wildlife from a cruiseship, many times, BUT, it is distant and brief sightings. AND for the best success, you do have to spend a considerable time out front viewing- skip the side viewing,you are cutting your chances by another 50%. You must be willing to accept hours of "looking" and minutes of view. Always track from way ahead for the most view.

 

I have seen a moose- once, bears a few times- all were in Glacier Bay, and plenty of marine wildlife and birds.

 

I only recommend wide angle binoculars. The field of view is necessary for the vastness of the area.

[lilacbirman]

Unfortunately we only saw a few birds (not eagles) and that's it. As opposed to our first Alaska cruise which was Anchorage to Vancouver in the month of May. We saw seals, two humpbacks and a bunch of dolphins "dancing" right beside the ship during lunch. Don't know if it was because of different season and itinerary or luck of the draw. It was disappointing because it was the first cruise for my son and my sister/husband. I really wanted them to have the full wildlife spotting experience.

 

Wish you luck!

[worshipsf]

On our cruse last week we saw from the ship: a couple of whales, a brown bear, a black wolf, a sea otter or two, a seal (all of these in Glacier Bay and quite far off, hard to see even with good binoculars), and several birds. This was with a LOT of time spent looking.

 

We took a Kenai Fjords National Park catamaran tour out of Seward, and saw much more abundant wildlife from there, and much closer as well. So I definitely recommend something like that if you are interested in seeing wildlife.

[chipmaster]

I'll chime in and also agree if you see something it will be far and brief.

 

10 years ago: Whales on Glacier Bay, otters on the inside passage, the wales were very far away.

 

This summer: Nothing from the ship, and I even spent a few minutes hanging out on my Balcony at duxk and dawn looking, makes me wonder why I wasted the money for the balcony.

 

We are leaving for a cruise on the inside passage in a few weeks and we have our binoculars all ready to go. So I wanted to ask- what type of wildlife did you see from the ship? Seals? Whales? Bears? I'm curious to know what type of sightings are common and which are rare. Thanks!

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Not much. Whales and eagles and not many of either.

 

We take a wildlife tour in one of the ports--last time it was in Sitka and was magnificent! Whales, otters, puffins, seals etc. :D

[cmtom89]

I'm going to say the same thing....if you see much, it is far off and brief. We crusied the inside passage in late June of this year. We spotted some whales in the distance (leaving Glacier bay and entering Tracy Arm), but by the time one person in the party spotted them and announced, the rest of us had missed seeing it. I have some fond memories of several sprays of water from the whales blowhole!!

[FurryPetMom]

We saw lots of wildlife from the ship but then we invested a lot of time out on the Lower Promenade looking for whales or up in the Crow's Nest.

 

We spotted whales galore throughout the cruise. Most were far off in the distance but some were closer. Humpbacks, a grey whale, and one orca.

 

We also saw porpoises, puffins, sea lions, eagles, ptarmigan, and various other sea birds.

[knorrisb07]

we saw a couple of bears, tons of whales, a few goats, puffins (if you count the excursion by boat). Yes, having a binoculars is a must to get the most out of spending time out on the deck

[ACobra289]

Saw a humpback and killer whale. The humpback was reasonably close, but the killer whale was a good distance . One cool thing we did see was a large school?/pod? of dolphins that according to our ship naturalist, was around 2000 dolphins. It was an amazing sight. This was on the Millennium sailing out of Seward on July 2.

[Assateague Island Princes]

We were on the same sailing as Furry Pet Mom (Hi girl!) and we saw tons of whales. But again, we invested a great deal of time on our aft "secret" deck - binoculars and cameras at the ready. Particularly the evening sailing toward Homer to pick up the pilots to take us up Cook Inlet to Anchorage. The ship was literally surrounded by whales. It was a magical experience! Once I'll not soon forget!

[msm0908]

On our Inside Passage cruise on the Zuiderdam last month, we saw 4 bears (didn't see the wolf) and a whale carcass on a beach in Glacier Bay. Also, after leaving Glacier Bay, we saw lots of whales, even one that was 'waving' at us with his tail. During lunch in the Lido, my daughter alerted us to the dolphins that were swimming beside our ship. We also saw lots of eagles. We didn't really go out of our way with binoculars or cameras, we were just lucky to be at the right place, at the right time.

[CruisingGoddess]

We were on Island Princess last month and saw whales and one seal from the ship. The whales were pretty far away. We were luck to see the seal up close because it was hanging out on a nearby iceberg. The ranger spotted a brown bear but none of us on deck could find it, even with our binoculars! As others have mentioned, you don't see much from the ship. If you're interested in seeing them close up, book a boat cruise. We saw whales, otters, and eagles on our Prince William Sound cruise. You can also book a whale watching cruise too.

 

If you're interested, I wrote a "short" review of our trip on my blog:

 

http://moonprincess.com/travel/cruises/princess-cruises/island-princess-alaska-2010-short-review/

 

It's actually quite long but I intend to write a long entry about each day when I'm done sorting through my photos. :) I've also written out my advice on what to wear.

[Budget Queen]

. One cool thing we did see was a large school?/pod? of dolphins that according to our ship naturalist, was around 2000 dolphins. .

 

Pacific White sided Dolphins- pods.

[MercedMike]

As many have said, wildlife sightings from the ship tend to be few and brief, and can require a lot of dedicated time searching.

 

We have been very lucky in our eight cruises to Alaska to have had a few spectacular sightings by chance. We do not spend lots of time searching.

 

On one trip, during dinner somebody yelled, "There's a whale!" and the whole dining room ran to the windows to see a whale cruising by.

 

One night, walking to dinner we passed a bar where some people were standing in the window and pointing. Off in the middle distance was a pod of six or eight humpbacks, jumping and breaching for several minutes.

 

Our last cruise this spring was particulary good. In the special dining venue one evening we were treated to several whales fairly near the ship, showing backs and flukes. From our balcony we saw seals and dolphins on several occasions.

 

Twice in Glacier Bay we have seen seals on the ice, and frequently eagles sitting on chunks of ice.

 

So three out of eight cruises we have seen wildlife from the ship. The odds are not good. If viewing wildlife is really high on your list take some of the dedicated excursions from the ship.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[LindaKE]

We saw eagles while docked at Skagway. We saw 1 bear and many sea lions at a distance. We think we saw whales in Glacier Bay. Best of all, we saw a family of sea otters swimming out to the ship in College Fjord. They got close enough to see them well. On the way in to Anchorage, we saw mountain goats, and wandering around in downtown Anchorage, we saw a moose.

[Keith1010]

We primarily have seen Eagles and Whale from the ship.

 

Keith

[tjroadster]

can i use telephoto lens to watch wildlife, instead of using binoculars?

[whale-watcher]

We have seen whales (humpback and orca primarily, but also fin, minke, and sperm), seals and sea lions, brown and black bears (glacier bay), dolphins, porpoise, otters, and numerous species of bird...but spend LOTS of time scanning and carry binoculars with us at all times...even to dinner! We saw more from the smaller Tahitian Princess 14 day itinerary than we did from the larger cruise ships on shorter sailings, and had superior looks as well. Most of the sightings of mammals involved brief looks at distant animals. Birding for pelagic seabirds can be good in the gulf of Alaska...albatross and shearwaters often follow the ships and sometimes approach closely.

 

Telephoto lenses are a poor choice for wildlife observation...too narrow a field of view and insufficient magnification (plus unless your viewfinder provides a through the lens view, the image is likely to be dark and grainy)

[Budget Queen]

can i use telephoto lens to watch wildlife, instead of using binoculars?

 

Sorry, no, this is an extremely poor choice to consider.

[tjroadster]

Sorry, no, this is an extremely poor choice to consider.

 

you are right. I just got my zen-ray summit binoculars. It's much smaller than my 200mm camera lens. But the view is gorgeous with enough brightness. The mangnification is also higher than the lens. Thanks.

[karatemom2]

Last week from our ship we saw whales, brown bears, otters, eagles, sea lions and harbor seals and lots of sea birds. I was very glad to have excellent binoculars. It does make such a difference.

[Yukon]

Telephoto lenses are a poor choice for wildlife observation...

 

...and binoculars are a poor way to get a permanent record of the experience. It depends on what your priorities are. I use a telephoto lens, my wife uses binoculars.