Alaska: Seattle or Vancouver itinerary

[AZNative2000]

Thanks for all the responses.

 

Gorgeous pictures AZNative. I can't help but thinking, though, that the narrowest part of the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland has to be at night, and that much of the first full day, at sea, must be in the relatively open Queen Charlotte Sound, but has anyone who's done the cruise had a different experience?

 

Base on these responses we'll definitely go out of Vancouver. We are within a day's drive of both cities, so we don't need a cruise to see either of them, but those who suggested allowing time in those ports are absolutely right -- they are two of my favorite cities.

 

Thanks, glad you like the photos.:) Something we didn't realize, until we got there, is that it never really got dark. Oh, the sun set about 10pm and came up again around 4am but even at midnight it was still "dusky" out.

 

As you can see from the attached maps, (click thumbnails) there are very narrow points between Vancouver and the Queen Charlotte Strait. I am pretty sure now that the first photo back up there in post #5 was in the morning of day 2 as that would be in the narrow part (about 200 miles out of Vancouver or 12 hours cruising at 17 knots).

 

Have a GREAT CRUISE! You will love cruising out of Vancouver. Calmer water too. Tell us all about it when you get back.

 

Sorry the maps attached so small:eek: (much bigger on Google) just Google Vancouver Island or Strait of Georgia.:)

[TiogaCruiser]

We did the roundtrip from Vancouver on volendam in June 09. The tides were such that we had to wait until 1:30am ish to go through Seymour narrows. By the time we got up (early) we were in queen chatlotte sound and lots of fog IIRC. And yes, when it lifted we were quite a ways from shore. The real show was on leaving vancouver. It was truly scenic cruising and close enough to smell to woods.

 

To predict when you will go through Seymour narrows google the tide predictions for the day you leave. You are looking for the time of slack time. I usually make a little chart that has tides and sunrise/ sunset so we can strategically plan when to be on deck. I'll post the links I used when I get on my real computer: my cellphone screen is way too small!

[vbmom87]

Our first cruise, though, was with Celebrity and it was supposed to go into Glacier Bay, but the bay was blocked to ships due to a huge amount of logs and debris in the water. So we still haven't seen the glaciers crashing.

 

I believe you meant to write "Hubbard Glacier" and not Glacier Bay. Celebrity has not had permits for Glacier Bay, unless you are talking a long time ago. Also, this would be the first report I have read of not being able to get into Glacier Bay. I have read quite a few reports of cruisers reporting back that they did not get into Hubbard because of the reason you posted above.

[Himself]

I have done both. I love the Volendam and the inside passage. I am one who likes both Skagway and Sitka. I also love Glacier Bay. My vote would go to the Volendam