Sapphire Glacier viewing questions

[emeltee]

I am going on my first cruise on the Sapphire in a little over one month. I have a lot of questions about glacier viewing:

 

Where is the best place to be for Glacier viewing. We will be hitting Hubbard & Glacier Bay. Do we hit one of the decks, or shall we enjoy it from our Emerald deck mini-suite balcony?

 

Also, are there windows in the way on the decks? I've got some serious photographers in my group, so they'll want the best position they can get.

 

We will be at Hubbard from 3-8pm. If we want to be on deck, what time is a good time to stake out a position? Are we seeing glaciers the entire time from 3-8?

 

For Glacier Bay, we will be from 9:15-7:30. What exactly do we see during that time? Is it glaciers for 10 hours? How much of that time do you spend watching the glaciers? How do you decide when to eat, lol?

 

I understand there is a naturalist on board narrating what we see. Where can you hear him/her? I assume not in our cabin/balcony, right?

 

I'm sure I'll have other questions, but these are the ones that come to mind right now.

[Keith1010]

The best place to view the Glaciers is from the open deck of the ship. This is where the layering of your clothing is important.

 

The open deck is perfect so you can easily move from side to side to take in all of the beauty.

 

Keith

[emeltee]

The best place to view the Glaciers is from the open deck of the ship. This is where the layering of your clothing is important.

 

The open deck is perfect so you can easily move from side to side to take in all of the beauty.

 

Keith

 

Would that be the Promenade/Emerald deck or the higher deck? Or either?

[Keith1010]

Would that be the Promenade/Emerald deck or the higher deck? Or either?

 

All outside decks are nice. I would try to spend more time on the highest open deck though.

 

Keith

[Coral]

Would that be the Promenade/Emerald deck or the higher deck? Or either?

 

All outside decks are nice. I would try to spend more time on the highest open deck though.

 

Keith

 

I prefer lower decks - I like Deck 7. Try both Deck 15 and Deck 7.

[cruise_808]

Just got off the Sapphire from Alaska cruise ending May 25th - Vancouver to Whittier. We where on the Port side, Lido deck - L310. When arriving in Glacier bay, we stayed on our balcony and had fantastic views of the Glacier. (you paid for it, might as well USE it!!)No jockeying for position at any of the railings. You can hear the naturalist on the TV, and we just turned it up loud and left the sliding glass door open. To tell you the truth, I muted the volume and preferred the silence once at the Glaciers. It was FANTASTIC! I brought along a tripod and video camera, as well as camera and got unbelievable footage of the trip, along with calving from the Glaciers. I didn't pack the tripod, just brought it along with carry on luggage, since it has it's own tripod bag.

 

Once the ship started doing the spin to allow the Starboard side the same views of the Glaciers, we went up to 15 and easily went to the railing, where I setup my tripod and got more great shots.

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about "staking out a spot". There are plenty of places to get a great view. Just dress appropriately, since you will be away from your cabin, in case you need more layers.

 

I can't tell you how beautiful everything is. It was like traveling in a post card, and for us, the weather was fantastic the whole trip, with only one day being overcast. No rain at all. I hope your trip is as good.

 

Terry

 

*sorry...just realized that some of your questions were not answered. Time in Glacier bay - you spend around 1-2 hours (I think) around the Glaciers, once you get to the back of the bay. It is a relatively slow cruise into the bay, so you will have lots of time to figure out where you want/need to be. I too am a serious photog, and have some really good equipment. (Canon 60D, with many "L" lenses) But guess what? I didn't being any of my pro gear...instead I used a Canon SX50 for it's light weight and extremely long zoom. It worked fantastically. The tripod worked extremely well, but I only used it for my Video camera. I just set up on the balcony and let it run, for the most part. I took hours of footage. Having a video camera is fantastic, since at the Glaciers, you can catch all, or mostly all, of any calving that will happen. I got some great footage, as well as stills. I don't regret not taking my expensive gear at all.

[gators70]

Just got off the Sapphire from Alaska cruise ending May 25th - Vancouver to Whittier. We where on the Port side, Lido deck - L310. When arriving in Glacier bay, we stayed on our balcony and had fantastic views of the Glacier. (you paid for it, might as well USE it!!)No jockeying for position at any of the railings. You can hear the naturalist on the TV, and we just turned it up loud and left the sliding glass door open. To tell you the truth, I muted the volume and preferred the silence once at the Glaciers. It was FANTASTIC! I brought along a tripod and video camera, as well as camera and got unbelievable footage of the trip, along with calving from the Glaciers. I didn't pack the tripod, just brought it along with carry on luggage, since it has it's own tripod bag.

 

Once the ship started doing the spin to allow the Starboard side the same views of the Glaciers, we went up to 15 and easily went to the railing, where I setup my tripod and got more great shots.

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about "staking out a spot". There are plenty of places to get a great view. Just dress appropriately, since you will be away from your cabin, in case you need more layers.

 

I can't tell you how beautiful everything is. It was like traveling in a post card, and for us, the weather was fantastic the whole trip, with only one day being overcast. No rain at all. I hope your trip is as good.

 

Terry

 

*sorry...just realized that some of your questions were not answered. Time in Glacier bay - you spend around 1-2 hours (I think) around the Glaciers, once you get to the back of the bay. It is a relatively slow cruise into the bay, so you will have lots of time to figure out where you want/need to be. I too am a serious photog, and have some really good equipment. (Canon 60D, with many "L" lenses) But guess what? I didn't being any of my pro gear...instead I used a Canon SX50 for it's light weight and extremely long zoom. It worked fantastically. The tripod worked extremely well, but I only used it for my Video camera. I just set up on the balcony and let it run, for the most part. I took hours of footage. Having a video camera is fantastic, since at the Glaciers, you can catch all, or mostly all, of any calving that will happen. I got some great footage, as well as stills. I don't regret not taking my expensive gear at all.

 

I agree with all 808 said. Two additional points: keep your eyes open for sea life and keep your ears open....calving glaciers sound like thunder. Way cool!

[cruise_808]

Trying to figure out how to show some of my photos....

[framer]

I was all over deck 7. I walk around the ship several times. I loved both the clam shell and the stern, both had their good points. I paid little attention to the speaker and didn't follow the crowd. You will miss lunch.

 

framer

[emeltee]

Trying to figure out how to show some of my photos....

 

Beautiful photo! I'll take your advice into consideration and see if we can spend some of the time in our own balcony.

 

I was all over deck 7. I walk around the ship several times. I loved both the clam shell and the stern, both had their good points. I paid little attention to the speaker and didn't follow the crowd. You will miss lunch.

 

framer

 

It will be easy for us to get to deck 7 since our cabin is only one floor above. I think maybe I'll shoot for a combo of deck 7 (access via the aft-most stairs or lifts) and our balcony. Thanks everyone for the replies!

[cutetrill]

I just got off the Island princess, little different than the saphire cause the Island has the forward viewing decks, but once the ship turned we headed to the promenade deck. Literaly no one out there and no problem getting a spot. Also we could see Hubbard glacier before 3pm, it was far in the distance, but you could still see it.

[geoherb]

We were on the Sapphire last summer. Our cabin was a deluxe ocean view on the front of the ship on the Baja Deck. It's one of the cabins that was originally intended to be a balcony cabin, but they ended up reclassifying it as ocean view because they found out it was too windy to have furniture on the balcony at the front of the ship. Supposedly we weren't allowed to be out on the balcony while the ship was moving, but our cabin steward said it was OK as long as we made sure that we did not have lights on at night since they'd interfere with the officers on the bridge. The best part about this location is that we had great views of the glaciers, especially in Glacier Bay. The captain one side of the ship facing the glacier for about 30 minutes and then gradually turned the ship so the other side could have its turn. We could see the glacier the whole time.

[world_traveler_et]

Trying to figure out how to show some of my photos....

 

Cruiser 808,

If you haven't checked out the board photo & camera discussions--I started thread on what is the best way to photograph glaciers.

 

This would be another great place for you to share your beautiful photographs.

[cruise_808]

Thanks, I will check it out!