Princess 5-day Sampler (Vancouver) sailing route?

[gjb2019]

Hello - new to this board and have never been on a cruise before. I am hoping someone here can answer a couple of questions / tell of your experiences with the round-trip Vancouver 5-day cruise on the Island Princess. It's advertised as a "5-day Alaska Sampler" cruise; next sailing is Sept. 11th.

 

We have seen numerous different route map / diagrams for this cruise on vendor websites, and we are confused about whether or not the ship spends any significant length of time west of Vancouver Island / Haida Gwaii. Some of them show the same inside passage route in both directions, some show part inside / part outside northbound, and then there are variations on both of those themes. We phoned Princess and asked them, and they basically said (after a looong wait on hold for them to get the information) that they do not know. The diagram on their site shows the boat leaving Vancouver and going south around the lower tip of Vancouver island, taking the Seattle route, sailing all the way west of the islands for the entire northbound trip ... the person we spoke to said that's incorrect, but they could not tell us how much of the route might be on the outside; they did not know (!).

 

If the boat does take the Seattle outside route northbound, is it a rough trip?? Motion sickness is a possiblity with our family so it'f really help us to know what the waters are like.

 

Anyone been on this trip? We'd love to hear what route was used when you went, what side of the boat is best, and if you enjoyed the trip. Thanks!

Edited July 10, 2019 by gjb2019