July 26, 2011 – 7 Night Alaska ~ Bears, Whales, Eagles and Ducks. Oh My!

[kwm]

We thought the weather was fantastic! No rain! I talked to a cast member on deck that the cruise prior to ours, the weather was very bad. Rain, thunder and choppy seas. At one point, they had to close the deck 9 for a little while - no pool or food. I would go crazy!

 

[memowse9]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the great fe gifts! Even my husband (who is a big fireman, truck driver guy) got excited when we came down the hallway and saw stuff in the pockets! Already planning my next fe!!!

 

[lbgraves]

We thought the weather was fantastic! No rain! I talked to a cast member on deck that the cruise prior to ours, the weather was very bad. Rain, thunder and choppy seas. At one point, they had to close the deck 9 for a little while - no pool or food. I would go crazy!

WOW!!!! That must have been bad. We had 15 foot swells with 50 knot head winds in January and they closed the pools but not the food locations on deck 9. It must have been really bad. When I talked to someone in Vancouver at Grouse Mountain she said that she used to work on a cruise ship that went to Alaska. She warned me that the clouds usually affect visibility and you don't actually SEE very much in Ketchikan, which is why I was happy that it was so clear when we were there.

In Skagway I did try to think about what that town would be like during the winter...Northern Exposure came to mind. I would imagine it would be easy to get depressed if the day we were there was a very good day for the location.

 

[brackjr]

You guys do know that we didn't go to Tracy Arm, right?

Did I miss something? That big thing of ice was somethng else?

 

[brackjr]

Yup. Endicott Arm and the Dawes Glacier is what we saw.

 

[ariel39]

Really that wasn't tracy arm? How dumb am I........I couldn't understand the captain so he could have said it, but when we were in the events they said we were....

 

[BubbaGrump]

Yup. Endicott Arm and the Dawes Glacier is what we saw.

Why no Tracy Arm????

 

[scoutsmom99]

We thought the weather was fantastic! No rain! I talked to a cast member on deck that the cruise prior to ours, the weather was very bad. Rain, thunder and choppy seas. At one point, they had to close the deck 9 for a little while - no pool or food. I would go crazy!

I was on the July 19th sailing and we actually had gorgeous weather all around (even made it past the split at Tracy Arm) and I don't remember the pools or the food outlets closing on deck 9 during our sailing. It is funny because on our cruise the cast members were telling us how bad the weather was on the cruise before us

 

[lbgraves]

I talked to someone from a different ship who had come back on Sunday before our cruise on the way to Grouse Mountain. She told me that it was quite warm in Ketchikan the day they were there. Perhaps the CM got their cruises mixed up.

Regarding not going to Tracy Arm, they said that the visibility there was less than a mile so the Captain chose to go to Dawes Glacier instead. The fog/mist that morning was pretty bad so I was happy that we went where we did. This makes me wonder how many times they have actually gone to Tracy Arm and how many times it has been a diffferent glacier. From the few pictures I have seen of Tracy Arm, what we saw was just as beautiful, if not more so. We didn't see any seals as had been reported in previous trip reports, but that is never guaranteed. The colors were amazing! A couple of the crew members said that we were able to get very close to the glacier compared to other visits in Tracy Arm.

 

[plutojudy]

Huh, I didn't know that wasn't Tracy Arm! I guess we missed that announcement. I'm sure many others thought that was Tracy Arm.

 

[lbgraves]

The captain first announced it before we started going down the passage way. He explained the visibility was reported as being low at Tracy Arm and they would make the decision when we got closer as to if we would go there or detour to Dawes glacier since they were at a fork in the water. Did anybody else see the glacier that was just outside of Ketchikan I think it was [may have been Skagway but I'm too tired to remember right now]. They had told us that you could normally see it but the clouds were lower during the day. After dinner I was up on deck 9 getting some hot chocolate [must have been skipping the movie night] and we were passing it. It was just hanging down from the top of the mountain.

 

[plutojudy]

I wish they would change the announcements system. The announcements SHOULD be heard in the staterooms with an option to turn it off if someone is napping. We were up on deck for part of that day or watched from our verandah wrapped in blankets. By the time we would run in, turn tv on to the right channel we would miss some of the announcement.

 

[brackjr]

Huh, I didn't know that wasn't Tracy Arm! I guess we missed that announcement. I'm sure many others thought that was Tracy Arm.

I know I thought it was! I quess if you've seen one glacier you've seen them all.

 

[brackjr]

I posted some photos by the ship's photographers on FB today and I hope to finally go through my many, many photos soon.

 

[brackjr]

Did anyone see the video about the glacier calving? Was that when we were there? I remember someone telling about a big one falling and coming close to a small boat.

Do a search on YouTube using "Holy Crap".

 

[MrsMork]

Huh, I didn't know that wasn't Tracy Arm! I guess we missed that announcement. I'm sure many others thought that was Tracy Arm.

I had a hard time understanding anything the Captain was saying, even when I stopped and listened real hard. Dennis heard that we might not go to Tracy Arm, but we never heard an announcement as to where we actually were. I'm thinking it did not matter, both beautiful and amazing.

 

[grandmatotwo]

Thanks again everyone for letting us join in your FE. We had lots of fun with it. We took our FE down a couple times thinking it must be done to come back and find something else - so we put it back up again.

I didn't know we never went to Tracy Arm until I was reading the last few posts. Who knew

I found the weather a bit cool. Mostly just wore an extra sweatshirt (one day a toque while on deck) and then my husband's coat sometimes also.

Had a blast. Still haven't downloaded my pics.

Also, still waiting to hear from disney about the photos that I bought and left up on deck 10.

 

[lbgraves]

Also, still waiting to hear from disney about the photos that I bought and left up on deck 10.

OH NO!!!! You might want to contact the company that handles the photos themselves. Who knows. Their email/website is in the FAQ thread.

 

[brackjr]

Finally getting to look through some of my photos tonight. I have posted some on Facebook.

Question? Are we going to continue here or move back to the Geek thread? If we move back could someone post the link for me? Thanks.

 

[ariel39]

The captain first announced it before we started going down the passage way. He explained the visibility was reported as being low at Tracy Arm and they would make the decision when we got closer as to if we would go there or detour to Dawes glacier since they were at a fork in the water. Did anybody else see the glacier that was just outside of Ketchikan I think it was [may have been Skagway but I'm too tired to remember right now]. They had told us that you could normally see it but the clouds were lower during the day. After dinner I was up on deck 9 getting some hot chocolate [must have been skipping the movie night] and we were passing it. It was just hanging down from the top of the mountain.

WOW NEVER KNEW IT!!! It was very misty on deck 10 so we all went back to our rooms and then later in the day went to the tea party. I even think they mentioned on how wonderful Tracey Arm was that day. WOW!!! Oh well it was still beautiful.