Alaskan cruise - how are the waters?

[cmsnyder77]

Could anyone give me a general idea of what to expect as far as roughness of the seas in Alaska in June?
No one in my family gets seasick, but the rough seas in our last Caribbean cruise in November makes us a bit wary of taking another cruise. Just not sure what it's like in Alaska.

 

[dcassetta]

Could anyone give me a general idea of what to expect as far as roughness of the seas in Alaska in June?
No one in my family gets seasick, but the rough seas in our last Caribbean cruise in November makes us a bit wary of taking another cruise. Just not sure what it's like in Alaska.

For much of the Alaska cruise, you're sailing through the inside passage in between islands. The cruise is likely to be very calm.

 

[Aby]

The first night at sea and part of the second day can be a bit rough as you are sailing outside the passage for awhile, but as soon as you enter the inside passage waters they become almost like glass. Very smooth sailing from that point forward!

Aby

 

[Geomom]

We did our first cruise this past August, the DCL Alaskan one, so I have nothing else to compare it to. I felt queasy before and at dinner the first night--just getting used to the movement of the ship--but ginger ale settled my stomach at dinner. After that I felt the movement of the ship on the days at sea, but didn't feel queasy at all. DD16 felt queasy the first night and the next day at sea--I ended up picking up the free meclizine samples in the bin outside health services for her and she felt good after taking 1. The 'Tracy Arm' day was rough in the morning as we were still facing open ocean--DD16 took more medicine that morning. From Tracy Arm through the 3 port days, you're on the inside passage and it was fine. The last day at sea had us facing open ocean again and DD16 needed more medicine. The ship was really rocking early afternoon, and I felt like I might roll out of bed that night (but I didn't.) We were in oceanview room 2116, deck 2 by the aft elevators.

 

[anricat]

We were on the same cruise as Geomom, and I'm extremely sensitive. I took along the patches that I had used on our Magic cruise in the Caribbean from the October before and didn't need them AT ALL. In fact, I forgot to take my Bonine a couple of times! I would say 80% of the cruise, the water was like glass. It was like sailing on a lake! The first day and the last day were a bit more in terms of movement. In my midship room (also on deck 2) I actually never felt like I might roll out of bed. I only really noticed it the last afternoon in the Walt Disney Theatre and on that first day when I went running on deck 4. Otherwise, it was really calm and smooth.

 

[Disneyteachers]

We were on the 8/1 sailing this year and none of us get sea sick (and we all boat in open ocean) and none of us had any issue on the ship at all. No drugs, no sea bands, etc! (I was prepared with all of it, but we didn't use anything.)

 

[Drusilla99]

Go in knowing no two cruises will be alike. That being said, I usually take Dramamine daily, but on our July 2016 Alaskan cruise I often forgot and felt no effect from it. We had extremely calm seas.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I'm in agreement with the idea of going in knowing, no two cruises will be the same for the most part and people also have a different opinion or perception of what is "rough seas" and not. I can offer my personal observation as we were on the 8/8/16 sailing as a few mentioned above and we also sailed in 6/2013 before. In 2013, smooth as glass and never felt any movement really and like others said, the water looked like glass nearly the entire sailing. Our 8/2016 sailing was different, enough so we noticed it. Nothing that compares say to the North Sea last summer (which still wasn't bad at all) but enough that we were moving indeed. The water was "active" outside of Vancouver and one other place that I'm not remembering for some reason. We had a deck 2 oceanview cabin and the water splashed decently high a few times. We felt the "pitching" feeling of going up and down in the water but again we were far forward which that tends to happen in that location and we're just used to it.

SO - with all that, lol - yes it was a noticeable difference between our 6/2013 and 8/2016 sailings doing the same cruise, however not nearly a huge deal at all compared to other locations we've sailed with DCL. Go in with some precautions if the movement does bother you or your family but there is a good chance you won't be impacted at all

Heather

 

[saxmangeoff]

The first night at sea and part of the second day can be a bit rough as you are sailing outside the passage for awhile, but as soon as you enter the inside passage waters they become almost like glass. Very smooth sailing from that point forward!

Also, the last day (sea day) is in the same open waters as the first night and second day, so that is the other opportunity for rough water.

 

[YohoAPiratesLife4Me]

Could anyone give me a general idea of what to expect as far as roughness of the seas in Alaska in June?
No one in my family gets seasick, but the rough seas in our last Caribbean cruise in November makes us a bit wary of taking another cruise. Just not sure what it's like in Alaska.

Oh my! We were looking into doing a Western Caribbean in early December. Were you on the Eastern or Western itinerary? I don't usually have problems with sea sickness but my mom uses the Dramamine patch and with it she is usually okay. We have only ever done three and four night Bahamas itineraries. Thanks in advance! =)

 

[jdb in AZ]

Oh my! We were looking into doing a Western Caribbean in early December. Were you on the Eastern or Western itinerary? I don't usually have problems with sea sickness but my mom uses the Dramamine patch and with it she is usually okay. We have only ever done three and four night Bahamas itineraries. Thanks in advance! =)

It really depends on the weather. If you have a storm at sea, the wind will blow the waves around. A PP mentioned the North Sea. When we cruised the North Sea a few years ago it was smooth as glass.

 

[xavier2001]

In June 2016 we had only one rocky night before the ship entered the Inside Passage. I didn't notice the movement of the ship as much as the creaking of the ship. Nothing compared to our Eastern Carribbean Cruise when the ship rocked so much the hangers banged and the closets kept sliding open. Once we were in the Inside Passage like others said smooth as glass.