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Alaska Cruise August
I'm a first time cruiser, doing a 7 day Holland America Inside Passage
Glacier Cruise round-trip from Vancouver in late August. What sort of weather can I expect, both on the cruise and in Vancouver, where I have 4 days before the cruise ? I'm 60+ and won't be doing an extreme activities! -- Anne South Australia |
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Alaska Cruise August
On 3/26/2008 9:59 PM Anne Chambers consulted a Magic 8 Ball and declared:
I'm a first time cruiser, doing a 7 day Holland America Inside Passage Glacier Cruise round-trip from Vancouver in late August. What sort of weather can I expect, both on the cruise and in Vancouver, where I have 4 days before the cruise ? I'm 60+ and won't be doing an extreme activities! For outdoors, pack clothes you can wear and remove in layers. It's possible to encounter a day of 80F or as low as 40F. Also pack some kind of rain gear as it may rain on and off. If you have a cabin with a balcony, it's possible to view marine life right from your balcony. August is kind of late for some types of whale spotting, as they have begun to migrate to Hawaii for calving in the island's warmer waters. Still there are Fish Eagles, Bald Eagles, Sea Lions, Penguins and resident Orsa to spot. Field glasses or a camera with a large telephoto lens (or both) will aid in marine wildlife spotting. If you already have your booking number. Go to Holland America Lines web site. On the excursions page, click on the link marked passengers. Enter your booking number when prompted. A page will open that lists excursions specific to your cruise. You can review them as HAL will list excursions by degree of activity or physical effort involved. While it is possible to book these excursions online, wait. I would wait until embarkation as some excursions may be canceled. Traditionally, the spa and the specialty restaurant offer discounted rates on disembarkation day. They fill up fast. So be sure to book these as soon as you board. Spa appointments don't have to be for embarkation day in order to benefit from the discount. They just have to be booked on that day. There are usually signs on easels displayed somewhere on the deck where you board. Check these for details. Even if you don't have a balcony, there are blankets available on the Lido deck. You can borrow a couple of these and stake out a lounge on the outside Promenade deck. If you let one of the Lido waiters know where you plan to be, they can arrange to bring you hot cocoa and refills or stronger stuff if that's your pleasure. -- ________ To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address. Brian M. Kochera "Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!" View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951 |
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Alaska Cruise August
Brian K wrote:
snip extremely useful information Thanks for that, Brian. I do have a verandah suite, so I will remember to pack the binoculars. -- Anne South Australia |
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Alaska Cruise August
Brian K wrote:
Anne Chambers wrote: I'm a first time cruiser, doing a 7 day Holland America Inside Passage Glacier Cruise round-trip from Vancouver in late August. *What sort of weather can I expect, both on the cruise and in Vancouver, where I have 4 days before the cruise ? *I'm 60+ and won't be doing an extreme activities! For outdoors, pack clothes you can wear and remove in layers. *It's possible to encounter a day of 80F or as low as 40F. Agreed. Its harder to do for a longer trip like this...and for Alaska... but what I find useful in overseas business travel is to check the local weather report on the Web a couple of times before I leave, to see if I might want to do some 11th hour tweaking of what I'm packing. For places I've been to before, I'll do this at 4-5 days before, the day I pack and a final check ~12 hours before leaving for the airport. *Also pack some kind of rain gear as it may rain on and off. * Rain gear that's comfortable to wear when its warm or cold can be a challenge. In general, it means paying the bucks for a good breathable GorTex shell and then layering with Polartech. Don't forget gloves. If you have a cabin with a balcony, it's possible to view marine life right from your balcony. * August is kind of late for some types of whale spotting, as they have begun to migrate to Hawaii for calving in the island's warmer waters. * Still there are Fish Eagles, Bald Eagles, Sea Lions, Penguins and * resident*Orsa to spot. Penguins? The closest wild one is around 2000 miles to the South, in the Galapagos. You probably mean Cormorants, although I think that the ones in that region aren't the flightless variant. Field glasses or a camera with a large telephoto lens (or both) will aid in marine wildlife spotting. * For either, having Image Stabilization (IS) technology in your optics is often help here. FYI, the Canon binoculars with IS tend to eat through their batteries, so do *not* travel with a battery installed in them unless you want to have a dead battery to throw away, and carry a spare since its a harder battery type to find. The good news is that they'll continue to work (merely unstabilized) after the battery goes dead. If you're looking for a reputable place to buy them at a good price, use B&H's website ( www.bhphotovideo.com ) -hh |
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Alaska Cruise August
On Mar 26, 8:59�pm, Anne Chambers wrote:
I'm a first time cruiser, doing a 7 day Holland America Inside Passage Glacier Cruise round-trip from Vancouver in late August. �What sort of weather can I expect, both on the cruise and in Vancouver, where I have 4 days before the cruise ? �I'm 60+ and won't be doing an extreme activities! -- Anne South Australia We took and Inside Passage cruise in August. the weather was very mild, a light jacket was all we needed, the days were partly sunny to sunny, and had maybe one shower. Vancouver was about the same, mild weather, everything was green and beautiful , quite a difference from Texas weather. We were told that there was usually more rain, I don't know if this is true, but the beautiful green city looked as if it got planty of rain. Rosie |
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Alaska Cruise August
On Mar 27, 4:58�am, Anne Chambers wrote:
Brian K wrote: � snip extremely useful information Thanks for that, Brian. I do have a verandah suite, so I will remember to pack the binoculars. -- Anne South Australia those are a must! We saw all sorts of marine life, whales etc and many different kinds of birds. Rosie |
#7
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Alaska Cruise August
rosie wrote: On Mar 27, 4:58�am, Anne Chambers wrote: Brian K wrote: � snip extremely useful information Thanks for that, Brian. I do have a verandah suite, so I will remember to pack the binoculars. -- Anne South Australia those are a must! We saw all sorts of marine life, whales etc and many different kinds of birds. Rosie With a Verandah Suite you may find that there are binoculars supplied in the suite. Check with the cruise line. You may want to have a pair of binoculars with a Zoom capability, since high magnification is not always the best for spotting things. Of course, if you really want to do it "right" a pair of stabilized zoom binoculars is really fantastic for use from a ship. Have a great trip, and you really need to think in terms of layers for clothes. A nice sweater and a windproof jacket along with some rainwear should take care of your outside clothing needs. Vancouver is very green in August, because it gets lots and lots of moisture. Cheers, John in LALALand (On the US Left Coast) |
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Alaska Cruise August
This is a no brainer, but I thought I'd mention it any way. When you
meet your room steward, ask him for extra blankets you can wrap around you on your balcony. You can also dial Room Service and ask for a pot of hot cocoa, tea or whatever if it's chilly outside. -- ________ To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address. Brian M. Kochera "Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!" View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951 |
#9
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Alaska Cruise August
Anne Chambers wrote:
I'm a first time cruiser, doing a 7 day Holland America Inside Passage Glacier Cruise round-trip from Vancouver in late August. What sort of weather can I expect, both on the cruise and in Vancouver, where I have 4 days before the cruise ? I'm 60+ and won't be doing an extreme activities! Many thanks for all the responses - duly noted! -- Anne Chambers, South Australia anne dot chambers at bigpond dot com |
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