I had about a dozen SF Bay Area travel agencies ,"Cruise Specialists", tell me that May was "not ordinarily too early to see herring come in in masses, and bring the whales salmon and Orcas".
So I booked not 7 days but 2 weeks , as I was saving up for this desired trip for years !!
The smaller cruise ship was very luxurious on boarding off Seattle, and the recent cooking school grad chef was much better than me, and the views around the SE corner of Vancouver Island were truely Breath-taking, if you love Nature.
But no Orcas. For 2 full week weeks, all the way up to almost Glacier Bay !! Not one Orca. Did you know Glacier Bay charges cruises ships HUGE ENTRANCE FEES !? Huge, like the $300 for a 45ft bus with say only 5 guests to enter Yosemite !! Glacier Bay needs to be honest and publicly confess this fully.
And only a few whales, maybe a dozen,,, in 2 long full outside on deck weeks ?!!
I asked the ship's crew.
All told me quite frankly that "MAY IS TOO EARLY TO SEE MANY OR ANY PODS OF ORCAS, UNLESS YOU ARE VERY LUCKY, AS THE HERRING TINY FISH ARE NOT HERE YET IN LARGE ENOUGH NUMBERS. EVERYBODY UP HERE KNOWS THIS. DIDN'T THEY TELL YOU the truth DOWN THERE IN THE LOWER 48 ?"
And the cruise lines charge FULL PRICE for MAY , when it should be severely discounted, like a repositioning cruise.
Don't fall for this MASSIVE TRAVEL INDUSTRY LIE, and waste $1000s by going too early on the INSIDE PASSAGE from Seattle/Vancouver to Alaska !!
Wait until June, at least.
July is even better.
"Everybody know this,,, up here. Didn't they tell you the truth,,, down there ?"
Another Inside Passage "trick" involving float plane rides.
On the ship they said they could negociate a low price for this fun amazing excursion. But I did as well on my own on the dock ! And then the small plane company last minute switched the 3 of us from the ADVERTISED roomy, bigger engine Beaver or Otter, feel safer, to a tiny engine and cramped Cessna !!
THIS MUST BE A HUGE AND COMMON DECEIT IN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA !!
We were all bouncing in buffeting air and hanging on for dear life !! Next time I will cancel and find a more honest float plane excursion company !!
Don't think all the cruise ship dock restaurants are safe !!
No grade signs on front doors,,, and I got sooo sick at one in St.Petersburg !!
All these restaurants should be health inspected much more often and big grade signs on the front door !! I skipped a paid for meal onboard ship to eat "locally with the locals".
Big mistake, like in Mexico.
Happy trails !!
