Alaskan Cruise - Advice Needed

[anonymouscuban]

Hey all. Looking for advice on an upcoming Alaska cruise. We depart on the 3rd of September. Disney cruise line. 7 days. It will be my wife and I and her parents.

I know cruising is not the best when it comes to photography but I want to make the best of it. I'd like to capture some decent landscapes during this trip. Not sure how realistic this will be since I will be at the mercy of the ships schedule.

Below is the trip itinerary.

This will be my first time in Alaska so not sure what to expect. I am assuming that like other cruise ports, the immediate areas are tourist traps and one must venture out. We do plan on some excursions. The one I'm most excited about is a helicopter ride out to a glacier to do some dog sledding. There is a train ride we plan on doing as well. Don't recall at which port though.

Gear wise, I will be bringing two D800 bodies. Lenses will be Nikon 14-24 f/2.8; Nikon 70-200 f/2.8; Nikon 50mm f/1.4. Also have 2x teleconverter to get some longer shots. Various ND filters for all my lenses. Tripod of course and other essentials.

Again, any advice on maximizing photographic opportunity, especially landscapes, will be greatly appreciated.

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[AlanKlein]

I did a similar cruise about 18 years ago with my wife. Great time. I was using a 35mm film camera back then and made a photo album of the trip. I also took a Mamiya Rb67 medium format film camera and only got the one decent below of the Hubbard Glacier from the ship. Too heavy to schlep the camera kit though. The best excursions we did was in Juneau. My wife didn't want to go on the helicopter glacier tour. But I convinced her to take a seaplane with one engine that flew up the Taku River to the Taku lodge where we landed and had a baked salmon dinner. Fly over glaciers and the landing was by a glacier. Saw some bears etc. Really nice trip. Nice photo from the plane and the areas visited. YOu'll also pass some wonderful mountain scenes during the cruise from the ship.

Your train ride sounds like the one in Skagway which is like an old western town. Lots of charm.

Have a great trip. Don;t take pot. Canada customs had dogs smelling all the people on the plane and stopped about 4 of them to be searched. Of course that was back then so I don;t know what they do today.

Hubbard Glacier by Alan Klein, on Flickr

 

[stapo49]

We did an Alaskan cruise last year that was similar to yours only leaving from Seattle going to Juneau, Skagway and and Tracey Arm. There was a big push on the cruise to try get you into jewellery stores once on shore.

We ended up going to dog sled camp in Juneau and in Skagway I did a mountain bike tour while my wife went to a wildlife shelter. Mountain bike tour was great. Salmon had just finished spawning and where everywhere in the river

The problem with Alaska is there is just to much beautiful scenery to photograph lol. It is certainly different from the countryside where I come from. I attached a few photographs from the trip.

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[Dean_Gretsch]

My advice is : DO NOT buy the canned moose poop! Keep your eye out for humpbacks surfacing in the channel when you visit Ketchikan. Our son-in-law was stationed there in the US Coast Guard, so we had a great tour guide that drove us up a summit to see beautiful views of St George Inlet when we were there in May. I went expecting to spend time searching for wildlife opps, but actually found myself taking pics of the myriad types of ships/boats in the area. You will enjoy your experience, I am sure! Looking forward to your photos!