Date: 4/27/26 11:56 am From: Harry LeGrand (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: Comments and recommendations on pelagic birding -- from the small boats to the larger cruise ships
Wayne and Simon have good points.
To Wayne comment's -- yes, a large cruise ship, in the case of the Eurodam
that I took, it was a repositioning cruise. But these huge ships are not
catered to birders; they cater to folks who want to eat, sleep, gamble, and
be entertained by performers! Most of these folks never even look at the
ocean! And, yes, ships continue sailing at night; they don't anchor or
slow down. So, we are missing 40-50% of the route at night. In fact, this
San Diego to Vancouver trip often misses Ashy Storm-Petrel -- we did --
because its main foraging area was passed by at night. On the other hand,
my much more favored naturalist cruises DO take into account rare birds, as
these trips ARE for birders and other people wanting to see natural
resources. Thus, on the Western Pacific Odyssey, there are at least 5-6
quite rare or localized species that HAVE to be passed by during daylight,
and the ship itinerary IS geared to this -- 1) New Zealand Storm-Petrel; 2)
Heinroth's Shearwater; 3) Beck's Petrel; and 4) Btyan's Shearwater, to name
several. In fact, the ship stopped in Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand for
guides to lay out an oil slick, and the NZ SP -- which are striped below --
come to the oil slick. They laid out another oil slick off New Ireland
(island) for the Beck's, but they didn't come in. But, we did see about 6
near there, and had we passed the area that night -- zippo. The Heinroth's
Shearwater apparently breeds on Kolombangara Island in the Solomons, and
thus we positioned the ship in the nearby waters and had them in the last 2
hours of light. The Bryan's is a very rare small shearwater that breeds on
a small island east of Japan, and again we had the ship cruise back and
forth for the last two hours of light, when we did see a few. We had the
ship close to Torishima to see the colony of Short-tailed Albatrosses, and
the leaders chummed in back of the ship and we had several dozen of these
endangered albatrosses feeding within 50 yards of the ship!! We also
cruised close to a rocky island where the beautiful Japanese Murrelets
nest, and saw 40-50 in the water. Had this trip been on a major cruise
line, without regard to birds, leaving New Zealand and heading to Japan,
who knows how many rare species we would have missed, as you are simply
birding by chance on them.
As for Simon's comment -- the Eurodam apparently is closed off at the bow
on the Promenade Deck (Deck 3), so all birders were positioned along the
sides of the ship, toward to front. Yes, being directly in the bow DOES get
you closer to the birds up front, before and as they take off -- but with
air temps in the 50s and 60s and water temps maybe in the 50s and the ship
moving at 19 knots (over 20 mph), and into a northerly wind on our trip, it
would have been VERY windy and COLD had we had a bow to use! But, on all
naturalist ships, the bow is usually available, but in high seas it can be
closed off owing to high seas and spray. At least, birding along the sides
of the Eurodam, it was comfortable, sheltered from wind and spray, with the
understanding that birds are already flying away from the "moving condo"
when we see them. This is why I MUCH prefer the naturalist cruises -- they
are geared for birders, whale-watchers, and others who want to get out to
islands on Zodiacs and walk along the edges of penguin colonies, etc.
Harry LeGrand
On Mon, Apr 27, 2026 at 2:11 PM Simon Thompson <simonrbt...> wrote:
> Harry at al
> Thanks for the information.
> I have just returned from a cruise down the California coast and
> unfortunately the 2 sea days had bad weather.
> There are pros and cons as Harry mentioned and another point to bear in
> mind is the age of the cruise
> Ship. Newer ones don’t have the open bow which allows for easy (windy)
> viewing, but at least you can access both port and starboard very quickly.
> Many of the new ships don’t have promenade decks that encircle the whole
> ship and you are restricted to viewing from one side or the other.
> I was on the Ruby Princess which had a good promenade deck and a great
> viewing area. We had a pretty good run - despite the weather.
> Here’s the trip report:
> https://ebird.org/tripreport/505336 > Simon
>
> Simon RB Thompson
> Asheville, NC and Halesworth, Suffolk UK
>
> Ventures Birding Tours
> http://www.birdventures.com/ <http://www.birdventures.com/> >
> Please use the Ventures e-Mail (<Venturesbirding...>) to contact the
> Ventures office - thanks!
>
>
>
> On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 at 10:22, Harry LeGrand <carolinabirds...>
> wrote:
>
>> Folks,
>>
>> I finally did my first pelagic birding trip from a major cruise line
>> ship, after doing 80-100 pelagic trips from various sizes of boats and
>> smaller naturalist trip ships. Though my sole experience on the
>> 2,100-passenger Eurodam along the Pacific Coast of the USA a week ago will
>> differ from other birders' experiences on cruise ships in other regions,
>> such as Antarctica, at least now I have experienced birding with a scope on
>> a ship (for better or worse). [The birds on this trip were quite skittish
>> and mostly far from the ship, whereas in other areas they are more easily
>> seen from the ships.] So, here are my recommendations for those who enjoy
>> pelagic birds and birding as much as I do.
>>
>> *Single-day trips on boats* (6-man boats up to perhaps 50-passenger
>> boats).
>> POSITIVES:
>> 1. large number of coastal locale options to choose from, with dozens of
>> trips from some ports - such as from Hatteras Inlet (Seabirding Inc.) as
>> well as places such as Monterey and other West Coast ports.
>> 2. Closeness of the birds to the boat. The smaller the vessel, the less
>> shy birds are.
>> 3. Potential for the skipper/leader to have the boat chase after a rare
>> bird flying away or to travel to a distant bird or flock of birds to get
>> closer
>> 4. always a large number of other birders on board, assuming a boat
>> chartered for this purpose
>>
>> NEGATIVES:
>> 1. Poor weather can often cause cancellation (or postponement) of the trip
>> 2. Boat rocks more than on larger boats and ships; thus many people who
>> get seasick will avoid this option
>> 3. More costly than with other options, and some to many all-day
>> trips can cost $200 or more a person.
>>
>>
>> *Multiple day trips on naturalist ships* (typically 50-150 passengers
>> for 1-2 weeks or more)
>> POSITIVES:
>> 1. More stable vessel for holding steady, though still not suitable for
>> scopes; birds are not too distant, and most can be identified with
>> binoculars
>> 2. Nearly always several hired birders or naturalists on the cruise who
>> assist or lead passengers in identifying birds; usually quite a few birders
>> on board as well, and thus usually many people on board to spot and
>> identify birds
>> 3. Most vessels have small Zodiacs that will ferry passengers to shore at
>> various stops, often two visits per day.
>> 4. Routes are usually 500 miles or more long and with a good potential
>> for dozens of pelagic species
>>
>> NEGATIVES:
>> 1. Costly, as most trips will run $500 or more a day, such as $5000 or
>> more for a 10-day trip; food included, but often set lunch and dinner menus
>> 2. Scopes are not feasible, as the vessels still rock a bit
>> 3. Normally, these small ships do not veer off the set course to examine
>> a distant flock of birds
>>
>> *Multiple day trips on cruise ships* (typically 1,000 or more
>> passengers, for 5 days or more)
>> POSITIVES:
>> 1. Quite inexpensive, often averaging about $200/day that includes all
>> you-can-eat buffets and free entertainment options
>> 2. The vessel is large enough to be quite stable, with often little
>> rocking; so scope can be used
>> 3. Though cruise ships do not normally have hired birders on board, there
>> may well be birding groups onboard with their own leaders and experts
>> 4. The routes are often 1,000 miles long or more and thus there is a
>> potential for a long list of species
>>
>> NEGATIVES:
>> 1. Birds can often be far away, especially on the open sea. Even with a
>> scope, smaller species such as storm-petrels and most alcids can be
>> difficult to ID. Thankfully, birds are less flighty along a shoreline or
>> next to the coast.
>> 2. More red-tape in booking and boarding with a major cruise line, though
>> not much more than with a naturalist cruise company; packing and dealing
>> with scopes on ships can be risky and troublesome.
>> 3. The very large number of people on-board (a few thousand), often
>> leading to crowded conditions at dining facilities.
>>
>>
>> I hope this helps, but the main choice(s) of vessel type depends mostly
>> on where you want to go and what species you are most interested in (and
>> that includes mammals such as whales, dolphins, seals, Polar Bears, and
>> Walruses) -- and secondarily on the size of the vessel you want to use for
>> travel. You will find that some species you want to see can only
>> reasonably be reached with a large cruise ship, or with a naturalist ship,
>> whereas other species are best searched for on single-day boat trips --
>> such as looking for Gulf Stream birds off the NC coast.
>>
>> Harry LeGrand
>> Raleigh, NC
>>
>>
>>
