Click here to see more photos of our Alaska trip
Cruising to Alaska
Whenever we get in a discussion about cruises with someone,
the subject of Alaska comes up. Everyone we have ever talked to has
mentioned that their cruise to Alaska was the best cruise they had ever taken.
We decided to find out for ourselves.
We recruited our friends Richard and Bernadette to travel
with us on what was to be their very first cruise. This required that I
research the available ships to ensure that we picked an itinerary that would
ensure that they were still our friends at the end of the cruise.
From
the plethora of options available, we finally settled on a northbound cruise
from Vancouver, B.C. to Whittier, AK on the Island Princess. We figured
the northbound cruise in the spring season would give us the most to see in a
weeklong voyage. Afactor in our choice of ships was the availability of
balcony staterooms at a reasonable price.
Things got off to a good start with
the efficient handling of luggage by the cruise line. They gave us special
luggage tags, which allowed us to check our
bags at the San Diego airport and have them delivered directly onboard to our
staterooms. We travelled through Vancouver “in bond”, bypassing all of the
normal customs and immigration bottlenecks. They actually put a seal on
our bus door to ensure we did not stop anywhere in Canada between the airport
and the cruise ship!
The ship was a little late in departing, apparently because
they were taking longer then expected to load the luggage. We looked
over
the side to watch the process and realized that they must have had truckloads of
luggage. They kept bringing cages full of bags to the loading ramp by
forklift, where the handlers tossed the bags on a conveyor belt. However,
our luggage arrived safely at our stateroom a couple of hours later.
We ate a late lunch then spent a couple of hours exploring
the ship. We had a nice view of Vancouver’s skyline. As the
ship got underway, we headed for the Provence dining room for our first evening
meal.
Ketchikan
Our first scheduled port visit was Ketchikan, center of
salmon fishing. Also a center of tourism. There were four cruise
ships in port this day, so the streets were full. Four cruise ships added
more than 5,000 visitors to the town’s 7,500 popu
lation.
As
with the other towns we were to visit, much of Ketchikan has been maintained as
a reminder of its historic past. The primary difference is that all of the
old buildings now house tourist shops. Notable is Creek Street, a wooden
walkway built out over a salmon stream. Originally a street of bordellos,
it is now a place to buy T-shirts, smoked salmon, reindeer jerky and other
tourist delights. It still maintains its own atmosphere though.
Most of the downtown area is the same.
We especially enjoyed two attractions, the fish hatchery
and the totem pole museum, a native
cultural center. It was an opportunity to learn how large a part of life
in Alaska revolves around the salmon.
We found the totem pole museum to be very educational as
well. We recommend it be included in
any
visit to Ketchikan. We met our first bald eagles at the fish hatchery.
They were two females that had been injured and were convalescing. We were
to see many more eagles during our trip. These are majestic looking birds,
even though they are largely scavengers.
The rest of our day was taken up by wandering around the
town, looking at the stores (avoiding jewelry
stores) and buying a few odds and ends of hats, jackets and
salmon to take home. Richard found a few hats he liked and Mike
bought a jacket. Pam wasted some money on smoked salmon. On to
Juneau!
Juneau
Juneau is the state capital, and is
unique as the only state capital not connected by road to the rest of the state.
Our main interest was a visit to the nearby Mendenhall Glacier. The ship
offered excursions to the
glacier for about $70 per person, but
we
found we could take a local shuttle bus there for $12 round trip. We could
have entered the visitor center free had we remembered to bring our “Golden Age”
passes. Without them, we had to bite the bullet and pay the $3 entry fee.
One of the best bargains of the trip.
This was our first glacier sighting, and we were awed.
We had heard about the “blue ice” but actually seeing it exceeded our
expectations. The ice near the bottom of the glacier, under tremendous
pressure, absorbs all but the blue wavelength of the light spectrum.
We hiked back to the lake in front of the glacier, the
closest we could get to the face. We had a few obstacles to get past, a
few small streams and a large rock fall. We scrambled carefully across the
rocks, and were rewarded with a great view of an imposing waterfall, which we
guessed
is melt water from the glacier that had found its way around to the side of the
ice.
We caught our shuttle bus back to town, and then returned
to the ship for a quick lunch. We decided to take our own walking tour of
downtown Juneau.
One of the sights that were recommended to us was the
Alaska State Museum. We located it on our map and headed across town.
We arrived at the museum located on our map and realized it was the city museum,
not the state museum we wanted to visit.
A friendly woman saved us. She saw us looking at the
map (and scratching our heads) and offered to show us a shortcut to the museum.
She took us into the state office building, up three floors by elevator, down a
long hallway, across a patio, and down another elevator. She then showed
us where to cut across a parking lot to the museum. A few minutes later,
we arrived without further difficulty. It is a very nice museum with
exhibits not only of the flora, fauna and native culture, but also an exhibit of
the
growth of tourism in Alaska.
We then started back to the ship, passing the famous Red
Dog Saloon (with its adjacent gift shop). We looked at the Mount Roberts
Tramway, which takes sightseers 2,000 feet up the mountain from the cruise ship
docks. We decided the ticket price of $25 was a bit much, so we passed on
the opportunity.
Back on board for another great meal, then on to Skagway.
Skagway
This is really a small town. We were the only ship in
port and we still more than doubled the town’s population for the day. It
is a quaint, well-maintained little place, so neat it reminded us of
Disneyland’s “Main Street”.
Clearly,
this town survives on the cruise ships. Every third store seems to be a
jewelry store, and the rest sell souvenirs. We did find an internet spot
and check our email. We decided we had pretty well explored the town after
a couple of hours.
Skagway’s place in history resulted from the 1898 Yukon
gold rush. The favored route to the Yukon gold fields was from Skagway 20
miles up the mountain by foot (gaining 3,000 feet
enroute) to White Pass, which is on the Canadian border. The Canadian
Mounted Police required that each prospector have supplies for a year, 2,000
pounds, before being allowed across the border. This could require as many
as 20 trips. When they finally hauled all their supplies to the top
(assuming they had not been stolen), they then had to join with others to cut
down trees and build a boat. When the ice on the lake and rivers broke in
the spring, they still had 550 miles to go by boat to the gold fields.
We decided to go visit the pass and
see where all the hopeful prospectors had to climb. We did it the easy
way, on the
White Pass and Yukon Route
railroad.
We were visiting in the spring, on a sunny, warm day.
There was still some snow on the hills, but just enough to fuel the imagination.
The prospectors were making this trip in full winter, in temperatures that
sometimes fell to the minus 50’s.
The name Skagway comes from the Tinglit word Skagua, which
means “home of the North Wind”. These mountain passes were full of sleet
and blowing snow.
I think I would have preferred to remain in Skagway and
open a saloon.
The dinner that evening included a special treat:
Alaskan king crab. Our very accommodating waiter Ferdinand brought us
order after order of crab legs. Richard and Mike each had four orders.
Pam and Bernadette settled for three orders.
We should have skipped dessert. (We didn’t though!)
Glacier Bay
Our next two days were at sea, cruising in Glacier Bay and
then College Fjord.
We started the day in Glacier Bay with a special breakfast
of smoked salmon, crab quiche, fruit, pastries, (and an omelette for me), and of
course, champagne. I guess the crab was left over from dinner the previous
evening. It was a little too cold on the balcony,
so
we ate in the room.
We really began to appreciate our
little balcony. We also gained an appreciation
for how cold it can be when you are up close to
a glacier.
Occasionally
we would hear a loud “crack”, almost like thunder, as a piece of ice broke off
from the front of the glacier.
This is called “calving”. We tried to get photos but
mostly missed.
Here again the ice was a bright blue, resulting from the
extreme compression. I had not thought about the surface of the glacier
being so rough. You can see a little of this in the photo to the left.
Clearly, you would not want to try to cross the ice near the leading edge.
We
spent most of the day in the bay, drifting. After awhile the Captain
turned the ship around to give
everyone on the other side of the ship the same view.
Eventually we had seen enough. Actually, it was
getting near time to have dinner. It was the second of the two “formal”
nights, so the girls got a chance to dress up. I guess the price of dinner
was wearing a coat and tie. We had lobster and Wellington beef. It
was worth it.
College Fjord
After cruising all night and most of the day we arrived at
College Fjord.
Members of the Harriman Expedition
named the fjord in 1898. They named the glaciers after Ivy League
and other Eastern
universities: Harvard, Yale, Vassar, about a dozen in all. We
arrived late in the afternoon – about 5 pm. We looked at glaciers for
awhile, and then went to dinner. After dinner it was still light so we
looked at glaciers some more. Sunset wasn’t until about 11 pm.
We
never got tired of looking at the glaciers. Pictures don’t do justice to
the scenery in Alaska. It was way over the top. We were fortunate to
have good weather the entire trip, with especially sunny days for our visits to
Glacier Bay and College Fjord.
We were nearing the end of the trip. Time to pack up
the suitcases and set them out in the passageway. We were careful to
double check that we had kept out clothing for the trip home, as our luggage
would be taken directly to the airport.
Disembarking
The ship pulled into Whittier just after midnight (they
said). We were scheduled for a 6:20 am departure from the ship, to catch
our bus for the hour’s drive to the Anchorage airport. We got up early,
looked out the window, and saw the first heavy rain of the trip. Of course
we had packed our umbrellas (never needed them) and heavy jackets in the
luggage, which was on the way to the airport. There was nothing to do for
it but to head for the buffet for one last huge breakfast, and wait for our turn
to leave the ship. We had only a short dash through the rain to our bus,
and we were on our way to Anchorage.
The ride to Anchorage was interesting, as the driver gave a
running commentary all the way. We also saw several eagles and a moose
that crossed the road ahead of us. They got us to the airport on time –
about five hours before our flight. We had to wait almost an hour before
we could check our luggage, but finally were rid of it and headed for the USO
for some coffee and quiet time. A long flight home with a stop in Seattle
and delays for maintenance before each departure. We finally arrived home
at midnight, tired but happy. Now we can start working off the weight we
gained on the ship!
