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Alaska 2004: chart a course to the wonders & wilderness of "the last frontier" - Cruise Guide
Cruise Travel, Sept-Oct, 2003 by M.T. Schwartzman
Imagine an old-growth rain forest brimming with exotic flora and fauna. Somewhere in the Caribbean? Central America? South America? No, Alaska. It's called the Tongass National Forest and it covers virtually all of Southeast Alaska--the same stretch of coastline that cruise ships travel every year from May through September.
The Tongass is just one of the wonders of cruising Alaska. There are glaciers left over from the Little Ice Age, more bald eagles than anywhere else in the United States, islands where bears outnumber people, and new for 2004, a private destination built just for cruise passengers.
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This, however, is only the beginning. Cruise ships ply some 3,000 miles of Alaska's coastal wilderness stopping at picturesque ports and exploring scenic bays and fjords along the way. Alaska is a land of many faces, and the course you chart will affect how you experience this place they call "The Great Land."
Today's Alaska-bound cruise travelers of have more choices than ever before. There are several homeports inside and outside Alaska, plus a variety of itineraries You'll also have a wide selection of pre or post-cruise land tour options, depending on where you embark or debark (see "Land Options").
For starters, Alaska has two basic itineraries that are selected by the vast majority of people. The traditional route, known as the Inside Passage, sails roundtrip from Vancouver or Seattle--and sometimes San Francisco. This is the historic path to Alaska, the one taken by explorers and then prospectors during the gold rush, as they made their way up Alaska's southeastern shores and then over the coastal mountains to the Klondike goldfields. Even the original cruise passengers followed this route, when several thousand a year flocked to see the newly discovered wonder of Glacier Bay in the late 1880s.
Many cruise lines also offer what's known as a Gulf of Alaska cruise, sailing one-way between Vancouver and Seward or Whittier (the port cities for Anchorage). This route emerged as a popular alternative to the Inside Passage in 1987, when Princess Cruises began service aboard the 1,200-passenger Royal Princess. Since then, the number of ships sailing a Gulf of Alaska itinerary has grown to at least a dozen in 2004. Gulf cruises cover the same southeastern coast as Inside Passage cruises, but also add the southcentral region, most notable fur its concentration of tidewater glaciers in College Fjord.
While most Alaska cruises are weeklong affairs, several longer options are available. Among the newest is an 12-day itinerary from Seattle to Sitka. Operated by the American West Steamboat Company, this unique vacation sails aboard the 235-passenger Empress of the North, the first paddle-wheeler to cruise Alaskan waters in more than a century. Lengthy repositioning cruises on other coastal-type ships also begin or end in Seattle, although these are typically one-time departures in the spring and fall, which mark the first and last cruises of the Alaska season.
San Francisco, meanwhile, has emerged as an alternative departure point for longer cruises on bigger ships. Princess offers 10-day itineraries aboard the 1,590-passenger Regal Princess. Celebrity Cruises has 12-day voyages aboard the 1,870-passenger Mercury, while Crystal Cruises sails for 12 days aboard the 940-passenger Crystal Harmony. Such cruises may call at twice as many ports as a seven-day cruise, stopping at six cities in Alaska and Canada rather than just three.
For something even more adventurous, a few companies such as Cruise West, Clipper Cruise Line, and Society Expeditions schedule Bering Sea itineraries, which may sail for two weeks or more. Due to their remote and northern destinations, only a few departures are scheduled each season aboard the 114-passenger Spirit of Oceanus, the 128-passenger Clipper Odyssey, and the 160-passenger World Discoverer, usually boarding in Anchorage, nearby Whittier, or the sub-Arctic community of Nome. These are expedition style voyages that kiss the Arctic Circle and explore largely uninhabited islands that lie between North America and the Russian Far East. Some departures may stop at the Commander Islands, the final resting place of explorer Vitus Bering--credited with "discovering" Alaska in 1741.
Yachtlike vessels offer yet another dimension, sailing to and from alternative homeports like Prince Rupert or Sitka, with a decided emphasis on the region's ecology. Some small-ship departures ply Alaskan waters exclusively, omitting the stretch of British Columbia that begins in Vancouver and ends at the Canadian outpost of Prince Rupert. They may have evocative names like "Wilderness Waterways" or "Hidden Fjords & Glaciers," suggesting their accent on scenic cruising. Typically, these cruises are eight days in length.
Besides Cruise West, companies offering this option include American Safari Cruises and Glacier Bay Cruiseline. Cruise West focuses on traditional port-to-port cruises with time for wildlife viewing en route. Glacier Bay emphasizes active adventure, with healthy doses of sea kayaking and shore hiking, while American Safari Cruises pampers its guests with larger-than-average accommodations, complimentary libations, and an under-the-stars hot tub. On a more cerebral note, Clipper Cruise Line and Lindblad Expeditions run a summer-long schedule of educational cruises, led by expert guides and academics. As a general rule, these vessels carry only about 100 passengers, and some are absolutely tiny, like the diminutive Safari Spirit and Safari Escape--capacity 12 persons each.
