Most cruise ships in Alaska sail the inside passage. A few go to Seward, Sitka and some ports along the western south of Alaska. The inside passage is the narrow strip of Alaska bordering Canada between Anchorage and Vancouver. For first time cruisers there are two distinct advantages to doing an Alaska inside passage cruise. First, every time you look out a window you will see land. The inside passage is fairly narrow and land is visible almost the entire distance on both sides of the ship. Secondly, the ships move somewhat slower in the area than they would out in the Atlantic or Pacific. T ..read more

Before we talk about Glacier Bay, let me mention a little bit about the train rides in Alaska. The State of Alaska operates the train system in Alaska. The engine belongs to them, but the cars are owned and operated by the individual cruise lines. Some of the cruise lines pay extra to be directly behind the engine, but I don’t think it makes that much difference in what you will see. The Princess car was one of the hight points of the trip. If you ever plan a trip to Alaska, be sure your travel agent includes a chance to ride the train as part of your trip. This of course means you have to do ..read more

These photos of Mt. McKinley by a visitor, I am told are a rarity. These are photos I actually shot of the mountain, not commercial photos. Only about 30% even get to see the Mountain. This is because of the fog, clouds and bad weather that usually shroud the mountain. We were in a even lower percentage because their wasn’t a cloud in the sky for a good part of the day we we at the Princess Mt. McKinley lodge. The weather was in the high 70s to low 80s. Again we were told this is exceptional. If you need more information on Mt. Mckinley or your stay with Princess in Alaska, give us a call or ..read more

We started our trip in Fairbanks and stayed at the Princess lodge there. The lodge is like a large hotel and serves an excellent breakfast. If you go off on to the trails around the lodge be sure to spray yourself with insect repellent first. They are plentiful. Not so much close to the lodge though. We took a bus from Fairbanks to the Denali Wildness Lodge. It not really a lodge, but a complex of over 20 buildings. The individual rooms are clean and very comfortable. The restaurants around the complex are a little pricey but serve very good food. The Pizza resturant next to the main lodge s ..read more

Lets talk about the port of Ketchican. Our ship stops here on Monday June 17th from 10a to 6pm. Totem seems to be the main word at this port. There is the Totem Heritage Center, Saxman Totem Park, Totem Bight State Historical Park, just to name a few. There are free shuttle buses running every 20 minutes from the pier to the Totem Heritage Center. One of the main attractions is the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show. The show is walking distance from the pier. There are 3 shows daily in a tent like area. Shows are at 10:45, 1:00p and 3:00p and each show is 1 hour 15 minutes. The shows addmission is ..read more

We are getting closer to our Alaska trip. Less than 3 months and we will be up there. The next few blogs will disect the ports and the excursions the cruise ship offers. At each port I will research and present alternatives to the excursions the ship offers. Usually these are far less expensive. If you really want a ship excursion, you need to let me know now. From what I have read there are 4 or 5 cruise ships in each port each day. That could be around 10,000 people or more, decending on a town at the same time for mostly the same purposes. The first discussion will be Juneau. Here is a link ..read more

I have been doing a lot of research the past couple of days for our Alaska cruise tour vacation. The link below is Princess explaination of the tours they offer for Denali Park. We will most likely not be taking any of them. But it gives you a very good idea of the options available. The park rangers offer the same exact tours at lower prices. What I need to know from each of you is how long do you want to be on a bus. Some are 2hrs and one is 14hrs. The longer you are on the bus the more you are going to see. And are you ever going to pass that way again. A little information about buses ..read more

Last week as the world went all topsy-turvy over the virus, I was fortunate to be located in the safest place on earth. There I was on the Allure of Sea completing a transatlantic sailing. Why was it so safe? I will explain it to you. Every hour the crew was cleaning the ship. The handle rail, door knobs, walls, and every surface passengers would encounter were being wiped down. I myself witness this happening on the entire cruise countless times. No one got sick. No one got quarantined.  There was no need for any of that. The entire ship was ultra clean. I just can’t say enough about how ..read more

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