A Journey to Alaska’s Glaciers on Princess
Summary: This article describes a journey to Alaska on sea, land, and air. It is packed with great ideas, tips, and experiences for you to plan your own Alaska trip. Hope you will enjoy it.
Ruth's, Lisa's, and my family had joined Princess cruise and traveled to Alaska from 08/11/08 to 08/21/08. It was truly a lifetime experience and highly recommended.
Why Island Princess?
For the cruise part, we decided to take "Island Princess" with a northbound route from Vancouver to Whittier (Alaska). I believed our choice is ideal for its medium size and uncrowded environment. Most of tourists from Asia choose mega-ship such as Sapphire Princess. They are bigger and newly built. One person from Singapore told me that it's big, but not crowded. So, maybe it's a good choice too. An important decision to make is that you should choose either northbound or southbound route, not round trip (i.e., from Seattle or Vancouver to Inside Passage and back). If you choose round-trip route, you will miss the marvelous views of glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord from the ship. Make sure your cruise includes both locations. The bigger the ship is, the farther the ship needs to stay away from the glaciers. So, Island Princess wins on this aspect.
Cruise out of Vancouver
The day we left Vancouver (08/11/08) was sunny. The second day on the sea, ship rocked and caused sea sick for many people (note that this is the only day we felt sea sick and our friend who took Diamond Princess which is bigger also felt the same at the same location). The third day we arrived the first port—Ketchikan. It was rainy. As told by people, Ketchikan rains a lot. So, my suggestion is that don't need to book any shore excursions at Ketchikan. It will be as good just strolling around the city and visit its small museum. Island Princess has a short stop at Ketchikan anyway (from 8am to 2pm).
Port of Call—Juneau
On the fourth day (08/14), we arrived Juneau (the capital of Alaska). We have joined a Princess tour to visit a rainforest garden and Mendenhall Glacier. It was not worth it. Don't book shore excursion from Princess for Juneau. You can walk to Tram Station and take a ride to Mt. Roberts to have a bird's eye view of the city and Gastineau Channel. I took the trail down from the peak and it took about 1 and 1/2 hours. The road was muddy and wet. Not recommended for people with weak legs. But, the scenery on the top is worth it. Then you can spend the rest of day taking a local bus to Mendenhall Glacier to view it from a distance. The docking time on Juneau is long and good planned. We were lucky for getting the sun in Juneau.
Port of Call—Skagway
On the fifth day (08/15), our cruise docked at Skagway. This is a boring town. If you stayed in town, it would be a bad decision. However, if you decide to take train, it's expensive (US $ 112 for the round tip to the summit). When you leave the ship, remember to bring your passport because the train will cross the Canadian/US border. For this port, we have taken an excursion to kayak on Lake Bennett. We arrived the lake by car and returned by train. It's a nice combination. The Kayaking on the lake was the most exciting experience. The weather there was gorgeous and the view was perfect. The only complaint is the cost of the tour. Lisa's family took bus to the summit and they stopped at vista points to take pictures. They seem to enjoy it too.
Glacier Bay National Park
Next day, our ship arrived Glacier Bay National Park from the sea. This is the first time we can view the glacier from the ship. The view was astounding. The ship stayed in it for a couple of hours. Glacier Bay National Park has limited the number of ships to visit per day. So, make sure the cruise you will take includes it in the itinerary.
College Fjord
The seventh day, we cruised on the sea. The eighth day, we arrived Princess Williams Sound and saw the glaciers in College Fjord. Glaciers here were named after renowned East Coast colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Wellesley, etc. The view here is even better than Glacier Bay National Park's. We had booked a cabin with balcony and enjoyed the view from our own balcony. It's private and not crowded.
Destination of Cruise—Whittier
Next morning, we arrived Whittier, Alaska. Were transferred to the Denali Princess Express. The train is equipped with dome-like glasses and it provides you the 360-degree panoramic view of the scenery. The view leaving from Whittier was the best. Train arrived Anchorage and Denali National Park later. Then, we stayed in Denali Princess Lodge that night. Next day, we visited Denali National Park for 3 hours with 1-mile walk. A naturalist with tons of animal stories narrated this trip. On the way, we saw mooses. Lisa's family joined an 8-hour's tour and saw a lot of animals than we did.
Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge
On 08/19, we were transferred to Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge. This lodge provides the right location to view Mt. McKinley from a distance. If you want to view Mt. McKinley in a comfortable environment, you must stay here. In the next morning (08/20), we have joined another kayaking tour to Byers Lake. This was another wonderful experience. We saw Mt. McKinley, salmons, and swans from the lake. This tour was only US$89 dollars and worthy it. At noontime, we decided to leave the Lodge and headed for Talkeetna. As that day was sunny, a rare occasion in Alaska. We decided to book a flight with Talkeetna Air Taxi over Mt. McKinley. The view was memorable and shocking. If you want to fly at least once in a sightseeing flight in your life, Mt. McKinley definitely is one of your best choices. We never regret to spend too much (US$ 816 for 3 of us) for the flight. Note that we booked the flight not through Princess and it's cheaper.
At 4:30pm of that day, our train delayed; Princess asked our opinions and people decided to leave for Anchorage by bus. The best thing to arrange a trip with Princess is it provides the best service. You don't need to care about your luggage and transportation. You can fully relax and enjoy. Their services are good for senior people who would like to travel. For situation such as road accidents or train delays, Princess always tries to provide you alternatives. It even compensates us (US$ 25 per person) for not receiving our luggage for one night.
Anchorage
When we arrived Anchorage, we stayed at one of the best hotels named after Captain Cook. Our room was on 11th floor and had a nice view of Cook Inlet. Next morning I rent a bike to ride it along Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It was quite an exercise and got to see some scenery around Anchorage.
Overall, our Alaska trip was wonderful and highly recommended for everyone. If you are lucky enough to see the sun, you should laugh in your sleep. Talked to one person, he said it rained the whole day for his 11-day trip. So, we would say we were lucky to have sun most of the trip and had the companion of Ruth's and Lisa's family.
Finally, don't forget to view some of my health-related articles here. Keep yourself healthy. So, whenever you travel, you can enjoy it. Ciao.