My Exciting Visit to Alaska by Cruise: Unmissable Experiences

 

May 19 to 26, 2019

 

My trip to Alaska, the Last Frontier, was a well-thought-out plan from Mumbai.

Although I was keen to see northern auroral lights, I was told by the cruise officials that it was possible only in the winter months and that no cruise ventures into Alaska during winter. They operate only from May through September every year.

More than a decade back my husband had gone on a cruise from Mumbai to Goa on an official meeting trip. After that, he had been telling me that I should travel on a cruise just for an experience in the vast sea or ocean.

So in 2019, we chose Norwegian Bliss, a newly built cruise for our trip to Alaska.

Since we were visiting our son in Seattle in the USA, we thought that was the best choice. The cruise trip was for seven days and on the eighth day, we were back in Seattle Port.

We chose this newly built Bliss cruise because it had the biggest observation lounge. In addition, we were also attracted to this cruise liner’s freestyle dining programme and awesome destination line-up, and many forms of entertainment and activities within and outside the cruise.

This also gave them the freedom to enjoy themselves on the ship and not worry about sticking to fixed dining hours.

All of us (passengers) had free access to the 20,000 sq. ft. observation lounge located in the forward part of the ship that offered a 180-degree fantastic panoramic view. The freestyle dining programme allowed the passengers to decide when and where to eat their meals. We were able to taste varieties of delicious food from various continents, including our Indian delicacies. The range of dessert items was a great attraction.

The cruise was built in 2018, and the Norwegian Bliss cruise had 20 decks of which 16 were accessible to passengers. It had a total of 2043 staterooms of different categories with a maximum capacity of 4903 served by 1730 crew staff, the Captain said in his special address to the passengers during the trip. There were 29 ( dining options (of which nine were complimentary), 22 lounges and bars, three swimming pools, nine Jacuzzis 9outdoor whirlpool hot tubs) and 16 elevators, the Captain said.

                                         

                       Dining Halls                                     
                                                               

 Deck 19 also featured a Ferrari racetrack. The Aqua Park with a double aqua loop or water slides was another attraction for youngsters.

            

The Journey

On May 19 we had to report to the cruise at noon and departed from Seattle Port towards Alaska at 3.30 p.m. When we went to the harbour, we were asked to go through the huge check-in, security, and immigration area.

Although I had been on a retired Indian warship and a submarine in Mumbai Naval Port, this was my first trip on board as a passenger on a cruise.

Before our checking-in process began, our baggage was taken away. Then they verified our identity and then kept the passports with them. They told us that the passports will be in their custody and they will return them after getting a Canadian Visa stamping by the Canadian authorities at British Columbia (which is part of Canada and also the last leg of our trip).

 Then we were taken to our cabin, which was with a balcony to relax and to observe the open sea and glaciers.

               Excited to see the Seattle skyline from our cabin in Norwegian Bliss

We were in Seattle Harbour for two hours till everyone boarded the ship. The skyline view from our balcony was fantastic and we took several snaps.

When I thought of the Alaskan state of the USA, the things that came to mind were the Pacific Ocean, high mountains, glaciers, wildlife, forests, lakes, rivers, and national parks.

However, the trip we undertook was to witness the Alaskan coastal wilderness.

There were a few halts on land along the coast like Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and British Columbia (Canada). The cruise also took a long trip along Glacier Bay and we saw Glacier Bay and the National Park from the cruise only. However, a few professional naturalists came to our cruise by boat from the National Park Research Centre to give a lecture demonstration and showed videos.

Exploring Alaska’s coastal wilderness aboard a comfortable all-inclusive ship provided us with an unmatched cruising experience and connection to nature in the vast open sky and ocean.                                                   

An exciting sail in glacier-filled fjords, witnessing whales in their summer feeding grounds and personalized excursions on the land halts were a new experience for both of us.

Although there were different choices of outdoor activities, being seniors, we chose the soft and safe ones. However, the general activities for the passengers included trekking, kayaking, paddle boarding, hiking, helicopter ride and sledge ride on different land halts.

By the way, the security check was there every time we went out for the land tour and when we boarded back again.

 

              Our Cabin housekeeping assistant Mr Rodel Inzo, from the Philippines

                                             With my husband Vaidyanathan 

Juneau 

The first stop of our cruise was at Juneau after sailing for two nights in the Pacific Ocean.

On May 21, we arrived at Juneau, the capital city of the State of Alaska at 2.30 p.m. and departed at 11 p.m. Juneau is also the second-largest city situated at the foothill of Mount Juneau on the Gastineau Channel in Southeast Alaska. Locally, it is also called the Alaskan panhandle.

The cruise passengers were taken only to a huge spectacular glacier called Mendenhall Glacier, its visiting centre, trailing/trekking towards waterfalls.

A stunning view of the Mendenhall glacier was easily accessible by road from the cruise terminal. We could also enjoy Nugget fall after walking for about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) along a long, flat walking trail starting from the visiting cent.

The spectacular view of Mendenhall and the Nugget Falls can be seen close to each other after trekking to the falls.

This fall is around 377 feet or 115 metres high, according to information collected at the visiting centre.

                                   A view of Mendenhall glacier and Nugget Fall in the background 

 

We had been reading about the melting of glaciers but during this trip, we were able to get a closer look at some of the drifting icebergs deposited by calving glaciers in some spots. Some huge ice chunks were also seen coming out of the glacier downstream.

 

Skagway

On May 22, the cruise halted at Skagway at 7 a.m.

The Port of Skagway is a popular stop for cruise ships and it is only a tourist business place. As soon as we came out of the ship after the security check, we saw the White Pass and Yukon Route narrow gauge with Rustic Victorian architecture railroad and we were told it was part of the ancient mining route.

Now, this trainway is the best attraction and it runs only during the summer months---May to September. We enjoyed the journey to the awe-inspiring landmarks like Klondike Summit, and travel through rainforests, emerald fields, and the iconic Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park.

  This video shows the summit and our train turned at this point and started moving back to the starting point in the Skagway harbour.The US –Canada border is near the summit of White Pass on the Klondike Highway, where the elevation is 3292 feet (or around 1003 metres).

                                                When our cruise stopped at Skagway harbour

Gently swaying back and forth along the tracks, we felt like we were travelling back in time aboard parlour cars, some vintage, some replicas, with huge windows and viewing

decks. Pictures of a few more very impressive spots on the way to the summit are below:

 

 

                                                        A souvenir cap

         

I am also attaching links to watch videos of my train journey.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/16snSJ53V9GnqmpQ6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XRqofBRUPSgNGXDR7

Some of the active young tourists on our cruise also explored one of the icy blue behemoths by taking a helicopter ride. Some went on a guided glacier hike and a few others went on to the Alaskan sledge dogs’ ride.

We departed from Skagway at 8.15 pm.

Glacier Bay

After enjoying Skagway, our cruise moved next to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and we spent more than nine hours in Glacier on May 23. Everyone was excited to see and be amid icebergs and calving glaciers around us. Some of the glaciers were even breaking and making a lot of noise. The cruise moved extremely slowly for a long time in front of a major tidewater glacier so that we could enjoy it at close quarters.

On the day we went, it was not very sunny, at times it was very gloomy. The water below was carrying broken chunks of ice, small to large. When the icebergs started to break with big noise, all the spectators on the cruise were awestruck. Luckily, the explosions we witnessed were mild and very localized and did not hit us.

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The National Park’s service rangers and naturalists came to the cruise by boat and provided us with information about the park and told us how to closely watch the coast of Glacier Bay for otters, sea lions, seals, bald eagles and a variety of sea birds that are regularly seen.

It is amazing to know that Glacier Bay is a homeland of many wild animals, a living laboratory , a national park, a designated wilderness, a biosphere reserve, and a world heritage site, the naturalist said.

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For those who are not coming on the cruise, and doing a private visit, it is a marine park, where great adventure is possible by boating into inlets, and hideaway harbours. It is also a land park, with snow-capped mountains, spectacular glaciers, and emerald-green forests. From the summit to the sea, Glacier Bay’s wildness is remote, dynamic and intact. For scientists, it is an amazing place to work as it is a great biosphere reserve.

William S Cooper was the first to recognize Glacier Bay in the early 1900s as a living laboratory. He studied the process of pioneer plants colonizing land recently revealed by retreating glaciers.

In Glacier Bay, Cooper saw a natural laboratory where scientific principles could be discovered as well as tested, the naturalists said.

Cooper returned to Glacier Bay several times over 50 years to document the successional development in the vegetation plots he established on his first visit, they said. Scientists still study those plots today, making Cooper’s plots the oldest continuously researched post-glacial areas in the world. 

Ketchikan

Reached Ketchikan at 6 am on May 24.

Ketchikan is known as Alaska’s “first city” due to its location at the southern tip of the Inside Passage. It is the first city reach as you cruise north. The Inside Passage is the most popular route for large and small cruise ships departing from Seattle.

However, our cruise chose to halt at Ketchikan only on our way back as the last stop of Alaska, before anchoring at British Columbia(Canada).

The downtown area is the main commercial district and contains two large harbours, several cruise ships dock, and many of Ketchikan’s main attractions including historic Creek street, a picturesque boardwalk path built over Ketchikan Creek on stilts. Today, this street is home to art galleries, gift shops, bookstores, and restaurants.

The tour guide told us that the most popular house in the 1930s on Creek street was Dolly’s house, the parlour of the city’s then most famous madam Dolly Arthur. Today, it is a museum dedicated to this notorious era (till 1954, this was considered a red-light area).   

 We had the best view from Ketchikan’s Waterfront Promenade, which skirts the busy shoreline and is equipped with historical markers and whale-tail benches.

The Ketchikan road system extends both north and south of the city and leads to more parks and accommodations. and accommodations.

Although Ketchikan is known for its salmon and culture, we also saw old news boards of its mining supply centre for gold and copper.

 Currently, we saw only a souvenir shop selling old remnants in decorative bottles.      

 

According to the Ketchikan Information Centre, the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people lived in south-eastern Alaska for over 10,000 years, and their arts, culture and history could be seen throughout Ketchikan.  Interestingly, the town of Ketchikan was founded as a salmon cannery site in 1885, and for years the city was known as the “Canned Salmon Capital of the world”.

Logging became an important industry as well, and when cruise ships started exploring the waters of the Inside Passage, Ketchikan naturally became  a popular port of call, the Information Centre added.

During our tour in Ketchikan, we went to a place where orphaned  Bald Eagles and Snowy owls were kept in captivity.

Alaskan Native Culture in Ketchikan

We had a short walk from downtown Ketchikan and reached Totem Heritage Centre. It was established in 1976 to preserve 19^th Century totem poles retrieved from uninhabited Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian village sites nearby. 

Those magnificent, original poles were displayed at the centre along with detailed descriptions of their history and iconography and Alaska’s other native art.

Inside the centre, we saw 17 totems on display in an almost spiritual setting showing their significance to Alaska’s native culture. More totems were displayed outside, and the entire centre was shrouded by Sitka spruce with Ketchikan Creek gurgling nearby. 

We also took a bus to Totem State Historical Park, which was 16 km north of Ketchikan. It was an eleven-acre park that is packed with restored and re-carved totems a colourful community house. Just as impressive as the totems were the park’s lush rainforest setting and the rocky coastline along Tongass Narrows.

Then we went to Saxman Native Village and Totem Park, located South of Ketchikan. At the heart of the park is Saxman Totem park, home to an extensive collection of replica clan houses and a carving centre. Scattered throughout the park were 24 totem poles moved from abandoned villages around Inside Passage during the 1930s and restored and re-carved. 

We departed from Ketchikan at 1 p.m. Our next and last halt was at Victoria in British Columbia.

Our cruise anchored here on May 25 around 7.30 pm. We were told that we would leave Victoria after four hours. So we took a long walk in the harbor and came back  to the ship at 9.30 pm for dinner. 

The immigrational personnel returned our passports with a Canadian Visa stamp and we heaved a sigh of relief.

We left Victoria port at 11.30 pm. Below are some pictures taken in Victoria harbour. 

We reached Seattle Port on May 26 at 6 am.

By Lalitha Vaidyanathan (LV)

(Photos and videos by LV)