Cruising
Alaska
6th Edition

Cruising
Alaska
6th Edition
A Traveler’s Guide to
Cruising Alaskan Waters
& Discovering the Interior
Larry H. Ludmer
HUNTER
HUNTER PUBLISHING, INC.
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© 2005 Larry H. Ludmer
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lebrity Cruises; Jaye Hilton of Royal Caribbean International;
Irene Lui of Carnival Cruises; Heather Krasnow of Norwegian
Cruise Line; and Susan Beresford, Hilda Cullen, Mary
Schimmelman and Michele McCarthy of Holland America. All
opinions expressed here are based on information gathered
from a variety of objective sources and, most importantly, by
firsthand experience.
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to be served by the port of Seward. Today, many Anchorage
cruises dock at Whittier, which is closer to Anchorage. This
change was brought about by the completion of a road tunnel
from Whittier; the little town had been largely isolated before
that. Finally, ports of call are being added. One cruise line has
even introduced its own version of the “private island” so
popular in Caribbean cruises. Here, it is Icy Strait Point, the
former location of a fish cannery set in a glorious natural set-
ting. Among the newest ports of call is Prince Rupert, British
Columbia, and there could be others coming soon. So, read on
in this completely revised edition and see what the cruise lines
have to offer you.

Contents
THE WORLD OF ALASKA CRUISING
Cruise Popularity ····················1
A Brief Survey of Alaska ················3
Alaska Facts·····················3
Geographically Speaking ················4
Regions ·······················6
Rivers & Mountains·················7
A Brief History ·····················8
People & Culture ···················10
Alaska’s Native Peoples ··············11
What’s Included in This Book ·············13
CRUISE LINES & THEIR SHIPS
Types of Cruises ···················15
Destination ····················15
Duration ······················16
Level of Luxury ··················16

Gulf of Alaska Cruises ··············78
Itinerary Evaluation ···············79
Other Considerations ·············80
Options in Port ··················81
Organized Shore Excursions ···········82
On Your Own ··················84
Cruise Tours ···················85
Information Sources ················86
Useful Websites ·················86
A Nautical Primer ···················88
A PRACTICAL GUIDE
Accommodations on Land ·············91
Climate & When to Go ··············93
Dining ·······················94
Disabled Travelers ·················98
Dress ·······················100
Driving/Rental Cars················104
Electrical Appliances ···············105
Formalities, Documents & Paperwork ······106
x
Cruising Alaska
Passports & Other ID ··············106
Cruise Documents ···············107
Customs ····················108
Gambling ·····················109
Home-to-Ship Transportation ··········110
Flight Arrangements ··············110
Getting to Your Ship ··············112
Health & Safety Concerns ············113
Onboard Health·················113

City Highlights ·················148
Anchorage ····················150
San Francisco···················151
City Highlights ·················152
Other Cities ···················152
Onboard Sightseeing: The Major Attractions ····153
The Inside Passage ················155
Misty Fjords ···················156
Tracy & Endicott Arms ··············157
Lynn Canal ····················158
Glacier Bay National Park·············159
Yakutat Bay & Hubbard Glacier··········162
Prince William Sound & College Fjord ······163
Ports of Call ·····················165
The Major Ports ··················168
Icy Strait Point ··················168
Arrival ·····················168
Tourism Information Office ···········169
Getting Around ·················169
One-Day Sightseeing Tour ···········169
Shopping ····················170
Sports & Recreation ··············171
Juneau ······················171
Arrival ·····················172
Tourism Information Office ···········172
Getting Around ·················172
One-Day Sightseeing Tour ···········172
Shopping ····················179
Sports & Recreation ··············180
Ketchikan ····················182

Victoria (British Columbia) ············214
Wrangell ·····················216
BEYOND THE CRUISE
The Best Way to Explore ··············219
The Alaska Railroad ···············220
Cruise Tour Itineraries ··············220
Destinations ·····················224
Anchorage ····················224
Arrival ·····················225
Tourism Information Office ···········225
Getting Around ·················225
xiii
Contents
One-Day Sightseeing Tour ···········226
Additional Sights for Longer Stays ·······231
Shopping ····················233
Sports & Recreation ··············235
South from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula····236
Tourism Information Offices ··········236
Getting Around ·················237
Touring ·····················239
Seward ······················241
Getting Around ·················242
Sightseeing ···················242
Soldotna & Kenai·················245
The Interior ·····················246
Heading to Denali National Park ·········246
Denali National Park & Preserve ·········249
Touring Options ················250
Sights & Attractions ··············252

I
t wasn’t long ago that cruising was an activity almost ex
-
clusively limited to people with lots of money to spend on
their leisure time. While the number of people taking cruises
has seen growth that’s nothing short of dramatic over the past
decade, it seems that a lot of people still think cruising is for
the rich and famous. Indeed, cruise industry studies indicate
that only about three percent of Americans have ever taken a
cruise. If, after reading this book, you become one of the trav-
elers who starts working that figure towards four percent or
higher, then my objective will have been fulfilled.
Cruise Popularity
C
ruising represents one of the fastest-growing segments of
the travel industry, a trend that has seen gaining momen
-
tum in recent years. Preliminary figures show that during
2003 about 9.5 million people worldwide took a cruise. By far
the largest segment of the cruising public resides in the United
States. This figure was expected to take a huge leap – all the
way to 10.5 million – in 2004, although final figures aren’t yet
in. But annual increases in the range of 15-20% are antici
-
pated over the next few years. Although the Caribbean market
dwarfs all other cruise market segments (in 2003 it repre
-
sented more than 40% of all North American cruise passen
-
gers), Alaska is also a major market for cruise lines large and

on icy blue waters and gives you the opportunity to jump ship,
hop on a flightseeing plane, and take a different look at the
wonders that surround you. Once the cruise ends, many peo
-
ple continue their Alaskan experience either independently or
with a cruise-line sponsored tour. While there are other ways
to see Alaska besides traveling on big cruise ships, it is by far
the most popular way to do so. So while we’ll briefly explore
some other means of seeing Alaska, most of the book will be
devoted to what you’ll encounter on one of the major cruise
lines.
2
Cruise Popularity
The increase in cruise ship capacity to Alaska is a result of
both more ships and most of those ships being larger than in
the past. This has, to some degree, helped keep costs down.
On the other hand, many of the ships are now so large that
they are unable to head into quite a few of the beautiful but
smaller bays of the Inside Passage. Also, when a couple of
mega-liners tie up at a small town such as Skagway, it can cre
-
ate a severe strain on the limited facilities of such communi
-
ties. Shore excursions, however, can often take you to those
places the big ships can’t reach. The more adventurous indi
-
vidual might want to cruise on one of the many small ships
that visit places the larger vessels can’t venture into. There is a
great choice for the consumer but, overall, I feel that a cruise
on one of the larger ships is especially well suited to the first-

STATE TREE: Sitka spruce
MAJOR INDUSTRIES: Petroleum, tourism, fishing, mining and
forestry products.
TOURISM INDUSTRY: Approximately $1.7 billion per year.
Geographically Speaking
A
laska is far and away the largest state in the United
States, dwarfing even mighty Texas by a margin of more
than two-to-one. Its area is equal to one-fifth that of the en
-
tire Lower 48 states. One can cite endless statistics to impress
you with its size and variety, but numbers cannot capture the
beauty and magic of Alaska; it has to be visited in order to
truly appreciate all of its outstanding features.
Alaska is shaped somewhat like a square except for two large
projections (the Alaska Peninsula in the southwest and the
panhandle which extends southeast from the corner of the
“square” along the British Columbia border). Because of these
projections, the maximum dimensions of the state are not
Geographically Speaking
4
Geographically Speaking
5
Introduction
square at all – about 1,100 miles from north to south and
roughly 2,000 miles from east to west. The state has almost
7,000 miles of shoreline, with about 5,800 on the Pacific
Ocean and the rest on the Arctic Ocean.
Regions
From a geologist’s point of view, Alaska can be neatly divided

the Aleutians and the panhandle, this is the re
-
gion of most interest to visitors. All cruise itiner
-
6
Geographically Speaking
aries travel here, as do most of the major land
excursions on cruise tours. This is the most physi
-
cally diverse region of Alaska and the most beauti
-
ful. It has an abundance of magnificent snow- and
ice-covered mountains, glaciers and fjords. The
Boundary Range separates Alaska from Canada.
On the water side is the famous Inside Passage,
the sheltered waterway that is the main route for
Alaskan cruises. It separates the mainland from
the seemingly countless offshore islands of the
Alexander Archipelago. The most heavily-visited
region of Alaska lies along the long strip of coast
from just beyond the Canadian border at
Ketchikan north to Yakutat Bay and then west
along the south coast bordering the Gulf of
Alaska. Roads on the panhandle, where they exist
at all, generally run for only a few miles in either
direction of the major towns and then end. Boats
are the primary means of getting from place to
place. They serve as a lifeline to many of these re-
mote communities. The other main touring area is
also in the Pacific Mountain Range region and is