Azamara Alaska - Success or Failure

[maggie.1008]

We are on the 10 day cruise starting in Seward. We are in Icy straight point, Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria late at night. Not sure witch night it might be. I am sure they will try for the best weather. 

[hubofhockey]

3 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

We are on the 10 day cruise starting in Seward. We are in Icy straight point, Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria late at night. Not sure witch night it might be. I am sure they will try for the best weather. 

 

ICP is in Hoonah and there is nothing going on there.  Ketchikan is kind of funky and Juneau is a real city.  

[PAtravelbug]

I found Hoonah to be quite charming. The highlight was watching the wood workers work on a totem.     I liked that it was just a town - no Diamonds International stores!  and the walk to town from Icy Strait Point was stunning.  

[NewPennCruiser]

16 hours ago, PAtravelbug said:

I found Hoonah to be quite charming. The highlight was watching the wood workers work on a totem.     I liked that it was just a town - no Diamonds International stores!  and the walk to town from Icy Strait Point was stunning.  

I had the same feeling when we were there.   I enjoyed all the ports and don't mind the bigger cities and the shopping but if you really want to learn the history of the region and meet locals that are thrilled to talk to you about their past, get off the ship in Haines, Hoonah, Sitka, etc.  The bigger ships don't go to these places often whereas everyone goes to Ketchikan/Juneau/Skagway; that I like to refer to as the triumvirate of cruise ship stops in Alaska.   We were sitting on a bench back in Icy Strait Point getting ready to head back to the ship and we struck up a conversation with a local guide.  She was half Tlingit and lived there her entire life.  We had the best conversation about the history there, how things have changed, how much Icy Strait Point means to the locals, etc and we lost track of time and had to literally run back to the ship.  I mean it wasn't a tour, she wasn't being paid to give us a speech or talk to us.   Really it was one of the nicest parts of the trip and made our day.   Maybe made her day too, don't really know but I just mention it because you really shouldn't avoid some of these small places and explore a little.  You might surprise yourself.

[hubofhockey]

20 hours ago, PAtravelbug said:

I found Hoonah to be quite charming. The highlight was watching the wood workers work on a totem.     I liked that it was just a town - no Diamonds International stores!  and the walk to town from Icy Strait Point was stunning.  

 

Hoonah is a great place.  I certainly didn't mean anything disparaging.  We did a whale and wild life watch with a local family (they are rated tops on TripAdvisor) and they talked about nature and life in Hoonah.  Many have planes and fly to Juneau to do monthly shopping trips.  It's a different life and the people seem close.  For entertainment, they seem to enjoy satellite dish tv.  

 

While bigger ships don't go there, we visited from the Celebrity Millennium and all medium sized ship can get there.

 

I would hate to see Azamara dump 700 people there for an event (Azamazing Evening) though.  I don't understand why anyone would believe this is reasonable.  

[PAtravelbug]

Our Azamazing Evening was set up to be in Victoria British Columbia at the BC Museum.   We left ISP/Hoonah in late afternoon.    It certainly is a different way of life and very enticing!    (with the exception of an absence of a trauma care center in those little towns)