Musing Through Alaska

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Fellow Coolers - My DW & I are taking the plunge to return to cruising after a long hiatus (I'm lookin' at you, Covid) - and are signed up for a Muse cruise next June doing Seward - Vancouver - Seward.  This is B2B, but with different ports of call coming and going.  We are excited about cruising, and seeing Alaska is on our bucket list.  We'll fly into Anchorage 2 days before boarding, so have a day in town, which we plan to while away at the Anchorage Museum.  We'll be taking the highly rated scenic train ride to and from Seward.  The port towns we'll stop at are Juneau, Haines, Sitka, Wrangell, Vancouver, Ketchikan, Skagway & Valdez.  I'm studying what there is to do at each stop, and looking at available outings, but we may well just wander around & check out the various museums in these towns, some of which look to be very interesting indeed.  Alaska's history, of course, is rich:  Geologically, First Nations, Russian period, trapping, fishing, mining, American acquisition (Seward's Folly), gold rush, oil discovery, etc etc etc..  

 

In considering and scheduling options, it would be useful to know if the Muse has to tender at any of these ports.  I've looked at the website, but can't find any info.  If you have info on that, I'd love to hear it.  Some of the major museums do scheduled tickets, understandably when behemoth ships are disgorging thousands of people at once.  So, having a sense of how long it takes to get on the pier will be helpful.  While we've had some great outings on previous cruises, our interest in sitting on a bus is greatly diminished, and we're inclined to walk around these towns, meet some local people, and maybe hire a taxi for an impromptu tour.  I've checked out the Alaska thread on CC, but am also interested if any SS cruisers have tips to pass on, in addition to the dock v tender matter.  Thanks in advance for your responses.   WW4T 

[mysty]

You might consider checking out   https://www.whatsinport.com/Alaska.html .  It presents information on various ports in Alaska.  It does indicate whether docking is available and an indication of the alternative if the docking situation on any given day exceeds capacity.

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Mysty -

I'm on it like a cheap suit!!  I suppose they know at this date who will be in which port.  I have, of course, Google Earth stalked the satellite views of the ports, so can see where some of the ships tie up.  I'm hopeful that the svelte SS Muse will slip in to the close-in slips, whilst the 7000 pax MV Profundo Gigantea (and that ilk) will be restricted to anchoring out on the bounding main, and shuttling passengers by tender.  (Cue Elvis - "Love Me Tender"....)

Edited October 13, 2023 by Will Work for Tiramisu