Back from a cruisetour of Alaska

[queeng]

We got back last week from our first ever cruise and first ever visit to Alaska. They were both awesome. We did a 4-day land tour first. We started in Fairbanks. They have had lots of fires in Alaska this summer and I think it all settled in Fairbanks and surrounding areas. It was so smoky that it burned your eyes and clung to your clothes. We had traveled about 18 hours to get to Fairbanks and we were only there for the night so we didn’t explore too much. We did take a shuttle to a great Italian restaurant and had a very interesting shuttle bus driver who had an opinon about everything and wasn’t afraid to share it. It was amusing. Next we were on the train to Princess Denali. Again smoke was a problem. You could not see much out of the train window because of it but our table partners were fun and nice and we had a good ride. I thought it was comfortable and liked that is was hassle free. We went on a white water rafting tour of the Nenna River. It was fabulous! The scenery was beautiful it was very peaceful. The rapids were all pretty calm and I liked that. We did the short tour into Denali. It was wonderful. We saw a grizzly bear and moose and lots of birds and small critters. Our bus driver recited poetry and was very informative. We also meet an Atabascan Indian woman who told a story while we danced. That was great too. I would definitely spend more time here. A long trip into the park would have been great. Maybe some camping there too. I think it is so beautiful and we saw only a micro spec of it. Back on the train to McKinley Princess. We saw Mt. McKinley briefly again because of smoke, but it did peek it’s head out twice and when it did it cleared the dining room as everyone went out to see it. We did a jet boat safari there and also hiked around a bit. Beautiful country. If I had it to do again I would spend more time in Denali and possibly skip this stop altogether. Now to the ship. Cruising is the best. I loved it all. The ship was great. Food was good. People were friendly and helpful. We never had one problem. The scenery was beyond belief all the time. We spent a lot of time out on deck. The day we were in Glacier Bay we were out there from 10:00am, until 5:30pm. And it was cold! We are from Hawaii and have very thin blood (no kidding). I used my long underwear, which I was told I wouldn’t need, a few times and was so glad I had them! I was layered up lots of times. I think the temp on the ship and in port was in the 50’s most days and of course out on deck by Glaciers it was much colder. I was also glad to have a rain jacket with a hood. We did get rain 2 days while we were in Skagway & Juneau. I think a hood is necessary or something to keep your ears warm. I used my husband’s sweatshirt, my hat & gloves on more than one occasion. We did lots of great tours while in port. We had booked through Princess and that made it really easy. I really liked the Glacier Point Safari and the Misty Fiords float plane trip. All the tours seemed to be staffed by enthusiastic personable college kids. They love Alaska and it usually showed. People were friendly and most of them seem to like their jobs. This made for a good trip for us.

 

Alaska is truly wonderful. We will definitely go back some day. As for crusing….I am only trying to find out where you get the good deals as we paid top dollar for this trip but must cruise again somewhere but would like to find a bargain.

 

Mahalo

 

Ginger

[StellaRN]

Glad you had a good time. We are booked for next year and looking forward to it. Thanks for the info about clothes and layers. Looking into rain gear. Maybe if I buy some it won't rain.

Stella