<p>I am considering reserving a cruise to Alaska for next Summer… just not sure which places to see and which ones to leave out. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>My husband thought his flight over Denali was the highlight of his two-week bicycle trip through Alaska. When we did a small boat cruise in 1999, the highlight for me was the day the juvenile humpbacks were using the boat as a backscratcher.</p>
<p>Our small boat week-long cruise was organized by <a href=“http://www.goldbelttours.com/index.html[/url]”>http://www.goldbelttours.com/index.html</a></p>
<p>but I notice they now do day trips. I thought they were great. They are Tlingit owned and bring a different point of view.</p>
<p>We did this a few years ago. The place we enjoyed most was without question Sitka – although it wasn’t the most spectacular in terms of physical beauty. Basically, what it had was a mixture of Russian and American frontier culture, and two interesting small museums. Both had loads of photographs by someone named E.W. Merrill, of whom I had never heard before and haven’t heard of since, but whose work is as good as any other great photographer of his era (basically, the turn of the 20th Century), and of significant historical/anthropological interest, too.</p>
<p>Check it out: <a href=“http://www.nps.gov/sitk/photosmultimedia/ew_merrill_photo_gallery.htm[/url]”>http://www.nps.gov/sitk/photosmultimedia/ew_merrill_photo_gallery.htm</a></p>
<p>Also, on the non-natural-beauty side, we really enjoyed the huge flea market in downtown Anchorage on Saturday morning.</p>
<p>The scenery, etc. was breathtaking. We did a hike on the Mendenhall Glaciar, with crampons and everything. Expensive, but unique and thrilling.</p>
<p>We did a cruise to Alaska 4 years ago with our 3 kids (18, 16 and 13 at the time)–everyone loved it!! Our favorites were: kayaking in the Tatoosh Islands near Ketchikan–beautiful scenery, bald eagles flying high above, pristine water and we all loved the kayaking, which we had never done before! The other favorite adventure was the rainforest hike outside of Skagway. We took the old gold rush train partway up, then went off with some excellent guides for a 3-4 hour hike through the moderate rain forest! We had rain gear on, and it poured at times, but everyone loved it, and we learned some tremendous information about the flora of the environment there! We also enjoyed hiking around Mendenhall (we didn’t do a crampon hike though–there are easier hiking paths!) and the cruising to Sawyer Glacier–spectacular!</p>
<p>If you are set on a cruise, try and do a one-way cruise, if I’m not mistaken, you get to see more…you board in Anchorage/Seward and end in Vancouver (or the reverse). Our airline allowed us to book a roundtrip airfare into Anchorage and out of Vancouver.</p>
<p>If you are more adventurous and do a smaller boat company, that are able to navigate the inlets, you can get a close up view of icebergs, eagles, wildlife The massive cruise ships cannot do this, and have to stay on the main coastline.</p>
<p>Don’t plan on much time in the towns–not much to see and the shopping is all tourist. I’d take some of the fly=in tours that actually get you to some wildlife. Basically all the towns suck.</p>
<p>I live in Anchorage- Check out Cruise West. They are pricy, but small ships, focus is service - remember cruise ships take you where they want you to see and shore excursions vary wildly, so shop carefully. If you want a different experience -check out the Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham Wa.
If you get to Anchorage - Don’t miss the Alaska Native Heritage Center -Alaska is so much more than dogsleds and glaciers</p>
<p>I second the Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham, WA or Prince Rupert BC. Rangers are on board pointing out wildlife. Food is not the lux experience you might find on a cruise. But you can get off in each town, do your own day trips, and have some Alaskans as company on board, rather than all tourists. You can also overnight in any town you choose, and catch a boat another day. I’d get off in Juneau, stay in hotel, fly to Glacier Bay and stay at the lodge, taking their boat tour of the glaciers. Smaller boats, and up close views make it a wonderful experience. Go kayaking in Bartlett Cove, where the the lodge is located. Whales and killer whales are right there. Sitka, as the old capitol of Russian America is interesting. The Salmon Bake in Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier, fly overs of the ice field, hiking the numerous trails from even downtown Juneau can all be interesting. My favorite-drive out ‘the road’ to Eagle Beach to see the tidal variation and Fairweather range in the distance. I hear that trips to Tracy Arm are wonderful, and again, a smaller boat tour than a cruise ship. The State museum in Juneau is a good introduction to the culture of the area. </p>
<p>Go to Skagway , take the train to Whitehorse. </p>
<p>Lived and worked in Juneau a few summers years ago, worked at Glacier Bay Lodge for a few weeks at one point. Love that area.</p>