Our Alaskan Cruise

We awoke early the next day, not only because we were excited about touring Denali National Park but we knew that the amount of park we would be able to see was based on the time we reached the Wilderness Access Center at the Park’s entrance.

We grabbed a quick, but exceptional and complimentary, bite to eat at the Main Lodge and headed to the Park.

Quick check list of must have items to pack for a day in Denali National Park

• Jacket – preferably a windbreaker
• Hiking boots or shoes
• Water
• Snacks / Lunch
• Camera (extra batteries and memory)
• Map / Bus Schedule
• Compass

(My brother would also like to note that a tripod doubles as a great walking stick.)

Things to Know about Getting Around Denali

There is only one road, 92 miles in length, in Denali National Park. Typically, one may only drive fifteen miles up that road into the Park to the Savage River Check Station. This station is where you will catch one of many types of buses to take you the remainder of the way through the park. We chose to take one of the shuttle buses.

These buses will pick you up and let you off anywhere along the road as you travel through the park. You do not have to return on the bus you originally started. They also stop at each of the visitor’s centers located along the way: Toklat River, Eilson, Wonder Lake and Katishna. The earlier you arrive to catch a bus, the further into the park you can go.

You want to make sure that you arrive at your final destination before the last bus of the day leaves there to return to the entrance so that you aren’t stuck on an impromptu camping adventure.

One other important thing to note is that there is no food or beverage available along the route. It is IMPERATIVE that you bring both of these items with you, you will need them. There are gift shops at both the Toklat and the Eilson stop, but they have no food items available for purchase, not even a token Denali candy bar. There is a shop at the Wilderness Access Center so if you make it into the Park without food or drink, you can purchase these items there.

We did find a wild blueberry patch however at the Wonder Lake stop, a very nice treat after a lunch of granola bars and cheese crackers.

Our Denali Experience

We found ourselves discussing how nice it would be to reside in Alaska as we drove through Denali. The view was again remarkable, brilliant, beautiful. I believe we saw approximately one hundred thousand twenty-two wild hares along the side of the road, a good year for them. We also saw a mother bear and her cub drinking at the river, a bear viewing us from road side and a bear scratching his shoulder on the back of the bus as he crossed the road behind us. We saw moose, wolves, Dall sheep, did I mention hares?

Our stop at the Polychrome Overlook was probably most impressive to me. Before us lay multicolored mountaintops, flowered fields and the East Fork River.

We decided on the return trip that we would get off the bus at the Toklat River rest stop and hike up the road on our own for awhile. The light was perfect, we crossed a shallow river on foot and we just enjoyed the serenity and quiet of our surroundings. We spent an hour, just Ryan and I, along the main road. We even found a location where glacier melt met the river, the contrast was amazing.

Just the trip to Wonder Lake and back is 11 hours. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the Park early enough to get the trip out to Katishna, I guess we have a reason to return.

Our congratulations go out to the Borough and residents of Haines, Alaska on their Centennial (100 years). We’re sure this isn’t hardly the “end of the trail” for one of our favorite cruise destinations.

Haines festivities on the 3rd and 4th included: a Mt. Ripinsky Run, Golf Tournament, Mad Raft Race, Flag Raising, Parade, Pies & Coffee, Book, Bake, Hot Dog, Hamburger and Garden-burger Sale, Mud Volleyball, Children’s Games, Balloon Twisting, Face Painting, Nail Pounding Contest, Pie Eating Contest, Cannon Firing, and Fireworks!

Check out Haines Alaska News and Comment for article and pictures.

Katie Farden at InvestigateWest has a revealing look at the recycling operations of an Alaska cruise ship. The scale of a cruise ship amplifies the environmental impact and the efforts required to minimize that impact are equally massive.

While the 1,432 passengers aboard Holland America’s Zaandam, are enjoying a five-course meal at one of the ship’s plush dining venues or unwinding with a hot-stone massage in the vessels’ full-service spa, crew are bustling below, sorting out tons of waste and recyclables.

Read more…

After a full day at sea, it was good to know we would be disembarking today.  We feel we truly picked the best length cruise for us, 7 days was just right.  Our next option would have been the 14 day cruise, but we really wanted to get on land and have a chance to explore for ourselves.  We were planning on spending the next two days in Denali National Park and couldn’t wait to get there.  Holland America made leaving the ship quite simple, we left our bags out for pick-up the evening before and had nothing to do but eat breakfast, grab our carry-ons and leave the boat.

Best lesson I can stress regarding disembarkation, LISTEN to your Travel Agent. The staff on your ship will do their best to make sure you and your luggage get to the right place, but they may not be aware of special arrangements regarding the rest of your vacation. We unfortunately didn’t understand we weren’t to follow the mass of people boarding a bus to Anchorage, we were supposed to have picked up our rental car there in Seward. A few good things came from the mistake however and we did ultimately arrive at our day’s destination, albeit a few hours later than we had planned.

Boarding the tour bus in Seward allowed us to take in the wealth of knowledge our driver had. He didn’t stop talking for a moment, giving us every piece of information he could about the Alaskan frontier, culture, history… little known facts and random stories included. It was actually quite enjoyable, as was the scenery. Traveling up Highway 1, along the Cook Inlet, was remarkable. We even spotted a few whales in the inlet.

We arrived at the convention center in Anchorage within a few hours of leaving the ship. After realizing our error and acquiring a new rental car, we stopped for a bite to eat at Platinum Jaxx . Again we made a great choice, it was priced a little high for a quick lunch but the food was unique and well prepared. I had the Halibut burger and would definitely order it again.

So after lunch, we cabbed to the airport to pick up our rental and get back on the highway. We really wanted to get to Denali as soon as possible, even though we knew at this point we wouldn’t get into the park that day, we wanted to get there during daylight hours for our first view of the great mountain.

Our first siting of Mount McKinley was from a scenic stop / rest stop on Highway 3, about 45 minutes south of the park. It was our first and only chance to see it’s highest peak, making us part of the 15% of travelers that actually get a clear shot of the mountain top. The highest point of Mount McKinley, also called “Denali; the Great One” is usually under cloud cover.

We made it to our hotel by 5:00, tired and hungry but completely excited by everything we had seen on our drive. We were staying at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and had a park’s view from our room. A gorgeous hotel, all the amenities, yet it fit so well into its surroundings. We walked through the grounds, checked out the artwork in the main lodge and opted to head across the street to have dinner at the Overlook Bar and Grill at the Crow’s Nest. We just couldn’t go wrong with our dining choices on this trip. We had some local draft beers, watched Michael Phelps pull out his seventh gold medal and enjoyed an evening out on the deck. Great food, great view; Lonely Planet had it right when they named the Overlook “the best bar in the Greater Denali area”.

Here’s a Holland America Lines Alaska Cruise promotional video from 2009

Alaska’s Cruise Leader

Alaska and Yukon CruiseTours (2010)

If you’re considering a cruise to Alaska you’re probably more in tune with the environment than most. Alaska is mostly wilderness so we hope you’re not going to Alaska to just to shop for Jade in Ketchikan.

So let’s consider which cruise ships have received Environmental Violations in Alaska (1999-2009) when making your travel plans.

Virgin Holidays gives Responsible Tourism awards each year, with 2008 being the first for Cruise or Ferry Operator (Holland America Lines won) and Royal Caribbean gaining top honors for 2009.

Friends of the Earth have just released their 2010 Cruise Report Card.