Our Alaskan Cruise

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (March 25, 2010) — Princess Cruises has added nine new choices to its lineup ofoptional land excursions for Alaska cruisetours, giving travelers opportunities for fresh adventures, including discovering how local hunters and trappers live, exploring by ATV, riding a dog cart, visiting a true Eskimo village or learning to cook Alaska cuisine.

In total, the optional land excursion program features 96 tour choices that cruisetour travelers can add to the land portion of their trip. These activities are currently open for purchase and offer a range of experiences from easygoing to exhilarating — including cultural tours, nature hikes, kayak adventures and flightseeing tours.

Cruisetour passengers can get additional information about the land excursions from a new section on Princess’ web site, http://www.princess.com/learn/cruisetours/alaska/land_excursions, offering full details on the program and tour listings.

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Ralph Grizzle at Avid Cruiser writes…

Reason number 8,028 to book a balcony stateroom: the early-morning view in Sitka, Alaska. It was 7 a.m., and my stateroom was immersed in darkness until I rose from my bed and stood in front of the curtains. I used both hands to draw them back for a view that caused me to audibly express my awe.

Read more at Avid Cruiser

According to the Anchorage Daily News Alaska Governor Sean Parnell on Friday proposed cutting the $46 tax currently imposed on Alaska cruise passengers by 25%.

In exchange for the tax cut the cruise lines have agreed to drop their collective lawsuit and send more ships to Alaska. The tax has generated $36 million for the state since it was voted into law by Alaskans in 2006.

Anchorage Daily News

This is good news for cruise passengers as the increased supply and lower tax should help keep the currently discounted prices low. The effects of the tax has been estimated to reduce passengers disembarking out of Vancouver from 900,000 to 600,000.

Vancouver is hoping to capitalize on the Olympic buzz and this may be a fortunate turn of events for them. We boarded our Alaskan cruise from Vancouver and we were very impressed with the city albeit our visit was short. I would definitely recommend starting in Vancouver.

Holland America Line will, for the first time in the line’s history, pay calls to Anchorage, Alaska.

A diverse line-up of shore excursions within the state’s largest city has been arranged. Highlights include: fly-in fishing expeditions to remote Alaska backcountry; a sled dog rodeo; flightseeing safaris through the Chugach Mountain Range and over Captain James Cook’s Turnagain Inlet in search of beluga whales; a Prince William Sound Glacier cruise; a full-day scenic ride aboard the historic Alaska Railroad to Talkeetna with the chance to view Mt. McKinley; a guided, fly-out bear-watching tour where guests can view Alaska black and brown bears in their natural habitat; and a visit to Wildberry Park and Anchorage Museum, home of many Native Alaskan art and artifacts as well as paintings by renowned Alaskan artist Sydney Laurence.

There are some strong words being spoken at this year’s Cruise Shipping Miami convention. Holland America CEO Stein Kruse has expressed his dissatisfaction with the mounting taxes, fees and regulations that Alaska is piling onto the cruise ships.

Holland America, based in Seattle, is warning the state that the cruise industry will continue to pull ships out of the region in the face of what Kruse is calling the the heaviest costs and regulations of any destination.

Some examples of these are:

• A $46-a-person tax on cruisers
• Taxes on shipboard casino earnings
• New environmental regulations.

It has been said that in some ports a ship cannot take on fresh water because that fresh water supply from these Alaskan ports exceeds the maximum copper content for waste water in Alaskan cruise waters!

Many lines are removing ships from the Alaskan routes and it is forecasted that Alaska will see its first decline in cruise visitors in 30 years. Year over year, cruise travel is down 17%. Alaska Travel Industry Association president Ron Peck says 140,000 fewer visitors.

Despite the trouble the cruise lines are having with Alaska, the other side of the coin is that these regulations, fees and taxes are for the best interest of the State of Alaska and preserving its natural beauty. This tug-of-war between cruise line profits and environmental protection may be pulling at the travelers themselves.

The good news for potential cruise visitors is that “value” is the new industry mantra this year according to Kevin Sheehan, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines. However, the 10 to 20 percent discounts of 2009 may be fading fast as the word at the Cruise Shipping Miami convention is that the industry will be sailing clear of the woes of the last two years by Fall and with it prices will climb back up.

We would recommend planning for your Alaskan Cruise soon to take advantage of current pricing and before the cost of compliance with new regulations begins to filter down to your ticket prices.

The ms Veendam has a passenger capacity of 1350 guests, housing an additional 580 staff. In comparison to many other cruise lines, we were looking at being in a relatively private environment. We didn’t encounter long lines at the buffet, crowded elevators, packed amenities.. it was really quite nice. The ship itself was dedicated in 1996, by actress Debbie Reynolds, but was very current in its services, facilities and furnishings. The gorgeous wood decks gave it the historic feel true to a established cruise ship.

We flew out of Chicago early in the morning on Friday, August 8^th. After a very quick layover in Seattle, we were in Vancouver waiting for our next direction. After we had landed we were directed to a separate area in customs for cruise passengers and it was very relieving to soon realize that we were being directed to a much smaller group of travelers than many of the cruise partitions. It already gave our trip a personal feel.

Being bussed through Vancouver to the harbor was already the beginning of our vacation. We no longer felt like we were still on the journey to get there, but our cruise hosts were giving us a “tour” of Vancouver. We truly appreciated the narration as we traveled through the city, it was a beautiful day and actually made us question why we had never visited Vancouver before.

Once we arrived at the dock, we were very quickly escorted to the ship, no worries about our luggage as we knew that our bags would meet us in our suite. We boarded the ship, received an introduction to our “cozy” room and started to explore the rest of the ms Veendam on our own.

As we pulled out of Vancouver, we truly were lucky to enjoy warmer temps, sunny skies and a few well made cocktails on the deck. We ended our afternoon in the ships Crow’s Nest for free appetizers, mojitos and some quiet time. We were able to breathe, enjoyed each other and the spectacular scenery.

As you’ll see throughout the blog, the shores of Alaska are mainly untouched, only the landscape and its natural inhabitants to take in. The waters were full as well, with occasional whales, seals sitting on buoys and white capped waves hitting the ship.