Tag: alaska
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Whale Watching Cruises in Alaska: A Guide
Given its enormous shoreline and the pristine waters off its coast, Alaska is a natural place for whale watching. If you are near the coast and some sign of civilization, there is a decent chance that a company nearby is operating whale watching cruises. However, Alaska is a massive state whose shoreline is exposed to a vast swath of the Pacific Ocean, so it is hard to keep track of all the whale watching opportunities in the state. A search for “whale watching cruises in Alaska” will bring up a crippling flood of information. For this reason, we thought it would be helpful to organize some of the basics about whale watching in Alaska in one brief article, covering what whales you can see and some of the general places you can whale watch. Read more […] -
Alaska Marine Highway System
Plenty has been written about cruises to Alaska. Alaskan cruises are, after all, one of the most popular cruise vacations available, and all of the major cruise lines (and many of the smaller ones) offer them throughout the year. But these types of cruises – the ones offered by cruise lines that most people mean by the words “Alaskan cruises” – are leisure cruises, taken almost exclusively for vacations. However, there is another type of cruise in Alaska (if it can even be called a cruise) that is run by the Alaska Marine Highway System, operated by the government of the state of Alaska. Being a governmental service, the Alaska Marine Highway System serves a utilitarian function – they do not offer cruises for pleasure, but rather cruises for pure transportation purposes. It’s a highly unique system that really only makes sense in a state like Alaska, and since it is so unique, we thought our readers (cruise enthusiasts that they are) would like to know a bit about it. So, that said, what is the Alaska Marine Highway System? Read more […] -
River Cruises in Alaska
On a number of occasions, we’ve written about Alaskan cruises (i.e., cruises to Alaska). We’ve written about the cruise lines that offer Alaskan cruises, why people take Alaskan cruises, how to book an Alaskan cruise, and a few other dimensions of vacations to this ever-popular cruise destination. We have not, however, covered river cruises in Alaska in any depth. What exactly is a river cruise in Alaska? What different types of Alaskan river cruises are out there? Does it even makes sense to call it an Alaskan river cruise? We answer these and similar questions about river cruises in Alaska below. Read more […] -
How to Take a Cruise to Alaska
Cruises to Alaska are among the most popular cruise vacations. Alaskan cruises allow passengers to see the pristine beauty of the largest state in the United States, and, as is the case with a cruise to any other part of the world, the experience of cruising to Alaska is itself enjoyable (although for different reasons than, say, a trip to the Caribbean – there isn’t much pool-side lounging on a trip to Alaska). We have previously written about Alaskan cruises and why people take them, and we have also covered some of the many different cruise lines that offer trips to Alaska. What we haven’t covered is how you go about taking a cruise to Alaska; in other words, we haven’t explained the actual mechanics of booking a cruise to Alaska, which is the subject of this article. Read more […] -
Cruises to Alaska and the Cruise Lines that Offer Them
In a previous post, we discussed some of the reasons you may want to take a cruise to Alaska. Alaskan cruises offer a front-seat view to some of nature’s finest scenery, but a cruise to Alaska might be undertaken for more mundane reasons, like the time you have available for a cruise. We did not, however, look at any of the specific cruises that go to Alaska, nor did we look at the cruise lines that offer Alaskan cruises. It is in this post that we address this topic, explaining some of the Alaskan cruises offered by cruise lines. Read more […] -
Alaskan Cruise
No matter which cruise line you choose for your Alaskan cruise or when you decide to go, you are guaranteed a front seat to more than 100,000 gleaming glaciers, 16 of the country’s 20 tallest mountains, and wildlife that has to be seen to be believed! Read more […]
