Alaska Cruise
Posted by kernelbob on July 5, 2009
Last week, Anne and I cruised through Alaska’s Inside Passage. It was quite an experience.
We embarked from Vancouver, BC, then over the next seven days, we visited Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and Whittier/Anchorage.
Best things about the cruise:
- An infinite amount of scenic beauty
- Comfortably cool temperatures (50-70 degrees F)
- Saw lots of bald eagles
Worst things about the cruise:
- Stuck on public transportation for eight days (four planes, eight buses, four ferries, and the ship)
- Minimal vegetarian food on board
- Prepackaged entertainment, both shipboard and shore excursions
- Tourist tackiness at every port (and no car to escape the tourist zones)
- Crew struggled to speak English
Anne and I put a total of about three minutes into researching this trip before we signed up, so we didn’t really know what we were in for. It was a Carnival boat, which David Foster Wallace described as “the Wal-Mart of Cruise Lines”. We think we might have had a better time on a different line.
Alaska looks like a wonderful place to explore, and we’re looking forward to going there someday on our own.
I’ll try to get some pictures up after I’ve sorted through them.
