Summer Activities: Cruise to Alaska

This summer (2011), my parents are taking our entire family on a one week cruise to Alaska.  This trip is in honor of their 50th anniversary, and is going to include my family, husband and children, my sister's family, and my brother.  So all together, there will be 11 of us traveling together.

Traveling to Alaska is something that can only be done during the summer, as during the winter, many parts of Alaska are snowed in or too cold for travelers.  My parents chose the itinerary for our trip, and we are traveling to the Alaskan Inner Passage, which I will outline below, and have the options for several extra excursions during each stop.  The cruise leaves from Seattle, which means that we will have to fly from Cleveland to Seattle the day before, then stay overnight in Seattle before we board the ship.

If you are traveling to Alaska on a cruise, there is no question that one week is not enough time.  Due to the fact that we are traveling on my parent's dime, and we are busy with other family activities, my parents chose a one week cruise for us.  This will be wonderful and exciting for us, but two weeks is actually a better choice for a trip to Alaska, whether you travel on a cruise or inland.

My parents have been to Alaska twice before this trip, both on a cruise and inland, and they loved both trips, so either choice is a good one.  Remember that travel to and from Alaska from most spots in the United States takes several hours, even by plane, so you need to add those days to your travel time.

You can see our full Alaskan cruise itinerary here, but I will outline the places we will visit below:

• Ketchikan, Alaska
• Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska
• Juneau, Alaska
• Skagway, Alaska
• Victoria, British Columbia

For this trip, we need to have our passports because we will be traveling in and out of the borders of the U.S. and Canada.

Today is Tuesday August 9, 2011.  We are currently in Ketchikan, Alaska, and I am sitting in a combination coffee shop and charter boat service.  This is not something that you can find anywhere, so I thought that it was an appropriate place to write.  As I can find internet connections on this trip, I will be adding my daily notes and impressions.  You can find them listed below as I add them.

Day One:  Day at Sea (Seattle to Ketchikan)

Day Two: Ketchikan, Alaska

Day Three: Tracy Arm Fjord