Since this was our fourth trip to Alaska, we only did two shore excursions. Both were fantastic. Here's the info.
SKAGWAY
YUKON EXPEDITION & WHITE PASS SCENIC RAILWAY
We took the tour that takes you up into the Yukon by bus and then you return by train on the White Pass Scenic Railway. There is another tour where you stay on the bus the whole way. And also one where you just to to the sumit on the Railway.
I was glad we choose this one. The scenery was very different both ways. It was well worth the extra money.
On the bus ride up we passed a lake that was so calm you could see an absolute mirror image. See my pictures under Skagway - Bus. The scenery as so breathtaking. The bus driver stopped when we spotted a bear cub by the side of the road so we could all take pictures. See my pictures under Skagway - Bus. Our bus driver was very knowledgeable about the history of the country.
We stopped at the Canadian border and an immigration officer came on board and checked everyone's id. Basically just a formality. Then we went on into the Yukon. We went to a small place called Caribou Crossing for lunch. They served us a good meal of chicken, potato and salad with the best donuts for desert. They also have a little museum of taxidermy animals that they have prepared themselves. It was amazing how big some of these animals are. I never realized their size. You can see my pictures under the Skagway - Yukon button. It was fascinating.
We then stopped at a little town called Charcross and they have a visitors center that stamped our passports with "Yukon Canada."
The bus took us back to the border and most of us got off for the train ride ride home. Some stayed on the bus. The commentary on the train pointed out the hardships that the prospectors had when trying to reach the Yukon during the gold rush. Again the scenery was breathtaking and much different from the bus ride.
In my opinion you miss out on so much if you take the round trip bus or train. It's much better to do the combination.
Back in Skagway we toured the shops and bought a beautiful carving by Bob Merry. He's renowned for his carvings out of moose and caribou antlers. Ours is an eagle out of a caribou antler.
JUNEAU
TAKU WILDERNESS LODGE AND GLACIER FLIGHTSEEING
We have done the helicopter that lands on the Glacier and the helicopter with dogsledding on previous cruises. This is absolutely as good if not better than those. We boarded a small 10 passenger float plane and the pilot took us over four different glaciers in the Juneau icefields. We then landed on a river in front of a place called Taku Lodge. It was directly across from the Hole In The Wall Glacier. It's so close to you. In fact, the people from the lodge go over to the glacier to get their ice for refrigeration.
We did encounter a lot of mosquitoes there but they had bug spray and electric zappers shaped like tennis rackets. We had the most delicious meal of the whole trip - salmon prepared on an outdoor grill (which also attracts the bears in the neighborhood). They had lemonade cooled with glacier ice and a very delicious Russian tea. While we were eating we were given a fascinating story about the history of the lodge.
After lunch we had time for a nature hike and saw evidence of the bears around. It was all too short and we wished we could have stayed there longer.
Back in Juneau we took the tram to the top of the mountain and got some great pictures. The picture of the ship on the Alaska 2003 home page was taken then (and I superimposed it on a picture at the Mount Sawyer Glacier). They also had a bald eagle in captivity. She had lost a wing to an airplane propeller and could no longer fly. We got some great pictures and many will think it's a stuffed bird but she's real.
VICTORIA
When we entered Victoria they sent out a fire boat with a spray of water. This is a custom the first time a ship enters a port. This was the first time for the Pacific Princess. We about and hour and a half late docking in Victoria so there wasn't much time to do anything. We did have to go through immigration when we got off the ship and for some reason, they pulled Al aside and asked him some questions: "Have you ever been fingerprinted? Have you ever been convicted of drunk driving? Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" His answer was no to all but we wondered about the questions. What difference does it make if you are fingerprinted? There could be legitimate reasons for it. I was once fingerprinted when I was bonded and worked at a race track.
We walked into town and took some pictures and then came back to the ship. It's a beautiful city and it would have been nice to spend more time there.
KETCHIKAN
We had to tender ashore in Ketchikan because the bigger cruise ships had the docks. We were only there for a half day so we just walked around the town and did some shopping.
TRACY ARM
Tracy Arm is our glacier stop. You enter through a small opening. There are two small buoys (red and green) that mark the boundaries for the ship to squeeze through. Along the way in we saw a couple of bear along the shore getting their dinner. As we approached the glacier we reached an icefield that was filled with little (and some big) icebergs. The Captain had to pick his way through them very slowly in order to get us a good viewing of the glacier. This was the only time we were happy to have the cabin at the front of the ship. We could stand on our verandah and also hear the commentary by the naturalist as we progressed. He said that most captains would not have navigated through this icefield. The pictures of this icefield make it look like just some ice floating on the surface, but you have to remember than what you see of an iceberg is only 1/8 of the total size and they can damage the hull of a ship.
There were a lot of sea lions sunning themselves on the pieces of icebergs. The glacier was just as beautiful as the others in Glacier Bay and the trip in was much more exciting. Only one ship is allowed in there at a time (excluding the smaller explorer class ships) as there is only one small place where two ships could even pass each other. As we left, an NCL ship took our place.
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