A Complete Alaska 12 Nights Escape

By Di Wang
Aug.5 2009

An Alaska cruise tour is all about enjoying the unspoiled nature wonders of America’s
last great land. The cruise tour combines the incredible glaciers cruise of the spectacular
Gulf of Alaska with an Alaska land tour that typically includes travel to the interior cities
and National Parks of Alaska by motor coach, domed train, and stays in dramatic
Princess’ wildness lodges. It is certain to have this land-and-sea adventure we, I and my
wife, Benlu, had already dreamed and pre-planned of. We joined Princess’ Alaska cruise
tour from Jun.10 2009 to Jun.22 2009, a 5-day land tour Jun.10–15 followed by a 7-day
southbound glaciers cruise Jun.15-22 on Princess’ Island Princess with a ‘stay in the
balcony cabin’. To avoid the peak time of Alaska cruise tour season in July and August,
we pre-prepared to go in mid-June which has the average daily high temperature between
60 to 70 degree in Alaska major ports and cities, and we thought this will be comfortable
for us. The reason we chose Princess Cruise Line are it is consistently recognized by
readers of Travel Weekly magazine as the “Best Cruise Line in Alaska”, it has a fabulous
reputation of passenger services, it possesses five exclusive lodges in Alaska with scenic
settings in some of Alaska’s most desirable locations, it has the exclusive “Direct to the
Wildness” rail service in Alaska with its trains featuring large glass-domed windows and
last, only Princess now offers an Alaska cruise tour itinerary with the option of a Seattle
round-trip fly. We live in Columbia, MO, not too far away from Kansas City, and a fly
between Kansas City and Seattle is much more favorable to us over flying from Kansas
City to Anchorage or Vancouver. Favoring the Island Princess ship is due to first its
balcony stateroom highly recommended by people like you will not see the other
passengers on the upper balconies when you are on your balcony and look up, second this
ship has the most ocean-view stateroom including more balconied stateroom among all
the other Princess’ cruise ships. The more balcony stateroom, the more chance you can
bargain to get it. A better way of enjoying Alaska’s great frontier is from a private
balcony stateroom to escape from the crowd. Unlike the other cruises like Caribbean and
Bahamas, an Alaska cruise is sailing along the shores of Gulf of Alaska so we have an
almost constant view of ice-capped glaciers, mountains, waterfalls, untouched wildness
or waterfront communities and the view is always changing plus may even see any
wildlife at any day time because of the Alaska’s longer daylight hours. Besides, a
balcony cabin features the floor to ceiling window to give you a magnificent view from
the room so treating our self to the balcony stateroom is well worth it for a cruise to
Alaska. What is an appreciation we can refer for the voyage? The Island Princess’
dancers in show are just excellent! What is a pity I sensed on ship? I would say the
German style cuisine we had every night at the Any Time Dining room serviced by the
German chef because I do not favor the German dishes and their flavor.

Alaska Land Tour

1
06/10/09 Day 1 Arrive in Seattle, WA

Flew from KCI to Seattle-Tacoma Intl Airport this morning and tour began in Seattle. We
joined a premiere Seattle’s city tour with Seattle Tours and visited more than twenty most
popular attractions including but not limited Pike Place Market, Seattle waterfront,
Safeco&Qwest stadiums, I-90 Floating Bridge, Mercer Island, Panoramic Seattle city
views and so on.

It was a delightful, lively and informative tour accompanied with a very funny and
professional tour guide. After the tour, we spent one night in Doubletree Hotel. This is a
perfect hotel managed by Hilton in Seattle.

06/11/09 Day 2 Arrive in Fairbanks, AK

We flew from Seattle to Fairbanks this afternoon, and sensed at once the heat wave
outside of the Fairbanks Airport. We checked in the Rivers Edge Resort for one night.
This is a family-managed hotel wrapped up in a private cottage style. Cottages stand in
riverfront and garden surroundings. We love such a wonderful place. Our first Alaska
dinner was at Chena’s Alaskan Grill next to the hotel. It is on the banks of Chena River
so we chose an outdoor riverside seating for a total relax! The dishes we had were just
an excellent quality, especially the fresh salmon caught in Chena River. After dinner, we
made an extraordinary destination at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, the
state’s largest science museum. The museum’s architecture is very dramatic. In museum,
we experienced the beauty of the northern lights thru the show Dynamic Aurora and the
fantastic voices of the sun, the moon, earthquakes, the aurora in The Place Where You Go
to Listen room. This is a must-visit museum. A good thing to mention is that upon
arrival at Fairbanks, Princess started to take care of our luggage thru the entire land tour
and cruise.

06/12/09 Day 3 Fairbanks to Denali, AK

After breakfast at River Edge Resort, Princess’ motor coach took us to board on the
Sternwheeler Discovery Relax boat for a more than 4 hour tour adventure cruising the
Chena and Tanana Rivers. During the cruise, we viewed a pilot’s air and river landing
show, a dog sledding in action and went ashore at the Old Chena Village for a short tour
of an early Indian community. Also, we tasted the smoked socket salmon on boat. After
cruise we boarded the same coach to go Fairbanks downtown for a short stay for lunch.
After lunch, continued by the coach for a scenic ride to Denali National Park’s Denali
Princess Wildness Lodge. We arrived around 6:00PM. The unique lodge is on the banks
of Nenana River sitting in a very scenic environment and the dishes supplied at King
Salmon Restaurant inside the lodge were very good, either. We lived in lodge one night.

06/13/09 Day 4 Denali to Mt.McKinley, AK

2
Early this morning boarded a coach and took an approximately 5 hours Natural History
Round-Trip to explore the wonders of the Denali National Park with a stop at the Visitor
Center, Savage Cabin, and Primrose Ridge. On the way we were supposed to watch for
birds, moose, caribou, bear, fox, dall sheep, and other wildlife but we viewed only moose
and caribou, a few and far away. We were disappointed with the NHT but we learned
later that we should go beyond the standard park tour like the NHT and venture to
Kantishna, deep inside Denali National Park. A tour to Kantishna is a full-day narrated
one and the wildlife will be seen frequently on the tour as it takes you deep into the park.
After returned to the lodge, we rested in Main Lodge building till 3:00PM to board a
coach to Mt. McKinley Princess Wildness Lodge. We arrived around 6:00PM. The
evening was at our leisure so, after dining at 20320 Alaskan Grill inside the lodge, we
walked around this area. We really enjoyed the lodge’s surroundings and landscapes, just
so picturesque! The extensive deck of the Main Lodge is a most desirable spot which has
the best view of Mt.McKinley when it emerges. Mt.McKinley is the highest mountain in
North America. Our first night stayed in the lodge.

06/14/09 Day 5 Day at Our Leisure at McKenley Princess Wildness Lodge, AK

We used the whole day to enhance our Alaska tour experience with purchasing three
optional land excursions: Byers Lake Paddle Trip, Horse Drawn Wagon Ride, McKinley
Wilderness Trail Ride. After breakfast at Coffee Bruin Espresso Bar inside the lodge, we
were transferred by a BLPT’s SUV to Byers Lake. The water of the lake is so clear, the
environment is so peaceful, the landscapes are extremely beautiful, the guide was so
friendly, we both glided with a paddle through waters on a single sit-on-top kayak and
luckily viewed a swan a few of times, just experienced an enjoyable and wonderful
moment!. Much to our regret, we were unable to view Mt.McKenly on the lake due to
weather not permitting, but, in short, well worth kayaking across the Byers Lake. After
returned to the lodge and a lunch, my wife joined the McKenley Wildness Trail Ride and
I boarded on a wagon for a Horse-Drawn Wagon Ride. Riding on a horse was a dream of
my wife before. She enjoyed the guided horseback ride through the wildness on
mountain trails, experienced the serenity of the forest, and viewed the surrounding peaks
of Mt.McKinley but not Mt.McKinley due to weather conditions and glaciers on the
Alaska Range. The Horse-Drawn Wagon Ride took me on a leisurely ride through the
forest, also provided a view of Mt.McKinley and its surrounding peaks but Mt.McKinley
not emerged due to the same reason and glaciers of the Alaska Range, a chance to pan for
gold, a visit to the reindeer, and finally, sitting around an open bonfire under a gazebo to
learn about the history and geology of the area. I did not really enjoy this wagon ride
because the wagon bumped badly during the ride as the ride path is quite rough. I and
my wife returned to the lodge around 5:00PM. It was a sunny evening. A breathtaking
moment happened around 5:30PM that Mt.McKinley was “out”, presented itself before
our eyes when we stood on the deck of Mountain View Dining Room restaurant inside
the lodge. It emerged from the clouds and lasted there about 20 minutes. A full view of
Mt.McKenley is never guaranteed due to its own weather conditions but we could view
the North America’s highest peak in its full glory is truly an awesome sight! Due to
excitement we both dined at the expensive Mountain View Dining Room restaurant.

3
Their cuisine was delicious. After dinner, we took a walk around the lodge and stayed in
the lodge for one more night.

06/15/09 Day 6 McKinley to Talkeetna, AK, Talkeetna to Whittier, AK and Board-on

Ship

Flight seeing is one of the ways to enhance our Alaska vacation. We pre-planned a tour
named Base Camp Flight and a Glacier Landing with Talkeetna Air Taxi at Talkeetna in
order to view closely the North America’s largest mountain Mt.McKinley, its summit, the
surrounding peaks and the monumental glaciers between the peaks. The tour is highly
weather dependent but, just lucky us, Jun.15 was a sunny day so we decided to go. After
breakfast at Coffee Bruin Espresso Bar inside the lodge, we boarded a Talkeetna Shuttle
taking us to the parking lot of Mahay’s Jetboat at Talkeetna where we met the guy from
TAT who drove us to their airplane base. A high-wing, single engine plane we took had
maximum10 passengers loaded but not crowded. The pilot was also our guide. Everyone
had their own window seat and personal intercom headphone and microphone. Our flight
took about twenty minutes to reach Mt. McKinley and the plane flew around
Mt.McKinley and over its summit, flew over the largest Kahiltna glacier nestled between
the peaks and between two sister peaks, Mt.Hunter and Mt.Foraker. It was a truly
thrilling experience when flying between the peaks. The plane also made a terrific
landing on a glacier at the base of Mt.McKinley and all the passengers experienced the
excitement of standing among the great peaks. The tour duration was about two hours
and was well worth your money back. Grade it? Yes, an A Plus and a No.1 adventure
among the land and shore excursions we had taken. After the tour, we walked to
Talkeetna down town for a quick lunch. After launch, we walked to where the Princess
Coach parked. The coach took us to Princess Rail Depot and we boarded a Princess
Express Rail’s domed train to the Princess pier at the port of Whittier. The travel took
about 5 hours but the landscapes along the railroad are just gorgeous. Princess did a good
thing on the train: they completed pre-ship-check-in on train, instead at the ship entrance
so saving passenger’s time. After boarded Island Princess ship around 6:30PM and dined
at any time dining restaurant, we took a break without any activities in evening. The ship
left Whittier for Prince William Sound in Alaska at 9:30PM.

Alaska Southbound Cruise

06/16/09 Day 7 College Fjord, AK

Our ship sailed from the port of Whittier last evening and made her way towards College
Fjord. College Fjord is a narrow fjord located in the northern sector of Prince William
Sound in Alaska. We arrived in College Fjord early around 6:00AM on June 16 and it
was scheduled to sail in the fjord about two and half hours. The entire fjord sets itself in
a dramatic environment: it is surrounded on all sides with countless glaciers like
tidewater, valley or smaller glaciers and waterfalls so no matter what ship side---
starboard or port you are on you can see them and all of them are just lined up from the
head towards the end of the fjord, and the waterfalls just make their own way to the sea in
all sorts of wonderful shapes. Our ship stopped and turned around when it reached a

4
couple of named glaciers like Harvard, Bryn Mawr and Vassar. We enjoyed watching
glaciers and waterfalls and captured their pictures and videos in our balcony cabin.
Benlu, sometime, walked up to the top deck on the ship to have a more broaden view of
glaciers so she could shoot overlapping images of glaciers for merging them into
panoramic pictures on a computer later. Once clear of College Fjord, our ship set sailing
on an east-south course across the Gulf of Alaska and continued towards our next
destination---Glacier Bay. After having enjoyed College Fjord, we continued our
activities on the ship: attended “Ballroom Blitz” For Beginners to learn the “Waltz
Dance” and Line Dancing, played Ping Pong on the deck 15, watched Fruit & Vegetable
Carving Demonstration and Lido Sushi Buffet. Benlu also attended the afternoon
activities: Champagne Art Auction, Flower Arranging Class and “Ballroom Blitz” For
Beginners to learn the “Swing/Jive Dance”. Toady was the first formal dressing evening
so we had our dinner and then attended the Captain’s Welcome Champagne Waterfall
Party in Formal. After the party, we asked the onboard photographer to capture the
portraits for us and, then, enjoyed the cutting edge show “Motor City” presented by
Princess Cruises. The performance of the dancers in the show was just outstanding! We
ended our activity for today right after the show.

06/17/07 Day 8 Glacier Bay, AK

At approximately 10:00AM next day the ship entered Glacier Bay inside Glacier Bay
National Park and a Park Ranger embarked at the entrance of the park headquarters---
Bartlett Cove. He stayed onboard the entire time thru the Bay tour to offer the passengers
narration of the magnificent features of the Bay. We noticed this is a bay broader than a
fjord so our ship sailed not close to its shore. The Bay is surrounded by the ice-draped
mountains, forests, glaciers and majestic inlets. There are countless icebergs from small
to massive floating in the water with the seabirds flying around our ship and sometime
resting on icebergs. The ship passed many beautiful islands scattered in the Bay. Our
ship sailed slowly for our viewing pleasure when passed through the spectacular scenery
to the Bay’s end at Margerie glacier---a giant glacier of a mile wide and 25 stories high
and Grand Pacific glacier, and then it turned around and set sail towards Skagway, our
next destination. The Bay Cruise took about a couple of hours. We saw the sea seals and
Benlu shot lots of pictures during the cruise. The Alaska cruise guide says that Glacier
Bay has more active glaciers than anywhere else in the world and that a monumental
chunk of ice can split off an active glacier and crashes into the sea causing one iceberg
after another, such an impact shoots water hundred feet into the air and sounds like
thunder, you just hold your breath as you watch such nature’s power. I and my wife
regretted that we did not witness the birth of such a wonder of glacier splitting during the
Bay Cruise. After the cruise, we played Ping Pong on Deck 15 again. In afternoon, we
both most of time were just relaxing. After dinner, we enjoyed the Comedy Show by Dan
Bennett on ship, very funny! That was the way we ended the entire day.

06/18/09 Day 9 Skagway, AK

Our ship was alongside the pier at Skagway around early 5:30PM. We pre-booked the
shore excursion Experience the Yukon & Suspension Bridge because we wanted to

5
experience the wonder of the suspension bridge. Yukon and Yukon suspension bridge
both are in Canada so we carried on our passport during the tour. Skagway is just a small
town with the population of less than 1000, not attractive. It was only known as the
gateway to the gold fields. After the buffet breakfast on ship, we boarded a comfortable
motor coach to pass through Skagway and begin our climb along the White Pass Trail of
’98 and over White Pass summit and beyond to Canada’s Yukon. All around us along the
way are scenic mountains, waterfalls and glaciers and they change dramatically. A
couple of photo stops at scenic spots allowed us to fully enjoy the surroundings and
capture the awesome images. We reached the suspension bridge before lunch. At the
Bridge our senses came alive as we both took a dramatic walk across the custom-built
footbridge suspended over the rapids of Tutshi River and then visited its outdoor
museum. This is an amazing bridge! We love this adventure. Thereafter, the coach took
us to a place called Caribou Crossing Trade Post at Yukon to have a barbecue lunch and
visited the World’s Smallest Desert, the Wildlife Gallery, saw Yukon Quest racing dogs
and puppies inside Caribou Crossing. After lunch, we toured the very small town Yukon,
nothing to be attractive, only the local made ice cream people said good but we did not
try it. We, then, re-boarded the coach for the drive back to Skagway. After dinner, we
watched the show “Do You Wanna Dance!” on ship. Excellent dancing! That is all we
did for today. At 8:15PM this evening, our ship left Skagway for the next destination of
Juneau---founded by Joe Juneau, a goldmine explorer, in 1880 and later it became the
capital of Alaska.

06/19/09 Day 10 Juneau, AK

Our ship reached Juneau by 6:30AM this morning. This is a city of Government’s
business but fairly modern and well developed. I like it! We pre-booked the shore tour
“Photo Safari by Land & Sea” led by a professional photography guide, a journalism
student in school for a summer vacation job, to explore and capture everything from
glaciers to whales. The tour is called VIP tour due to exclusively for those seeking photo
experiences and interests so the group size is limited to ensure a comfortable and
interactive atmosphere. Some of the participants who carried on their expensive and
name-brand ultra zoom SLR camera with long focus lens looked fairly experienced in
photography. After breakfast on ship, we boarded a motor coach at pier around 8:15AM
and were on a ride to a spot to see the well-known Juneau Icefield and the Mendenhall
Glacier first. On our way, we passed by the 2009 Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s House,
not far away from Juneau downtown and Capital Building. Juneau Icefield, which is
simply a massive year by year accumulation of ice and snow, is located in the Coast
Mountain and North America’s fifth largest icefield over 1,500 square miles of land. It is
just like a huge, huge blanket lying on land and almost 38 large glaciers including the
Mendenhall Glacier and waterfalls site on the blanket. The Mendenhall Glacier is one-
and-half miles wide, hundreds of feet thick The spot called the Mendenhall Glacier
Visitor Center we reached is a most desirable location to have a panoramic view of the
Mendenhall Glacier and the landscapes around the spot are also beautiful. Oh, what a
wonder just in front of us at the spot! An icefield, the Mendenhall Glacier, waterfalls,
mountains, rainforests, waterfront plus cloudlets, seen altogether, are simply a remarkable
panorama in multi-dimension and stunning beauty of the great nature! The spot really

6
offers a world-famous sight. Next, the spot was also a starting point for our group led by
the guide to gently walk along a scenic trail about 1 mile long. On trail, Benlu captured a
number of beautiful images. After the trail walking, following a short coach ride to the
Auke Bay, we boarded an exploration vessel specially designed for up-close wildlife
viewing and sailed through the waterways of Stephens Passage. Our captain wanted to
give us the best angle on the view and shot of whales, sea lions, eagles and so on. We did
see whales and sea lions a couple of times and, in the meantime, made their shots and
videos. After the vessel returned to the Bay, we were aboard on a mini-coach towards to
Juneau downtown and got there around 12:15PM. Downtown is modern and crowded.
Every group member could do what activity he or she wanted in town. I and Benlu
already planned a tour called Mount Roberts Tramway to have a tramcar ride up to the
1,800-foot level of Mount Roberts. A worth tour! We had an expansive views of the
Mount Chilkat, Stephens Passage, Douglas Island, our ship Island Princess and
downtown Juneau when we stood on some of the viewing platforms. At the top, we
explored the gift shop, watched the short movie of the introduction of Juneau and Mount
Roberts, saw the displays of native Alaska artworks, met an injured and captured bald
eagle, and walked on a hiking trail. We came down to the tramcar station around 4:30PM
and made a short walk from there to the cruise ship pier. Today was a formal dressing
again so we were well-dressed after back to our cabin. After dining, we first asked the
Princess photographer to make a couple of portraits for us, and then we went to see the
show “Adrian Zmed…In Concert” by Island Princess singers and dancers. Very good!
This was another great day!

06/20/09 Day 11 Ketchikan, AK

Our ship arrived in Ketchikan’s pier for our ship just before 10:00AM this morning. The
small city has earned the title Salmon Capital of the World, and is also known as the
state’s Rain Capital. Lucky us for Today! First today was not rain a drop and late
afternoon even gloriously sunny. Second, I sighted from our balcony on ship a white
head bald eagle around 5:00PM standing on the top of a downtown building close by the
ship pier. Benlu saw the eagle, too when she walked in town for shopping around. Third,
we had a very exciting excursion called Misty Fjords & Wilderness Explorer to
experience one of nature’s spectacular creations. At 10:30AM, we were aboard a high-
speed and luxury sightseeing vessel at pier. The vessel is equipped with the wide
wraparound windows and a top observation deck for photography. Our vessel departed
the Ketchikan harbor at 10:15AM towards the Fjords. Misty Fjords stemmed early in
1978 from Misty Fjords National Monument which covers over 2 million acres within the
Tongass National Forest. The TNF is the nation’s largest forest named in 1907. In
College Fjord, we enjoyed the rich and varied glaciers, ice, ice…and ice but, in Misty
Fjords, no ice, no glacier, an entirely different experience, we enjoyed the incredibly lush
landscape---green, green…all green around our entire cruise because of frequent rainfall,
averaging 160 inches a year in Ketchikan area---to water, waterfalls, water streams, rain
forests on islands scattered throughout the Fjord, luxuriant plants plus forested mountain
slopes, steep rocky cliffs and coves during our ship’s “fly” along the entire rugged
coastline in the Fjord. During this cruise, we also saw seabirds and bald eagles nesting
on cliff, harbor seals swimming in water or resting on rock along the shore, a seaplane’s

7
terrific water landing and the New Eddystone Rock with a distinctive shape, a volcanic
spire rising from the sea within the last 5 million years. Comment on this tour? A full
score and we’d like to recommend it. We returned to Ketchikan at 5:00PM. I rested in
our cabin and Benlu went for shopping in town before dinner. The last activity for today
was watching the show “Farewell Showtime” after dinner.

06/21/09 Day 12 At Sea

This was a full day at our leisure. Our ship was set towards Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Benlu attended the activities as All Comers Table Tennis Tournament (she contested with
some other players), “Ballroom Blitz” Beginners Dance Class to learn ‘Merengue’,
Extravaganza Dessert Buffet, “Ballroom Blitz” For Beginners to learn ‘Cha-Cha’. After
dinner, we enjoyed the Island Princess show “Farewell Showtime” which was the last one
we watched during the cruise. Before the show, Benlu went to Princess Photo Gallery
desk to order a Signature Plus Book which can gather our gallery photos captured
anywhere to print in one book. After the show, we shopped at ship’s gift shop to buy
some small gifts. After shopping, we returned to our cabin to pack things up for
tomorrow’s disembarkation.

06/22/09 Day 13 Vancouver, BC, Canada / Seattle, WA, USA

Our ship was alongside about 7:30AM at Canada Place of Vancouver. We finally
disembarked the ship around 8:30A. In the terminal building ashore after
disembarkation, a Canadian Customs Official checked our passports, and then we were
aboard a motor coach to have a ride to Seattle, WA USA. The coach directly sent us to
the Ramada Inn at about 1:30PM for one night stay in Seattle. We had our lunch at
Ginger Palace restaurant right in the lobby of the hotel. After lunch, we visited the
attractions as the 73rd floor Sky View of the Columbia Center, the 35th floor open-air
observation deck of the Smith Tower and the famed Pike Place or Fish market along the
Waterfront. We watched the Fish Throw show at the market. After dinner, we took a bus
ride back to Ramada Inn.

06/23/09 Day 14 Return Home

After breakfast, the hotel shuttle sent us to Seattle airport Tacoma Intl. Everything was
very smooth in the course of back home: boarding Midwest flight, flying, landing in KCI
and self-driving back. Back home was around 9:30PM and was very hot that night.

The End