Alaska
© Photos from the album of Lisa Anderson
ALASKA!!! Six million square miles of vast wilderness, majestic mountain peaks that literally disappear into the cloud-filled sky, crystal-blue rivers of glacial ice, streams that run red when the salmon spawn, quaint towns that haven’t changed much since the Gold Rush, and spectacular and untamed wildlife such as whales, moose, bears, sea lions, sea otters, puffins, and eagles which seem as numerous as the Carolina wrens in the American South.
What better way to experience our 49th state than by cruising. I have served twice as a Virtuoso Voyager Club Host on the 700-passenger all-suite, all-inclusive Regent Mariner, once in September going north from Vancouver to Seward and once in August going in the opposite direction. On each sailing, we visited Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, the Hubbard Glacier and the former Russian town of Sitka. I have participated in a number of the shore excursions (many of them free) from whale-watching up close and personally in Auk Bay near Juneau to taking the White Pass and Yukon Railroad to the summit and kayaking in Glacier Lake to observing as a black bear cub crossed directly in front of me and scampered up a tree on a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier. I have done the active and the sedentary, the serious and the campy, and have loved every experience.
Alaska is a perfect destination for family groups. I have hosted as many as 16 members of one family on a celebration cruise in August, with ages ranging from 1 year to seventy. On certain selected sailings, Regent offers a special way to share the wonders of this majestic, yet fragile, wilderness with the kids – with Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ambassadors of the Environment youth programs.
Whether you prefer active pursuits, such as dog-sledding or bear-watching by floatplane, or you just want to sit on your own private verandah in your bathrobe and watch as the captain maneuvers the ship so that you can observe the calving of the Hubbard Glacier, there is something for everyone's taste and temperament on an Alaska cruise.
