Our trip to Alaska consisted of two parts, 1 week each. First week was the cruise from Vancouver to Whittier, covering Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier bay national park and College Fjords. Second week was a road trip covering Denali National Park, Seward and Anchorage. From Anchorage, we did a day trip to Katmai National Park.
Starting with week 1, we had booked a cabin on the starboard side on the Royal Princess. Our overall cruise experience was excellent. The quality of sightseeing, the food and the entertainment abroad the Royal Princess were amazing.
We booked the shore excursions directly with https://alaskashoretours.com, which was definitely cheaper than booking with the cruise ship.
Our first landing was in Ketchikan, where we started with a walk around the town (took about an hour).
After the walk, we boarded the tour bus to visit the Ketchikan rain forest. We saw a lot of wild life, including eagles and salmon. At the end of the tour, we visited the Totem manufacturing workshop. Post that we returned back to the ship.
The next day, we stopped at Juneau, capital city of Alaska. Our first tour was a boat ride in the bay near Juneau. We were fortunate to see a lot of humpback whales and orcas. Post the boat ride, the next tour was to Mendelhall glacier and Nugget falls by bus. While Mendelhall glacier is quite close to the bus stop, Nugget falls is about 30 to 40 minutes walk. The walk is totally worth the views.
After the tour of the glacier and falls, we returned to Juneau. We took a walk around the key landmarks in the city, including a tour of the state capitol building. Access to the inside of the Capitol is free. After seeing the Capitol, we returned to the ship.
The next day we landed in Skagway, a town renowned for the gold rush in the late 19th century. We took the Yukon discovery tour, which takes us into Canada’s Yukon Territory. The guided tour provided a lot of information about the gold rush and how things evolved.
The next two days were spent on the ship, exploring the Glacier Bay national park, and the College Fjords.
After a week of amazing sights, we disembarked in Whittier, Alaska.
We rented a car through Avis located about 500 meters from the docks. Our first drive was to Denali National Park. There are a lot of lookout spots on the way to Denali.
We stayed at Grande Denali Lodge, which has lovely views of the surrounding areas.
We booked a bus tour of Denali National Park well in advance. The total tour lasted about 5-6 hours. We saw a lot of wildlife, and some incredible scenery.
After returning to the lodge, we went on a couple of easy hiking trips. One of these trips was a walk to the Horseshoe lake.
After two nights in Denali, we drove to Portage railway station. We had booked for a scenic train ride to see the Spencer and Bartlett glaciers. The train dropped us back at Portage railway station. From Portage we drove to Seward.
We stayed near resurrection bay in Seward. All good accommodation had sold out quite a while back. We got a rustic place near Old Miller’s landing, which had some amazing views.
The next morning, we took the boat ride to tour Resurrection bay and Kenai Fjords. The wildlife sightings and the views of the glaciers and fjords were one of the best. We saw a large pod of Orcas (killer whales). Then we saw a large pod of humpback whales doing bubble net feeding. Per my research, only Alaskan whales have learned the technique of bubble net feeding. We stopped at Fox Island for dinner, where we saw river otters and a lot of birds.
The next morning, we drove to Exit Glacier. The walking paths are well marked. Some of the walk is steep, but totally worth the effort. A sad aspect is reading how much the glacier has receded, especially in the past 20 years.
The drive from Seward to Anchorage was scenic with many lookouts.
We stayed 2 days in Anchorage, visiting the Kincaid Park and Earthquake park. Kincaid Park has a lot of amazing trails, and we were lucky to see a moose close by.
A major highlight of our Alaska trip was a day trip to Katmai National Park. We booked the trip through https://bristoladventures.com. We took an early morning flight from Anchorage to King Salmon Airport. A shuttle bus took us to the float plane harbor a few miles away. Then we boarded the float plane and landed on Naknek lake, which is the entry point for Katmai National Park. National Park officials gave us a full run down of how to go to Brook falls and how to manage any bear encounters.
The sightings of bears catching salmon on top of the Brooks falls were just amazing. We would have loved to stay at Brooks Falls, but the accommodation there gets sold out about a year in advance.
After an amazing day trip to Katmai, we returned to Anchorage. Both the week on the cruise and the week on the mainland were spectacular.
Katmai NP, Resurrection Bay and Denali are obvious must-see places for nature enthusiasts.
My Travels - by Sivamani 