The Inside Passage
Practical Travel Advice for Seniors: The Inside Passage
An Alaskan cruise is on most American’s bucket list…and ours as well! We chose a small ship cruise because we don’t like huge crowds and smaller ships can get into smaller, more unique ports of call.
Alaskan cruises are only available for part of the year due to weather (May – September) and are very popular. We chose to cruise in May, so though it is prime season, a lot of folks are still busy with kids in school, so we were hoping for manageable crowds. There are several cruise lines to choose from that travel the Inside Passage and most all are populated by Americans of a certain generation.
We do enjoy cruising on a small ship: You unpack once and you are good for the next 7-10 days. All meals provided, plus nice amenities like a spa, afternoon tea and plenty of entertainment. Watch the spirits packages on cruises….ours provided beer/wine with lunch and dinner, which was plenty for us. Also, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the ship offered yoga classes for a nominal fee, which we very much enjoyed. We were never bored on the ship and there was plenty to do, but after ten days, we were ready to move on.
The Inside Passage is best experienced via a cruise. Don’t let people tell you that you can fly in and drive to some of the Ports of Call and get the same experience. A lot of what is best about it is best viewed from the water. Whales, snow capped mountains, friendly sea otters, yes, we saw then all from the ship!
We sailed from Vancouver in the early evening (Vancouver is a great place to visit, by the way). The view past Vancouver was interesting, but the real show started the next day.
The ports we stopped at were designed for small ships and there were several things to do for free at each stop and several excursions for an additional fee as well. Keep in mind that most of the ports are very small and there is not a great deal to see at them, but most will have a nice area to stroll and at least a few souvenir shops (of course!) and possibly a restaurant or two. Since we don’t really go in for souvenir t-shirts, etc., we have found the best way to support the local economy is to spend money on an excursion run by locals. And if you’re planning a trip to Alaska and it will be a one and done trip, you definitely want to take the excursions, so budget accordingly!
The ports that our ship stopped at were: Wrangell, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway and Sitka. The Hubbard Glacier, Valdez and Seward were outside of the Inside Passage, but part of the cruise ending in Seward. Again, there were “free” things to see at each port, but the best things to see on the Inside Passage was the landscape and water creatures while we were sailing. You just can’t get the beautiful views from land and some of the cities are only available by boat/flight.
We sailed just at the beginning of salmon spawning season, so bear sightings were not near as frequent as they are during the spawn, so plan accordingly. Also, the bears are brown and black bears. You won’t see any polar bears on this cruise…they are located on the extreme north and western coasts of Alaska.
There was definitely evidence of the heat cycle that the world seems to be in right now (call it global warming or what you will, but it is real!), so it seemed like a good time to go before some of the sights simply melt away!
A quick guide to ports/popular excursions (not exhaustive):
Wrangell/Ketchikan: Misty Fjords, Wrangell museum, native villages, flight-seeing, zipline, fishing, hiking.
Icy Strait Point: Bear tours, fishing, hiking, Tlingit culture and totem park, whale watching, seafood.
Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier, whale watching, flight-seeing, fishing, helicopter, dogsled
Skagway: Glacier Bay, White Pass Summit train, wildlife, golf, hiking, bald eagle spotting, rock climbing.
Sitka: Wildlife cruises, theatrical performance
Valdez: Columbia Glacier, Prince William Sound, Whitney Museum, Trans Alaskan pipeline, whitewater rafting, helicopter, kayaking, hiking.
Seward: Kenai Fjords, Resurrection Bay, Alaska SeaLife Center, sled dogs, river float, kayaking, jump off point for land tours
We made sure to go on a bear sightseeing excursion as well as a whale watching trip. We also did a flight-seeing trip which was expensive, but absolutely worth it and was a highlight of our trip. We took the White Pass Summit train, which was nice, but don’t do the coach tour and the train, you will see basically the same things on both tours. And remember…sometimes the animals come out to be seen and sometimes they don’t! So make as many opportunities to see them as possible.
We continued after our final ship stop in Seward on a seven day land extension to Denali National Park. (More on that in another post.) Going to Alaska is an expensive proposition. However, we were very likely going only once, so decided to make sure we got the best experience possible in combining the sailing/land trips together. It’s easy enough to do in two trips thought (and a lot less expensive to divide up the expense).
So, again, word to the wise….don’t skip the Inside Passage cruise. While it’s great to head up to Denali and do a few stops along the way, since you’re going to be in Alaska, get the whole picture! Make it a true bucket list trip!
Where we stayed: On board a small cruise ship. Limited accessibility: Wide aisles and elevators, but only some penthouses have accessible restrooms. Also, in rough seas mobility in the aisles can be tricky.
How we got there: Flight from US to Vancouver. This was part of an eleven-day Inside Passage cruise followed by a seven-day land tour to Denali National Park.
General Accessibility Information: Alaska is in the US, so most sights, hotels, shops, restaurants and infrastructure are accessible. But it is still best to call in advance to verify and make specialty arrangements. Some of the towns, sights and excursions may have uneven ground and some of the conveyances (small planes, kayaks, etc.) may not be accessible. Larger cities will have curb cuts, etc. See our sections on specialty apps and accessible travel for more on accessibility assistance.
