See Breathtaking Alaska on a Smaller Ship

If you are thinking of an Alaska cruise in the near future, you might want to consider a smaller ship…

Most of the major cruise lines have ships that cruise to Alaska, and they do an excellent job. However, most of these ships are all over 100,000 tons and carry more than 2500 passengers, and as such have a hard time making it to anywhere other than the three stock ports of call:  Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchican.

Take Skagway as an example – this small town has only 800 permanent residents, with a bit of extra infrastructure because the cruise ship industry is such a huge part of their economy.  However, if you haven’t been there before, you can only imagine what happens when a town of 800 welcomes 10,000 or more passengers who are disgorged from three or four ships on the same day!

The experience is a lot like Disneyworld at spring break, except with mountains and glaciers.

Contrast that experience with what you’ll get on a smaller ship with one of the luxury lines like Crystal, Silversea, Regent Seven Seas, or Seabourn.

On a smaller ship, you’ll be visiting ports along with a few hundred other passengers as opposed to a few thousand. Additionally, the smaller ships purposely time their schedules so they are not at a port of call when there is even ONE other ship there, much less three or four.

Second – smaller ships can reach smaller, more interesting ports.  If you’ve already seen Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, it might be time to check out Icy Strait (Hoonah), Sitka, Prince Rupert, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, or Nome.

The scenery anywhere in Alaska and British Columbia is spectacular, but what you often miss on the big ships is the art, culture, and people of the ports.  You will be surprised how many of the people working in the shops in Ketchikan are actually university students from Washington State! In the smaller ports of call, you are much more likely to meet a local, or to connect with indigenous peoples.

Some ships embark/disembark in Seward, a picturesque harbor town that offers a taste of the best of what you've come up north to experience.  It is a charming base for exploring the peninsula and its unique small towns.  However, the nearest airport is 104 miles in Kenai, but you'll likely have a group transfer to or from the port by motor coach or train.  The pretty 2½ hour road trip to or from Anchorage is worth the trip.

So if you’ve cruised to Alaska previously, and been left thinking, “Wow, what spectacular scenery… but now I know what it looks like to the local cattle herds”, you might want to give Alaska another try on a smaller ship – it’s guaranteed to be a different experience.  Contact us for information.