Tag Archives: Denali

Cruising for Vacation, Bahamas, Mexico & Alaska

Posted on by | 4 Comments

Cruising for VacationCruise Nassau, Bahama

To cruise for vacation or not to cruise. Cruising has become the way to vacation in recent years (pre Covid). I can see the appeal. You have a floating hotel room and all of your meals. Once you board you unpack once and you are all set for the duration. For those of us who have worn out our joints so that we have had to slow down, being delivered to our location is a nice perk.

Still I haven’t been a fan of cruising in the past. My first cruise was to celebrate my friend Joe’s 40th birthday. Some of Joe’s friends and I chipped in and took him on a 4 day cruise to the Bahama’s. Since we were all on a budget my roommate and I settled for an inside cabin. It was small and cramped but we figured we wouldn’t be spending much time in the cabin so we could tolerate it. Never again. I’ll pay the extra for an outside cabin- preferably one with a balcony. The best part of that cruise for me was the stop at the private island. I spend most of the day snorkeling. There wasn’t a lot to see. Just a sandy bottom and occasional fish but floating in the warm waters was great!

I’m not a shopper so I didn’t get much out of the shopping spree in Nassau but I did enjoy the trip to Atlantis Resort. The bottom line is that Joe had a really special birthday but the experience didn’t encourage me to try cruising again.

 

Tulum

Tulum, Mexico

Tulum, Mexico

The next cruise I tried was once again with my friend Joe. We took a 4 day cruise out of the port of Miami to Cozumel, Mexico.

Before we headed out for Mexico we made a port of call in Key West. We were very familiar with Key West. Joe had worked there and I had visited on several occasions. Even so we enjoyed wandering around.

 

Once we reached Cozumel we took a wild ride across the channel to  Playa del Carmen. From there we took a bus to the Mayan Ruin at Tulum.

This was worth every penny. The ruins were amazing and when we went shopping we got to see The voladores, the flyers. These men tie themselves to a pole and and slowly descend circling the pole.

 

This cruise could have been longer as we didn’t have much time to spend in Mexico but what we saw was great. 

The Long Alaska Cruise Tour

With a couple of short cruises under my belt I let me sister talk me into taking an Alaska Cruise. What I learned from this experience is to not rely on the travel agent. As usual we were watching our pennies. We wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck. The travel agent convinced us that if we wanted to see baby animals, wildflowers and such we should take an early cruise-plus a shoulder season cruise was less expensive. Sounded good to us so we booked the first cruise of the season in late May. As our departure date neared we were notified of a cabin upgrade from ocean view to balcony. That was a great upgrade. We watched glaciers calve from that balcony.

On a shore excursion we got a taste of native culture.

Young Tlingit Dancer in Ceremonial dress

The weather didn’t cooperate for most of the cruise. Alaska had a late spring that year so there was still snow and a daily dose of cold, rainy, gray weather. We were glad we packed winter clothing. The bears were just beginning to come out of hibernation and most of the other mammals were still very pregnant. No babies yet and no wildflowers,  We were about a week too early! 

We did get to go dog sledding and spend time with the puppies. That was fun even though the snow had mostly melted there. Our sled was a big converted car body on wheels. I thought it would be too heavy for the dogs but they loved it. 

We did see Glaciers in Glacier Bay and bald eagles were everywhere. In Denali we got to see moose and caribou. At one port of call we spotted an otter! It wasn’t a total loss. I just think we had bad luck with our timing.  

Magarie Glacier

Bald Eagle on an ice floe

Even so Alaska is an amazing state. I want a return trip- by land this time. I’ve heard the way to see Alaska is in an RV but I’m still thinking about what I want from a return trip. 

The Great White North

Posted on by | 2 Comments

North to Denali

The farther north we went the easier it was to see that spring hadn’t really sprung yet. The scenery was spectacular but it was snow and ice. As the Denali Express rumbled over a trestle bridge we could look down into the steep chasm below. This was pretty rugged country.Trestle bridge shadow

raindeerA pair of caribou raced across a frozen river as we passed by. At one stop some mushers came on to talk to us about dog sledding. About that time someone spotted a coupled of grizzly bears fresh out of hibernation. They were just tiny dots in the distance. After the first excitement of the train ride wore off it began to get a bit long. Lots of people used the time to nap. The 9 1/2 hour trip seemed endless. Probably because it stretched to 11 hours before we pulled into the station in Denali.

 

Off the train and onto a bus

We all tumbled off the train and were immediately loaded onto a bus for the short trip to the Denali Princess Wilderness lodge.  The accommodations weren’t bad. And even if the weather was cold we had the warm Alaskan welcome to shake off the chill.

We didn’t have long to linger in the room because dinner was being served along with a stage show. The waitstaff were also the performers and they were amazing. After the show it was time to head to bed. The sun was just setting this far north but we had an early morning tour. We were going into the National Park. Hopefully we’d finally see some animals. Our park adventure was a half day tour. Turns out the best tour would have been the all day trip but once again we relied on our travel agent when selecting the excursion. 

Into Denali National Park

Our Tour Bus Awaits

In the morning after a huge breakfast at one of the resort restaurants (which were not included in the package) we climbed aboard another bus for our trip into Denali National Park. We began to see a little more animal life. There were a couple of moose and some caribou but no bears. We really wanted to see bears. When the all day tour returned they said they has bears surround their bus. Clearly we should have taken the longer trip. 

 

The Land Part of our CruiseTour

Posted on by

Exploring the Land

Land and sea cruise tours are popular for Alaska. It’s such a big state. Loads of coastline for the “sea” but all that amazing interior. Some of it is really the last frontier. Look at all the TV shows. There’s Alaskan Bush People, Edge of Alaska, Life Below Zero, Alaska State Troopers, Wild West Alaska and the list goes on. Proof that Alaska is a fascinating place that has captured our imaginations. There was even a show about the Alaska Railroad. That’s how we planned to travel to Denali National Park, by train.

All Aboard the Princess Alaska Railroad

When you watch the Shows about Alaska, even the documentaries, the rail passengers are all seated in spacious rail cars, smiling and having a great time. On our itinerary we were arriving in Whittier in the morning but not boarding the train until the afternoon. There’d be time to explore this little town where everyone lives in one big building! Much of the ride would be at night since it was a 9 1/2 hour trip. That wasn’t what happened. We arrived in Whittier in the morning but we were sent immediately to the train. The seating was bench seats that faced each other with a table in between. Everything was bolted down so you couldn’t push back or move the table to get comfortable. With our carry-on luggage and bulky coats the seating was cramped. But it only got worse. Turns out that the seating wasn’t for 2 people. It was for 4!

The long and crowded ride

Our 9 1/2 hour trip actually turned into 11 hours. I did get a few photos and crawled over our seatmates a few times for bathroom breaks, a visit to the dining car and just to stretch my legs. The scenery was magnificent but it was hard to enjoy it when there was no room to turn around for a look. We had dome windows but it didn’t take too long to dampen any enthusiasm for looking out. This was very disappointing. Nothing like the experience we were told to expect. I found out after the fact that there is a commercial passenger train that goes to Denali but we weren’t on it. This train is owned and operated by Princess Cruise Lines. They packed us in like sardines so they could make a bigger profit. I can’t recommend this part of the journey.

Cruise #3 Alaska- Land of the Midnight Sun

Posted on by | 2 Comments

The #3 Cruise was Alaska

A cruise to Alaska is on so many people’s bucket list that I have to share our experience. Looking back on it I can see where we made some big mistakes. This should have been the trip of a lifetime. But let me fill you in and you can let me know what you think.

Stock cartoon

Alaska Land-Cruise

There is so much to see in Alaska that we didn’t want just a cruise. Most of the cruise lines offer land/sea packages so that’s what we looked into. When the time came to book our cruise I turned to a travel agent for help. Usually I plan and book all of our trips myself but we were spending a lot of money so I wanted to be sure we had the right cruise.

The First Mistake

We weren’t sure about the best time to take the cruise so I met with the travel agent. We talked about what we’d like to see. Were the Northern Lights important or maybe 24 hours of sunshine or were the abundant animals the draw? Having previously discussed some of this with my sister I said we’d like the animals, especially baby animals. The agent then went on to sing the praises of an early  spring cruise. The flowers would be blooming and baby animals would be everywhere. Alaska is beautiful in the spring. Sounded good. Sign us up.

No one can control mother nature but spring came late that year. Our cruise was cold and rainy. Baby animals were rare. Many animals were not around at all. And as for wildflowers, the were still snow covered.

The Second Mistake

While on the land part of the trip in Denali National Park  we took a tour into the park. We saw a moose or two and some caribou but no bears. It was a little disappointing. Turns out our travel agent  signed us up for the short half day excursion. The folks that went on the full day saw a  lot more animals, went deeper into the park and at one time had 3-4 grizzly bears surround their bus.  Note to self, next time take the long tour!

The Good Advice

 We had a choice of starting in Denali and then sailing south to Vancouver or doing the cruise first. Our Travel agent advised since this was a spring cruise that we go south to north. Good advice. We signed up for 3 days in Denali at the end of the cruise. We really would have missed out if we had gone the other way. It would have been way too cold in Denali.

Denali

But Wait There’s More

Before I rate this cruise I want to go into some more detail about the excursions and ports of call so stay tuned for more details. This was just an overview.

 

 

 

Around the MT. Mckinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

Posted on by

This was my favorite lodge.

Alaska2013 895 copy

It may have been considered more remote but I thought it was much nicer than the Princess lodge we just left. After all, how many times have you opened  a door with antlers for handles.

Alaska2013 964 copy

A shuttle takes you around the property and all of the drivers were great.  A female moose gave birth to twins the day before we got there. The little ones were too small to move far so she was right there beside the road. The drivers always stopped so we could get a glimpse of her through the trees. Try as I might I couldn’t get a clear shot.

Alaska2013 924 copy

We even walked down in hopes of getting a shot without bus windows but for such a large animal, she and the babies were hidden well.

scan0002

The lodge was afraid all the attention would stress Mama Moose and that she might charge and injure a guest in an attempt to protect her babies.  They said if people kept going down there they would be forced to make her move so we only made the one attempt. We didn’t want her forced to move babies so young.

Alaska2013 918 copy

The main pastime at this lodge was Denali (Mt. McKinley) watching.  They even had an alert system similar to a wake up call. If you wanted a call when the mountain was visible you signed up and got a phone call, no matter what time, when the clouds cleared and the mountain could be seen.

Alaska2013 897 copy

I must have been getting tired at this point because there was a horse drawn wagon ride that I wanted to take but I forgot all about it until we were boarding the bus to leave!

Alaska2013 899 copy

We didn’t do any tours here. I was on the courtesy internet quite a bit wrapping up details of my job offer so that I could be sure to have a job when I got back from vacation.  They had a great gift shop with some of the most unique and reasonably priced souvenirs of our trip. We did quite a bit of shopping here.

Alaska2013 967 copy

Even though we were farther in to the interior or maybe because we were, spring was really springing here. Temps were getting up to 60+, almost breaking the 70 mark. That was the trigger for Alaska’s unofficial state bird to make it’s appearance.

scan0001

These mosquitoes are huge and plentiful. One of our new friends had bug repellant plastic bracelets and shared some with us. To my surprise they worked.

Alaska2013 920 copy

Denali (the mountain) watching was really interesting.  When we got up in the morning  the sky over the Alaska range was overcast but the mountains, except for Denali stood out clearly.

Alaska2013 928 copy

The line of mountain tops was so well defined it was hard to believe there was a “missing mountain”. About mid- morning Denali suddenly popped out of the overcast.

Alaska2013 932a copy

Cloud banks drifted and shifted in front of her but that only added to her mystique.

Alaska2013 969 copy

We spent a relaxing morning mountain watching before we had to climb back on the bus for the last leg of our journey to Anchorage where we’d be reunited with our luggage and spend the night before our flight home and back to reality.