Cruise To Alaska 2026

Welcome Aboard

A couple of years ago we made our first trip to Alaska.  We had a great time with Insight Tours, we saw several small villages and visited a kennel to meet the dogs and an Ititarod champion.   We spent a couple of days at Denali National Park, it was cloudy the days we were there but we’d seen Denali Mountain from the tiny town of Telkeetna so we considered ourselves very lucky. We enjoyed the trip but, we missed seeing all the coastal towns that most people see when they go to Alaska.

So off we went this year to see places with familiar names.  Ketchikan, Wrangell, Juneau, Sitka, and Seward. We didn’t have any trouble selecting a cruise line to take us up the coast.  We sailed with Crystal on our first cruise a couple of years ago when we traveled from New York to Quebec. That was our first cruise and we were hooked on Crystal.  When we saw they had a July 2026 cruise scheduled to leave from Vancouver, British Columbia  to Seward, Alaska. We jumped on the opportunity to travel with them again.   

We flew Air Canada for the first time and what a joy it was, easy check in right at the counter, no pre booking on the computer or figuring out which buttons to push at the ‘friendly kiosk’. We were thrilled with the  spacious seating and our gate was right next to the Phoenix Beer Garden.  What could be better.  

We’d been to the Vancouver area several years ago but we didn’t travel through the city proper.  This provided an opportunity to see the city while we traveled from the airport to our hotel in the busy

Vancouver and Bay

downtown area. Our room was on the 28th floor so our view of the city at night was spectacular.  In the morning we could see our ship at the dock and sail boats gliding around the bay. We had breakfast at the hotel bistro,  no cold cereal and dry toast for us this morning.  No sir, the adventure began with Tiramisu Belgian waffles with whipped honey butter. Talk about a decant breakfast treat.   

We were welcomed aboard our ship with a glass of champagne, and the get acquainted flyer for the days activities. Our stateroom was lovely and we enjoyed sitting on the veranda to watch the port activities while we drank our second glass of champagne.  Hmmm might have to keep an eye on the free flowing stuff.        

Leaving Vancouver was a day of travel through the Seymour Narrows to Ketchikan.  We really didn’t have much time to explore Ketchikan, since we had an excursion set up to travel further up river to a delightful lodge assessable only by boat. 

Our driver to the boat was an interesting young man who loved living in Ketchikan.  He had a lot of stories to tell.  There are no moose or bears on the island where Ketchikan is located. One of his friends was camping in the outback area of the island and in the distance  saw a bear swimming toward the island.   Protocol in that type of thing is to call Fish and Game and report the bear sighting and keep watch so when Fish and Game arrived they could find the bear.  The young man had his binoculars  and was keeping watch, but all of a sudden an orca surfaced and took the bear. So there are still no bears on the island.  

On the boat  on the way to the lodge we stopped to marvel at the bald eagles, both adults and juveniles hunting in the water near our boat.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the eagles were so impressive.  At the dock at the lodge there were several boats dropping off passengers with luggage to spend time at the resort. Most people were there to fish, but we were there to enjoy a nature walk through the rainforest and lunch.

Our guide told interesting stories about the lodge and some of the old timers who have stayed there and proudly displayed the octopus carved by one of them.  The rainforest was lush with trees and of course moss covered everything. A different kind of hanging moss was reddish gray  and referred to as ‘old man’s beard’.

After our walk we adjourned to the lodge patio for a genuine crab boil.  The tables were covered with

Crab Boil

newspaper, and crab legs, shrimp, mussels, and clams along with red potatoes and corn on the cob tumbled out of a steaming pot right on the table.  It was fresh, hot, delicious and fun to eat.  A couple from Australia staying at the lodge joined our table. They were interesting and we enjoyed the company.

Our next stop was the port of Wrangell.  As our cruise director jokingly mentioned the previous evening,’there will be a tour of Wrangell starting at 8 A.M.at 8:05 A.M. we will return to the ship.” Yes it is a tiny village with about 2,000 hardy souls.  Life here is all about the water.  Our excursion today involves a jet boat, captained by a third generation Wrangell boatman.  Jason, said he knew this water like the back of his hand, which was good because we flew through narrows filled with sandbars and shallow water about one foot deep on the way to a lake with a depth of 1,200 feet.  It was another beautiful sunny day and we loved zipping around the river.

Juneau is the next port, the capital of Alaska has a population of about 19,000.  When the cruise ships arrive the population explodes.  Once again we missed all the shops because we went whale watching.  This was an overcast/drizzle sort of day but the whales didn’t seem to care.  The guide on our tour was part of a

Crab Out of Shell

conservation group counting creatures collected in crab pots.  We watched while Donna brought a pot up and enjoyed viewing the crabs.  One crab came completely out of his shell, which was unusual, Donna was worried about him but carefully put him back in the water.  

We enjoyed the adventure and saw quite a few whales.  We watched The National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) tagging whales. Well, they were trying to tag whales, it is not an easy job.  They had a small boat and one man stood at the front with a long pole with a tag on it.  They follow a whale until they can get close enough to stick the tag on.   You have to ask, ’what can go wrong here?’ They’re whales for goodness sakes, a lot can go wrong.  The tags are used as a means to survey the whale population.  The tags are not permanent and they eventually drop off, but the information has been recorded.  

We didn’t know humpback whales can be identified by their tail markings.  Our guide was familiar with several of the whales we saw this day.  She commented, “Bubbles doesn’t usually swim with the group, she is a loner”.  Or, ‘There’s Sasha,  she is easy to identify, look for the unusual white markings on her tail’. Donna encouraged us to take  pictures.  You can send your pictures to Happywhales.com and find out if that whale has been identified.  If not, you may get a chance to name the whale.  While that was tempting, we’ve discovered sometimes you miss the adventure trying to get pictures of it.

Actual size of a whale tail

Sitka is our next port.  This village of 8,000 is in a beautiful setting.  I really thought it was the most appealing, of the small towns along the coast.  We are here to find sea otters and other wildlife.  Sea otters are not to be confused with sea lions.  Sea lions are pretty common and found in most ocean settings.  Sea otters, on the other hand, are found mostly in Alaska.  I always picture them as a momma otter holding her baby on her chest.  We did see this activity but we were surprised to learn that sea otters can grow to be about six feet long.  

Sea otters have special insulating fur that keeps them warm in these cold waters. The otters hold hands or wrap kelp around themselves to stay together in the water.  They form sort of a raft and in fact are called a

Sea Otter

raft of sea otters.  Otters can be seen carrying their favorite rock while diving for shellfish.  They bring up the shellfish and lay it on their chest and hit it with the rock to break it open.     

We saw many whales on this excursion, including a rarely seen Minke whale.  They are smaller than the humpback whales,  kind of the sports car version of the big guys.  He looked more like a porpoise  or dolphin the way he guided through the water.  This was a great day with beautiful weather and lots of wildlife. 

The next day was spent heading toward Seward, our final destination.  We did take time to stop and see Hubbard Glacier.  There was a party atmosphere on the ship.  Everyone headed to the front of the ship to the glass enclosed lounge for coffee and sweet treats while we cruised close to the glacier. The mountains

Backdrop for Hubbard Glacier

surrounding the glacier were spectacular. I’m ashamed to admit I thought Hubbard Glacier was more of an ice flow than the spectacular glaciers that calve huge icebergs.  We’d seen that type of glacier on our last trip to Alaska, so I’m good. 

Seward was our disembarkation point, the weather  was what you might think of as a typical Alaska day, chilly with drizzling rain.  Our guide said this is typical weather for Seward until it starts snowing.  We took a motor coach to Anchorage to catch our flight home.  

We reluctantly left the cozy ship, our home away from home for seven glorious days. We love everything about cruising with Crystal, the accommodations are spacious, the service is impeccable and the gourmet food is to die for.