Cruise Reviews, Ship Reviews by The Avid Cruiser

Cruise West will offer guests two overnights in Glacier Bay National Park on its Wilderness Inside Passage itinerary during the upcoming Alaska season. The additional time gives guests the opportunity to explore the birds and sea lions of South Marble Island, the 15,000-foot peak of Mt. Fairweather, and massive glaciers of all varieties, all while under the expert guidance of a National Park Ranger and Native Cultural Interpreter. Cruise West also will offer more departures on this itinerary with two ships instead of one: the 84-passenger Spirit of Discovery and the 102-passenger Spirit of Endeavour. Yet another advantage with this itinerary is the line’s steadfast Whale Sighting Guarantee: Should whales not be spotted on a sailing, the line will refund $250 to each guest — a refund that Cruise West proudly proclaims it has never had to pay.

In September of 2006, I signed on for Cruise West’s 15-day Gold Rush Inside Passage Cruisetour.

What’s a cruisetour? It’s a combination of a cruise and a tour. And it allows you to see and experience the best of Alaska.

The cruise itself sails between Seattle and Juneau, and takes in cities and towns featured on many Alaska itineraries: Ketchikan, Skagway and Juneau. As well as some towns that aren’t regularly featured on Alaska cruise itineraries, such a Sitka, Haines and Petersburg.

There’s plenty of time for watching whales and other wildlife along the way, and on Cruise West’s small ships, the captain will even stop the ship and turn it to give passengers an up close and personal encounter with the splendor of Alaska.

The tour part of our trip took us to Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city; Denali, shrouded in snow and looming majestic over the golden September foliage, and Fairbanks, where the Northern Lights had been lighting the sky shortly before our arrival.

You’ll see all of this and more in this series of “Small Ship Snapshots.”

On a Cruise West “D Tour” we go deep into Denali, 90 miles from the National Park’s Entrance and up close and personal to Denali itself. Want to get away while getting close? Take a look.

From moose to porcupine to caribou to eagles, Cruise West guests saw lots of wildlife in Denali.

Our cruisetour had only nine people. For the summer of ‘06, Cruise West cruisetour groups averaged only 17. The small numbers make for a true “up close and personal” experience.

He’s been on top of Denali five times and plans to summit North America’s tallest mountain again - ambitious, he admits, seeing that he is 72 years old. Tom Choate talks about the mountain he loves.