Alaska Cruise-Tour, 28 May to 8 June 2011

[Alpc]

Wow... 4+ hours!??! Hmmm, what time did you arrive at the terminal? I took the 1st bus (11 am) from airport, reached there around 11.45 am, queued and managed to get on board by 2.30 pm (last check on the watch when we were having lunch at Horizon Court, headed straight there immediately after finding our cabin).

Because of that, I have not even walked around Vancouver at all - arrived on 27 May pretty late, slept at a hotel near the airport. Next day, headed straight for Canada Place. Thank goodness we had a big breakfast at IHOP, or we would have been starving by the time we got to eat our lunch.

So, there will be another trip to Vancouver, making it a All Canada trip - but not sure when... Need to recoup from the amount spent on this Alaska trip: was on the most expensive cruisetour where I headed all the way up to Prudhoe Bay, and stand on the still iced Arctic Ocean.

 

[reservoir88]

There is no cruise sailing in Oct. Last ship sailing for Alaska is in mid or late Sept.

To capture aurora, u will need to be based in Fairbanks and go out of Fairbanks in the night to find areas where there are no citylights to spoil the shots.

Interestingly I am also on the same ship as TS and return back to Sg on 13 jun, but have not started on my photos yet.

Welcome Alpc. I understand (from the cruise director) that there were 260+ Singaporeans on board. Yet, we only managed to meet a few.

 

[reservoir88]

Wow... 4+ hours!??! Hmmm, what time did you arrive at the terminal? I took the 1st bus (11 am) from airport, reached there around 11.45 am, queued and managed to get on board by 2.30 pm (last check on the watch when we were having lunch at Horizon Court, headed straight there immediately after finding our cabin).

Because of that, I have not even walked around Vancouver at all - arrived on 27 May pretty late, slept at a hotel near the airport. Next day, headed straight for Canada Place. Thank goodness we had a big breakfast at IHOP, or we would have been starving by the time we got to eat our lunch.

So, there will be another trip to Vancouver, making it a All Canada trip - but not sure when... Need to recoup from the amount spent on this Alaska trip: was on the most expensive cruisetour where I headed all the way up to Prudhoe Bay, and stand on the still iced Arctic Ocean.

You were smart to have arrived early. We arrived about 12.30 pm. That must be the peak period. Since there were 2 ships at port the immigration must have cleared about 5,000 people that day. Considering that they had to take 10 fingerprints and a photo of each person, we can see why it took so long. Look forward to seeing your photos for the Arctic Ocean.

 

[Alpc]

You will not be disappointed if scenery is what you are looking for. However, you may encounter unfriendly weather. Ketchikan for example is supposed to have rain most days of the year. Its best therefore to go in the high summer months. Also I think the chances of spotting animals are better during the midsummer months. We were a bit early and it was wholly unexpected that we managed to get sunshine almost everyday of our cruise and tour.

Well, by the way, Alaska see the lowest rainfall during May (according to recorded trends). You will be able to spot bears even in Ketchikan when the Salmon runs begins, but spotting other animals depends on where you go. In Denali, it is best to either take the shuttle bus all the way to Eielson Visitor Center where you can drop and hop onto the shuttle buses, or you take the longer wilderness tour which is the Tundra Wilderness Tour (where you head into Mile 62 before turning around, but you won't reached the Visitor Center). If you are game for it, go for the Kantishna Experience Tour where you go the full 92 miles of the road into the park (11 hours on a bus).

The Princess cruisetours only give the Natural History Tour which will only get you into Mile 17 before heading back and does not give much of a chance to see the wildlife. I believe Dall Sheep, Caribou, fox, artic ground squirrel and bald eagle were spotted after Mile 17 (on the day I was on the tour). Moose was spotted right before getting into Denali Park road, and there were more in the Park itself. There were other birds, including ravens and golden eagle in the park, but I could not catch all the names that were given by the guide (neither could I get a snapshot of them, they were flying too far away).

You will also need people will sharp eyes and binoculars in the bus to help spotting these wildlife, because we had a couple who practically spotted all the wildlife before the guides could!!!

Oh, a black bear was spotted at the train depot according to the bus driver who dropped us off at the train depot for our train ride into Fairbanks. It happens the day before, and I think it happens around the time before the train from Anchorage was about to arrive at the train depot as the bus drivers were all waiting for the train to arrive so that they could transport the passengers to the lodges.

 

[Alpc]

You were smart to have arrived early. We arrived about 12.30 pm. That must be the peak period. Since there were 2 ships at port the immigration must have cleared about 5,000 people that day. Considering that they had to take 10 fingerprints and a photo of each person, we can see why it took so long. Look forward to seeing your photos for the Arctic Ocean.

Imagine the 1st day of cruise season where there were 4 ships at port - That was madness!!!! Actually that's the reason why I told my party that we are going on the 1st bus. The other was, I was hoping to be able to walk around (to at least Gastown), but that was out of the question when I saw the queue.

 

[reservoir88]

Imagine the 1st day of cruise season where there were 4 ships at port - That was madness!!!! Actually that's the reason why I told my party that we are going on the 1st bus. The other was, I was hoping to be able to walk around (to at least Gastown), but that was out of the question when I saw the queue.

Where we were waiting, the passengers were bound for 2 ships. ours and another Holland America ship. Now that you mention it, I remember that when our taxi arrived they directed us to one of 2 sections. The other 2 ships would be at another side of the berth and waiting area.

I think Gastown is quite some distance away from the cruise terminal. Here's a picture of the Steam Clock (taken in 2008)

 

[reservoir88]

Still at Ketchikan

#37

Traffic Wardens on hand to help tourists cross the roads. They were also on duty in other towns we visited.
Reminds me of schooldays, "Stop Children Crossing"

#38

Guardian Eagle of Ketchikan

#39

Typical Touristy Shop

#40

Mansion on hilltop

#41

Springblooms

 

[reservoir88]

4th Day - Juneau - The capital of Alaska

On the morning of the 4th day, our ship docked around 8.30am. It would be in port for about 12 hours and many optional tours were offered not only by the cruise company but independant companies that set up booths near the port. We had signed for the photo safari offered by the cruise company. A "must see" attraction here is the Mendenhall Glacier described as "a tongue of ice stretching over 12 miles from the Juneau Icefield to Mendenhall Lake". "Ice depths up to 2,000 feet occur along the glacier's length." Our photo safari would take us to this place, after which we would board a ship in search of marine life along the waters around Juneau.

#42
Mendenhall Lake with the glacier on the right

#43
There's a waterfall next to the Glacier

#44
Mendenhall Glacier

#45
Further down the lake, opposite the Glacier

 

[limwhow]

#42
Mendenhall Lake with the glacier to the left

Wah! Lovely lovely reflection, reservoir88!

 

[sakuragiz]

Wah liao! Really stunning images sia. Think I have to divert my honeymoon to this place. Ok now tell me around how much u spend for both include flight and all.

 

[Alpc]

We had signed for the photo safari offered by the cruise company.

Oh, you took that shore excursion option. So how you find it - Is it worth the price? How's the tutor/guide that was supposed to give you pointers on taking photos?

 

[reservoir88]

Wah! Lovely lovely reflection, reservoir88!

Was fortunate that the water was relatively still. Was just at the right place at the right time.

 

[reservoir88]

Wah liao! Really stunning images sia. Think I have to divert my honeymoon to this place. Ok now tell me around how much u spend for both include flight and all.

Hi sakuragiz, tks for stopping by. I think it costs us about S$4,500 for the cruise and airfare. If you look at the cruise ship website (http://www.princess.com) for 2012 May the quote for cruise alone (inside cabin) for 7 days is just US$799. If you include the land tour the price goes up to US$1800. So it is the land tour that is expensive. The airfare costs us S$1800 (China Airlines) but there were others who went by CX at the promotional price of $1400.

Having taken the land tour my view is that it is not really worth it. The extra US$1,000 could be spent at Vancouver or Anchorage planning your own activities.

 

[reservoir88]

Oh, you took that shore excursion option. So how you find it - Is it worth the price? How's the tutor/guide that was supposed to give you pointers on taking photos?

There were other tours that bring you to the same place (Mendenhall Glacier) and same activities (Whale Watching) for less. The reason why photo safari was more expensive is that your guide is a photographer himself and the boat for whale watching is smaller with more than enough room for everyone to have good vantage points to shoot.

However, I was quite disappointed that the photographer did not bring us to any special place to shoot. We went to the same places that people from other tours went. Also the time allowed for shooting was not enough. We hurried to the place. Spent 30 minutes there and was hurried off to the whale watching. In other words it was no different from the other (cheaper) tours except that your guide was a photographer. The only pointers I remebered he gave was to use F16 or "landscape mode" for landscape. So for those considering signing for the "Photo Safari" (US199 to US$219) my advice would be to sign for the normal tour (US$159).

 

[Alpc]

There were other tours that bring you to the same place (Mendenhall Glacier) and same activities (Whale Watching) for less. The reason why photo safari was more expensive is that your guide is a photographer himself and the boat for whale watching is smaller with more than enough room for everyone to have good vantage points to shoot.

However, I was quite disappointed that the photographer did not bring us to any special place to shoot. We went to the same places that people from other tours went. Also the time allowed for shooting was not enough. We hurried to the place. Spent 30 minutes there and was hurried off to the whale watching. In other words it was no different from the other (cheaper) tours except that your guide was a photographer. The only pointers I remebered he gave was to use F16 or "landscape mode" for landscape. So for those considering signing for the "Photo Safari" (US199 to US$219) my advice would be to sign for the normal tour (US$159).

Sounds like what I have been reading was correct - no pt of paying more for it. I was tempted to go for that but then after reading the comments, decided to go for the whale watching only instead. All of my shore excursions were booked separately from the cruise ship.

 

[reservoir88]

#46
Somewhere in the vacinity of Mendenhall Lake

#47
See how small the photographer is!

#48
The Whale watching was quite a disappointment. Although we spotted the some whales the boat was too far away and the whales refused to show us their tails. Did see some Orca whales frolicking off the shore

#49
And a sea lion waving to us

#50
Not much luck with the humpback whales. Maybe the boat operator dared not go too near for fear that the whale may capsize the boat. I had a 100-400mm but found that it was very soft at the long end. Thought there was something wrong with the lens. Only later did I realise that the softness was caused by the Cir-Polariser I attached. Once taken off lens were sharp again. Only managed shots like this.

 

[limwhow]

The sea lion waving to you all.. Haha.. That one is a lovely one with your bazooka, reservoir88!

 

[kirkteo]

Hi Reservoir88, looking at your pictures make me drool with envy...nice photos....

 

[reservoir88]

The sea lion waving to you all.. Haha.. That one is a lovely one with your bazooka, reservoir88!

Haha, Tks, glad you see the humour or my attempt at it. My bazooka wasn't working well that day because of the "muffler" placed. Had a Cir-Polariser on and it became very very soft at the 400 end, almost out of focus. Coudn't figure out why. Learnt something about not placing cheap filters where optics are crucial.

 

[reservoir88]

Hi Reservoir88, looking at your pictures make me drool with envy...nice photos....

Tks, Kirkteo, we were just lucky and blessed with good weather throughout most of the trip, so manage to take reasonable pictures