Fodors. For Choice Travel Experiences.Fodors helps you unleash the possibilities of travel by providing the insightful tools you need to experience the trips you want. Although youre at the helm, Fodors offers the assurance of our expertise, the guarantee of selectivity, and the choice details that truly define a destination. Its like having a cruise-savvy friend in Alaska!
•Updated annually, Fodors Alaska Ports of Call provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available in a guidebook.
•Fodors Alaska Ports of Call features options for a variety of budgets, interests, and tastes, so you make the choices to plan your trip of a lifetime.
•If its not worth your time, its not in this book. Fodors discriminating ratings, including our top tier Fodors Choice designations, ensure that youll know about the most interesting and enjoyable options for cruising in Alaska.
•Experience an Alaskan cruise like an insider! Fodors Alaska Ports of Call includes choices for every type of cruiser---from small vessels to luxurious crafts, from popular ports like Ketchikan and Haines to wild, out-of-the-way destinations like Kodiak and Dutch Harbor---plus coverage of Alaskas whales, glaciers, gold, shore excursions great and small, and much more!
•Indispensable, customized trip planning tools include “Top Reasons to Go,” “Word of Mouth” advice from other travelers, and tips to help save money, bypass lines, and avoid common cruising pitfalls.
•Use the expanded selection of maps to orient yourself to each port of embarkation and port of call.
Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.
Be a Fodors Correspondent ............ 3
About This Book ............ 8
Planning Your Trip
Chapter 1: Cruise Primer ............ 9
Before You Go ............ 10
Arriving & Embarking ............ 15
On Board ............ 16
Disembarkation ............ 27
Chapter 2: Choosing Your Cruise ............ 29
Cruising in Alaska ............ 30
Carnival Cruise Lines ............ 38
Celebrity Cruises ............ 40
Holland America Line ............ 42
Norwegian Cruise Line ............ 47
Princess Cruises ............ 51
Regent Seven Seas Cruises ............ 57
Royal Caribbean International ............ 60
Silversea Cruises ............ 63
American Safari Cruises ............ 65
Cruise West ............ 69
Lindblad Expeditions ............ 73
Majestic America Line ............ 75
Cruising in Alaska
Chapter 3: Ports of Embarkation ............ 77
Anchorage ............ 79
Seattle ............ 92
Vancouver, British Columbia ............ 108
Chapter 4: Ports of Call ............ 127
Cordova ............ 132
Denali National Park & Preserve ............ 134
Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve ............ 139
Haines ............ 145
Homer ............ 150
Juneau ............ 154
Ketchikan ............ 162
Kodiak Island ............ 169
Metlakatla ............ 173
Misty Fiords National Monument ............ 174
Nome ............ 175
Petersburg ............ 177
Prince Rupert, British Columbia ............ 181
Prince William Sound ............ 184
Seward ............ 185
Sitka ............ 189
Skagway ............ 195
Tracy Arm ............ 204
Valdez ............ 204
Victoria, British Columbia ............ 206
Wrangell ............ 213
Extending Your Trip
Chapter 5: Sports & Wilderness Adventures ............ 219
Planning Your Adventure ............ 220
Sports, Top Regions & Tours ............ 228
Enjoying Alaskas Wildlife ............ 250
Whale-Watching Cruises ............ 259
Understanding Alaska ............ 261
Native Alaskans ............ 262
Flora & Fauna Of Alaska ............ 264
Alaska: A Geologic Story ............ 272
Index ............ 275
About Our Writers ............ 288
Alaska Ports of Call In Focus
Alaskas Glaciers: Notorious Landscape Architects ............ 140
Gold! Gold! Gold! ............ 197
Keepers of the Deep: A Look at Alaskas Whales ............ 255
Maps
Alaska ............ 67
Anchorage ............ 8283
Where to Stay and Eat in Downtown Anchorage ............ 89
Downtown Seattle & Environs ............ 9697
Where to Stay & Eat in Seattle ............ 103
Downtown Vancouver ............ 112
Stanley Park ............ 116
Where to Stay and Eat in Vancouver ............ 122
Southeast Alaska ............ 129
South Central ............ 130
Denali National Park & Preserve ............ 136137
Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve ............ 144
Haines ............ 148
Juneau ............ 157
Ketchikan ............ 165
Petersburg ............ 179
Sitka ............ 192
Skagway ............ 201
Victoria ............ 210
Wrangell ............ 215