Juneau, the capital of Alaska and until the mid twentieth century the largest city in Alaska, is a playground of activities for the million cruise passengers who visit each year. Located at the north end of the Gastineau Channel, this town of 30,000 has been known at various times in its past as Rockwell and Harrisburg. 

Within the town limits (which are actually quite large), visitors will find the Mendenhall Glacier about 12 miles from downtown.  The glacier has been retreating for over 500 years with Mendenhall Lake forming in front of the glacier in 1958. 

Mount Roberts towers above the southern portion of Juneau where the tramway to the top will eliminate the need to slog your way to the summit under your own power.  On a clear day the view from the top of the tram is spectacular and the good folks of Juneau has provided quite a nice souvenier shop, restaurant and interpretive center at the top. Providing the trails are not closed due to bear sightings, the walk down from the top, while it takes a little while, is a beautiful way to enjoy the scenery and perhaps a glimpse of wildlife along the way.

Cruise ships dock at the south end of Juneau where you can step off the ship and start shopping or join a tour without walking very far.   Ship tours around town are quite popular as are whale tours out of Auke Bay Harbor.  Float planes take off and land near the cruise ship dock taking guests out to view (and land) on glaciers.  Juneau is also a great place to go out on a fishing trip should you be so inclined. 

Many independent tour operators set up booths on the dock to entice passengers to join a huge variety of local tours.  Juneau also has several "hidden" attractions if you care to head out on your own or with a taxi tour.  The Last Chance Mining Museum, above the town and off of Perseverance Trail will reward you with a look at an historic mine without all the tourist embellishments.  If you care to drive a bit further, there is the wonderful Shrine of St. Therese at mile 23 on the Glacier Highway.  The grounds of this peaceful retreat are beautiful to walk around (and photograph).  There is also a sea side, outdoor labyrinth that can be walked and contemplated.

This is a great port with a great deal to keep you busy regardless of your interests!

The first time we arrived at Icy Strait Point it was overcast and very humid.  There wasn't a sound as the ship glided to a stop just off shore from the converted cannery dock that served as the terminus for the tender run to shore.  Smoke from house chimneys hung in the air and curled around the high hills to blend with the low slung clouds.  Icy Strait claims to offer the "Real Alaska" adventure, and it appeared to have the perfect setting to fulfill this promise. The photo at the top of each of our web pages was taken on this morning.

Located on Chicagoff island fifty miles or so west of Juneau, this is a relatively new port of call for cruise ships with three or four calling each week.  The town of Hoonah is located on the north shore of the island and is the largest village for the Huna, a Tlingit group which has lived in the area since prehistoric times.    

Icy Strait Point, a few miles down the road from Hoonah, is where cruise ships tender their guests to.  From here you can walk or take a shuttle bus to town, go off on bear watching expeditions, ride the longest ZipRider in the world, walk the hiking tails near the pier or simply hang out in the converted fish processing plant - now an interpretive center and gift shop.  

For such a small community, the native corporation has provided visitors with many excursions that meet all activity levels and interests.  It is quiet enough here that a short walk down any hiking trail will leave you with the feeling that you are alone on the island.  There is so little boat traffic that whales surface and dive a few yards away for the pier.  If you are lucky enough to be on an itinerary that stops here, you will appreciate how close nature is to you.

Skagway came into existence when William “Billy” Moore and his son became the first European settlers to claim a 160-acre homestead in an area where the Tlingit people had lived and hunted since prehistoric times. Skagway, or Skaguay, has been translated from the Tlingit language to mean “a windy place with white caps on the water” or “Home of the north wind”, or as several locals like to suggest “cold place where crazy white people live”.  Skagway is known today as the “Garden City” because the rain and long hours of sunlight cause flowers and gardens to grow with abandon.

Skagway is a small town with a population of 860 in winter and over twice that in summer.  These numbers are dwarfed by the 900,000 visitors – most of them cruise ship passengers – who arrive during the short summer season.
Popular excursions include riding the White Pass Yukon Railway up the pass and into Canada or taking a Skagway street car tour of town in vehicles that were the original touring cars in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

The town is easy to walk around and the ships dock no more than a ten minute walk from downtown.  If you are lucky enough to have your ship moored at the Railroad Dock, you will have a chance to see the “Ship Registry” painted on the cliff face immediately beside your ship.  It is a long standing tradition that a ship’s name is painted on the rocks during its maiden visit to Skagway.  While no one knows exactly when this tradition started, there are ship names with dates back to 1917.

A good town to walk in and a great place to ride in antique cars and trains.  Mind the wind though, it can be chilly!

For photographers there is no argument - get out on your shore excursions as early as you can to catch the soft morning light.  There is also a better chance that wildlife will be up and moving around instead of snoozing in a place where you will never see them.  This means arriving back in the shopping district of port when it can  be quite busy - just before sail away.  On the other hand if you are more of a bargin than wildlife hunter, you may want to bag that souvenir early in the day when everyone else is out and about.  

Many first time cruise guests are afraid they are going to look like circus clowns popping out of tiny car as they exit a "stateroom" that is no larger than the change room at their local Walmart. Have no fear - if you are on a modern, large ship, the staterooms will contain space for a double bed, night stands, a desk, sometimes a small sofa, a bathroom with shower and plenty of closet space to store the all the souvenirs you bought on shore. 

Stateroom selection can be a tricky thing though - do you save the cash and go for an inside room without a window or do you plump down for an outside cabin with a balcony?  Some cruise itineraries do not present much to look at between ports - many Caribbean sailings come to mind.  On these cruises there is little to see between ports except the open ocean.  Alaska is different; the scenery between ports is spectacular - to the point that many hate to take the time to go to the dining room and miss what's going on outside.  Cruise guests in Alaska have been known to order in room service and spend their time watching Alaska from their balcony!

Inside and Ocean View cabins on newer ships can be in the 170 square foot range.  A Veranda cabin may be 190 square feet with an additional 40 square feet for the balcony.  The premium for moving up to veranda from an inside stateroom can be a cost increase of 75% or more though. Looking for a good cruise sale (or cabin upgrade) can sometimes cut this difference to a smaller amount.  If you are thinking about a cruise and want to know what cabins are available, consider contacting our travel agent, Nancy Bogert to give you an idea of cabin size and pricing.

Pick the cabin, and the price point, that you are most comfortable with knowing that, even with an inside cabin, there are plenty of open decks to watch the scenery from.  On the other hand, if you feel like you can splurge a bit, there is nothing better than having breakfast on your balcony as you watch the mountains glide by just beyond your balcony railing.

We arrived in Cartagena, Colombia on-board Coral Princess on a typically hot and humid day in December. The port was celebrating an anniversary and had a sound stage set up on the pier. School groups as well as professional musician took turns filling the air with the driving rhythm of Latin music and singing. As this was our first visit to Cartagena, we appreciated the musical welcome that emphasized that we were now on a new continent and in a new and vibrant culture.

Cartagena is a city of extremes – new high rises and colonial architecture all exist within a few minute’s drive of each other. The best thing for travellers is to walk the streets of the colonial city and feel the excitement of the place. The heat settles over you like a warm wool blanket and you naturally slow down and seek the relief of the shade. Vendors prowl the streets everywhere offering to sell leather goods, toys, sunglasses or $25 Rolex watches. While the vendors are friendly and don't appear to be threatening in any way, they have no sense of personal space and will engage you in negotiations for their wares several inches from your face.

We had opted for a walking/bus tour of the city and on the ground we worked hard to keep up with our tour guide - a wonderful lady of a "certain age" who scampered through sun-baked plazas, through cathedrals and museums holding up a closed umbrella that quickly disappeared into the distance.

Later in the afternoon she led us up Fort of San Felipe, a huge 17th century fortress, like some adolescent lemur trailing puffing tourists in her wake. Let me just say that it's not nice to march gringos up such tall structures in the middle of the afternoon, but in spite of feeling like porters on a mountain trek, we made it to the top and back. Oxygen bottles would have been nice though.

This is a fascinating city and in spite of the fact that at the end of an independent or conducted tour you are going to feel like you were using a stair-master in a sauna, it's the kind of place that will draw you back again. The people are friendly and the history of this place oozes from every colonial door. Do yourself a favour and find a reason to visit this incredible city.

I am often asked what kind of camera to take on a cruise holiday and my answer is always the same - take the one you are most comfortable with and that gives you pictures you like.  The camera may not have all the features you want or have the ability to zoom in on a goat half-way up a mountain, but if you know the strenghts and weaknesses of you camera, you will create beautiful pictures within that range.  When Jan and I started to go to Alaska in 2001, I took along a state of the art digital camera - an Olympus D-620L 1.4MP SLR.  The pictures were great (some of them are on display on this site).  It had a moderate wide to telephoto 3X zoom lens and took remarkable photos.  It was slow to use indoors and couldn't magnify a moose standing out in a field, but with that camera captured some stunning images.  I still wish for an SLR as small and light as that camera.

Of course, if you feel you want to replace that older camera of yours for an upcoming cruise, think about the kind of pictures you like to take, your tolerance for fiddling with buttons and how much you want to carry. If you enjoying photographing landscapes, a fixed lens or wide angle may be all you need.  If you want to capture wildlife from a distance, you will want a telephoto.  Oddly enough, you may want a telephoto for landscapes as well.  Many photographers make the mistake of trying to take in an entire range of mountains in a single wide angle shot and come home with mountains that look like bumps on a log.  Picking out details the represent the entire scene will give your photos more impact and detail.

One of the thing I tell people interested in buying a new camera is to hold it in your hand and try out the controls.  Do they feel natural to you?  Are the control settings buried in menus on the display screen or are there actual buttons to push?  Today, almost any camera randomly picked up from a dealer's shelf will produce decent images.  What you need to decide is if the camera is comfortable and logical to use.

An other camera consideration is how large and heavy the thing is.  Will it fit in a pocket or purse?  Inside a jacket pocket?  Does it have to hang around your neck?  A camera that is too heavy to bring with you off the ship is the same as no camera at all.

Choose based on what you want to photograph and what feels good and logical in your hands - you will rarely go wrong.  And don't worry about what new camera may come out tomorrow (and they always do) - if the camera you just bought meets your needs today it will tomorrow as well - unless your needs change!