Cruising Alaska is civilized route to untamed vistas

SKAGWAY, Alaska — This traveler from the landlocked Midwest was among some 900,000 people who cruised the Alaskan coast this year. For me and many others, the trip was spurred by the promise of one thing: incredible scenery.

That promise was kept.

“We had visions of untamed wilderness, soaring bald eagles and humpback whales flapping their tails in the water. Thankfully, we were not disappointed,” said Eron Garcia of the San Francisco Bay Area, on his first cruise with his wife, Kari.

The Garcias were among our table mates for a one-week, 2,300-mile cruise beginning in Seattle that my wife, Gina, and I took in the summer. We previously had cruised in the sunny Caribbean, but to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, we chose an early June tour of Alaska’s Inner Passage.

We like taking cruises to relax, enjoy the food, shop and sightsee, and an Alaska cruise has all of that and more.

We had been told by those who had been to the 49th state that the landscape is stunning, and fellow passengers were impressed by the rugged coast, blue sea and plentiful wildlife. The mountain and glacial vistas were spectacular.

A highlight of the trip was a surreal morning spent meandering leisurely among nomadic icebergs in Tracy Arm, a 30-mile fjord beginning at the base of the Sawyer Glacier.

Steep granite slopes scale the banks of the narrow inlet, which is 900 feet deep. The ship went so far into the fjord that it seemed there was barely room to turn around before heading out to sea.

In addition to the raw scenery, the Garcias were thrilled with the cruise experience aboard the Sapphire Princess, a sparkling 113,000-ton, 2,600-passenger ship launched in 2004.

“The ship itself offered plenty of things to do: lectures, shopping, bars, restaurants, swimming pools, hot tubs, movies, live shows, wine tasting, yoga, massages, line-dancing class, scavenger hunts,” said Eron, a quality-control specialist for a large video-game company. “There were … dull moments [only] if you let them.”

The choice of activities at Alaska ports also is mind-boggling. You can hire a helicopter for a hop to a glacier, hitch a ride on a dog sled, hike in a rain forest, view amazing native art, enjoy salmon fishing and go whale watching.

Large cruise ships sail the Alaska coast from May through September, but Charlie Ball, president of Princess Alaska Tours, recommends booking Alaska cruises early because of high demand. Most people book in January and February, followed by October, he says.

Mr. Ball says a cruise is the perfect way to sample the “last frontier.”

“A good part of Alaska is best seen from the water,” he says, adding that many cruise passengers later return to Alaska by land.

Visitors are captivated by a sampling of the state’s vast beauty, Mr. Ball says. “There’s a pretty positive correlation between coming to Alaska on a cruise and becoming a land-side vacationer later on.”

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