Alaska TravelGram

Our friends at USTravel are having a sale for cruises this year. You have to book your cruise by tomorrow (April 11). When you book one of the qualifying cruises, you only have to put down a small deposit. 

Here are some of our favorite itineraries:

a. Cruise the Greek Isles in May. The seven-night cruise sails from Venice. Cruise-only prices start at $699 per person, double. Taxes and fees are additional. Same with fuel surcharges. Check with your agent for the total cost on your itinerary. NOTE: You can fly nonstop on Condor from Anchorage or Fairbanks to Frankfurt and connect to Venice. Simple!

This cruise departs Venice on May 31. Ports include Athens, Mykonos, Katakolon, Corfu and Split. 

b. Sail from Rome to see more of Italy and Croatia

Priced from  $1,299 per person, double, for a May 8 sailing. The Legend of the Seas boasts 70,000 tons of fun and adventure for up to 2,076 guests. With 18-hole miniature golf, four whirlpools and a Solarium with a sliding roof, there’s something for everyone onboard this cruise ship.

Sail from Rome–so make time before or after your cruise to see the Eternal City. We went last year–it’s fabulous!

Ports include: Portofino,  Florence/Pisa, Sicily, Split, Venice, Dubrovnik and Naples. 

c. Do you want to travel to Scandinavia and Russia? This could be your cruise. It sails on July 22 from Harwich, England for as little as $2,099 per person, double (plus taxes, fees and fuel surcharges). The ship is RCCL’s “Jewel of the Seas”. There’s a 10-story atrium, glass elevators that face the sea–wow. Nice.  

Ports include Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo.

Call the fine folks at USTravel for details: 907-561-2434 or toll-free 800-544-2217.

There are many ways to see Alaska by sea. Dozens of big oceanliners ply the waters between Seattle and Alaska’s Inside Passage. Several ships continue across the Gulf of Alaska to make landfall in Whittier and Seward. But there are many day cruises which give folks the chance to get “up close and personal” in the nooks and crannies along Alaska’s giant coastline. Here are some of my favorites:

a. Renown Tours. These folks offer day-long cruises into Kenai Fjords National Park. Watch for whales, sea lions, puffins, eagles, oyster-catchers and whales. Oh, did I mention Big Ice. Lots of glaciers. These cruises depart Seward each day beginning in March (for gray whale watches) through early October.

b. Prince William Sound Cruises.  These day cruises leave Whittier each morning during the summer for a cruise in College Fjord and around Prince William Sound. Lots of glaciers. Lots of wildlife. Lots of fun.

c. Homer Ocean Charters.  The port of Homer is beautiful. And Kachemak Bay is even more beautiful from the water. Let the folks at Homer Ocean Charters take you across the bay to Otter Cove. On the way, watch for whales, porpoise, eagles and all sorts of other critters.

d. Stan Stephens Cruises. Stan’s Columbia Glacier cruise from Valdez is one of the top attractions in this area. Stan and his family have been showing off Columbia Glacier since 1971–and they also offer other cruises to far-flung locations on the far side of Prince William Sound.

e. Alaska’s Marine Highway. Alaska’s ferry system offers a great way to travel! In Southcentral Alaska, you can sail from Whittier to Cordova, Kodiak or out on the Aleutian Chain. A couple of times each month there is a trans-gulf sailing which connects to the Southeast Alaska network in Juneau. Lots of folks board the ferry in Bellingham, WA or Prince Rupert, BC for the cruise north to Alaska. Ferry communities include Ketchikan, Wrangell, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Haines…among others.