Travel and Tourism

On days in port, you need a plan for what you want to see on land (more on that in this section). On days at sea, you will probably want to be out on deck much of the time looking for whales and listening to the commentary of glacier and wildlife experts. There will be plenty of activities offered, but these may be reduced at certain times - for instances, when the ship is scheduled to pass one of the famous glaciers.

Nearly every ship in Alaska has naturalists and other Alaska experts on board to share their expertise on glaciers, geography, plant life, and wildlife. Sometimes these experts are on for the entire cruise and give lectures complete with slides or films. Other times they are National Park Service rangers who come onboard at glaciers sites (particullarly in Glacier Bay) to provide commentary, usually over the ship's PA system. Depending on the ship, local fisherman, Native Alaskans, teachers, photographers, librarians, historians, and anthropologists may come onboard to teach about local history and culture.