BAKED IN ALASKA
IT’S MESMERISING, even hypnotic. You scan mile after mile of open sea, waiting for a tell-tale spout of water to pierce the wide blue yonder. When you spot one, you know that a whale is there, using its ‘blowhole’ to good effect. Then it ‘breaches’ the surface, arcing out of the water with an elegance that defies its size and weight – up to 60 feet long and 40 tons in weight.
It never failed to excite the watching passengers on board the good ship Eurodam, one of Holland American Lines’ Alaskan cruise ships on the West Coast of North America.
The wildlife is just one of myriad offerings on your north-bound, seven-day ‘Alaska Adventure’ journey out of Seattle. You hug the American and Canadian Pacific coastline and look seaward for killer or humpback whales, schools of porpoise and dolphin, and silky sea otters.
For so many of the 2,000 passengers on board the elegantly designed Eurodam, it’s a once-in-alifetime dream, with a bucket list offering of excursions and experiences as long as your arm.
Up close to mile-wide glaciers is hard to beat. You stand on deck, just 500 metres away from the 300 foot-high ice cliff. You hear it crack, like a gunshot in the wild, and watch a section of the blue, shimmering ice crash into the cold water of Glacier Bay. We saw no less than four glaciers in the 65-mile long bay – Margerie, Lamplugh and John Hopkins all touching the water-line, and Grand Pacific, snaking majestically from its mountainous beginnings en route to the melting zone at sea level.
Where else do you get that opportunity? You feel like David Attenborough, getting up close and personal. There’s something almost spiritual about being at one with nature. There was none of the usual whooping and hollering of the American crowd. Just awe and reverence – and a deep satisfaction that
you were there.
Even so, an Alaskan cruise is much more than wildlife and nature, important though these aspects are to a set of passengers who seek more than just gambling and drinking.
On Holland America Line’s four-port ‘Alaska Adventure,’ many customers opted for the ‘Action Man’ and ‘Action Woman’ pursuits of zip-lining from treetop to treetop, whale-watching sea excursions, jeep or Hummer trips on the forest trails, helicopter glacier flights, and seaplane experiences from the Gatineau Channel near the capital of Juneau.
Not cheap add-ons if you are a family of four, but what a chance to tick off those must-do ‘bucket list’ activities.
The vast array of port-day experiences really does reflect the fact that Holland America have been in the Alaska cruise business for 70 years now.
They were the first; they know what they are doing; and they know what choices passengers require.
Everyone expected chilly temperatures and brought suitable weather gear, only to find that for a couple of days, there was a miniheatwave, with temperatures in the 80s. Quite a surprise for American passengers escaping the hot and humid summer conditions of the Deep South and the Mid-West.
For my wife and me, the cruise certainly had that ‘Goldilocks’ feeling. Like her porridge in the children’s story, Holland America got the cruise offering ‘just right’.
Talking of food, you couldn’t fault what was on offer. It was exquisite, served up beautifully in the dining room by professional, well-trained and friendly waiters, and with similar attention in the buffet restaurants, all with magnificent sea views. Quite something to be enjoying chocolate pavlova, while spotting a pod of orca whales passing by.
For a small extra amount, there was the option of individual restaurants, such as the Pinnacle Grill. Gliding through Glacier Bay, having lunch at a window seat table, was a great experience.
So what of the itinerary? You can enjoy the delights of the vibrant city of Seattle at the beginning or the end – or both. You depart at teatime on a Saturday, settling in and then enjoying an evening meal before bedding down for the all-night journey north, up the Pacific Coast to Juneau.
Naturally, the words of ‘hockey mom’ Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin were on most people’s lips. “I can see Russia from my bedroom window,” Juneau’s most famous contemporary figure replied when asked what she knew about the Soviet Union. But that was then, and this is now.
Alaska’s capital city is not exactly Paris. It’s a one-time gold mining enclave cut out of a mountainous area of endless forests, and still with only 34 miles of roads. As they say up here: “Get a beat-up vehicle and concentrate on getting a top-dollar boat.”
You have only May to September to make your money – and cruise ships can bring in 10,000 people in one day. In winter, it’s tough up here, and alcohol usage looms large. They describe Juneau as “a quaint little drinking town with a fishing culture”.
But it’s not the jewellery stores or gift shops that you’re primarily after. The surrounding area is sensational, with its sheer mountains still with evidence of snow in high summer. That’s why we opted for the aerial tramway ride to the commanding heights of Mount Roberts, and we found it highly rewarding.
The view of the port and four cruise ships nestling alongside Alaskan fishing vessels was mighty fine, once the mist rose. It was the only day of intense rain, but that didn’t stop us enjoying the trails in the temperate rain forest. As they say in Alaska: ‘No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.’ They also give you a rhyming wildlife warning: “Eyes in front means they hunt, eyes on the side means they hide.”
LINDSAY SUTTON sails off on an Alaskan adventure in a heatwave