Be seduced by Alaska’s natural charms
My colleagues Bob and Nancy Dunn are part of the Ports and Bows team, and they’re just back from 11 days in Alaska with Princess Cruises, which offers its customers a thorough Alaska experience. But cruise lines rarely rest on their laurels so, what’s new? North to Alaska! is new. Only people of your vintage, Phil — OK, our vintage — remember the big-screen comedy starring John Wayne and the country song of the same title, by Johnny Horton. That was 55 years ago, five years before there was a Princess, and today it’s using that slogan to cement its connection with Alaska’s people.
What that means is eating like, learning from and celebrating with locals, including on any of seven Princess ships sailing from Vancouver and Seattle this summer. You can even throw axes on board the way lumberjacks do in the forest. That’s part of being seduced by Alaska and its natural charms — glaciers that are everywhere, scenery from mountaintops to 3 million lakes and channels that spawn the tasty seafood, and wildlife like moose, bears and several species of whales.
There are more glaciers in Alaska (estimates of 100,000) than in the rest of the world, 600plus with names. The biggest is Hubbard, 76 miles (122 kilometres) long. Glacier Bay attracts half a million tourists annually, almost entirely from cruise ships. Even that is dwarfed by the number who visit Mendenhall near Juneau, while tiny Ruth Glacier — inland at the foot of Mount McKinley — is half of the world’s largest gorge. Take a flight to see or walk on them, either by fixedwing aircraft or helicopter.
Princess brings whatever’s portable onto ships, starting with the food. There’s a Crab Shack open four days a week offering shrimp, crab, mussels, clam chowder and more. Brought on board and cooked by the pool the day before traditional port stops are halibut burgers (Skagway Fish Company), crab (Juneau, from Tracy’s King Crab Shack) and fish tacos from Ketchikan’s Alaska Fish House. The pan-seared salmon recipe that won the Great Alaska Seafood Cook-off for chef Travis Haugen of Anchorage is on dining-room menus.
While salmon and crab are king in Alaska, “local” is the royal word. Many storefronts like The House Of Russia displayed signs boasting that the business is owned by “a Juneau family for 25 years.” It’s why Princess is so intent on bringing that connection, to the extent that members of the Aleutian Ballad, the ship featured on Discovery Channel’s The Deadliest Catch, are aboard to relate their Bering Sea experiences. The Loggerheads Presentation, where audience participants tossed axes without going to jail, was the most popular of the attractions imported onto the Star Princess.
As much as it values tourists, Alaska remains oil-dependent. With oil prices down, the state budget is a deficit ($3.5 billion) for the first time this century. For revenue, tourism always ranks fourth, after mining (gravel) and fishing.
Yet tourists, like so many expatriates lured north for the summer and then stay, find Alaska’s magnificence irresistible.
The movie North To Alaska wasn’t filmed here. But its star, John Wayne, was later seen here. Nobody has to ask why.