Alaska is a unique American experience. Once home to the designated capital of Russian America, this
history is still visibly worn on its sleeve. But also boasting a wide range of landscapes with icebergs,
peaceful towns, and temperate rainforests, Alaska is almost 3 times the size of Texas. And,
with more coastline, than all lower 48 states combined. And it’s due to this overwhelming
size that Alaska has become a popular sea bound destination. So, when Princess Cruises
reached out, wanting to host me on their 7 day Alaskan tour, I couldn’t wait to get started.
So over the next 2 videos, I’ll not only be taking you on a journey along Alaskas
South Eastern coast, but sharing my experience of being a first time cruiser. With Princess Cruises
showing me their best hand, I’ll be sampling almost everything you can imagine at sea - an
abundance of food, wine tastings, live entertainment, a balcony breakfast,
surprising encounters with sea life, and the best interactive dining experience I’ve ever witnessed.
This is Suitcase Monkey exploring Alaska by cruise.
My journey through Alaska would be onboard the Discovery Princess. Eleven hundred feet long
and 19 decks high, it holds an impressive 3,500 guests. The route would take us to what’s known
as the Inside Passage of Alaska, an area with more than 1,000 islands of American fjords. Starting
in Vancouver, we’d first set sail for the state capital of Juneau. Next, we’ll be visiting Sitka,
a beautiful coastal town made famous in the movie, The Proposal. And then Ketchikan,
the Salmon capital of the world, before finally docking at Seattle, Washington.
As mentioned, this is my first cruise so I had no real idea what to expect, and looking back,
I was surprised by what I was surprised at. Taking my first initial steps on board,
it’s hard not to be taken aback. This Italian inspired piazza sure makes for an impressive
entrance, and at least one guest showed his appreciation, through the medium of dance.
So, whilst he was living his best, I took it upon myself to explore my new floating home…
Next, it was time to check out the room. With all the frequent activities happening onboard,
this mini suite became my own personal haven. And nowhere was more special than this balcony.
My morning routine was quickly set as gravitating to this open
air space like a 7 year old to a tree on Christmas Day, maybe catching a sunrise,
maybe a new glimpse of Alaskan land. It was always a peaceful moment, even when the weather wasn’t on
our side, but more on that later. And then, there’s that calming sound of the open sea.
Part 2 of this video will be more of a cruise guide, showing alternate rooms
to the one I had but just generally how best to spend your money. I’ll link it at the end,
along with links in the description to everything I’ll be talking about in this video.
But before I even entered my room, I had my first experience with what Princess calls a
Medallion. This wearable talks to any one of the 7000 onboard proximity sensors,
so the simple act of just walking to your door means it automatically unlocks, as if by magic.
In fact it worked so well for this purpose, that my initial paranoid instinct was the my door was
just always open. So to rest my mind, I even ended up doing a little experiment, leaving the
Medallion behind and then feeling a little stupid when I arrived at my door and… it was… locked.
But I later found more subtle benefits to this technology. For example, the stewards know when
you’re out of the room so it’s cleaned at the most appropriate time. Using the Princess app, you can
friend request the people you’re travelling with, thus making it easier to meet up. But mostly,
I used it to receive service almost anywhere on board. So, one day, I was sat in the jacuzzi,
get a slight thirst, opened the app, ordered my Long Island Iced Tea and all without getting dry,
there it was. Or when I was still suffering from jet lag on my first wake up, and ordered
this 5am coffee. Although it was always quicker to just order your food or drink at the counter,
the novelty and convenience never wore thin and I enjoyed this feature throughout.
All these fun unexpected cruise moments slowly revealed themselves over my first 2 days,
often over a cocktail, but it was Alaska that would take centre stage over the next
3. After curtain open, the weather was looking precarious and unfortunately as time wore on,
this became the only day where our plans were subsequently affected.
But our first stop was Juneau, the State Capital of Alaska and surprisingly the only one,
that is inaccessible by road. Meaning you can only reach this State Capital by plane or sea,
so in hind site, it does seem fitting arriving by Cruise.
Popular excursions in Juneau range from panning for gold, whale watching, and most popular,
visiting the Mendenhall Glacier, a 13 mile river of ice. Originally, I’d booked this
seaplane to experience this impressive site from the skies which would have been amazing,
but the weather being as it was, it was unfortunately cancelled as was the whale
watching which was the backup plan. It was just one of those things that couldn’t be helped.
Juneaus downtown is small enough though, so I now had more than enough time to wander on foot.
With a population passing 30,000, this was historically a peaceful Native fishing village.
That was until 1880 when a certain yellow metal was discovered and, 60 years later, the Juneau
gold rush had produced an eye watering 7 billion dollars worth of mining. So, I probably should’ve
booked the panning for gold excursion after all. Notably, not only does Juneau still give off the
vibes of Gold Rush America, but this history means you’re never short of choice on jewellery stores.
Back on the ship, my evening couldn’t have gone any better. Princess wanted to share their own
hidden gem called 360 and this was easily the best immersive dining experience I’ve
ever ever witnessed. This 7 course adventure takes you on a journey through the Mediterranean and as
the story takes you to Greece, Italy and Spain, the cuisine carries through, all of which went
down a treat. But despite my fear we might finish in Southampton with a British pie, the climax is
of course Champagne, France. Our host and waiters were excellent, part choreographed, part light and
casual, the theatre of it all was spot on, with your surroundings literally coming to life through
touch. And it wasn’t just digital satisfaction, smells were frequently pumped into the room and
this barnacle laced bottle was legitimately buried at sea for 6 months, speeding up the
wines aging process. I don’t think any meal, has ever deserved a round of applause quite so much.
Thankfully, the weather for our second stop was a complete 180. Sitka is not only the
oldest city in Alaska but also the largest in all of the United States. But despite covering
3,000 square miles of land its population is still a relatively small 8,500. But for this
1 day visitor, it certainly means there’s a lot of space to explore…
Only a short walk from the town centre, this National Historical Park, is a great place for
eagle spotting, something Sitka is famous for, and its 1 and half mile totem trail…
But hidden beneath this parks beauty, is a bloody history. This area marks the spot where the
Native Tlingit fought against Russian traders at the turn of the 1800s. Within a decade,
Sitka became the designated capital of Russian America. This colonisation can still clearly
be seen at St Michaels Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Originally established in 1848,
it’s the first of its kind in North America and is still used today as a place of worship for locals…
A short walk from St Michaels, almost hidden, you’ll find this National Historic Landmark.
It was right here in 1867 that power was formally transferred from Russia to the US,
thus making it the 49th state and the main reason, there’s a Subway sandwich, just around the corner.
The other surprise this area has up its sleeve is its vast array of nature. The
Tongass National forest is the worlds largest, intact temperate rainforest,
covering 6.5 million hectares. To get the most from all of this,
I’d booked a 3 hour nature walk excursion through Princess Cruises. Lead by an expert
guide who knew the forest like the back of her hand, we hiked around 4 impressive eco systems
So clearly by now, I’d properly settled into cruise life with a long list of events to keep
me busy. So if I wasn’t catching a musical in the main theatre I was watching a magic show.
Witnessing the main Piazza turn from town square into concert venue, with music from the 80s was a
particular fun highlight, although that possibly says more about my age than anything else.
And then of course there was coming first place in the prestigious Mario Kart Challenge. But,
it wasn’t all about being arguably better, than a bunch of 8 year olds. No, it was all that food.
Although I was on the all inclusive option, everything I’m showing here was part of the
standard dining on board. What I really liked is there’s a healthy mixture of self service,
over the counter and cooked to order a la carte
dining. The 5 different restaurants that I managed to visit, and, there are more,
all provided really good variety, both with food, and a change of atmosphere.
I’ll cover everything available, food wise, in that follow up cruise guide
video I mentioned earlier, along with tips for booking excursions, concerns over sea sickness,
when’s best to visit, and a bunch of thoughts I can’t fit into here.
But, easily the most unique dining experience I had, was this champagne breakfast on the balcony.
This extra can be added to your room for what ever time suits. And for this particular trip,
the best time was our arrival into Yakutat Bay. This 5 hour scenic cruise runs through the 18
mile wide fjord, climaxing with the Hubbard Glacier. Running 72 miles from its source,
it’s here where it meets water, rising up to 400 feet tall and 6 miles wide. It’s the
sort of site that you can’t all take in at once, especially with a mouthful of custard,
so the ship slowly rotates 360 degrees to allow every guest, to a front row seat.
This balcony was also luckily where I was when the captain announced a pod of whales over the tannoy,
both to the port and starboard side. Not only was there lots of spread out activity here,
but I think I also spotted some dolphin,
and to see this much activity, just casually out in the wild, was a very special moment.
Our final stop was Ketchikan, a city that’s earnt the title of Salmon Capital of the world
and for good reason. By the last count, 144 million pounds of fish came through
Ketchikan in just one year, making it the 12th busiest fishing port in the world.
But it’s in the summer where Ketchikan literally comes to life as the annual
salmon run hits its peak. Right here, you’ll see millions of salmon fighting and jumping
their way upstream to spawn the next generation, who will, in turn repeat the whole process again.
The most popular area to easily watch the salmon is here, at Creek Street, but even in May,
this picturesque boardwalk was still easily the highlight… But what might just appear as a sweet,
colourful photo opportunity, actually has a lot more history to it. And that’s because
for the first half of the 20th century, it was the local red light district, and of course,
you can take a tour of the last surviving brothel. But, with my wife, being back in
London, and concerned she’d be looking at Find My Friends, I quickly moved on, to explore the town…
Our last day was a peaceful one at sea, heading towards Seattle.
Believe it or not, there’s still loads of cruise activities I’ve not even touched on - yoga
classes, the spa, this sanctuary, speciality restaurants and why I’m dressed like Eminem.
But I’ll save that for part 2 where I’ll cover loads of useful tips and thoughts on cruise life.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for watching, please leave a like,
let me know your thoughts or any questions you might have
and I’ll see you in that next video. Thanks for watching, Suitcase Monkey.