Alaska Cruise Tour - 12 Days
Day 1: Depart MSP - Arrive in Fairbanks
Welcome to Alaska! Arrive into Fairbanks, Alaska's Golden Heart City. Meet your Tour Director and transfer to your hotel.
Day 2: Fairbanks
This morning board the Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler for a cruise along the Chena and Tanana Rivers. This river cruise stops for a dog mushing demonstration, bush plane demonstration at a replica native village. This afternoon enjoy a Fairbanks City Tour, Alaska's second largest city including a visit to the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. Enjoy dinner on your own this evening.
Day 3: Fairbanks - Denali Nat'l Park - Tundra Wilderness Tour
This morning, motorcoach south to Denali. You will venture deep into the six-million acre Denali National Park on the Tundra Wilderness Tour. A snack is included. Search the vast wilderness for brown bear, moose, caribou, Dall sheep on the mountainsides and eagles soaring above. This journey is narrated allowing insight into the animals and flora of this spectacular region. Later check in to your hotel with free time to relax or explore this pristine area at your leisure.
Day 4: Denali - Anchorage
This morning at leisure for optional tours. Later this morning, transfer to the Denali Rail Depot for your journey south to Talkeetna by Deluxe Dome Rail - Alaska Railroad. Arrive in Talkeetna and continue south to Anchorage by motorcoach and check in to your hotel. Enjoy dinner on your own this evening.
Day 5: Anchorage - Whittier - Board NCL Jade
This morning enjoy a brief City Tour of Anchorage before traveling south via motorcoach to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. This sanctuary takes in injured and abandoned wildlife in hopes of releasing them back into the wild. Continue via motorcoach to Whittier for cruise embarkation to begin your seven night cru8ise aboard the elegant NCL Jade. Onboard amenities include a Las Vegas style casino, movie theatre, pools, and a library. While onboard, enjoy breakfast, lunch and fine dinners daily, as well as nightly entertainment in the Theater.
Day 6: Cruising - Hubbard Glacier
This "Galloping Glacier" made history in 1986 when it surged forward at a rate of up to 130 feet a day, blocking off Russell Fjord. The ice dam was eventually broken, but Hubbard Glacier continues to surge forward, carving icebergs into the water. Keep your binoculars handy as you cruise through the glacier's home waters -- the wildlife-rich Yakutat Bay.
Day 7: Cruising - Icy Strait Point
If it's tranquility and nature you seek, Icy Strait Point is your destination. Hosting only one ship at a time, Icy Strait Point is located fifty miles west of Juneau and at the mouth of Glacier Bay. Travelers have the opportunity to experience Tlingit culture, superior wildlife viewing and Alaskan history.
Day 8: Juneau - Scenic Glacier Cruising
Today the ship arrives in Alaska's capital, Juneau, nestled between mountains and sea with a rustic charm that's both cosmopolitan & frontier. Maybe visit the Alaska State Museum to see a native clan house and a birch-bark canoe, gold rush memorabilia and Russian Orthodox relics. A short drive out of Juneau takes you to the impressive Mendenhall Glacier. Later prepare to experience all the beauty and majesty of the Alaskan wilderness. Travel through Endicott Arm Fjord and witness the Awe-inspiring beauty of the Dawes Glacier.
Day 9: Cruising - Skagway
The frontier spirit is alive and well in the gold-rush town of Skagway, the northernmost point of Alaska's Inside Passage. Relive the city's past in lively saloons, rousing dance hall revues and on vintage street car tours. Maybe board the historic White Pass & Yukon Railway or take the Klondike Summit drive to pan for gold.
Day 10: Cruising - Ketchikan
Today visit Ketchikan, "Salmon Capital of the World" and ancestral home of the Tlingit Native Americans. The rustic waterfront village has the world's largest collection of totem poles. Maybe learn the meaning behind totem pole imagery at the Saxman Native Village.
Day 11: Cruising - Inside Passage
threading along the scenic coast of Canada and Alaska, the Inside Passage offers spectacular close-up views of rain forests, sparkling glaciers, steep-walled fjords and snowcapped mountains. Watch closely for whale, sea lion, bears and other wildlife as the Inside passage is home to more than 100 species of animals.
Day 12: Vancouver, B.C. or Seattle - Return Home to MSP
Disembark and transfer to the airport for your flight home with memories of your Alaskan Cruise tour.
