The first day of my summer cruise from Vancouver through the Inside Passage to Alaska is all about nature. At a distance.
Tucked up snugly in a tartan wool blanket on a white plastic lounge chair, I watch, through glass walls that protect me from chilly breezes, while the spanking new Celebrity Infinity, a 91,000-ton, 1,950-passenger ship, makes its stately way north. We glide through channels so narrow, with mountains rising at a near vertical from the water's edge, that I hold my breath, wondering how the ship manages to scrape through.
The best thing about cruising the Inside Passage – particularly if your itinerary, like mine, starts out with a "sea day" – is the absolute justification for relaxing, near-comatose, all day long. All you have to do is keep your eyes open for the scenery, which is spectacular: rain forests, waterfalls, whales, fish acrobatics, bald eagles, sea lions, fiords, brown bears, evergreen-covered hillsides and, later, snow- and ice-sheathed mountains and truly awesome glaciers. Along the way, a naturalist perched on the bridge points out the passing wonders; her commentary is broadcast throughout the ship's public areas. It's like watching the Discovery Channel at 20 mph.
Ah, Alaska, the ultimate chill-out cruise for the sedentary. Or is it?
On my lap is a list of shore excursions offered by the ship in the upcoming ports of Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. There are two-mile glacier hikes, where you are outfitted with climbing boots, a harness and an ice ax. Sea kayaking around the remote Tatoosh Islands and the Tongass National Forest. Rain-forest hiking. Mountain bike rides and uphill hiking along Gold Rush trails. Sport-fishing. Wilderness safaris. Dog sledding. The menu of shore excursions reads like an exercise in derring-do.
If you've dismissed Alaska cruises as being targeted to the proverbial "newly wed and nearly dead," you're in for a surprise.
Alaska as a cruise destination is in the midst of a demographic transformation. Take, for example, Pauline Hoff of Moraga, Calif., who last summer took her seventh voyage up the Inside Passage. On her last trip, aboard Crystal Harmony, the grandmother of five took her family, all 12 of them. Their first reaction to her invitation was, she says, "Ugh, a cruise ship." Now, she says, "they're begging to go again."
Much of the appeal, Hoff says, lies in the increasingly adventurous shore excursions offered by the cruise lines. In fact, the thrill of ice-picking her way along a glacier, riding in a dog sled and hiking up the Chilkoot trail is precisely what keeps her coming back.
Clearly, Alaska's not just for geezers anymore. While no official demographic studies exist, cruise line executives from Radisson Seven Seas' Andrew Poulton to Princess Cruises' Dean Brown say the audience for this itinerary, which had for years consisted primarily of passengers 60 and above, is now quite diverse. That's why, Brown says, today's shore excursions tilt much more toward natural discovery and adventure activities. "Travelers aren't going to wait until they are 70 to go see Alaska anymore. They're going to do it now."
Alaska is hot. Last year, three major lines – Carnival, Celebrity and Radisson Seven Seas – assigned new vessels to sail this itinerary. Their more sophisticated facilities and amenities – upgraded children's play centers, more veranda cabins, boutique restaurants – appeal to the baby boomer crowd cruise lines want to attract.
And interest in America's "last frontier" is on an upswing. In the post-Sept. 11 era, when travelers have made it clear that they want to stay closer to home, Alaska offers an exotic yet reassuring experience. Cruise lines have reacted accordingly: The majors – Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean – have all taken a ship out of Europe and put it in Alaska. Even upscale Seabourn, which hasn't offered the Inside Passage for years, scrambled to add Alaska to its 2002 summer roster.
For a first-time Alaska visitor, the itinerary doesn't disappoint. Long a marine highway for ferries that transport locals from town to town and for cargo ships hauling food and supplies to otherwise impossible-to-reach places, the Inside Passage provides an intimate glimpse of the state's natural wonders – both close-up and at a distance.
Glacier Adventure
Juneau, the capital and our first port of call, is cut off from other parts of Alaska because its roads all dead-end at impassible mountains and glaciers, including the mammoth ice field known as Mendenhall Glacier. After our ship docks downtown, my mother, my traveling companion on this trip, and I manage to hoist ourselves off our deck chairs to take a helicopter glacier ride – one of the "must-do's" recommended for first-timers on an Inside Passage cruise.
