Alaska Cruises Near Me, Deals & Cruise Travel Agents Near Me

Exploring Alaska's Hidden Gems: Inside the Revitalized Wilderness Adventurer with UnCruise Adventures

Imagine setting sail through the breathtaking landscapes of Alaska, where glaciers shimmer in the sunlight and wildlife roams free. UnCruise Adventures offers an unparalleled experience with their revitalized Wilderness Adventurer, a vessel that embodies the spirit of adventure while ensuring comfort and personalized service. With a focus on immersive, up-close experiences, this expedition ship is perfect for those seeking an authentic Alaskan adventure.

Exploring Alaska's Hidden Gems: An Insider's Look at UnCruise Adventures' Refreshed Wilderness Adventurer

Imagine embarking on a journey through Alaska's breathtaking landscapes, where towering glaciers meet pristine wilderness and wildlife roams freely. UnCruise Adventures offers an unparalleled experience with their refreshed Wilderness Adventurer, designed to immerse travelers in the natural beauty of Alaska. This 60-guest vessel is perfect for those seeking an intimate and active exploration of Alaska's Inside Passage and beyond.

Experiencing Alaska in Style: An Insider’s Look at UnCruise Adventures’ Revamped Wilderness Adventurer

For those seeking an unforgettable adventure in the breathtaking landscapes of Alaska, UnCruise Adventures offers a unique and exhilarating experience aboard the revamped Wilderness Adventurer. This 60-guest vessel is designed for action and comfort, providing the perfect blend of adventure and relaxation in one of the world's most stunning natural environments. Whether you're an avid hiker, kayaker, or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of nature, the Wilderness Adventurer is the ideal choice for your Alaskan escapade.

Uncharted Horizons: A First-Hand Review of UnCruise Adventures' Unique Alaska Expedition Experience

Embarking on an UnCruise Adventures journey through Alaska is an immersive experience that combines the thrill of exploration with the serenity of nature's majesty. This adventure offers a unique blend of active excursions, breathtaking landscapes, and an intimate connection with the Alaskan wilderness. UnCruise specializes in taking travelers off the beaten path, providing experiences that larger cruise ships simply cannot match.

Uncharted Horizons: A First-Hand Review of UnCruise Adventures' Intimate Alaskan Expeditions

Alaska is one of the world's most breathtaking destinations, with its vast wilderness, majestic fjords, and dynamic wildlife. For those seeking an immersive experience, UnCruise Adventures offers the perfect blend of adventure, exploration, and relaxation. Their small ship cruises are designed to take you closer to the heart of Alaska than traditional large cruise lines, providing an intimate and unforgettable journey.

Exploring Alaska's Hidden Gems: The Intimate Adventure of UnCruise Adventures' Small Ship Expeditions

Alaska, known for its vast wilderness and breathtaking landscapes, offers a unique travel experience that few destinations can match. UnCruise Adventures provides an intimate and immersive way to explore this majestic land through small ship expeditions. With a focus on wilderness, wildlife, and culture, UnCruise Adventures offers cruises that cater to a wide range of interests and preferences, making it an ideal choice for travelers seeking a more personal and engaging experience.

Exploring Alaska in Luxury: Inside The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's 2026 Season

Alaska, with its breathtaking landscapes and diverse wildlife, has long been a coveted destination for travelers seeking an extraordinary adventure. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection offers an unparalleled luxury experience, blending high-end amenities with the rugged beauty of Alaska. For their 2026 season, they promise an unforgettable journey of discovery and relaxation.

Exploring Alaska's Hidden Gems: An Insider's Guide to UnCruise Adventures' Small Ship Expeditions

Alaska is a vast and breathtakingly beautiful destination, offering travelers an unparalleled opportunity to connect with nature and experience the raw power of wilderness. Among the many ways to explore Alaska, small ship cruises stand out for their intimate and immersive approach. UnCruise Adventures is a leader in this sector, providing guests with a unique blend of adventure, comfort, and exploration. Their small ship expeditions cater to a maximum of 90 guests, ensuring a personal and authentic travel experience.

Exploring Alaska's Hidden Gems: Why UnCruise Adventures Offers the Ultimate Small Ship Adventure

Alaska is a vast, breathtakingly beautiful state, offering an unparalleled blend of wilderness, wildlife, and cultural experiences. For those seeking a more intimate and immersive journey, small ship cruises are the way to go. UnCruise Adventures stands out as a leader in this niche, providing an unbeatable experience for adventure-seekers and nature enthusiasts alike. Their commitment to sustainability, cultural immersion, and active exploration makes them a top choice for travelers looking to delve into Alaska's untouched landscapes.

Exploring Alaska's Wild Majesty: Inside UnCruise Adventures' Small Ship Expeditions

Alaska stands as one of the most awe-inspiring destinations in the world, offering breathtaking landscapes, diverse wildlife, and unforgettable adventures. For those seeking an intimate and immersive experience amidst Alaska's vast wilderness, UnCruise Adventures provides a unique journey unlike any other. With their focus on small ship expeditions, UnCruise ensures that every guest can explore the most secluded and breathtaking locations that larger cruise ships often miss.

Overview

Introduction

The Aleut people called it Alyeska, the great land. Alaska is one of the world's special places, full of exotic wildlife, magnificent mountains, glacier-carved valleys and steep, rocky coastlines.

Alaska is bigger than life, its sheer mass hard to comprehend. The distance from Barrow, on the northern coast, to Ketchikan, at the southern edge, is more than 1,350 mi/2,174 km—about the same as New York City to Miami. Alaska has six distinct climatic regions, the tallest mountains, the biggest glaciers, the most plentiful fishing and the wildest nature preserves on the North American continent.

Visitors go to Alaska for the fishing, hiking, hunting or camping—Denali National Park is a big attraction. Some go for the northern lights, or to whale-watch while cruising the Inside Passage. Some even go to Alaska for the Iditarod dogsled race.

Even as Alaska vacations become more accessible, distance creates costs. Per-day expenses in remote parts of the state are comparable with those in major urban centers. The abundance of spectacular scenery and wildlife, however, should more than compensate.

Geography

Alaska borders the northwest edge of Canada and is actually closer to Russia (just 39 mi/62 km by air across the Bering Strait) than it is to the rest of the U.S. The landscape is dramatic and, because it covers such a huge territory, quite varied. In the south is temperate rain forest (Tongass), and in the north is Arctic desert.

The state is traversed by 14 major mountain ranges, encompassing 17 of the highest peaks in the U.S., including North America's highest mountain, Mount Denali, as well as most of the country's active volcanoes. It has more coastline than all of the other states combined. The geography ranges from endless miles/kilometers of tundra to sheer mountain walls, from the densely forested temperate coasts of the Inside Passage to the permafrost of the treeless Arctic Circle.

History

The first settlers in Alaska arrived at least 20,000 years ago, when hunters from Asia followed large game over the Bering Strait land bridge into North America. By the time the first Europeans arrived in the mid-1700s, they found several diverse cultures living in Alaska: Whale- and seal-hunting Inupiat and Yupik peoples inhabited the treeless tundra along the Arctic Ocean, Chukchi and Bering sea coasts, and nomadic Athabascan caribou hunters roamed the forested interior along the Yukon River. Alaska's panhandle was home to members of the Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida groups, who lived in a lush coastal environment.

Even though Russian explorers had seen the Alaskan coast as early as 1741, Europeans didn't venture into the territory's immense interior until well into the 1800s. Even after the U.S. purchased the area in 1867 for cents an acre/hectare, the region remained largely unexplored.

As was often the case elsewhere in the opening of the American frontier, it took the discovery of gold in Juneau in 1880 to get folks headed for Alaska. During the famous Klondike Gold Rush of 1898-99, thousands of rowdy, ambitious and gutsy prospectors and speculators flooded into Dawson, Skagway, Valdez and other towns.

Alaska was made a U.S. territory in 1912, but statehood wasn't granted until 1959. Then the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968 sparked a new rush to Alaska. The construction of the Alaska Pipeline from the Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of Alaska in the 1970s brought new wealth, new jobs and new environmental concerns.

Even now, the debate continues as to how much of Alaska's pristine wilderness should be developed. Most recently, the focus has been on oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, declining populations of marine mammals in the Bering Sea, and the impact from cruise-ship travel and other tourist activity, especially in southeastern Alaska.

Snapshot

Alaska's main attractions include spectacular scenery, wildlife viewing, camping, skiing, the northern lights, volcanoes, Inside Passage cruises, hiking, riverboat rides, fishing, canoeing, river and sea kayaking, friendly people, Alaska Native and Russian cultures, totem poles, glaciers and dogsled rides.

Most people will like Alaska, but the state has special appeal for nature lovers and the adventurous. Those on a strict budget may opt to tour the coasts via Alaska's Marine Highway ferries rather than by cruise ships. Motor homes, recreational vehicles and camper vans are available to rent for those who want to explore the state's interior highways or drive the Alaska Highway through Canada.

Potpourri

Alaska is from an Aleut word meaning "great country" or "what the sea breaks against."

The state of Alaska has 33,904 mi/54,585 km of coastline, more than the rest of the U.S. combined.

All Alaskans (who apply and qualify for it) receive an annual Permanent Fund Dividend check that averages around US$1,100 per person (including children). The dividend is funded by North Slope oil taxes and profits from investments.

In the unique history of Alaska, the male-to-female ratio across the state has often been quite imbalanced. As a result, a saying began among Alaskan women that in Alaska "the odds are good, but the goods are odd." This joke has failed to wither with time or the balancing of the odds.

Juneau is the only U.S. state capital that cannot be reached by highway. It is located 573 mi/916 km by air from Anchorage, the state's largest city and populated area. With as many roads as a New England state but a landmass triple the size of Texas (only 12 major highways are open year-round), Alaska is a place where flight is commonplace and pilots are many.

Geologically, Alaska is an amazingly active location. Small earthquakes are common in many parts of Alaska, and midsized ones frequently shake the thinly populated Aleutian Islands. The devastating 1964 Good Friday Earthquake registered 9.2 on the Richter scale, making it the most powerful temblor ever recorded in North America. In addition, 80% of the active volcanoes in the U.S. are in Alaska, and major eruptions in the Aleutian Islands occur almost every year.

Dog mushing is the official state sport of Alaska.

Former Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia for US$7.2 million in 1867. At approximately US$0.02 per acre/half-hectare, it was a bargain that some called Seward's Folly.

Location

There's nothing quite like experiencing the Last Frontier from a cruise ship: Icebergs and rugged islands glide by, porpoises play in the ship's wake, and whales breach off the side. In Alaskan towns along the way, you can shake a gold pan in a rushing stream and watch native carvers at work on a new totem pole. You can raft down whitewater streams and fly to (and land on) glaciers.

The state is so big, its extremes of climate and geology so great, and its wildlife and history so fascinating that Alaska delights (and uses up film and camera capacity) like few other places on Earth. In fact, with so much to choose from there, it's easy to become overwhelmed. A cruise simplifies some of the decision-making.

Ship lines offer a wide variety of Alaska cruises, so there's an itinerary to satisfy almost everyone. You can ride on a megaship with more than 2,000 passengers and all the comforts of home, and then some, as you visit the state's main ports. Or you can cruise aboard an exploration ship (with 100 other people) that can slip into the narrowest of fjords and get close enough to watch a brown bear snatch a salmon out of the water.

The big cruise lines usually offer a choice of two routes, both of which take you through the Inside Passage, the protected waterway between the mainland and the coastal islands. The emphasis is different, however. The trips known as Inside Passage cruises usually begin in Vancouver, British Columbia, include stops at such southeast Alaska ports as Ketchikan and Juneau, turn around in Glacier Bay and return to Vancouver. Gulf of Alaska cruises (sometimes called Glacier Route cruises) usually run between Vancouver and Seward, with connections through Anchorage so you can add excursions into the interior of the state.

Both routes often include stops at Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway—one of the most visited ports along the Inside Passage and the main jumping-off point for tours into the Yukon Gold Rush area. Small ships combine the best of both routes, offering stops in smaller ports, visits to hard-to-reach landmarks and more personal attention. Of course, their prices are usually higher, too.

Overview

Introduction

What sets Alaska cruises apart from other cruises is what you can see from the ship's rail: the state's geological wonders. They're just as much a part of the Alaska cruise experience as stops in port.

Some of the sights you may see as you sail past include Columbia Glacier (most ships pass it); College Fjord, with its quintessential examples of tidewater and hanging glaciers; and the vast Glacier Bay National Park, with 35 named glaciers and 11 active tidewater glaciers.

Hubbard Glacier, Misty Fjords National Monument and Tracy Arm Fjord are other dramatic sights that offer visitors the chance to see nature in action.

Overview

Introduction

The Alaska Highway is the ultimate North American driving adventure. A remarkable feat of civil engineering and a reminder of the immense projects undertaken by the Allies in World War II, the Alaska Highway was built in 1942 with the express purpose of strengthening Alaska against invasion.

Cutting through rugged wilderness in an unforgiving climate, the scenic route makes for a splendid long road trip. The road runs 1,387 mi/2,233 km from the interior of Alaska (from Delta Junction, near Fairbanks) through Canada's Yukon Territory to Dawson Creek, British Columbia. Side routes lead southeast to Alaska's Panhandle area, although most southeast cities lack road access.

The Alaska Highway is a reasonably comfortable stretch of road (it is paved for its entire distance, except for areas under construction), but be sure you're prepared for it. You may go long distances between gas stations, stores and motels. A broken water pump may delay you for days, thrown gravel can shatter a windshield, and most of the time you'll be driving outside the range of radio stations and cell phone reception. The breathtaking scenery and wildlife make it all worthwhile.

Overview

Introduction

Northeast British Columbia (near the borders of Alberta, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon) is beautiful, sparsely populated and easily seen by driving the Alaska Highway. Begin in Dawson Creek, the southern terminus of the highway. While in town, take the time to see the Dawson Creek Art Gallery, situated in a renovated grain elevator. Just southeast of Dawson Creek is Pouce Coupe, a classic example of a northern pioneer town.

The fishing is excellent on several area lakes, including Moberly, Williston and Carp. Other recreation options include hiking to Old Baldie (near Chetwynd) and canoeing on Gwillim Lake. Heli-skiing is big business in winter.

When you're ready, pick up the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek (480 mi/775 km northeast of Vancouver) and head north. Built in a hectic nine months during World War II, the Alaska Highway winds 1,387 mi/2,233 km through wild, dramatic terrain. Fort St. John (50 mi/80 km north of Dawson Creek) was established as a fur-trading settlement in 1793. Beyond that is Pink Mountain, renowned for its abundance of wildflowers and two species of colorful and rare butterflies. A fair distance north (324 mi/522 km) is Fort Nelson, another town that began as a remote fur-trading post.

In Stone Mountain Provincial Park, you'll find beautiful alpine meadow trails and glacial lakes, and in Muncho Lake Provincial Park, wild sheep and moose come down to the salt licks by the highway—have your camera ready. The Liard River Hot Springs are located near the town of Liard River. Each of these destinations offers great views of the northern lights.