Upcoming travels – Anchorage, Denali, Seward, Whittier in Alaska, Rockies in Vancouver

The next upcoming travel will be to Alaska on a 7-day cruise on Diamond Princess going Southbound from Whittier to Vancouver. We will be doing some exploring in Vancouver before flying back. Time frame will be around a month from end June to end July. A lot of research and planning needs to be done, and it’s far from finished, but the main details for the Alaska itinerary is generally completed and one of the places we will definitely visit in Vancouver is the Rockies.

We will be travelling with a total of 6 persons in our group. Our flight to Anchorage, Alaska, after a transit at Taipei, Taiwan, will be a few days before the cruise, so we’ll be renting a car and going around. Luckily, all of us prefer backpacking compared to joining restrictive group tours so you can be sure that the trip will definitely be more stimulating with more freedom in our hands with regards to time and places to visit.

For the time being, our rough itinerary goes something like the following:


1. Before the cruise on Diamond Princess

1.1 Anchorage to Denali
After reaching Anchorage on the first day, we’ll rent a car and take a relaxing drive north to Denali National Park, stopping along the way if necessary at Matanuska and Talkeetna, and stay the night at a hotel on the borders of Denali National Park.

There are mainly 2 types of buses for tourists into the park, tour buses (divided into a few tours with different destinations) and shuttle buses. Basically, tour buses provide more information on the history and biodiversity of the park by having certified naturalists on board, while shuttle buses have more flexibility to get off the bus for some exploration on our own.

We will be boarding the first shuttle bus leaving at 5.30am for Wonder Lake, which is the 2nd last stop before Kantishna (Click here for shuttle bus schedules). The bus driver should stop along the way whenever wildlife is spotted for some pictures and the bus is expected to stop at Wonder Lake for about 45 minutes before starting out on the journey back. The whole shuttle bus tour should take 11 hours as mentioned on the official website (Click here for more information on shuttle buses).


1.2 Denali to Seward and Anchorage

After leaving Denali National Park at around 6, we will be driving back down and reach Matanuska for our lodging at 10pm ideally. The next morning, the journey will continue to Seward early in time for a cruise to the Kenai Fjords National Park for mainly wildlife and a glacier.

If we are on time, we will be able to catch the 6-hour catamaran cruise tour beginning at 11.30am that brings you deeper into the National Park compared to the other shorter tours, which are not as recommended as the full day tours. According to the website at Major Marine, the difference between this cruise and the 7 hour one is exactly the same, with this being faster. Instead of the cruise tour, we are also considering a hike to Exit Glacier, which is probably the only glacier where you can hike right up to. After Seward, we will begin on our drive back to Anchorage for accommodation.


1.3 Anchorage to Whittier

Since the Diamond Princess cruise is scheduled to leave at 7.30pm, we will be spending some time the next day in Anchorage before driving to Whittier, probably stopping along the way at some scenic spots and the Wildlife Conservatory. If time permits, we might take the cruise tour around Prince William Sound, which is famous for its magnificent glaciers and some wildlife.

The main difference between the cruise tour at Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward and Prince William Sound, Whittier is that although you will be able to see both glaciers and wildlife on both cruises, the tour at Kenai focuses mainly on wildlife and the one at Prince William Sound mainly on glaciers. The waters at Prince William Sound, being protected from the open sea, is calmer and more appropriate for people who gets seasick easily.


2. Diamond Princess Cruise

The Diamond Princess cruise is scheduled to set sail on the 26th June 2010 according to the following itinerary:

Day 1 Whittier

Day 2 Hubbard Glacier (Scenic cruising)

Day 3 Glacier Bay National Park (Scenic cruising)

Day 4 Skagway (Port of call)

Day 5 Juneau (Port of call)

Day 6 Ketchikan (Port of call)

Day 7 Vancouver

As it can be seen from the above, the cruise ship will be stopping over at Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. From our research, it seems that most people strongly recommend a whale watching cruise at Juneau, and also to take the White Pass and Yukon railway at Skagway. We haven’t decide where to go at Ketchikan.


3. Vancouver

After reaching Vancouver, we’ll be going to at least Lake Louis and Lake Moraine at the Rockies. Personally, I’m really looking forward to Lake Moraine but I’m sure other lakes will look really great too.

I will continue to update this post as details get confirmed along the way.

Related posts:

1. Photography trip – Alaska and the Rockies
2. New batch of photos from Alaska and the Rockies
3. Backpacking Japan – Transport – Highway bus
4. Possible upcoming Nikon lenses
5. Photography trip – The Land of the Thunder Dragon