Alaskan Adventure

Our 11 day July 2026 Alaska adventure

This whole coming about of this destination was really another random pick. And these random picks are exciting and not predictable. Exactly what we seek!

So let me take you along our journey through Alaska! Let's go!

17 July 2026. 

Travel day:

Our great northbound journey begins at the Tampa International airport and takes us 3228 miles across our continent all the way to Vancouver, via Toronto, Canada a day before the official start of our Princess Cruise. 

Day 1:

Leaving Vancouver, BC

Today is the start of our anticipated cruise as we take public transportation from our hotel near the airport across Vancouver to the cruise ship terminal where our ship awaits us and about 3000 more excited guests.

We join long but quick lines and easily navigate through the onboarding process from dropping off our luggage, to picking up our Princess medallions to going through security to ultimately going onboard of the 16 floor Princess Discovery. A modern and beautiful ship. This marks our first cruise together where we decided to splurge and book what's called an “obstructed view balcony room". In the past we opted for interior rooms with no windows that were cheaper. The obstructed view rooms run significantly less than the full view rooms but still offer a good view. We chose a midship room on the 8th floor to minimize seasickness and feeling potential rocking of the ship. 

Sail-away is always anticipated and the entertainment crew makes sure we all get to dance and watch their dancers show off some fun dances all while the giant is slowly leaving the port of Vancouver. This is our 1st time being on a cruise ship that has a melodious song-like sound blowing the deep horn announcing our departure! We're off to a good start as the sun is showing its warm rays ☀️.

In the early evening hours, our first dinner is followed by dancing in the piazza, the center of the ship, which has 3 floors of fellow travelers looking down onto all the dance action and on-board singers. 

A Ray Charles tribute concert marks the end of our 1st evening ❤️‍🩹 onboard.  Against all self-imposed diet rules, we end up having a late evening buffet featuring German staples. How can we deny ourselves, I ask?

Good night from somewhere in the northern Pacific Ocean where we will travel 527 nautical miles to our first stop in 2 days.

Day 2:

At sea. 

It's time to explore our food and entertainment choices while figuring out the always confusing elevator and floor layouts! The buffet gets me lost right away as it spans out across 3 large adjacent counters offering a crazy amount of food choices. With a satisfied belly we get caught up on our card games. 

Tonight, besides dancing later, the highlight is the rock show in the theater. The music is a combination of Celine Dion, other rock legends and the beautiful song “sounds of silence” sung by 6 talented male singers that bring me to tears, in a good way. This is probably my favorite show and songs I've seen on a cruise ship. 

The sunsets on both evenings are nothing short of stunning. The universe is showing us all its glory and then some. Now we are getting a taste for the midnight sunsets and how they can mess up our sleeping routine! It's 55 degrees outside and a calm sea and tomorrow our first stop on land awaits us in Ketchikan, Alaska with an early 6 AM arrival. Goodnight from the Discovery Princess where we feel grateful to be on board tonight.

Day 3: 

Ketchikan, Alaska. 

As 3 cruise ships that are anchored back to back are unloading their long stream of passengers, we choose to forgo the shops and head straight over to Creek Street. Doctor Google had spat out this stop as a must-see in Ketchikan. Nestled alongside, yes the creek, that attracts uncountable spools of Salmon that make their upstream journey which ends their 7 year life cycle. This phenomenon takes place at the end of July and early August. Humans have built a salmon ladder in that section of the river to help the fish reach their spawning ground, attracting visitors that are just as curious as we are to witness this spectacle. Unfortunately, the time has not quite arrived for this to happen. But we do see around 20 or so super-sized salmon. I had no idea salmon are this big!

Day 4: 

Juneau, Alaska. 

Today is an excursion day. Yay. I'm excited 😆. 

The afternoon sea plane ride! We decide to book a 1 hour plane ride that glides us over the Taku glacier, Norris, west & east glaciers and their neighbors. An exciting breathtaking experience that is impossible to put into words. As words don't do justice to what's in front of us. To see glaciers, mountains of all sizes, rivers and deep blue-green lakes up close and all the wilderness surrounding them is amazing. This is our first time on a sea plane and hopefully not the last. There might have been 13 of us onboard including the pilot. I feel they borrowed Maverick from Top Gun to fly us! 

Earlier, in the morning we got on board a very speedy vessel to embark on a 3 hour whale watching tour . Once arrived at the whales' feeding areas, which are about 30 minutes out from our harbor starting point we saw humpbacks and orcas from a distance that come to this area to fatten up on various types of fish. Again, the views were amazing. The large bay is held together by mountains in every direction. Most are snow covered. I had hopes to see the whales closer but of course one can't expect, only hope that the timing is just right for special close-up encounters. But sometimes it just isn't. Still, it's a fun experience and lesson on whales. 

Then, while driving through the Juneau valley via the tour shuttle we see an abundance of bald eagles and their young in the grasses along the adjacent wetlands. Alaska has the highest population of bald eagles in North America of roughly 30.000. Recount how often you see crows. In Alaska that's how often you see eagles. In the Juneau region it's bald eagles. Other regions of Alaska might have golden eagles instead.

Day 5:

Scagway, Alaska. 

82 nautical miles travelled. It's an excursion-free day. We're taking the tender to land and then walk to the close-by town center. It's very charming with its wooden raised sidewalks that remind me of the old West. Scagway with its average permanent residents of roughly 1100 doesn't take long to explore. Of course, tons of the obligatory souvenir and shirt stores line the main streets. After a ¼ mile walk we find the trail head that I had mapped out previously, called Smugglers Cove.

 The trail winds through the forest alongside the Chilkoot inlet. After hiking for about an hour in this very windy day we make our way back into town for lunch sharing a delicious burger. Much later, work out from all the walking we're back on ship for dinner and a sled dog puppy meet’n greet later if sled dog puppies in training soon. I need some doggy breath since I miss my furry boy gang at home so much. Spoiler alert: No puppy breath for me or anyone else who had similar fantasies. The 2 puppies brought on the ship are off limits for touching.

What follows is an interesting event hosted by our very funny entertainment director Chesney from England, who educates us all about the staff's life on board a cruise ship. From everything that's involved work-wise to how and where they spend their limited off time to relationships to how long they get contracted. 

Day 6:

College Fjord, Alaska:

We leave the bergy bits (pieces of ice that are 1 to 5 meters above the water), also known as growlers (less than 1 meter), behind while we continue our journey today to Glacier Bay. Mountains, and then more mountains 🏔️, and many waterfalls and little islands are surrounding us.

Day 7:

Glacier Bay, Alaska

I can't believe we are traveling through this landscape of snow-capped mountains and ice and it's not freezing cold outside! We are arriving early in the morning as announced the day before as everyone on board is glued to the windows and/or their balconies to take in glacier upon glacier slowly passing us. I can't help but think about scenes from the movie Titanic and an exhibit we recently went to. Here we are surrounded by icy water 💦 and glaciers seeking close encounters with these slow-moving ice giants. And we all get to live!

While in awe of what's in front of us, passengers on board are enjoying the outdoor pool and hot tubs! What an odd combination of extremes. 

The College Fjord glacier we are stopping in front of occasionally rumbles as if there is thunder in the distance. This noise actually gets created when chunks of the glacier detach (called glacier calving) and fall off. Our ship does a very slow 360 degree turn so everyone, no matter where on the ship gets to take in nature at its best right in front of us. It's almost so close I feel I can reach out and touch it. The sun is out and at first, we are enjoying this spectacle on our balcony on the 8th floor, midship. Later we decide to go up to deck 16 to get the views from higher up.

Fun fact: There are over 2000 glaciers here in Alaska. One of the larger ones being 41 miles long that we are passing. 

The water is a beautiful blue-green. Sometimes white-capped but mostly calm seas. Surprisingly, we haven't seen any whales outside of the whale excursion. The abundance of beauty is amazing as we make our way towards College Fjord while passing Prince William Sound. Nature is so amazing. As I am looking at glaciers, I see just how tall and deep and massive they are. What an exceptional landscape we get to explore by sea and later by plane. Besides our cruise ship and Norwegian, there have been no other vessels or signs of humans that make their way through the last part of the passage going through Glacier Bay. Now in Prince William Sound, I'm seeing 2 small vessels that are not cruise ships, and I wonder what brings them to such a faraway place from civilization? The temperatures have been between 50 to 60 degrees on average, with no day of rain. This is extremely unusual for a region that has an average of 350 rainy days annually.

Today we got to meet the ship crew in an event that brings them all out in the main plaza, followed by a walk-through of the kitchen that feeds so many guests and crew. Everything is steel, making it wipeable and sparkling clean 🫧. It's interesting to see behind the to us visible areas!

Day 8:

The ship arrives in Whittier, Alaska. But before that Princess brings in board a naturalist that offers insight to all the wonders Alaska holds. We really like that Princess strives to not only offers access to this beautiful part of the world but also includes education to its passengers about what they are seeing, making this a well-rounded experience.

We are not doing anything on land except transfer via bus to the train to Denali. We take a very short drive from the cruise dock to the train depot.

Next, our train ride of about 300 miles takes us to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge in Alaska.

Besides the now typical amazing landscape we are passing an unusual area of saltwater fossilized trees. Many of them. The 1964 Good Friday Earthquake of a 9.2 magnitude that shook the earth for 4 minutes so many years ago created this phenomenal transformation to these trees. The trees are bare and look lifeless as if it's winter time. But because they are fossilized, they will be here forever as a reminder of this powerful earthquake without ever changing how they look. 

Below, the first picture shows the route of the train ride.

We're making our way through this valley traveling alongside the Turnagain Arm. We are told beluga whales can be seen here at high tide, which is a whopping 34 ft higher, a little later in the season. Turnagain valley is the most fertile in all of Alaska. Even though its growing season only amounts to 3 months (June - August), locals broke the world record growing the largest pumpkin weighing in at about 2500 lbs! After the weigh-in at the annual fair, it then gets smashed, and the local wildlife gets to be the beneficiary. 

Did you know that Alaska's entire population is about 300,000? 100,000 of the residents live in Anchorage. 

Day 9:

Denali National Park. 

We arrive via the Princess Wilderness train after a nearly 12-hour day on rails. We sat upstairs in the 2-level dome train with grand views thanks to all the windows. I can't get over the abundance of wilderness and beauty. The never-ending mountain ranges keep following us.

The weather continues to be mild and sunny. Apparently, there's what the Alaskans call the “30 Percent Club”. 30% is your chance to not get rained on and actually see the entire Mount Denali. And we did. On both days. 

Yesterday we arrived at 8 pm at Denali park and got in the Princess shuttle for a quick 5-minute ride to the lodge village. 

The Princess Wilderness Lodge is a mini village and cluster of log cabin style 2 story buildings surrounded by pines and walkways that connect all buildings and amenities. Such as gift shops and restaurants. Beautiful flower baskets hang everywhere. 

This morning we join the Denali wilderness bus tour on converted school buses that take us 17 miles into the park on the only road. Wildlife viewings for us, unfortunately, are limited to a single caribou coming down the road towards us and the state bird, a momma willow ptarmigan and her 3 chicks. There is a bear sighting while we are en-route, which results in us not being allowed to stop at one of the three stopping points.

After this 5-hour bus ride, we get yet on another bus that chauffeurs us to a dog sled camp within the park. This is not a planned thing. We happen to see this place as an option to visit while looking through the posted signage for what's nearby. 

A free event , it's a bit underwhelming. We get to watch a dry run of a musher and her five sled dogs pulling a training sled, followed by some middle-aged puppies doing a sample 100-yd dash. You can see and hear by their barking how excited these dogs get when they get to run and pull. 

We end the day going across the street from our lodge to where there's a cluster of different stores and restaurants.

 Of all the typical expensive dining options we choose a more budget friendly low-key Chinese/Thai food place where we happen to get into a conversation with a very friendly father and his two teenage daughters from St. Louis, he being born in India. It was a very lively, interesting, and long-lasting conversation. It's always moments like these that bring me joy when we get to meet strangers and hear their stories. You know how the saying goes: “A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.”

Day 10:

Today as scheduled, we go by bus to Fairbanks. A 2.5-hour motor coach ride driven by yet another friendly seasonal worker that educates us about Alaska along the way. Just like this driver, everyone in the service industry catering to visitors here in Alaska comes from all over the world for the summer months. From fresh out-of-school adventure seekers to retirees who want to add excitement and travel to their retirement years. They receive housing in their own compounds, separate from where the tourists stay, for the duration of their contract.

Once we arrived in Fairbanks, we get on board The Discovery paddle boat that's been run by the same proud owner and their family for 7 generations. The boat made several stops along the Cheno River for presentations on shore to be viewed while we were on the ship. One stop features the daughter of the late Susan Butcher, who won many Alaskan musher races in her lifetime. I've never heard of this woman, but then again, I don't know a thing about dog sledding races!

Anyway, now her daughter runs the dog sled camp along the river and gives us a little taste of summer sledding practices.

Later, we stop at a tiny village in the woods adjacent to the river for presentations on how the natives used to and still, to this day live off the land and hunt. Butcher's daughter is there to autograph her children's book for anyone who wants to purchase one.

And then, by sheer coincidence we run into our new Indian friends from the day before again. We excitedly greet each other and make sure to take some group pictures along with the wish to connect on Facebook in the future.

We end the day following a suggestion from the reception staff and visit a reindeer exhibit 2 structures over from our hotel. I find it so fascinating to see these unusual animals up-close with their gigantic racks.

After a long wait to be seated for dinner, we take a walk back along this quaint path along the river back to our lodge.

Bundled up in our lodge room, we find out that the lodge doesn't use their heaters in the summer months, even though the nights dip down into the 30s. Alaskans are a hardy bunch for sure!

Good night from our chilly room at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks, nestled along the calm and cold Cheno River.

Day 10:

Fairbanks, Alaska

Today we are flying home. Because our flight doesn't leave until 2.35 pm, we choose to go for a little walk after breakfast at our lodge. Even though there's a shuttle ticket you can choose to purchase to see Fairbanks and its sites (there aren't many haha) we forgo this option because we just don't have enough time for this without feeling rushed. The walk isn't exciting by any means but at least we get a little exercise in before our long travel day. Later the lodge shuttle drives us and many other travelers to the small Fairbanks airport, a whopping 4 minutes from the lodge. During these 4 minutes the luggage handlers manage to destroy the wheel of our one suitcase. Job well done, guys!

In 10 days, Joe and I have traveled across the US from the most southeastern point (Florida) all the way to the far northwest to Canada and lastly Alaska. We've crossed Alaska by sea through the Alaskan inside passage and land via train and busses. We've adjusted our time travel 4 times, having been in 4 time zones. 

During this journey, I have learned about permafrost. About a very different and hardy way of life of the Alaskans. I have learned what it's like to go to bed at midnight and not have it be dark. I've learned that in the state of the midnight sun, things grow in abundance and size. When temperatures dip down to minus 50 degrees, cars need engine block heaters to start and run. That locals store wood in amounts that fill more than 1 car garages to heat their homes for one winter.

I have learned that shooing a moose that is finding great delight in eating one's vegetable garden is a regular occurrence. I have learned that hunting for Alaskans is what boating is for Floridians.  

I have learned that when everything is covered in snow and ice, easily 3 feet, people cross-country ski on frozen rivers and use said rivers as crossings for their vehicles.

Without leaving the country for a foreign land, I find it amazing to see such differences in lifestyle, climate, resilience and unobstructed wilderness. 

I was lucky enough to see an enormous mountain 🏔️ present itself to us several times that not all visitors get to see due to the weather. 

Travel, no matter where we go, is so much more than checking off another destination on a map. It's about learning and embracing differences. It's about meeting people, hearing their stories. Learning.

And ultimately connecting with the people AND the land we are privileged to travel to and experience.