Gold Rush Inside Passage

Enjoy our value-priced Gold Rush Inside Passage cruises early and late in the Alaska travel season, before the crowds arrive, and when the scenery is often at its dramatic peak.

May is alive with spring greenery, teeming with wildlife near shore, and filled with sunny days. September gives you the added benefit of spectacular fall foliage peeking out between the evergreens. Our Gold Rush journeys follow the route of the original Klondike Gold Rushers of 1898 between Seattle, Juneau and Skagway. Our Gold Rush Cruise is cruise-only from Seattle to Juneau or reverse. Gold Rush + Denali continues by air, coach, and rail into Alaska's interior with two nights at Denali National Park and an overnight in Fairbanks.

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrive in Seattle
Transfer to your ship to begin your cruise following the path of the Gold Rush. Join your Exploration Leader on deck as you sail through the Hiram Chittenden Locks. While you are having dinner you can view the Seattle skyline before you depart this "gateway to the north." D

Day 2 - The San Juan Islands & Friday Harbor
Explore the charming resort village of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, once an important whaling center. Located on the second largest island, it is the commercial center and county seat of the San Juan Islands. Take an included tour and have time on your own to stroll around the art galleries and boutiques. This afternoon your Exploration Leader will be on deck to help spot wildlife you may see cruising around these islands. BLD

Day 3 - Cruising the Strait of Georgia
Cruise among pristine islands nestled between Vancouver Island and the mountainous mainland of British Columbia, home to harbor seals, bald eagles, and orcas. Cruise into Johnstone Strait and be on the lookout for birds and wildlife, commercial fishing boats, pleasure boats, and tugs hauling goods or huge rafts of logs. BLD

Day 4 - Cruising Northern British Columbia
Along this remote coastline, you will enjoy pristine and quiet reaches past ancient glacially carved fjords. Cruise by old growth forests, quiet coves, and nutrient-rich waters that support many mammals and seabirds in the Great Bear Rainforest. This special place is one of the earth's largest remaining tracts of temperate rainforest. Keep a quiet, watchful eye for the Kermode Bear. Known locally as the "Spirit Bear," this rare and elusive subspecies of black bear is a sight to behold with its white fur. Meanwhile eagles and seabirds soar and spotting harbor seals and sea lions is always a possibility while you casually cruise past the vast wilderness. BLD

Day 5 - Misty Fjords National Monument & Metlakatla
All the important geological and ecological characteristics of Southeast Alaska are found within the 2.3 million acres of Misty Fiords National Monument. Steep-sided mountains become even more magical shrouded in mist. Mountain goats graze on new grasses. Black and brown bears forage on the bounty of the intertidal zone as they fatten up for their dormant phase of winter. Harbor seals frolic near the estuaries. Seagulls and pigeon guillemots find the perfect nesting sites along glacier-carved granite walls in this tranquil, temperate rainforest.

We cruise into the United States largest national forest. At 17 million acres, the Tongass National Forest is the size of West Virginia and covers 80 percent of Southeast Alaska. We’ll cruise past the southernmost islands of the Alexander Archipelago, the 1,000 islands that comprise Southeastern Alaska.

We’ll have the unique opportunity to visit Metlakatla on Annette Island. In a quest for religious freedom, Father William Duncan and a group of Tsimshian Indians moved 100 miles north of Metlakatla, British Columbia to Annette Island, the site of present day Metlakatla. In 1891, the United States government set aside Annette Island for the exclusive use of the Tsimshian Indians and other Alaska Natives and it is now the only such reservation in Alaska. Tour this community and meet residents, including local artisans. Be honored by a dance performance in traditional Tsimshian regalia in their tribal long house. BLD

Day 6 - Petersburg
Arrive in picturesque Petersburg at the northern tip of Mitkof Island and disembark for your shore excursions and adventures in Alaska’s “Little Norway,” with a population of about 3,000. Begin with an included celebration at the Sons of Norway Hall, close to where the vessel moors. The Leikarring Dancers perform traditional Norwegian dances in colorful and authentic dress of bright blues accentuated by red, white and yellow embroidered flowers. You will also be treated to an introduction to the community and sample some homemade Norwegian pastries. Explore this tiny seaside fishing community surrounded by 10,000-foot snowcapped mountain peaks jutting from the sea. BLD

Day 7 - Frederick Sound & Tracy Arm
Traverse Frederick Sound, the body of water that hosts a world-renowned humpback whale population. Nutrient-rich waters compel large numbers of humpbacks to return from Hawaii every summer to feed and frolic in this region. Look for these magnificent creatures as well as Steller’s sea lions and harbor seals.

Travel through Holkham Bay, the mouth of 2 spectacular, glacier-fed fjords. Crossing the bar, look for signs of the strong currents tugging at the red and green navigational markers and for the many birds that feed on the rich nutrients stirred by these currents. Travel up Tracy Arm, a glacially carved fjord filled with deep, emerald-green seawater, bordered by steep cliffs. The fjord twists and turns for 25 miles. We’ll come as close as safely possible to the face of a glacier and hope for a show of thundering ice splashing seawater hundreds of feet high. Arctic terns may buzz close to the bow, their shrill call warning us to stay away from their nests. BLD

Day 8 - Sitka
On the way to Sitka cruise through a zigzag of beautiful, narrow passageways between Baranof and Chichagof Islands to Sitka, the oldest non-Native settlement in Southeast Alaska. Along the way there is an excellent opportunity to view bald eagles and Sitka black-tailed deer along the shorelines. Also look for sea otters feeding on sea urchins and floating close to protective kelp beds. Sitka is nestled on the shores of Sitka Sound, on the west coast of Baranof Island, protected from the Pacific by lush, forested islands and Mt. Edgecumbe, the “Mount Fuji of the West.” Enjoy a wonderful walk through the Sitka National Historical Park, whose forested beachside trail is lined with a number of finely carved totems. Various optional shore excursions are available in this small coastal community that was once called “The Paris of the Pacific.” BLD

Day 9 - Glacier Bay National Park And Preserve
Entering the park in the early morning we’ll pick up a Glacier Bay Park Ranger and a local Tlingit Cultural Interpreter in Bartlett Cove. They will provide a comprehensive day of narrative sightseeing. Over 65 miles of pristine terrain and habitat have been revealed in Glacier Bay since its giant rivers of ice began dramatically retreating 200 years ago. Approach Marble Islands and hurry outside to encounter a teeming multitude of seabirds like black-legged kittiwakes, murrelets and puffins, all swooping and swarming above the writhing, barking haul-out of Steller’s sea lions. We may encounter mountain goats on Gloomy Knob or watch brown and black bears foraging along the shoreline. Look for sea otters and the humpback whales that call Glacier Bay their summer home. BLD

Day 10 - Skagway & Haines
Cruise the deep and mysterious emerald-green waters of Lynn Canal, bordered by tall, rugged, snowcapped mountain peaks. Disembark in Skagway, the gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. Your included tour is a drive and overview in a unique touring car. Tour guides dress in period costumes and are well versed in the raucous stories of this frontier settlement. Wooden sidewalks border historic buildings erected when this boomtown was jammed with thousands of folks lured by gold fever, all eager to ascend the foreboding and treacherous mountain trails to find the elusive mother-lode of gold.

With its strategic location along the Chilkat Trail, the area around Haines has thrived for hundreds of years as an important and integral trade center for the Chilkat band of Tlingit natives, famous for the intricately designed blankets woven with the hair of mountain goats. Haines is also renowned as home to the world’s largest autumnal congregation of bald eagles, with the Chilkat Bald Eagle Reserve located 18 miles from the town. BLD

Day 11 - Juneau / Disembark
Alaska’s capital city is in the northern heart of the United States’ largest National Forest. Juneau is the only state capital that is inaccessible by roadways. Even though it is located on the mainland, the surrounding imposing mountains and massive icefield create a community accessible only by air or water. And it takes only minutes to cruise along Gastineau Channel into the wilderness. Explore the capital city of the great state of Alaska. A vast array of optional activities includes flightseeing, hiking, and glacier viewing.

Transfer to the airport for your flight home. B

What's Included:

• Taxes/port charges/fees
• Onboard services

What's Not Included:

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All rates are per person, double occupancy. Port charges, Government taxes and fees are additional. Limited availability and based on minimum fares for select departure dates. Other dates may be higher. These rates are for new, individual bookings only. Not responsible for last minute changes of price or itinerary by cruise line, or any errors or omissions in the content of this site. Some restrictions and cancellation penalties may apply.