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Alaska Cruise Review: Spirit of Alaska

Glacier Wonderland - June 2007

Hi Linda,

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you regarding our Cruise West Alaska trip. I had 1350 digital photos to process and sort through. We have been busy with other things, and work interfered also!

The trip was wonderful and I can't thank you enough for recommending the Glacier Bay Highlights cruise. We spent a day before and after the cruise in Juneau and that was also very enjoyable. It gave us a chance to see the sights in town, the Mendenhall Glacier, and we took a glacier flightseeing trip as well. Fantastic!

The Goldbelt Hotel was perfect, with the Cruise West tour desk and representatives there on-site.

The Spirit of Alaska was a great small ship for the cruise. The food was wonderful and the crew members were all outstanding. It was a perfect size group, there were 68 guests on the trip, 22 of whom were from Holland, having been in Seattle for a symposium prior to the cruise.

In addition to the awesome mountain and glacier scenery, we were fortunate enough to see brown bears, black bears, humpback whales, otters, puffins, eagles, dolphins and mountain goats. The absolute highlight for me was during the Chilkat River float trip in Haines, rounding a bend in the river and coming upon a moose who had just given birth to a calve on the sandbar! We watched her wash the baby in the water, the guide said that would help deter wolves and bears from picking up the scent. I was so fortunate to be in the first raft, along with a professional photographer also on the trip. I'm no pro, but got some decent photos too!

I have included some photos, three taken of the Spirit of Alaska in Idaho Inlet, and one taken from the ship in Glacier Bay. I'd be happy to send others if you are interested, wildlife, glaciers, Yukon Railway, etc.

Thanks again for your assistance in making this a great trip, and if you have any recommendations for other trips we would be happy to consider them! I have some friends who are currently in the "serious talking stage" regarding Patagonia/Chilean fjords for late 2008, so any info on that area would be welcome too.

-Pat Ching