By Jen Kleinberg, Director of Strategic Accounts | August 12, 2019 ( Comments)
This is a review of Holland America's Alaska Cruisetour #Y4C, 11 Night Yukon & Double Denali.
Talk about lucky! We had a beautiful day in Juneau - mid-70's with sunshine. From what our tour guide said, it's generally chillier and rains at least a little. It was the perfect day to be out on the water, which is exactly what we had planned.
We disembarked the ship in Juneau and met our tour guide, a Tlingit native and life-long Juneau resident, named Al. He shuttled us off to the first stop on our tour, Mendenhall Glacier.
The glacier and surrounding natural area were stunning. We had time to walk some short trails, and were able to get right down to the shore line to take pictures. The scenery was absolutely pristine, and bald eagles soared overhead. Admittedly though, it was shocking to hear just how much the glacier has melted, even in Al's lifetime.
From there we made our way via bus to Auke Bay. We set out on a 48-passenger jet boat with friendly Captain Tom and naturalist Christine. There are no guarantees with wildlife, but we were lucky enough to see at least half a dozen humpback whales! They were all mothers and calves. At one point their population was down to around 1,500, but conservation efforts have helped bring their numbers back to around 23,000. The whales migrate between Hawaii and Alaska, and Christine was full of interesting facts and anecdotes about their habits and patterns.
After about two hours on the water, we were back on the bus and escorted to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake. This was a quaint little site with picnic tables, a live folk singer, and campfires. I'm not one for salmon, but I figured "when in Rome...", and I have to say it was delicious! There was more than enough food, marshmallows for roasting, and a souvenir shop. We spent about an hour there and then boarded the bus to go back to the ship.
We have to be up early in the morning to disembark in Skagway and begin the land portion of our journey. This will be the day my daughter has been most looking forward to - visiting a dog mushing camp!
Click here to read Day 4 - Skagwayzrtcqzvsruatwwfcvqyqzrcb
