December 18, 2007
Cruising Glacier Bay National Park
Linda Garrison, from About.com took a cruise with us last summer. She sailed aboard the Spirit of Yorktown on our Alaska's Inside Passage cruise itinerary. On Sunday, she posted some great photos from her cruise. Here's an excerpt from her journal:
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We arrived at Margerie Glacier in the afternoon and marveled at this river of ice, cheering when it calved and oohing when the sun brought out the brilliant blue color. By the time we arrived back at Bartlett Cove, it was almost dark. What a great day! |
| At the bottom of her photo gallery page, she's linked out to other aspects of the cruise. If you're looking for a real perspective on what our Inside Passage cruise it like, Linda's blog is a wonderful resource.
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on December 18, 2007
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December 06, 2007
Getting "Lost" Cruising Alaska's Inside Passage
I originally posted this in May of 2006, but as our attention turns to our 2008 Alaska season, I find myself still musing over my first trip north. The maze of Alaska's waterways still inspire me and the preparation for this first trip still remains my most memorable.
"Well, sounds like a good job, but you'd better be careful or you'll get lost." Those were the words of one of my East Coast mariner friends when I told him I'd been offered a job with Cruise West and that my route would be from Seattle to Juneau through the Inside Passage.
I grew up around boats, sailing the lakes and waterways of the East Coast. Lazy summers spent on the water as a child grew into highly competitive collegiate sailing. That eventually led to a 4 yr stint in the U.S. Coast Guard where I was flown across the country to a very busy Search and Rescue station in Newport, Oregon - Station Yaquina Bay. So, I felt confident and up to the task.
Me, worry about getting lost? How could I? The main shipping lanes or "highway" to Alaska is well-traveled by big cruise ships and ferries all summer long. If all those boats safely ply these waters at all hours, then I'll be fine.
Reporting to the Spirit of Alaska, as Second Mate, my collateral duty was to maintain the charts. There were hundreds! My first clue that there might have been some truth in my friend's words. As I studied the charts, I realized very quickly that these charts could be categorized. There were the series of charts that all the BIG ships use (you do need those for part of the route) and then there were the OTHER charts...those that would help me get "lost." The charts for sailors and mariners who weren't interested in traveling with the rest of the armada and wanted to choose the waterways less traveled and really see Alaska. Those charts were well worn, with many personal notes and tips handwritten throughout.
Suddenly, I realized. I was getting paid to get "LOST." What a job.
Although I don't work on the boats anymore, my own tattered cruising guides are still a part of my personal library. I can still envision every back passage and narrow waterway, know the characteristics of the land and could probably still get "lost" with the best of them. Alaska does that to you. Touches your soul and never lets go. A lifetime of memories is mine...after all, aren't the best travel experiences those where we get "lost"?
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on December 06, 2007
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November 27, 2007
Love Letter From our Bering Sea Cruise
Cruise West’s Spirit of Oceanus Exploration Leader, Alastair Newton, Speaks from the Heart About Our Cruise: Voyage to the Bering Sea
July 22, 2007
Hello All from the Bering Sea.
Tonight, we will be leaving the Bering Sea as we continue our voyage back towards Whittier. It has been a hard trip in the Bering Sea because we have had such a wonderful time here yet again and there have been many long faces in the communities regarding the fact that we are only doing visiting twice this year. I know that our itineraries are constantly being evaluated and I wanted to pass on some information regarding this itinerary and my experiences of doing it over the last 3 years.
When I am off the Spirit of Oceanus, back home in England, I spend some of my time visiting Travel Agents on behalf of Cruise West. When I visit them, I talk about our company and show them pictures that I have taken on voyages with the company. I often get the question "what one trip should a client take to Alaska?" I always recommend a one of the Inside Passage cruises: the Coastal Odyssey, Alaska Whales & Wilderness, or the Alaska Inside Passage Itinerary. This is classic Alaska. It is what people expect, mountains and glaciers and towns like Skagway. They then ask me which is my favorite Itinerary in Alaska and I always answer "The Voyage to the Bering Sea".
To me, this itinerary is truly aimed at those that want to go beyond what all the other visitors will see, who want to go somewhere special that is so far off the beaten path that almost no-one else visits. Last year I was in Grytviken, South Georgia and they had 56 visits from Cruise Ships! Compare that with the number of ships heading into the Bering Sea this year. This is less visited than Antarctica and more special in many ways. What does the Bering Sea have that Antarctica doesn't? The people! This itinerary gives our guests the opportunity to visit fragile communities that are thousands of years old. To see cultures that are in danger of disappearing, and to be warmly welcomed into communities whose existence hangs in the balance. Maybe Little Diomede will soon be abandoned and join King Island on the list of the Most Endangered Historic Places in the USA, or maybe it will be St. George that loses its struggle to survive as a community. But our guests have been able to visit these places and meet the people and to experience a way of life that has continued in this area for up to 10,000 years, by some estimates.
I always ask guests, at the beginning of a voyage here, what they are expecting to see. Most don't know. They were looking for something different. Maybe they have been everywhere else, or maybe they wanted to see the other face of Alaska, the Yup'ik, Inupiaq, Alutiiq and Aleut face...to have the opportunity to meet the people least impacted by Western Culture. Some guests come for the birding, or the bears or the whales. But I think no matter how good the wildlife is, it is the people of the Bering Sea that leave the lasting impression. Many guests describe this as a spiritual journey, completely to their surprise. But of course, one of the greatest highlights is the visit to Providenya and New Chaplino.
I will be honest, this year I did miss visiting some of the other sites in Russia that we have visited in the past. But the visit to Providenya and New Chaplino has always been the most important component. To have the tour of the bleak city, it gives such a fantastic backdrop to the people. There is such contrast - The remnants of Stalin and Lenin, the people struggling on the edge of a once-great empire. But then we move into the theatre. Guests are often confused by the theatre, surprisingly well appointed inside a building that is such desperate need of a coat of paint. (Could we provide that, perhaps?) And then the confusion melts away as the performance begins. It is touching, the cheering at the youngest of kids. Guests moved almost to tears by what they have seen. Guests bursting to tell them that this was the greatest ballet performance they had ever seen (this from a guest who had seen the Bolshoi, and declared the Providenya performance as the far more powerful).
This experience is then followed by the great adventure of driving to New Chaplino. The giant transports bouncing their way through the mountains. It is a journey that is not soon forgotten and is seen by some as unfortunately necessary, and by others as a a fun adventure but it is a journey that is seen by all as a small price to pay for the wonders of New Chaplino. Guests always comment on the warm welcome, the interest in seeing a native community in Russia and the interesting comparison of it to the Alaskan side. But the performance at the end is an incredible highlight...the best singing and dancing anywhere in my mind, and in many of theirs. But there is nothing that matches the power of being able to perform a dance for our hosts. With this current group of guests, we must have had over 50 of them dancing for our local hosts...all keen to show what they had learned from Jack Dalton.
The rest of the cruise honestly pales in comparison to the two days spent in Russia. For many of our well-traveled guests, they state this has been the most incredible period of travel they have experienced.
It is, of course, the southern portion of this cruise is where the majority of wildlife is seen. Ranging from the incredible bird life of the haystacks, the brown bears of Geographic Harbor. Usually by the end of the cruise, our guests have had the most incredible wildlife experiences of their lives and the most incredible cultural experiences of their lives as well. Not bad for 13 days at sea!
This is a wonderful...and I hope that someday we offer four departures in the Bering Sea, if not more. We are a part of something special up here. We are much loved by the communities we visit. If we continue visiting St. George, maybe the community will survive...and if we cease coming, maybe that will be the final nail in their coffin. "Cruise West, helping fragile communities survive." You can't beat having the only image of any kind in Providenya being an image of the Spirit of Oceanus taking up the entire end of a building...representing the fact that Providenya is the gateway to the Russian arctic...and we are depicted as. I think we set ourselves apart from all other companies in Alaska while we can still demonstrate an intent of visiting the smaller places, the harder places, and not just visiting, but 'being' in Alaska. I think this itinerary also acts as a 'Halo' product that demonstrates our commitment to Alaska. Why pick Cruise West over the competition? Because we have demonstrated the depth of our experience in Alaska by the fact that you can cruise Southeast, Southcentral, visit Denali Park and do the Bering Sea all with Cruise West. If we were to stop doing the Bering Sea, the depth of our involvement, knowledge and experience of all things Alaskan would no longer be immediately evident.
I know there are many people waiting for our swift return to their villages. Not just because we bring money, but also because they genuinely enjoy our visits. I equally know that there are many potential guests looking for the incredible experience that we can provide.
Posted by Alastair Newton on November 27, 2007
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November 21, 2007
Cruise West's Hot Crab Artichoke Dip
Happy Thanksgiving! This year, my assigned contribution for the family's Thanksgiving feast is to bring an appetizer. Once again, I turned to our fabulous chefs for advice. This recipe is always a hit with our guests and I think my family will enjoy it as well. If you need inspiration for your own Thanksgiving Day dinner, here's a great, easy to prepare dish. Be careful, though. It's so good that you're likely to eat so much that you forget to save room for the main meal!
HOT CRAB AND ARTICHOKE DIP
Servings: 12
INGREDIENTS:
2 ounces soft goat cheese
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups artichoke hearts, un-marinated, drained
6 ounces crab meat
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
2 ounces green onion, finely chopped
1 ounce fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 ounce lemon juice
1 pinch cayenne, or to taste
1 pinch lemon pepper seasoning, or to taste
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, or to taste
2 ounces parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
1/2 cup bread crumbs, more or less as needed
PROCEDURE:
Thoroughly blend the goat cheese and cream cheese together with all the seasoning until very smooth, no lumps. Fold in the crab meat and artichoke hearts, blend well. The artichoke hearts will break up, this is ok. Spread mixture evenly into a sprayed bake proof dish. Combine the parmesan cheese with the bread crumbs and evenly sprinkle over the dip.
Cover the dish loosely with foil and bake in 350 d. oven for approx. 30 minutes or until internal temperature of 165 degrees. Un-cover the dish for the last 5-10 minutes of baking to allow to brown nicely.
Serve warm with crostini's, sliced breads, crackers or cut pita bread.
Serving Ideas: Can also use bay shrimp or cooked, flaked salmon in this recipe.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 135 Calories; 9g Fat (62.8% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 39mg
Cholesterol; 250mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
This recipe has been electronically scaled down from 80+ servings. Some adjustments may be necessary.
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on November 21, 2007
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November 15, 2007
Photos of Chip's Alaska Cruises
We received the following letter from one of our Quyana Members, Chip Wright. Chip traveled on two of our Alaska cruises this summer and took over 3,400 photos. Wow! He's posted 400+ in his photo gallery on Web Shots. We hope that you enjoy them as much as we have. Thanks for sharing, Chip!
 Given the number of photographs and the difficulty of posting on your site, I chose WebShots (where I normally post my vacation photo's). These are public. They have had over 5,000 plus hits.
The photographs encompass both of our two cruises --- we were on the Spirit of Columbia for 4 nights and 5 days cruising Prince William Sound, and then on the Spirit of Discovery for 7 nights and 8 days cruising the Inside Passage. Both cruises were GREAT and both were different.
For the first "half" of our trip to Alaska, we flew into Anchorage on June 23; drove down to Seward, AK stopping at the Alaskan Zoo (rescue center), Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and the Seward SeaLife Aquarium on June 24; and on June 25 were bussed to Whittier, AK to start our 4 night, 5 day cruise on Prince William Sound, styled "Glacier Wonderland" by CruiseWest. CruiseWest operates small boats (compared to the big passenger liners) and Spirit of Columbia, our boat for this trip, carried only 78 passengers plus crew. 143 feet long with a really shallow draft, we were able to go places the larger ships could not.
Prince William Sound was wonderful and I'm afraid the photographs do not really do it justice. Incidentally, this "collection" is a selection from the 2,601 digital photographs Chip managed to take during these 6 days!
For the second "half", we came back into Anchorage for two nights and then flew to Juneau to start the Inside Passage cruise. Our ship was the Spirit of Discovery, carrying only 84 passengers plus crew. 166 feet long, a really shallow draft, and 3 DIBs (Durable Inflatable Boats --- like a Zodiac). It, like the Spirit of Columbia, could get into some really tight spots that larger vessels could not reach. These albums begin with our travel from Anchorage (rental car) to the Eagle River Wildlife Preserve and then on to Talkeetna (hoping to see Mt. McKinley, but we did not). On July 1 we flew to Juneau. Departure was on July 2 and the return was on July 9.
The Inside Passage was spectacular with abundant wildlife and scenic vistasalmost every moment.
The photographs are organized into multiple albums with the album name being the description of the photo subjects. The file name on the photograph represents the date and time (Alaskan Time) taken (year-month-day--hour-minutes-seconds). There are comments attached to some of the photographs, but not all. The Inside Passage photographs commence with Album numbered 20. Chip took a total of 3,435 photos on this leg of our trip, but was able to select 412 to include in the albums. Please don't feel compelled to look at them all. It was just progressively more and more difficult to choose one over the other given the ever-changing views.
There is also a combination video file at the end (Album 50) with selected video footage from the Inside Passage cruise.
View The Album Here
Thanks,
Chip
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on November 15, 2007
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November 10, 2007
Spirit of Nantucket Comments
We have been moved by the support and generosity of those involved with our Spirit of Nantucket incident this week. The comments below, from one of our Quyana Members, really sums up the week for us. We are so proud of our crew on the Spirit of Nantucket and want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to continue to care for our guests on this voyage. We also want to thank all of our guests who were onboard and who have been so positive and enthusiastic about their experience. The Spirit of Nantucket will be just fine and as soon as repairs are complete, she'll begin her positioning voyage south from Norfolk, through the Panama Canal and around to Seattle, where she'll be prepped for her new 2008 Alaska route: Glacier Bay Highlights.
We are happy 2-time veterans of your cruises (Alaska
Wilderness Waterways in 2005 and BC last month) and hope to cruise with
you again soon. We live in Virginia on a Chesapeake Bay Creek when we
aren't living aboard our boat. For the 2 few days, the local news
coverage of the Spirit of Nantucket has been huge.
First, our commiserations. We hope that the damage
isn't so bad that you cannot take her to Seattle soon, as we heard was
planned. Over the many years that we have travelled the ICW on our 5'
draft ketch when it was too bad to venture outside, we have had our
many encounters with snags and shoals despite constant watch keeping.
One hit resulted in no steering, a tow and haul out (guess that sounds
familiar to you!). In the section of your hit we have been scared
various times by depth finder blips. Thus, we are obviously in awe
that helmsmen could take boats of your size and draft through such
shoal and snag ridden channels. We are sorry that it was your company
that hit something bad. It was inevitable that someone would. We are
sure that your crew did nothing wrong!
Next, our congratulations. Unlike us, when you have
trouble the whole world knows it! When we first heard the news, we
worried that the media would find some way to tar your company. Yes, it
has been a feeding frenzy for the Norfolk press, but we have the
impression that Cruise West is coming though as a wonderful company
that deserves peoples' business. The coverage has been long and
tedious, but laced with many, many positive comments from your
passengers and even the Coast Guard about how your crew handled the
passenger evacuation. Today we watched reporters standing outside the
Hilton showing pictures of the hotel and bus with repeated comments of
how luxurious the accommodations are and how contented your passengers
are. One station even showed the "luxurious" inside of the bus!
We are proud of you, Cruise West! Hope that the good
press continues and that you get her off soon with minimal damage and
cost!
Marjorie and Bill Goettle
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on November 10, 2007
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November 05, 2007
Alaska's Inside Passage Cruise Video
One of our Quyana Members, Nancy Bodem, posted a wonderful video on YouTube. Nancy traveled on our Alaska's Inside Passage cruise aboard the Spirit of Yorktown. She and her family also visited Denali Park and North Face Lodge before their cruise. This is a very fun video that encapulates their journey. Enjoy!
Posted by Leigh Strinsky on November 05, 2007
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