Join us on an NCL 16-day cruise to Hawaii and Alaska. Today we visit Icy Strait Point and Glacier Bay National Park. Come find out more about our adventures in Alaska. In case you missed it, I’ll post a link to the Hawaii article at the end of this article.
The Ice Strait lies north of the famous Inside Passage, which cuts through the Alexander Islands in southeastern Alaska. An ice strait separates Chichagof Island to the south and mainland Alaska to the north. 60 miles west of Cross Sound, the entrance to the Gulf of Alaska. Surrounded by towering rainforest and the abundant waters of Port Frederick and the Ice Channel. Icy Strait Point is a destination that offers unparalleled access to adventure, wilderness, wildlife and genuine Tlingit hospitality. (borrowed from NCL Freestyle Daily)
We spent 5 days at sea before arriving in Alaska and took this beautiful photo from the deck of our ship the night before we arrived in our first port of call.
Icy Strait Point/Hoonah, Alaska
Our first stop in Alaska was Icy Strait Point, the entry point into Alaska, with rugged snow-capped mountains in the background and beautiful waters home to humpback whales. We had booked a whale watching tour at this stop and were looking forward to it. I didn’t book an Alaska tour on board, but I actually didn’t know until I was on board and saw the information. My travel agent sent me a booking link, so I thought I had booked through the ship, but it wasn’t. But it all worked out in the end. I think I probably saved some money by booking something other than a ship shore excursion.
The beautiful blue waters against the backdrop of rugged snow-capped mountains made our first visit to Alaska memorable.
It was a thrill when I went there for the first time.
We left the ship and headed to meet a small boat that would take us whale watching.
Free gondola ride to the small village of Icy Strait Point.
We walked along the beautiful promenade and marveled at the views that unfolded before our eyes. I really like this killer whale statue. They said the whale we saw was a humpback whale, but I couldn’t tell the difference.
I really enjoyed my walk in this small village.
The wharf here has several shops and restaurants catering to tourists.
It didn’t take long to explore here, but it was fun to see everything.
We headed to the boat which was nice as there were only about 8 people on the whale watching tour. We saw another larger boat with people on the bunk and thought we were lucky to be on such a small boat.
The boat driver said he stays there from April to October during the tourist season and runs whale watching tours. We asked him many questions.
We all had our eye on whales and saw lots of them. The jet of water was so beautiful.
There is a big boat with everyone on it. I think it was a pleasure boat, so I’m glad I got on the smaller one, it was a coincidence.
The weather was not too bad, the temperature was 40-50 degrees. We layered on fleece jackets, sweaters and rain jackets, but it never got too cold. I also put the mittens I wore when I went to Alaska inside. Mark didn’t wear his hat so I bought an Alaskan stocking cap when we arrived. And glad he bought it.
NCL Spirit docked and waiting for our return.
We spent about 2 hours on the whale watching boat and had a great time. We all had the pleasure of seeing many whales that day, along with otters and many birds.
The scenery was amazing and it was exactly what I imagined Alaska to be.
We shot some videos of whales and were able to get this shot from the whale story video.
The blowhole was fun to watch.
Rugged and beautiful Alaska!
We were told that we arrived at perfect time as the whales were just moving in our direction.
We disembarked at the town of Hoona, the main town in the area.
After a short walk, we returned to the ship.
A ship has always been a welcoming place at the end of a journey. Our second home during those days.
We enjoyed our first day in Alaska and looked forward to the next day when it took us to Glacier Bay National Park. It was really fun.
I took a beautiful Alaskan sunset from the ship.
It was a beautiful place as we left the docks that day.
And this shot after the sun had set was stunningly beautiful with the moon shining on the water.
Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Your next stop is Glacier Bay National Park. No one left the ship that day, so we knew we were in for a treat. The ship went on for miles into Glacier Bay National Park and we soaked up all the beauty from the ship. They set us up on a loudspeaker and told us that a few park rangers would be on board to explain what we were seeing.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve was designated a national monument in 1925. In 1980 the area became a national park and reserve, with 3.3 million acres designated as nature reserves. The park became a biosphere reserve in his 1986 and a World Heritage Site in 1992. The park occupies the northernmost tip of the southeastern Alaska coastline, between the Gulf of Alaska and Canada. The Canadian-U.S. border is approached within 24 miles of the sea in the St. He Elias Mountains at the park’s highest peak, Mount Fairweather at 4,300 feet. (borrowed from NCL Freestyle Daily)
We started our tour from our balcony. It was quite cold outside, so we went in and out while going through the snowy mountains and enjoyed it all. They even had a TV show on what the park rangers were doing so we could hear everything.
Of course I had to take pictures to remember this trip forever.
It was really nice, very icy and rugged.
Glacier Bay has a lot of glaciers and it was really amazing to see them.
Once at the back of the bay, we went up to the top deck for the most amazing views imaginable.
My photo doesn’t do it justice, but I hope you get the idea. it is really amazing!
The park rangers did a great job of telling us about the bay and the glacier. What an experience this was!
We kept taking selfies, we just had to.
There are glaciers.
The top deck was surprisingly warm, not cold at all. The ship was parked and there was no wind at this time.
Seeing the blue ice in the glacier was so mesmerizing. splendid!
At the end of the day, we watched the park rangers disembark to take them home. It was a very enjoyable day on board and we thoroughly enjoyed this day of excursion. It was a lot of fun to see these new sights.
As I mentioned earlier, we are more Hawaiian than Alaskan, so we had a lot of fun seeing Alaska, but would choose to go back to Hawaii to explore more.
If you missed my post on cruises, catch up here.
Cruising on the NCL Spirit
NCL Cruises: Hawaii Port {Kona & Kauai}
NCL Cruises: Hawaii Port {Maui & Hilo}
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