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New liners, smaller ships add to cruise options
By STANTON H. PATTY
Both Holland America Line and Princess Cruises, the major competitors in the region, will bring their newest liners to Alaska. Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises will add more luxury rail cars and buses for sightseeing through Alaska's interior. And ashore, new products ranging from fly-fishing and golf packages to birding tours and salmon bakes will be ready for visitors. Ten cruise lines will place 25 ships in Alaska for the May-to-September season: More vessels than last year and more passenger capacity than last year, when cruise ships carried about 650,000 passengers. That number is almost half of Alaska's visitor total. Meanwhile, small-ship operators continue to carve a wider niche in the market. They will deploy almost as many vessels this year as the major companies. And all nine of the state's seagoing ferries -- collectively, the Alaska Marine Highway -- will be working. Twice-weekly sailings are planned between Bellingham, Wash., and southeastern Alaska. Ports along the way include Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, Haines, Wrangell and Petersburg. There also will be service between Prince Rupert, B.C., and southeastern Alaska. Several of the cruise lines already are advertising early-booking discounts. Deeper discounts could follow, if the companies see a need to fill empty berths closer to the season. "We could have a fantastic Alaska season, but we're not taking it for granted," says Dean Brown, executive vice president of sales and customer service for Princess Cruises. Alaska's natural wonders and Alaskans' reputation for snug hospitality will appeal to visitors who may be hesitant about traveling, following the attacks on Sept. 11, Brown said. Princess is going ahead with plans to open its newest lodge -- the $10-million Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge -- in May. The 83-room lodge is on the edge of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (America's largest) in Alaska's heartland. Copper River-bound passengers will leave Princess ships at Seward, cross Princess William Sound to Valdez by fast catamaran from the port of Whittier, then travel by motorcoach to the new lodge. From Copper River, travelers can choose to continue to Dawson City in Canada's neighboring Yukon Territory and on to Fairbanks and Denali National Park. Holland America and Princess each will send six liners to Alaska this season. Holland America's new flagship, the 1,380-passenger Amsterdam, was scheduled for Europe cruises before the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead, says David A. Giersdorf, Holland America's senior vice president of marketing and sales, the Amsterdam will cruise Alaska, making 19 round trips from Seattle through the fiords of Alaska's Inside Passage, plus a call at Victoria, B.C. Most of the cruise lines serving Alaska use Vancouver, B.C., as a base in the summer season. Seattle, says Giersdorf, has the advantage of being easily accessible by short domestic flights, rail, motorcoach and family vehicles from major population centers in the West. Competing on land and afloatPrincess Cruises also is redeploying several of its liners for closer-to-home cruising in Alaska, Mexico and Canada. The shuffle brings the new 2,600-passenger Star Princess to Alaska. This ship boasts a 24-hour bistro, a nine-hole putting green and a swim-against-the current lap pool. Princess also has announced that the 1,950-passenger Regal Princess will be positioned for a series of 10-day, roundtrip voyages between San Francisco and southeastern Alaska. Other Princess liners will be based in Vancouver.
Princess and Holland America for several years have been attaching their luxury cars to the state-owned Alaska Railroad. The fancy dome cars, with onboard restaurants, travel between Anchorage, Denali National Park and Fairbanks. Holland America calls its set of rail cars the McKinley Explorer. Princess cars are named the Midnight Sun Express. This season, Royal Caribbean International will be on the Alaska rails with its Wilderness Express. All of the cruise lines' private cars tag along behind the Alaska Railroad's own cars, which are priced for budget-minded passengers. Seattle-based Cruise West is the leader in the small-ships category, with seven vessels scheduled for Alaska cruises this year. These ships have passenger capacities between 78 and 114. Cruise West's new flagship, the 114-passenger Spirit of Oceanus, is booked for adventurous itineraries -- to the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, close-to-Siberia Little Diomede Island and other remote places. The big ships will be cruising Alaska on two main routes. Some of the vessels will cruise only in southeastern Alaska's Inside Passage. Glacier Bay National Park is the highlight for most of those trips. Other liners will sample the Inside Passage, then sail across the Gulf of Alaska to Seward, in south-central Alaska. Seward is a gateway, by highway and rail, to Anchorage and Alaska's interior. Officials of Alaska's modern ferry system -- the Alaska Marine Highway -- say that while most cabins for this summer season already are reserved, it is worth checking for cancellations. Best bets for late bookings are for voyages in May and September. Most of the state ferries travel the "main line" through southeastern Alaska from either Bellingham or Prince Rupert, B.C. A second ferry network serves the Prince William Sound communities of Whittier, Valdez and Cordova. In addition, there are occasional sailings westward to Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. Beginning in June, northbound ferry departures from Bellingham are planned Tuesdays aboard the ferry Matanuska and Fridays aboard the Columbia. The ferries Taku and Kennicott will provide "main line" service from Prince Rupert, with departures four or five times a week, depending on tides. Kennicott also is scheduled for monthly voyages from Juneau that will cross the Gulf of Alaska to Valdez and Seward. Departures from Juneau are set for May 14, June 25, July 23, Aug. 27 and Sept. 17. Travelers are able to connect at Valdez with the Richardson Highway to reach Alaska's interior. The Seward Highway leads north from Seward to Anchorage. * * * -- Stanton H. Patty, born and reared in Alaska, is the retired assistant travel editor of the Seattle Times. Major cruise lines in Alaskan watersCarnival Cruise Line: one ship; toll-free 1-800-438-6744; Web site www.carnival.com Celebrity Cruises: three ships; toll-free 1-800-437-3111; www.celebrity-cruises.com Crystal Cruises: one ship; toll-free 1-800-820-6663; www.crystalcruises.com Holland America Line: six ships; toll-free 1-800-426-0327; www.hollandamerica.com Norwegian Cruise Line: two ships, toll-free 1-800-327-7030; www.ncl.com Princess Cruises: six ships; toll-free 1-800-421-5522; www.princess.com Radisson Seven Seas Cruises: one ship; toll-free 1-800-285-1835; www.rssc.com Royal Caribbean International: three ships; toll-free 1-800-327-6700; www.rccl.com Seabourn Cruise Line: one ship; toll-free 1-800-929-9391; www.seabourn.com World Explorer Cruises: one ship; toll-free 1-800-854-3835; www.wecruise.com Smaller cruise shipsCruise West: seven ships; toll-free 1-800-426-7702; www.cruisewest.com Glacier Bay Cruise Line: three ships; toll-free 1-800-451-5952; www.glacierbaycruiseline.com Clipper Cruise Line: two ships; toll-free 1-800-325-0010; www.clippercruise.com Society Expeditions: one ship; toll-free 1-800-548-8669; www.societyexpeditions.com Lindblad Expeditions: two ships; toll-free 1-800-397-3348; www.expeditions.com American Safari Cruises: three ships; toll-free 1-888-862-8881; www.amsafari.com Alaska state ferriesAlaska Marine Highway System: nine ships; toll-free 1-800-642-0066; www.alaska.gov/ferry
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