Epic Alaska (2023)

I’ve wanted to go to Alaska since 2019. I figured the easiest way to experience some of it was a cruise so that was my initial plan. The trouble is Denali National Park always sits out there in the big wide yonder and it always felt odd touching the edges without seeing it.

I figured if you’re going to Alaska you should maybe do it as big as the state?

Note: Please note this post was edited on 4th December 2023 to better represent some refinement to the itinerary (a reduction in time spent in each location).

My Comfort Crises

I’ve talked about my comfort crises before, which was inspired by a book I read on my first cruise in 2022. I’ve done quite well at tackling the first half of the comfort crises which involved tackling what I eat, managing my time better and working on my fitness again.

I probably owe a weekly blog on how that is going.

This is about the second half of the comfort crisis. How the pandemic just seems to have made me less bold, specifically in relation to travel. I was on a bolder and more exciting travel journey since my divorce and through to 2019 and then the world was put on hold.

The trouble is now we can travel I’ve not returned to it. I tell myself it’s because 2022 had all sorts of complications around air travel, which was certainly true in the first half of the year, so I compensated with cruises I liked but it’s a very comfortable form of travel.

I’m trying to commit to shaking that up in 2023.

A Cruise to Alaska

Once I’d been on my cruise to the Mexico Riviera in 2019 I instantly pinned Alaska as my next cruise. The plan was simply to do it on the Norwegian Bliss. A cruise out of Seattle and back. I nearly did it in 2019 as I found a really good last minute price but it would have been end of the season and I couldn’t get prices to Seattle that weren’t completely extortionate.

Then the pandemic closed everything down for two years.

The hassle over cruise protocols, Canada locking down cruises for longer and the risks of air travel have meant it’s been something in the back of my mind throughout 2022. This has given me time to think and see other options.

That’s the question that has haunted me once my easy access to a Norwegian Bliss Alaska cruise was taken away for 2-3 years by lockdowns or by my own approach to travel.

At some point, I decided I didn’t just want to do a cruise. How could you go all that way north and not visit Denali?

Going big on Alaska

The first break was I discovered NCL cruises that were not circular. They went from Seward to Vancouver in both directions. This meant I could fly one way and cruise the other. This would allow me to get the best of both worlds as there are some parts of Alaska were a cruise is the best way to do it.

It took a bit of research but I focused on: –

• Using the cruise as a fixed point in time
• Figure out the best flights in
• Lockdown key Denali hotel availability
• Eye up the prices for the Alaskan railway

I figured I’m probably safe finding hotels in places like Vancouver, Seattle, Anchorage or Seward depending on what I need. Sometimes you just can’t look at everything at once.

A few things became apparent as I did this: –

• Seattle has high flight costs
• I’d like to see Vancouver
• Flying out of Alaska is a minor pain
• Air Canada seems to be the best option

The flight component got me thinking: why not just cruise in and out?

What the plan is

The current high level plan looks like the below: –

• Fly from London to Vancouver
• Cruise in on the NCL Jewel to Seward
• Spend a week doing: –
  • Seward
  • Anchorage
  • Talkeetna
  • Denali
• Use the Alaska Railway to get back to Anchorage
• Fly from Anchorage home (with some time in Vancouver)

The cruise gets me to these ports of call: –

• Ketchikan
• Juneau
• Skagway
• Glacier Bay
• Cruise Hubbard Glacier
• Cruising the inward passage
• Seward

The journey up removes a multi-part flight trip in one direction. I’ve also managed to book all the flights as one multi-stop booking with one provider which reduces risk should things go wrong.

I can get this to two weeks if I do what seems to be popular in Alaska and not spend too many nights at spots along the journey but use them to soak up the experience and do the odd excursion while you are in continuous motion – the exception being two nights at Delani.

I think I may have reached the tipping point of this being a thing!

Relaxation, scenery a bit of adventure

What’s interesting about this trip is how relaxing it is. I always imagined a trip to Alaska being endless hikes like it was in Canada. This was awesome and it would have been awesome but when you look at it there is a relaxing cruise (subject to excursion choices), the travel east is relaxing and the train journey back is relaxing the crazier part depends on excursions but even they tend not to be strenuously mad like flying through the mountain range

I like that.

It may fall apart

The trouble with reaching the psychological tipping point is it now becomes an exercise in worrying some of the risks will take the decision away: –

• Flights, cruises or critical hotels become unavailable
• The cost of one or more elements shoots up
• Underlying things like booking vacation time at work

All this could easily happen. It provides a nice buffer so I don’t do anything rash, but losing it would be equally as annoying.

And, Finally…

I now sit on the edge of something big happening in 2023 or it all collapsing due to me having a moment to change my mind or the choice being taken away. I do have a feeling it’s going to happen if I can lock it down early next week. I suspect if it goes much into next year prices might change and it could all fall apart.