Video Diary of an Alaska Cruise on American Cruise Lines
Please also listen to Pam’s Travel Bistro ‘Alaskan Explorer’ Podcast
Alaska, a cruise favorite for decades, continues to grow in popularity. This year, it’s projected that 65 cruise ships and 1.7 million passengers are set to visit our 49th state, after a record-breaking 2025. Most of those ships will carry thousands of guests, but on the other end of the spectrum is American Cruise Lines.
Last year, we experienced what it was like to see Alaska on American Constellation, with a guest capacity of 175, and the difference between going on a large ship and small was extraordinary. Besides having access to smaller ports, you feel a more personal connection with the culture and the natural beauty that Alaska offers.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so it stands to reason a video speaks volumes. Here are some of the highlights from American’s “Alaska Explorer” cruise on American Constellation:
Kayaking on Chilkoot Lake at Haines, AK
Haines is a town of less than 2,000 people set against the backdrop of the majestic, snow-capped Chilkat Range mountains. Known as one of the key gateways to the Klondike gold fields, as well as a Tlingit trading post, Pam and I are going on the “Chilkoot Lake Wildlife Kayak Adventure” excursion.
We load into our guide’s Jeep and drive along Chikoot Lake State Park and the Chikoot River, where the Sockeye Salmon are currently running. Lake Chilkoot is a stunning, turquoise lake ringed by mountains and waterfalls. The guide and his assistant outfit us in the proper attire for kayaking, and after some safety instructions,
Pam and I ease our dual-person kayak into the lake waters. We are by no mean experts at kayaking, but on this serene lake, you don’t have to be. Several times we stopped paddling and just enjoyed the beauty and quiet of the moment.
The Inside Passage
One of Alaska’s gems is the Inside Passage to Glacier Bay National Park. Surrounded by the Fairweather Mountain Range, we’ll cruise 60 miles into Glacier Bay as only a small ship like American Constellation can. Along the way we’ll see wildlife, ice floes, waterfalls and of course, glaciers.
Bartlett Cove
Bartlett Cove is considered the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Here at Glacier Bay Lodge we hiked the Forest Trail, a one-mile, self-guided loop through a rainforest of spruce and hemlock. Hiking in Alaska is akin to a spiritual experience — just you in the quiet surroundings of a primeval forest, feeling at one with Nature at a moment in time.
Sitka
In Sitka, one of our stops was the Fortress of the Bears in the Tongass forest, “an educational sanctuary providing lifelong protection and enriching care to bears orphaned as cubs.” We watch from a viewing platform while they feed one of the bears.
Frederick Sound
On a day of cruising Alaska’s Inside Passage and Frederick Sound, ever watchful for whales and other wildlife, we are surrounded by the beauty the Alaskan wilderness, gliding past deep green shorelines almost close enough to touch.
Petersburg
This town on Mitkof Island is known as “Little Norway.” Here, we’ll board a float plane and see LeConte Glacier from the air during the “LeConte Glacier Flightseeing Experience.” There are six of us, plus the pilot, and from the co-pilot’s seat, the view flying between the Fjord’s granite walls was amazing.
In the afternoon we take the “LeConte Glacier Jet Boat Adventure” for a close look at the southernmost tidewater glacier in the Northern Hemisphere. We’ll enter a narrow Fjord and pass large chunks of ice that have broken off from the glacier. Along the way, we’ll see sea lions, whales, seals and maybe even a mountain goat or two. The scenery, including the myriad waterfalls coming off the cliffs, is stunning. And by luck or chance, I captured the moment of an iceberg calving off the glacier.
Wrangell
Wrangell is a former Russian trading post established in 1834, where you can see ancient rock carvings by the Tlingit people at Petroglyph Beach. While here, we’ll take a jet boat ride on the Stikine River, North America’s fastest free-flowing navigable river, and see the “Wild Bears of Anan.” At the Anan Wildlife Observatory on the Anan Creek in the Tongass National Forest, we’ll watch bears going after salmon.
Tracey Arm Fjord
Famed naturalist John Muir once described Tracy Arm Fjord as a “a wild, unfinished Yosemite … shut in by sublime cliffs, nobly sculptured.” That hardly does justice to the sheer beauty of the 25-mile cruise into Tracy Arm Fjord.
Moving slowly through the calm waters, ice floes pass on both sides. Waterfalls cascade down granite cliffs and we are surrounded by snow-capped peaks. Navigating the Inside Passage on a small ship like American Constellation is truly magical.
For more sights and sounds, please visit Gerry Barker’s detailed Alaska travel log on North Palm Beach Life: American Constellation in Alaska: Discovering Its Unspoiled Beauty on a Small Ship Is Magical.
