Alaska in May

I can't say that we regret the cruise, or how we did it, because we intended to have family time with our brother and his wife, we were celebrating her 50th birthday, and letting her choose was part of that. She wanted to go to Alaska, and since the earliest cruise is the least expensive, that's the one they picked. That is okay. I just can't recommend it.


The big problem is that it was too early to see any animals. A lot of them were probably still hibernating. We saw a few bald eagles, and several freakishly large crows, and some people who went on the chartered boat saw otters, but really, there is so much more that should have been visible. I want to see bears and caribou and moose and porcupines, and we saw nothing. Well, there were the two dogs, but it's not the same.


We might have seen more animals in Tracy Arm, but apparently we were in the lower part, and you have bigger chunks of ice with more animals in the upper part, and your cruise will not necessarily get into the upper part, so that is something that it is valuable to check. We had no idea about this before.

I have to say it was beautiful, pretty much everywhere we looked. Of course, as Oregonians we are accustomed to clouds and gray and rain, and we do find it beautiful, so that helped, and maybe that would not work for anyone. If your idea of cruising is fun in the sun, then an Alaska cruise would not be ideal, especially early in the year. It was kind of interesting seeing blankets next to towels by the pool, and there was an indoor pool, but if you want to soak up the rays in a bikini, you should be looking at Mexico or the Caribbean.

We do still want to see more of Alaska at one point, and we know what we are going to have to do. We will have to fly into some coastal city where we can go out whale and otter watching, and then go into Denali for the land animals. It looks like Anchorage is the most logical point for this, but we haven't really researched it much yet. We will need to figure out our best points, and also the best time of year. That means not only that animals are out, but also that it is not mosquito season, and if there is a chance to view the Northern lights, all the better.

This will not be a cheap option, but we have time to think about it, because there are many other places to go. Look, if we ever go to Churchill for polar bears, that will be expensive too, but that's okay. We have a long list, and at least with polar bears, our zoo has them. We have some options.