2017 - June 10th-11th-12th - The Star Princess - Anchorage (Whittier), Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park

We rode our motor coach for the hour and a half journey from Cooper Landing's Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge to Whittier where our ship The Star Princess awaited our arrival in dock. Nestled between glaciers and lush mountains, Whittier is the gateway to Prince William Sound. This seaside town is home to just a few hundred people, yet sees thousands of visitors every year!

The only way to get to Whittier by land is through the one-lane Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. In 1941, the U.S. Army began construction of the railroad from Whittier to Portage. This line became Alaska's main supply link for the war effort. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel (often referred to simply as the Whittier Tunnel) is a multi-use highway and railroad tunnel that passes under Maynard Mountain. At 2.5 miles it is the second-longest highway tunnel and longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America and the first designed for -40 Fahrenheit temperatures and 150 mph winds! The one-lane tunnel must be shared by cars and trains traveling in both directions, and it usually needs to be aired out in between trips (with jet turbine ventilation, another first!). This unique design that enables a single lane of traffic to travel directly over the railroad track saved tens of millions of dollars over the cost of constructing a new tunnel. The tunnel is designed with a single highway lane. The floor of the tunnel is constructed of concrete with the railroad tracks sunken slightly below the road surface. The interior is exposed rock, and contains several "safe-houses", which are small buildings that are used in case of severe earthquakes, vehicle fires, or other emergencies. Because eastbound traffic, westbound traffic, and the Alaska Railroad must share the tunnel, rail and road traffic are coordinated by two sophisticated computer-based systems: the Tunnel Control System and the Train Signal System. These systems that control the timing of vehicles entering the tunnel, spacing them for safety, and lower railroad gates when a train is approaching. The tunnel's entrance portals are designed in an A-shape, with a large, train-sized "garage door", which allows traffic in and out of the tunnel. The entrance portals are designed to withstand the force of an avalanche. The staging areas on either side of the tunnel can accommodate as many as 450 vehicles waiting to pass through.

Emerging from the tunnel, we set our eyes on our Star Princess ship which will be our home for the next week. We checked in through the terminal where we boarded the Star Princess.

Mary Anne and I chose a balcony stateroom for our voyage ... Pam and Fred decided on the larger balcony mini-suite stateroom to cruise the Alaskan waters ...

The center of the ship's Atrium, spanning three floors, had beautiful oversize tapestries hanging. The pictures do not show it, but there was gold thread in each of the tapestries depicting the gold in the streams, miner's pans, and mountains. They were gorgeous and the pictures do not give them their justice!

This cruise takes us cruising Prince William Sound, Glacier Bay inside of Glacier National Park, and down the Gulf of Alaska with three ports before docking for debarking in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This blog post will encompass all of those "days at sea" and the ship. No matter where we were, we had spectacular views from our balconies.

Throughout the cruise, we enjoyed great food, including beautiful and elegant desserts.

When we booked our trip, the special was the drink package was included. So all of our drinks, alcohol, soft-drinks, and specialty coffees were free of charge. Whether it be a Bloody Mary or another mixed drink, White Zinfandel, Chardonnay or a fine Red wine, a coffee latte, cappuccino or mocha or espresso, a diet coke or a specialty drink of the day, we enjoyed our "sip and sail" cruise! And we had two "formal" nights for the Captain's galas.

We enjoyed the decorations on the ship, especially these baked bread dough creations of birds in a cage and a Raven on a tree ..

We attended a Galley presentation and then a tour of the Galley where these fruit and vegetable creations were on display ... On departure from Whittier, the Star Princess sailed the waters of the Passage Canal. Overnight we navigated Well's Passage, transit Prince William Sound and headed out into the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska via Cape Hinchinbrook. On our first afternoon after sailing across the Gulf of Alaska, we entered Yakutat Bay. Hubbard Glacier is a tidewater glacier off the coast of Yakuta, 200 miles northwest of Juneau. Hubbard is certainly gigantic … it is more than six miles wide where it meets the ocean. The face is up to 400 feet tall, and icebergs 3 to 4 stories in height aren’t uncommon. Most of that ice is below water, but the ice can be so thick that cruise ships can’t get too close.

We cruised through the pristine waters of the Gulf of Alaska for the rest of the day on Sunday and on Monday headed our way to Glacier National Park. We passed by Cape Spencer and entered the waters of Alaska's Inside Passage. The Star Princess transits Icy Straits towards Glacier Bay affording us those wonderful views that will always be deeply ingrained in our memories.

Glacier Bay is one of the world's most breathtaking destinations. Whether on our balconies, the deck, or at a window table inside the ship, we absorbed all of this glorious nature. We reached Margerie Glacier which soars forty stories and stretches over a mile wide on the water front. We see large chunks of ice which the Rangers aboard the ship tell us are icebergs. For every 1/8th of the exposed iceberg there is another 7/8ths below the water. The larger icebergs, which we see several, but others out of sight from the ships are reported to be where many seals give birth to their young. There are also just hundreds of what are called berg-bites in the waters of the Glacier Bay. With the icebergs and berg-bites, navigation through the waters can get tricky. All of the berg-bites and icebergs prevent the ships from getting real close to shore and the giant glaciers. Margerie Glacier is really large or really justifiably huge and continues back into the mountain range for 21 miles. The sunlight hitting the crevasses of the ice reflect the beautiful turquoise blue color given off from the glacier. There was some small calving happening as we were in Margerie's waters, but no huge pieces of the glacier falling off and into the waters below.

The photo album has many more pictures of Margerie Glacier and other spots in the area. It seems that we just wanted to keep taking pictures of the marvel of what we we were seeing! We just really enjoyed all that we saw! The National Park Rangers that were aboard were at the microphone and broadcasting throughout the ship all of the grandeur as we cruised these days at sea. There were so many facts that they gave, a book would have to be written to give them the credit they deserve. The best way to get all of this information and see the sights is to take an Alaskan Cruise! They even brought aboard some dog sledding puppies to share with us. To see all of the captioned pictures of the ship and our days at sea, click this link. Coming up is three days of ports and then our debarkation and day in Vancouver. Stay tuned ....