Avid Cruiser Blog Moved

Avid Cruiser's new site is at http://www.avidcruiser.com

You won't find this tour on the big ships. We walk to the old Western-style movie set of "White Fang" for a visit to the Haines Brewing Company.

Intro at Sitka

Helen on why she chose a small ship

Cruise West passenger talks about the shore excursions she's done.

Intro from me at Glacier Bay National Park

Gloria tried the big ships, but did not like them. She decided she did not want to go on another cruise - until her husband found this one.

Whale watching in Frederick Sound.

Group photo in front of Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park.

On Cruise West's small ships, the captain greets embarking passengers personally.

National Park Service Ranger Melanie Heacox reommended that her cousin Bess choose Cruise West for the best Alaska cruise experience.

National Park Rangers aren't supposed to have favorite ships, says Melanie Heacox, but she does: Spirit of Endeavour.

The making of our group photo for the nine of us who were on the cruisetour illustrates just how close people become on Cruise West's small ships.

Interview with Deborah about whales and Spririt of Endeavour's Baja cruises.

Narrating on Cruise West Spirit of Endeavour in Glacier Bay National Park, native Tlingit speaker John Martin recites a passage in his ancestoral language. Martin, who spends the day and evening with Cruise West passengers, is one of only 12 fluent speakers of the Tlingit language.

An "up close and personal" look at the marine life in Glacier Bay National Park.

Mark Gnadt tells us if you want to spend time in Juneau before or after your cruise, you must cruise on Cruise West. That's because Cruise West is the only cruise line that starts and ends cruises in the Alaskan capital.

Sydney, Australia cruise seller Sue Glatz says her clients travel from one end of the globe to the other to experience Cruise West's "up close, casual and personal" Alaska.

Kathleen Klynstra updates us on Arctic tours from Fairbanks.

Susan Adams of Denali Foundation narrates as we look out over the fall foliage in Denali.

Cruise West guests on all Denali cruisetours enjoy an exclusive presentation by the Denali Foundation. Speaker Susan Adams gives us a glimpse the what she presents and tells us more about one of America's greatest national parks.

Susan Adams of the Denali Foundation discusses September being a great time of year to see Denali.

He's been on top of Denali five times and plans to summit North America's tallest mountain again - ambitious, he admits, seeing that he is 72 years old. Tom Choate talks about the mountain he loves.

A quick glimpse of some of the art at the Museum of the North. Situated at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, the museum is visited on many Cruise West cruisetours.

Thomas Newman discusses how Cruise West operates its Cruisetours to give guests memorable experiences.

In 1946, a young man just back from piloting the Hump between India and China in World War II was serving as a bush pilot in Alaska. As Chuck West flew over some of the most spectacular terrain on earth, his dream was born. He dreamed of sharing these wonders with the rest of the world. Today, Cruise West staff shares that same spirit to share the wonder of beautiful destinations with guests.

Our cruisetour had only nine people. For the summer of '06, Cruise West cruisetour groups averaged only 17. The small numbers make for an up close and personal experience.

Only 25 percent of the people who come to Alaska to see Denali get to see it. But you can improve your chances. If the weather down below is lousy, take to the sky on a fly-by Denali flight.

Lots of opportunities to learn more about Denali and to get out an experience the National Park.

From moose to porcupine to caribou to eagles, Cruise West guests saw lots of wildlife in Denali.

On a Cruise West "D Tour" we go deep into Denali, 90 miles from the National Park's Entrance and up close and personal to Denali itself. Want to get away while getting close? Take a look.

Caution: Video may cause motion sickness! Although the train did not. The rails were mostly smooth but the slight movement made it hard to hold my camera steady. But if you want to get a taste of what rail travel in Alaska is all about, take a look. On a beautiful September day, we saw Denali several times and marveled at the trestle over Hurriane Gulch, 400 feet above ground!

We begin our journey on a Cruise West cruisetour before our cruise.

The weather could not have been better during our September fly-by of Denali.

We leave the depot in Denali for a seven-hour scenic journey to Anchorage.

First woman to finish the Idatirod, Mary Shields leads our Cruise West group in howling to her huskies and hoping for a response.

I met Rick and Debbie Farr on a flight from Seattle. We were headed to Fairbanks to begin two separate cruisetours, in this case, five-day land tours that would take us to Fairbanks, Denali National Park and Anchorage. The Denton, Texas couple told me they were traveling with one of the large ship cruise lines but wished they were traveling on a small ship. "I don't care if the ship has a climbing wall, five swimming pools and a shopping mall," Debbie said. "I want to make the most of the location we're going to, and it sounds like a small ship would really fit what we are looking for in a cruise." The Farrs and I have promised to compare notes at the end of our trips.

Mary loves to share the experience of the thing she loves most: her team of big waggly huskies. Our small group was able to get up close and personal with the dogs as Mary told us about the husky breed and about some of her training techniques.

From Fairbanks, it's only a five-mile drive to see Mary Shields on a tour that carries her name. In 1973, Mary became the first woman to finish the 1,049-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race. She lives in a modern log cabin that she and her former husband built. There, she tends to her garden and to her team of huskies. When the first snow blankets the ground in the fall, Mary still mushes her dog (no sled racer actually says "mush!" to start their dogs, Mary told us. The word comes from the French "marchez," which means "to advance." Mush is a verb that means to go on a journey with a dogsled, not a command to start the dogs.)
Mary told us she moved to Alaska more than 40 years ago, inspired by Henry David Thoreau's classic lines in his book, Walden: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essentail facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."