JUNEAU has it all

The Beautiful Stained Glass Window at the Juneau Public Libary

By Carol watts Alaska Expert


If you have been reading this column for the past several years, you know that Alaska is one of our favorite destinations. Also that cruising is our preferred method of travel. And while cruising is one of the best ways to see Alaska's scenery, I understand that it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

So if you are thinking of going to Alaska and doing an independent vacation, Juneau has it all. By that I mean that everything people go to Alaska to see can be found in and around Juneau. Of course, that means flying, since there are no roads connecting Juneau to the “outside”, the word used by native Alaskans to mean any place other than their state.

Most travelers want to go to Alaska to see 3 things: mountains, wildlife, and glaciers. Juneau provides opportunities to see all these, and much more. Juneau is Alaska's largest city land wise, with an area of 2,716.7 sq. miles, and an elevation of just 5 ft. Jet service from Seattle, Anchorage, and many other southeast Alaska towns is available from Alaska Airlines. Or you can arrive via the Alaska Marine Highway System, the ferry. A word of warning about the weather. Torrential rain may result in canceled flights and rotten visibility. A relaxed attitude, flexible itinerary, and trip-cancellation insurance are recommended.

As Alaska's capital city, Juneau offers museums, fine dining, and shopping, in addition to sightseeing and activities. Juneau is the gateway for small board cruises of Glacier Bay National Park, and is also close to Tracy Arm Fjord and its Sawyer Glaciers. Mendenhall Glacier is only 12 miles from downtown. Juneau's ice field is an expanse of mountains and glaciers, and the source of 38 glaciers within a 1,500 sq. mile radius. While most tourists are content with a helicopter trip to a glacier to trek, climb, walk around, or dog sled, some have chosen to be married on a glacier! Remember, anything is possible in the travel business; it's all a matter of how much you are willing to pay for your desires.

If you are not into helicopters, you can visit a musher's camp for a dog sled ride on a trail. But what about other wildlife? The calm waters of the Gastineau Channel are perfect for whale watching excursions. Humpback whales feed, play, and socialize here from mid April to October. Other marine wildlife such as sea otters and seals can be seen on any boat trip. Bears fishing for salmon can be seen on nearby Admiralty Island, at the Pack Creek Bear Viewing Area. You might even encounter a bear in the city streets of Juneau. Eagles abound in the summer months. But alas, there are no moose in Juneau. Sportfishing tours are plentiful, and you can see salmon and more at the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery in the saltwater aquarium. You can also enjoy eating salmon at several bakes and back country lodges.

There's gold in them there hills, and once there were 32 gold mines in the area. You can visit the original gold strike made in 1880 by Richard Harris and Joe Juneau at Gold Creek. Juneau also has what was once the world's largest gold producing mill, the Alaska Gastineau Mill constructed in 1913. You can also go into a 360 foot long tunnel in the mine, where once 6,000 tons of rock per day were mined, and learn about the techniques and equipment. You can pan for gold here too, paydirt is guaranteed, and you can keep all you find.

Other outdoor activities include Mendenhall River raft float trips, sea kayaking, ziplines and rainforest hiking. Hiking trails abound around Juneau. You can take the Mt. Roberts Tramway up to the visitors center at its 1,750 foot elevation and hike the 2 ½ miles back to downtown. Of interest at the center is a film about the native Tlingit culture, shops featuring native artisans at work, and a bald eagle enclosure. She lost one eye in a hunting accident, and can no longer survive in the wild.

Museums include the Alaska State Museum, with its native clan house, Lincoln totem pole, and natural history display with a two story tall eagle nesting tree. The Juneau-Douglas City Museum has history and culture exhibits, and walking tour maps and historic trail information. There's also the Last Chance Mining Museum at Gold Creek. Glacier Gardens lets you experience the rain forest trails from a small motorized golf cart, as well as horticultural exhibits in their greenhouses and formal gardens. St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church is the oldest original church in Southeast Alaska. (St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka is older, but burned to the ground in 1966.) Sunday services are open to the public, but be prepared to stand for over 2 hours. And last but not least, you can tour the award winning Alaska Brewing Company.

With so much to see and do in Juneau, it would be easy to spend a week there. . We can save you hours of searching on the internet, with our connections to tour providers. Please keep in mind that tours, with the exception of flightseeing and helicopter tours, will proceed as scheduled no matter what the weather. When we were in Juneau in June, it was raining all day, but the excursion companies were still soliciting business on the dock.

Check out this beautiful video from the Alaska Travel Industry Association at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hhTq1R2co&feature=BFa&list=PLB528C2E57BAD8396&index=1. For more Alaska articles, and travel articles in general, visit the Blog Spot It's not too early to think about Alaska cruises and cruise tours for 2012. Remember the land portion of the cruise tours sell out fast, because of the space limitations on the railroad dome cars.

Online Travel Agencies vs. Real Travel Agents

Bears in Sitka at Fortress Of The Bear

By Carol Watts Travel Planner EXPERIENCED CRUISER

If you watch TV at all, you’ve seen commercials for online travel agencies, hereafter known as OTA. You know, the little gnome or the space ship captain. There are OTA for all kinds of travel, or hotels and cruises specifically.

While you might be tempted by their low prices, remember that value does not always equal price. You may get a really cheap vacation that doesn’t suit your life style at all. For example, Carnival usually has the least expensive cruises, but unless you like to party until dawn and have many raucous young people as travel companions, a cruise with them might not be enjoyable for us older persons.

How would you feel if you called one of the OTA and the call center employee said, “Oh, the Amsterdam to Alaska. I was just on that cruise last month.” Well you would be a very lucky caller indeed, because most of these call center employees don’t cruise. And if you call a particular cruise line directly, the representative might have been on a particular itinerary, but they can’t compare that sailing with those of another cruise line. You need an agency that actively cruises to get first hand, been there done that experience. This is the value of certified travel agencies. We not only cruise, we take webinars and courses to stay current on changes within the cruise lines and itineraries.

So if you see a great price from an OTA, just call and ask if we can meet that price. Our experience in the past has been that we can sometimes even get a better price by moving the date of travel a few weeks. If we can’t match the price, we’ll be honest and tell you so.

Let me just say right now that all the cruise lines have a no discount policy. That means no provider or agent can sell a cruise for less than the price offered by the cruise line. So how do some of these OTA get such “discounts”? They either are promoting last minute discounts, which are available directly from the cruise line or from any certified travel agent. Or they have a group on a particular itinerary, and can offer the reduced cabin prices and amenities (like on board credit) that are available from the cruise line for groups. As an individual agency, we are limited to the number of groups that we can create in a calendar quarter. This in one reason that we affiliated with Avoya Travel. As a country wide agency with a huge booking volume, they can create many more groups.

Now for some current specials:

Princess Cruises is offering “Sun Drenched Deals” on specific itineraries and fall sailings for 7 night eastern Caribbean, 10 day Panama Canal round trip Ft. Lauderdale sailings, and their 14 night Hawaii round trip Los Angeles.

Apple is offering great deals on Mexico resorts for summer travel.

Did you know that there is only one all inclusive resort in the US, West Palm Beach specifically, and it is through Club Med. If you are hesitant to travel to Mexico or the Caribbean because of reported violence, this might just be the all inclusive for you.

Trafalgar is offering savings of up to $600 per couple on their 2012 USA, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica vacations if booked by August 31.

Several of the river cruise providers are offering 2 for 1 savings or huge discounts for early bookings for 2012 cruises and last minute fall 2011 river cruises.

Also important if you are a smoker. Holland America and Princess Cruises have just changed their smoking policy effective Jan 15, 2012. Don’t expect an OTA to advise you of that little inconvenience.

We actively cruise, and can advise you not only on the differences between the various cruise lines and their itineraries, but also what to see in various ports of call. Is it better to book shore excursions through the cruise line or wait and get a better deal on the dock from a local tour company. That depends, and we can tell you why. Do you really need trip insurance? Not if you can afford to lose the cost of your trip if you can’t go for some reason. Did you know that when on any cruise, Medicare does not cover you for sickness or accidents? The one exception of NCL’s Pride of America, which is registered in the USA. Medicare considers you to be in a foreign country, even if the ship you are on is docked in an American port of call!