Most Alaska Cruise Reviews Read Like Brochures. This One Doesn’t.
Written By: Tom Ogg, Co-Founder and Co-Owner – Travel Professional NEWS
Part 2 of 3
In Part One of this review, we took a look at the Norwegian Joy and its first port of call, Ward Cove. In Part Two, we’ll cover the rest of the ports visited on this cruise. In Part Three, we’ll finish up by reviewing the dining options and the ship in general.
Please understand that this review is meant to give you what you actually need to know to sell NCL’s Alaska product well. Most reviews are as sunny as a brochure photo. After creating the cruise portal CruiseReviews.com and writing hundreds of reviews, I’ve learned that agents need the real story, not just the highlight reel. So let’s pick up where Part One left off.
Icy Strait Point (Hoonah)
The next port of call was Icy Strait Point. Like most cruise-line-operated ports, it’s built around restaurants, shops, a museum, and a zip line billed as the largest in the world (someone always has to be the largest). Unlike most Alaskan ports, though, this one isn’t a city at all, it’s a restored 1912 salmon cannery turned cultural and adventure destination, owned and operated by the Huna Totem Corporation on behalf of the Huna Tlingit people. The land belongs to the Tlingit people; the crowds belong to the cruise industry.
Icy Strait Point has two piers, one right in the heart of the port and one quite a distance away. Fortunately, a gondola ferries passengers from the staging area over the mountain to where the action is, think ski gondola, minus the skis and the pretense. There was a separate line for passengers with disabilities, and since I’m low-vision and walk with a cane, I happily skipped the long line of people waiting to board. Having visited Icy Strait Point several times already, I decided to skip the shopping and dining entirely and walk into Hoonah instead.
The Village of Hoonah
The Village of Hoonah is a genuine pleasure, and I’ve enjoyed visiting this Tlingit village several times now. It sits a little over a mile from the port, and a sidewalk runs the entire way, making the walk itself part of the experience. You’ll spot whales in the bay, bald eagles overhead, and other wildlife along the route — basically a nature documentary you get to walk through. A visit to A Farmer’s Daughter Restaurant is a must for the beer-battered halibut. I don’t know what they put in the batter, but it’s the best halibut I’ve had in Alaska, and I don’t say that lightly. There are also a few gift shops and other diversions, but honestly, just being in the village and around the harbor is worth the trip on its own. NCL doesn’t run a free shuttle into Hoonah, but a shuttle between the port and the village runs an all-day pass for $10.
Sitka
Cruise ships used to anchor in the bay and tender passengers into downtown Sitka; today, most dock at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal instead, about five miles from downtown. The terminal offers its own shopping, dining, and shore excursions, but there’s a free shuttle into town proper which includes a separate shuttle for passengers with disabilities, which is a relief given how long the general shuttle line can run.
The shuttle drops you at the Crescent Harbor parking area next to the visitor center in Harrigan Centennial Hall, itself worth a look. From the drop-off point, you can see the onion dome of St. Michael’s Cathedral, the old Russian church that anchors downtown Sitka. Downtown itself is a quaint little village with excellent shopping, drinking, and dining. My personal favorite for king crab is Sitka’s Burger & Crab Shack, which serves fresh king crab that is, without exaggeration, worth the trip north by itself.
No visit to Sitka is complete without a walk along Crescent Harbor, which is often thick with salmon depending on the season. Keep going past the harbor to the Sitka Raptor Center, home to bald eagles and other birds of prey doing their best to look unimpressed by tourists. Beyond that is the Fortress of the Bear, a sanctuary well worth visiting. Sitka offers no shortage of shore excursions if you want to make a full day of it.
Cruising Glacier Bay
No matter how many times you’ve visited Glacier Bay, it never stops being awe-inspiring. On this particular day, the ship had approval to cruise around Russell Island, a real treat, and one I’d been looking forward to. The weather cooperated fully: brilliant sunshine, not a breath of wind. I managed to grab a photo that does the view some justice. Unfortunately, right after we passed John Hopkins Glacier, a medical emergency on board forced us to cut our Glacier Bay cruise short and head to Icy Strait Point so the patient could get medical attention, a reminder that even the most scenic itinerary answers to real life.
Juneau
NCL seems to always draw the short straw when it comes to berths, and Juneau is no exception. The city caps ship visits at five ships per day. Four of the berths sit right downtown, letting passengers walk straight off the ship into shopping, dining, and drinking opportunities, with independent shore-excursion vendors waiting right at the gangway.
The fifth berth, however, sits about a mile south of town in an industrial harbor, which means a transfer into Juneau proper is necessary. I chose to walk, since I didn’t see transfer options for passengers with mobility issues, and it turned out to be a far more pleasant experience than the double-decker motor coach transfer looked. If you do walk, be warned: the road into town doesn’t believe in flat ground. You’re either climbing or descending, no in-between.
Juneau offers plenty to do, from Mendenhall Glacier to hiking Nugget Falls, riding the Mt. Roberts Tramway, taking a helicopter tour of the glacier, or going dogsledding. If you’ve done any research on Juneau, you’d assume Tracy’s King Crab Shack is a must-do, and the crab itself is fresh and good, but the setting undercuts the experience, and the plastic utensils they hand out are no match for proper shellfish scissors. My own preference runs to the Hangar Restaurant or the Twisted Fish Company.
Victoria, Canada
Victoria is technically a port of call, but really it’s the international stop required to comply with the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, the law requiring non-U.S. flagged ships to include at least one foreign port on any itinerary that departs from and returns to the U.S. Since the stop exists mainly to satisfy the paperwork, time in port tends to be shorter than elsewhere.
It’s about a mile and a half from the cruise terminal into downtown Victoria, home to the Fairmont Empress Hotel and the Parliament Buildings, and it’s an easy walk. My suggestion: if it’s offered, take a tour of Butchart Gardens. Booking through the ship guarantees you’ll make it back on time, always a good idea when the ship doesn’t wait for stragglers.
Be sure to stay tuned for Part 3 and the review of the ships dining and offerings.