There are essentially two ways to see South East Alaska. One is to do it under your own steam. This might be very low budget, living in Youth Hostels, eating beans and sleeping on deck on the local ferries. Or it might be a very luxurious affair, moving from one well-appointed hotel to another, or even seen from the home-from-home of your own 45' recreational vehicle complete with tumble drier, jacuzzi and drawing room. What all these routes have in common is a certain amount of flexibility, and actually staying in towns for more than 12 hours.
The other way to do it is from a cruise ship. Basically, you board ship in Vancouver, and ten days later you're in Anchorage. In between, most days are spent docked somewhere, and most nights are spent scoffing what is by all accounts splendid food whilst steaming off to tomorrow's location. To quote one passenger, "you are completely pampered from one day to the next."
The picture to the right is taken from just outside the visitor centre in downtown Skagway. As you can see, the giant cruise ship is plainly visible (a clue: the giant cruise ship is floating on the sea). Amongst the rather surprising questions overheard in the visitors' centre one afternoon were these two gems:
"Where do I go to get the bus back to the cruise ship?"Not to mention their photographic exploits. You know those strange little toys which roll along until they bump into some obstacle, then careen away in a random direction to the next encounter? Introduce a swift click of the shutter at each bump, and you get the general idea..."What elevation are we at here?"
