Andy and Chris’s 10th Anniversary Alaska Cruisetour (Traveler Stories Series)

Andy and Chris sit down with Jennie to talk about their decision to do an Alaska Cruisetour for their 10th anniversary and their favorite parts as how they handled concerns about crowds. 

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

 Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, my occasional co-host and full-time husband, Jay, and I bring you accurate, helpful, and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and life in Alaska. Before we jump in, we want to take a moment to thank our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible.

You can join them at the link in the show notes. Enjoy the show. I.

 

  My guests today are Chris and Andy Kenise, and they went on a cruise tour last summer, in the summer of 2024. And,  so we're gonna talk all about their trip today.  Andy and Chris, welcome to Alaska Uncovered. Thank you for being here. 

Thank you for having us. 

Yes, 

thank 

you. Yeah. So Chris, I know that you had been to Alaska before, but Andy you had not.

So tell me a little bit about why you chose to take this particular trip.  'cause this is part of our traveler stories series listeners. So where we hear from people who've. Taking a trip and what that trip was and what they thought about it. So why this trip at this time for you? 

Well, the time is the easiest.

It was our 10 year wedding anniversary. Yeah. And we wanted to do something special. 

Yeah. But 

we didn't plan very far ahead, and so we were starting to poke around and we reached out to you to try to do some planning for Alaska. Chris had been there several times. Happy to go back. I love the outdoors. I would.

Dream to go hunt there some days. So it's like, yeah, I wanna go see Alaska. But then when we get into it and, and working with you and researching on the web, there are a million things to do in Alaska and I wanna do all No kidding. And trying to put it together. It's like, what am I gonna do? So because of the timing, we were not a year ahead.

We were like 3, 4, 5 months ahead. 

Yep. 

Um. We decided we're gonna be better off to hit a cruise because we're gonna hit multiple places along the way. They have planned activities there, and it's kind of like for the first trip, that might be the only trip. Do as much stuff as you can. 

Yeah, and that's 

why we went with the cruise.

I. 

Yeah. And I, I am really glad that you mentioned that, Andy, because I think that a cruise, and especially a cruise tour, which you did, which we'll talk more about in a minute, I think that really is the ideal way for people who wanna see as much as possible, and especially if you're planning a little more last minute,

you know that, not that it was last, last minute, but you know, like you said, it wasn't a year ahead of time. A cruise or another type of tour with block hotel rooms is a really good way to do that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Yeah. And I, I do remember,  we, you know, sat down with you, we talked with Janelle and Chris, our friends who, have been to Alaska.

You, you've been talking with them on other podcasts, but,  yeah, we.  We talked with you and we started looking into some trips that sounded really, really incredible.  And I remember in February we were in Tucson, Andy,  on a work trip, and we had all these maps laid out and I bought all these books about Alaska and we still hadn't decided.

That was February. We still hadn't decided, and I can't remember, I think we talked with you a couple of times.  And, and at that point then Andy said, you know, I think we should just. Do a cruise where he can go and see it and experience all the different pieces. And then our hope is that we will get back again.

Um, yeah, for a, a, a very specific land, uh, tour. 

Yes. Well if you do that, we'll have to have you back and hear about that as well. Yeah. Um, okay, cool. So can you just talk us through, um, kind of the basics of your itinerary? How long was your trip? Where did you start and end, and where did you go? And then we'll dig into some of those places a little more.

Okay. Andy, do you have it in your head? I wrote some things down. 

You probably remember all the stops better than I do.  We, we ended up going with an 11 day land and sea adventure and it was like, we looked at it and we were probably looking a little smaller, like a five or seven day cruise, and then we.

We really love national parks. Yes. So that was part of how we chose the itinerary. Yes. Is we got to check off two national parks. Yes. So we had three days in Denali was the land portion of it. 

Yep. Um, 

but so we started out the trip, we cruised out of Vancouver and I've never been there before and I haven't been to Canada since I was a little kid.

So 

we would end a day early and, and. Had a wonderful hotel. We stayed in the Pan Pacific right, where a lot of the cruisers are leaving from and Yep. So we enjoyed the town a bit and then got on our boat the next day and Chris, we went inside passage. What was the first stop? 

Yep. So,  scenic, cruising. The first day we'd catch a can was our first stop.

Oh. And then,  on day four we did Juneau, and we'll go into details  of the, uh, parts of those, um, excursions, Skagway. Glacier Bay National Park. Um, and then we did College Fjord, um, on the seventh day. And then we got off in Whittier, and then that's when we took the train. And then we had three days up in um De Denali at the McKinley Chalet.

Yes. 

And this trip was with Holland America? Yes. Yes. I should have had you talk about that right at the beginning. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, no problem. Okay. And then where did you go from Denali? I. Then 

we took a bus to Anchorage and we had one, um, you know, the, that day and the next part of the next day. And then we flew out the late the next night and came back to Colorado.

Awesome. Yes. Oh, that isn't something I talked about at the beginning is where you live now, and you live in Colorado. Yes. So thank you. Okay, cool. Alright, so I'd love to know, let's talk about the cruise port part first.  So Andy, was this your first cruise? 

It was. 

Okay. Mm-hmm. Because I knew Chris mm-hmm.

Had done an Alaska cruise before, but I wasn't sure if you had. It was also your first time cruising, not just your first time in Alaska. Okay. So I'd love to know what were some things that you really loved about the cruised part? Like, you know, especially thinking about other ways of traveling. Um, and then we'll talk about maybe things that you didn't like about the cruise part, but let's talk about things that you did like first.

I loved everything. The cruise was amazing. It's okay. You don't have to have not liked something. It was great. Right. It we, we chose to upgrade, so we had a private balcony. Yeah. And I think that made a huge part of the trip. So we had a little bit larger state room. 

Yep. And 

we could just sit outside and enjoy beautiful, cool weather in the middle of summer.

It. It gets hot in Colorado. So we enjoyed the cool weather, love all the scenery.  The boat was wonderful. There was always something to do. Mm-hmm. We would go up on the forward decks and there was this big auditorium and they, they just had programs all day long. Mm-hmm. And so they would, they would be things there we want to do. I love the food. We, we, I think only did fine dining one time and mm-hmm. We got all dressed up and we got great pictures and that. That was a really special night. But honestly, yeah, just walking up and grabbing a steak every night was right up my alley. 

Yes, I think, I'm glad you mentioned that because I think people don't always realize, like a lot of times I think people have that like dressed up fine dining kind of formal night idea in their head about cruise ship food, which that's definitely there, but it's not like you have to do that.

 If you're on a cruise. 

Yeah, we were gonna do it twice and I think we only did it once we, we packed outta the other reservation because we were just happy in the dining room. 

Yeah. Love it. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would say I agree. Um, the balcony was huge for us. I had, yeah, I had never been on a cruise and upgraded to a balcony.

Before. Yeah.  And that was, and you talked with us about that and through what that would look like. And we just decided, you know, this is our 10 year anniversary, we're gonna splurge and Yes. And, and do that. And that was, that was. A huge highlight for us to be able to just be on our balcony. And when you go through, glacier Bay National Park, you know, you, you explained all of this to us and we had listened to several of your podcasts before.

Yeah. And I just remember listening to other people and you explaining how,  just how incredible it is to just be on your balcony and, and experiencing the animals that you see and. The, the glaciers was just so very cool. 

Yes, I totally agree with that. I'm so glad you did that. Yeah. 

Yes, we're too.

Yeah. Well, that was kind 

of the theme for the trip. So many different ways we splurged. 

Yeah. We kept 

going back, like every time we got paid it's like, okay, let's go do something else. And yeah, we just kept adding to it because it's like, if you look at the cost of getting up there, it's expensive to get there.

Yeah. So if you don't do it when you're there, you have to come back. Yeah. And so if you use that logic, it's really easy to just keep booking. 

Yeah. Yes, yes, for sure. And you know, I think it's really important to you that, you know, Alaska is an expensive destination no matter how you do it. And so I think you were really thoughtful about places you wanted to splurge .

Places you didn't wanna splurge and like really, really being thoughtful about that. And I think that's something that. That from my perspective, made me feel really confident that you were gonna feel good about the choices that you made. Yeah, 

that's very true. You know, we, we were frugal on some things, like we didn't do a drink package.

We're, we're not big drinkers. We did have our drink to kick off the cruise and sat them about, we didn't have a toast.  But we, we shared a wifi package because I think wifi let you have two or three devices . That was easy to do.  I, I don't, what did we have a laundry package too?

And I think that was the only other thing we added. Uh, 

we did do that because we wanted to be limited in our, how much luggage we brought, but we had basically, you know, 12, 13 days of having to have clothing. So we did end up doing the laundry package as well. That was very 

helpful. Yeah, that was, that was a really.

Good idea. And, and I'm glad we're talking about packages a little bit. 'cause I think that's something people get kind of confused by. And I think it is. Some of them, well all of them are a really good deal if you want to have that thing exactly. You know, and if you don't, then it's a complete waste of money.

So I think really thinking through okay, what's gonna make sense? What's not gonna make sense is, is really important. 

Yeah. And that's why it was really helpful for us to, to talk with you or talk with people who have gone. That's a really important thing for people to, to really do, as they're planning their trip, is 

yeah.

Talk to other people. Talked about what was important to them, what did they do, where did they go? And then you have to make those decisions for yourself. 

Yeah. Absolutely. And that's one of the reasons why I really enjoy doing these episodes. Mm-hmm. Um, is talking with people about all these different kinds of trips that they've done and how they felt about it.

So, mm-hmm. Yeah. It's great. Yeah. Your podcast helped. They helped us. Oh, that's great. That's wonderful. So. Is there anything about the cruise itself that you didn't like? I know Andy, you said you liked everything, so that's great. Um, but did anything come to mind or Chris, was there anything for you that was like, eh, this wasn't ideal?

I. 

Um, I, no, I absolutely love cruises. I think I had been on three before this one, so not very many, but I love them. I, they just, everything about them, everything that people think they are, it's you. You don't have to make your bed. You don't have to cook food. Yeah. Um, but the one, one thing that did happen, it wasn't a terrible thing, but it was interesting.

Um, that there, there was a fire on the cruise. A little mini what? A little, yes, there was a teeny fire. Um, and so that was not a, that's no idea. 

Yes. This is like two, three o'clock in the morning. We are just dead asleep. My gosh. And the fire alarm goes off and it's like an automated thing. And then, you know, a couple of minutes later, the captain gets on and, and he explains what's going on and just, okay.

He basically says, just. Be in your state room, stay there, but be ready. And, you know, it was only a matter of a few minutes and it was all taken care of, but okay. You're like, okay, this is really happening and now I need to man up and make sure my wife gets to a lifeboat and, you know, all of this. Right. 

It really, I mean, I guess, um, yes, the, I guess the, um, the lesson in this for other people is to really.

Listen to what they tell you when you go through that initial, um, you know, know, know where your lifeboat is, know where your muster station is. Yeah. Um, because, and I do take that very seriously always. And we, we did watch the video. You have to watch the video in your room and I'm sure there are lots of people who don't.

Yeah. Um. But it was, it was a little frightening at first. We were, I bet, really thinking, oh my gosh, what is going to happen? We can't get off this boat unless we're on a lifeboat. It was a small fire in the galley. That's what it ended up. Okay. Um, which I'm sure is. I mean, I don't wanna say it's common. I mean, but it, you know, I'm sure it's something that they anticipate and they are, they're ready for, it was really neat to hear the process because you heard them calling people, uh, the workers, I don't know what, I forget what words they used, Andy, but you could tell they were calling people to their stations to be ready for Yeah.

Whatever happened next. That was really neat actually to, yeah, to hear that. They were taking it very seriously and doing the, the steps that they needed to. 

Yeah, 

and I think through all of that, there never really was a sense of fear or panic. It was just No, 

no. You felt 

like it's handled. It's not a big deal.

We're gonna get through this. 

Yeah. Well, that's good. Maybe this wasn't something to talk about on your No, I'm so 

glad you did. 

I love it. Yeah. Again, it wasn't, I mean, it wasn't bad at all. We loved every, everything we, we just loved every, that's part of the cruise.

Yeah. It wasn't too busy. It wasn't too crowded. Andy doesn't like crowds. One of the things we talked with you about, you know, that was a concern, but Andy, I don't think he felt. 

No, it was great. You know, we'd, we kind of figured out the dining hours. Yeah. And I felt like, you know, were we gonna have to find a reservation or do whatever, you know, we, we met another couple.

We sat and had dinner with them a couple of times. Couple times. Mm-hmm. But in general, we just. Did what we wanted to. When we wanted to. Yep. You know, it, it, it was great. I can't think of anything that I would've done differently, you know? Mm-hmm. Love. It was, it was just the right amount of upgrade. It was, it was perfect. 

Cool. Awesome. Okay, well, let's talk about the ports that you went to a little bit. So it was Ketchikan and Juno and Skagway. Yes. 

Yeah. Yeah. Kechika was really cool. 

Yeah. Beautiful. Tell us a bit about like, what you did in each port. 

Okay. Well, well, Kechika, I, I went over to see the row of houses that, you know, you just always see the pictures there.

Yes. And I had a brand new camera, just learning to be a photographer. And, and I think Chris ran back to get something at the boat. So we were rushing because we had this tour that we were taking. Mm-hmm. And needed to make it there. Yes. I went and, and did pictures and I'm getting back just in time to get on our 

boat.

Was 

that the Misty Fjords tour there in in Ketch? 

Yes. 

Chris loved that. I liked it too. Chris loved it. She can tell you about that. 

Yeah, that was probably, um, one of my favorite things on the trip. Um, I hadn't done very many excursions on other trips. Um, the last trip I went on was with, um, a group of coworkers 10, 11 years ago, and it was like a, it, it was like a 10 year reunion.

Oh, no, it wasn't tenure reunion. It was after I had just recently moved from Seattle. Okay. Um, and so then we did, uh, a cruise, but we didn't, we didn't splurge on anything. Okay. So, um, this was pretty cool for us to, to do some, um, really cool excursions. But yeah, the Misty Fjords, uh, uh, wilderness cruise was, was really, really neat.

Cool. Love it. So the cruise was great. We could have used a little bit less of the mist in the misty fjords. 

It 

was cold and wet and rainy. The 

chicken can is a real wet place. Yeah. 

But it was so beauti, you know, for the first spot for me to. To kinda get off shore in Alaska. It was a beautiful town because mm-hmm.

You see it right there from where you dock. Oh yes. And it's colorful, neat little buildings well laid out. Mm-hmm. There were eagles everywhere so yeah, it was a really cool place. 



 That reminded me of another favorite of mine for cruises is coming into port is, has always been one of my favorite things to, yes, it's at, you know, it's usually at five or you know, five in the morning, six o'clock in the morning, and it's, yep, it's, it's just like, it's dark, it's misty and it's just the neatest feeling because you come into these little teeny towns with, on this huge boat.

It is one of my favorite. Feelings. Yeah. Every time I go on a cruise. Yeah. To, to to to get up and watch the boat come into port. 

Yes. I agree. That's really a fun thing to do. Okay, so then was Juneau next? Juneau? Mm-hmm. June. Okay. So what did you do in Juneau? 

We did the Glacier View Sea kayaking trip.

Cool. And it was a, um, it was a double kayak. So we both,  were in the same kayak and we went out, I had to re-look this up. It was over in the Gino Channel. Yep. And,  over in Douglas. I think that's where that was. Yep. I had to relook that up. And it was really neat because from there you had an amazing view of,  Mendenhall Glacier.

Oh yeah. 

That's really cool. So that was, it was neat. It was neat to be kayaking in that area, but then from afar you can see like how big the glacier is. 

It was, it was amazing and I loved the kayaking, but here's a travel tip that you've gotta listen to. I'm a big guy. I was pushing right about 250 pounds and we had an air, um, a helicopter hike later on, and, and I had to make helicopter weights.

So I had been riding, working out and right, so I, I made the weight. But in the kayaks, they tell you your size, both your height and your. Your weight, you know it, it will affect you and yeah, I wasn't sure how that would work. I'm like, I can fit the kayak. So what, what that's about is they put a rubber skirt on you that goes around your waist and then it snaps in around the edge of the canoe.

Yes. Like I managed to suck my gut in and get that little rubber skirt on, but we couldn't get, we couldn't get it snapped on. And I'm like, well, it's no big deal. I'm wearing full Gore-Tex Gore-Tex pants. Go coat. I said. If you guys are okay with it, I'm okay not having it. They're like, mm-hmm. Yeah, we can't buckle it anyway, so, so we're glad you're cool with it.

Yeah, right. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah. My husband, Jay, who is sometimes the co-host of this podcast, um, he is also a big guy and, and struggles with kayaking for this, for actually for him. I don't know how tall you are, Andy, but for Jay, actually. He's six four and um, most kayaks there's not. Room for his legs in them.

So he's also a big guy in addition to being tall. But, um, yeah, he can, he finds kayaking really a struggle because there's never room for like his knees to go into the hole. They're always like. Yes. Sticking out. 

That's, that's not a comfortable feeling because you picture yourself like rolling over and if I can't get over, can I get back out?

You know, I'm only six one, so I can only imagine what it must be like to cram Yeah. The extra legs in there. 

Yes, for sure. Cool. That was really neat. 

Um, and it was definitely, they were so good at, um, just being accommodating for. Everyone from beginners to experience. Yes. So for people who are wondering about any kind of sea kayaking or, or anything like that, um, they are all so very good about, um, making you feel comfortable.

Yes. Sticking around and, and working with everybody who's on the water. That was really neat. Yes, 

yes. We saw wildlife. We were like, maybe. 15 feet away from, from bald eagles. And they're, and they're, they're huge there. Like we see 'em in Colorado maybe once a month. There's some that are here local, but they were everywhere.

And they're, they're just huge because of all the fish they get to eat. 

Yes. So we 

did that. But the night before we're like, you know, that's in the morning and then we have the rest of the day and we got to looking and there was a Jeep tour that still had seats. So we rented a Jeep. Awesome. We had, we did two things in one day.

Love it. What was the glacier we went to? 

That was, um, that was Mendenhall Glacier. That was, yeah. So then we actually drove over to it and we did a little hike. Fun. Yeah. That was neat. That was a self-guided Jeep tour and it was all, you know, loaded into the system and you just listened and it was a lot of history and awesome and explanation.

That was neat. 

It was cool. Then I hit something on the GPSI like stopped the chore and we had to find our way back, so we had little coming back. 

Oh, that's awesome. I love it. Okay, 

so what about Skagway? Yep. Skagway. That was fun. We did the white pass summit scenic rail. Yes. 

Yeah. I'm a trained guy, so last Yeah, you gotta do that.

You had to, 

but I've also done the trains. There's some great rides here in Colorado. I've, I was on them, you know, probably 20 years ago before I ever moved here. Yeah. And what I learned about 'em was they can be pretty bumpy. Some of the narrow gauge railroads. Mm-hmm. It, it'll wear on you. You know, I took a trip that was like a, a.

Six or eight hour trip, and I was so ready to get off that train. 

Yeah. So I told 

Chris, you know, we we're not gonna do the really short one. There were like three different links. Mm-hmm. I think went up to the Yeah, there's several 

options for White Pass. Yes, yes. Yeah. 

We went up to the pass, but we didn't continue on towards the Yukon territory.

Yeah, we, and that was just enough. It was enough, yes. Perfect. A lot of great scenery and. We weren't tired of the train by the time we were done. 

Yay. That's awesome. Okay. And then, um, yeah, so was there anything else in Skagway besides the train trip? 

No, we walked around a little bit. That was really neat.

 You know, it's a, it's a teeny town, so it was, yes. It was pretty easy to walk around. I think we did. Oh, we were there on the 4th of July, actually. Oh, how fun. But we didn't, I, we didn't see, I thought we were told that they might have. A parade, but I don't rem We didn't see it. The, that might have been, 

but it probably was while you were on the train.

Yes. I thought you're right. That it could be And now there was a 

street festival afterwards. Yes, yes. Yeah. So we, we went and sat with a couple of locals at a big table, just, you know, yes. At food and 

Fun. Love it. Yes. It was 

felt right at home. They were great people. 

Love it. Okay, so give us some advice about.

Glacier Bay as far as, so I mean, I would say something that you already gave away, which was like, have a balconies super worth it. Yes. Um, but any other, anything else you wanna offer up about that day, that experience? I. 

Uh, Mandy, do you have anything? 

Wear your walking shoes. 

Yeah, we 

were, we were running up and down from our balcony down a couple of floors to get, you know, on the, I don't know what deck that is, but the open deck where all the lifeboats are.

We'd run down to that. And is there turning the boat we'd run from one side to the other. 

Yes. Yes. So we 

did a lot of moving around. 

Yeah. Uh. 

Um, and, and we just enjoyed it.  I think going into Glacier Bay is this one where they had,  the park programs. Yes. Rangers got on the boat super early. Yep.

Yes.  You have to go to that. Yeah. Get up early because it'll be packed. There'll be a hundred people there. Yes. And. Choose one or one of the two. Chris volunteered to take one for the team. She got in line about shirts honored in  our, on our National Park shirt. 

Yes, yes. 

So yeah, you wanna do that. You wanna get there early because it'll be super packed.

But they shared a lot of great information about it. 

Love it. 

Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. It's really neat. They bring on a national park ranger. Yes. That was neat. We missed them. That that was cool. We missed them getting on the boat. Oh, we did? Yes, but we watched them getting off. That was really cool.

You know, they bring the, the smaller boat right up. I, I had no idea that that's how that happens. 

Yeah. And I don't know. I don't know if you listen to this episode, but I'm gonna tell everybody,  who's missed me, talk about it before. I believe it was episode four of the po, like the fourth episode ever in, March  2023, one of our very first guests, um, was Matt Ander Lee. He's a ranger for the National Park Service. And at the time, um, he, he is now in a different park, but he worked in Glacier Bay for three or four seasons and he talked all about. What it's like to be in like your full uniform with the ranger hat, like climbing onto the ship at Oh my goodness.

In the morning. It's great. I love to listen to that. I would love, I really, yes.  If you have joined the podcast anytime since then and you haven't listened to that episode, glacier Bay with Ranger Matt is the title of the episode. So that's a really fun one. Yeah, 

I'll have to go back and find that one.

Yeah, we, and 

he, he had lots of great advice about visiting the park, either on a, on a cruise or on your own. 

Yeah. That's great. Yeah. I don't know how early they get on. We were up pretty early just enjoying the sites and, and pulling in and the excitement of it. 

Mm-hmm. 

And we missed it by a long shot, so I don't know how early they actually came on.

It's It's pretty early. Yeah. It's like five in the morning or five 30. 

Oh my gosh. What a long day for them. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

Yeah, we, um, when I first met Matt actually was in the park, um, when I was not on a cruise. I was just visiting the park, which is also something I would highly recommend and we talked about in that episode.

But, um, I just gave him a hard time. I just called him the cruise ship ranger. Which is all the rangers. I mean, they take turns doing that and being in the visitor center, which is at Glacier Bay Lodge. Um, neat. So, but most of the time they're on ships because that's how most people visit Glacier Bay.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

So neat. Yeah, it was, that was a fun 

day. I'd love to know what your favorite port was. Mm. And why?

Oh my goodness. What would it be? Sometimes 

when I asked my brother this question, like a year ago, he was like. My favorite port was Skagway, but that might have been because it was sunny that day. Ah, yeah, exactly. That might have 

been a 

factor. 

I can, I think, you know, my first one being Skagway, I love the colors of the town.

I, there was a lot of great things for me to take pictures of and Yes. And that one really stood out to me. 

Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Chris? Could you choose a favorite? I know it's tough.

I think she's looking over the map. 

That's cool. You can look over the map. 



 I. Think I, it's a tossup between Kechika and Juno. 

Yeah. 

Um, because I just, I loved the, the smaller feel of Kechika and I just, I loved the Misty Fjords. That was probably my favorite.

But I do love Juno. I love Mendenhall Glacier. Yeah. And that Jeep tour was, was pretty cool. That, so it's, it's a toss up between Ke can and Juno. 

Yeah, 

absolutely. Yeah. The Gsoft was neat because we had a little bit of freedom because we rented the cheap. Yes, yes. We had to do that kind of at our own pace, just the two of us.

So yeah, that, that would be a a high number too for me as well. 

Yeah. You know, one thing that I wanted to mention for our listeners before we kind of move on to the land portion is that. You talked, you know, several times before you went on your trip, Andy, about like being concerned about crowds. 

Mm-hmm.

And, um, in addition to the balcony, which I think is a really good way to navigate that. I also think that. You made choices about your excursions that really promoted 

true 

a lack of crowds as well.  Not necessarily the railroad so much, but like especially going on the smaller boat tour into Misty Fjords and the kayaking tour, renting the Jeep, I think yes.

You gave yourselves some ways to get out when, into like smaller groups and, and meet locals and things like that, that I think really help, you know, if you get away from that area right around the dock where it's like all jewelry stores and it's just a little bananas. Mm-hmm. 

Yeah, I, I think you hit the nail on the head.

I don't think we went into it with that thought in mind, but as we looked over things that we would enjoy naturally, there're going to be things where we have some freedom, where we're not gonna be Yes. Time crunched or stuffed in a seat all day yeah, for sure. So, yeah, you're right. Those, those were choices we made.

Great point.  So we've been talking about the cruise portion and now I'd love to transition into the land portion. So can you share just like. What happened, you know? So you got to Whittier on the ship and then what happened after that?

I think from the ship we could see our train. 

Yes. 

Very 

cool thing about the tour you did? Yes. Love it. Me 

being a train guy, you know, I'm out there taking pictures of it and all excited, like, I can't wait to get on this train. And  we had a train, one leg and then you ride the bus on the way back.

 So you took the train up to Denali National Park? Yes. Right? 

Yes. 

Yeah. And then you were in Denali for three days. Nights, I believe it nights was three nights.

Uhhuh. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. 

Um, that's, I may, this might be what you were going to say, Andy. Um, we were a, a little bit surprised at how long that train ride was. 

Yeah. It's long. Um, so 

that whole, yeah, that whole day was pretty much taken up on the train. We had, um, we had asked like we. Um, had a couple of questions out to, um, I forget, what are they called when you work with the cruise line?

Um, I, it's not a consultant, but um, it's 

like the person who booked it for you? 

Yeah. And they didn't even necessarily book it for us. But you're kind of assigned then to a person. Yeah. And so we could ask them questions and, and. We thought it was going to be maybe like a seven hour train ride. Mm-hmm. And it was, it ended up being 12 hours.

If you recall 

Uhhuh, uh 

oh. It was the Riley fire. 

Yes. 

That broke out. 

That's right. I forgot number two, doing the fire. Yes. Fire number two, man. Yes. 

That broke out while we were on the boat.

So we were getting daily updates. Yes.  The ship was great. They would print out a sheet and like leave it in the room and they cleaned the room. So we Yep. We had updates and right at the last minute we found out we were still gonna be able to go stay. Yeah. And that was great, but the park was closed.

 But I think that also. Slowed the railway down, the 12 hours on the train was excruciating. Yeah. And I would absolutely, I, I'm glad I did it once and I will not do it twice. Yeah, 

that was a bit much for the train guy. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that will, it's a long day even without. So you're right. The fire did slow down the train a lot and we had 

mm-hmm.

We had to go past the Denali . We had to go past that and then they had to bus us back to the, uh, shall I. Now there 

was a perk to that because where you usually get off, you miss this entire canyon that the train kind of drives through. Yes. Canyon Canyon got a little canyon extra scene.

Yeah. It was really cool to see that. 

Yeah. And the fire, so I, I should probably give a little context here for listeners. So. In July of 2024, there was  a wildfire that broke out right at the entrance of Denali National Park, and it was actually right next to the train tracks. So for about two weeks.

There was a lot of disruption. The park was closed most of that time. The hotels were all closed for part of the time. . So, you know, that's, I'm, I'm glad that we're talking about this because this is the kind of thing that can happen mm-hmm. You know, when you're traveling. And so, so tell us a little bit about like what changes, you know, at least from what you can remember about mm-hmm.

What changed because of that other than the longer day? To get to your hotel. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, and I should tell listeners that's a, that's a pretty long day anyway. If you go directly from your ship to Denali National Park, um, no matter how you do that, that's gonna be a long day. Mm-hmm. Whether it's train, bus, doesn't matter what company you're going with, that's.

That's a heavy lift Absolutely. For that day. Yes, for sure. Yes. 

Yes. It, it was worth the trip. So it changed, I think for the better. Um, one, it was, it we were not really in danger. That's why they let us stay there. Yes. Yep. And we could see the fire at night. You could see the, the fire kinda working up the hill away from you.

Yeah. But it was not crowded. There were not many people in the village. 

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So 

we were. Prepared that we're gonna have to make reservations to be able to go in and get dinners to eat. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we didn't have to do any of that. Yeah. We just, we showed up. It was probably 11 o'clock at night.

It was just like dusk. It was just, you could still see perfectly well. Yeah. Uh, it was about as dark as it could get. Right. Yeah. And, and we just. Walked in and sat down and ate. Mm-hmm. And every day that we were there, it was just so easy, you know, for breakfast, we didn't have to plan ahead. So it was very relaxed.

Yeah. It wasn't crowded. Mm-hmm. Um, we were able to walk all around, you know, you go up the hill and across the street from the property as a whole row stores, there's this magnificent, what was it, prospector's Pizza, something like that. Yes. Yeah. That were amazing. Yeah. 

That's a favorite of a lot of people who, um.

Spend the summer in the Denali area as well. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. 

Mm-hmm. 

Yeah. 

But then the drawback to it was with the park being closed. Yeah. We, we kept a half a day open to ride the shuttle and, you know, see the wildlife and do the little Denali Park tour piece of it. That's tour. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. And so we didn't get to do that.

Yeah. So what did you do instead since you weren't doing that? 

So we did have, we still had two, um, tours that didn't go into the national park. Yes. And so that was good. We were still able to do that. And I think something, I know this is sort of what you were hitting on, but something important for people to think about is you, you could.

You know, be totally upset and frustrated and let it ruin your time. Mm-hmm. Or you can still have a positive outlook and still enjoy the time. There's still, the whole town is beautiful. Yeah. Even though we didn't get to step into the national park, technically Yeah. It was still the, it was a favorite part of our trip.

Love that. Being, being up there in the middle of. Of Alaska in the mountains, you can see National Park, you know, across the way. We got, we were right on the Nana River. Yep. That was amazing. Yes. Um, so I think that's really important to, to, to note that yes, you are going to have hiccups. Somewhere along the line and you just have to let it go and still enjoy the trip.

Yeah. But um, the other two, so the other two trips that we did, um, was we did a Jeep tour. I can't remember what that was called. Andy, the Denali Highway Jeep Excursion. Cool. And that one was a group tour, so we were in like a row of 15 very colorful jeeps. Aw, that's, and um, we all had, um, we were all hooked up together so we could listen to the, um, the guides.

Yes. Talk. As we drove, 

we, we drove like a caravan and so yeah, as we're, we're shopping and we're at home and we're looking at all these excursions, and like I said, we, we kept adding stuff and it's like every time, you know, it's painting. Let's add something else, you know? Yeah. It was, but it was a. A little vague, and so my mind filled in the blanks.

Mm-hmm. And so I pictured that I could bring a fishing rod and I could just like, pull off the road and, and wet a fly if I want to. But that, that wasn't the case with this. Yeah. 

But, but a. 

Yeah, 

the Denali Highway was a bucket list. You know, for us it was that, that the Denali Highway is incredible. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 

So that was, 

we were on this Jeep tour and we pull off into this little campground right by the Nana River and. Get out. Everybody does their thing and we're, we're loading back up. And as we continue across the highway to the east, we, we crossed the Indiana River and I looked down the, the river downstream.

I'm like, Chris, I think that's the place. I think that's Jesse's house. And so, you know, she had the camera and she snapped a couple of pictures real quick. And the next stop when we got out, they're like, oh, you might've noticed when you get out along the way, it, the show that we watch is, is, uh. Gosh, I can't even remember the name.

Is it Life? Life Life? Zero. 

Okay. Yes. Yes. Jesse Holmes. Jesse Holmes that 

runs the Iditarod. And we saw his cabin. It was circus. Yeah. 

And did you know that Jesse Holmes won the Iditarod this year? I. No. Did he win it this year? He did. That's 

amazing. 

It's amazing. 

Good for him. We've been watching for a few years with him, you know, training, and he, he's run, I think we've seen him on the show run, I think two, maybe three.

Two? Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

Oh, 

that's 

so neat. 

I, yeah, he won 

this year. He won the, the 2025 Iditarod. That 

is cool. 

It's really cool. Yeah. A lot of people I think were very happy for him. Aw. And he had fans who were like there in Nome at the finish line and 

Oh, that's so neat. Yeah. We love that show. And that was a def, that was a highlight as well.

Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. You know, the Denali Highway is one of those places that's just so special and um, it's tricky because you can't drive a normal. Rental car on that road, so Right. Um, there are some places you can rent from or you can do that Jeep tour like you did, and there are some other tours you can do that take you out there as well.

And for, if you like to be really out in the middle of nowhere, like I'd really. Recommend the Denali Highway. Yeah. I mean, it's a really gorgeous wilderness area. 

Yeah. So that takes us to, if you could only do one more thing, what would it be? Right. Yeah. We would, we would definitely go back to Denali. Yes.

But that is one of the things I want to do, is I wanna drive the entire Denali Highway. 

Yeah. Yeah, you should. It's, it's really, you'd love it, Andy. It's really incredible. Yeah. Yeah, 

it was cool. You know, we, we had a great time with the, the little extra half day that we had. We actually walked down to the Nana River, we went out onto a gravel bar and we watched cool helicopters dropping buckets of water on the fire.

Oh, that was, yeah. We did shopping. So it, it was really a bonus day for us. Um, yeah, we didn't miss a little bust tour at all. Yeah. And like Chris said, we tried to keep an open mind and I was telling myself, well, yeah. What this means is that I get to come back. 

Yes. 

Yes. Because I have to see an alley. 

Yes.

Yeah. You know, I, I am so glad that this came up because it's really, it's really one of those things about traveling, and especially Alaska. Like, you know, people save for sometimes decades to visit and mm-hmm. You know. Regardless of how important it's to you, or this is your lifelong dream, or it's your partner's lifelong treatment.

Mm-hmm. You're like, and you have a drug problem as Jay calls it, which means you've got drugs there. Um, um. I just think that Alaska is a place that really invites just discovery and accepting what it has to offer. Mm-hmm. And I just wanna point out that you booked a cruise tour through a large tour company.

Mm-hmm. 

And yet you had these really unique experiences and so you know, you can have those experiences no matter how you travel. 

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, so true. That's 

a good point. Yeah, we absolutely did. 

Yeah. I love it. Yeah. So true. Yeah. Tell you, so we had another day was, oh, go ahead. 

Was the flight tour, right?

The helicopter hike. And that was the whole point of trying to, you know, diet and make flight weight and. Oh, and poor Chris. She got sick. She did not get to go that 

day. Mm-hmm. I didn't. Sad but sad. I think maybe it was okay after he tells you the story. 

Oh, I've, I've got a YouTube video I'll share with you.

Okay. It was, I'll put it 

in the show notes. Andy, if you send it. 

There you go. Yeah, you can. That's cute. You can watch it. So I don't like heights. I, I'm okay. It's not so much the heights in the falling, it's the landing that I'm worried about. Yes. And I go up in the mountains in Colorado, I've climbed fourteeners, I've walked on ridge lines and 50 mile per hour winds.

And the more of it that you do, kind of, the more that you acclimate. And, and that being said, um, I haven't been in a helicopter since I was a little kid and I'm in the front seat and it's all glass. You can see everything. 

Yeah. 

I was scared, spitless. And we, we fly up to a ridge. But you did it. Yeah. And we, we landed right next to this needle fire.

And my, my mind is thinking, oh my God, the rotors are going to hit this thing and we're gonna crash. And I'm counting how many times I'm gonna roll down the mountain like my brain was so worked up. Yeah. And uh, and then we land and we get out and the helicopter takes off directly above us and I'm thinking, oh no.

If he tilts the wrong way, he's gonna, he's gonna end us right there. Yeah. And it, it took me a little bit to acclimate. 

Yeah. But 

that was the absolute best part of the trip for me. 

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I, I 

loved just being on a hike, the guide, explaining all the flora and fauna. You can eat this, so pick it and try it.

And walking along sheep trails along some really steep country. Yes. Um, that was my favorite part of it, even though I was scared to death. 

Yeah. That's really cool. Oh, I love it. Thank you for sharing that. I think that's very relatable. Yes. Okay. So is there anything, well, let me rephrase this, so we know you're going back Yes.

Uh, to Alaska. So let me ask it differently than I normally do. Um, what, what do you want to do on your next trip? I know drive the Denali Highway. Anything else like that, that you're like, Ooh, I really need to do this next time and return to Denali. Get to go into the park. 

Yes, and we do, oh, go ahead, Andy.

If we, if we hit that same spot again, I would absolutely do the helicopter hike again. Mm-hmm. Um, I would wanna do the highway, but I'd want to do it on my own time and I, I would want to wet a fly out there. I'd like to catch a fish. That would be 

cool. Yeah. Yeah. 

We didn't actually see Denali, so we'd like to see Denali.

Yes. 

What would you do, Chris? Working 

Actually yes. We were the, we were not the one of the 30% who actually see the top of Denali. Yes. Mountain. We saw a bunch of those shirts on the, uh, trip as well. Yes. We were, we're the 70% that didn't, you know, we saw a portion, we saw a portion of Denali. Yes. Um, I, so I. We love National Park, so.

Mm-hmm. I would love to somehow, yes. I would wanna see Denali again. Yeah. I would want to get into the park, but we would want to, um, we've talked with you about some of those other national parks. Yes. So we would probably want to get to another national park. Mm-hmm. I also loved, loved, loved the trip that you, um, talked with us about to Homer.

That would be a really cool trip. Yeah. Um, have this, you know, dream of going to Kodiak Island because that is well is on, on the show that we watch and we love the, the idea of seeing Kodiak Island. Yeah. Um, there's just so many, you know, there's how many national parks in Alaska? 

Uh, there's eight. Yeah.

That have that like official national park designation. 

Definitely would be Somehow to, to combine a trip with another national park. Yeah. 

 Well, what advice do you have for other travelers who are going to Alaska based on your experience? 

 One thing that Andy and I just talked about yesterday, a reminder to go give yourself a day before the cruise Yeah.

And the day after, you know, we were in Anchorage for that day. Don't try to book the fly in that morning and then get to the port, it's so stressful. I done that before. Yeah. I saw people doing it before. And we saw people doing it. And so huge advice would be try to get yourself, we got to Vancouver the day before.

Yeah. And then we had that evening we slept at the hotel and we, we weren't rushed to get to the port. 

Yeah. Really good advice. Yes, for sure. Yes. 



 I don't know if this is an automatic, I think we had to sign up for those, um. Not the transfers, but maybe it is called a transfer when they take your luggage and they get it to the chalet. When we were in Denali,  we didn't have to deal with any of our luggage.

Yeah. 

And that also happened in Anchorage, so I don't know. Um, you would know, Jenny. I don't know if that's an automatic or if you have to sign up for it, but if you have to sign up for it, definitely do that. 

Yeah, it, it depends a little bit on the package that you book.  And, and I would say, but if it's a cruise tour like what you did, then it is included automatically.

You know, it's part of the package. And honestly, that is one of the biggest. Reasons. I think a cruise tour is something for people to really consider is luggage. Like it doesn't sound 

exciting. Mm-hmm. But as a person who leads people on tours, like the ones you are on mm-hmm. I can say confidently that like it's a big deal that you don't have to deal with your luggage.

Yes. And the same. That is also an enormous benefit. You know, going back to the pre and post cruise,  if you book your hotel through yes, the cruise line for one thing, it's gonna be less expensive, which people are kind of shocked by 'cause they're like. How is that possible?  But it's possible because you're booking it as part of a package.

 And then in your case, Holland, America, but it doesn't matter which company it is, the others are the same. 

Have blocked rooms at all of these hotels. And so even though a hotel in downtown Vancouver is outrageously expensive 

mm-hmm. 

You're actually paying. Less for it if you book it through the cruise line 

Uhhuh, than if 

you just went on to like Expedia and booked it.

And then the other thing is they'll, they'll give you a ride and deal with your luggage and it's just really, really, really nice. Yes. That was amazing. I. It 

was great. Yeah. Yeah. They helped us. That's how we ended up in the Pan Pacific and they put us into a beautiful room and, and I'm happy to say it was not the most expensive hotel room I've ever had, so.

Mm-hmm. You're right. It was a great deal with them. Uhhuh. 

Yes. Woo. Vancouver is, I mean, Vancouver makes flying well. Yeah, I am sure the, uh, the first class upgrade was probably a rounding error compared to the hotel. Oh, I'm glad to know that Alaska sometimes has, I, I think I am often flying between Seattle and Anchorage, and they're mm-hmm.

Very. Limited de, I mean, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. There aren't really deals on that. It just kind of cost what it costs. Mm-hmm. Because there's like 900 flights a day. But anyway, that is a very fun pro tip. And they do do, Alaska Airlines does do a great job. Yeah. Oh yeah. We loved them. Love them. Um, cool. Okay, so last but not least, Andy and Crus, I would love to know what was your favorite meal?

That you had on your trip, and where did you have it? 

That's easy. 

Ooh. 

Mm-hmm. I don't know if and will say the same, but, um, we are very easy, basic eaters. We don't eat fancy meals. Neither of us really like seafood. Okay. So our, my favorite was the Prospector's Historic Pizza place in Denali. In Denali.

Mm-hmm. Love it. 

How 

about you, Andy? 

That was, that was a great pizza. I really liked that. But you know, just to have variety. The other meal that I really loved was mm-hmm. Our, our dress up dinner night. Mm-hmm. Um, we had amazing steaks. 

Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's awesome. And you know, I'm glad that you mentioned that you don't like seafood.

Because I do sometimes have people say to me like, 

mm-hmm 

I don't like seafood. Am I gonna starve? And no. Yeah, we logically sure aren't. I mean, Alaska is amazing for people who like seafood, but honestly it's pretty amazing for people who like other kinds of food too. Yes. Yeah. 

There were a lot of options where you could go, yeah.

Yep. You know, go fishing and they'll cook the fish that you had and Yeah. And I'm, you know, I could do that. I, I will eat fish. I don't, I don't love it like I do a steak, but I'll eat it. Yeah. But I know Chris won't enjoy that part of it. So it's like, you know, for an anniversary cruise, we're gonna find things that we were both gonna love.

Yes. And then if we 

go back, you know, I can, I can go do an excursion, I can go fishing, maybe. 

Yeah. 

And we did love those custom made omelets on the, uh, cruise every morning. 

Yes, those were awesome.   📍 well, Chris and Andy, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing about your trip with other travelers.

Thanks for being here. 

Yeah, we really enjoyed it. 

Thank you for, 

uh, inviting us and thank you for all of your help planning our trip. 

Oh, well you're so welcome. It was my pleasure.