{"id":25517,"date":"2015-09-18T01:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T08:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=25517"},"modified":"2015-09-18T01:00:57","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T08:00:57","slug":"thursday-142","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=25517","title":{"rendered":"Friday File: Why Cruisers Go To Alaska"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As another <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alaska.com\/\">Alaska<\/a> cruise season comes to a close, it&rsquo;s appropriate to reflect on what draws cruisers in particular and tourists in general to the 49th state. The main attractions &mdash; at least from our two visits, the most recent on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.princess.com\/learn\/ships\/tp\/index.html\">Star Princess<\/a> &mdash; are mountains, glaciers and wildlife&hellip;and not necessarily in that order. The mountains, of which there are so many that it&rsquo;s easy to lose track, are headed by mighty Denali, and so is our photo essay of Alaska&hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Denali1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Denali\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25564\" height=\"488\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Denali1.jpg\" width=\"650\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Denali, now officially named after a century as Mount McKinley, at its most majestic.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Denali2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Denali2\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25565\" height=\"488\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Denali2.jpg\" width=\"650\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><i>A different look at Denali, from about 9,000 feet and out the window of a small plane.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Sea-lion-at-rest.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sea lion at rest\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25568\" height=\"431\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Sea-lion-at-rest.jpg\" width=\"650\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><i>A sea lion, relaxing in the sunshine on ice from a glacier, waiting for tourists to leave.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Breeching-whale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Breeching whale\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25563\" height=\"462\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Breeching-whale.jpg\" width=\"650\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.juneau.com\/\"><b><i>Juneau&rsquo;s<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i> the hot spot for whale watching tours, and rarely do you not see one breech.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Glacier-Bay-from-pool-deck.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Glacier Bay from pool deck\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25566\" height=\"442\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Glacier-Bay-from-pool-deck.jpg\" width=\"650\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Almost every cruise ship goes into <\/i><\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.glacierbay.org\/\"><b><i>Glacier Bay<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i>, and this is a snapshot of the scenery.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Mendenhall-better.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mendenhall - better\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25567\" height=\"488\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Mendenhall-better.jpg\" width=\"650\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n\t<b><i>Unique Mendenhall Glacier, seen by thousands from around the world every cruise season.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><u><em><strong>In the news&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/u><\/p>\n<p>&bull; Carnival achieves $5 million goal for St. Jude&#39;s two years ahead of schedule<br \/>\n\t&bull; No more free lobster in dining room on formal nights during short&nbsp;Carnival cruises<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span style=\"color:#FF0000;\">Today at&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.portsandbows.com\"><span style=\"color:#FF0000;\">portsandbows.co<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color:#FF0000;\">m: <\/span><\/strong><\/em><span style=\"color:#FF0000;\"><em><strong>WestJet&nbsp;in the mix for Europes<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"125\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DailyDeal-2-e1334202169354.jpg\" title=\"DailyDeal-2\" width=\"300\" \/><br \/>\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.carnival.com\/cms\/fun\/ships\/carnival_triumph\/default.aspx?shipCode=TI\">Carnival Triumph<\/a><br \/>\n\t10 nights<br \/>\n\tNovember 4, 2015<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.topuertorico.org\/city\/sanjuan.shtml\">San Juan<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/st-thomas.com\/\">St. Thomas<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stkittstourism.kn\/\">St. Kitts<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.st-maarten.com\/\">St. Maarten<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.antigua-barbuda.org\/index.htm\">Antigua<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grandturkcc.com\/\">Grand Turk<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caribbeanportreviews.com\/HalfMoonCay.htm\">Half Moon Cay<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.galveston.com\/default.asp\">Galveston<\/a><br \/>\n\tInside: $429<br \/>\n\t<span style=\"color:#FF0000;\"><strong>Cost per day: $42<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n\t<a href=\"http:\/\/www.carnival.com\">www.carnival.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As another Alaska cruise season comes to a close, it&rsquo;s appropriate to reflect on what draws cruisers in particular and tourists in general to the 49th state. The main attractions &mdash; at least from our two visits, the most recent on the Star Princess &mdash; are mountains, glaciers and wildlife&hellip;and not necessarily in that order.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=25517\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Friday File: Why Cruisers Go To Alaska<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,32,1893],"tags":[45,137,154,647,912,72,819,1888,35,712,26,27,178],"class_list":["post-25517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruise-industry-news","category-deals","category-photos","tag-alaska","tag-caribbean-cruises","tag-carnival","tag-carnival-triumph","tag-cruise-bargains","tag-cruise-deals","tag-cruise-news","tag-cruise-photos","tag-cruises","tag-denali","tag-phil-reimer","tag-ports-and-bows","tag-star-princess","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}