WHAT'S ON YOUR BUCKET LIST?

OK, what are you waiting for? Now is the time to book a cruise!

Everyone needs some time away to rejuvenate with that special someone or with the entire family. Maybe it’s only for 3 or 4 days or maybe you have the time for a longer experience.

All of the cruise lines are offering fantastic pricing for cruises in 2009 and even into 2010.

Yes, we know that the economy is still not back where it should be but if you are planning to take a vacation this year, now is the best time to book it and lock in these prices and even some Onboard credits.

What’s on your “Bucket List”? Have you always wanted to see Alaska? Or maybe you’ve dreamed of going to Australia and swimming at the Barrier Reef. What about Antarctica? We've done the reef and we’re planning to check Antarctica off of our ‘bucket list’ in 2010.

We are seeing some of the best deals and sales that we've seen and they are very hard to resist. They're moving fast. Get with it!!

Alaska - 2009 (Part One)

We recently had the privilege to join top travel industry executives on an 8-night sail from Vancouver to Alaska as part of the 13th annual CruiseOne National Conference. Celebrity Cruises hosted us with more than 300 other travel agents aboard the Celebrity Mercury for this unforgettable experience.

The Celebrity Mercury sailed September 14, 2008 for Ketchikan, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Hubbard Glacier; Sitka, Alaska; Victoria, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington. The conference, themed “Xperts in Cruising,” offered extensive training opportunities for in-depth training in luxury, group and particularly Alaska travel. The trip also included a check presentation and $6,000 donation to the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka, Alaska, courtesy of CruiseOne and Celebrity Cruises. Executives from all major cruise lines, as well as destination convention and visitor bureaus and tour operators, attended this highly regarded event.

If you have not ever been to Alaska you are missing the trip of a lifetime and if you have already been to Alaska, now is the time to think about going again.

Alaska is one of the premier destinations in these United States. The combination of breathtaking scenery, fabulous wildlife and friendly Alaskans, make this state a must-experience for residents of the “Lower 48” and Hawaii. And you can’t forget the abundance of fresh wild salmon and halibut. Do you like to fish? Fishing licenses are easily attainable on-line or at certain fishing sites and you can use it the same day. There are opportunities to pack and ship your fresh catch back to the states or even, in some cases, have them cooked and served while you are there. How about whale watching, seeing salmon swim upstream or a trip on the Alaska Railroad? Ever see Bald Eagles in their natural habitat? How about learning the history and hearing the stories that are communicated through the totem poles? Wouldn’t it be fun to pan for gold? These are but small tastes of the many activities and experiences that you can come into contact with, not to mention a taste of the local history and heritage. Bored? Never! – Young and Old will savor this experience!

Most people begin with a 7-night cruise and that is a great way to start. So many cruise ships make Alaska their home during the summer months and you can choose from just cruising to places such as Juneau, the state capital, Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway. You will also visit sites such as Glacier Bay State Park or the Hubbard Glacier where people cheer as they witness the spectacle of glaciers calving. Cruises traditionally start from Seattle, Vancouver or Seward/Whittier.

Better yet is to add a cruise tour that will take you to Anchorage or Fairbanks before or after the cruise and then to wonderful locations such as Denali National Park, Mount McKinley, Copper River, Talkeetna and other sites not available from the cruise ship. The “high season” is summertime, between June and August but May and September are also great times to visit. Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Lines are amongst those with a steady presence in Alaska and commitments to the ecology in that region. We will be happy to walk you through the many alternatives for travel to that region. This is a wonderful opportunity for a fun, but also educational family experience. Children love it! Itineraries are available for 2009 and filling rapidly as interest in Alaska continues to grow.

For those of you who wish to experience even more options at different times of year, there are also ample opportunities for land excursions before, during or after the cruise ship season.
The State Sport is Dog Mushing. Per Wikipedia, “Mushing is a general term for a sport or transport method powered by dogs, specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled on snow.” On the first Saturday of March, the most famous dog mushing race with which we are probably familiar, the Iditarod begins. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual sled dog race in Alaska, where mushers and teams of typically 16 dogs cover 1,161 miles (1868 km) in eight to fifteen days from Willow to Nome. Why not visit Anchorage in early March and expereince the ceremonial start that occurs in the city every year. Spend a week and enjoy the many attractions in that area. The average high at that time of year is about 34 degrees with very little precipitation (that is why the Iditerod does not start there). Living in the desert of Arizona, you can imagine that I am not someone who likes cold weather but it’s really worth the trip and I’m ready to go. (Brad wants to know “who am I and what have I done to his wife?”)

As I mentioned earlier, a cruise allows you to get just a small taste of this magnificent state but there is so much more. After three trips to Alaska, we can’t wait to return to see more.

After several presentations at conference that immersed us in the many options available in our 49th state we have seen a wealth of possibilities for travel there by land or sea. So what do you want to experience on your next vacation and what are you waiting for? I’ll be willing to bet that Alaska is for you and we are here to make your dream a reality.

ALASKA - CRUISES AND CRUISE TOURS

Have you visited our 49th State? If you haven’t, what in the world are you waiting for? Think about a family vacation to Alaska.

The season ranges from May through most of September, with mid-June through mid-August being the prime time to travel. Though you may experience some overcast skies or even a few raindrops during this time, we have always found an abundance of clear skies and beautiful weather in July and August. A light jacket and a folding umbrella will be more than sufficient to keep you dry and warm, if the weather so dictates.

By not traveling to Alaska, you will have missed an incredible jewel and, you must take your children to Alaska. This is a magnificent state, rich in wildlife and an abundance of natural beauty. The capital of the 49th state is Juneau and the largest city is Anchorage. In the summer there is an additional bonus of having of daylight for most of the 24-hour period. We always suggest that if you go by cruise ship that you treat yourself to a balcony, as the sites are so plentiful day and night.

I must admit that I made my first trip to Alaska under duress. I thought that it would be cold and dreary and I am not someone who enjoys looking at animals on TV. But, Brad really wanted to go, and so we booked the cruise. WOW – I was amazed and fell in love – NO, it was not cold and dreary and seeing bald eagles soaring, whales breaching, salmon literally jumping out of the water, deer up close and personal and all the other animals in their natural habitat was a far cry from looking at National Geographic on TV.

Probably the greatest Alaskan experience is spending part of a day in Glacier Bay. The glaciers are both magnificent and beautiful and witnessing their splendor as they calve huge icebergs right in front of your eyes is a spectacle to behold. I was hooked. We have returned and look forward to returning again to see more of the inland area.

Many cruise lines send ships to Alaska for the summer months. Most cruises are seven days long, though a few are longer, and the cruise tours may range from 2 to 8 or 9 days on land before and/or after the cruise. Visits to see Mount McKinley or the Copper River or stays in Fairbanks, Denali National Park and the Kenai Peninsula are experiences that you won’t want to miss in your lifetime.

Excursions from the ships feature opportunities to go whale watching, be a dog musher, pan for gold, take a helicopter ride, walk on a glacier or a enjoy a train ride on the scenic railway, just to name a few. Brad thought that the experience of walking on a glacier was the closet thing he could imagine to walking on the moon.

Just a Little History of Our 49th State

From Wikipedia we learn that “Alaska (IPA: /əˈlæskə/, Russian: Аляска) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent. It is the largest U.S. state by area (by a substantial margin), and one of the wealthiest (per capita) and most racially diverse.

The area that became Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for 7.2 million dollars (at 2 cents an acre). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912 and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was already introduced in the Russian colonial time, when it was only used for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland," or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed." It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.

Alaska is one of two U.S. states not bordered by another state, Hawaii being the other. Alaska has more coastline than all the other U.S. states combined. It is the only non-contiguous U.S. state on continental North America; about 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory separate Alaska from Washington State. Alaska is thus an exclave of the United States, part of the continental U.S. but is not part of the contiguous U.S. Alaska's capital city, though located on the mainland of the North American continent, is inaccessible by land — no roads connect Juneau to the rest of the North American highway system.

The state is bordered by Yukon Territory and British Columbia, Canada, to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Chukchi Sea to the west and the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the north.

Alaska is the largest state in the United States in land area at 570,380 square miles (1,477,277 km²), more than twice as large as Texas, the next largest state. It is larger than all but 18 sovereign nations.