Alaska by cruise ship 2024
In the summer of 2024 we took a cruise to Alaska on the NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) Encore. It was amazing and I have to admit that even though I do not identify as a cruise person I had a great trip. The unique perspective offered by being on a floating high-rise was captivating rain or shine.
Our cruise included stops in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, and Victoria BC (British Columbia). My favorite was Skagway. The stops were not actually all that different from each other, but the weather, excursions, and pace made each unique. Sometimes the pace was just fog, sometimes fog and rain, sometimes a bit of sunshine and a hike. Skagway was the foggiest, which was a big plus for photography and I love rain and fog. Ketchikan was our best hiking and wildlife day.
Snapshot of the Norwegian Encore in port in Juneau Alaska... it is a BIG boat.
In Skagway, we hiked around to Yakutania Point and the trails near there. While it was a beautiful hike, the better view to photograph was actually from the boat looking across to the point draped in fog. There was bike rentals and electric bike rentals which I wish I'd seen sooner because that would have been a great way to see the town and the surrounding areas.
In Ketchikan we skipped the bus into town and hiked to Ward Lake. Once we got past the highway, it was an easy hike filled with wildlife, incredible beauty, and salmon berries. It was in Ketchikan that I got the great shots of the Stellar Jay eating blueberries… which was a bit of trick because it was too heavy for the blueberry bush. Most of the branches it landed on were not strong enough to hold it’s weight so it kept flying in grabbing a blueberry, flying away and repeating. Fun to watch, tricky to photograph. We also saw dear, bald eagles and a very large slug.
The great thing about the Alaska Cruise was that the view of the coast was always great but sometimes got even better. As a photographer, the cruise wasn’t photography focused, but it was impossible not to get great photos with the panoramic beauty of the Alaskan Coast. I shot almost everything with my 100-500mm which was the perfect focal length for the landscapes from the boat and swapped to my 50mm for walking around town.
If you are thinking of going on an Alaskan cruise to see wildlife, than keep in mind that the wildlife doesn’t get very close to the boat. Even though we saw lots of whales and puffins and gulls while cruising, the wildlife shots were mostly taken while hiking where we could find good spots and wait for the birds to come to us. By contrast almost all of my favorite landscape shots were from the boat.
wild Salmonberries
They were huge and tasty! We tried a few and left the rest for the birds.
There was so much to see that this trip get’s it’s own Gallery… You can scan through my favorite shots organized by the shade of grey 😁 or scroll through to see mini galleries with different focuses and captions. Enjoy.