How I Traveled to Alaska for My First Alaska Cruise…Without Flying
A mere 4,254.81 miles. That’s the distance from Orlando, Florida to Juneau, Alaska where I would begin the first of many Alaska cruises. More miles than crossing the Atlantic aboard Queen Mary 2.
That’s probably why I hadn’t ever been to the Last Frontier. It’s easier for me to go to the U.K. by ship than this convoluted route to Alaska. A challenge? Yes..but a whole lot of fun.
How I Traveled to Alaska Without Flying!
To get to Alaska, it took six Amtrak trains, four hotels and two very large ferry boats. Finally I arrived into Juneau where my first Alaska cruise began.
I think it was easier for Gold Rush prospectors to get to Juneau than for me! Why? In the late 1890s, there was a weekly steamboat from San Francisco straight north all the way to Nome. That’s how on June 14, 1900, Wyatt Earp and his wife Josie made it all the way to Nome aboard the S.S. Alliance.
All of this for one magical week on an Alaska cruise to explore hidden coves and magnificent glaciers aboard Alaskan Dream Cruises and their 74-passenger expedition ship, Chichagof Dream.
READ NEXT: My Chichagof Dream Review
As I cobbled together this awesome adventure, (“A Laskin Adventure”), I learned one big fact: Alaska is made up of 2,670 islands. Almost all of the major cities in Southeast Alaska are called “roadless communities”.
This means you can’t get to Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and many more towns, by car. Thus, the Alaska Marine Highway System was created.
What’s the Alaska Marine Highway?
I think of the Alaska Marine Highway as something similar to Norway’s marine transportation system. The Alaska Marine Highway is a fleet of heavy-duty vessels that ply the coastline, delivering mail and goods, transporting residents and tourists.
In the lower 48, there are two Alaska Marine Highway ships that depart from Bellingham Washington. From Bellingham the route follows some 3,500 miles of coastline to remote Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Chain.
The route is so unique that is has been designated a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road. It’s the only marine route with this designation.
RELATED: How and What to Pack for an Alaska Cruise
It Took Six Amtrak Trains to Get to the Ferry
Trains in order of their appearance: Amtrak Silver Meteor, Capitol Limited, California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, another Coast Starlight, and the Cascades into Bellingham, Washington.
As you can sort of guess, the first Amtrak leg is Orlando, Florida to Washington, DC. We arrived very early, around 7am. But Washington’s Union Station was already bustling with commuters. I had a continental breakfast at Prêt à Manger. McDonald’s is also open early.
The nice thing about traveling in a sleeping compartment is having access to the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge or Acela Lounge, depending on the city. While you’re not supposed to bring outside food into the Lounge (smell factor more than litter, I’d guess), I have no problem bringing a coffee and pastry or a yogurt.
I stowed my luggage in the Acela lounge, using my nifty little cable lock to tie the handles of my suitcases together. While it’s not steal-proof, it would surely slow down a potential thief.
There’s plenty of time in-between trains for me to walk around Washington and stop in a one of the Smithsonian Museums. Last time, I bolted from the station straight away to a perfect replica of Julia Child’s kitchen in Boston, at the American History Museum.
Dining on the Capitol Limited
Next Amtrak train – eight hours later. I boarded the Capitol Limited, overnight to Chicago, my hometown. Because of budget cuts (pre-Covid), there was no dining car, no table service or freshly cooked food.
The replacements were cold, boxed, heavily-salted meals. On this run, I had two meals; dinner and breakfast. Coffee was hot and I was in my own room. The good news today is that there’s now a dining car for sleeping car passengers to eat their meals and the packaged food has greatly improved.
Spending Time in Sweet Home Chicago
I spent four days in Chicago at my daughter’s apartment in Lincoln Park. There was time to meet up with my high school girl friends, eat at a couple of my favorite Chicago restaurants and do a load of wash.
Then, the real cross-country race began.
Aboard the California Zephyr
I boarded the incredibly scenic California Zephyr for two nights from Chicago to Sacramento, CA. Close to 50 hours later, my California Zephyr train arrived into Sacramento, California about noon. Since my connecting northbound train, the famous Coast Starlight, didn’t leave until 11:59pm, I had 10 hours to wait.
This was the third time taking the Zephyr to Sacramento, so I knew to reserve a hotel room for the day at the Vagabond Inn. It’s a very short walk across the street from the train station.
Even though I wasn’t spending an overnight, I had a place to relax, take a shower and have dinner.
To pass the time, I went for my third visit to the California State Railway Museum. They close at 5pm so I had to quickly drop my luggage at the hotel, and hurry along for a 10 minute walk to the museum.
If you’re a train buff, this is an incredible museum. How they managed to get some of these old, old, old engines indoors is beyond imagination.
All aboard at midnight on the Coast Starlight. The Vagabond Hotel arranged a ride for me to the station – it’s not a safe walk late at night for a solo female traveler.
The next morning I left the train in southern Oregon to visit some friends for two nights. Then it was back on another Coast Starlight to Portland. Why not all the way to Bellingham for the ferry?
The Coast Starlight only goes as far as Seattle not further north to Bellingham, Washington. So it’s one overnight at a hotel in Portland and the next day board Amtrak Cascades to Bellingham.
One more hotel night in Bellingham and then…
MV Columbia to Alaska
For the last leg of this exhaustive cross-country marathon, I boarded the 499-passenger MV Columbia in Bellingham, just south of our border with Canada. MV Columbia travels the entire 3,500 miles of the Alaska Marine Highway mainline route, whose beginning and end ports are the only ports actually accessible by roads.
I needed an Alaska cruise to begin my first Alaska cruise. Crazy, huh.
Alaska is so huge that it takes three days to cruise along the Alaska Marine Highway system to reach my first Alaska port stop in Ketchikan. Granted we don’t go very fast and the ship makes several stops along the way.
I arranged an AirBnB for two nights in Ketchikan. That was just enough time to get out and explore.
To get from Ketchikan to Juneau, I took the 450-passenger MV Malaspina and relaxed in my little en suite sleeping compartment for a whole 18 hours! Finally, I arrived at Juneau at 6:15am! Again, I had arranged for an AirBnB but this time for an entire week.
It seemed logical to spend a few days there, seeing how Juneau is the state capital and surrounded by incredible wilderness.
Alaskan Dream Cruises Chichagof Dream
After a land and sea trek of more than 4,254.81 miles, I finally set foot aboard the Chichagof Dream. Our Alaska cruise itinerary was scheduled to visit six ports, involved milk hiking, gently kayaking, an outdoor BBQ, cultural enrichment and of course, Alaskan fish and seafood.
How I packed for an Alaska cruise
I wish I had known. I mean, I knew to pack warm clothes, gloves, hat etc. But who knew it would be 80 degrees! Even Chicago was cooler than Alaska.
I bought a new 300mm Nikkor lens, funny-looking wool blend socks and my first-ever hiking shoes, with Alaska Blue trim. Even though I live in Florida, my winter river cruises in Europe always resulted in buying a new puffy down coat over there. It’s the little obscure things to pack for an Alaska cruise that only someone who’s been on an Alaska cruise would know to bring. I’m putting a checklist together now.
Was all this worth the nearly two-weeks of travel to get here? Yes! In fact, I loved Alaska so much that I ended up staying for six weeks. Then I repeated almost the same route to get home.
Read Next: How I Almost Missed the Train to Get to Alaska from Florida
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