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Cruise West's Spirit of Discovery
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About the Virtual Cruise
Alaska's Inside Passage is one of the most popular of all cruise itineraries. Ninety percent of ships that trawl that scenic waterway call at Alaskan cities such as Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway -- and it's not uncommon to see three or more mega vessels, which these days are usually among cruise fleets' best and brightest, lined up at each destination.
But Cruise Critic's Steve Faber wanted to experience the Inside Passage in a different way. A veteran of a number of eco- and soft-adventure cruises, he was intrigued by Cruise West's Spirit of Discovery. This 84-passenger ship sails to small places along the Inside Passage in which bigger ships simply cannot fit.
Cruise along this nine-day, off-the-beaten-track adventure in our tape-delayed virtual (Steve traveled last week but because there was no onboard Internet access we're launching the feature now). Steve's nine installments will run through Friday, August 20 (with a break on the weekend).
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Day 1: Tuesday, Arrival in Juneau
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 Francois Truffault, the great French filmmaker, once said of filmmaking: "Making a movie is like traveling by stagecoach. You set out with great hopes and expectations; by the end of the journey you're satisfied just to have made it all the way to your destination."
Truffault could just as well have been speaking about my flights en route to Cruise West's Alaskan expedition cruise aboard the 84-passenger Spirit of Discovery. While most major cruise line "Inside Passage" sailings depart from Vancouver or Seattle, Spirit of Discovery (or SOD, as it's referred to by insiders and former passengers) maximizes its exploration time within Alaska by beginning its journey at Juneau. That's great news for the cruise portion of the journey, but it rated a 10-plus on the air travel fatigue meter, especially for someone like me who begins the trip a mere 80 miles from Key West, the most distant point from Juneau in the lower 48.
Even with the four-hour time difference between Juneau and the Eastern Time zone, the sheer distance covered coupled with a two-hour layover in Seattle makes a pre-cruise overnight obligatory. Since Cruise West operates the land-based Alaska Sightseeing, our transfer to the hotel included a mini-tour of Juneau, and Lincoln, our affable driver/tour guide, kept us informed and entertained with wacky anecdotes. Like this one: Alaska Airlines is the only commercial carrier to have experienced a midair collision ... with a fish. Seems that an Alaskan jet on climb-out crossed flight paths with a bald eagle who had just snagged a salmon. The startled eagle released his prey, which, in his little salmon brain, may have thought for a millisecond that he had escaped -- before splatting into the jet's windshield.
Our destination was the Goldbelt Hotel on Juneau's waterfront, right across the road from Cruise West's pier. Though boxy and plain -- neither contemporary and deluxe nor antique and historic like many of Juneau's turn-of-the-century (19th to 20th, that is!) frontier town hostelries closer to the center of town -- the Goldbelt does offer one major distinction. It, along with a number of other tourism assets, is 100 percent native-owned as a result of a complex arrangement between the state government and the Tlingit (pronounced "clink it") Indians that granted shares to all native-born tribe members. The result was a special feeling of warmth and welcome typical of the Tlingits.
After getting freshened up (no need to unpack with embarkation coming up tomorrow), I took a walk down Franklin St. and Egan Drive, Juneau's main drags, past the main cruise ship docks, currently berthing three large, conventional vessels. Juneau, like many Alaskan ports, is often thought of as a town built on the cruise industry, despite its rich pre-cruise era histories. And even though it is a prime destination for hunters, fisherman, birders and backpackers, it is true that the cruise industry accounts for 90 percent of its tourist trade.
It's no surprise that much of the downtown shopping is a carbon copy of any cruise port's emporia anywhere in the world: Little Switzerland, Diamonds International and their ilk, and enough Tanzanite on display to fill, well, Tanzania. But there are a number of stores offering items more characteristically local, especially those of Russian provenance: nesting dolls, Russian lacquer, silver icons and the like. Another draw for those on a quest to come home with unique jewelry is gold quartz, cut and polished from pieces of the stone that contains pure gold, though not enough to warrant extracting and refining. And, of course, the Ulu, a crescent-shaped knife (and every chef's "must have"), often coupled with a bowl-shaped cutting block, is great for chopping or mincing. Alaska Knifeworks, across the street from the legendary Red Dog Saloon, has a nice selection -- and they will ship.
Though it was getting close to 7 p.m., the sun was still high in the sky, the ships were still in port and the streets were still jammed with tourists. The weather was unusually warm, in the mid-seventies, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. The mood on the street was celebratory, especially the closer you got to the Red Dog. My choice was to try another restaurant, the Twisted Fish, one I hadn't experienced yet. The Twisted Fish sits right on the water, and was jamming with both locals and cruisers. I took a seat at the bar (which serves beer and wine only, no hard liquor), and ordered from the menu of local seafood and pub fare. After finishing off a couple of glasses of wine and a fresh salmon baked on a cedar plank -- and served with a gargantuan basket of crispy French fries -- I returned to the Goldbelt to catch some shut eye.
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