Alaskan Voyage on the Seabourn Odyssey

Day 1 - Board Cruise in Vancouver

Depart Vancouver on your amazing Seabourn Cruise

Day 1 - Cruise the Transit the Seymour Windows

The Seymour Narrows is a 3-mile/5 km stretch of the Discovery Channel north of Vancouver Island, British Columbia that is notorious for the strength of the tidal currents flowing through it. The average width of the narrows is just 750 meters. During extreme tides, the current through the narrows is subject to severe Venturi effect, resulting in an increased velocity that can reach 15 knots. The navigation of Seymour Narrows is dependent on tidal and other conditions and requires skill and technical accomplishment

Day 2 - Cruising the Queen Charlotte Sound

The Queen Charlotte Sound lies between the Queen Charlotte Strait, which winds between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland in the south, and Hecate Strait, which is northward, adjacent to the Haida Gwaii Islands off the Pacific coast of British Columbia. It is a broad reach in the long shipping route called the Inside Passage threading the myriad islands stretching from Washington’s Puget Sound to Alaska.

Day 3 - Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan is a picturesque coastal town with a colourful frontier history, standing at the southern entrance to Alaska's famed Inside Passage. It began as a salmon cannery in 1885 and was once dubbed the 'Canned Salmon Capital of the World,’ today government, commercial fishing, and tourism are its main industries.

The town’s site first served as a camp for Tlingit people, and for thousands of years this has been their home.  Their rich culture is being preserved to this day. A visit to Ketchikan is not complete without visiting one or all Native American sites such as Totem Bight State Park, Potlatch Park, Saxman Native Village, and the Totem Heritage Centre. Together, these locations comprise the world's largest collection of standing Native American totem poles.

Day 3 - Transit Snow Pass

In the passage between Sumner Strait and Clarence Strait in Southeast Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago, midway between Price of Wales Island on the west and Zarembo Island on the east, is a small cluster of islands with a picturesque passageway between them called Snow Pass. It makes a scenic up-close route for your Seabourn ship during the transit.

Day 3 - Transit Decision Passage

Decision Passage is the western end of the Sumner Strait, which runs through the Alexander Archipelago into the Pacific Ocean in South-eastern Alaska, bounded on the north by Kuiu Island and Cape Decision, the location of a 1932 lighthouse. This is the route your ship takes when coming from or going to the colourful historic community of Sitka on the west coast of Baranof Island.

Day 4 - Sitka, Alaska

A stroll through the streets and National Historic Park of Sitka is a glimpse into its unique and colourful past. A blend of Tlingit and Russian cultures defines this first capital of Alaska. Fishing, canning and gold mining were the initial catalysts for growth in Sitka, One of Sitka's most intriguing structures is the Cathedral of Saint Michael, built in 1848 to honour a Russian Orthodox bishop.

Day 5 - Glacier Bay

Designated as an International World Heritage Site in 1992, Glacier Bay is also a National Monument, a National Park, and a designated Biosphere Reserve. Over millennia, Glacier Bay has experienced many major advances of its glaciers.

Keep a look out for black and brown bears, wolves, moose, eagles, and ravens as they all go about their daily routines, while harbour seals and whales frolic within the bay waters.

Glacier Bay has two major arms, East and West, and over fifty named glaciers, some of which push forward at three to six feet per day. Combined with Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Canada’s Kluane National Park and Alsek-Tatshenshini Park, Glacier Bay encompasses the largest protected wilderness area on earth. This is a truly a place of awe-inspiring beauty and an icon of wild Alaska.

Day 6 - Inian Island, Alaska

As the gatekeepers to the northern entrance of the fabled Inside Passage, the remote Inian Islands stand between Cross Sound and Icy Strait, exposed to the high energy seas of the Pacific Ocean. Tidal currents surging through the narrow channels separating the islands can be severe. Nicknames like ‘The Laundry Chute’ justify their notorious reputations.

Sitka black-tailed deer and brown bears frequent their rugged and rocky shores, while sea lions fill their stomachs with salmon before hauling out to rest on the many rocky outcrops making up this island group. Sea otters, bald eagles, and humpback whales frequent the area in great numbers during the summer months.

Day 6 - Icy Strait Point, Alaska

Icy Strait Point is a unique community on Chichagof Island near the entry to Glacier Bay National Park. It was created and is owned by a corporation of over 1300 Native Americans of various local Tlingit tribes, for the purpose of offering visitors an enjoyable, educational experience of Alaska’s native cultures, as well as the human and natural history of the region.

Your tender will dock at the historic 1912 salmon canning facility, which today is a museum. The surrounding grounds offer cultural performances, Native American-owned shops and galleries, restaurants and a variety of tours and excursions for every interest from sport fishing to whale watching, guided nature walks and excursions to view bears and other wildlife, ATV tours and even a zipline adventure that is said to be the longest (over a mile) and highest (over 1330 feet of drop) in North America.

The small village of Hoonah is just over a mile away and can be reached either by walking or on a shuttle. It also has shops and eateries, as well as a totem-carving enterprise run by the corporation. The Huna Totem Corporation maintains complete control of the content and access to the community, which has won a few prestigious awards for its sustainable approach to exploiting the natural and historical heritage of Alaska and its native peoples for their benefit.

Day 7 - Haines, Alaska

Tucked in along the shores of the longest fjord in North America and surrounded by breath-taking scenery, Haines is an authentic Alaskan experience. It is an eclectic community and a truly hidden gem. Its rich culture shines brightly during the annual state fair that draws people from all over Alaska.

Haines is home to the largest concentration of bald eagles on earth, and grizzly bears gorge themselves on spawning salmon in its rivers. It was originally named Dteshuh, which means 'end of the trail' in the language of the Chilkat natives, who used to portage across the peninsula to Chilkat Inlet as a shortcut to their trade route to the interior.

Day 7 - Cruising the Lynn Canal

Lynn Canal is a 90-mile-long inlet into Alaska’s coast running from the Chilkat River in the north to the Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage in the south. Because it connects the towns of Skagway and Haines to Juneau and the rest of the Inside Passage, it is an important shipping lane for ferries, cargo, and cruise ships, and was a crucial passageway to the Klondike gold fields during the Gold Rush. More than 2,000 feet in depth, it is one of the deepest and longest fjords in the world, and the deepest in North America outside Greenland.

Day 8 - Juneau, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska’s capital, is accessible only by air and sea, due to the rugged mountain terrain that surrounds the city. It has been a world-class travel destination since the early 1900’s. The city has plenty to offer the outdoor adventurer. You may choose to explore on foot along the Perseverance Trail or around Mendenhall Glacier, or board one of the many local whale-watching boats or view the mountains and extensive glaciers of the Juneau Icefield from a helicopter.

Speak to your consultant about off-shore excursions. 

Day 9 - Glacier Bay

Designated as an International World Heritage Site in 1992, Glacier Bay is also a National Monument, a National Park, and a designated Biosphere Reserve. Over millennia, Glacier Bay has experienced many major advances of its glaciers.

Temperate, coniferous rainforest dominates its southern shores. Black and brown bears, wolves, moose, eagles, and ravens all go about their daily routines, while harbour seals and whales frolic within the bay waters.

Glacier Bay has two major arms, East and West, and over fifty named glaciers, some of which push forward at three to six feet per day. Combined with Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Canada’s Kluane National Park and Alsek-Tatshenshini Park, Glacier Bay encompasses the largest protected wilderness area on earth. This is a truly a place of awe-inspiring beauty and an icon of wild Alaska.

Day 9 - Cruising Stephens Passage

One of the straightest stretches of the Inside Passage is the Stephens Passage just south of Juneau, a 105-mile channel between 5,000-foot peaks that cuts through the Alexander Archipelago between Admiralty Island on the west and the mainland and Douglas Island on the east. It is a good place to be on deck, because Admiralty boasts more bears than people, and the spruce and hemlock forests come right down to the water. The Passage is generally considered some of the best whale-watching water in Alaska, and holds plentiful populations of huge Steller sea lions, as well as flocks of gulls and guillemots that clatter aloft as the ship passes.

Day 10 - Transit Decisions Passage

Decision Passage is the western end of the Sumner Strait, which runs through the Alexander Archipelago into the Pacific Ocean in South-eastern Alaska, bounded on the north by Kuiu Island and Cape Decision, the location of a 1932 lighthouse. This is the route your ship takes when coming from or going to the colourful historic community of Sitka on the west coast of Baranof Island.

Day 10 - Wragell, Alaska

One of the thousands of islands of the Alexander Archipelago, Wrangell Island sits at the heart of the Tongass National Rain Forest and receives approximately 80” (203 cm) of rain per year. The city of Wrangell, a true Alaskan frontier town, sits at the northern end of the island, a short distance from the mouth of the mighty Stikine River. The history of Wrangell is deeply rooted in the Tlingit people, the fur trade, and the gold rush. The Stikine River trade route brought the Tlingit people here thousands of years ago, evidenced by some forty petroglyphs at Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site and Totem Park.

The Stikine River, Shakes Glacier and Anan Creek Bear Observatory are highlights in the region. Anan Creek boasts the largest pink salmon run of the Inside Passage, attracting brown and black bears in great numbers.

Day 10 - Cruising the Strikine Strait

Stikine Strait is a picturesque channel in the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska between Zarembo Island and Woronkofski and Etolin Islands near the mouth of the Stikine River south of Wrangell. 

Day 11 - Rudyerd Bay (Misty Fjords) Ventures By Seabourn Only

The Misty Fjords vertical granite cliffs, which reach 3,000’ (900 m) above sea level, descend another 1,000’ (300 m) below the water’s surface. Carved by glaciers and covered in a green carpet of mosses and lichens, Misty Fjords receives more than 150” (381 cm) of rain per year. Western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and western red cedar dominate the prolific vegetation along its shore. Mountain goats, brown and black bears, coastal wolves, sea lions, bald eagles, ravens, Dall's porpoises, orca and humpback whales can be spotted along its shorelines and throughout its waters.

The Tlingit people lived and moved throughout this region, surviving on what the land provided. Evidence of their historic and ongoing presence is recorded in the many pictographs found along the shores of Misty Fjords.

Day 11 - Scenic Cruising of the Misty Fjords

Misty Fjords National Monument is a section of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska’s extreme south-eastern Panhandle region. The monument consists of over two million acres of deeply cut fjords cradled in U-shaped valleys between mountain ranges rising 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level. The fjords themselves extend as much as 1,000 feet below the surface. These granite ranges are covered with virgin forest, and most of the monument is also a dedicated wilderness area. Misty Fjords inspired the explorer John Muir to proclaim them among the most beautiful places he had ever seen. Your ship will cruise among these spectacular forests, waterfalls, and mountains. The onboard Ventures by Seabourn team will offer optional excursions including kayaking the fjords and a short sightseeing floatplane flight. 

Day 12 - Prince Rupert, British Columbia

Prince Rupert is set amongst the coastal mountains of Canada.  Highlights include the quaint Cow Bay with its shops and restaurants, the Museum of Northern British Columbia, the totem carving house or the stunning sunken gardens.

Prince Rupert certainly has abundant wildlife. Whether you join a local boat for whale-watching, hike along the Butze Rapids or take a scenic flight, you are sure to be pleased. The region is home to the highest concentration of grizzly bears in North America. The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, established in 1994, was the first area in Canada to be protected specifically for grizzlies and their habitat.

Day 13 - Scenic Cruising Grenville Channel

Grenville Channel is a long, well-protected channel along the northern British Columbia coast between the large Pitt Island and the mainland. It is an important shipping lane, and you are likely to see ships of many different types and sizes as you pass through. The shores are mountainous on both sides, with two notable peaks about halfway through, Mt. Batchellor on the east side and Mt. Saunders on Pitt Island to the west. There are a few Indian Reserves and Marine Parks in the mountains and narrow waterways off the channel.

Day 13 - Scenic Cruising Whale Channel

Whale Channel is a picturesque waterway separating Gil Island from Princess Royal Island in British Columbia’s Inside Passage. Surrounded by snow-capped mountain ranges and teeming with marine life, It is a diversion from the main shipping lane, located roughly halfway between Prince Rupert and the First Nations village of Klemtu.

Day 13 - Scenic Cruising Princess Royal Channel

The Princess Royal Channel separates the largest island along British Columbia’s coast from the mainland. It is located roughly halfway between Bella Bella in the south and Prince Rupert in the north, in one of the province’s most remote areas.  The island is uninhabited, although there are two small villages in the channel, the First Nations community of Klemtu on Swindle Island and Hartley Bay on the mainland. Wildlife, by contrast, is plentiful, including Kermode, black and grizzly bears, deer, wolves and foxes. Golden and bald eagles’ nest in the region, as well as the endangered marbled murrelet. In the waters, there are abundant salmon, elephant seals, whales, orcas and dolphins.

Day 14 - Alert Bay, British Columbia

Located on the now-dormant Alert Bay volcanic belt, Cormorant Island is host to Vancouver Island's oldest northern community, the small town of Alert Bay. It is in the traditional territory of the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation and today is a blend of both aboriginal and pioneer culture.

A walk along the shores of this tiny 0.69-square mile (1.8 sq. km) island will amaze you with its history, spectacular views, and abundant wildlife. Remnants of its former fish-salting plant from the 1800's remain along the harbour. The U'mista Cultural Centre is Canada's longest-running First Nations museum and home to the famed Potlach Collection. Seabirds, humpback, orca, and grey whales, sea lions and white-sided dolphins are all present in the surrounding waters.

Day 14 - Scenic Cruising Johnstone Strait

Johnstone Strait is a well-protected shipping route passing 68 miles/110 km along the northeast shore of Vancouver Island between the island and the mainland of British Columbia. The strait is between 1 ½ miles and 3 miles wide and leads from the broad Georgia Strait through a narrow channel called Discovery Passage. The Johnstone Strait is the summer range of a large pod of seasonally resident orcas which are frequently seen in the area.

Day 14 - Transit the Seymour Narrows

The Seymour Narrows is a 3-mile/5 km stretch of the Discovery Channel north of Vancouver Island, British Columbia that is notorious for the strength of the tidal currents flowing through it. The average width of the narrows is just 750 meters. During extreme tides, the current through the narrows is subject to severe Venturi effect, resulting in an increased velocity that can reach 15 knots Still, the navigation of Seymour Narrows is dependent on tidal and other conditions and requires skill and technical accomplishment.

Day 15 - Depart Cruise in Vancouver

Today marks the end of your Seabourn Cruise.