This was another cruise ship trip organized by Garrison Keillor. For us, it was a “no brainer” decision to go as we had a wonderful time on the previous year’s 2005 Canadian Maritime Cruise and this one started from Seattle. The cruise ship terminal was a 6 mile taxi ride from our West Seattle home.
We traveled on the Holland America cruise ship Zaandam, a 780 foot cruise ship accommodating 1430 guests. The itinerary was Seattle –> Juneau –> Glacier Bay –> Sitka –> Ketchikan –> Victoria –> Seattle. The Alaskan waterways on which we traveled and destinations we saw have since become very familiar to us after the many cruises we have done in our own vessel. Since we were also planning an extended trip in 2007 on 
our first boat, Dragontail, we viewed this cruise as a bit of a reconnaissance should that we be so fortunate to make it to Alaska (how naïve we were). As expected, the entertainment provided by the Prairie Home Companion cast and the ship board activities were outstanding. Probably 2/3’s of those onboard were repeats from the previous year’s cruise, so conversations were easy to have.
We did only one organized shore excursion and that was in Sitka to the St Lazaria Island wildlife refuge. It was well worth it and we’ve visited it several times since then.Our usual practice in the towns was to visit the marinas and “walk the docks” looking at boats. A real treat in Juneau was to find the vessel Windhorse, the first power boat built by noted marine designer Steve Dashew.
Ultimately, this first “cruise” to Alaska reinforced the steps we were taking to towards our current life style of extended cruising along Inside Passage.
