Alaska 7 Night Cruise w/Silverseas

Day One

VANCOUVER - Vancouver, British Columbia, is known as Canada's emerald jewel for its lush rain forests. On a clear day, from downtown you can see the Strait of Georgia's blue-green waters, glacial fjords, islands, and mountains with snow caps and dense forests. The city is home to people from all over the world and has continued to draw many immigrants from China, other parts of Asia and around the world. Vancouver is relaxed and outdoorsy, yet cosmopolitan. It's also sports-minded, and its hockey fans cheer hard for their NHL Canucks. The city also boasts high-fashion boutiques, a vibrant arts scene and a fondness for health-conscious eating. The winter weather of gray skies and drizzle only emphasizes Vancouver's attractions at other times of the year.

Day Two

INSIDE PASSAGE - The Inside Passage is a protected seaway that stretches for more than 1,000 mi/1,600 km between the coast of southeast Alaska and a narrow string of islands to the west. It ends in Skagway, about 90 mi/145 km north of Juneau. The waterway has long been the favored sea route between Anchorage and the cities of Seattle and Vancouver because it's much calmer than the Pacific Ocean. It is also much shorter and easier than going overland via the Alaska Highway. The Inside Passage is the only link—other than by air—to Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka.

Day Three

KETCHIKAN - Ketchikan, Alaska, is the site of an ancient Tlingit fish camp and was a supply town during the gold rush. Ketchikan is about 3 mi/5 km long but only a couple of blocks deep. Located on the southwest shore of Revillagigedo Island, it's the first port of call into Alaska, hence its nickname, The First City. Ketchikan is considered an Alaska Native cultural center for the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes, as well as a sportfishing mecca. The town generally gets more than 150 in/388 cm of rain annually, but don't let the liquid sunshine (as residents prefer to call it) keep you inside—Ketchikan is worth exploring in any kind of weather.

Day Four

JUNEAU - Juneau, Alaska, enjoys a majestic setting in a narrow fjord with Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts towering above it. To the east is the vast expanse of glacial ice known as the Juneau Icefield, and to the west are the wilderness islands of the Inside Passage. Because of the natural beauty that surrounds the city—as well as its gold-rush-era buildings and many shops—this state capital is a popular tourist destination. In fact, Juneau is visited by more cruise ships than any other port in Alaska.

Day Five

SKAGWAY - Located at the northern end of the Inside Passage, Skagway, Alaska, emerged in the late 1890s as a makeshift gold-rush town of tents and shacks with a population of 8,000-10,000 adventurers who arrived by boat with supplies for the hellish trek overland to the Yukon gold fields. Of course, the town had its temptations, too: painted ladies, gambling houses and 80 saloons. A famous person from that time is Jefferson R. "Soapy" Smith, a con artist who ran Skagway and swindled new arrivals out of their savings. (He was killed in a shoot-out in 1898.) Today, Skagway's rushers arrive on cruise ships. Besides Juneau, Skagway is the most popular port in southeast Alaska. The town has become something of a gold-rush theme park: Much of Skagway has been painstakingly restored and designated as the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Although some may find Skagway overly cute and contrived (not to mention crowded when cruise ships are docked), the town can be a fun place to visit and relive the past with the friendly residents.

Day Six

SITKA - The setting of Sitka, Alaska, in a tranquil bay on Baranof Island, is nothing short of spectacular. Tiny islands dense with evergreen trees dot the blue-green water, which is crisscrossed by dozens of fishing boats. Looming over the town and waterfront is Mount Edgecumbe, a Mount Fuji look-alike located on a nearby island. Sitka also has a rich legacy of artifacts and traditions from the Alaska Native, Russian and early-U.S. eras. It is the ancestral home of the Kiksadi Tlingit people. In the 1800s, before Alaska was sold to the U.S., the town was a major Russian port, headquarters of the Russian-American Company, established to promote the fur trade, and the capital of Russian North America. Sitka has 24 listings on the National Register of Historic Places, seven of which are National Historical Landmarks, and Sitka was named one of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. But don't spend all your time touring historic buildings—Sitka also has an abundance of wildlife. Humpback whales frolic in the bay; massive brown bears and Sitka black-tailed deer roam through nearby forests of Sitka spruce and hemlock; and thousands of seabirds, including the rare rhinoceros auklet and tufted puffin, flock to St. Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge at the mouth of Sitka Sound.

Day Seven

HUBBARD GLACIER - Seventy-five miles long and covering over 1,350 square miles in area, the Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in North America. It is also one of the most impressive, a 300-foot wall of ice rising sheer and jagged from the ocean. You may hear the rumble and see the monumental splash as the glacier breaks off in great ice chunks, known as "calves."

Day Eight

ANCHORAGE (SEWARD) - Set along the protected waters of Resurrection Bay on the eastern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, Seward, Alaska, is a terminus for many Gulf of Alaska cruises and is a base for exploring nearby Kenai Fjords National Park. It's surrounded by forest and park preserves, snowcapped peaks, calving glaciers, waterfalls and cliffs. Visitors can easily reach Seward by air, cruise ship, ferry, motorcoach or car.