Un-Cruise has never been one to follow the crowd, and nowhere is that more apparent than the line’s southeast Alaska itineraries that focus on exploring and experiencing the remote wilderness.
“I saw as many as 40 or 50 humpback whales bubble net feeding [a cooperative feeding technique where fish are trapped by bubbles] in one day,” said Tim Jacox, executive vice president of sales and marketing. “It’s an amazing sight when they break out of the water in unison!”
Jacox was on the Discoverers’ Glacier Country tour, where the schedule is flexible because the ships are not due at any standard ports.
“The wilderness doesn’t care what time we anchor,” Jacox said. “We are free and it’s a fabulous feeling to be in the middle of nowhere, sitting in a hot tub and drinking a glass of wine with only the natural sounds of the wild around you.”
To ensure that experience, Un-Cruise makes its ships are not together at night, although the captains constantly exchange information about where to find wildlife.
All seven of Un-Cruises’ ships offer this experience of the wilderness. The human culture of Alaska can be accessed at the beginning and end of their cruises in towns like Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau, but it is the extraordinary scenery and wildlife of Alaska that is the company’s focus.
Jacox said the key is keeping occupancy at or below 84 people, in order to easily get everyone out on kayaks, skiffs and paddleboards.
On the seven-night Discoverers’ Glacier Country cruise, two days are spent inside Glacier Bay National Park, where guests can go on shore and hike with a park ranger or kayak and explore glaciers by sea. Beachcombing and wilderness hikes in the Tongass National Forest immerse guests deeper into the Great Land.
“It’s a cumulative experience,” Jacox said. “Each day tops the day before and we end with the amazing glaciers in Endicott Arm or Glacier Bay.”
The Details
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