0:15

Hello and welcome back to CruiseCompete's cruise

0:17

podcast where we share tips, ideas,

0:19

and inspiration to help make your next

0:22

cruise a fantastic experience. I'm

0:24

your host Bob Levinstein. Today's

0:27

topic is a different type of Alaska cruise

0:29

on a small ship adventure line called

0:31

Uncruise Adventures. My

0:34

guest is ms Debi Lander , a freelance

0:36

travel writer and photographer who specializes

0:39

in travel, food and lifestyle. Her

0:41

work focuses on historic and cultural sites,

0:44

culinary experiences and adventure

0:46

travel among other

0:48

publications. You can find through articles and experiences

0:50

on Allthingscruise .com as

0:53

well as her website bylanderbysea.com. We'll

0:57

be right back with Debi right after this.

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2:06

My guest today is Ms. Debi Lander, a travel writer

2:08

and photographer this

2:10

past spring Debi experienced Alaska aboard

2:13

the Uncruise Adventure small ship Legacy

2:15

along with her partner J ohn. Debi,

2:18

welcome to the program.

2:20

Thank you for having me. Oh,

2:22

you bet. Really excited to hear about this.

2:25

So I understand you had a chance to explore Juneau

2:27

before boarding your ship. What was

2:29

that experience like ?

2:31

I did, but first I should tell you

2:33

that this was my very first trip

2:35

to Alaska, so I was

2:37

very excited about being

2:39

in our 49th state. Juneau

2:43

itself is just one of those kind of cool

2:46

old gold rush towns. It's

2:48

on the side of a mountain and

2:50

u h, checked out a couple of the good bars

2:53

there, but I also

2:55

checked out the C apitol building

2:57

because J uno is the of

2:59

Alaska and

3:01

I was able to go in and

3:04

actually managed to see a

3:06

vote in both the house

3:08

and the Senate chambers. O h yeah.

3:11

That was very neat, you know, and

3:14

then, u m, unproved provided

3:16

complimentary tickets to the tramway.

3:19

So I walked down there and I took the tram

3:21

up pretty high above

3:23

the city and you just get this fantastic

3:26

panoramic view was wonderful.

3:29

Nice. So you were actually

3:31

welcomed to your cruise by the owner

3:33

of the cruise line. That's gotta

3:35

make you feel a like a well, like a valued

3:37

customer I would think.

3:39

Well we were welcomed by Dan

3:43

Blanchard himself who was the owner of on cruise

3:45

. He is quite a guy. Some

3:47

people in fact call him Mr. Alaska.

3:52

He lives in Juneau and he

3:54

I guess he's always been connected with both.

3:57

He was first a boating importer

3:59

and , and then at some point

4:02

he became a day cruise

4:04

captain in Glacier Bay. And

4:07

claims that that was a life changing

4:10

, assignment that he fell

4:12

in love with Alaska and eventually

4:15

was able to work for

4:17

a small mapping line and then,

4:20

you know, progress that into

4:22

small ships. And now he's

4:25

the owner of Uncruise.

4:26

Wow. So

4:28

you have sailed , both large ships and

4:31

small ones. What , what made you choose

4:33

UnCruise to see Alaska?

4:36

Well, I really think the advantage

4:38

of Uncruise in Alaska

4:40

is the fact that it is a small ship.

4:43

It can go where others

4:45

are, certainly where those big ships can't

4:47

fell. And

4:49

then the other thing that really appealed to

4:51

me was getting off and

4:54

being active. Um,

4:57

you know, if it's not a, this

4:59

is not a sit back and just watch

5:01

the sunset cruise, this is get out there

5:03

and do something every day .

5:05

I , uh, I, I understand where you're

5:07

coming from. That's a , that's the kind of vacation

5:09

that I tend to buffer as well. So

5:11

tell us about the ship and your cabin

5:14

and what people can expect.

5:16

We're used to being on large cruise ships. You know, what's

5:18

different , uh , what's the same

5:21

, uh , what do you have to prepare yourself for if

5:23

you decide to go that route?

5:26

Well, first of all, I was on the

5:28

SS Legacy, which is a copy

5:30

of an 1898 gold

5:33

rush. Steamboat. It's a very

5:35

cool looking boat from the exterior.

5:39

Um, the interior carries kind of along

5:41

with that theme, there's like

5:43

a Victorian theme and the in the lobby

5:45

and then the restaurant. But

5:47

the cabins themselves are , um

5:50

, modern. I would

5:52

tell you that they're not luxurious, but

5:56

, um, certainly more

5:58

than adequate. My cabin

6:00

had two single beds and

6:03

, um, the shower right up , I

6:05

mean a bathroom with shower and

6:08

then right outside the door is the balcony.

6:10

So you felt like you had

6:12

your balcony, but you know, it wasn't absolutely

6:15

your own. Got it. Um,

6:18

the one thing I guess that people

6:20

need to realize is that

6:22

, um, there's not very much

6:24

wifi in the inner

6:26

passage of Alaska. So

6:29

it doesn't really matter whether you're on a big

6:31

boat or a small boat. There's just not going

6:33

to be great wifi.

6:36

Okay.

6:37

Oh , so what's that ? What were the other passengers like

6:39

? Well, the other passengers,

6:42

I was curious about that. Um,

6:45

and then I've w like me, I'm

6:47

a boomer, I will say predominantly

6:50

this cruise was boomers , um,

6:54

successful business people,

6:57

you know , um, no kids and

7:01

uh , and very, very friendly. This worked

7:03

out that way.

7:05

Okay .

7:06

I'm not sure if it's allowed except

7:08

maybe during summer months. Got

7:11

it. But I'm not positive

7:13

on that. We had no kids on the cruise

7:15

I was on.

7:16

Got it. So

7:19

mostly , um , successful

7:22

go get her is healthy. You want to get out there

7:24

and uh ,

7:26

yeah. And access active.

7:29

Well I guess you've probably got a lot of just sort of interesting stories

7:31

and interesting people who've traveled

7:33

through a lot of different places.

7:35

Absolutely. Yeah. It's , it, you

7:37

know, it's, it was a really , um,

7:41

communicative group because we all

7:43

sort of just bonded with each other and , and

7:45

telling stories like that. Where have you been?

7:47

And , um, you know, what

7:50

other cruises have you been on? So

7:53

right about how many, how many people on

7:55

the ship total?

7:56

Well, the ship holds a

7:59

maximum of 90, but I

8:01

went and the very first week

8:03

of the Alaskan cruises. So

8:06

we were maybe just two thirds

8:08

of that. Um, but

8:11

I will tell you that we

8:13

were the only ship out there, which

8:15

was really very cool.

8:17

Oh , that's neat. And so you get to see

8:19

, um , you also get to see the same people locked in

8:21

and get to know them a little better than you would on her .

8:24

Yes. Yeah, it was a small group.

8:27

Right . So how was the, how was the food

8:29

and the service and how do they handle all the

8:31

, uh , the dining and things like that?

8:34

Well, the food was, I think very

8:36

good. If it to me would be

8:39

like, if I'd go to a fine restaurant.

8:41

Now I'm not saying it's Michelin

8:43

five stars, but it was very

8:46

good food and you always had

8:48

a choice , um,

8:51

early risers and I'm one of those

8:54

you could find and, and

8:56

you know , um, start or

8:58

breakfast in the lounge, no matter how early

9:01

you got up. And

9:03

as I mentioned, there are a lot of, a lot of early risers.

9:05

That's true. Yeah. Right. Um,

9:09

the cocktail, the bar is complimentary

9:12

and um, I forget, but I think

9:14

it opens at 11 in the morning. It seemed

9:16

like it was always open. Um

9:19

, and they did have a pastry chef,

9:21

so we had excellent, excellent dessert.

9:24

And , um, one night

9:27

there was a a all you can eat

9:29

Alaskan crab leg dinner.

9:32

That was a big hit with everybody.

9:36

Wow .

9:37

Um, of course, you know, salmon

9:39

, you're in Alaska. I happen

9:42

to like salmon, so I think I had it

9:44

twice during the week.

9:46

Nice .

9:48

Yeah . A surprise. Wake up call at two in the morning is

9:50

usually not a good thing. But I hear you had

9:53

a very pleasant surprise the

9:55

first night you were on board .

9:57

I did. Um, we

9:59

were awakened in our cabins

10:02

by some announcements. Um,

10:05

there was an Aurora Borealis outside

10:08

and I've never seen one. So I

10:10

just quickly throw on my jacket

10:12

and I don't know my boots or something

10:14

and ran out there. And um,

10:17

now I will say it wasn't like

10:19

the fabulous pictures

10:22

you see of the really saturated

10:24

colors in the sky. This was

10:26

more like this just super

10:29

amazing glow in the sky.

10:32

It's um, it's definitely

10:34

a picture that's hard to describe, but certainly

10:36

I will, we'll keep it in my

10:39

memory bank always. It was a wonderful

10:41

experience.

10:42

I've been to Alaska twice. I still have not

10:44

seen in rural Borealis , so I'm

10:46

a little envious there.

10:48

Okay .

10:49

Well I want to go back and see, see

10:51

, you know, one of those real you really great

10:53

colorful ones.

10:55

[inaudible] like that and you know, then you can figure

10:57

out how much of the, the pictures you've seen

10:59

or people messing with their saturation

11:01

say. So

11:05

, uh , the owner of the line is an expert in

11:07

glacier Bay as you mentioned, and I guess

11:09

you guys spent two days there. What were

11:12

some of the highlights?

11:14

Well, glacier Bay is

11:16

kind of everything that I envisioned

11:19

Alaska being. It was

11:21

pristine landscaped snow

11:24

covered peaks, crystal

11:26

clear blue water , um,

11:29

just, you know, a dramatic

11:32

view every which

11:34

way you turned. Again,

11:36

we were the only strip out there so

11:38

that , that was like we had the entire park

11:40

to ourselves . Um,

11:44

I had never seen a

11:46

glacier before and

11:48

, um , we got a chance to get up close

11:50

and actually watch them chaff

11:52

, which is where they break off in the

11:55

part , falls down into the, to the water

11:57

and see, you know, icebergs floating.

12:01

Um, my ,

12:03

did I do what? Did you do a glacier hike

12:06

on the wisher ?

12:08

No. Well, yes, we did. Yeah . Um,

12:11

yeah, we did. We did. I'm sorry, I forgot.

12:13

Did you put on the crampons on

12:16

your shoes? Just for a little

12:18

section. That's, that was my,

12:20

I did one up in , uh , in Canton

12:23

, Canada and the Canadian Rockies. And

12:25

just that , just that physical sensation

12:27

of the sort of crunching along on this big ice

12:30

field with the, the , um, the

12:32

fresh water coming down and reveal it . Just,

12:37

it is, it is. It's, it's pure

12:39

Alaska. You know, I have

12:41

to tell you what my best memory is

12:44

from glacier Bay, and

12:46

that is the polar plunge. I

12:50

, um, decided I was there and

12:53

I might never get to go back again. So

12:55

I put on my bathing suit and I

12:58

jumped off the back of the

13:00

deck when they were doing it into 38

13:02

degree water. It

13:05

was thrilling. It was thrilling. I popped

13:08

out very, very quickly, but I would

13:10

do it again. It was, it was awesome.

13:13

That sounds amazing. So

13:16

obviously one of the

13:18

big attractions of Alaska is the wildlife

13:21

and you guys saw some fantastic

13:23

Marine and land wildlife

13:25

on your trip. Do you want to tell our listeners

13:27

about that?

13:29

Again, it was not disappointing.

13:32

Um, the very, very first day

13:34

I'm on a skiff or like a little tender

13:37

going out for a hike and

13:39

all of a sudden we slow down and

13:41

then stop . Uh, we

13:44

couldn't go on our planned hike because there

13:46

was a bear on the shore fishing.

13:50

So that was like, okay, we really are in

13:52

Alaska. Um, another

13:55

time we saw humpback whales

13:58

that were just, it was like they were

14:00

putting on a show, they were breaching

14:03

over and over and over again

14:05

for over, you know , 40 minutes. It

14:08

, it was just

14:10

phenomenal. And

14:13

everybody I

14:16

know and everybody was so excited

14:18

about it. And talking about it. And

14:21

then the captain comes on when we just

14:23

sit down to dinner and says, sorry

14:25

folks. But I think you might want to know. There's a

14:28

pod of orcas out there. Everybody

14:31

liked dashed down in the dining room, started,

14:34

you know, looking at the pod of orcas

14:37

. So that was another really

14:39

cool thing. We also saw

14:41

, um, goats like mountain goats

14:43

, um, sea lions

14:46

that were basking in the sun on this one

14:48

particular Island. And

14:50

then day when we were out on the skiff

14:53

, um, these purposes

14:55

, I think they're called doll purposes.

14:57

Big ones. They, they just

15:00

like escorted our boat along.

15:02

It was like they were our private, you

15:05

know, escorts.

15:06

Okay ,

15:08

very cool. And then , Oh, of course there's, there's

15:10

many body bald Eagles there and

15:13

other birds.

15:14

Okay , amazing.

15:18

This was a very active trip. Uh , skiffs

15:21

and high acts , sorry, kayak

15:23

and hiking trails. Uh, what were some of your

15:25

favorite hikes in a, in outdoor activities

15:28

that you did?

15:30

Well, I just really love being

15:32

able to get out and, and, and

15:34

see real Alaska, you

15:36

know, not just what I could see from

15:39

the boat, but actually to go

15:41

bushwhacking back in, in

15:43

the brush. Um, we took

15:45

some hiking trails that led

15:47

to scenic waterfalls.

15:50

You again, you couldn't see them from

15:52

the ship. You had to get off the boat

15:55

and do these. Um,

15:57

and then the skiff tours, sometimes

16:00

the skiff tours went out so that we could

16:02

get a more up close look at

16:04

some of the whales or the glaciers.

16:08

Um, and they were amazing as well. So

16:10

I , I don't, I had loved all

16:12

the outings.

16:14

So tell me, tell me about the guides and the folks

16:16

who are escorting you around and , and

16:18

doing the education.

16:20

Well, almost everybody on

16:23

this ship, unlike most other ships

16:25

I've ever been on, the crew was American

16:28

or Canadian. Um,

16:31

and um, you

16:34

know, this is what they live

16:36

for. They are true naturalists'

16:39

and they're very into , um,

16:42

the scenery, the wildlife, they

16:44

make sure they take very good care

16:46

of you. Um, so

16:49

they were, they were a tremendous help.

16:52

Nice.

16:54

So what were the , uh , the evenings of worship like?

16:57

Yeah.

16:58

Well, again, if you're going to compare this

17:00

to a big ship with professional entertainment,

17:03

there is none on an on cruise. It's

17:05

a very low key , um , environment

17:08

in the evening. Some people

17:10

will play card games together.

17:13

A couple of times we had a speaker

17:16

or a photography slide show

17:18

. Um, but this is

17:20

a group that , uh, was active

17:22

in the day and

17:24

get up early but also goes to bed

17:26

early.

17:27

Well, yeah , a day being out there hiking, it's gonna

17:30

make you ready to, are you for a couple

17:32

of drinks or good me all in bed, I would think. Exactly.

17:37

Now Alaska is a definite Mecca

17:39

for photographers and a , and you're

17:41

a pro. Uh, I can

17:44

imagine you went through a lot, you know, in

17:46

the old days it would've been a lot of film. Now I'm sure

17:48

it's a lot of megabytes, but what

17:50

are the favorite photos that you took on your trip

17:52

?

17:54

Well, my, I guess my favorite is

17:56

the whale breaching. I got

17:58

one really amazing shot, you

18:00

know, with his eye. Perfectly clear.

18:03

And the , the , you know, the water,

18:05

just him shooting out of the water

18:07

and it just shutting up there.

18:11

Um, I also was able to catch that

18:13

sort of ultimate whale's tail,

18:16

you know, where it's just perfectly up in

18:18

the air. Um, that

18:20

was, that was exciting to get one of those.

18:23

Um, one day we went to this beach

18:26

where there were these just round,

18:28

it was round Rocky beach. It

18:31

was very difficult to walk on, but

18:33

photographically it was fantastic.

18:36

So I have some panoramic shops

18:38

there because there were mountains in

18:40

the distance and then these really, really

18:43

amazing rocks up

18:45

close. Um , that's one

18:47

of my favorite pictures. Um,

18:51

I will say this, that the UNHCR OOS

18:53

people, the guys that they also

18:55

take pictures of the participants

18:57

while you're out there, so they send

19:00

those to you when you get home. So it's kind

19:02

of fun. You know, I, I have a picture

19:04

of me taking pictures.

19:07

What do you, what do you tend to do with these photos? Do you

19:09

, uh, you , uh, blow them up and put them on the wall

19:12

and printers on campus or,

19:15

yeah , from this trip I actually made

19:17

a poster and had it printed, you

19:20

know , one of those collage posters. It's

19:22

, uh , it has, you know,

19:24

I dunno , 12 pictures or something

19:27

from it. Um, because

19:29

yeah , that we , we were so lucky we had

19:32

clear sky six of the seven

19:34

days. So it

19:36

was, you know, great for picture taking.

19:39

And even on the last gloomy, rainy

19:42

day, I was actually excited

19:45

by that because it gave a totally

19:47

different look to the picture.

19:50

It looked like, you know, that scene , those

19:52

scenes in Titanic, a little

19:55

icebergs floating all around. Uh

19:58

, so I was able to capture that too.

20:00

Wow. Yeah . I imagine it's

20:03

one of the tough, toughest thing probably was deciding

20:06

which pictures are the best.

20:08

When you take a couple of thousand and everywhere you look

20:10

is something that can be a , a

20:13

piece of art.

20:15

Well, that's true, but you know, for

20:17

me, they're stored on my computer,

20:19

on my hard drive and , um,

20:23

the best souvenirs I could ask for. I

20:26

can spend, you know, time,

20:28

just looking back at those in night , bring

20:30

back all the wonderful memories. So

20:33

, um , just, you know, get an external

20:35

hard drive and store them all on there.

20:39

Um, you know, if you wanted to do a little photo

20:41

display and throw that up on the all things crews

20:43

, uh, just as a,

20:46

that would , uh , think that would be neat. I think our

20:48

listeners would , uh, we'd definitely

20:50

like to check that out. I'm actually kind of excited

20:52

to see them. I am not a

20:54

professional photographer, but I take a lot of pictures

20:57

that I love for a little bit and then

20:59

look at a month later and go, yeah, that's not really

21:01

very good. But

21:04

I do like, I actually, my whole house is photos

21:06

that I've taken on my travels that I've had

21:08

printed on canvas or had printed on metal that

21:11

I have up on the wall and I'm running

21:13

out of wall space and it

21:16

takes them down. But to also,

21:18

do you have some up at a, at a, at your website, at

21:20

by lender by C ?

21:23

You know, I don't think I really do have

21:25

them yet. I've been traveling so much. I have not

21:27

done that, but I can , I could put some up

21:30

on all things cruise .

21:31

Oh that would be great. That would be great. Um,

21:34

so once you returned to Juno , you had a

21:37

chance to visit the , uh, Alaska state museum

21:40

cause you find that to be worth the trip.

21:42

Yes , I really did. It's a fabulous museum

21:45

and I think a lot of people do miss it , um,

21:48

because UNHCR cruise

21:50

, you know, really tries to educate

21:53

their guests. I learned

21:55

a lot of Alaska

21:57

history during the

22:00

week, but that museum going

22:02

there on the last day before

22:05

I left really put everything into perspective.

22:08

So I was very glad I went in there.

22:11

Nice. Any , uh , overall

22:13

advice for our listeners?

22:16

Well, don't wait as long as I did to go

22:18

to Alaska cause

22:20

it's really amazing. And

22:23

I would say go early in the season.

22:25

I went, you know, that first week

22:27

they offered a cruise and

22:30

um, it was amazing.

22:32

So far less crowds. Um,

22:36

and you know,

22:39

as I said, we had, we had glacier Bay to ourselves

22:42

pretty hard to beat.

22:44

Well , um, this has been absolutely

22:46

great. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences

22:48

with us. I am sure

22:51

you know, your descriptions are been very

22:53

vivid and uh, I know that

22:55

, uh , I'm now anxious to go back to, I'm

22:59

also kinda hungry for crab legs and salmon.

23:01

Truth be told,

23:04

well, I would go back in a heartbeat.

23:07

No , well , I guess today's been Ms.

23:09

Debi Lander , a travel writer and photographer

23:12

a again, you can see Debbie's work at AllThingsCruise.com as weall as bylander--as in lander--byleaderbysea

23:21

.com to our listeners. Thank you

23:23

so much for spending time with us today. I'm

23:26

Bob Levinstein for CruiseCompete.