Alaska Cruise Aboard The Cunard Lines Queen Elizabeth

Alaska Inside Passage - July 30 - Aug 10 2026

This was my 4th year in a row giving talks aboard the Cunard Lines' Queen Elizabeth cruise ship up to Alaska's Inside Passage, and it will likely be my last for this destination. Cunard is repositioning the ship to Europe next year, so this will be the Elizabeth's last Alaskan season for the foreseeable future.   It was a fantastic voyage, with several new locations visited that I hadn't been to before. For the most part we had great weather and sea conditions, which is never a guarantee in Alaska. Joining on this cruise was my longtime friend Darren Akai.

2026 07 29 - Toronto to Seattle

I woke up ridiculously early, before 4 AM, but made it to the airport in record time. From the moment my Uber picked me up, it took less than an hour to get to the airport, print my boarding passes, drop my bag, clear security, and make it to the gate. Amazing.   I connected through Vancouver, which is simply how Cunard had booked my flights this time. No problem, though. I had plenty of time to make the connection. Flying out of Vancouver, I got a great look at Point Roberts, one of the more unusual geographical anomalies in North America. This small peninsula lies south of the 49th parallel, meaning that despite being physically connected to British Columbia, it is technically part of the United States.   From Vancouver, I continued on to Seattle. Once I arrived, I grabbed an Uber and headed straight to the hotel.   Despite being tired, I decided to take advantage of the afternoon and explore a little. I walked over toward the Space Needle, and the timing couldn't have been better. The weather was perfect, with beautiful skies and people everywhere enjoying the day.   This part of Seattle is particularly nice, with museums, parks, restaurants, and plenty to see and do. I took some photos and continued wandering around, enjoying the city before heading back toward the hotel.   With the time difference catching up with me, I was getting hungry. It was already well past dinner time, so I found a place to grab a bite and settled in to wait for Darren to arrive. His flight was getting into Seattle considerably later than mine.

2026 07 30 - Seattle, Washington

I woke up early, still a bit jet-lagged. After breakfast, we grabbed an Uber and headed north to Everett, Washington, where we had tickets for a tour of the Boeing factory. The facility was equal parts enormous and impressive.   We got to see the aircraft assembly lines inside what is considered the largest building in the world by volume. There were countless planes in various stages of assembly, with some waiting outside for paint and others nearing completion or undergoing final testing. The logistics and sheer scale of the operation were mind-blowing. There was also a small museum with flight simulators, experimental aircraft, and a mock-up of the International Space Station module that Boeing helped build.   Traffic was heavy heading back into Seattle, but we made it to the hotel just in time for our scheduled late checkout. We packed up and decided to walk to Pier 66 since it was such a gorgeous day. Mount Rainier was clearly visible in the distance, which made the walk even more spectacular. It took about half an hour to reach the pier, where the Queen Elizabeth was docked. Along the way, we passed through the bustling Pike Place Market.   Check-in for the ship was a smooth process. Once aboard, I gave Darren a tour of the ship and we grabbed a quick lunch at the buffet. There was the mandatory safety drill, followed by my sound check in the Royal Court Theatre.   Later, we headed up to the stern on Deck 9 to watch as the ship pulled away from Seattle. It was warm, sunny, and a beautiful way to begin the voyage.

2026 07 30 - At Sea

I woke up to grey skies, thick fog, and rain, a world away from the warm, sunny weather we had enjoyed in Seattle the day before. Today was a sea day as we travelled north along the west coast of Vancouver Island and beyond.   After breakfast, we attended the port briefing for Ketchikan and Juneau. Not long afterward, I started developing a headache that gradually became worse and worse until I finally had to retreat to my stateroom. I took something for it and lay down for a nap. The headache became bad enough that I was feeling nauseous and tried to vomit, although only a tiny amount came up. Eventually, I fell asleep for almost an hour and a half. Fortunately, I felt considerably better when I woke up and was ready to take on the rest of the day.   We grabbed a quick lunch on Deck 9 before it was time for my first presentation. My talk was at 1:30 PM, and it went well despite not feeling like I was operating at 100 percent.   Tonight was also the first gala night, so we got dressed up for dinner in the Britannia Dining Room. Afterward, we headed to the Royal Court Theatre for the evening stage show.

2026 08 01 - Ketchikan

Cloudy skies with some on-and-off drizzle. Pretty good weather for Ketchikan, actually. This is one of the wettest cities in North America, with the town receiving more than 150 inches of rain in an average year. In fact, Ketchikan is often jokingly referred to as the “Rain Capital of Alaska.” So, a little drizzle and overcast sky is practically part of the local scenery.   After breakfast, we watched from Deck 3 as the ship maneuvered into port. We had tickets for the Lumberjack Show, so we took a bus from the port to the venue. This wasn't my first time seeing the show, and even though I knew what was coming next, it was still great fun to watch the skill, strength, and athleticism of the lumberjacks.   From there, we wandered into town, where some kind of festival was taking place. There were hundreds of booths set up with various vendors, charities, and other things to see. Several streets had been closed to vehicle traffic, so we wandered around and browsed for a while, grabbed some ice cream, and then made our way toward Creek Street.   It's always fun to walk along the boardwalk and see the brightly colored buildings overlooking the creek that runs through the middle of town. We were especially lucky because the salmon were running. We saw hundreds of them, both in the still water along Creek Street and in the rapids and fish ladder farther upstream, where the water turns into whitewater.   We continued walking along the creek until we found a wide, flat, shallow section where large numbers of salmon were working their way upstream through the shallows. I tried to get some photos, with varying degrees of success, but then I had an idea. I took my cell phone and dunked it underwater in a spot where I could get very close to the salmon. The result was some surprisingly great underwater footage of them.   From there, we walked back into town, stopped in a few shops, and thought about getting something to eat. The fish place I had wanted to try had a huge line, partly because there were four cruise ships in port that day. Instead, we decided to grab a pizza from the bar and grill next door. Afterward, we took our time wandering along the waterfront before eventually making our way back to the ship.   Once back aboard, I noticed it was almost tea time, so I suggested to Darren that we head down to the Queens Room for afternoon tea. This was his first time experiencing anything like it, and it was great fun.   That evening, we had dinner with mentalist Jeff Newman, whom I had met aboard Queen Victoria back in February.

2026 08 02 - Juneau

No rain today, although we had overcast skies and mild temperatures. The ship didn't dock in Juneau, so we had to take a tender ashore. By the time we arrived, there were eventually five cruise ships in port, making for a very busy day in town.   We had tickets for an excursion to Mendenhall Glacier, so we boarded a bus for the roughly 30-minute trip to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Along the way, we spotted several bald eagles, always a good sign that there might be some interesting wildlife around.   Once we arrived, we did the standard hike out to the main glacier viewing area and photo spot before continuing on to Nugget Falls. The waterfall is an impressive sight in its own right, but I was particularly interested in seeing how much the glacier had changed.   One thing immediately stood out. Mendenhall Glacier no longer reaches the shoreline of Mendenhall Lake. It has continued to retreat, and the change is quite noticeable. I had photos from my previous visit in 2023, so I was able to make a direct comparison. Looking at the two sets of images, there is no mistaking that the glacier has receded a significant distance in just a few years.   We lingered around Nugget Falls for a while, then explored some of the trails branching off the main path along the lakeshore. These areas were considerably quieter, with far fewer people, making it a much more peaceful way to experience the landscape.   On the bus ride back to Juneau, someone spotted a bear along the roadside. We also passed a creek flowing into the sea that was absolutely packed with salmon. The fish had attracted a large gathering of gulls and what looked like as many as ten bald eagles, all taking advantage of the abundance of food. I would have loved to have been able to stop there and photograph the scene, but unfortunately we had to keep moving.   Back in Juneau, we wandered around town and checked out some of the shops before stopping for lunch at the Imperial Sports Bar, a local spot. After spending some more time exploring, we headed back to the waterfront and took the tender back to the ship at around 4:30 PM.

2026 08 03 - Glacier Bay National Park

The conditions outside were grey, with low clouds blanketing the mountains around us. I didn't have high hopes for good visibility when we reached the glaciers. Once breakfast service began, we grabbed a bite to eat as the park rangers arrived by boat, being dropped off for the day. We then headed outside to Deck 10 to get a good view. There was some drizzle at first, but it quickly disappeared, and conditions slowly began to improve. The water of the fjord was a milky green, coloured by glacial silt, while the towering mountains gradually became more visible as the clouds lifted.   There were thousands of little chunks of ice, known as growlers, scattered across the water. These were pieces of glacier ice that had calved off and were now floating through the fjord. Among them, we spotted numerous sea otters floating and swimming through the maze of ice. Their populations have rebounded considerably in recent decades, making them a genuine conservation success story.   The first glacier we passed was Reid Glacier, off our port side. Tucked away in its own narrow valley, it was something of a warm-up for what was to come. The highlight was Marjorie Glacier, a very active tidewater glacier that flows into Tarr Inlet. The weather continued to improve as the ship slowed and held position at a safe distance from the glacier. We watched several small calving events on the left side. From our perspective they looked relatively small, but they were still spectacular to watch as chunks of ice broke away from the glacier face and crashed into the water. I managed to capture some good video of one of them. Farther to the north, we could see the enormous Grand Pacific Glacier, which snakes its way up the mountainside and extends toward the Canadian border.   After making a 180-degree turn, the ship backtracked for a while, giving Darren and me a chance to grab some lunch. We then turned toward Lamplugh Glacier. Lamplugh was once a tidewater glacier, but it has retreated so significantly that today it only reaches the sea at high tide. Like the other glaciers in Glacier Bay, it has been receding. Lamplugh is particularly striking because of how dirty it appears. Much of the dark material covering its surface came from a large landslide in 2016, which deposited enormous amounts of rock and debris onto the glacier.   Even with the clouds and drizzle at the beginning of the day, the improving weather gave us some excellent views of the glaciers and surrounding mountains. It turned out to be a much better day in Glacier Bay than I had initially expected.

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2026 08 04 - Haines

This was my first time ever visiting Haines. It's a tiny town, but beautifully situated on a peninsula and surrounded by mountains. We arrived early, so after breakfast we headed straight into town on foot. There isn't a huge amount to see in Haines itself beyond the harbour, the Hammer Museum, and a handful of shops and buildings.   There were quite a few enormous ravens milling around, and at one point a bald eagle flew low directly overhead.   After circling around town, we headed south along the waterfront toward Portage Cove State Recreation Site, then continued along the road toward Chilkat State Park. Along the way, we passed a large landslide scar. At the park entrance, there was a bear alert posted. The previous week, a sow with cubs had charged at some hikers, and visitors were advised to carry bear spray... We did not have any.   Nevertheless, we decided to take the trail into the forest. It was beautiful, with towering trees and purple fireweed blooming along the edges of the trail. We stayed on the trail until we reached a spot where we could access the rocky beach along the northeastern coast of the Chilkat Peninsula.   We walked along the rocky shoreline and eventually decided that, rather than turning around and retracing our steps to where we had left the trail, we'd continue along the coast. We made it as far as Kelgaya Point, where we couldn't find any obvious trail. The terrain was steep and rocky, requiring some scrambling to get up and around the point.   On the other side was a small, secluded bay. There was nobody around, so we decided to keep going, carefully picking our way from rock to rock across the difficult terrain.   At the far end of the bay, we found a few small, obscure trails. We explored and tested a couple of them, which eventually resulted in some backtracking and a bit of bushwhacking. Eventually, we connected with a more discernible trail that looped around near the tip of Battery Point, overlooking a small beach. Now that we had our bearings again, finding our way back was much easier. Once we reached a section of trail with actual markers, we knew we were back on track. We worked our way back to the trailhead and then followed the road into town.   By this point, we were hungry, so we continued past the ship in search of a local place to grab something to eat. We found a small café called the Rusty Compass that was open and nearly empty, which was perfect. I grabbed a sandwich and a drink, then we took our time making our way back to the ship. In total, we walked about 24,000 steps between 8:30 AM and almost 3:30 PM.   Once back aboard, we headed to the pool on Deck 9. It was absolutely freezing, so I didn't linger in the water for very long. Instead, we spent some time soaking in the hot tub before heading inside. As we sailed away from Haines, we got a great look at the sharp colour difference between the salty sea water and the milky green glacial runoff.

2026 08 05 - Hubbard Glacier

I suspected last night that I might be coming down with something, and this morning confirmed it. Ruth, one of our trivia partners, has been dealing with a cold, and I'm pretty certain I caught it from her. It never fails. No matter how careful I am, I always seem to get sick on these cruise ship voyages.   I woke up with a scratchy throat and that unmistakable general feeling of coming down with something. Hopefully it doesn't get too bad. I took some cold and flu medication and hoped for the best.   Later in the morning, the captain made an announcement that was disappointing but not entirely unexpected. Because of fog, poor visibility, and too much ice, our planned approach to Hubbard Glacier had been cancelled. The conditions simply weren't good enough to safely navigate any closer.   It was disappointing to miss Hubbard Glacier, but I've done enough expedition cruises to know that Mother Nature is always in charge. You can make all the plans you want, but when you're dealing with glaciers, ice, weather, and the ocean, the environment gets the final say.   Darren and I had fish and chips for lunch in the Golden Lion Pub before I headed to the Royal Court Theatre for my second presentation at 2:30. The talk went really well, despite some A/V problems toward the end. The issues were fixed quickly, and I was able to continue without any major disruption.

2026 08 06 - Sitka

A slight drizzle in the morning gave way to a really nice, dry day in Sitka. We had plenty of time before our excursion, so we had breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant and then took some time to photograph and explore the ship.   Eventually, we went ashore and took the free shuttle bus from the cruise terminal into downtown. We wandered around for a while, checking out some of the shops. I stopped at a local pharmacy to pick up some throat lozenges, then walked up to see the old Russian Orthodox cathedral.   From there, we circled around and walked along the waterfront to where a stream emptied into the bay. There were countless salmon gathered there, apparently being blocked from continuing upstream by a net. I'm not entirely sure why the net was in place, but I suspect it had something to do with the nearby salmon hatchery. The fish were packed together on the seaward side, with many of them repeatedly launching themselves high out of the water.   We strolled along the beach for a while since it was low tide, then made our way back to the excursion meeting point.   Our excursion took us to nearby Sitka National Historical Park, which has an impressive collection of totem poles along trails winding through the forest. The shaded trails followed a creek that was also packed with salmon, making for a particularly scenic combination of wildlife and cultural history.   Next, we visited the Sitka Raptor Rehabilitation Center, where sick and injured birds of prey are cared for and rehabilitated. Some are eventually released back into the wild, while others have injuries severe enough that they cannot survive independently and must remain at the centre. I was able to get some great photos of bald eagles, but there were also hawks, owls, and many other birds.   Our final stop was Fortress of the Bear, a sanctuary for orphaned bears. In Alaska, orphaned bears generally cannot be released back into the wild, so facilities like this provide them with a permanent home rather than having them euthanized. There were at least five brown bears and a couple of black bears at the facility. One of the brown bears was particularly entertaining. It had found a deer hide in the water and was having an absolute blast playing with it, repeatedly grabbing it, swinging it around, and tossing it about.   By this point, though, I was really starting to feel the effects of whatever illness I'd picked up. We hadn't had time for lunch, so I was tired, sick, hungry, and thirsty by the time we returned to the ship. We headed to the Lido Grill for a burger, then I retreated to our stateroom for a nap. I ended up skipping all of the usual evening activities and went to bed early.

2026 08 07 - Wrangell

I woke up feeling like crap, with a fever of 37.8°C, congestion, and body aches. It took me a while to get moving, but once I did, I started to feel at least a little better. Outside, it was overcast, with the possibility of some light rain in Wrangell.   This was my first time visiting Wrangell. It's a small town with a slightly rough-around-the-edges character. There were plenty of yards filled with all sorts of equipment and piles of junk, including old outboard motors and other remnants of life in a working Alaskan community. We got off the ship shortly after breakfast and wandered around town for a while. It was very quiet, with surprisingly few people on the streets.   We decided to walk north along the main road toward Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site. The site sits along a boulder-strewn stretch of coastline, with a wooden walkway leading down to an area where there are reproductions of some of the petroglyphs. You can also go down onto the beach itself to search for the real ones. The petroglyphs were created by people who lived in the area before the Tlingit, and many feature simple circles and spirals, along with some depictions of fish. It was surprisingly fun to comb through the rocks and shoreline looking for these ancient carvings. Eventually, more and more people arrived and the beach started getting crowded, so we sat on a log for a while before deciding to continue our walk.   We followed the road around Mount Dewey, passing the Wrangell airport along the way. Eventually, we spotted a parking lot with a trail sign and a promising-looking path leading up the mountain. We decided to give it a try.   The trail initially meandered through wetlands before entering the forest. As we climbed higher, it became progressively steeper until we eventually reached the summit of Mount Dewey and its scenic viewpoint. Despite not feeling well, I was glad we made the effort. The views from the top made the climb worthwhile. From there, we backtracked to a fork in the trail and took the other path, which led us back toward town. It turned out to be a great hike and probably the highlight of our time in Wrangell.   Back in town, we wandered around a little more and visited a few shops before stopping for a burger and fries at a place called Salty Bite. That was about it for our exploration of Wrangell, so we headed back to the ship and relaxed for a while.   At 3:00 PM, we went down for afternoon tea. A classical guitarist was providing the background music, which made for a particularly nice and relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

2026 08 08 - At Sea

Today was spent working our way south from Alaska toward Vancouver Island.   Because the theatre company was putting on its production of Come From Away, the Royal Court Theatre wasn't available for my final presentation. Instead, my talk was scheduled for 2:00 PM in the Garden Lounge. Unfortunately, it isn't a particularly good venue for this type of presentation. The room is oddly shaped, very wide, bright, and too warm, with seating arranged around tables. The television screens are difficult to see from some areas, and there is no large projector. We also had a delayed start because extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate everyone who had shown up.   Despite the challenges, I did my best to work with the space and the technical limitations, and the presentation seemed to go well.   Afterward, we attended the matinee performance of Come From Away. It was just as good as the first time I saw it aboard Queen Victoria back in February. The story, music, and performances were every bit as powerful the second time around.   It's a remarkable story, and seeing it again made me feel incredibly proud to be Canadian.

2026 08 09 - Victoria B.C.

A glorious day in Victoria, with sunshine and warm temperatures. It was our last full day of the trip, and Darren had plans to meet up with a friend, so I went ashore in the late morning and walked from the cruise ship terminal into downtown. I even spotted a nice display of cloud iridescence that you wouldn't even notice unless you were looking up at that moment.   I met up with Patricia Sims from The Explorers Club, who is also the founder of World Elephant Day. We had a nice, long, leisurely lunch at 10 Acres Bistro and spent some time catching up.   Afterward, I walked back to the ship, met up with Darren again, and we settled in to do our packing. With the trip coming to an end, it was time to start getting everything organized for the journey home.

2026 08 10 - Seattle to Toronto

That's a Wrap on Alaska 2026 - We had to be off the ship early so the crew could get ready for the new passengers arriving later that day. After an early breakfast, we grabbed our things and disembarked.   We headed straight to the airport in Seattle, but unfortunately, Darren's flight wasn't until the evening, so he had quite a bit of time to kill. My early afternoon flight was delayed, and I was worried that I might miss my tight connection in Philadelphia. As it turned out, a fortunate twist of circumstances worked in my favour. My connecting flight was delayed by even more, so not only would I still make the connection, but I wouldn't have to run through the airport from one terminal to another. I eventually arrived home in Toronto in the middle of the night, tired but happy to be back.   Many thanks to Cunard for once again inviting me to be part of the Insights Speakers Series. It was great to be back aboard Queen Elizabeth, and especially great to be back up in Alaska again.   Thanks also to Darren for joining me and making the trip so much fun.

 

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