An Alaskan Legacy
Editor Simon Veness reports on a chance to experience Alaska in a completely new way with Un-Cruise Adventures
very now and then, something new arrives on the cruise scene that makes you sit up and take notice; something both breathtaking and surprising; an experience that qualifies in the ‘once in a lifetime’ category. This latest ‘something new’ is the
E
SS Legacy of American small-ship specialist Un-Cruise Adventures, and it just happens to combine a heritage-style journey with one of the most compelling regions on earth, Alaska. Put them together and you have an absolutely startling and life-affirming voyage that is wildlife and culturally rich in equal measures, and provides the kind of up-close-and-personal encounter with this rugged, untamed landscape that should catch the attention of even the most jaded traveller.
It is also possibly the most personable
voyage of its kind, with your fellow passengers providing an essential camaraderie while the crew of the ship add to the effect in a myriad of ways. Cruise aficionados will remember the 88-passenger Legacy as the former Spirit of
32 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2013
’98 of now-defunct Cruise West, a replica coastal steamer dating back to 1984 and now resplendent in her new guise as a distinctive trail-blazer in Alaska in summer and along the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington and Oregon in the spring and autumn.
She made her debut in August with
two 12-night voyages, sailing from Seattle to Juneau and back, and featuring the kind of experiences you would otherwise only get through a David Attenborough documentary, a sensory feast for the eyes and spirit including humpback whales, orcas, bears, sea otters, porpoises, deer, seals, bald eagles and sea-lions. And then there is the Legacy herself, a true boutique bateau of novel and intimate proportions, providing deluxe, small-scale service with their own Heritage theming that adds a Yukon gold rush era period touch, as befits many of the ports in this area. The onboard ambience is fully geared around the 1890s, with a group of full- time re-enactors who perform both in unscheduled vignettes around the ship and
in more formal theatrical presentations and readings in the evening, setting the stage for visits to the likes of Skagway, Haines, Juneau and Wrangell. The Gold Rush theme is especially well
served by Skagway and Wrangell, where the 1898 Yukon strike drew prospectors by the tens of thousands and the era is still celebrated in the storefronts, museums and traditions. But there is also Russian-founded Sitka and Norwegian-tinged Petersburg to enjoy, plus the underlying narrative of the native Tlingit peoples, who were here long before western ‘civilisation.’
P
eriod style is enhanced aboard the ship as cabin doors open on to promenade decks; cabin windows actually open; all the public rooms feature antique Victorian splendour; the crew themselves sport period garb; and those spirited re-enactors roam the decks at will. Even the daily cocktail specials sport a vintage touch. Visits to each port – most of them, like
Wrangell, Petersburg and Haines, well off the beaten cruise path – are offered with
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84