For most guests, a cruise to Alaska wouldn’t be complete without seeing one of its amazing glaciers. Holland America Line (HAL) is responding to the sentiment by offering a Glacier Guarantee on all Alaskan sailings from May 2024 to September 2025.
This means you’ll see at least one glacier during your trip to the region. If you don’t get to see one, the cruise line promises to issue a Future Cruise Credit equivalent to 15% of your cruise fare.
“Our guests, and especially first-time guests, are understandably as obsessed with Alaska’s glaciers as we are, and our new Glacier Guarantee underlines our confidence in providing unforgettable glacier sightings on our Alaska cruises and Cruisetours,” said Kacy Cole, the cruise line’s chief marketing officer.
HAL has more permits to visit Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve than other cruise operators. Containing more than a thousand glaciers, the 3.3-million-acre park is home to the biggest mass of ice known as the Hubbard Glacier.
Holland America vessels also visit other glaciers, including Dawes Glacier, the Twin Sawyer Glaciers in Tracy Arm Fjord, and College Fjord.
During scenic viewings, ships sail up to the icy formations and rotate, offering guests 360-degree views. Park rangers from Glacier Bay spend the day onboard with guests to answer questions and help them learn more about the national park and its animals.
HAL has been sailing to Alaska for over 75 years. It has positioned itself as a cruise line that specializes in Alaskan itineraries. In addition to its latest Glacier Guarantee, it recently established Glacier Day as part of its “We Love Alaska” campaign.
From 2024 to 2025, cruisers can book 14- and 28-day Alaskan itineraries onboard six Holland America ships: Koningsdam, Eurodam, Noordam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Zaandam, and Westerdam.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – It’s graduation season across Alaska, and thousands of students are getting their diplomas and preparing for big changes in their lives.
It’s a time filled with excitement, but also a lot of unknowns, both for high school and college grads.
Students like Leni Sjostrom from Service High School is one graduate who has a lot of questions on her mind.
“Am I going to be able to adjust well? How am I going to pay for college? Is my passion going to grow? Am I going to think differently once I’m done with college?” Sjostrom asked.
With so many questions, it can be hard to find answers, especially when so much is expected of these new graduates.
Service High School grad Phoenix Perkins said he’s learned to take life as it comes.
“I don’t think you ever make it, you just always like, have fun along the way kind of, and you can enjoy certain parts a lot,” Perkins said.
Saumani Atiifale, a football player from Bettye Davis East High, expressed his feelings on how he feels in the moment as he prepares for life after graduation.
“I feel like I’m not ready, but I feel like when you don’t feel like you’re ready, you just have to, you just … gotta go,” Atiifale said. “I just want to take the risk right now, before it’s too late.”
As Alaska graduates its students, it’s time for them to find their own answers, knowing as they enter this next phase in their lives, it’s okay not to know what’s next.
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
The Anchorage Hillside is at high risk of wildfires, and between the abundance of flammable materials and the low number of roads, residents of the area could be in danger if a large fire breaks out. On this episode of Alaska Insight, host Lori Townsend and her guests discuss the ways researchers and the local fire department are working to help inform and prepare for wildfires in Anchorage.
This week’s headlines:
The U.S. Forest Service is planning to build a few dozen new cabins in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in the coming years. The agency is proposing higher fees – $75 a night – to help keep up with the increased cost of maintenance.
Lifelong Petersburg resident Brian Richards and his wife stay at Forest Service cabins every summer. The 40-year-old said they reserve several cabins that they travel to by boat.
“It’s like a bucket list,” Richards said. “We want to use them all. I’d say we prefer cabins by lakes or rivers, you know, water, it just kind of adds another element.”
The couple sees their cabin stays as good for their mental health. Richards calls it “natural therapy” that helps them reconnect.
“The more we get out there and walk around and look at the trees and listen to the birds and just, you know, disconnect from civilization, I think it’s just incredibly beneficial,” he said.
Richards is excited to see more cabins coming to the area. The Forest Service plans two new cabins in the Tongass this year at El Capitan Interpretive Site and Mendenhall Campground, and four next year at Herbert Glacier in Juneau, Woodpecker Cove near Petersburg, Little Lake near Wrangell and Perseverance Lake near Ketchikan – they’re mostly on the road system for increased accessibility.
Similarly, there are six new cabins scheduled for the Chugach, with half built this year at Porcupine Campground in Hope, Meridian Lake near Seward and McKinley Lake near Cordova, and half next year at Granite Creek and Turnagain Pass. That means the Forest Service needs to set the nightly fees for the cabins soon. The agency is required to have fees set six months before they charge them.
“It can be tricky,” said John Suomala, the recreation program manager for the Tongass.
Suomala helps set the cabin fees. He uses a cost analysis that looks at several factors such as local economies and what similar cabins are going for.
“Part of it too is just, you know, local expertise, from the districts, people that live in these communities,” said Suomala. “Just kind of thinking about, you know, what are the prices within these communities now and what do you think your neighbors are willing to pay.”
The nightly fees for staying at a Forest Service cabin in Alaska mostly range from $35 to $75. All of the new cabins are proposed for $75 a night except for two – one near Ketchikan is $65 and one at Juneau’s Mendenhall campground is $125 because it has electricity and nearby showers.
The new cabins are just a fraction of what’s available to the public. The Tongass has 142 cabins just in Southeast. Most are remote and get visitors less than 10 nights a year. Last year, it cost the Forest Service $700,000 to maintain them. The nightly fees covered about $500,000.
Suomala said the popular, more accessible cabins help subsidize the remote ones – and that’s their hope with the new cabins coming on board. But ultimately, he said, the public will help set the price.
“We want feedback to, you know, to get an idea, like are we way off here?” Suomala said. “Do you think it should be higher? Do you think it should be lower? We can’t raise the fee based on feedback from the public but we can lower it.”
As for Richards, he said $75 a night won’t be a deal-breaker for him and his wife, Ola.
“Because, it’s worth it for us,” he said. “I guess my concern is for a lower-income family. I would hate to think that someone wouldn’t stay at a cabin because they can’t afford it. I think that’s a real shame.”
The deadline for public comments on the proposed cabin fees is July 2. People can comment in person, online, by phone, email or snail mail.
Pentagon chief confirms US pause on weapons shipment to Israel
RFK Jr said a worm ate part of his brain and died in his head
Ohio AG defends letter warning 'woke' masked anti-Israel protesters they face prison time: 'We have a society'
Video: Police Use Pepper Spray on Protesters on G.W.U.’s Campus
Nine Things We Learned From TikTok’s Lawsuit Against The US Government
Biden’s decision to pull Israel weapons shipment kept quiet until after Holocaust remembrance address: report
A look at Chinese investment within Hungary
The Major Supreme Court Cases of 2024
