?? American Safari Cruise

[ferretface]

I was just reading a cruise magazine and came across this cruise line. I was wondering if anyone can give me their opinion on them. They sounded wonderful in the magazine, but hadn't heard much about them. The info provided made them sound pretty incredible. Based on the limited number of cabins it's obvious not a great deal of people cruise with them, but would love to hear from anyone that has.

 

Phyllis

[LHT28]

They are not your average mass market line

Their prices are pretty high for a 1 wk cruise :eek:

Maybe under the specialty cruises or luxury forums

[wanyc]

I cruised with them in July '06 from Juneau to Sitka. it was an 8 day 7 night cruise. Everything was included and it was the most incredible experience. There were 21 passengers and I think 9 crew members. The crew included the captain, a naturalist, first mate, gourmet chef, pastry chef and others. The itinerary was completely flexible except for the times at which we had to pick up and drop off the park ranger in Glacier Bay National Park. By the way this line is one of the very few allowed to overnight in Glacier Bay which meant in our case secluded kayaking in the late afternoon as the large cruise ships were rushing to exit the park. I will also never forget hanging out in the hot tub at midnight with incredible views as the sun had still not set. The no set itinerary meant that when we came across a pod of humpback whales bubble-net feeding we were able to spend hours there watching them and watching all the other ships cruise right by without even stopping for a look. We rode in the dinghy/skiff amongst the whales including having the whales go right under us (the whales approached us not the other way around which is illegal). Even the crew was excited as the extent of the bubble-net feeding and the number of whales (at least 12) was something they had not seen before. At the end of the day, the captain broke out the champagne to celebrate a truly special day.

 

Be warned though this is not your typical cruise, there were no stops in the typical ports. The "excursions" consisted of hikes and/or kayaking. There are no buffets but rather gourmet multi-course meals prepared by the chef. All passengers dined together at 3 large round tables. There was a cocktail hour before dinner. The bar was always open and self-serve if the barman was not around. A great comraderie developed very quickly among the passengers.

 

This was truly a luxury cruise experience and one of the most fantastic travel experiences I have ever had. I could not imagine going to Alaska any other way.