I’m sure some of you have seen the TV series Ice Road Truckers and the images of large tracts of frozen Alaskan landscape. But how many of you even thought of this as a nude destination? Well we didn’t but when the brochure from Bare Necessities turned up it took us all of ten minutes to make up our minds that we were going. Well the truth be known it took Kim two minutes to make up her mind, 7 minutes to get hold of me and and one minute to tell me to book it but then she always was the brains of the family.

Our departure point for the cruise was Seattle, Washington just a little over an hour’s flight from LA so we were spared the joys long US domestic air travel. With a Friday sailing we decided to arrive on the Tuesday to give us time for a look around Seattle and adjust to the new time zone.

Seattle has a bit of a “Sydney” feel to it and we found that it was a very pleasant place we stayed a short walk from the Space Needle so it was only a 10 minute monorail ride to the city and as with all cities there is always something to look at. We took the time we had to visit the Space Needle for dinner in the revolving restaurant, a duck tour, the Boeing Plant as well as a dinner we had pre-arranged with some of the other cruisers who we had meet online or on the Caribbean cruise the previous year, sadly though this was not able to be a nude dinner as the restaurant had a very open plan layout and lots of regulars.

In no time at all Friday arrived and we headed to the peer to catch up with our friends Rob & Nancy from Texas and get our first look at the MV Amsterdam. This ship was a little smaller than the one for the previous year but still held around 1200 passengers. Once we’d checked in, a process not to dissimilar to going on an international flight, we were able to get on board and have a look at “home” for the next week. As before the cabins on these seemed to be better than those on the ships servicing Sydney, though with the arrival of the Pacific Dawn this may have changed, and are very well presented. I guess this is the advantage of having a lot of competition in the US cruise market.

Within an hour of leaving Seattle we had both lifeboat drill and our clothes out of the way and got down to the serious business of enjoying ourselves. One question we get asked is “Just how nude are these cruises?” Well very. You need to be dressed when the ship is in port and for the main dinning room however other than these times the ship is entirely clothing optional with the bulk of the passengers choosing to be optional except in some areas of the ship which were a little on the cool side. If the thought of having dress for dinner in the main dinning room doesn’t exactly excite you then you have the option of eating au natural in the buffet which we did a few times. Regardless of where you choose to eat the food is plentiful and very good and if you are the kind that likes to count their calories you’ll be coming up with some big numbers just looking at the buffets.

The first day of the cruise was a “sea day” no rocket science required here to work out that this was a day spent at sea rather than a visit to a port. These days are something that I’m learning to look forward to. Being ex-Navy the thought of paying to be stuck at sea seemed an odd idea however having a day that starts when you’re ready, eating what and when you feel like and generally doing whatever you want to is surprisingly relaxing. Of course the fact that it’s a day naked no doubt adds to the relaxation factor. That evening it was on with the “penguin suit” for the meet and greet at the Capitan’s reception, then back to relax mode after dinner.

The next day started with breakfast by a floor to ceiling window in the bistro getting our first glimpse of Alaska as we sailed up Fredrick Sound towards the capital Juneau. The first thing we noticed is just how unlike Australia the scenery was. Tall mountains, well they think of them as hills, coming right down to the water with large patches of snow on them. This snow, which was melting, created dozens of waterfalls running down the sides of these very green and leafy hills. We watched these scenes go by for about an hour before we had to get dressed as we came alongside.

As we had some time before our booked excursions headed off we took a bit of a walk around the centre of town and started to get a feel for some of the daily challenges that have to be meet in this part of the world. These ranged from cars that “got plugged” in to keep them from freezing up to “Bear Proof” garbage bins in the streets.

Rob and I had booked ourselves on a photo safari to the Mendenhall Glacier and Auke Bay while Kim and Nancy had decided to try a Salmon Bake and a bit of gold panning on what was shaping up to be a very nice day. In fact one of our guides made the comment “Juneau is constantly subjected to severe weather conditions. Today is what we call severe nice.”

One more “difference” became apparent when we arrived at Mendenhall Glacier, apart from the huge wall of ice that is, all of the rangers in the area carried what looked like small fire extinguishers on their belts. These are not to suppress fires but bears. They are a strong pepper spray which if sprayed at the face of an attacking bear will convince it that it should try elsewhere for a food source.

Mendenhall Glacier itself is very spectacular sight however it is receding at an alarming rate, in fact faster than has ever been recorded. The primary theory for this is that it is a result of global warming added to this the opening of the Northwest Passage for the first time in recorded history would indicate that regardless of you beliefs in this area some big changes are happening to the planets environment.

After Mendenhall Glacier we headed off for a cruise around Auke Bay in a vessel specifically designed for photography though the best I could make out this meant it floated so the cameras didn’t get wet and despite some uncooperative whales we did get some very good shots of the area and its wildlife.

Back from our photo safari and panning expeditions we meet up with our wives at the ship and headed off for a look around the city and a run up the Mt Roberts Tramway. The “Tramway” is actually a cable car and travels from down near the wharf to the top of Mt Roberts which offers some incredible views from Juneau down to Fredrick Sound as well as a not to shabby restaurant, best fish ‘n’ chips I’ve ever had in the US, and some very nice walks along the top of the range.

On the way back down from Mt Roberts we had a short discussion with one of the other occupants of the tram who was travelling with her family. It started when she heard us comment about the ship she was travelling on which was one of the four we could see from the tramway. The conversation went a little like this:

Her: “You know I’ve heard that one of these ships is full of nudists”

Me: “Yeah I know. I’m fairly sure it’s the Holland America one at the very end.”

Her: “It really makes you wonder what sort of people would do something like that. So which ship are you on?”

Me: “The Holland America one at the very end.”

Her: “Oh um……”

I have to say that much to the credit of all those members of the ships company and those that we encountered while ashore the above was the closest we came to a negative response to the nude cruise with all of the others being very friendly, courteous and professional in their approach to us.

Juneau has something all destinations should have, one stop souvenir supermarket. While I know that sounds a little lame this was a large shop that had souvenirs for all of the destinations on the tour cheap. One shop, one stop all done what more could you want?

We made it back to the ship just before casting off, ship and clothes, and spent the rest of the evening sailing off into a moon lit Fredrick Sound.

Next morning we woke to find ourselves surrounded on both sides by glaciers in fact we were so excited by this that we raced out of the cabin to look completely forgetting to dress. Our fellow passengers were as polite as always and never said anything about this oversight I guess because most appeared to have made the same error.

Breakfast was again spent by the window this time watching glaciers go past. While most people think of glaciers as a large white mass of ice falling into the sea as they reach the end of their journey their appearance in reality is quite varied. They range from the classic big white to some which look more like a pile of grey or brown rocks. The latter type are likely to have been a lot longer and slower grinding away at the mountains either side and picking up dirt and debris on their 100 year plus journey to the sea before sliding beneath the surface with hardly a ripple.

This was also a time for a most unique group photo. Click on the small image at the top for a slide show containing this and other images from our trip.

That evening was the “Fire and Ice” theme night with many getting into the spirit of the evening there were a lot of imaginative costumes ranging from simple body paint through to full St Nicolas costumes and even a guy wearing an oversized matchbox who turned out to be one of the eventual winners. The night ended with a midnight banquet in which the ships staff excelled themselves with the food preparation and presentation. Though sadly much of it was not eaten and therefore was thrown out.

Tuesday morning saw us arriving in the town of Ketchikan and this was the shore excursion we had been looking forward to for a while Zip Line! Think of the flying fox you rode as a kid. Now think 2 kilometres long and more than 100 meters up! This is not one continuous run it was nine individual runs strung between the trees in the Alaskan Rainforest. The longest of these was a little more than 300 meters in length and 100 meters tall.

One thing that is always discussed on the various forums regarding these booked tours is that while a more expensive option to book through the ship if you are running late on their organized tour they will wait for you. If you arrange your own and get delayed then you’re on your own. We would normally err on the side of caution and in this case it paid off. We were an hour late getting back to the ship and they waited. I shudder to think what would be involved in trying to get a ride over to our next stop in Sitka.

That evening was another relaxed affair with dinner, a show and some spa time before a late supper and bed.

Our final port of call in Alaska was Sitka. This is a spot not normally visited by cruise ships as it’s harbour is a little shallow and has no wharfs capable of supporting the larger vessels. However this made for a nicer small town feel to the visit. We had signed ourselves up for some kayaking and in no time we were paddling around one of the nicer inlets in Sitka. The boats used for this were a lot different to those we are used to but despite this it was a very relaxing way to spend the morning.

On the way out through Sitka Sound we had a story related to us about what was one of the best ever April Fools day jokes involving an extinct volcano, a pile of burning tyres and resulting in lots of people leaving town. I guess the simple ones are always the best.

From Sitka we spent the night and most of the next day sailing to the city of Victoria, Canada. This is part of a law in the US which says that non US flagged ships which leave the mainland states must stop at a foreign port before returning. While it is claimed to be a security measure, and I don’t see how, it appears more to do with protecting the local carriers. On the positive side we got to spend the evening in a very nice city with good food, a horse and buggy ride and an evening walk by the harbour before returning to the ship for our last “nude night” aboard.

Waking up Friday we found ourselves once more alongside in Seattle. The cruise was over and breakfast by the window would not be quite the same as it had been on the previous mornings. We’d said our goodbyes and were off the ship by 10 o’clock and with a day to fill in before our flight home we decided to get our bags checked in and head out to the Museum of Flight for the day. This is a place for those that love aircraft, or just want to say “I’ve been on a Concord”. While we had most of the day to see the place it really would take more than that to do it properly.

6 o’clock Seattle to Los Angels, 9o’clock Los Angels to Sydney, lots of photos, lots of memories. If you’d like to look at some more of the photos from the trip have a look at our gallery at:

http://images.vk2us.id.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=21657