I recently had the pleasure of Hosting with Virtuoso Voyages onboard Seabourn Odyssey. This was a special cruise for me in that my first Hosting experience was also on Seabourn Odyssey in October of 2019. This special lady will be leaving the Seabourn family at the end of the Alaska season. I met several guests in my Virtuoso Voyages group that will be on the last sailing. They will be sad to see her go, but are looking forward to the one last voyage with her.
But back to our sailing. This was an 11 day voyage of the Inside Passage & Alaska Fjords. It was amazing! Seabourn has their Ventures by Seabourn options on many of their voyages and if you have the chance to experience this, take it! Our cruise had Zodiacs and Kayaks to get up close and personal with nature and the glaciers. Seabourn also brought in Catamarans from some of the bigger ports of Alaska to the Fjords and Glacier bays and was that awesome! The combination of being in the Zodiac in Hubbard Glacier Bay and on the Catamaran in Dawes Glacier Bay, part of the Tracy and Endicott Arms just enhanced and made the cruise to Alaska that much more meaningful and special. It was magnificent!
A Bit About Small Ship Cruising
Seabourn Odyssey holds 450 guests at capacity, but we only had 407 guests onboard our ship. A nice variety of ages, and yes there were children onboard. On luxury cruises the children tend to be well-traveled and respectful of other guests. There is an outdoor heated pool with 2 jacuzzis midship on deck 8, that were quite busy during our cruise. There is also another jacuzzi on the aft on deck 5.
The onboard eateries consist of The Main Dining room on Deck 4, serving breakfast, lunch & dinner, with the dinner menu changing every night. The Colonnade aft on Deck 8 serving breakfast and lunch as buffet or order off the menu, dinner is off the menu which changes every night. The Grill at Thomas Keller midship deck 8 serving only dinner by reservation, it is their fine dining restaurant. Outside on the Pool Patio of deck 8 is a bar and a Patio Grill that becomes Earth and Ocean at night. There were heaters and blankets supplied, but we only braved it once for dinner and a few times for lunch. Great food though and I am sure in a warmer climate it is quite popular! In Seabourn Square there is a place to get all kinds of specialty and regular coffees and teas as well as light snacks. Finger sandwiches and pastries. Very popular as it is aft on deck 7 with lots of seating to enjoy the great scenery that is viewable through huge picture windows, as well as a patio with outside seating. We never had to wait in line for anything, it was so nice! Wine flows freely with lunch and dinner, and mimosas and champagne are available with breakfast. The Observation Bar has light breakfast and evening snacks with an amazing view. At night there is plenty of comfy seating and nice musical entertainment. Perfect place for our night caps!
Suites are nicely appointed with a walk-in closet with drawers and lots of hangers. They have super plush robes and slippers for use onboard, as well as an umbrella if needed. The bathroom has double sinks, a nice size tub and separate shower with Molton Brown amenities. Nice comfy beds with a separate seating area with a couch and a table with 2 chairs for ensuite dining. The balcony had 2 chairs with foot rests and a table. We were greeted with a bottle of champagne, a fruit bowl and fresh flowers. There were refillable water bottles replenished daily and we could have had our choice of liquors or wines if we had chosen to – all included in the cruise fare. In fact we only paid for shore excursions outside of the cruise fare. Everything else was included.
What Made It Spectacular!
We did some of the traditional Alaska Cruise port of call stops. First was Ketchikan and I was going to go Salmon Fishing and my Co-Host went Oyster Tasting. They saw whales and tasted lots of oysters. I did not go fishing, which is a bummer. But my fishing license is a great souvenir. Next stop was Sitka. We tendered in and walked the harbor over to the Sitka National Park and did the Totem Pole Trail. Great walk and beautiful area. Next was Hubbard Glacier, more on that later. After that came Inian Islands and Icy Strait Point. At Inian Islands they took out the Zodiacs again, and hopefully those that went stayed dry, it was a little misty. Then we docked at Icy Strait Point and we did a fish cooking class. It was ok and the weather held so that was good. The next day was Juneau and we just walked around town and bought souvenirs. 5 cruise ships besides ours were in town, it was a bit hectic. Dawes Glacier was next, more on that later. Day 9 was Wrangell. I have never seen so many hardware stores in one city block. As the comedian said, with all the tools and supplies, build more stuff! Our last day was a gorgeous day in Rudyerd Bay and the Misty Fjords. The Zodiacs and Kayaks were brought out and lots of people did some last day exploring. We weren’t able to as they were sold out. It would have been a perfect day for it though!
Hubbard Glacier. OMG, being in the Zodiac and making our way through the ice field to the glacier was amazing! When we first got in Silversea Silver Muse was cruising in right beside us. It was awesome! Of course the ships can only go so far in, but us on the Zodiac were able to get within 1/4 mile of the Glacier. You could hear it cracking and groaning. Every once in a while it would calve a bit and the sound of the ice dropping into the water was like nothing else I have ever heard. So magnificent! It was just stunning with the sites and sounds. We even saw little porpoises, sea otters and sea lions on our journey. As we made our way back to the Odyssey the ice field was changing and growing and we had to skirt out around it to find a clear path. I enjoyed our expedition to the Glacier immensely.
Dawes Glacier, how could it beat Hubbard Glacier, but it did. Seabourn brought in a catamaran from Juneau for this excursion and it did not disappoint. As we made our way to the glacier you could sense the excitement in everyone. The fog was lifting and the sun was peaking through, so it made for great glacier viewing. Again, we were able to get with 1/4 mile of the glacier and we putzed back and forth and were treated to probably no less than 10 calvings! Some were huge and some were small, but all were amazing! Again the sites and sounds and the sea life were so spectacular. It was another awesome glacier day!
If you are wanting to take an Alaska Cruise, I highly encourage you to do it! This was a magnificent experience that I will have memories of for the rest of my life. The scenery you see on the cruise is second to none. Mountains, islands, glaciers, ice floating by your ship, whales, bald eagles, sea otters, sea lions, porpoises and more! If you want a more intimate experience, consider a small ship. There are a few ships that sail to Alaska that offer expedition style cruising, but I cannot recommend enough Seabourn with their Ventures by Seabourn experiences. I sure other options would be just as exhilarating, but since I experienced this personally it has my heart. Alaska is truly amazing and I am grateful I was chosen to be a Virtuoso Voyages Host on the cruise.