11 Day Alaska & Yukon Explorer

DAY 1 – SAIL FROM VANCOUVER
Board your Holland America Westerdam cruise ship at Canada Place and set to sea under the Lion's Gate Bridge. Your Alaska odyssey will have begun.

DAY 2 – CRUISE THE INSIDE PASSAGE
A gracious ship, incredible scenery, world-famed Holland America service.

DAY 3 – JUNEAU – PORT OF CALL
A variety of optional tours and activities awaits in Alaska's capital city. Tour by motorcoach to see impressive Mendenhall Glacier or land on the glacial icecap by helicopter. Explore reminders of Juneau's Gold Rush days with visits to shops, saloons and the famous state museum.

DAY 4 – SKAGWAY / WHITEHORSE
Your Inside Passage cruise comes to an end this morning with arrival in the Gold Rush town of Skagway. Suddenly it's 1898. Disembark and meet your guide for the next 7 days. Travel north the route of the gold seekers aboard the narrow-gauge White Pass & Yukon railroad to the top of the pass. Be on the lookout for the ghost of Soapy Smith as you explore his haunts of yesteryear. Then by loungecoach to whitehorse. This evening you may take in the Optional and hilarious Frantic Follies revue. A high-stepping vaudeville revue featuring singing, cancan dancing, slapstick skits and readings of Robert Service poetry. A performance guaranteed to light up your stay in Whitehorse.

DAY 5 – YUKON WILDLIFE PRESERVE / BEAVER CREEK
Settle into your comfortable seat on our deluxe Alaska-Yukon Explorer motorcoach and travel on the famed Alaska Highway. You'll drive through the unique Yukon Wildlife Preserve to view wild creatures like musk ox, bison, caribou in their natural habitat. Tonight in Beaver Creek, you'll be treated to a Yukon Rendezvous dinner show.

DAY 6 – BEAVER CREEK / ALASKA HIGHWAY TO FAIRBANKS
Reboard your deluxe motorcoach for a day of spectacular scenery as we travel North to Fairbanks for 2 nights. In Fairbanks enjoy an Optional Arctic Circle Helicopter Flightseeing tour or experience the thrill of Hot Air Balloon Flightseeing over the Tanana Valley (time permitting), contact your representative for reservations and rates.

DAY 7 – FAIRBANKS
Cruise the Chena and Tanana Rivers on the sternwheeler Discovery and then tour to Gold Dredge No. 8. Learn the history of gold mining in the Fairbanks area and tour the dredge.

DAY 8 – FAIRBANKS / DENALI
All aboard the McKinley Explorer to Denali National Park. Enjoy a wildlife Park Tour and overnight. Denali National Park offers you a chance to spy moose, grizzlies, caribou and Dall sheep. Enjoy an Optional Fixed Wing Flightseeing tour above the Tundra and gaze at the beauty of Mt. McKinley or experience the thrill of floating down the Nenana River or a guided horseback ride of the Denali area at close range, contact your representative for reservations and rates.

DAY 9 – DENALI / ANCHORAGE
We continue to Anchorage aboard your private domed railcar.

DAY 10 – PORTAGE GLACIER
Tour to Portage Lake and cruise to the glacier face on our mv Ptarmigan. The specially designed mv Ptarmigan travels on the iceberg filled lake for an hour long tour of Portage Glacier. Glaciation has been the dominant landscaping force in Portage Valley for the past one million years. The 1.2 mile-deep Pleistocene ice nearly completed carving a fjord to Cook Inlet; this fjord would have created an island out of the Kenai Peninsula. Truly an incredible view.

DAY 11 – ANCHORAGE / TOUR ENDS / RETURN USA – or – Optional Post excursion Transfer to the airport for your return flight home.

Optional Meal Plan
Day 4 – Whitehorse dinner
Day 5 – Whitehorse breakfast
Day 6 – Beaver Creek breakfast and Fairbanks dinner
Day 7 – Fairbanks breakfast and dinner
Day 8 – Fairbanks breakfast
Day 9 – McKinley Explorer lunch and dinner

Tour Features
Holland American Westours Guide
3-Night Northbound Cruise
White pass & Yukon Rail
Alaska-Yukon Explorer
Yukon Wildlife Preserve
Gold Dredge No. 8
McKinley Explorer
Portage Glacier Cruise
Fairbanks Sternwheeler
Group Cabin Category – H or I (outside cabin state room)

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