75 Reason to Love Alaska
Oh, Alaska … how we love you so! On Sunday, Feb. 13, Holland America Line marks 75 days until the start of our Alaska season! In 2022, we’re getting ready to mark 75 years of exploring Alaska — longer than it’s been a state — so today we’re honoring the Great Land with “75 Reasons to Love Alaska.”
While there are hundreds of reasons to love Alaska, we selected 75 that our guests can experience on a Holland America Line cruise or overland Cruisetour:
1. Glacier Bay
2. Mt. Denali
3. Tongass National Forest
4. Bald eagles
5. The Big Five: bear, moose, caribou, wolf, Dall sheep
6. Inside Passage
7. Hubbard Glacier
8. White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad
The scenic White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.
9. Misty Fjords
10. Dutch pea soup on deck
11. McKinley Explorer domed rail cars
12. Red Onion in Skagway
13. Tracy Arm
14. Twin Sawyer Glaciers
15. Stephens Passage
16. McKinley Chalet Resort
17. Fortress of the Bear
18. Klondike Gold Rush
19. College Fjord
20. Denali Square at the McKinley Chalet Resort
Denali Square at the McKinley Chalet Resort is the ideal basecamp for the Denali experience.
21. BBC Earth Alaska in Concert
22. Artists in Residence at Denali Square
23. Junior Ranger program
24. Whale watching
25. Margerie Glacier
26. Otters
27. Red Dog Saloon in Juneau
28. Glacier calving
29. Five kinds of salmon: King, Sockeye, Silver, Pink, and Chum
30. Totem Bight State Park
31. Karsten’s at Denali Square
32. Alaska Raptor Center
33. Tracy’s King Crab Shack
34. Creek Street in Ketchikan
Ketchikan’s colorful, historic buildings of Creek Street.
35. Tatoosh Islands
36. Glacier Bay National Park Rangers
37. Native weavings
38. Kenai Fjords National Park
39. Prince William Sound
40. Native Cultures – Tlingit, Hoonah, Haida, Tsimshian and more
41. Port to Table demonstrations featuring local fare
42. EXC Alaska’s Iconic Whales
43. Kayaking
44. Alaska Brewing Co. beer
45. Saxman Native Village
46. Westchester Lagoon
47. Fly fishing
48. Hiking
49. Native carvings
50. Panning for gold
51. Northern Lights
52. Mount Roberts Tram in Juneau
53. Glass blowing
54. Admiralty Island
55. Mendenhall Glacier
56. Salmon bakes
57. Kincaid Park
58. Glacier Gardens
59. Gastineau Channel
60. Taku Glacier
61. Bagley Ice Field
62. Dog sledding
Dog sledding is the quintessential Alaskan experience.
63. Ice fields
64. Salty Dawg Saloon in Homer
65. Axe throwing
66. Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
67. EXC Iditarod: The Last Great Race
68. Chugach State Park
69. Taku Glacier
70. Bering Sea crab fishing
71. Cliffs of St Lazaria Island
72. Music of Denali show
73. Nenana River
74. Tundra Mountain Golfing
75. Chilkoot Trail
Did your favorite reason to love Alaska make the list? Tell us what it is in the comments.
We are booked and looking forward to seeing Alaska this summer. :) Keep the mask mandate on the ships including shore excursions please. It is the right thing to do! It would be wonderful if HAL would offer covid testing in Vancouver at Canada Place before boarding. Being in a different city and country more than 2 days before departing on the cruise would limit us in finding a location for the test as well as acquiring the results before departure. Dealing with our insurance would be another matter. We believe in having the covid test, just wish it could be made more convenient.