Five Great Books We Recommend
About Cruising "The Great Land"
Here are five great reads to make planning your cruise to Alaska worry-free and fun.But first, this tip: Before you lay down any bucks for a guidebook, make sure you are purchasing the latest edition available. If you're planning a 2009 trip, order the 2009 edition of the book you want - even if you have to wait a short time for the 2009 version to hit the bookstores or the catalogs. If a book is not readily available retailers on the web will usually take your order and ship your book just as soon as it comes off the press. New ships, new itineraries, new prices, new port excursions, and new cruisetours appear each year.
Of course, if you are planning a cruise more than a year in advance you cannot, in most cases, pin down every detail. But the same general advice applies. Get the latest edition on the market!
Alaska Guidebooks...
Alaska's Southeast, Touring the Inside Passage(Globe Pequot Press)This book, since its first edition in 1983, has been and remains Alaska's premiere guidebook to sights and sites along the Inside Passage. The book's original author, Sarah Eppenbach, is a much-published author and a superb word handler, one of the best in the Pacific Northwest. Although she has not participated in recent updates of the book her skills as a researcher and writer continue to impress and educate readers. She brings vibrant life and literary pleasure to the subjects she covers, among them Southeast Traveler Basics, The Lay of the Land, Southeast's Native Heritage, Southeast Past to Present, plus much, much more including wildlife, plantlife, and port life on and off the mainline routes.The 2009 (11th) edition is now on bookstands and on the web. Editor for this edition is Mike Miller, publisher of this website. Publisher's list price: $17.95; $12.21 from www.Amazon.com |
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The Milepost (Morris Communications)This pioneering (since 1949) annual guidebook to Alaska and Canada's Yukon Territory is no small opus. At a whopping 750 pages-plus, it is chock full of travel data covering attractions in or near every port you're likely to visit on an Alaska cruise as well as sites and sights on every road (or railroad) you may experience on a cruisetour. The book usually ships in March. Ferry cruisers take note: The Alaska Marine Highway System schedule of summer ferry sailing dates and times are also published in The Milepost. Publisher's list price: 2009 edition $29.95 from www.themilepost.com or 1-800-726-4707; 2008 edition $18.45 from Amazon.com |
Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska by Mark KelleyBy any measure Glacier Bay is one of Alaska's preeminent sites of powerful natural beauty. By any measure Mark Kelley is one of Alaska's preeminent photographers.Combine Kelley's consoment skills with his camera and Glacier Bay's superlative setting of crystal glaciers, towering mountains and wild Alaskan creatures of land, sea, and air and you have the makings of a book that one can only call awesome. Add to this a series of compelling essays by Alaskan writer Sherry Simpson and you have a book that has to earn six stars out of a field of five in anyone's rating scheme. If you are planing an Alaska cruise that spends a day or more in Glacier Bay National Park you could not prepare yourself better than to order this book in advance of your sailing. Then bring it along for reference when you and your shipmates glide near the face of miles-long glaciers through bright and brilliant iceberg-littered waters. To view some examples of Kelley's work, you can visit his website at: www.markkelley.com. Publisher's trade paperback list price:$15.96 hardcover $29.95 At www.Amazon.com: paperback, $17.95 |
Cruiseships...
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Berlitz 2009 Complete Guide to Ocean Cruising & Cruiseships, by Doug Ward (Berlitz)There are several excellent annual cruiseship guides on the market, but this annually revised volume is the one AlaskaCruisingReport.com relies on most. It contains extensive, factual unbiased reviews about more than 250 cruseships including all the vessels (with a few yacht-sized smallship exceptions) sailing to Alaska. It's also packed with cruising history, life aboard ship, and ratings (one to five stars) for each vessel, plus suggestions for singles, couples, families, honeymooners, and the physically challenged.Publisher's list price: $24.95; $16.47 from www.Amazon.com; |
Alaska-Based Historical Fiction...
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Alaska, by James A. Michener (Random House)The late American master story-teller spent several years in Alaska researching the facts for this 1988 Alaska-sized historic novel. The result is a rousing good read as well as an incredibly memorable history of "The Great Land." As many of Michener's novels do, the book begins in ancient times (read: very ancient times, as in a billion years ago) and follows the evolution of the land, its wild creatures, and its peoples through to the modern era in the 1980's. Suggestion: Give yourself lots of time to read and savor these 896 pages (trade paperback edition) before your Alaska trip begins. You will more greatly appreciate every port and place along the way.Publisher's trade paperback, $15.95; $10.85 from Amazon.com |