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 2008 trip, order the 2008 edition of the book you want -  even if you have to wait a short time for the 2008 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 2008 (11th) edition is now on bookstands and on the web,

Publisher's list price: $17.95; $12.21 from www.Amazon.com


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.

Publisher's list price: $27.96; $18.45 from www.Amazon.com


Frommer's Alaska Cruises & Ports of Call 2008 by Fran Wenograd Golden and Jerry Brown (Wiley Publishing)

There are a number of Alaska cruising guidebooks out there, most of them not bad at all. This one, in the opinion of AlaskaCruisingReport.com is also among the best - for readability, depth, and detail. Each year's edition is packed with good stuff but it is also small enough to to carry in a fanny pack or purse. State, regional, and port city maps are easy to read and follow; thumbnail pictures are sharp enough to give you some idea of each ship described. There are sections on big ships and small, choosing the right cruise, hunting for cruise bargains, ports of call, cruisetours, plus exceptional appendices detailing Alaska geography, history, politics, and wild critters.

Publisher's list price: $18.99; $12.91from www.Amazon.com.

Cruiseships...

Berlitz 2008 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...

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; $10.35 from Amazon.com


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