Comments about Icy Strait, Alaska, for first-time cruisers

Hi, folks,

We're taking our first cruise on May 20, Celebrity Summit Northbound,
inner passage to Alaska. For most of the ports of call, I can find
lots of information on the Internet, but not so for Icy Strait I hope
you can give me some commenst about Icy Strait Point (Hoonah).

Any essential excursions in Icy Point? We're especially interested in
the Forest & Nature Tram. Has anyone done it? Others? How about
their salmon bake? (Not an excursion, but we gotta eat.)

Thanks in advance for any comments,
Leo Scanlon

Here is the URL for Celebrity's excursion page for Icy Strait Point.

http://tinyurl.com/aqum7
--
DG in Cherry Hill, NJ


"Leo Scanlon" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, folks,

We're taking our first cruise on May 20, Celebrity Summit Northbound,
inner passage to Alaska. For most of the ports of call, I can find
lots of information on the Internet, but not so for Icy Strait I hope
you can give me some commenst about Icy Strait Point (Hoonah).

Any essential excursions in Icy Point? We're especially interested in
the Forest & Nature Tram. Has anyone done it? Others? How about
their salmon bake? (Not an excursion, but we gotta eat.)

Thanks in advance for any comments,
Leo Scanlon

Thanks, Dick. I already have the list of Icy Point excursions; I would
like comments about them.

Leo

We were on Celebrity Summit last August and went there. We did not go
on any of the excursions but did hear some comments on the Nature tour
and most were favorable. We went through the cannery shops and then
took a bus (1 mile) to Hoona (?) and walked around. There isn't much
there but did find a good cafe that made really good sandwiches.

My recommendation for the salmon bake is in Juneau at the old gold
mine. Been there twice and enjoyed both times. Good food as well as
entertainment, old mine equipment and nice waterfall up stream from
food area.

Leo:
we did the summit southbound 2 yrs ago and the first summer for icy strait
point.

we walked along the water into town, there's a cute place for a bite to eat,
and neat stuff to see.

on the way back we had whales following us. it seemed to be an untouched
place.

we did a cannery tour as well.

i think the salmon bake is overpriced


--
Sheree

Crown Princess 8/25/06

"Leo Scanlon" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, folks,

We're taking our first cruise on May 20, Celebrity Summit Northbound,
inner passage to Alaska. For most of the ports of call, I can find
lots of information on the Internet, but not so for Icy Strait I hope
you can give me some commenst about Icy Strait Point (Hoonah).

Any essential excursions in Icy Point? We're especially interested in
the Forest & Nature Tram. Has anyone done it? Others? How about
their salmon bake? (Not an excursion, but we gotta eat.)

Thanks in advance for any comments,
Leo Scanlon

On 15 Feb 2006 12:49:47 -0800 in rec.travel.cruises, "Leo
Scanlon" wrote:

We're taking our first cruise on May 20, Celebrity Summit Northbound,
inner passage to Alaska. For most of the ports of call, I can find
lots of information on the Internet, but not so for Icy Strait I hope
you can give me some commenst about Icy Strait Point (Hoonah).

Any essential excursions in Icy Point? We're especially interested in
the Forest & Nature Tram. Has anyone done it? Others? How about
their salmon bake? (Not an excursion, but we gotta eat.)

It's a captive destination, like those private islands in the
Caribbean. The cruiselines & local partners have converted an
old salmon cannery into yet another "destination" where you only
meet people who want to sell you something. They did it so that
they could have yet another opportunity to separate fools from
their money. If your meals on board are already paid for, why
are you going ashore to buy an overpriced meal?

The village is, unfortunately, not much to look at, since it's
economically depressed. That's nothing against the folks that
live there, who are wonderful, but if you don't know someone
there and spend more than a few hours in town, you'll never see
the real village.

I wasn't aware that Celebrity was allowed to go to Glacier Bay and I
thought Icy strait was the entrance ot Glacier Bay. I'm not really sure
of my comments so check them out.
I thought only Princess and Holland America were allowed into Glacier
Bay. Celebrity goes to Hubbard Glacier.

On 16 Feb 2006 10:39:05 -0800, "scapel" wrote:

I wasn't aware that Celebrity was allowed to go to Glacier Bay and I
thought Icy strait was the entrance ot Glacier Bay. I'm not really sure
of my comments so check them out.
I thought only Princess and Holland America were allowed into Glacier
Bay. Celebrity goes to Hubbard Glacier.

Hi,

As a matter of clarification, all cruise lines EXCEPT Celebrity/Royal
Caribbean are allowed to visit Glacier Bay as long as they have the
appropriate permits.

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com

Scapel:

Icy Strait Point is located on Chichagof Island some 22 miles southeast
of the entrance to Glacier Bay and 40 air miles west of Juneau.

Aloha