Alaskan Lighthouses

We'll be leaving for an Alaskan inside passage cruise and inland tour, in approximately 2-1/2 weeks. I was wondering if any of the CF members have taken a similar cruise and were able to see some of the Alaskan lighthouses from the ship?

Our cruise leaves Vancouver with the first port at Ketchikan and continous onto Juneau, Haines and Sitka. Our cabin is on the inland side of the ship and, hopefully, we can view some of the Alaskan lighthouse.

We passed most of the lights during the night since we did almost all of our travel at night and shore excursions during the day..

Back in '98, we did a cruise from Vancouver to Ketchiken, Juneau, Skagway, and got off the ship in Seward and were bussed to Anchorage where we flew back to Seattle. We did see some of the lights on the inside passage. We left Vancouver about 4:30 p.m. You maybe able to see the light in Stanley Park. We saw it in '04 when we did an America By Rail from Chicago to Everett, WA, etc. We spent one night in Vancouver and were able to get a cab to take us to Stanley Park and see that light, Brocton Point. It was the mystery light in Lighthouse Digest a couple of years ago.

On that rail trip, we took the ferry from the northern end of Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert and saw most of the lights on the inside passage (that's the same passage the cruise ships use). We saw several when we did the cruise, but when we went by ferry, the Captain named the lights. The rest of the rail trip was done on rail from Prince Rupert to Banff. We were then bussed to Shelby, MT where we got back on the train and went back to Chicago.

Last August we did another Alaskan cruise, this time out of Seattle. I can't remember any of the lights in the passage, but Sitka was on our itinerary this time. (I was disappointed it wasn't on our first.) Rockwell Light is on an island in the Sitka harbor area. It is "cute".

I hope this helps.

Ellie

I'm going July 31, so I'm interested in your results. I know there is at least one shore excursion to a lighthouse.

Bob

"Lighthouse, Totems and Eagles" tour goes out of Ketchican. You see Guard Island Lighthouse.

You will pass Guard Island Lighthouse, Eldred Rock, Rockwell Lighthouse and lighthship Umatilla. We cruised from Whittier to Vancouver last August after 12 days on land in Alaska. Had a wonderful time. We did a flight out of Ketchican over St. Marys Light and Tree Point Light. Did a private boat tour out of Juneau to Eldred Rock, Sentinel Island, Point Retreat Light and Point Sherman. Also saw several other lights from the cruise ship.

Thanks everyone for posting back.
I believe, as Paul mentioned, that we'll past alot of the Alasken lights as we are sailing at night. Although, we should be able to see some close to Ketchikan and maybe Juneau. Thanks again.

Depending on the route your cruise ship takes, you may be able to see some British Columbia, Canada lights. There are a number of light stations which are viewable on both sides of the inside passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. I know many of the cruise ships now go on the outside of Vancouver Island but I think some still go on the inside.

Larry

WOW!
Just hit Seattle on way back.
16 Bubble feeding humpback whales, 3 calving glaciers. 12 grizzlies blonde and brown in Denali. mile long zip ride in Icy Strait, Moose cow and 2 calves at 20 feet, bald eagles in flight...

The pictures should be awesome. Can't wait.

What a great trip. We only saw Elred Rock because most of the others were passed at night. We didn't have a shore excursion to a lighthouse or that certainly would have been tops on our list. You might consider the helicopter to the dog sled camp and the float plane to a fiord. We also got to canoe around a glacier. What great adventures. I do wish we could have seen more lighthouses though.

Judy