Cruise West Alaska - The Chuck West Story

A Legacy of Exploration

In 1946, a young pilot just back from piloting the Hump between India and China in World War II was serving as a bush pilot in Alaska. As Chuck West flew over some of the most spectacular terrain on earth, his dream was born. He dreamed of sharing these wonders with the world.

Chuck set his dream in action that very year, founding Arctic Alaska Travel Service in Fairbanks. He began by offering local sightseeing tours, and the first air tours above the Arctic Circle. The business took off, and soon Chuck was responsible for the first hotel chain in Alaska, the first motorcoach line, and the first modern small-ship cruises. His company became Westours, a dominant operator in Alaska. Chuck earned the affectionate title "Mr. Alaska" from his peers in honor of his pioneering the modern Alaska travel industry.

In 1971, Chuck decided to sell Westours to Holland America. For awhile, he thought he might have done all he needed to do to share Alaska with the world. But as he watched, he realized travelers were hungry for something more. So two years later, he founded the company that became today's Cruise West. Initially offering space on the Alaska state ferries and other lines' ships, in the mid 1980s Chuck started experimenting with multi-night daylight-only yacht cruises in Alaska's Inside Passage. This program, featuring the sleek 90-foot touring yacht Sheltered Seas, still operates today on 5- 6- and 9-day tours between Ketchikan, Petersburg, Glacier Bay National Park and Juneau.

Moving Forward - Small-Ship Cruising

In 1990 Chuck and his son Dick, now chairman & CEO of Cruise West, acquired a 52-guest mini-cruise ship and renamed her the Spirit of Glacier Bay. The initial operation was 2-night cruises from Juneau into Glacier Bay National Park. This program proved so successful that in 1991 the company acquired the Spirit of Alaska to inaugurate the first cruises between Seattle and Alaska for nearly 40 years.

Cruise West's style of up-close, casual, personal cruising was enthusiastically welcomed by the traveling public, and the company grew phenomenally, adding nearly one new vessel per year. In the early 1990s, Cruise West expanded its cruise operations to lower British Columbia, the historic Columbia and Snake Rivers, and the California Wine Country. In December 1998, winter-season cruises to the spectacular Sea of Cortés and Baja California expanded the company's range of offerings to Mexico. In 2001 Cruise West acquired its flagship, the 114-guest, all-suite Spirit of Oceanus. Equipped with stabilizers, the Spirit of Oceanus can cruise all seas. Her itineraries in Alaska include rare opportunities to explore the remotest waters of the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Sea.

Cruise West added small-ship explorations of Costa Rica and Panama in 2002 aboard the 100-guest M/V Pacific Explorer. The pristine national parks and tropical offshore islands here are best - and sometimes only - accessible by small ship. This region offers incredible biodiversity, with over 800 species of birds in Costa Rica alone.

In 2004, Cruise West enhanced its Alaska Inside Passage offerings by becoming the first cruise line to venture up Portland Canal to the community of Hyder, where guests can watch black and grizzly bears feeding on spawning salmon in season. We also added Kenai Fjords to our Alaska Coastal Odyssey cruises, giving guests the opportunity to watch for puffins, orcas, seals and sea lions in the water and along the shore.

Other changes for the 2004 season include the increased use of inflatable excursion craft and the addition of a third ship on the Alaska Inside Passage route, the 100-passenger Spirit of '98. A two-night stay at Glacier Bay National Park has also been added to the Alaska Daylight Yacht Tour portfolio, and the Bering Sea itinerary features several additional ports and highlights.

Cruise West Today

The Cruise West experience has always been designed around our guests, and that tradition continues today. Unlike other cruise lines, every guest survey is reviewed by every manager at Cruise West, allowing us to constantly adjust our itineraries, shore excursions, and programs to better meet the needs and desires of those who travel with us.