Holland America Alaska Cruisetour Highlights

See and experience more of Alaska with Holland America's exclusive cruisetour features: Their mv Yukon Queen II is the only sightseeing vessel on the Yukon River. New McKinley Explorer^® domed railcars offer more glass area for stunning views of the Great Land. History comes alive with a visit to Gold Dredge No. 8. A day cruise aboard our mv Ptarmigan offers an unforgettable glacier tour narrated by a representative of the U.S. Forest Service. Exclusive opportunities like these have earned us a reputation as the "Alaska experts."

INCLUDED CRUISETOUR ACTIVITIES & HIGHLIGHTS

	Anchorage City Tour & Alaska Native Heritage Center Located on a 25-acre site, the Alaska Native Heritage Center portrays Alaska's rich Native cultures. Full-scale models of typical dwellings are open for you to peek into. Village elders and apprentice youth - known as Native Tradition Bearers - demonstrate the time-honored customs and crafts of the various Native groups. Watch with awe and appreciation as an Athabascan Indian embroiders a leather moccasin, one tiny, fragile bead at a time. As a Tlingit carver transforms a formless cedar log into an intricate story in wood. Or as an Inupiat Eskimo fashions a sealskin boat.

	Beaver Creek Yukon Rendezvous Dinner Show A "family style" Yukon barbeque followed by a musical comedy. The show depicts much of the Yukon history from the introduction of the Northwest Mounted Police to the gold rush, to the construction of the famous Alaska Highway.

	Fairbanks Gold Dredge No. 8 Tour When all stakes had been claimed and the rush for gold had faded in the Klondike, the sourdoughs headed west toward Fairbanks in the hopes of making their fortunes there. Trouble was, the gold in Fairbanks lay buried deep under a layer of "muck" that had to be dug out. Thus the gold dredge was conceived. One of these giant diggers was Gold Dredge No. 8, a massive four-story-tall machine that was in operations right up until 1959. Holland America purchased and restored the dredge in 1996, and now features it on all Fairbanks sightseeing tours. Visitors to Gold Dredge No. 8 are treated to a guided tour inside the dredge where they'll hear tales of the rough-and-tumble gold rush days and the hardships faced by the original dredge operators. A video presentation gives visitors insight into the gold mining operations, and they can see for themselves relics from the dredge's early days. Would-be prospectors are encouraged to "grab a poke of dirt" and pan for some gold of their own. A strike is guaranteed and panners can keep what they find as memento of their visit. The tour is topped off with a hearty miner's stew.

	Fairbanks Riverboat Discovery Cruise Relax on this scenic cruise on the Chena and Tanana rivers on the only authentic operating sternwheeler in Alaska, the Discovery III. Enjoy a lively narration as you view a trapper's cabin, log homes, and a bush pilot's performance. Watch a dogsled demonstration with expert Alaskan dog mushers. Stop at the historic site of a Chena Indian village to learn about Native Alaskan hunting and fishing techniques. stew.

	Frantic Follies Revue A high-stepping vaudeville revue featuring singing, cancan dancing, slapstick skits and readings of Robert Service poetry. A performance guaranteed to light up your stay in Whitehorse. stew.

	Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise Take a day-boat cruise through long, steep-sided, glacier-carved valleys mantled by the 300-square-mile Harding Ice Field. Watch for bald eagles, listen to the sounds of thousands of seabirds and share the park's waters with Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, Dall porpoises, sea otters and whales. stew.

	*Portage Glacier & mv Ptarmigan* Cruise** One of the most spectacular sights in Alaska is glacier calving, when massive chunks of ice break away and plunge into the water. And one of the very best places to witness calving is Portage Lake, located an hour south of Anchorage. Here, Alaska's second most visited attraction is just a boat ride away: mighty Portage Glacier. A tour of Begich Boggs Visitors Center on Portage Lake offers a first look at the glacier through interpretive displays, including a walk-in simulation of a glacier fissure. Due to its retreat in recent years, however, Portage Glacier is no longer visible from the visitor's center. As the only sightseeing vessel on the lake, Holland America's mv Ptarmigan provides a way for travelers to approach the glacier and observe "the action" up close. To enhance passengers' experience and their understanding of this "river of ice," the cruise is fully narrated by a representative of the U.S. Forest Service.

	Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali Enjoy a 6-hour narrated tour as you travel up to 62 miles into the park and reach 4,000 feet above sea level. Come within 30 miles of Mt. McKinley and overlook the entire mountain from base to summit offering incredible panoramic photographs. Experience the diverse landscape and keep your eyes out for grizzly bears, Dall sheep, caribou, moose and native wolves.

	White Pass & Yukon Railroad The adventure begins when you board a vintage parlor car, polished green and brass and straight out of the 1890's. Route map in hand, you settle into your comfortable seat and peer through the big, wide window. Suddenly, you are on your way, following in the footsteps of the Stampeders over the historic Trail of '98. Equipped with a diesel engine that easily handles the grade, the train skirts the rushing torrents of the Skagway River, through a narrow box canyon passing gray rock cliffs that rise nearly perpendicular from the valley floor. Next, you're out in the open, crawling along the shoulder of a mountain. A trestle spans a gorge into a seemingly insurmountable mountain wall. Suddenly the train disappears into a tunnel, emerging alongside visible remains of the famed Trail of '98, etched in rock by the shuffling feet of thousands of gold-crazed Stampeders and the hooves of their weary pack animals. In less than two hours, you've traversed the wildly rugged mountain country that once posed weeks of agonizing ordeals for the Klondikers.

	Yukon River Cruise aboard mv Yukon Queen II Sail past the Steamboat Graveyard where beached paddle-wheelers evoke the rip-roaring days of the Yukon River. Stand on the bridge of the mv Yukon Queen II, the only sightseeing vessel for cruisetour travelers, as the Captain navigates the beautiful wilderness of the third-longest river in North America. Look for moose wading in the shallows as you enjoy a hearty prospector's lunch. Wave to rugged homesteaders as you pass their stakes. Your 102-mile journey between Eagle and Dawson City is haunted by echoes of the gold rush and blessed by magnificent scenery.