Sun Princess

Day 1 Port of Call Vancouver Departure 11:59p.m.

Overview

Vancouver, a bustling west coast seaport in British Columbia, is among Canada’s densest, most ethnically diverse cities. A popular filming location, it’s surrounded by mountains and also has thriving art, theatre, and music scenes. Vancouver Art Gallery is known for its works by regional artists, while the Museum of Anthropology houses preeminent First Nations collections.

Day 4 Port of Call Ketchikan Arrival 7:00a.m. Departure 5:00p.m.

Overview

A city in southeast Alaska on an island in the Alexander Archipelago. A supply point for miners during the gold rush of the 1890s, it is now a major port and tourist center on the Inside Passage. Population: 7,450.

Day 5 Port of Call Sitka Arrival 7:00a.m. Departure 4:00p.m.

Overview

One look at lovely Sitka and you'll know why Alexander Baranof, governor of the Russian American Company, decided to build his "castle" here. With views of island-studded waters and stately spruce forests reaching the water's edge, Sitka is considered Alaska's most beautiful seaside town. Sitka's past is a unique blend of Tlingit culture and Russian history. Our historic and scenic community is situated on Baranof Island, nestled between forested mountains and the great Pacific Ocean, on the outer waters of Alaska's Inside Passage. Sitka offers a combination of Native culture, Russian history, and Alaskan wilderness which will provide a diverse and unequaled experience. Wildlife adds to Sitka's natural beauty. Our mild climate, rich habitat, and relatively low human population make Sitka one of the best places to view wildlife. Nearby waters are a popular feeding ground for humpback whales in the late fall and early spring. Summertime provides a wonderful opportunity to view tufted puffins and other sea birds at St. Lazaria National Wildlife Refuge. While out on the ocean, you may also spot sea otters, sea lions, and other marine wildlife. Sitka lies at the heart of the largest temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass National Forest. Enjoy the fresh outdoors on well-marked mountain trails. Take to the water for a picturesque boat trip or kayaking adventure among nearby islands or charter a boat to nearby fishing grounds to fish for world-class salmon and halibut.

Day 6 Port of Call Skagway Arrival 7:00a.m. Departure 4:00p.m.

Overview

Skagway, with a population of 862, is located in the Upper Lynn Canal at the northernmost point on the Inside Passage in Southeast Alaska, 100 air miles north of Juneau and 110 road miles south of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The City of Skagway is geographically the largest city in Alaska with 455 square land miles.Skagway's history and spectacular natural setting combine to create unparalleled sightseeing and recreation opportunities. Poke around on your own, or select from a variety of commercial tours. Either way, you will be amply rewarded with the sights and activities in and around Skagway.

Day 7 Port of Call Hubbard Glacier Arrival 8:00a.m. Departure 11:00a.m.

Overview

Stretching over 90 miles long and covering over 1,350 square miles in area, Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in North America. It is also one of the most impressive, a 300-foot wall of ice rising sheer and jagged from the ocean. You may hear the rumble and see the monumental splash as the glacier severs into great ice chunks, known as "calves."

Day 8 Port of Call Seward Arrival 5:00a.m.

Overview

Situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is one of Alaska’s oldest and most scenic communities. Known as the "Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park" Seward is a picturesque town located 126 miles south of Anchorage. Visitors can easily reach us via the Seward Highway Scenic Byway, the Alaska Railroad, bus, air, or cruise ship. Upon your arrival, you will discover our bustling harbor and historic downtown district filled with quaint shops and art galleries. Experience trophy sport fishing, glacier and wildlife cruises, sailing, hiking, kayaking, flightseeing, summer dog sled rides, and more. Seward is also a winter wonderland offering cross-country skiing and snowmachining adventures. At 3,022 feet, towering Mt. Marathon provides a breathtaking backdrop for the town. Behind Mt. Marathon and extending down the coast lies the Harding Icefield, measuring 35 by 20 miles. Flowing from the Harding Icefield are many glaciers, eight of which are tidewater glaciers, calving icebergs into the sea, and reaching the coastline between Seward and Homer. A wide range of accommodations, restaurants, RV parks, tent camping, and visitor services are available. Wherever you go in Seward, you’ll find friendly hospitality and a sense of pride among our residents. We invite you to visit our community any time of year and experience the real Alaska!

Day 8 Seward

Overview

Situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is one of Alaska’s oldest and most scenic communities. Known as the "Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park" Seward is a picturesque town located 126 miles south of Anchorage. Visitors can easily reach us via the Seward Highway Scenic Byway, the Alaska Railroad, bus, air, or cruise ship. Upon your arrival, you will discover our bustling harbor and historic downtown district filled with quaint shops and art galleries. Experience trophy sport fishing, glacier and wildlife cruises, sailing, hiking, kayaking, flightseeing, summer dog sled rides, and more. Seward is also a winter wonderland offering cross-country skiing and snowmachining adventures. At 3,022 feet, towering Mt. Marathon provides a breathtaking backdrop for the town. Behind Mt. Marathon and extending down the coast lies the Harding Icefield, measuring 35 by 20 miles. Flowing from the Harding Icefield are many glaciers, eight of which are tidewater glaciers, calving icebergs into the sea, and reaching the coastline between Seward and Homer. A wide range of accommodations, restaurants, RV parks, tent camping, and visitor services are available. Wherever you go in Seward, you’ll find friendly hospitality and a sense of pride among our residents. We invite you to visit our community any time of year and experience the real Alaska!

Day 8 Seward

Overview

Situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is one of Alaska’s oldest and most scenic communities. Known as the "Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park" Seward is a picturesque town located 126 miles south of Anchorage. Visitors can easily reach us via the Seward Highway Scenic Byway, the Alaska Railroad, bus, air, or cruise ship. Upon your arrival, you will discover our bustling harbor and historic downtown district filled with quaint shops and art galleries. Experience trophy sport fishing, glacier and wildlife cruises, sailing, hiking, kayaking, flightseeing, summer dog sled rides, and more. Seward is also a winter wonderland offering cross-country skiing and snowmachining adventures. At 3,022 feet, towering Mt. Marathon provides a breathtaking backdrop for the town. Behind Mt. Marathon and extending down the coast lies the Harding Icefield, measuring 35 by 20 miles. Flowing from the Harding Icefield are many glaciers, eight of which are tidewater glaciers, calving icebergs into the sea, and reaching the coastline between Seward and Homer. A wide range of accommodations, restaurants, RV parks, tent camping, and visitor services are available. Wherever you go in Seward, you’ll find friendly hospitality and a sense of pride among our residents. We invite you to visit our community any time of year and experience the real Alaska!

Day 8 Seward

Overview

Situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is one of Alaska’s oldest and most scenic communities. Known as the "Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park" Seward is a picturesque town located 126 miles south of Anchorage. Visitors can easily reach us via the Seward Highway Scenic Byway, the Alaska Railroad, bus, air, or cruise ship. Upon your arrival, you will discover our bustling harbor and historic downtown district filled with quaint shops and art galleries. Experience trophy sport fishing, glacier and wildlife cruises, sailing, hiking, kayaking, flightseeing, summer dog sled rides, and more. Seward is also a winter wonderland offering cross-country skiing and snowmachining adventures. At 3,022 feet, towering Mt. Marathon provides a breathtaking backdrop for the town. Behind Mt. Marathon and extending down the coast lies the Harding Icefield, measuring 35 by 20 miles. Flowing from the Harding Icefield are many glaciers, eight of which are tidewater glaciers, calving icebergs into the sea, and reaching the coastline between Seward and Homer. A wide range of accommodations, restaurants, RV parks, tent camping, and visitor services are available. Wherever you go in Seward, you’ll find friendly hospitality and a sense of pride among our residents. We invite you to visit our community any time of year and experience the real Alaska!

Day 9 Seward

Overview

Situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is one of Alaska’s oldest and most scenic communities. Known as the "Gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park" Seward is a picturesque town located 126 miles south of Anchorage. Visitors can easily reach us via the Seward Highway Scenic Byway, the Alaska Railroad, bus, air, or cruise ship. Upon your arrival, you will discover our bustling harbor and historic downtown district filled with quaint shops and art galleries. Experience trophy sport fishing, glacier and wildlife cruises, sailing, hiking, kayaking, flightseeing, summer dog sled rides, and more. Seward is also a winter wonderland offering cross-country skiing and snowmachining adventures. At 3,022 feet, towering Mt. Marathon provides a breathtaking backdrop for the town. Behind Mt. Marathon and extending down the coast lies the Harding Icefield, measuring 35 by 20 miles. Flowing from the Harding Icefield are many glaciers, eight of which are tidewater glaciers, calving icebergs into the sea, and reaching the coastline between Seward and Homer. A wide range of accommodations, restaurants, RV parks, tent camping, and visitor services are available. Wherever you go in Seward, you’ll find friendly hospitality and a sense of pride among our residents. We invite you to visit our community any time of year and experience the real Alaska!

Day 9 Anchorage

Overview

Amid the wild countryside that crowds around it on all sides, Anchorage has grown into a spirited, cosmopolitan city - by far Alaska's largest and most sophisticated. The relative affluence of its largely white-collar population - with a sprinkling of olive drab from nearby military bases - attracts fine restaurants and pricey shops, first-rate entertainment, and world-class sporting events. Flashy modern towers punctuate the skyline, and colorful flowers spill from hundreds of baskets on downtown lampposts. Traffic from the city's busy international airport, served by more than 15 international and domestic airlines, lends a more cosmopolitan air than you might expect from a city with only 258,000 residents - nearly half the people in the state. Yet despite the 14 McDonald's, 2 Wal-Marts, and a 16-plex movie theater, the city has not entirely lost touch with its frontier spirit. Sled dog races are still revered, and moose and bear sightings in downtown Anchorage or on the Coastal Trail that rims the water are not uncommon. First incorporated in 1920, Anchorage is still a young city. Its citizens' median age of 30 and aggressive style make this - and not the capital city of Juneau - the state's power center. In addition to acting as the state's oil development center, Anchorage hustles its living as a government, banking, transportation, and communications hub. Anchorage residents are primarily from elsewhere in America - they include oil workers from such conservative oil-patch states as Oklahoma and Texas - and the attitudes they bring have fueled the conservative, pro-development mentality that characterizes the city and Alaska as a whole. Although representing less than 8% of the population, Alaskan Native peoples add an important cultural dimension. A growing Asian population is also having an impact, with well-stocked Asian food stores and restaurants an increasingly familiar sight. Boom and bust periods followed major events: an influx of military bases during World War II; a massive buildup of Arctic missile-warning stations during the Cold War; reconstruction following the devastating Good Friday earthquake of 1964; and in the late 1960s the biggest bonanza of all - the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline. Not surprisingly, Anchorage positioned itself as the perfect home for the new pipeline administrators and support industries, and it attracts a large share of the state's oil tax dollars. In the last decade, Anchorage has become an increasingly important focus of travelers to Alaska. The central location, relatively mild climate, and excellent transportation system make it a natural place to begin or end a trip.

Day 9 Anchorage

Overview

Amid the wild countryside that crowds around it on all sides, Anchorage has grown into a spirited, cosmopolitan city - by far Alaska's largest and most sophisticated. The relative affluence of its largely white-collar population - with a sprinkling of olive drab from nearby military bases - attracts fine restaurants and pricey shops, first-rate entertainment, and world-class sporting events. Flashy modern towers punctuate the skyline, and colorful flowers spill from hundreds of baskets on downtown lampposts. Traffic from the city's busy international airport, served by more than 15 international and domestic airlines, lends a more cosmopolitan air than you might expect from a city with only 258,000 residents - nearly half the people in the state. Yet despite the 14 McDonald's, 2 Wal-Marts, and a 16-plex movie theater, the city has not entirely lost touch with its frontier spirit. Sled dog races are still revered, and moose and bear sightings in downtown Anchorage or on the Coastal Trail that rims the water are not uncommon. First incorporated in 1920, Anchorage is still a young city. Its citizens' median age of 30 and aggressive style make this - and not the capital city of Juneau - the state's power center. In addition to acting as the state's oil development center, Anchorage hustles its living as a government, banking, transportation, and communications hub. Anchorage residents are primarily from elsewhere in America - they include oil workers from such conservative oil-patch states as Oklahoma and Texas - and the attitudes they bring have fueled the conservative, pro-development mentality that characterizes the city and Alaska as a whole. Although representing less than 8% of the population, Alaskan Native peoples add an important cultural dimension. A growing Asian population is also having an impact, with well-stocked Asian food stores and restaurants an increasingly familiar sight. Boom and bust periods followed major events: an influx of military bases during World War II; a massive buildup of Arctic missile-warning stations during the Cold War; reconstruction following the devastating Good Friday earthquake of 1964; and in the late 1960s the biggest bonanza of all - the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline. Not surprisingly, Anchorage positioned itself as the perfect home for the new pipeline administrators and support industries, and it attracts a large share of the state's oil tax dollars. In the last decade, Anchorage has become an increasingly important focus of travelers to Alaska. The central location, relatively mild climate, and excellent transportation system make it a natural place to begin or end a trip.

Day 10 Anchorage

Overview

Amid the wild countryside that crowds around it on all sides, Anchorage has grown into a spirited, cosmopolitan city - by far Alaska's largest and most sophisticated. The relative affluence of its largely white-collar population - with a sprinkling of olive drab from nearby military bases - attracts fine restaurants and pricey shops, first-rate entertainment, and world-class sporting events. Flashy modern towers punctuate the skyline, and colorful flowers spill from hundreds of baskets on downtown lampposts. Traffic from the city's busy international airport, served by more than 15 international and domestic airlines, lends a more cosmopolitan air than you might expect from a city with only 258,000 residents - nearly half the people in the state. Yet despite the 14 McDonald's, 2 Wal-Marts, and a 16-plex movie theater, the city has not entirely lost touch with its frontier spirit. Sled dog races are still revered, and moose and bear sightings in downtown Anchorage or on the Coastal Trail that rims the water are not uncommon. First incorporated in 1920, Anchorage is still a young city. Its citizens' median age of 30 and aggressive style make this - and not the capital city of Juneau - the state's power center. In addition to acting as the state's oil development center, Anchorage hustles its living as a government, banking, transportation, and communications hub. Anchorage residents are primarily from elsewhere in America - they include oil workers from such conservative oil-patch states as Oklahoma and Texas - and the attitudes they bring have fueled the conservative, pro-development mentality that characterizes the city and Alaska as a whole. Although representing less than 8% of the population, Alaskan Native peoples add an important cultural dimension. A growing Asian population is also having an impact, with well-stocked Asian food stores and restaurants an increasingly familiar sight. Boom and bust periods followed major events: an influx of military bases during World War II; a massive buildup of Arctic missile-warning stations during the Cold War; reconstruction following the devastating Good Friday earthquake of 1964; and in the late 1960s the biggest bonanza of all - the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay and the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline. Not surprisingly, Anchorage positioned itself as the perfect home for the new pipeline administrators and support industries, and it attracts a large share of the state's oil tax dollars. In the last decade, Anchorage has become an increasingly important focus of travelers to Alaska. The central location, relatively mild climate, and excellent transportation system make it a natural place to begin or end a trip.

Day 10 Denali National Park

Overview

Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the very heart of the rugged Alaskan Interior. Denali National Park and Preserve is home to six million acres of wilderness. North America's highest mountain, Mt. McKinley. Glaciers and a sub-arctic ecosystem are found in Denali National Park and Preserve. An internationally designated bio-sphere preserve, Denali National Park and Preserve is home to abundant moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, and wolves Denali National Park and Preserve is a place with fascinating Native American culture and history. It is a place where hearty adventurers panned for gold and dog sleds, backpacks and mountaineering gear are common. Alaska is the place of the Midnight Sun. Denali National Park and Preserve is a place where you can live out your Alaska travel dreams, whether they be wild adventures or serene contemplations. Denali National Park and Preserve is a must-see part of your Alaskan vacation.

Day 11 Denali National Park

Overview

Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the very heart of the rugged Alaskan Interior. Denali National Park and Preserve is home to six million acres of wilderness. North America's highest mountain, Mt. McKinley. Glaciers and a sub-arctic ecosystem are found in Denali National Park and Preserve. An internationally designated bio-sphere preserve, Denali National Park and Preserve is home to abundant moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, and wolves Denali National Park and Preserve is a place with fascinating Native American culture and history. It is a place where hearty adventurers panned for gold and dog sleds, backpacks and mountaineering gear are common. Alaska is the place of the Midnight Sun. Denali National Park and Preserve is a place where you can live out your Alaska travel dreams, whether they be wild adventures or serene contemplations. Denali National Park and Preserve is a must-see part of your Alaskan vacation.

Day 11 Denali National Park

Overview

Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the very heart of the rugged Alaskan Interior. Denali National Park and Preserve is home to six million acres of wilderness. North America's highest mountain, Mt. McKinley. Glaciers and a sub-arctic ecosystem are found in Denali National Park and Preserve. An internationally designated bio-sphere preserve, Denali National Park and Preserve is home to abundant moose, caribou, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, and wolves Denali National Park and Preserve is a place with fascinating Native American culture and history. It is a place where hearty adventurers panned for gold and dog sleds, backpacks and mountaineering gear are common. Alaska is the place of the Midnight Sun. Denali National Park and Preserve is a place where you can live out your Alaska travel dreams, whether they be wild adventures or serene contemplations. Denali National Park and Preserve is a must-see part of your Alaskan vacation.

Day 11 Fairbanks

Overview

If the story of the founding of Fairbanks had happened anywhere else, it wouldn't be told so proudly, for the city's father was a swindler, and its undignified birth contained an element of chance not usually admitted in polite society. As the popular story goes (and the historians' version is fairly close), it seems that in 1901, E. T. Barnette decided to get rich by starting a gold-mining boomtown like the others that had sprouted from Dawson City to Nome as the stampeders of 1898 sloshed back and forth across the territory from one gold find to the next. He booked passage on a riverboat going up the Tanana with his supplies to build the town, having made an understanding with the captain that, should the vessel get stuck, he would lighten the load by getting off with the materials on the nearest bank. Unfortunately, the captain got lost. Thinking he was heading up a slough on the Tanana, he got sidetracked into the relatively small Chena River. That was where the boat got stuck and where Barnette got left, and that was where he founded Fairbanks. Fortunately for Barnette, an Italian prospector named Felix Pedro had been looking for gold in the hills around the new trading post, and made a strike on the Tanana. On that news, Barnette dispatched his Chinese cook-off to Dawson City to spread the word. The cook's story showed up in a newspaper that winter and a stampede of hundreds of miners ensued, heading toward Fairbanks in weather as cold as -50°F. Barnette's town was a success, but the cook nearly got lynched when the stampeders found out how far he'd exaggerated the truth. Much more gold was found later, however, and half the population of Dawson City came downriver to Fairbanks. Barnette had made it big. The town's future was assured thanks to a political deal. Barnette did a favor for the territory's judge, James Wickersham, by naming the settlement for Wickersham's ally in Congress, Sen. Charles Fairbanks of Indiana, who later became vice president. Wickersham then moved the federal courthouse to Fairbanks from Eagle--he loaded his records on his dogsled and mushed here, establishing the camp as the hub of the region. Wickersham's story is interesting, too. He was a notable explorer, Alaska's first real statesman as a nonvoting delegate to Congress, and the father of the Alaska Railroad. Houses he lived in are preserved at Alaska and in Fairbanks and Juneau just up the hill from the capitol building. Barnette didn't do as well in history's eyes: He was run out of the town he founded for bank fraud. Fairbanks is Alaska's second-largest city now, with a population of about 30,000 in the city limits and 82,000 in the greater metropolitan area, but it has never learned to put on airs. It sprawls, broad and flat, along big highways and the Chena. It's a friendly, easygoing town, but one where people still take gold and their independence seriously. They're still prospecting and mining for gold around here, fighting off environmental regulation, and maintaining a traditional Alaskan attitude that it's us against the world. Fairbanks is the birthplace of strange political movements, including the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party. It's an adamant, loopy, affable place; it doesn't seem to mind being a little bizarre or residing far from the center of things. And that makes it an intensely Alaska city, for those are the qualities Alaskans most cherish in their myth of themselves. Fairbanks can strike a visitor a couple of ways, depending on what you expect and what you like. Fairbanks can come across as a provincial outpost, a touristy cross between Kansas and Siberia. Driving one of the franchise-choked commercial strips, you can wonder why you went out of your way to come here, and the deserted downtown area can be downright depressing. Or you can relax and take Fairbanks on its terms, as a fun, unpretentious town that never lost its sense of being on the frontier. My children love it here. There's plenty for families to do in Fairbanks, much of it at least a little corny and requiring drives to widespread sites at the university, on the Chena River, in the gold mining area north of town, and at a big town park called Alaskaland. (You must have wheels in Fairbanks.) There are good opportunities for hiking and mountain biking and great opportunities for canoeing and slow river float trips.

Day 12 Fairbanks

Overview

If the story of the founding of Fairbanks had happened anywhere else, it wouldn't be told so proudly, for the city's father was a swindler, and its undignified birth contained an element of chance not usually admitted in polite society. As the popular story goes (and the historians' version is fairly close), it seems that in 1901, E. T. Barnette decided to get rich by starting a gold-mining boomtown like the others that had sprouted from Dawson City to Nome as the stampeders of 1898 sloshed back and forth across the territory from one gold find to the next. He booked passage on a riverboat going up the Tanana with his supplies to build the town, having made an understanding with the captain that, should the vessel get stuck, he would lighten the load by getting off with the materials on the nearest bank. Unfortunately, the captain got lost. Thinking he was heading up a slough on the Tanana, he got sidetracked into the relatively small Chena River. That was where the boat got stuck and where Barnette got left, and that was where he founded Fairbanks. Fortunately for Barnette, an Italian prospector named Felix Pedro had been looking for gold in the hills around the new trading post, and made a strike on the Tanana. On that news, Barnette dispatched his Chinese cook-off to Dawson City to spread the word. The cook's story showed up in a newspaper that winter and a stampede of hundreds of miners ensued, heading toward Fairbanks in weather as cold as -50°F. Barnette's town was a success, but the cook nearly got lynched when the stampeders found out how far he'd exaggerated the truth. Much more gold was found later, however, and half the population of Dawson City came downriver to Fairbanks. Barnette had made it big. The town's future was assured thanks to a political deal. Barnette did a favor for the territory's judge, James Wickersham, by naming the settlement for Wickersham's ally in Congress, Sen. Charles Fairbanks of Indiana, who later became vice president. Wickersham then moved the federal courthouse to Fairbanks from Eagle--he loaded his records on his dogsled and mushed here, establishing the camp as the hub of the region. Wickersham's story is interesting, too. He was a notable explorer, Alaska's first real statesman as a nonvoting delegate to Congress, and the father of the Alaska Railroad. Houses he lived in are preserved at Alaska and in Fairbanks and Juneau just up the hill from the capitol building. Barnette didn't do as well in history's eyes: He was run out of the town he founded for bank fraud. Fairbanks is Alaska's second-largest city now, with a population of about 30,000 in the city limits and 82,000 in the greater metropolitan area, but it has never learned to put on airs. It sprawls, broad and flat, along big highways and the Chena. It's a friendly, easygoing town, but one where people still take gold and their independence seriously. They're still prospecting and mining for gold around here, fighting off environmental regulation, and maintaining a traditional Alaskan attitude that it's us against the world. Fairbanks is the birthplace of strange political movements, including the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party. It's an adamant, loopy, affable place; it doesn't seem to mind being a little bizarre or residing far from the center of things. And that makes it an intensely Alaska city, for those are the qualities Alaskans most cherish in their myth of themselves. Fairbanks can strike a visitor a couple of ways, depending on what you expect and what you like. Fairbanks can come across as a provincial outpost, a touristy cross between Kansas and Siberia. Driving one of the franchise-choked commercial strips, you can wonder why you went out of your way to come here, and the deserted downtown area can be downright depressing. Or you can relax and take Fairbanks on its terms, as a fun, unpretentious town that never lost its sense of being on the frontier. My children love it here. There's plenty for families to do in Fairbanks, much of it at least a little corny and requiring drives to widespread sites at the university, on the Chena River, in the gold mining area north of town, and at a big town park called Alaskaland. (You must have wheels in Fairbanks.) There are good opportunities for hiking and mountain biking and great opportunities for canoeing and slow river float trips.

Day 12 Fairbanks

Overview

If the story of the founding of Fairbanks had happened anywhere else, it wouldn't be told so proudly, for the city's father was a swindler, and its undignified birth contained an element of chance not usually admitted in polite society. As the popular story goes (and the historians' version is fairly close), it seems that in 1901, E. T. Barnette decided to get rich by starting a gold-mining boomtown like the others that had sprouted from Dawson City to Nome as the stampeders of 1898 sloshed back and forth across the territory from one gold find to the next. He booked passage on a riverboat going up the Tanana with his supplies to build the town, having made an understanding with the captain that, should the vessel get stuck, he would lighten the load by getting off with the materials on the nearest bank. Unfortunately, the captain got lost. Thinking he was heading up a slough on the Tanana, he got sidetracked into the relatively small Chena River. That was where the boat got stuck and where Barnette got left, and that was where he founded Fairbanks. Fortunately for Barnette, an Italian prospector named Felix Pedro had been looking for gold in the hills around the new trading post, and made a strike on the Tanana. On that news, Barnette dispatched his Chinese cook-off to Dawson City to spread the word. The cook's story showed up in a newspaper that winter and a stampede of hundreds of miners ensued, heading toward Fairbanks in weather as cold as -50°F. Barnette's town was a success, but the cook nearly got lynched when the stampeders found out how far he'd exaggerated the truth. Much more gold was found later, however, and half the population of Dawson City came downriver to Fairbanks. Barnette had made it big. The town's future was assured thanks to a political deal. Barnette did a favor for the territory's judge, James Wickersham, by naming the settlement for Wickersham's ally in Congress, Sen. Charles Fairbanks of Indiana, who later became vice president. Wickersham then moved the federal courthouse to Fairbanks from Eagle--he loaded his records on his dogsled and mushed here, establishing the camp as the hub of the region. Wickersham's story is interesting, too. He was a notable explorer, Alaska's first real statesman as a nonvoting delegate to Congress, and the father of the Alaska Railroad. Houses he lived in are preserved at Alaska and in Fairbanks and Juneau just up the hill from the capitol building. Barnette didn't do as well in history's eyes: He was run out of the town he founded for bank fraud. Fairbanks is Alaska's second-largest city now, with a population of about 30,000 in the city limits and 82,000 in the greater metropolitan area, but it has never learned to put on airs. It sprawls, broad and flat, along big highways and the Chena. It's a friendly, easygoing town, but one where people still take gold and their independence seriously. They're still prospecting and mining for gold around here, fighting off environmental regulation, and maintaining a traditional Alaskan attitude that it's us against the world. Fairbanks is the birthplace of strange political movements, including the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party. It's an adamant, loopy, affable place; it doesn't seem to mind being a little bizarre or residing far from the center of things. And that makes it an intensely Alaska city, for those are the qualities Alaskans most cherish in their myth of themselves. Fairbanks can strike a visitor a couple of ways, depending on what you expect and what you like. Fairbanks can come across as a provincial outpost, a touristy cross between Kansas and Siberia. Driving one of the franchise-choked commercial strips, you can wonder why you went out of your way to come here, and the deserted downtown area can be downright depressing. Or you can relax and take Fairbanks on its terms, as a fun, unpretentious town that never lost its sense of being on the frontier. My children love it here. There's plenty for families to do in Fairbanks, much of it at least a little corny and requiring drives to widespread sites at the university, on the Chena River, in the gold mining area north of town, and at a big town park called Alaskaland. (You must have wheels in Fairbanks.) There are good opportunities for hiking and mountain biking and great opportunities for canoeing and slow river float trips.

Day 13 Fairbanks

Overview

If the story of the founding of Fairbanks had happened anywhere else, it wouldn't be told so proudly, for the city's father was a swindler, and its undignified birth contained an element of chance not usually admitted in polite society. As the popular story goes (and the historians' version is fairly close), it seems that in 1901, E. T. Barnette decided to get rich by starting a gold-mining boomtown like the others that had sprouted from Dawson City to Nome as the stampeders of 1898 sloshed back and forth across the territory from one gold find to the next. He booked passage on a riverboat going up the Tanana with his supplies to build the town, having made an understanding with the captain that, should the vessel get stuck, he would lighten the load by getting off with the materials on the nearest bank. Unfortunately, the captain got lost. Thinking he was heading up a slough on the Tanana, he got sidetracked into the relatively small Chena River. That was where the boat got stuck and where Barnette got left, and that was where he founded Fairbanks. Fortunately for Barnette, an Italian prospector named Felix Pedro had been looking for gold in the hills around the new trading post, and made a strike on the Tanana. On that news, Barnette dispatched his Chinese cook-off to Dawson City to spread the word. The cook's story showed up in a newspaper that winter and a stampede of hundreds of miners ensued, heading toward Fairbanks in weather as cold as -50°F. Barnette's town was a success, but the cook nearly got lynched when the stampeders found out how far he'd exaggerated the truth. Much more gold was found later, however, and half the population of Dawson City came downriver to Fairbanks. Barnette had made it big. The town's future was assured thanks to a political deal. Barnette did a favor for the territory's judge, James Wickersham, by naming the settlement for Wickersham's ally in Congress, Sen. Charles Fairbanks of Indiana, who later became vice president. Wickersham then moved the federal courthouse to Fairbanks from Eagle--he loaded his records on his dogsled and mushed here, establishing the camp as the hub of the region. Wickersham's story is interesting, too. He was a notable explorer, Alaska's first real statesman as a nonvoting delegate to Congress, and the father of the Alaska Railroad. Houses he lived in are preserved at Alaska and in Fairbanks and Juneau just up the hill from the capitol building. Barnette didn't do as well in history's eyes: He was run out of the town he founded for bank fraud. Fairbanks is Alaska's second-largest city now, with a population of about 30,000 in the city limits and 82,000 in the greater metropolitan area, but it has never learned to put on airs. It sprawls, broad and flat, along big highways and the Chena. It's a friendly, easygoing town, but one where people still take gold and their independence seriously. They're still prospecting and mining for gold around here, fighting off environmental regulation, and maintaining a traditional Alaskan attitude that it's us against the world. Fairbanks is the birthplace of strange political movements, including the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party. It's an adamant, loopy, affable place; it doesn't seem to mind being a little bizarre or residing far from the center of things. And that makes it an intensely Alaska city, for those are the qualities Alaskans most cherish in their myth of themselves. Fairbanks can strike a visitor a couple of ways, depending on what you expect and what you like. Fairbanks can come across as a provincial outpost, a touristy cross between Kansas and Siberia. Driving one of the franchise-choked commercial strips, you can wonder why you went out of your way to come here, and the deserted downtown area can be downright depressing. Or you can relax and take Fairbanks on its terms, as a fun, unpretentious town that never lost its sense of being on the frontier. My children love it here. There's plenty for families to do in Fairbanks, much of it at least a little corny and requiring drives to widespread sites at the university, on the Chena River, in the gold mining area north of town, and at a big town park called Alaskaland. (You must have wheels in Fairbanks.) There are good opportunities for hiking and mountain biking and great opportunities for canoeing and slow river float trips.

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	Stateroom for occupancy 5 and up
	Stateroom for occupancy up to 4
	Accessible stateroom
	Stateroom has an obstructed view

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Onboard the Sun Princess

Year Built: 2022

Double Occupancy Capacity: 2150

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