An Alaska Adventure With American Queen Voyages

American Queen Voyages' first expedition ship, the 186-guest Ocean Victory, sailed on its inaugural Alaska voyage May 7-17, from Vancouver to Sitka, Alaska. The ship visited Ketchikan and lesser-visited towns such as Wrangell, Kake and Petersburg. Passengers rode in zippy inflatable motorized boats called Zodiacs and paddled kayaks in places like Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness and Tracy Arm. TravelPulse was on board, so join us for this photographic tour of the trip.

A deluxe stateroom with a private balcony on Ocean Victory ranges in size from 213 to 264 square feet. Stateroom 412 had a queen-size bed (convertible to two singles), a sofa, a desk and plenty of storage space for luggage, clothing and personal items. With sustainability in mind, guests are given a metal water bottle that can be refilled at water stations throughout the ship.

After two days of scenic cruising in the Canadian Inside Passage and the fjords of Kynoch Inlet, we arrived at Ketchikan. The included excursion drove us into town from Ward Cove, a new dock about eight miles from the village, past Creek Street and to Saxman Native Village, home to about 400 residents and 25 totems. The poles are said to be "authentic replicas" of those abandoned in villages when Native Alaskans moved into more populated areas.

The first day for expeditions was in Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness, and guests paddled kayaks and rode on Zodiacs, safe motorized inflatable boats. Ocean Victory has a mudroom lined with lockers where guests store the provided rain gear, which kept us dry and warm. The ship's guides offer briefings on how to safely enter the Zodiac and kayak. For Zodiac rides, guests sit on the pontoon and hold onto a rope, although the ride is smooth, even dry and stable enough to hold onto a phone or camera. The Zodiac captain drove near the shoreline to search for wildlife - we spied a sea lion, bald eagles, an otter and a mountain goat! - while also marveling at the sheer granite cliffs.

Throughout Misty Fjords, we saw numerous waterfalls, trickling or roaring down the granite cliffs of the Tongass National Forest.

Sea kayaks are stable ways to immerse into nature. Ocean Victory guides helped passengers get into and out of the kayaks, after a briefing on how to properly paddle and call for help should one run into trouble. But it was a breeze - one 97-year-old passenger even kayaked! Shortly after reboarding the ship, we saw a brown bear ambling along the shore. Ocean Victory offers binoculars and telescopes in the Observation Lounge, so we were able to get a close-up look at the creature.

Chef Regina Charboneau leads cooking - and cocktail! - demonstrations - on American Queen Voyages' vessels. On Ocean Victory, she showed us how to make colorful drinks and shared recipes for deviled eggs with salmon roe and smoked salmon pimento cheese. The popular and personable Charboneau also leads "pub crawls" in some port towns. In Wrangell, for example, that included a morning Bloody Mary at Totem Bar, followed by fried halibut bites with fries at Zak's Café.

The private balconies on Ocean Victory allow guests to take in some stunning scenery throughout Alaska. This was the view from the ship docked in Wrangell, Alaska.

A plaque ceremony was held in Wrangell to mark Ocean Victory's first-ever visit there. The ceremony included a Tlingit dance as well as speeches by local officials.

From Wrangell, some passengers rode a jetboat to LeComte Glacier. A jetboat operates something like a personal watercraft such as a Jet Ski, skimming along on top of the water. As we approached the glacier, we passed numerous icebergs, and the jetboat nosed through the icebergs and safely rode over smaller ones. We were told the blue tones of the icebergs are more visible during overcast days, which it was, and that they look mostly white on sunny days.

Our jet boat captain, Zachary Taylor, founder of Muddy Water Adventures of Wrangell, grew up on these waters and shared numerous stories about the area. At one point, he picked up a chunk of glacier ice out of the water and placed it in his cooler - he said it's a dense ice that keeps drinks colder longer because it doesn't melt as fast as regular ice cubes.

And finally, LeComte Glacier came into view. It was indeed an awesome sight.