“There’s a city floating by,” Aly comments, looking out the window. At 9:00 pm the sun, as high as late afternoon in the lower 48, lights up a massive white ship cruising south past the homestead. She’s not exaggerating. Ships like this one can hold 6,000 passengers. With the crew, staff, and entertainers needed to see to their every comfort, there must be at least several hundred more on board. That’s more people than you’ll find in the majority of Alaska’s towns and villages.
One of the larger cruise ships that visit our waters each summer. (Photo: Mark Zeiger, 2007)