In July 2025, Debra and I embarked on a grand voyage along the coast of Alaska, a two-week cruise aboard Crystal Serenity. We sailed from Vancouver to Seward and back, with port stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and Icy Strait Point, with a transit through the wild landscape of Hubbard Glacier. We had the time of our lives!
Click HERE to read a short introduction to our voyage.
This story, part of a series, is about our day in Seward.
Click HERE to read a short introduction to our voyage.
This story, part of a series, is about our day in Seward.
Saint Peter's Episcopal Church
Seward, Alaska (July 16, 2024) This was our turnaround day, the midpoint of our 14-night grand voyage of Alaska. Seward was the terminus—the end of the line—on our northwesterly route from Vancouver along the southern coast of the 49th State. At 5PM, when the Serenity again set sail, the ship’s navigator set a course in the direction from which we came to follow a southeasterly route to Vancouver.
As on most days, I was up and out of our cabin early, about 6 AM. Last night, before we went to bed, Debra said, “I’d like to sleep in, so please don’t wake me when you leave the cabin tomorrow morning.” I promised I wouldn’t…and I didn’t.
First things first. I went topside to have a look see at Seward.
The air was cool and damp, and I felt a bit of a chill when I stepped on deck. It was easy to see why: The sky was overcast with a thick layer of gray clouds, and the clouds, which were saturated with moisture, let go water droplets that fell as light rain. I checked my weather app—the temperature was in the low 50s and there was a slight breeze from the east. Yep…cool and damp.
As on most days, I was up and out of our cabin early, about 6 AM. Last night, before we went to bed, Debra said, “I’d like to sleep in, so please don’t wake me when you leave the cabin tomorrow morning.” I promised I wouldn’t…and I didn’t.
First things first. I went topside to have a look see at Seward.
The air was cool and damp, and I felt a bit of a chill when I stepped on deck. It was easy to see why: The sky was overcast with a thick layer of gray clouds, and the clouds, which were saturated with moisture, let go water droplets that fell as light rain. I checked my weather app—the temperature was in the low 50s and there was a slight breeze from the east. Yep…cool and damp.
No matter, I thought, I’ll just layer up and bring an umbrella. And this was what I did, as my plan was to spend a few hours off the ship on a self-guided walking tour—a half-day of discovery—in downtown Seward.
I shared my plan with Debra last night, and then asked, “Would you like to join me?”
“Thanks,” she replied with a smile, “but I’ll stay on board for a day of R & R while you traipse around Seward. Have fun…and don’t lose sight of the all aboard time.”
All aboard was at half past five, which meant I had plenty of time—more time, really, then I needed—to see the sights I planned to see.
I shared my plan with Debra last night, and then asked, “Would you like to join me?”
“Thanks,” she replied with a smile, “but I’ll stay on board for a day of R & R while you traipse around Seward. Have fun…and don’t lose sight of the all aboard time.”
All aboard was at half past five, which meant I had plenty of time—more time, really, then I needed—to see the sights I planned to see.
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Before I set out, I had a leisurely breakfast at Marketplace, the ship’s buffet-style restaurant that offered a sure-to-please-anyone range of cold and hot items and the typical variety of beverages. I ate in Marketplace almost daily, and I never left disappointed. Usually, it was two plates for me, as it was this morning. I started with fruit and nuts and ended with eggs, bacon, and French toast. Mmm mmm good!
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I set off at half past nine and boarded a shuttle bus outside the cruise terminal that took me to the Alaska SeaLife Center, the “only facility in Alaska that combines a public aquarium with marine research, education, and wildlife response.”
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The Center, which opened in 1998, had many fascinating exhibits, including tanks for various species of fish and habitats for harbor seals, Steller sea lions, puffins, and other seabirds. There was also a recreation of a kelp forest—an underwater ecosystem formed by the dense-growth giant kelp, a type of large brown seaweed—complete with fish and various invertebrates.
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I spent 90 minutes wandering through the two-story building. Along the way, I learned about the animals who called the sea their home from the storyboards that accompanied each exhibit. For example:
Of all the exhibits I wandered through, none was better (IMHO) than the Seabird Habitat. Why? Because there were scores of adorable puffins in this walk-in exhibit.
These were horned puffins, with an average weight of 18 ounces and an average wingspan of 23 inches. They are “monomorphic,” I read; that is, females and males exhibit the same plumage coloration.
- There’s a diverse array of fish and crustaceans in Southeast Alaska, including salmon, halibut, rockfish, pacific cod, herring, clams, Dungeness, snow crab, oysters, and shrimp.
- Alaska’s commercial fisheries accounted for more than half of the total fish catch in the United States.
- The species of whales in Resurrection Bay—the fjord on the Kenai Peninsula on which Seward is located—included humpback whales, orca (killer) whales, and minke whales. (Okay…you got me. An Orca is actually a member of the porpoise family.)
- “True seals” of Alaska are known as earless seals because they lack an earflap. They also have a shorter, more robust body, and move on land by undulating their bodies as a caterpillar would.
Of all the exhibits I wandered through, none was better (IMHO) than the Seabird Habitat. Why? Because there were scores of adorable puffins in this walk-in exhibit.
These were horned puffins, with an average weight of 18 ounces and an average wingspan of 23 inches. They are “monomorphic,” I read; that is, females and males exhibit the same plumage coloration.
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Both genders also exhibit a small, fleshy, dark “horn” above each eye, thus the name of this species. And with their brightly colored orange and red bills—puffins were called sea parrots and clowns of the sea by early sailors—females AND males seemed ready for a night on the town!
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Puffins are swift flyers, capable of reaching speeds up to 55 mph, and they’re excellent swimmers, too, who use their wings to propel themselves through the water and dive to depths of 200 feet to feed.
I had a great time at the SeaLife Center—a “don’t miss” stop, IMHO—as I connected, up close and personal, with many of the sea-based animals of Alaska.
From the Center, I crossed 4th Avenue—the main street in downtown Seward—to Seward Waterfront Park, which overlooked Resurrection Bay, as there were three monuments I wanted to see.
I had a great time at the SeaLife Center—a “don’t miss” stop, IMHO—as I connected, up close and personal, with many of the sea-based animals of Alaska.
From the Center, I crossed 4th Avenue—the main street in downtown Seward—to Seward Waterfront Park, which overlooked Resurrection Bay, as there were three monuments I wanted to see.
Resurrection Bay
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This was the first monument, which depicted a man with three huskies. The gentleman was Alfred Lowell (1877–1910), a fur trader who, with his wife, “settled at the future site of Seward in 1884.”
When gold was discovered near the Iditarod River in 1908, Seward’s merchants hired Lowell to develop a route from Seward to the river that mushers on dog sled could use to transport mail and supplies to the thousands of prospectors who descended on the river. He did, and the rest, as the saying goes, was history. “Cash registers jingled!” proclaimed a nearby storyboard. |
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Eventually, this trail was expanded to a 1,150-mile route between Seward and Nome—a dog-sled route that became known as the Iditarod Trail, and which later gave rise to the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
The next monument (and storyboard), which was a hundred yards or so further on in the park, portrayed Jujiro Wada (1875-1937), an immigrant from Japan who came to Alaska in 1890, where he “became a legend for his hardiness on epic adventures prospecting across Alaska and Canada.” He, too, helped pioneer the Iditarod Trail, which was designated a National Historic Trail by Congress in 1978. |
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The third monument, called the Founders Monument, honored John Ballaine. It was a monument TO him, rather than OF him—a tall stone cairn topped with a steam engine weathervane.
An engraved plaque included this quote:
An engraved plaque included this quote:
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If there is such a place as Heaven, I cannot imagine anyone admitted through its pearly gates with sentiments more joyous than I experienced that shining forenoon as we glided easily in those majestic scenes up to the timber-covered site I had chosen for the future terminal city—the future gateway to and out of Alaska’s great interior.
~ John Ballaine, upon entering Resurrection Bay
Ballaine had organized a contingent of men, women, and children, who arrived on the steamer Santa Ana, with equipment and horses on August 28, 1903. He promptly founded the town of Seward, named after William H. Seward, the U.S. secretary of state who negotiated the Alaska Purchase from Russia in 1867.
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One of the things I love about travel are chance meetings with interesting people from whom I learn and learn of…like this group of students from Thailand who work in Anchorage through a student exchange program. Like me, they were in Seward for a bit of sightseeing.
I didn’t catch all their names, but the fellow sporting the red hoodie is Yossi and the young man at the right is Den. |
I told them I had recently traveled to their country—to Bangkok and other cities, and that I had had a wonderful experience. They beamed!
Later, back on the Serenity, I Google “student exchange programs” and learned of the specific program that brought them to Alaska. It is called the J-1 Summer Work Travel program, and it brings foreign students to America for five months of work in seasonal jobs and cultural exchange. I imagined, as I read this, that there was a group of six American teens who were in Thailand through the same program.
Before I move on to the other sights I saw, let me say this: I was THRILLED to “meet” the three historical figures—Lowell, Wada, and Ballaine—and learn about their important contributions to settling The Last Frontier, AKA Alaska. For me, it’s always fun to connect the places I visited to important events in history, and I really felt I had done so here.
I turned back towards town and headed up 4th Avenue—the “heart of this community,” I read—which is lined with shops, restaurants, lodging, churches and more. There were many original buildings that have been preserved over the years, like the Brown & Hawkings building in the left-hand photo below.
Later, back on the Serenity, I Google “student exchange programs” and learned of the specific program that brought them to Alaska. It is called the J-1 Summer Work Travel program, and it brings foreign students to America for five months of work in seasonal jobs and cultural exchange. I imagined, as I read this, that there was a group of six American teens who were in Thailand through the same program.
Before I move on to the other sights I saw, let me say this: I was THRILLED to “meet” the three historical figures—Lowell, Wada, and Ballaine—and learn about their important contributions to settling The Last Frontier, AKA Alaska. For me, it’s always fun to connect the places I visited to important events in history, and I really felt I had done so here.
I turned back towards town and headed up 4th Avenue—the “heart of this community,” I read—which is lined with shops, restaurants, lodging, churches and more. There were many original buildings that have been preserved over the years, like the Brown & Hawkings building in the left-hand photo below.
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It was completed as a 12x14 foot one-story “frontier store with a low false front” in 1904; in subsequent years, it was modified to the two-story building I saw this day. Brown & Hawkins, which was the oldest continuous business in Seward when it was sold to a couple who reopened it as a gallery for art and photography.
Now that (if I do say so myself) is a lovely bit of historical trivia!
Now that (if I do say so myself) is a lovely bit of historical trivia!
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I walked in and out of a handful of stores, where I purchased a couple of small mementos to remind me of my day in Seward. I also stopped in Sweet Darlings, a purveyor of gelato, fine chocolates, and fudges. There, I bought a small bag of chocolates for Debra.
If you are interested in reading a short, cutely written history of Sweet Darlings (on its website), click HERE. |
That’s KT behind the display case. He, too, was from Thailand, living and working in Seward under the J-1 program.
When I researched Seward ahead of our trip, I learned that it has the largest public mural collection in Alaska—30 or so vibrant murals scattered throughout the town, which earned it this official designation: Mural Capital of Alaska. “Each mural,” I read at www.seward.com, “depicts unique historical characters, local events, and natural landscapes.”
I didn’t have time to see all 30 murals, but I kept my eyes open as I walked, hoping to catch sight of a few. Truth be told, I spotted more than a few, but these were my faves.
When I researched Seward ahead of our trip, I learned that it has the largest public mural collection in Alaska—30 or so vibrant murals scattered throughout the town, which earned it this official designation: Mural Capital of Alaska. “Each mural,” I read at www.seward.com, “depicts unique historical characters, local events, and natural landscapes.”
I didn’t have time to see all 30 murals, but I kept my eyes open as I walked, hoping to catch sight of a few. Truth be told, I spotted more than a few, but these were my faves.
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The mural top left, by Byron Birdsall, is titled Kenai Fjords National Park: Where Mountains, Ice, and Ocean Meet. It was installed in 2016. Raven the Creator (bottom photo), painted by Jennifer Headtke, “depicts the Native myth of the supernatural Raven creating the world.” It was installed in 1996. So sorry, but I have no information to share about the mural (top right) with the two ducks, but I can tell you what I appreciated about it: It was immense—the size of a building, you can see—and painted in brilliant colors.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it…well, many times: I LOVE churches, and I make it a point to visit as many as I can when I travel.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it…well, many times: I LOVE churches, and I make it a point to visit as many as I can when I travel.
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It was no surprise, then, that my last stop was a church—Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, a true landmark of Seward. This church was constructed between 1905 and 1906 and consecrated on April 1, 1906, by the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska.
There was a storyboard out front, which I read before I went inside. The church is known “for its unique painting of the Ascension of Christ, a work of art by well-known Dutch artist Jan van Emple,” which he completed in 1925. What made this painting unique? “Instead of Apostles, Van Emple shows the people of Alaska,” including an Alaskan Native family and a prospector, trapper, and homesteader. “This is a unique painting for a unique church in a unique town,” the storyboard trumpeted. “Even Presidents have had their picture taken here!” The church’s façade reflected its early 20th-century origins, and its simple wooden interior, accented by stained glass windows, created a serene and contemplative ambiance. I thought the overall effect was enhanced by its picturesque location, nestled as it was within the natural beauty of Alaska. Soooo glad I stopped! |
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I checked my watch. It was half past twelve and…I was hungry. I had walked a scant half-mile from the SeaLife Center and it was nearly two miles to the Seward Cruise Ship Terminal.
I’m sure I’ll find something along the way, I thought as I set out in the direction of the ship.
I’m sure I’ll find something along the way, I thought as I set out in the direction of the ship.
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I walked a mile and a half before I reached the Tidewater Taphouse, a locally owned restaurant that offered pub fare and Alaskan seafood, along with a great selection of craft beers, with many brewed on-site.
I took a seat at the wooden boat-shaped bar in Kraken Lounge, located on the 2nd floor. There, I had nice views of the harbor and surrounding mountains. After I perused the menu, I ordered seafood chowder served in a bread bowl. “What would you like to drink?” asked the bartender. |
“Something local,” I replied. “Preferably a lager, possibly a stout.”
“Hold on,” he said. He soon returned with two small glasses, a lager in one and a stout in the other.
“Try both and tell me what you think,” he said.
So, I did, and then chose…the Taproom’s Summit Creek Stout.
“Hold on,” he said. He soon returned with two small glasses, a lager in one and a stout in the other.
“Try both and tell me what you think,” he said.
So, I did, and then chose…the Taproom’s Summit Creek Stout.
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The chowder was delicious and the stout, brewed with “dark grains of small crystal malt to blend the coffee and creamy notes with toffee,” tasted smooth and rich.
Good choices, Howard, I said to myself.
It was nearly 2PM when I reached the Serenity. A note from Debra in our cabin told me I would find her in Palm Court on Deck 11. This was her favorite spot to relax and read, and there she was when I arrived, seated in a comfortable wingback chair with her Kindle in hand.
We spent the next hour talking about our day. It was a chance for the best of friends (because this is what we are) to catch up with one another—an experience that was priceless!
We had dinner at Osteria d’Ovidio, the Italian fine dining restaurant with a variety of signature dishes, or as Crystal said, “show-stopping, traditional meals.”
Good choices, Howard, I said to myself.
It was nearly 2PM when I reached the Serenity. A note from Debra in our cabin told me I would find her in Palm Court on Deck 11. This was her favorite spot to relax and read, and there she was when I arrived, seated in a comfortable wingback chair with her Kindle in hand.
We spent the next hour talking about our day. It was a chance for the best of friends (because this is what we are) to catch up with one another—an experience that was priceless!
We had dinner at Osteria d’Ovidio, the Italian fine dining restaurant with a variety of signature dishes, or as Crystal said, “show-stopping, traditional meals.”
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We each had two appetizers—small portions, really—and for our entrée we ordered Agnello—lamb with sweet onions, balsamic vinegar, and sea asparagus. It was outstanding!
In the introduction to this series of stories on our grand voyage of Alaska, I mentioned that we booked this cruise to celebrate our Golden Anniversary. Yep, 50 years! The ship’s staff knew this, and so this evening, after we finished dinner, the Matre’d brought a chocolate cake to our table on which the pastry chef had written, “Happy Anniversary.” Kudos to Crystal. We ended our day in the Galaxy Lounge, where we watched the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, backed by the Crystal Showband, perform a high energy show, Crystal in Motion, that featured synchronized dancing and acrobatics. It was a memorable entertainment experience. |
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And this was the best word to describe this day—MEMORABLE from start to finish!
Our next stop wasn’t a port of call. Rather, it was Hubbard Glacier, with a second opportunity to see this magnificent glacier, and this time, the weather was picture perfect. I look forward to sharing our experience with you in my next story.
Our next stop wasn’t a port of call. Rather, it was Hubbard Glacier, with a second opportunity to see this magnificent glacier, and this time, the weather was picture perfect. I look forward to sharing our experience with you in my next story.