Gold Rush Adventure

Guests arrive and check in this afternoon. Later, we host a reception where you can meet your fellow travelers.

After breakfast, we enjoy a drive up Geiger Grade to the famous old west town of Virginia City; once the home of two great American writers, Lucius Beebe and Mark Twain. We have time to explore before we embark on the Virginia & Truckee Railroad.

Today’s journey offers a rare highlight as we enter Yosemite Valley from the east over the Tioga Pass. The road meanders over the Sierra range through Tuolumne Meadows, past Tenaya Lake and Olmstead Point; a vista of Half Dome from the east.

After breakfast we return for a full day of exploration of the Yosemite with a guided and comprehensive valley tour; Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan, Vernal Falls and the Cathedral Rocks are astonishing wonders. Another feature today is the Yosemite Sugar Pine Railroad steam train ride through a redwood forest once used to harvest timber.

This morning we begin our land journey over the historic “Gold Chain Highway”; CA 49, the mining communities of the Gold Rush of 1848. We travel through Angels Camp, Columbia & Coloma, where gold was first found on the South Fork of the American River.

After breakfast we depart for a drive through the California Central Valley for San Francisco and the Ruby Princess.

Time at sea.

Cruising the Inside Passage.

In 1799, the Russian explorer Alexander Baranof founded New Archangel next to the Tlingit village of Sitka.This was the beginning of permanent Russian settlement in North America. But New Archangel was destroyed three years later by the Tlingit Indians in an attempt to reclaim their ancestral home.

A canoe slipped into the mouth of the Chilkat Inlet in November 1879, carrying Presbyterian missionary S. Hall Young and his friend, John Muir.

Park, AK Princess is one of a select few cruise lines permitted to cruise the pristine waters of Glacier Bay, the highlight of our 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise. Just west of Juneau, this national park and preserve boasts some of the world's most tidewater glaciers, such as Margerie Glacier, which often drops colossal chunks of ice into the sea.

Ketchikan is known as Alaska's "First City" because it's the first major community travelers come to as they journey north. Located on an island, Ketchikan began life as an Indian fishing camp.

Historic Prince Rupert captivates both mind and heart with its maritime history and awe-inspiring scenery. Located near the Alaska panhandle, Prince Rupert was established in 1910 as the intersection of commerce and trade for First Nations people and continued to develop as a town when selected as the western terminus for the Grand Turk Pacific Railway.

Time at sea.

Time at sea.

Time in San Francisco, CA.