Cunard 11 Night Alaska Cruise Rockies Express from Seattle to Chicago

Make your own way to the nearby cruise terminal to embark the ship.

Relax and make the most of the myriad of facilities available on board the ship, from fantastic entertainment to delicious and diverse dining options.

Ketchikan is known as the salmon capital of the world, is a quaint village, three miles long, just three blocks wide and wedged between the water and the forested slopes of Deer Mountain. The native American village is partly propped up on wooden pilings and the Totem Heritage centre houses more totem poles than anywhere else in the world. Perhaps or take a tour of the surrounding area with a very good chance of spotting majestic bald eagles that soar effortless over the inlet in their search for salmon.

Glacier Bay National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with many glaciers to see; the scenery includes tidewater glaciers, glassy water, mountains, and wildlife such as whales, harbour seals, otters and brown bears.

Skagwayis the gateway to the Klondike and one-time boomtown of the gold rush era of 1898. This town enjoys reservation status within the national park, with its rustic boardwalks and frontier style storefronts and saloons.

Juneau is the capital of Alaska perched on a hillside where the historical downtown buildings give it a somewhat frontier feel. 4000ft mountains create a dramatic backdrop to the city, beyond which lies the Juneau Icefield from which 30 glaciers flow, the most famous being the Mendenhall Glacier.

Hubbard Glacier - another scenic cruising stop. This is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska extending 76 miles from its source on Mt. Logan in the Yukon. The cliff face you sail along is over six miles wide, 300 to 400 feet from the top to sea level and 300 feet from sea level to the bottom. As Hubbard is advancing, it creaks and groans as it moves and is a very actively calving glacier. This makes for some exciting moments when the huge chunks of ice crash into the Bay creating a wonderful sound called 'white thunder' by the Tlingit people. Small ice bergs, sometimes with sea birds or seals resting on them, float in the water which is glacial blue. Seals calve on the ice bergs here as Orca whales do not visit the bay.

Sitka is situated on Baranof Island - in Alaska's Inside Passage and located at the heart of the world's largest temperate forest - The Tongass National Forest. This is the nation's largest national forest, covering most of Southeast Alaska and surrounding the famous Inside Passage. It offers the chance to view eagles, bears, spawning salmon, and the breath-taking vistas of "wild" Alaska. Sitka has a unique blend of Tlingit culture and Russian heritage and is surrounded by island studded waters, jagged mountains, and a towering volcano.

The spectacular Misty Fjords National Monument, lying just 22 miles east of Ketchikan, is known for its steep-walled fjords, coastal cliffs, and 3,000-foot rock walls that rise dramatically from the sea. Taking its name from the almost constant precipitation characteristic of the area, the monument is covered with thick rainforest that grows on nearly vertical slopes from sea level to mountaintops. Dramatic waterfalls plunge into the saltwater through narrow clefts or course over great rounded granite shoulders, fed by lakes, streams, and more than 150 inches of annual rainfall.

Relax and make the most of the myriad of facilities available on board the ship, from fantastic entertainment to delicious and diverse dining options.

Victoria (British Columbia) was once a British colonial post and is full of historic sites, public parks and groomed gardens. Here, the locals appear more British than the British. The beautiful town centre features the impressive government buildings, the Fairmount Hotel and the harbour area where pleasure boats navigate past seaplanes as they take-off and land.

Disembark the ship after breakfast and board the Amtrak Empire Builder train service and spend overnight on board the train in a cosy sleeper roomette.

Overnight on board the Amtrak Empire Builder train service in a cosy sleeper roomette. Your train journey takes you through the Cascade Mountains, Icicle Canyon and Spokane - the home of Bing Crosby. Then it’s onward through Glacier Park (where snowfall averages 100-200 inches per year) and across high trestle bridges. Montana marks the end of the Rockies and Havre is a service stop where you will have time to catch some refreshing mountain air. Wagner is where Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid pulled off their final great train robbery on 3rd July 1901. Wolf Point had a major frontier role in wolf trapping and trading and it is also the home of the Wild Horse Stampede. Fort Buford in North Dakota is where Chief Sitting Bull surrendered after the battle of Little Big Horn in 1881. The twin cities of St Paul & Minneapolis are midway between the Equator and the North Pole; and where you will have an opportunity to stretch your legs. After Minneapolis you will see 140 miles of Mississippi River farmland and river bank towns with barges and restored paddle-wheel boats. Winona, with Sugar Loaf Mountain on the right, was a ceremonial meeting place of the Sioux. The train crosses into Wisconsin at La Crosse, at this point the Mississippi River is wide, quiet and immensely scenic. Milwaukee on the shores of Lake Michigan was initially made famous by German immigrants brewing beer and is the home of the Miller brewery.

Disembark the train for two nights' hotel stay. There is lots to see and do in Chicago: - go to the beach, shop on the Magnificent Mile, stare at the reflections in the giant Cloud Gate stainless steel bean sculpture or stand on the glass Ledge 103 floors up in the Willis Tower(formerly Sears Tower), the tallest building in the US. You can enjoy a fine dining experience with a view in the Signature Room on 95th Floor of the John Hancock Building. Route 66 starts in Chicago at the Buckingham Fountain, and there is the amazing elevated CTA metro system which defines the central Loop area of Downtown Chicago.

Make your own way to the airport for your overnight flight home.

Disembark your overnight flight in the morning for your onward journey home.