We Didn’t Expect THIS in Sitka Alaska! - Virgin Voyages Alaska
To start planning your next magical holiday, get in touch with us:- www.magical-traveller.com hello@magical-traveller.com ⚓ BOOK VIRGIN VOYAGES WITH ME — AND GET FREE ONBOARD CREDIT Book direct with Virgin Voyages using my Let's Go Book link and I'm added as your travel agent, at no extra cost to you: 👉 https://www.virginvoyages.com/book/voyage-planner/find-a-voyage?cabins=1¤cyCode=GBP&agentId=72077&agencyId=10168&bookingChannel=FMLINK As a thank you, I'll add onboard credit to your booking before you sail: • Under £2,000 — $50 onboard credit • £2,000–£4,000 — $100 onboard credit • Over £4,000 — $200 onboard credit 📖 New to Virgin Voyages? Start with my ultimate guide: https://magical-traveller.com/ultimate-guide-to-virgin-voyages Alaska Cruise Vlog Playlist:- https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY9vHMelX8TTpqpyMgXHyLp5DUoLJZ9qX&si=hq4ygVa_GlGDr-HO Sitka was the port we knew least about before sailing, so we booked one thing, left the rest of the day open, and hoped for the best. What we got was a haunted bar crawl through venues we'd never have walked into on our own, four hundred years of Russian, Tlingit and fishing history, a national park full of totem poles a fifteen-minute walk from town, and roughly every animal in Alaska available as a cocktail. This is the full day in Sitka from Virgin Voyages' Brilliant Lady, on her first-ever Alaska season — how the port works, what we booked, where we ate, and what we'd do differently. 🚌 Getting into town — Virgin run a complimentary shuttle from the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal to Harrigan Centennial Hall downtown. It's about ten minutes, not the thirty we were told. Everything downtown is walkable from the drop-off, and the Centennial Hall is also where cruise line excursions pick up. 👻 Haunted Sitka bar crawl — four venues, a drink in each, run by Dr Emily. Book direct at hauntedsitka.com. Worth knowing: when Virgin Voyages is in port they have exclusive access on those days, and booking through Virgin gets you a drink at every bar rather than just the one. Same tour either way. 🍗 Mean Queen — harbour views, pizza and wings, gay-friendly, and they do gluten-free wings, which is why we ended up there. Buffalo sauce and house blue cheese. Genuinely one of the best meals we had in Alaska. 🌲 Sitka National Historical Park — free, and about a ten to fifteen minute walk along the waterfront from the Centennial Hall. A hundred and thirteen acres, eighteen totem poles on a loop trail. Follow the coast path and you can't get lost. 🦅 Also within walking distance — the Alaska Raptor Center, which we ran out of day for. There's whale watching and boat tours from the harbour too. 🐟 Local tip — locally caught halibut and chips. If you're a Brit missing home, that's your one. ☔ Take a waterproof. It was glorious the day before. It was not glorious this day. CHAPTERS 00:00 Sitka in one drink 00:16 Arriving with no plan at all 01:58 Centennial Hall 03:38 Downtown Sitka 05:46 The haunted bar crawl — the Moose Lodge 07:26 When Sitka was the capital of Russian America 08:16 The Pioneer Bar 08:51 Duck farts at Ernie's 11:04 Lunch at Mean Queen 13:03 Totem poles, and the only animal we saw 15:37 Was Sitka worth it? WHO WE ARE We're Kieran and Phil, and we've now sailed with Virgin Voyages more times than is entirely reasonable. If you're thinking about sailing Alaska yourself — that's my actual job. I'm a First Mate with Virgin Voyages, we've usually got onboard credit or group savings running, so come and have a chat: www.magical-traveller.com