What to Expect
Girdwood is a resort village of about 2,000 people, centered on the Hotel Alyeska and the ski mountain behind it. CruiseTour guests typically arrive by coach from Anchorage or Seward and stay one night before continuing the itinerary. The resort grounds are walkable: the hotel, several restaurants, a grocery, and the aerial tram base station are all within a short distance. In summer the tram (a 60-person aerial gondola) runs to the 2,300-foot ridgeline where the Seven Glaciers Restaurant operates and where the Chugach views justify the price of the ride. The town has a low-key mountain-town atmosphere with hiking trails and a resident glacier (Alyeska Glacier) visible from the tram.
Turnagain Arm and the Bore Tide
Turnagain Arm has one of the highest tidal ranges on the continent — up to 40 feet between low and high tide. When the tidal surge moves up the arm faster than the outgoing tide can drain, it creates a bore tide: a visible wave, 2–6 feet high, that travels at 10–15 mph. Bore tides are visible from the highway and are predictable from tide tables; the park service posts a bore tide schedule. Beluga whales follow the bore tide into the arm to feed on eulachon (smelt) in spring; sightings from the highway are common in May and June. Crow Creek Mine, 3 miles up Crow Creek Road from Girdwood, is a historic gold mining operation where independent visitors can pan for gold with genuine results.
Getting Around
The Hotel Alyeska and the surrounding resort area are fully walkable. The aerial tram base station is a 5-minute walk from the hotel; the tram runs every 20 minutes and the roundtrip ticket is $35–45 per person. Crow Creek Mine is a 10-minute drive; rental cars are available in Anchorage but not in Girdwood itself. The Seward Highway back to Anchorage is one of the most scenic drives in Alaska — if your itinerary has flexibility, this is worth doing independently before or after the cruise.
Tipping and Costs
US tipping conventions. The aerial tram is $35–45. Dinner at Seven Glaciers (the hotel's fine dining at the tram top station) runs $80–120 per person including wine — reservations required. The hotel's ground-floor Pond Café is more casual at $20–35 per person. Crow Creek Mine gold panning is $15–20. Incidentals in a resort town run meaningfully higher than urban Alaska prices.