As we approach the 2001 Alaska cruise season, an exciting variety of vessels are calling upon our 50th state. Whether your group prefers a casual atmosphere and the fun of exploring remote wilderness areas or the amenities and pampering of big ship cruising, they'll find something new in Alaska this year. The major cruise lines are increasingly sending their newer, larger ships north. The small ship operators keep coming up with new adventures. Here's a sample.

Alaska's Glacier Bay Cruises
The "Great Alaska Discovery Cruise," a new route for 2001, combines the most popular elements of the company's operations - calls at Juneau, Skagway and Sitka and plenty of time in the wilderness. The wilderness adventures take in areas where other companies don't go and involve sea kayaks, walks in rainforests and inter-tidal areas, and tours by inflatable rafts. Shore excursions are included.

The Wilderness Discoverer has just undergone a $2.5 million refit. The fleet of sea kayaks is new, too, as is all the equipment for the visits ashore. Also new this year is the Five Sport Adventure Safari land package. Escorted by a naturalist guide, this trip goes rafting on the Mendenhall River near Juneau, kayaking and hiking in Glacier Bay National Park, whale watching, bike riding and hiking at Juneau, and has a helicopter glacier trek along the Juneau ice field. There's also a cruise in Glacier Bay. Two nights are spent at Glacier Bay Lodge, four nights at Juneau hotels. Maximum group size is 22. Marketing Vice President Jerre Fuqua described both tours as "very group friendly." Call 206-623-2417 or 800-451-5952.

Carnival Cruise Lines
This year, Carnival is replacing the smaller, older Jubilee with the brand new, 85,000-ton Spirit. The Spirit's Alaska season consists of 16 seven-day Glacier Route and two Glacier Bay voyages. Glacier Route cruises depart May 23 to September 6, either northbound from Vancouver or southbound from Seward / Anchorage. Cruises in both directions feature Prince William Sound, College Fjord, Lynn Canal, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and the Inside Passage. The two Glacier Bay cruises will depart round-trip from Vancouver September 12 and 19, and feature full days of cruising Glacier Bay National Park and the Inside Passage.

Carnival is dramatically increasing its shore excursions this year to include nearly 100 different options - a 17% increase over last year. Call 800-529-6792.

Celebrity Cruises
Both the Infinity and Mercury will be in Alaska this summer. Both are large ships (1,950 and 1,870 passengers, respectively), and have the full scope of the cruise experience, including luxurious spas and renowned cuisine.

The Infinity's seven-day trips are round-trip from Vancouver, through the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and the Hubbard Glacier. The Mercury's one-week trips are between Vancouver and Seward. All include Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and the Inside Passage.

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have jointly set up a tour company, Royal Celebrity Tours, to operate land tours and will have its own rail cars for the Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks run. Call 305-539-6000 or 800-235-3274.

Clipper
The 128-passenger Clipper Odyssey, new to the line's fleet, will be in Alaska this summer for two unusual trips. One is a 13-night trip from Anchorage to Prince Rupert, B.C., cruising the Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound, and the small towns and waterways of the Inside Passage. The other is a cruise from Anchorage to the Aleutians, the Pribilof Islands, a number of Russian islands, and finally landing in Russia. Departure is August 18.

The Yorktown Clipper will take more traditional trips, cruising between Ketchikan and Juneau via Misty Fjords National Monument, Tracy Arm, Sitka, and lesser-known areas. Thirteen-day positioning voyages operate north from Seattle May 14 and south from Juneau September 8. Call 314-727-2929 or 800-325-0010.

Cruise West
Five routes, all unique to Cruise West, will be operated this year with its four ships. Some of them are aboard the Spirit of Oceanus, the line's new 114-passenger ship. Land packages to Alaska's interior are available in conjunction with all of the cruises. Victoria, B.C. to Whittier, Alaska, is 11 nights. There are also seven-day trips between Victoria and Juneau, and an Inside Passage Cruise that begins or ends at Seattle.

The line will continue its Inside Passage trips that use the Sheltered Seas by day and small hotels in port each evening. Also continued are cruises of Prince Williams Sound from Whittier. Contact 206-441-8687 or 800-426-7702.

Crystal Cruises
San Francisco will once again be the beginning and ending port for all of Crystal Cruises' Alaska voyages. Starting dates for the eight 12-day voyages run from May 21 to August 13. All of them call at Vancouver and Victoria, B.C., and the major ports of the Inside Passage. Except for the last one, which goes to Hubbard Glacier, the cruises visit Glacier Bay.

All except the first cruise will have a Wine & Food Festival and the final one will feature participation by the Los Angeles Opera as well. Celebrity chefs will demonstrate some of their techniques in classes for passengers, then work their magic in the galleys for some featured dinners. All cruises carry guest lecturers such as historians and naturalists to enrich the experience.

For local folks who want to drive to the pier, Crystal has arranged secure parking near the cruise terminal. For those coming from farther, the line has set up a three-night pre-cruise tour program, "The Wine Making Tradition of Napa Valley." Contact Crystal at 310-785-9300 or 800-446-6620.

Holland America Line
There will be a total of 121 cruises on six of the company's ships this year, on two main itineraries: round-trip seven-day sailings from Vancouver through the Inside Passage, and one-way, seven-day sailings between Vancouver and Seward. Most of the cruises will visit Glacier Bay.

The Alaska fleet includes 1,440-passenger Zaandam and its sister ship, the Volendam - two of the line's newest vessels. All these cruises have an "Artists in Residence" program aboard. An Alaska native demonstrates a traditional craft such as soapstone carving or basket weaving. In Glacier Bay, a Huna Totem member will be aboard to provide cultural insights into the area and the tribe. A naturalist is also aboard. Passengers beginning or ending their trip at Seward have an option of a new train ride to Anchorage, traversing scenery not accessible by other means.

The one-way trips are usually bought with a land tour package. This year, there are 26 options, including Canada's Yukon, Denali National Park and glacier and fjord cruising. All tours will have a tour director throughout, an outside stateroom on the ship at the basic cruise-tour price, and a six-hour Tundra Wildlife Search at Denali National Park. Call 206-281-3535 or 800-426-0327.

Norwegian Cruise Line
This year, the Norwegian Sky and the Norwegian Wind will repeat last year's schedule and itinerary for 2001, but shipboard life will be quite different. The Wind will sail from Vancouver, B.C., Mondays on one-week Inside Passage cruises, with about half the departures going into Glacier Bay, the other half cruising Sawyer Glacier. Departures are scheduled April 30-September 17.

The Sky will follow essentially the same route, but departures are from Seattle, and cruises add a stop at Victoria, B.C. Sailing dates are Sundays, May 6 through September 16.

Both ships have been converted to what NCL calls "Freestyle Cruising." If you want the traditional dining experience for your group - a preset time and an assigned table - you can have it. NCL is betting that most will opt for making reservations with whomever they please for the time and dining room that suits their mood each day.

If members of the group want to wear their most elegant threads, there'll be at least one opportunity to do so in one of the main dining rooms. Otherwise "resort casual" is the stylish but relaxed dress code. Entertainers from "Smokey Joe's Cafe" will be aboard the Wind; a salute to the producer of "Les Miserables," "Oliver," "Miss Saigon" and more will be featured on the Sky. Call 305-436-4000 or 800-327-7030.

Princess Cruises
Princess will again concentrate on seven-night cruises between Vancouver and Seward, combining the Gulf of Alaska route with elements of the Inside Passage. Four Grand Class ships will be used: Ocean Princess, Sun Princess, Dawn Princess and Sea Princess. Regal Princess will repeat her seven-night itinerary through the Inside Passage, round-trip from Vancouver. Some sailings are one-way and Princess has many new land options: a rail tour between Seward and Anchorage Airport; or a stay at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge with 125 new rooms. In 2002, Princess will open the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, bringing Princess' style to the state's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve area in the Inside Passage. A Katmai itinerary features Redoubt Bay and Lake Clark Wilderness Preserve.

Once you've booked your group, you can access reservations on-line at www.princess.com and select shore excursions, instead of doing it by mail or by standing in line aboard ship. Call 800-777-1725.

Royal Caribbean International
RCI will send three large ships to Alaska this year. All the cruises will go to Yakutat Bay to visit the Hubbard Glacier, the alternative to Glacier Bay. Radiance of the Seas sails from Vancouver on Saturdays, Vision of the Seas on Sundays. Departures are scheduled May 13 to September 17.

Rhapsody of the Seas will do the Gulf of Alaska on one-way cruises between Vancouver and Seward via the Inside Passage. All of these are large ships - 2,435 passengers on Vision and Rhapsody, 2,100 on the brand new Radiance, so your group can expect all of the amenities associated with modern cruising today.

In May, September and October, Radiance of the Seas will also make about 17 two-, three- and four-day cruises from Seattle to Victoria and Vancouver. Call 305-539-6000.

World Explorer Cruises
A new 14-night itinerary includes visits to the Metlakatla Tsimshian Indian reservation and Kodiak, home of an Eskimo people, the Alutiiq. It is scheduled once in May, June and July.

World Explorer will send the Universe Explorer on five other 14-night tours. Both itineraries begin and end in Vancouver, B.C. The new itinerary includes stops at the usual Inside Passage towns, plus Glacier Bay, Hubbard Bay and Victoria, B.C. The traditional route, which also includes the Inside Passage, Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, goes as far north as Seward, the port for Anchorage. Solo travelers will pay no "single supplement" surcharge in selected categories.

The World Explorer experience emphasizes enriched learning, informality, the largest library afloat, an abundance of onboard lectures on culture and nature and value. Call 415-820-9200 or 800-854-3835.