Blog & Articles

Launching the Alaska Small Ship Cruise Season in Glacier Bay National Park 101 years after her first voyage here, Westward was one of the very first small ships to enter Glacier Bay National Park this past May—and for days upon days, she hardly saw another vessel. With just four guests aboard, it was one of…

  Glacier Bay National Park and Tongass National Forest Funding Is Changing—What Does That Mean for Your Alaskan Small Ship Cruise? If you’ve been following recent headlines, you’ve seen that funding for national parks and forests is being reevaluated. This hits the crew at our Alaskan small ship cruise company close to home, because we operate…

When our guests think about Pacific Catalyst, they often picture our small ship Alaska cruises gliding through Glacier Bay or exploring the Inside Passage. They think about the wildlife, the history, the food, and the unmatched personal experiences we create. But at its core, Pacific Catalyst is more than just an eco-tourism company—it’s a jobs…

Discover what our guests have to say about their Glacier Bay small ship cruise experience with Pacific Catalyst—from breathtaking views and wildlife encounters to expert crew and gourmet cuisine.   “Glacier Bay Adventure” posted on Trip Advisor by: Camin292 “The absolute best way to see the natural beauty of Glacier Bay [national] park in Alaska….

To our wonderful patrons and team members, After nearly 30 seasons of adventures along the Pacific shores of North America, it is time for Tracie and I to plot a course into the remote and sublime archipelago known as retirement. When I bought M/V Catalyst and formed Pacific Catalyst around her, I was primarily motivated by a love for old wooden…

Catalyst and Westward were nearly fully booked for the entire 2021 Alaska season, which helped us rise from the almost universally negative financial impact due to Covid-19. It felt good to be able to pay back a good bit of the loans taken out to survive 2020. There was also enough left to replace Catalyst’s…

For some years now my husband Brian and I have explored remote places in Alaska and Baja on board Bill’s wonderful vintage ships – the Catalyst and the Westward. Brian is gone now, but I have continued to travel with Bill and Tracie both with my daughter-in-law (a previously confirmed big boat enthusiast) and solo….

I was fortunate to visit some of the cave paintings in Baja on the extension of one of Bill’s Baja tours shortly before the Corona Virus exploded in our lives, changing what we could and wanted to do. And further fortunate to have Don Chicho as one of my guides. Don Chicho was one of…

I was lying in my bunk with my head next to an open porthole, listening to the dawn. I had yet to open my eyes. The quiet darkness had been filled with the tiny murmurs of a large school of sardines sheltering beneath Westward’s wooden hull. The wet scurrying sounds of the fish had been…

Surpassed Expectations: Sitka to Petersburg on M/V Westward A Guest’s Review on TripAdvisor I’m chuckling as I write this. I just took a look at a mailing from one of those mega cruise lines in which they describe their Alaska and Inside Passage cruise for 930 people. No, thank you. I grew up in a…