Escorting My First Tour

Docked in Skagway, Alaska along with other cruise liners.

During most ports, the guests are given the option of purchasing land excursions. These are tours that can range from simple city highlights tours via a bus to more elaborate trips inland involving flights and overnight accommodations. On our cruise line in particular, the guests demand some fantastic tours, such as private tours of the Sistine Chapel, flights from Mumbai to the Taj Mahal, visits with tigers and cheetahs, and Lamborghini rentals in Monte Carlo. Understandably, all of these tours are extremely expensive.





One bonus we in the crew have is the opportunity to volunteer to be an escort on these shore excursions. An escort isn't a guide. He or she only has to ensure that the same number of guests that join the tour return to the ship at the end of the activity. If there are incidents or accidents, the escort makes a record of the details and if the guests feel like complaining or praising the tour, the escort will pass along their sentiments to the shore excursion (shorex) manager. Basically an escort is the ship's representative on the tour, ensuring nothing happens to upset the guests. In practice, the escort does much of nothing responsibility-wise, while enjoying most if not all of the benefits of the tour. If the guests go deep-sea fishing, so does the escort. If the guests zipline through the rainforest, so does the escort. All for free.

Escort positions are applied for. A few days before a new cruise begins, the list of shore excursions is posted and you can mark the ones you'd like to escort in order of preference. Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you get nothing at all. The general understanding is that you'll do several tours you're not especially keen on in the beginning (any city highlights tours or similar bus tours), and gradually pick up the adventure tours that are in high demand after you've paid your dues. For the especially fantastic tours, it doesn't hurt to grease the wheels a little.

I put in my tour requests late, but I lucked out that another escort had to cancel out of a tour and the shorex manager needed a last minute replacement. The 4x4 Takshanuk Mountain adventure hadn't been a choice of mine but I wasn't stupid enough to pass on it. I needed to get in the system and of course meet the shorex manager and show him I can do a good job and be reliable.

I was extremely nervous when I went down to the Starlite Club to pick up my group. Fortunately the shorex people were very helpful and explained everything I needed to do and what I shouldn't do (don't be *too* helpful to physically limited guests otherwise you end up becoming a human crutch for the entire tour; your job is only to ensure no one gets lost). And luckily I was escorting a small group of 9, consisting of 2 families with kids. The parents would do a better job of keeping track of everyone than I could.

Since my group was small, I wasn't issued a paddle. We all disembarked and headed to the other side of the pier to board the ferry that would take us the 45 minutes out of Skagway to the small town of Haines where we would meet up with the official guide and begin the tour.

The 4x4s we were to ride were Kawasaki Mules, which look like square golf carts and can seat 4-5 people. I laughed when I saw them but make no mistake: when the opportunity arose to drive my own Mule, I seized it. Driving the thing up a steep mountain road through 19 switchbacks was super fun and the views of the forests, Lynn Canal and Chilkoot Lake were beautiful. The included lunch at a lodge was just okay but it was free so I can't really complain. In fact I felt a bit guilty that I was enjoying an adventure that the guests had paid good money for. I tried to keep a low profile.

Lynn Canal

(A funny aside, the cook at the lodge is from Vegas. She'd moved up to Haines three years ago because her husband's family is from there. She told me that every 4-6 months she has to take the ferry from Haines to Juneau to stock up on supplies, which usually costs her around $3,000 since she has 7 kids (yikes!). She told me she loves living there, even though the snowfall can reach ridiculous proportions.)

After lunch, we drove our Mules back down the mountain and did a quick stop in downtown Haines which, coincidentally, is *all* of Haines. Then we took the ferry back to the ship. In the end, I didn't lose a guest and they all seemed to have had a good time. One guest even sought me out to express his opinion on the tour so that I could pass it along to the ship. After I turned in my tour report, first aid kit, bug spray and roll of toilet paper, all of which the ship supplies on every tour, I made sure to gush my thanks to the shorex manager for the opportunity.

The cage cashier in the casino has told me she'll give me the list of excursions for the next cruise as soon as it's available so I'll get a much better jump on the list (it can be first come-first served on some tours). Fingers crossed that I'll eventually be kayaking around glaciers, rapeling down mountain faces, and watching for whales.

By the way, the guide for the tour I escorted has a blog which features some anecdotes and photos of the area and her job, so check it out if you'd like to learn what it's like to be a guide in Alaska: http://ontakshanuktime.blogspot.com