Some cruise stops are so brief, one comes away with only a fleeting glimpse of a port. Regent's Seven Seas Mariner docked in Juneau, the Alaskan capital, at 7.30 a.m. and reboarding was scheduled for 1.30 p.m. Not much time.

Docked is actually the wrong description. To cruisers' surprise, only days before they had learned passengers would be tendered in, something this traveller had never previously experienced in that destination and certainly never expected so early in the season before the onslaught of the massive cruise ships.

Unfortunately, with such a large number of passengers in wheelchairs and using walkers and canes, that made it impossible for them to go ashore. Celebrity had several ships in port that day and it received docking privileges.

For us this was an umpteenth return, so instead of staying in town, we were bound for a wild salmon cookout at Orca Point Lodge on Colt Island. Whale sightings were exceptionally frequent this time of year, early May, as they were on their northward migration.

It was an enjoyable trip and lunch of freshly caught wild salmon delicious . . . but all very rush-rush and hectic as all those ships disgorging passengers at the same time made the pier look like a major wartime evacuation was under way in a siege situation.

Years ago, I remember an officer of the Swedish American Line confiding a surprising statistic to my father, as we tendered into very interesting St. Vincent in the Grenadines.

He said on such arrivals, as many as 40 per cent of its passengers did not go ashore.

"They don't like going up and down steep gangways then boarding a moving tender in sometimes rough waters," the officer said.

I don't know if such statistics are still true . . . it seems very high and might have applied to that particular line. But personally, it's not this traveller's favourite way to go ashore.

A New York maritime journalist we know was very seriously injured when a gangway collapsed and he was pinned between a moving tender and the ship.

In Santorini, Greece aboard the Star Flyer, a German passenger unfortunately miscalculated her step and landed head first in the bottom of the tender. The sight of her going in with such force looked catastrophic enough to us for a really serious injury, but she was a very athletic type and seemed to be okay.

And yet, by way of contrast, a journalist friend who had lost a leg to cancer was totally fearless and never let that slow her down. I also watched in amazement as an 80- year-old wheelchair-bound woman fearlessly allowed herself to be carried down a steep gangway by crew and lifted into the tender in her wheelchair.

Charlotte Amalie, capital of the US Virgin Islands, is often so crowded, we've had to tender in. On one Holland America cruise, we went ashore early, not realising no other tenders were allowed to depart after seas got dangerously rough, tossing tenders around.

We arrived back on dock after a delightful day at Caneel Bay Plantation and learned everyone else had been stranded on the ship. We had to wait as it manoeuvred into a position where it would be safe for us to tender out and reboard. A lot of unhappy passengers spent the next few days lamenting their missed shopping and sightseeing opportunities.

After lunch on idyllic Colt Island, there was time in Juneau only to weave one's way through crowds to reach tenders. However, en route out to Orca Point Lodge, we did hear another variation on the well-known saying first heard in Alaska more than 40 years ago.

Then it was said, "Alaska attracts the newly-wed and nearly dead." The reason was that Alaska, because of its remoteness, was very expensive then. It was mainly affordable to splurge honeymooners and those near the end of their life, sometimes terminally ill, who were fulfilling a life-time dream visit. Some didn't survive the trip.

Now we heard a new version from the Alaskan who served as guide and whale and seal spotters on this adventure out of Juneau. It's expanded version is: "The newly-wed, OVERFED, and nearly dead!"

Time in Sitka was even shorter, docking at 6 a.m. and reboarding at 11.30 a.m. This was only our third time there, and it again reinforced our first impression.. We'd like to fly or cruise in and stay a while. And we weren't alone. Other passengers announced: "Sitka is a place we'd like to revisit for an actual vacation. Its scenery is so special."

There obviously wasn't time to do too much here . . . we strolled down along the harbour, past the marvellous Sheldon Jackson Museum and on towards the National Park Service's extraordinary totem park.

Along the way was a stop at the post office to take advantage of those "all you can pack in a provided box for $8.95". We managed to mail off 25 pounds of exceptional rock specimens at a cost of $8.95 and they were waiting when we arrived home.

That service is available only in the 50 US states, but you might want to remember them if you're in the US and want to sent something heavy to an American address. Along the way we stopped to talk to an assortment of residents from shop owners to government officials. All were well aware of the major cruise lines' strong lobbying pressure to build a big major dock in their front yard and very vocally opposed.

At the moment, it seems they've been successful in holding them at bay.

"Where do you get off coming here and destroying the unspoiled character of our town?" was an often repeated comment, as we talked our way around the scenically located still off-trail destination.

Smaller ships call here delivering the kind of passengers willing to pay more to avoid the mass tourism of the giant ships.

"We're different and we want to stay that way," said one fisherman drying his nets.

"Some shops outrageously out of place here have also moved on elsewhere," commented a pleased government employee.

Russian heritage is still intact here in buildings now part of the US National Park Service. Nearby, it's no surprise Sheldon Jackson Museum, with its remarkable collection, became a prime location for James Michener's research while writing Alaska. He stayed on the adjoining college campus.

Walking through the totem park along the shore, watching carvers at work, it's perfect for the traveller looking for something different. And the scenery approaching through a maze of islands is spellbinding.

There's also a well-known raptor centre here which cares for injured endangered species that visitors find interesting. Alaska, of course, is known for its abundance of eagles. But never before had we seen them in such numbers, visible almost everywhere in incredible closeness.

"There are so many here now," kidded one Juneau resident, "that we've taken to calling them flying rats."

Although tendering in rough water is not our favourite method of arriving, we're happy to do it in Sitka's case, if it means saving this charmer from over-commercialisation of a big, bland, major generic dock certain to bring an invasion fleet of mass tourism which locals oppose.

You can definitely arrive by a smaller ship that actually ties us at their small dock, as we did on our first visit. Fly in, or arrive by Alaska ferry.

Back on ship, we were entertained by an anecdote that happened to a passenger on her 78th cruise. Out on her balcony one day, she observed a bucket being carefully lowered down to the water by rope from the suite above, then raised.

Curious, she leaned out and looked up at the man carefully manoeuvring the bucket to ask what was happening. He announced he wanted to gargle with salt water. Rather different!

Talking to passengers of other ships while in port, we learned an interesting cross-section of news. One involved dancing. For some years certain ships, usually not mass-marketed ones, have a few carefully-screened gentlemen and ladies on board for passengers who like to dance.

This is advertised in their brochures and appeals to those with spouses who prefer not to frequent dance floors, or single passengers. You'd be surprised how many people participate.

I once met three affluent dance enthusiast widows on board American Hawaii Cruise's Independence which hired three Authur Murray dance instructors, paid for their cabins, and asked them to be available only during dance hours . . . otherwise they were free to be regular passengers.

Turns out focus on the bottom line is now so intense, many are dropping this because they prefer the profit from selling those extra cabins. So if this is something you enjoy, check on it because some lines cancel it even after its offered, when the chance to sell another cabin occurs.

Same is true of clergymen. Ministers, priests and rabbis used to be on board many ships. On this one, an inter-denominational service was conducted by the cruise director. Probably again so they could sell those extra cabins.

Perhaps a resident psychologist might also be appropriate. Most modern ships have glamorous, glitzy lobby views from glass elevators. Ours had two very depressing-looking figures suspended on a bleak background, as though leftovers from a recent Chicago Museum of Science and Industry cadaver display.

Ghostly looking, one psychiatrist passenger we consistently encountered in the elevators kept pondering: "I woner why they did that?"

Next week: Off to France and a look at some headlines.