SEATTLE, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- For Alaska travelers who enjoy the time aboard ship as much as the destination, Holland America Line offers the 14-day Collectors' Voyages and a new 17-day Voyage of the Glaciers CruiseTour.

Most glaciers in every mountain range and island group in Alaska are experiencing significant retreat, thinning or stagnation, especially glaciers at lower elevations, according to a new book published by the US Geological Survey. In places, these changes began as early as the middle of the 18th century.

When large cruise ships get too close to harbor seals, the animals become distressed, according to a new federal study.

By Paula Dobbyn, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Mar. 28--A new federal study on cruise ships and harbor seals confirms what subsistence hunters and others have long suspected: When the giant ships get too close, the marine mammals become distressed.