It was a summertime Alaska cruise like any other, except for the crew's gentle reminder one mile from port to the passengers: Please put your clothes back on.

Call it a pantless sign of these tourist times. The oft-misunderstood "nude cruise," long a staple of warm-weather beaches and bleached-rock vistas, has finally made its way to the choppy shores of the Inside Passage.

"Fire & Ice" - an eight-day, clothing-optional charter through Seattle, Juneau, Glacier Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, British Columbia - is thought to be the first large-scale, naked cruise to motor through Southeast Alaska.

"We've been going to nudist places for 10 years, and we wanted to see Alaska," said passenger Pat Turner of Nashville, Tenn.

suzy lafferty / juneau empire   Unfettered: To the enterprising nudist, Southeast boasts a veritable treasure-trove of opportunity. Naked romps to the Blue Mussel Cabin or pantsless parades along secluded beaches are just some of the attractions.

"There's a certain segment of the people on the cruise that are into a lifestyle, but the majority of the cruise is nonsexual," Turner said. "You see all these people of all different shapes and sizes. You have something in common. People are friendly."

All 1,380 rooms on "Fire & Ice" sold out weeks ahead of time. Berths ran from $5,264 for a penthouse veranda suite to $999 for a standard inside stateroom.

That hefty tag is simply a reflection of the evolution of "nudist tourism." The burgeoning industry rakes in more than $400 million a year, as estimated by the American Association for Nude Recreation (www.aanr.org). Modern nude resorts are often glistening, four-to-five-star, high-speed-Internet-enabled palaces, rather than the common perception - minimalistic, hard-to-find, hippie compounds.

"Fire & Ice" was the 40th cruise charter for Bare Necessities Tour & Travel, a 15-year-old Austin, Texas-based company that specializes in nude travel. Indeed, some would say it has pushed the envelope.

Nudity was allowed everywhere on the Amsterdam except the dining room. The movie theaters, ballrooms and art displays are all clothing optional. Some wore robes to walk down the hallway. Everyone carried towels to sit on, as befitting nudist etiquette.

Roughly 70 percent of the passengers spent most of their time hanging out, literally, in one of the two heated, freshwater swimming pools. The longest lines were for the hot tubs.

The crew wasn't naked. Some were even Muslim and completely unaccustomed to such a rampant display of flesh. But most inhibition quickly faded. Passengers were merely asked to put their clothes back on one or two miles outside of port.

On the way to Juneau, the Turners sat bare-assed in the library. Pat crocheted, while Dale read a book.

"If you're not naked," Dale said, "you feel awkward."

The cruise even had its own bluegrass band: the Oregon-based trio No Strings Attached, featuring Dave Arter, Judy Arter and Loren Ford. The group formed 15 years ago and has played nude resorts since it was invited to perform at nudist-friendly Squaw Mountain Ranch, outside of Estacada, Ore.

No Strings Attached even has at least two nudist songs: "I Don't Look Good Naked Anymore" and "Twenty Naked Pentecostals on a Pontiac."

On the Amsterdam, the trio planned to play wearing only its boots, hats and bolos.

"It's comfortable," Ford said. "You can strike up a conversation with anybody at any time."

"Nudists are laid back," Judy Arter said. "They aren't about putting on airs."

Or anything else.

About all "Fire & Ice" was missing were multi-passenger off-ship excursions in the buff.

There was a small, six-passenger trip scheduled aboard a water taxi in Sitka, but the vast majority of the nudists did the same things 1.1 million other tourists will do in Juneau this year. They walked into a Franklin Street gift-store and bought a Poopin' Bear key chain. Perhaps they paid hundreds of dollars to fly up to the Juneau Icefield and visit a dog camp.

It wasn't entirely their fault.

Though nudist tourism is one of the most rapidly growing niche-travel markets in the world, and though a 2008 return cruise to Southeast Alaska is already planned, officially recognized naturism is still in its infancy in the state.

Southeast obviously has no shortage of remote trails, beaches, parks, islands and hot springs where someone can walk around bare-assed without seeing anyone for days.

But there are no Alaska nudist clubs, resorts or beaches listed in the American Association for Nude Recreation Web page (www.aanr-nw.org), or countless other like-minded sites.

The same holds true in the Yukon. A recent article in UpNorth magazine estimated that "hundreds" of nude hikers are strolling about its drier, high country, especially near Carcross and Whitehorse. One such hiker even keeps a detailed site of his explorations, observations and tips at www.yukonalaska.com/nudehiking.

Like Southeast Alaska, the Yukon has no shortage of remote spots to run around with your pants off. The UpNorth article documents a few: an old nude beach near Ear Lake, just outside of downtown Whitehorse; and sandy stretches near Marsh Lake (Army Beach) and Lake Bennett.

With more naked tourists arriving every year, is it simply a matter of time before the topless take over our trail system?

Only time will tell.

See related story: 72 Hours with your pants off.

• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.