Six Australian tourists who signed up for an Inside Passage cruise they thought would take them to Skagway, rowdy jump-off point for the historic Klondike Gold Rush, never got past relatively sedate Sitka. They sued the travel agent and this week each won a $250 (Australian) judgment.

Now while Skagway markets itself as a town where "the sounds of barroom pianos and boomtown crowds ring out in the night," Sitka is renowned for scenic beauty, its history as a former Russian settlement, its cultural identity as a home to the Tlingit people, and its impressive Russian Orthodox church.

In short, it's completely different.

The tourists, though, were not impressed by anything in Sitka. They considered it a wasted day. They wanted to be in Skagway.

Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald: What's the value of a wasted day in Alaska?