Norwegian Sun northbound Vancouver to Seward, 4 day cruisetour: Denali Alyeska explor

Puffins:

Next we tried to get a picture of the super fast dolphins that are black and white like a mini orca, but we just couldn't get a good shot:

Eagle flying

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Whew what a day: so many creatures to see! Really worth the extra days to add on a Kenai Fjords national park trip.

Up next: a great dinner at Fox island and a talk and video given by the ranger, really informative.

Then time on the beach and freshly made warm chocolate chip cookies on the way back! Perfect!

Sorry I don't have pictures of the dinner on this device.

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So back in Denali, Mike and I, Glenna and Dave were talking about where we were staying in Seward and I said the Holiday inn, Dave said "well girdwood is on the way back to Anchorage, right? Well, duh, let's see if we can book our last night at Alyeska? Wow what a great plan...so I cancelled our holiday inn and booked our favorite hotel for that night. Yay!

Drive from Seward to girdwood;

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So since you get a free tram ride per person per stay; up the tram I went in the evening and Mike didn't care to use his ticket, do I used his the next morning when they opened.

That night we soaked in the jacuzzi and enjoyed the scenery, dinner was unremarkable as I don't remember it.

Glenna and Dave had to leave early the next day for their flights so we said goodbye.

So The next day Mike wanted to sleep in. I got some oatmeal and coffee at Starbucks and waited for the tram.

I was rewarded with an up close encounter with a moose! We were safe because we were elevated on the tram tower. But what a thrill to see this female moose so close!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170426/612e6232451c98345412b7e1b95767ad.jpg[/img

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More of the moose:

Our lunch/dinner at Anchorage airport:

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Some thoughts on Alaska:

1). Go as young as you can. There are so many outdoor adventures in Alaska! I'm not sure why people wait until they are old to enjoy this beautiful state. But it's worth it to go and experience it at any age I guess, just do it!

2). Do the one way cruise so you can do the land part of the trip, which seems to me to be the more "authentic" Alaska. The people are all kind of wild and crazy and fun here.

3). Alaska has a way of pulling you back to see it again, so if you can't see it all the first time, come and experience more of it the next time.

4). Now that we know most of the major roads, I wouldn't hesitate to rent a car and get around the state on your own. (Maybe even it the port cities like Skagway). (But it was nice to have a guide to tell you about everything also).

5). Research and planning made this a trip of a lifetime. Yes, it was very expensive. But I reserved and paid for most of all of the excursions up front or I paid at least half ahead of time. Read cruise critic and trip advisor, read other people's reviews. Try to tailor your trip to your interests.

6). Go with the flow and have fun!

7). If I had to do it over again I would want to see the northern lights. I would want to go all the way to the end of the road in Denali. I would hope to be lucky enough to see the great Denali mountain the next time. I would book my trip in July at least a year ahead so I could try to get a chance to fly into Anan creek for bear viewing out of Ketchikan. I would also like to see bears in Katmai, also requiring a flight out of Homer. I would rent a car in Skagway and drive to the Yukon all the way to Emerald lake.

8). Next time I come to Alaska, I might not even do the cruise portion.

9). I would definitely come during the salmon run. Everything flows around the salmon in Alaska. We were too early in 2015 in May and too late in 2008 in September.

10). Seeing the world makes us all appreciate beautiful landscapes, other people, history and other cultures. Enjoy your travels and happy cruising!

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Thank you so much for your wonderful review! My husband and I are going in August for our 10 year anniversary and we can't wait! Unfortunately we can't do a land portion since we are leaving our 3 kids at home with the grandparents but that just gives us another reason to come back!

Thanks for your wonderful trip report. I am considering skipping the cruise up and just flying to Alaska doing as much as I can in 7-9 days. I know I want to do Seward, the boat trip there similar to what you did, drive to Anchorage and visit Portage Glacier on the way. Maybe do the Glacier tour by boat out of Whittier, I think. Go to Denali & maybe ride the train. I'd like to get to Homer and Valdez, too. I lived there over 50 years ago and I'd like to see it again. I may have to make 2 trips!

What type of camera did you use to get your close up animal/bird pictures?

Thanks Laura and back to the islands,

The camera that Mike used was a Cannon powershot 50. We bought it in 2015.

Joyce

Great pictures, I appreciated the land portion. See you in December!

Thanks shadowmeboy, can't wait for our NCL Star Christmas cruise to Mexican Riviera. :cool:

Wow, I loved your review! We have booked Taku lodge and I don't think I've ever seen pictures of it even though it's a popular excursion. We are driving to Seward from Anchorage, stopping in Girdwood and also have a cruise booked with Kenai Fjords (the 7.5 hour). So this was a great read, thanks so much! Can't wait for June!

Thanks Beechiekeen! Hope you get to see the bear(s) at Taku Glacier Lodge! Flight seeing over the Juneau ice field is amazing! You'll love this excursion, it's nice to get off the beaten path in the port cities.

Joyce

Thanks Joyce for the detailed account. I loved seeing your pictures. Laura

Thanks Joyce for the great review! We are going on the Sun in August, up to Seward and back with no land portion. But plan to stay in Vancouver for a couple days after.

A couple questions:

1) Did CAS have priority boarding at Canada Place?

2) Did you find Vancouver pretty easy to get around? We plan to do Capilano Bridge, Grouse Mountain and Granville Island, along with Stanley Park in our few days. We are staying at the YWCA hotel. I was a little bit concerned about your "getting lost" but enjoy printing maps and writing out directions to places and planning as much as I can. My husband is visually impaired, so with just one good set of eyes (mine), it makes it a bit more challenging. But my psycho planning helps.

3) You mentioned the murder mystery on the ship, but it sounds like you didn't care for it. Can you give me a bit more info? Hubby is a retired detective, so he is very interested in it.

anything else you care to share would be wonderful! This is our first trip to Alaska, and we're both pretty active, although in our 50s and 60s, and can get around pretty well, except of course for some vision issues.

Thank you so much!

Thanks Laura!

Cuterlmt:

The customs line was long for everyone. All US citizens have to go through this "screening". Then once you were through that, the lines moved quickly. Yes it was faster going through CAS line at that point.

Cuterlmt:

Yes Vancouver is an easy city to walk. We really only did 2 things on our free day before our cruise: capilano suspension bridge park and Granville island. Then out to dinner near the gas clock area.

We took free bus round trip to Cap. Park.

Walked and took "bathtub" ferry to Granville island.

Walked to dinner at Pourhouse restaurant. This is where we got lost. Taxi was right there in a few minutes and was relatively cheap.

You can do Vancouver without renting a car in my opinion.

I had a notebook with maps at every city and port that we planned to visit. ( I just didn't have that downtown map with me at dinner).

Taxi next day to Canada Place.

Cuterlmt:

About the Murder mystery lunch:

Maybe it wasn't our thing. My friend Glenna wanted us to join them on this activity.

Every person is given cards and a sequence of events and you say things or don't divulge things as you go along. Then you try to solve the mystery. I guess if it's done right, it could be fun.

My husband is hard of hearing so not only was I trying to read or say my "part". I had to retell him what was going on. There were some soft spoken teenagers in our group and it was hard to hear them.

(I prefer the murder mystery dinners that have real actors involved and engage the whole group).

Anyway it was held at Cagneys, we weren't impressed with the food that day. (Cagneys restaurant is usually great!).

If this murder mystery had gone on while the Hubbard glacier was still in view as it was scheduled, I would have been very disappointed to miss any of the glacier viewing! (Just a reminder that our Capitan had chosen not too get too close to the glacier that day and turned around due to thick fog and icebergs, it was early in the Alaska cruise season).

You and your husband may really enjoy it! Hope your mystery lunch goes better!

Enjoy your Alaska trip!

Joyce

Thank you so much for your information Joyce!

I can hardly wait!