Help me Pick.

For those that have been on both NCL Sun and Coral Princess, which one would you choose for Alaska. Itineraries are the same so this comes down to boat. Which offers best viewing opportunities, overall best food (I know this is subjective), etc.

Appreciate any and all suggestions and opinions!

Coral Princess shows glacier bay.... my vote goes there.

We did the Sun earlier this month and it was fantastic. We visited Glacier Bay and the Hubbard Glacier.

Here is my review of our trip.

Alaska, Vancouver and Canadian Rockies

We planned our trip around a seven day cruise on the Norwegian Sun from 5-12 September 2016. We left home on 24 August and arrived home on 16 September. The trip had four stages, Vancouver, Canadian Rockies, Norwegian Sun Alaska cruise, and post-cruise tour to Denali.

VANCOUVER

We arrived in the early evening of 24 August and settled into the Metropolitan Hotel for 7 days. The hotel was a nice, but slightly older hotel about 5-6 blocks from the cruise terminal in downtown Vancouver. Our room was spacious at a great price, about $160 US per night. The location of the hotel was excellent. We found plenty of restaurants in the area, including inexpensive breakfast places as well as nice dinner choices. Also, there was a small convenience store were we could purchase a hot meal or groceries if we wanted to eat in our room. There was a shopping mall across the street and a museum a block from the hotel.

We did dine in the hotel restaurant for two nights when they has special offers, like a burger and beer for $12 Canadian. The two restaurants where we usually had breakfast were one block north of the hotel. The first was Mario’s Coffee Express. It is a coffee shop run by a very nice proprietor, Mario. The coffee is excellent and we enjoyed breakfast there twice. The other restaurant that we used for breakfast and dinner one evening was close to Mario’s. It was the Joyeaux Cafe and Restaurant with Vietnamese cuisine. They had western breakfasts that were good at budget prices. The Vietnamese dinner was good, but not great. We had breakfast there a couple of times. Also, we took home some good Indian food one evening, along with snacks and wine. I don’t remember the name of the store. There was a drug store on the opposite corner of the intersection that we used as well.

We also had lunch at the Keg, then later at Mahoney and Son’s restaurants that were on the waterfront. Both were a little pricey, but had great locations on the water. The food was excellent at both. The best meal we had in Vancouver was at an Italian Restaurant called Zeffirelli’s. It was recommended by our hotel clerk and we were not disappointed.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g154943-d973325-Reviews-Zefferelli_s-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html

We had a week in Vancouver before our Canadian Rockies bus tour. That effectively gave us six full days to see the city and area. We had booked a five day package tour with Viator that included a city tour of Vancouver, tour to Whistler, tour to Victoria (and Butchart Gardens) and a two day pass on the Hop-on Hop-off bus. The tours were with the local Westcoast tour company. The tours were excellent and all guides gave us great tours. The package deal was called British Columbia Super Save 5 Day Tour.

https://www.viator.com/tours/Vancouver/British-Columbia-Super-Saver-5-Day-Tour-of-Vancouver-Whistler-and-Victoria/d616-5313ULTIMATE

The tour was described as follows:

Itinerary Day 1: Vancouver You’ll be picked up from your Vancouver hotel for a 4-hour narrated sightseeing tour of the city. See Vancouver’s most popular landmarks including Stanley Park, offering great city views. Some of Vancouver’s best beaches, fields, walking trails, lookout points and aboriginal sites are located inside this park. Pass English Bay and then enjoy free time on Granville Island, filled with some of the most famous public markets in North America. It’s also home to a large artistic community where local buskers, artists and musicians regularly showcase their unique talents. Visit Canada Place, learn about the origins of Vancouver on a visit to Gastown, and then explore Chinatown, the second-largest Chinatown in North America. Overnight: Accommodation not included. Please pre-book your hotel.

Day 2: Vancouver – Shannon Falls – Whistler – Vancouver You’ll be picked up from your hotel and taken on a day trip along the famous Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler. Enjoy breathtaking views along the way and stop at Shannon Falls for some more scenic vistas. When you arrive, take a guided tour of Whistler with live onboard commentary. Stop at Shannon Falls and the Squamish Adventure Centre, and then have a few hours of free time to walk around Whistler Village and enjoy optional activities (own expense) such as a gondola ride to the Blackcomb Mountains, a floatplane tour to Whistler’s upper glaciers and a zipline adventure over Fitzsimmons Creek. You can also take a spin on a snowmobile or simply relax in the Scandinavian baths. For an extreme adventure, go bungee jumping! You'll be taken back to your Vancouver hotel at the end of the day. Overnight: Accommodation not included. Please pre-book your hotel.

Day 3: Vancouver – Victoria – Vancouver After hotel pickup, your third day begins with a 1.5-hour ferry ride past the spectacular Gulf Islands to Victoria. If you’re lucky, you may see whales on along the way! When you arrive in British Columbia’s capital, you’ll be taken to the Butchart Gardens, boasting 55 acres (22 hectares) of stunning floral gardens. After exploring here, take a sightseeing tour of Victoria to see Parliament buildings, unique shops, the elegant Empress Hotel, Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Chinatown and Beacon Hill Park. At the end of the day, hop on the ferry and head back to Vancouver, where you’ll be picked up and taken to your hotel. Overnight: Accommodation not included. Please pre-book your hotel.

Day 4-5: Vancouver Enjoy a hop-on hop-off sightseeing tour on your last day. Aboard a vintage double-decker or luxury open-top convertible bus, explore the city at your own pace, hopping off at any destination you like to explore independently. Highlights include Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown, the Robson Street Shopping District and English Bay. On board, enjoy live commentary about Vancouver’s history from your friendly guide. This tour is great opportunity to do some in-depth exploring of Vancouver sites that you saw on your first day. Your pass is valid for up to two days, so you can choose the amount of time you spend using the hop-on hop-off service.

The tour met all our expectations. The guides were excellent and tours well planned. Our only difficulty was a late ferry that cut into our time at Butchart Gardens. The gardens were the highlight of the Victoria tour and we lost some time there due to the late ferry, that was not the fault of the tour company.

The first day, we enjoyed the 10am start time, since we had just flown into the city the evening before. The half day city tour was extensive, covering Stanley Park, Chinatown, Gastown and more. Granville Island was ok, and but I didn’t find that it would be worth a separate trip there on your own. It was ok in a city tour. We did have lunch there. At the end of the tour, we visited the Vancouver Overlook Tower, which was skyscraper, with a rotating restaurant on top and just below a nice viewing platform that had stations pointing out notable sites to view.

The Whistler tour was a full day tour and just getting there was part of the fun. The scenery in route was great. We stopped a few times on the way to see waterfalls, a harbor and other places to take photos. Whistler was the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and the village there was interesting, as well as the scenery. We visited the local museum and very much enjoyed the Squamish Lilwat Cultural Center and Museum of the first nations (we call them native Americans in the USA) peoples of the area.

The Victoria tour on the third day was over 12 hours, but excellent. The ferry ride to Vancouver Island added to viewing more great scenery. Victoria was the capitol of BC and a small city with a British sense. Still the gardens were the high point of the tour. There were huge rose gardens, a Japanese Garden and many, many beautiful flowers to see. We had about an hour and a half there due to the ferry delay and could have used another half hour. While in Victoria we had a nice, but expensive lunch at Bard and Banker in the downtown area. Food and beer were excellent but pricey.

The fourth and fifth days we used the HoHo bus just enough to justify having it. Visiting Gastown, Chinatown and Stanley Parks to see the aquarium. The aquarium was great, it had a beluga whale show, which we had never seen before. Also, the exhibits were well done and the jellyfish exhibits were exceptional. On day five we also visited the Capitano Suspension Bridge Park. The park was easily assessable via a free shuttle bus that we picked up about a block from our hotel. Also, the shuttle bus could be found at Canada Place. The tour cost us about $30 US, which wasn’t bad. The suspension bridge was not to bad to cross, even will many people stomping their way across. The bridge crossed some 450 feet to a forested area that included treetops. Treetops was a collection of platforms built into the trees in the rain forrest. It was fun to walk the platforms and bridges from tree to tree. This venue is definitely worth a visit, if you have time in the city. On day four, we also visited the local museum, near the hotel for a Picasso exhibit. I am not a huge Picasso fan, but the exhibition was well done and I Iearned more about the artist’s life. Amazing that he lived in Paris during the German occupation.

The last day in Vancouver, prior to our Rockies tour, we visited Grouse Mountain. This venue, like the Capitano Suspension Park is located in North Vancouver, across from the main city. It also has a dedicated free shuttle bus leaving from Canada Place to take visitors to the cable car that takes you up the mountain. We didn’t try to see Grouse Mountain and Capitano in one day, but it could be done if you had fewer days in the city. Grouse Mountain had zip lines, hiking, paragliding, but we deferred to simpler entertainment. The highlight of the trip was seeing the two grizzly bears in the park (they have their own 7 acre wooded area). When we first arrived at the grizzly compound it was hard to see the bears, but we visited the Summer of Flight show (bird show), which was good and came back to see the bears and they were out of the woods in the area where water was available for them. We saw them up close and personal, with a fence and electrified wire as well(good for that). The lumberjack show was entertaining and quite good. Also, we took ski chairlift to the top of the mountain for great views. Grouse Mountain is definitely a must see for Vancouver.

CANADIAN ROCKIES BUS TOUR WITH KEY WEST TRAVEL & TOURS

Our bus tour with Key West was a great deal, three nights, four days to all the key sights in the parks of the Canadian Rockies near Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise (as well as points between there and Vancouver) for $1500 Canadian (less than $1200 US) for two persons.

http://keywesttravelandtours.com

The tour was fantastic. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular and Key West knows how to tour there. Our guide was well informed, funny and took great care of us. The mountains, waterfalls, lakes, glaciers, and wildlife are super. The second and third days were loaded with activities that open up to one scenic mountain after another, as well as several waterfalls, lakes and glaciers. Also, we took a tour on a glacier.

Day one, 31 August, we met at the Hyatt hotel. Our hotel was only two and a half blocks from the Hyatt and I considered rolling the luggage there instead of a taxi, but it was sprinkling that morning and our luggage was not light, so we took a taxi. I tipped the driver well, since the toll was less than five dollars Canadian and the driver seemed happy. Our bus was nice and comfortable enough. It was not filled to capacity, we had 27 persons to start with and picked up two more in Jasper for a total of 29.

The hotels were fine. The first night in Jasper we were in the Lobstick Lodge. I only had one main issue with the hotel. Our tour did not handle our luggage and I had to roll heavy bags over several stairs to reach the first floor level. Hotel room was fine, clean and the restaurant provided us with a good meal at reasonable price.

The hotels seemed to improve during the trip, the second night in Banff, we stayed in the Banff Aspen Lodge. The hotel was located near the downtown and an easy walk to shopping or restaurants. Our hotel room had a separate bedroom, bath in center with separate toilet/shower then sitting room like a suite. Also, it had a balcony facing the street. It would be a nice room for a lengthy stay. We decided to walk downtown and find a restaurant. The hotel’s restaurant guide showed Earl’s Restaurant about 3-4 blocks away was highly rated by TripAdvisor, so we dined there. We were joined by an Australian friend, Vicky, for dinner, which was excellent.

Our final hotel was the Lake Louise Inn & Resort, which was probably the best hotel during our trip. The Italian restaurant overlooking the lobby was excellent. We were too tired to use the nice looking hot tub.

Back to the bus tour. We had about 500 miles to go the first day until we reached Jasper. We stopped frequently enough for bathroom breaks, coffee and lunch. Our first stop was in Hope, were we thought that some mountains were already showing up on the landscape. These mountains were petty compared to the real thing later in the day. The scenery just got better and better. We had lunch at Kamloops, which was were the very expensive rail tours spend their first night on their tours. Imagine, a two night rail trip on the Rocky Mountaineer runs $2000 Canadian vs. our three night bus tour for 3 nights. Further, the bus goes many places that the Mountaineer can’t go. We stopped at Clearwater for a toilet break and the Rockies were in evidence. Our first real photo stop was at Mr. Robinson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The weather was good and we had a good photo opportunity. Finally, we arrived in Jasper and the heart of mountain country. It was late this evening, since we picked up an hour moving into Mountain time.

It was time to see some mountains. The next day, we checked out of our hotel. One thing about a budget tour, it we had to handle our luggage. Not a huge problem, but since we were on a 23 day trip, we didn’t want to turn in laundry until on the cruise ship, when we had free laundry service. Therefore, we had some hefty luggage.

From the hotel, we visited Patricia and Pyramid lakes. The lakes were magical. Pyramid Lake has a small island with a bridge going out to the island. It was nice walking around the island. Kayaks were available, but it was too chilly, this time of the year. Maligne Canyon was our next sight and we saw a fast moving stream that had carved out a spectacular canyon. We crossed a couple of bridges for scenic views and photos.

We then had some free time in Jasper for shopping and lunch. The railroad station was interesting and there was plenty of mountain scenery to admire.

Athabasca Falls was our next stop and it featured a lot of water flowing over and around a lot of rock. It was a bigger version of the Maligne Canyon with an impressive falls.

Our last stop for the day was to the Columbia Icefield.https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g154918-d3337446-Reviews-Columbia_Ice_Field-Jasper_Jasper_National_Park_Alberta.html

We visited the large visitor’s center before taking another bus to the Ice Explorer vehicles, which are the same as used in Antartica, with huge tires to navigate the ice. The Ice Explorer tour was an about $60 Canadian and it was worth it to walk on a glacier. We were out on the glacier for about 20 minutes and even though I dressed in layers for the cold, it was very cold on the glacier. The glacier is one of several that extends from the Columbia Ice Field. While on the glacier, we were limited to walking in certain areas, since it can be unsafe walking on a glacier, with crevices.

After this experience, we moved on to our Banff Hotel. The next day was another day to remember. We stopped at Bow Falls for a photo opportunity. These falls were not the largest that we saw on the trip, but still scenic. The Banff Gondola was our next stop. We paid about $40 Canadian extra for the option of taking the Gondola up the mountain. Views were spectacular, some of the best on the whole tour. I took many photos. We saw lakes, mountains, Banff and more from the mountain.

Johnston Canyon was our next stop. It was another large stream that ran through a rock canyon with interesting rock formations and small water falls. A wooden walkway was built next to one side of the canyon allowing access up close and personal. The walkway was a bit crowded, due to a number of buses stopped to visit the canyon, but we made it to the first falls. There was another falls about a mile or so beyond, but we were not sure we could make it back in time. Still, there was another awesome natural feature to enjoy. We then drove down the Bow Vally Parkway to Moraine Lake. This lake was amazing. It was probably the most stunningly beautiful lake that we saw. Lake Louise was awesome, but not quite Moraine. The mountains were right up next to the lake. We were told that a glacier stopped leaving a huge pile of rocks forming a hill, which we were allowed to climb (there were steps and a path). We had a great viewing point for photos. This lake is not to be missed if you come to Banff.

Lake Louise and Chateau Lake Louise were our last stop for the day. Yes, another lake and almost as awesome as Moraine. This park is filled with amazing natural wonders. The Fairmont Chateau Hotel is just next to the lake. It looked expensive. There were signs everyone that if you were not a guest, then you weren't to enter the premises.

Our hotel at Lake Louise was nearby, and this day was nice, since we had very little travel involved. The next day we headed back to Vancouver. On route we stopped at the Three Valley Gap and an interesting place where the owner had moved old houses in the area that were to be destroyed creating a little village of his own, including an interesting vintage auto collection as well as rail road cars in his his own roundhouse.

We made it to our new hotel in Vancouver, for two nights, the Pan Pacific. The hotel is right on top of the cruise terminal. Ginny’s daughter, Liz joined us there for that night for our cruise on Monday, 5 September. Liz did make it in a couple of hours after we checked into our room. The 18th floor room had an awesome view of the water and both Vancouver and North Vancouver. Our breakfast at the hotel was awesome. After all we had to starting eating like we were on a cruise.

The next day, the weather was nice, so we walked along the water past Coal Harbour, which was loaded with yachts. We walked to Stanley Park, showed Liz the totem poles, rose garden and more, the continued to walk all the way to the bottom of the lions Gate Bridge and back to the hotel, walking about 10 miles. We rested for a bit, hydrated ourselves and then took Liz to see the Overlook Tower, a few blocks from the hotel. We then returned to have dinner at Mahoney and Son.

We checked our luggage the next morning with the bell captain, who sent someone to our room and didn’t see them until in our cabin on the ship.

NORWEGIAN SUN

The embarkation process at the cruise terminal was rather painless, especially since we didn’t have to touch our luggage checked directly to our cabin by the hotel. We found the entrance to the cruise terminal from the hotel fairly easily. There is a bit of a walk involved, but we were only carrying small bags. Since we were Platinum on NCL, checking in was quick and we moved on to customs, since we were effectively entering the USA. At one point there was one irritating Canadian official (Canadians are generally NOT irritating) that kept repeating over and over “you don’t need your passport.” She seemed to go out of her way to talk like a rude robot. Anyway, that was the only rude Canadian that we met on our entire journey.

On boarding the Sun, we were warmly greeted and reminded that our rooms would be ready by about 1:30, which turned out to be accurate. Since Ginny and I had the beverage package as a part of the promo for the cruise, we ordered a drink. I don’t usually drink before 5pm, but heck we were on a cruise. Actually, even though we had the beverage package, we didn’t drink more alcohol than normal on a cruise. Regarding the beverage packages, it was convenient when ordering, but I personally did not like cabernet, shiraz or malbec that was provided under the package. The chardonnay was good and merlot was ok, but NCL has poor choices for most red wines in the beverage package.

The Sun is about 15 years old and not one of the newer NCL ships, but it had been refitted earlier this year and was in good shape. It was not a big deal, but the layout of the ship could be confusing at times. For example, you could not go the length of the ship on deck 5, like you can on most ships. Deck 5 was what I call the business deck, where the reception desk and other offices for dining and shore excursions are located. It was not a big deal, if we wanted to go to those places, we generally used deck 6 and walked down to 5 after passing mid-ship. One other layout issue was that the layout of the Garden Cafe or buffet on deck 11 was not great. It seemed congested almost all the time. Half of the deck 11 area near the aft of the ship was not a part of the buffet area, there was a sports bar and another area that became the Brazilian Steak House in the evening. You could carry your breakfast and lunch food there from the buffet, which did help. There was a nice deck 11 aft bar with outdoor seating (if you could handle the chilly weather).

ENTERTAINMENT

NCL generally has better than average entertainment. The entertainment on the ship was about the same as what you find on most NCL ships. The Sun singers and dancers were good. Also, there was a descent Motown group. We enjoyed Brenda Kaye’s hypnotist show. There was a comedian that was good. We skipped the Burt Bacharach show, since we had probably see such a show on NCL and perhaps Celebrity a few times. The cruise lines need to come up with some new ideas for show, that one is too well worn.

FOOD

We had generally found that NCL’s food quality to range from average to excellent, but not as consistently good as Celebrity’s food. Also, the specialty restaurants on NCL were always a cut above the main dining room (MDR) food. My adult children had cruises on this same cruise about a year ago and said that the specialty dining was a big disappointment and the MDR was better, but nothing great. Well, thankfully, we can report that the food quality on the Sun was excellent, both in the MDR and the specialty restaurants (we dined in le Bistro and la Cucina on our Platinum certificated), The food in the MDR was excellent, in fact we found it to be equal to Celebrity quality.

SERVICE

The service was wonderful for all our meals. In the MDR, the first night we dined with Alex, from Goa, India as our waiter. He was fantastic. He was perhaps the best waiter we have ever encountered on any cruise. Once he knew our preferences, he served us accordingly. Also, service was not to fast or slow. He checked in with us to see if all was good and if we wanted more wine or a drink, he promptly had the bar/wine steward in motion. Service in le Bistro and la Cucina was excellent as well. The buffet food on the Sun was good and there were more options available than we have seen in the past on an NCL ship: pizza at lunch; Indian dishes; Eggs Benedict for breakfast.

Since we were Platinum, a concierge checked in with us every day to see if all was going well. That concierge brought us our priority luggage tags for disembarkation. The room steward were efficient and created some nice towel animals that Ginny loved. Every day the Captain provided us with a small tray of snacks. It was good, but with all the other food we consumed on the ship, sometimes we didn’t even touch these snacks.

We had joined the cruise critic roll call for the cruise, along with about 30 persons. NCL hosted a meet and greet with refreshments and drinks (non-alcoholic) on the first sea day. Many of the ships officers and managers were there to greet us and provide their phone numbers in case we needed their assistance. About 25 persons attended the meet and greet. We had about an hour to get to know each other. We had several new cruise friends from Australia that we saw later on the ship. Also, a couple from Calgary had joined us for booking a tour of Ketchikan. One couple from Britain were kind enough to exchange three five pound notes that were nearing expiration early next year. It was a good group and it is always nice to meet new cruise friends.

KETCHIKAN

Our first port in Alaska was Ketchikan. It calls itself the salmon capitol of the World. Nothing wrong with Ketchikan, but this port probably offers the least of all the Alaska ports. We declined the expensive flying tours. The ship’s excursions for the town were too expensive. I booked a nice tour with the Ketchikan Taxi Company, operated by David and Kat Freeman.

http://ketchikantaxicabtours.com

There were five of us on the tour and Kat was our wonderful guide. She took us to all the right places in the town and area. We stopped to see a waterfall, then to a stream frequented by bears (no bears that day) but plenty of birds. Also, we had a nice walk through a rain forrest. The rain forrest had some amazing moss on the trees and tree branches that we had never seen before. We visited the totem area, which included a lodge where the totem poles are made. Kat took us around the town and explained life in SE Alaska. Apparently, many residents depart south for the winter. The tour was from a comfortable mini-van and only cost about $45 per person. The tour was excellent. It did rain(not heavy) while we were in Ketchikan, but we had umbrellas and managed just fine. There was an interesting local shopping area near a stream not far from the dock.

JUNEAU

Juneau is the capitol of Alaska and larger than Ketchikan, but still a small city. The ship arrived about 11am and we had purchased a tour from Viator that included whale-watching and the Mendenhall Glacier. The tour started at 1pm and cost us $140 each. Dolphin Jet Boat Tours was the local tour company. The tour was priced less than the NCL excursion. First, we had about a three hour tour (not on the minnow) on an enclosed boat with about 40 persons to the areas frequented by humpbacked whales. We were not disappointed. We saw whales as they came to the surface and usually their tails in the air as they made their dives. Trying to take photos of the whales was a hit and miss process. We did open our windows on the boat so we could take photos, but frequently the whales came up on the opposite side of the boat. Still, we could see the whales, as those on the opposite side did not block our views. Also, five persons were allowed to go on the front platform of the boat or the rear platform. Our guide provided us with information about the whales. Apparently, the humpbacks migrate to Hawaii every year. There is no food in Hawaii for them, so they try to fatten up while in Alaskan waters. Also, the whale babies are born in Hawaii.

We didn’t see any orca whales, but did see some sea lions. Also, we saw many bald eagles while ashore. The second part of the tour was a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, were we saw the glacier. It was worth the trip, even though we had seen glaciers in Canada and saw more, later in Alaska. It was a good tour I would recommend it to others. At the end of our tour, we had the option of being dropped off in the city for shopping. Sales were huge, since this was the end of the cruise season. For example, NCL only had one more cruise for the season to visit Juneau, the southbound one returned to Vancouver. Ginny and Liz did some shopping and I understand saved quite a lot that day.

SKAGWAY

Skagway is known for its gold rush days in the late 19th Century. We could not find a good private tour, so we booked an excellent excursion with NCL called “Denver Valley Wilderness Hike and White Pass Railway. The tour was expensive, but great. The company that handled the tour was Packer Expeditions. My son Jack and his friend had taken this same tour the previous year and recommend it to us. Also, Liz wanted to do a hike. Well a hike we did. The tour started with a bus ride up the mountain on the Klondike Highway just across the border into Canada. I was an avid Jack London reader in my teens, so I was excited about this day. It was raining a very cold rain on our trip to the train station in Canada. We were prepared and even brought our umbrellas. After having our passports checked, we waited in the cold for the train. Our tour group of 9 persons as well as another small tour group had a dedicated car on the train. In fact, we had the last car on the train. That allowed us to go outside at the rear of the train and take some good photos.

Our guides were Megan and Meagan. They were young women that kept us laughing all through the tour. As guides they were super. While on the train to our drop off for the hike, we had over an hour to prepare our lunches for the hike. Bread, cheese, lunch meat, condiments and other stuff was laid out and we made our own sandwiches. I make half a peanut butter and jelly and a ham and cheese as well. Also, we were provided with a large fanny pack with water, as well as other snacks like nuts, candy and powerbars. We had plenty to eat on the hike. M and M warned us not to leave food in the forrest, since it could attract bears and cause them to associate people with food, which might result in people becoming bear food. Of course, M and M carried bear spray, just in case.

The hike was amazing, the rain forrest was like nothing we had seen before. It was much more than we saw on the short walk in Ketchikan. They pointed out much about the forrest ecology and the plants and animals that live there. The scenery was great, with green moss on the trees, fungi and plants that we don’t see elsewhere. There was a plant that grew all over the floor of the forrest with floppy type leaves and many nasty spikes that would rip apart your skin and clothing if you tried to walk through them. We walked by a mountain stream as well. Fortunately, it did not rain while we were in the forrest. It did start soon after we finished and were waiting for the train to take us back to Skagway. The hike was 6.2 miles with a path loaded with slippery rocks, mud and roots. It was an effort, but we survived. We didn’t stop off in Skagway to see the town. It was back to the ship to clean up, take some alleve and drink some wine.

GLACIER BAY

The Sun arrived at the bay around 7am and we awakened early to be able to view the bay. It was awesome. Also, having an aft balcony was perfect for viewing the bay and its glaciers. We saw at least three glaciers, the most impressive one was at the end of the bay. There was a commentary provided by a park ranger that we were not really able to hear on the balcony. Perhaps you could hear it inside the ship.

It took a while to reach to best glacier at the end of the bay. The ship did a very slow turn in front of the glacier so everyone could see it well. We all took many photos. We saw some seals sunning on a rock and took their picture. We saw some ice fall off the glacier and you could see small icebergs in the water when approaching the glacier. This viewing and the viewing the next day at the Hubbard Glacier were almost worth the cruise by itself. The mountain scenery was awesome as well. NCL handed out a nice map of Glacier Bay prior to that morning. We didn’t leave the bay until after lunch.

HUBBARD GLACIER

The next morning we saw the Hubbard Glacier. This glacier was about as awesome as the glacier that we saw at Glacier Bay. We only had about an hour and a half of viewing the glacier, since the ship didn’t have to venture up a long bay to arrive at the glacier. We got up early to view the glacier and loved every minute.

SEWARD

Our cruise ended in Seward and we departed the ship in mid morning, since we had to pick up our bus to Anchorage and Denali. We had booked a three night tour from Alaska Tours and Travel. http://www.alaskatravel.com

The tour included a bus trip to Anchorage with a three hour break for lunch that included a pass to the Anchorage Museum. It then continued another bus to Denali, were we had two nights at the Denali Bluffs Hotel. We were on the 9:45am bus, Liz’s bus left at 10:30am and she had booked a transfer to the airport for her flight back home. Ginny and I had enjoyed about an hour and half viewing interesting native tribes exhibits at the museum and and just sat down for lunch in the museum restaurant. I glanced out the window and saw Liz walking toward the museum entrance. Ginny jumped up and surprised Liz, who joined us for lunch. We had a nice lunch, said goodbye again and then picked up our buses.

DENALI

Our bus stopped at Talkeetna on the way to Denali for a toilet break. The weather was overcast and we were worried that our one day at the Denali Park would be overcast. It turned out to be fairly clear the next day. We arrived in Denali about 8pm, checked into our hotel and had a late dinner. The Denali Bluffs Hotel was a basic Hotel 6, but when I booked the hotels the options were few, since we arrived at the end of the season. Denali was in the process of shutting down. Our Tundra Wilderness Tour was on Tuesday and the last one of the season was on the next Thursday. The Denali Bluffs was shutting down the day we checked out on Wednesday. The food at the hotel was limited but good. It was pricey, as Alaska tends to be expensive by lower 48 standards. We had a large salad and bowl of soup each and a beer, costing over $50.

The next day, we were on the famous Tundra Wilderness Tour, which goes to mile marker 62 in the park and returns. You ride in what looks like a school bus on mostly a gravel road through some magnificent scenery. Also, wildlife is likely to be present. We saw caribou, many moose, bear from a distance, big horned sheep from a distance, eagles, birds and more. I managed to get some pretty good photos of a couple of moose, that were bull moose. We stopped about every hour and a half for a toilet break. The tour was essentially a full day tour. Snack boxes were provided for everyone. The snack was really a light lunch and we probably could have managed without a full lunch, but we were told by others that the snack was not enough, so we bought box lunches from the hotel for $18 each. It was more than we needed with the snack.

The tour was worth al the expense and effort getting to and staying in Denali. The landscape was something we had never seen. Probably the closest to Denali was Iceland. I took my binoculars for the tour and it did help me to see the far away bears and big horn sheep.

The tour package that we purchased from the tour company indicated that I should check with the clerk about transportation to the train station for our McKinley Explorer glass top dome train ride the next day to Anchorage. The clerk told me that there was a bus to the station at 8:30am for the 9:15 train, That turned out to be true, however that bus was a small bus for transporting people. Fortunately, the bus driver helped us to put our large and heavy bags on vacant seats on the bus. We made it to the train station and soon found out that a rock slide had resulted in our train being cancelled. We were to be bussed back to Anchorage. It took a while, but our bus showed up and after a stop in Talkeetna for lunch, we arrived at our hotel in Anchorage, prior to flying out the next day. The bus ride was scenic, since the weather was better than on our way to Denali. Of course, the bus ride was not the expensive domed train ride for which we paid. I called Alaska Tours and Travel and asked for a refund for the difference between the train and bus. I have not heard yet their response. The tour with Alaska Tours and Travel was largely a very good one, however, we learned that there was a process for picking up our luggage the night before our departure, taking it to the train station. The instructions we were given did not explain that, nor was the hotel clerk aware of this.

The Comfort Inn was our medium priced hotel near the Anchorage train station. The people there were very nice and helpful. The shuttle driver took us to a nice restaurant about half a mile from the hotel. The restaurant was called the 49th State. The restaurant was loaded with people and we had to wait for a table. It was clearly a popular restaurant and we discovered that the food and service was excellent. We decided to walk back to the hotel after looking for a drug store. We did find a place to buy sinus medication before arriving back at our hotel. The next morning, after an good complementary breakfast, the hotel shuttle took us to the airport for our flight. We had to transfer in Seattle and Atlanta, but arrived in Jacksonville, FLA about 8am where temps were about 25 degrees warmer that in Anchorage.

It was a great trip and our plans worked out almost perfectly. The only major issue was the cancelled train, but that was on mother nature.

Coral Princess shows glacier bay.... my vote goes there.

Both go to Glacier Bay. That was a must for us!

We did the Sun earlier this month and it was fantastic. We visited Glacier Bay and the Hubbard Glacier.

 

Here is my review of our trip.

 

Alaska, Vancouver and Canadian Rockies

 

We planned our trip around a seven day cruise on the Norwegian Sun from 5-12 September 2016. We left home on 24 August and arrived home on 16 September. The trip had four stages, Vancouver, Canadian Rockies, Norwegian Sun Alaska cruise, and post-cruise tour to Denali.

 

VANCOUVER

 

We arrived in the early evening of 24 August and settled into the Metropolitan Hotel for 7 days. The hotel was a nice, but slightly older hotel about 5-6 blocks from the cruise terminal in downtown Vancouver. Our room was spacious at a great price, about $160 US per night. The location of the hotel was excellent. We found plenty of restaurants in the area, including inexpensive breakfast places as well as nice dinner choices. Also, there was a small convenience store were we could purchase a hot meal or groceries if we wanted to eat in our room. There was a shopping mall across the street and a museum a block from the hotel.

 

 

We did dine in the hotel restaurant for two nights when they has special offers, like a burger and beer for $12 Canadian. The two restaurants where we usually had breakfast were one block north of the hotel. The first was Mario’s Coffee Express. It is a coffee shop run by a very nice proprietor, Mario. The coffee is excellent and we enjoyed breakfast there twice. The other restaurant that we used for breakfast and dinner one evening was close to Mario’s. It was the Joyeaux Cafe and Restaurant with Vietnamese cuisine. They had western breakfasts that were good at budget prices. The Vietnamese dinner was good, but not great. We had breakfast there a couple of times. Also, we took home some good Indian food one evening, along with snacks and wine. I don’t remember the name of the store. There was a drug store on the opposite corner of the intersection that we used as well.

 

We also had lunch at the Keg, then later at Mahoney and Son’s restaurants that were on the waterfront. Both were a little pricey, but had great locations on the water. The food was excellent at both. The best meal we had in Vancouver was at an Italian Restaurant called Zeffirelli’s. It was recommended by our hotel clerk and we were not disappointed.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g154943-d973325-Reviews-Zefferelli_s-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html

 

 

We had a week in Vancouver before our Canadian Rockies bus tour. That effectively gave us six full days to see the city and area. We had booked a five day package tour with Viator that included a city tour of Vancouver, tour to Whistler, tour to Victoria (and Butchart Gardens) and a two day pass on the Hop-on Hop-off bus. The tours were with the local Westcoast tour company. The tours were excellent and all guides gave us great tours. The package deal was called British Columbia Super Save 5 Day Tour.

https://www.viator.com/tours/Vancouver/British-Columbia-Super-Saver-5-Day-Tour-of-Vancouver-Whistler-and-Victoria/d616-5313ULTIMATE

The tour was described as follows:

 

Itinerary Day 1: Vancouver You’ll be picked up from your Vancouver hotel for a 4-hour narrated sightseeing tour of the city. See Vancouver’s most popular landmarks including Stanley Park, offering great city views. Some of Vancouver’s best beaches, fields, walking trails, lookout points and aboriginal sites are located inside this park. Pass English Bay and then enjoy free time on Granville Island, filled with some of the most famous public markets in North America. It’s also home to a large artistic community where local buskers, artists and musicians regularly showcase their unique talents. Visit Canada Place, learn about the origins of Vancouver on a visit to Gastown, and then explore Chinatown, the second-largest Chinatown in North America. Overnight: Accommodation not included. Please pre-book your hotel.

 

Day 2: Vancouver – Shannon Falls – Whistler – Vancouver You’ll be picked up from your hotel and taken on a day trip along the famous Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler. Enjoy breathtaking views along the way and stop at Shannon Falls for some more scenic vistas. When you arrive, take a guided tour of Whistler with live onboard commentary. Stop at Shannon Falls and the Squamish Adventure Centre, and then have a few hours of free time to walk around Whistler Village and enjoy optional activities (own expense) such as a gondola ride to the Blackcomb Mountains, a floatplane tour to Whistler’s upper glaciers and a zipline adventure over Fitzsimmons Creek. You can also take a spin on a snowmobile or simply relax in the Scandinavian baths. For an extreme adventure, go bungee jumping! You'll be taken back to your Vancouver hotel at the end of the day. Overnight: Accommodation not included. Please pre-book your hotel.

 

Day 3: Vancouver – Victoria – Vancouver After hotel pickup, your third day begins with a 1.5-hour ferry ride past the spectacular Gulf Islands to Victoria. If you’re lucky, you may see whales on along the way! When you arrive in British Columbia’s capital, you’ll be taken to the Butchart Gardens, boasting 55 acres (22 hectares) of stunning floral gardens. After exploring here, take a sightseeing tour of Victoria to see Parliament buildings, unique shops, the elegant Empress Hotel, Victoria’s Inner Harbour, Chinatown and Beacon Hill Park. At the end of the day, hop on the ferry and head back to Vancouver, where you’ll be picked up and taken to your hotel. Overnight: Accommodation not included. Please pre-book your hotel.

 

Day 4-5: Vancouver Enjoy a hop-on hop-off sightseeing tour on your last day. Aboard a vintage double-decker or luxury open-top convertible bus, explore the city at your own pace, hopping off at any destination you like to explore independently. Highlights include Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, Yaletown, Chinatown, the Robson Street Shopping District and English Bay. On board, enjoy live commentary about Vancouver’s history from your friendly guide. This tour is great opportunity to do some in-depth exploring of Vancouver sites that you saw on your first day. Your pass is valid for up to two days, so you can choose the amount of time you spend using the hop-on hop-off service.

 

The tour met all our expectations. The guides were excellent and tours well planned. Our only difficulty was a late ferry that cut into our time at Butchart Gardens. The gardens were the highlight of the Victoria tour and we lost some time there due to the late ferry, that was not the fault of the tour company.

 

The first day, we enjoyed the 10am start time, since we had just flown into the city the evening before. The half day city tour was extensive, covering Stanley Park, Chinatown, Gastown and more. Granville Island was ok, and but I didn’t find that it would be worth a separate trip there on your own. It was ok in a city tour. We did have lunch there. At the end of the tour, we visited the Vancouver Overlook Tower, which was skyscraper, with a rotating restaurant on top and just below a nice viewing platform that had stations pointing out notable sites to view.

 

The Whistler tour was a full day tour and just getting there was part of the fun. The scenery in route was great. We stopped a few times on the way to see waterfalls, a harbor and other places to take photos. Whistler was the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and the village there was interesting, as well as the scenery. We visited the local museum and very much enjoyed the Squamish Lilwat Cultural Center and Museum of the first nations (we call them native Americans in the USA) peoples of the area.

 

The Victoria tour on the third day was over 12 hours, but excellent. The ferry ride to Vancouver Island added to viewing more great scenery. Victoria was the capitol of BC and a small city with a British sense. Still the gardens were the high point of the tour. There were huge rose gardens, a Japanese Garden and many, many beautiful flowers to see. We had about an hour and a half there due to the ferry delay and could have used another half hour. While in Victoria we had a nice, but expensive lunch at Bard and Banker in the downtown area. Food and beer were excellent but pricey.

 

The fourth and fifth days we used the HoHo bus just enough to justify having it. Visiting Gastown, Chinatown and Stanley Parks to see the aquarium. The aquarium was great, it had a beluga whale show, which we had never seen before. Also, the exhibits were well done and the jellyfish exhibits were exceptional. On day five we also visited the Capitano Suspension Bridge Park. The park was easily assessable via a free shuttle bus that we picked up about a block from our hotel. Also, the shuttle bus could be found at Canada Place. The tour cost us about $30 US, which wasn’t bad. The suspension bridge was not to bad to cross, even will many people stomping their way across. The bridge crossed some 450 feet to a forested area that included treetops. Treetops was a collection of platforms built into the trees in the rain forrest. It was fun to walk the platforms and bridges from tree to tree. This venue is definitely worth a visit, if you have time in the city. On day four, we also visited the local museum, near the hotel for a Picasso exhibit. I am not a huge Picasso fan, but the exhibition was well done and I Iearned more about the artist’s life. Amazing that he lived in Paris during the German occupation.

 

The last day in Vancouver, prior to our Rockies tour, we visited Grouse Mountain. This venue, like the Capitano Suspension Park is located in North Vancouver, across from the main city. It also has a dedicated free shuttle bus leaving from Canada Place to take visitors to the cable car that takes you up the mountain. We didn’t try to see Grouse Mountain and Capitano in one day, but it could be done if you had fewer days in the city. Grouse Mountain had zip lines, hiking, paragliding, but we deferred to simpler entertainment. The highlight of the trip was seeing the two grizzly bears in the park (they have their own 7 acre wooded area). When we first arrived at the grizzly compound it was hard to see the bears, but we visited the Summer of Flight show (bird show), which was good and came back to see the bears and they were out of the woods in the area where water was available for them. We saw them up close and personal, with a fence and electrified wire as well(good for that). The lumberjack show was entertaining and quite good. Also, we took ski chairlift to the top of the mountain for great views. Grouse Mountain is definitely a must see for Vancouver.

 

 

CANADIAN ROCKIES BUS TOUR WITH KEY WEST TRAVEL & TOURS

 

Our bus tour with Key West was a great deal, three nights, four days to all the key sights in the parks of the Canadian Rockies near Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise (as well as points between there and Vancouver) for $1500 Canadian (less than $1200 US) for two persons.

http://keywesttravelandtours.com

 

The tour was fantastic. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular and Key West knows how to tour there. Our guide was well informed, funny and took great care of us. The mountains, waterfalls, lakes, glaciers, and wildlife are super. The second and third days were loaded with activities that open up to one scenic mountain after another, as well as several waterfalls, lakes and glaciers. Also, we took a tour on a glacier.

 

Day one, 31 August, we met at the Hyatt hotel. Our hotel was only two and a half blocks from the Hyatt and I considered rolling the luggage there instead of a taxi, but it was sprinkling that morning and our luggage was not light, so we took a taxi. I tipped the driver well, since the toll was less than five dollars Canadian and the driver seemed happy. Our bus was nice and comfortable enough. It was not filled to capacity, we had 27 persons to start with and picked up two more in Jasper for a total of 29.

 

The hotels were fine. The first night in Jasper we were in the Lobstick Lodge. I only had one main issue with the hotel. Our tour did not handle our luggage and I had to roll heavy bags over several stairs to reach the first floor level. Hotel room was fine, clean and the restaurant provided us with a good meal at reasonable price.

 

The hotels seemed to improve during the trip, the second night in Banff, we stayed in the Banff Aspen Lodge. The hotel was located near the downtown and an easy walk to shopping or restaurants. Our hotel room had a separate bedroom, bath in center with separate toilet/shower then sitting room like a suite. Also, it had a balcony facing the street. It would be a nice room for a lengthy stay. We decided to walk downtown and find a restaurant. The hotel’s restaurant guide showed Earl’s Restaurant about 3-4 blocks away was highly rated by TripAdvisor, so we dined there. We were joined by an Australian friend, Vicky, for dinner, which was excellent.

 

Our final hotel was the Lake Louise Inn & Resort, which was probably the best hotel during our trip. The Italian restaurant overlooking the lobby was excellent. We were too tired to use the nice looking hot tub.

 

Back to the bus tour. We had about 500 miles to go the first day until we reached Jasper. We stopped frequently enough for bathroom breaks, coffee and lunch. Our first stop was in Hope, were we thought that some mountains were already showing up on the landscape. These mountains were petty compared to the real thing later in the day. The scenery just got better and better. We had lunch at Kamloops, which was were the very expensive rail tours spend their first night on their tours. Imagine, a two night rail trip on the Rocky Mountaineer runs $2000 Canadian vs. our three night bus tour for 3 nights. Further, the bus goes many places that the Mountaineer can’t go. We stopped at Clearwater for a toilet break and the Rockies were in evidence. Our first real photo stop was at Mr. Robinson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The weather was good and we had a good photo opportunity. Finally, we arrived in Jasper and the heart of mountain country. It was late this evening, since we picked up an hour moving into Mountain time.

 

It was time to see some mountains. The next day, we checked out of our hotel. One thing about a budget tour, it we had to handle our luggage. Not a huge problem, but since we were on a 23 day trip, we didn’t want to turn in laundry until on the cruise ship, when we had free laundry service. Therefore, we had some hefty luggage.

 

From the hotel, we visited Patricia and Pyramid lakes. The lakes were magical. Pyramid Lake has a small island with a bridge going out to the island. It was nice walking around the island. Kayaks were available, but it was too chilly, this time of the year. Maligne Canyon was our next sight and we saw a fast moving stream that had carved out a spectacular canyon. We crossed a couple of bridges for scenic views and photos.

 

We then had some free time in Jasper for shopping and lunch. The railroad station was interesting and there was plenty of mountain scenery to admire.

Athabasca Falls was our next stop and it featured a lot of water flowing over and around a lot of rock. It was a bigger version of the Maligne Canyon with an impressive falls.

 

Our last stop for the day was to the Columbia Icefield.https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g154918-d3337446-Reviews-Columbia_Ice_Field-Jasper_Jasper_National_Park_Alberta.html

We visited the large visitor’s center before taking another bus to the Ice Explorer vehicles, which are the same as used in Antartica, with huge tires to navigate the ice. The Ice Explorer tour was an about $60 Canadian and it was worth it to walk on a glacier. We were out on the glacier for about 20 minutes and even though I dressed in layers for the cold, it was very cold on the glacier. The glacier is one of several that extends from the Columbia Ice Field. While on the glacier, we were limited to walking in certain areas, since it can be unsafe walking on a glacier, with crevices.

 

After this experience, we moved on to our Banff Hotel. The next day was another day to remember. We stopped at Bow Falls for a photo opportunity. These falls were not the largest that we saw on the trip, but still scenic. The Banff Gondola was our next stop. We paid about $40 Canadian extra for the option of taking the Gondola up the mountain. Views were spectacular, some of the best on the whole tour. I took many photos. We saw lakes, mountains, Banff and more from the mountain.

 

Johnston Canyon was our next stop. It was another large stream that ran through a rock canyon with interesting rock formations and small water falls. A wooden walkway was built next to one side of the canyon allowing access up close and personal. The walkway was a bit crowded, due to a number of buses stopped to visit the canyon, but we made it to the first falls. There was another falls about a mile or so beyond, but we were not sure we could make it back in time. Still, there was another awesome natural feature to enjoy. We then drove down the Bow Vally Parkway to Moraine Lake. This lake was amazing. It was probably the most stunningly beautiful lake that we saw. Lake Louise was awesome, but not quite Moraine. The mountains were right up next to the lake. We were told that a glacier stopped leaving a huge pile of rocks forming a hill, which we were allowed to climb (there were steps and a path). We had a great viewing point for photos. This lake is not to be missed if you come to Banff.

 

Lake Louise and Chateau Lake Louise were our last stop for the day. Yes, another lake and almost as awesome as Moraine. This park is filled with amazing natural wonders. The Fairmont Chateau Hotel is just next to the lake. It looked expensive. There were signs everyone that if you were not a guest, then you weren't to enter the premises.

 

Our hotel at Lake Louise was nearby, and this day was nice, since we had very little travel involved. The next day we headed back to Vancouver. On route we stopped at the Three Valley Gap and an interesting place where the owner had moved old houses in the area that were to be destroyed creating a little village of his own, including an interesting vintage auto collection as well as rail road cars in his his own roundhouse.

 

We made it to our new hotel in Vancouver, for two nights, the Pan Pacific. The hotel is right on top of the cruise terminal. Ginny’s daughter, Liz joined us there for that night for our cruise on Monday, 5 September. Liz did make it in a couple of hours after we checked into our room. The 18th floor room had an awesome view of the water and both Vancouver and North Vancouver. Our breakfast at the hotel was awesome. After all we had to starting eating like we were on a cruise.

 

The next day, the weather was nice, so we walked along the water past Coal Harbour, which was loaded with yachts. We walked to Stanley Park, showed Liz the totem poles, rose garden and more, the continued to walk all the way to the bottom of the lions Gate Bridge and back to the hotel, walking about 10 miles. We rested for a bit, hydrated ourselves and then took Liz to see the Overlook Tower, a few blocks from the hotel. We then returned to have dinner at Mahoney and Son.

 

We checked our luggage the next morning with the bell captain, who sent someone to our room and didn’t see them until in our cabin on the ship.

 

 

 

NORWEGIAN SUN

 

 

The embarkation process at the cruise terminal was rather painless, especially since we didn’t have to touch our luggage checked directly to our cabin by the hotel. We found the entrance to the cruise terminal from the hotel fairly easily. There is a bit of a walk involved, but we were only carrying small bags. Since we were Platinum on NCL, checking in was quick and we moved on to customs, since we were effectively entering the USA. At one point there was one irritating Canadian official (Canadians are generally NOT irritating) that kept repeating over and over “you don’t need your passport.” She seemed to go out of her way to talk like a rude robot. Anyway, that was the only rude Canadian that we met on our entire journey.

 

On boarding the Sun, we were warmly greeted and reminded that our rooms would be ready by about 1:30, which turned out to be accurate. Since Ginny and I had the beverage package as a part of the promo for the cruise, we ordered a drink. I don’t usually drink before 5pm, but heck we were on a cruise. Actually, even though we had the beverage package, we didn’t drink more alcohol than normal on a cruise. Regarding the beverage packages, it was convenient when ordering, but I personally did not like cabernet, shiraz or malbec that was provided under the package. The chardonnay was good and merlot was ok, but NCL has poor choices for most red wines in the beverage package.

 

The Sun is about 15 years old and not one of the newer NCL ships, but it had been refitted earlier this year and was in good shape. It was not a big deal, but the layout of the ship could be confusing at times. For example, you could not go the length of the ship on deck 5, like you can on most ships. Deck 5 was what I call the business deck, where the reception desk and other offices for dining and shore excursions are located. It was not a big deal, if we wanted to go to those places, we generally used deck 6 and walked down to 5 after passing mid-ship. One other layout issue was that the layout of the Garden Cafe or buffet on deck 11 was not great. It seemed congested almost all the time. Half of the deck 11 area near the aft of the ship was not a part of the buffet area, there was a sports bar and another area that became the Brazilian Steak House in the evening. You could carry your breakfast and lunch food there from the buffet, which did help. There was a nice deck 11 aft bar with outdoor seating (if you could handle the chilly weather).

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

NCL generally has better than average entertainment. The entertainment on the ship was about the same as what you find on most NCL ships. The Sun singers and dancers were good. Also, there was a descent Motown group. We enjoyed Brenda Kaye’s hypnotist show. There was a comedian that was good. We skipped the Burt Bacharach show, since we had probably see such a show on NCL and perhaps Celebrity a few times. The cruise lines need to come up with some new ideas for show, that one is too well worn.

 

 

FOOD

 

We had generally found that NCL’s food quality to range from average to excellent, but not as consistently good as Celebrity’s food. Also, the specialty restaurants on NCL were always a cut above the main dining room (MDR) food. My adult children had cruises on this same cruise about a year ago and said that the specialty dining was a big disappointment and the MDR was better, but nothing great. Well, thankfully, we can report that the food quality on the Sun was excellent, both in the MDR and the specialty restaurants (we dined in le Bistro and la Cucina on our Platinum certificated), The food in the MDR was excellent, in fact we found it to be equal to Celebrity quality.

 

 

SERVICE

 

 

The service was wonderful for all our meals. In the MDR, the first night we dined with Alex, from Goa, India as our waiter. He was fantastic. He was perhaps the best waiter we have ever encountered on any cruise. Once he knew our preferences, he served us accordingly. Also, service was not to fast or slow. He checked in with us to see if all was good and if we wanted more wine or a drink, he promptly had the bar/wine steward in motion. Service in le Bistro and la Cucina was excellent as well. The buffet food on the Sun was good and there were more options available than we have seen in the past on an NCL ship: pizza at lunch; Indian dishes; Eggs Benedict for breakfast.

 

 

Since we were Platinum, a concierge checked in with us every day to see if all was going well. That concierge brought us our priority luggage tags for disembarkation. The room steward were efficient and created some nice towel animals that Ginny loved. Every day the Captain provided us with a small tray of snacks. It was good, but with all the other food we consumed on the ship, sometimes we didn’t even touch these snacks.

 

 

We had joined the cruise critic roll call for the cruise, along with about 30 persons. NCL hosted a meet and greet with refreshments and drinks (non-alcoholic) on the first sea day. Many of the ships officers and managers were there to greet us and provide their phone numbers in case we needed their assistance. About 25 persons attended the meet and greet. We had about an hour to get to know each other. We had several new cruise friends from Australia that we saw later on the ship. Also, a couple from Calgary had joined us for booking a tour of Ketchikan. One couple from Britain were kind enough to exchange three five pound notes that were nearing expiration early next year. It was a good group and it is always nice to meet new cruise friends.

 

 

KETCHIKAN

 

 

Our first port in Alaska was Ketchikan. It calls itself the salmon capitol of the World. Nothing wrong with Ketchikan, but this port probably offers the least of all the Alaska ports. We declined the expensive flying tours. The ship’s excursions for the town were too expensive. I booked a nice tour with the Ketchikan Taxi Company, operated by David and Kat Freeman.

http://ketchikantaxicabtours.com

There were five of us on the tour and Kat was our wonderful guide. She took us to all the right places in the town and area. We stopped to see a waterfall, then to a stream frequented by bears (no bears that day) but plenty of birds. Also, we had a nice walk through a rain forrest. The rain forrest had some amazing moss on the trees and tree branches that we had never seen before. We visited the totem area, which included a lodge where the totem poles are made. Kat took us around the town and explained life in SE Alaska. Apparently, many residents depart south for the winter. The tour was from a comfortable mini-van and only cost about $45 per person. The tour was excellent. It did rain(not heavy) while we were in Ketchikan, but we had umbrellas and managed just fine. There was an interesting local shopping area near a stream not far from the dock.

 

 

JUNEAU

 

 

Juneau is the capitol of Alaska and larger than Ketchikan, but still a small city. The ship arrived about 11am and we had purchased a tour from Viator that included whale-watching and the Mendenhall Glacier. The tour started at 1pm and cost us $140 each. Dolphin Jet Boat Tours was the local tour company. The tour was priced less than the NCL excursion. First, we had about a three hour tour (not on the minnow) on an enclosed boat with about 40 persons to the areas frequented by humpbacked whales. We were not disappointed. We saw whales as they came to the surface and usually their tails in the air as they made their dives. Trying to take photos of the whales was a hit and miss process. We did open our windows on the boat so we could take photos, but frequently the whales came up on the opposite side of the boat. Still, we could see the whales, as those on the opposite side did not block our views. Also, five persons were allowed to go on the front platform of the boat or the rear platform. Our guide provided us with information about the whales. Apparently, the humpbacks migrate to Hawaii every year. There is no food in Hawaii for them, so they try to fatten up while in Alaskan waters. Also, the whale babies are born in Hawaii.

 

We didn’t see any orca whales, but did see some sea lions. Also, we saw many bald eagles while ashore. The second part of the tour was a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, were we saw the glacier. It was worth the trip, even though we had seen glaciers in Canada and saw more, later in Alaska. It was a good tour I would recommend it to others. At the end of our tour, we had the option of being dropped off in the city for shopping. Sales were huge, since this was the end of the cruise season. For example, NCL only had one more cruise for the season to visit Juneau, the southbound one returned to Vancouver. Ginny and Liz did some shopping and I understand saved quite a lot that day.

 

 

SKAGWAY

 

 

Skagway is known for its gold rush days in the late 19th Century. We could not find a good private tour, so we booked an excellent excursion with NCL called “Denver Valley Wilderness Hike and White Pass Railway. The tour was expensive, but great. The company that handled the tour was Packer Expeditions. My son Jack and his friend had taken this same tour the previous year and recommend it to us. Also, Liz wanted to do a hike. Well a hike we did. The tour started with a bus ride up the mountain on the Klondike Highway just across the border into Canada. I was an avid Jack London reader in my teens, so I was excited about this day. It was raining a very cold rain on our trip to the train station in Canada. We were prepared and even brought our umbrellas. After having our passports checked, we waited in the cold for the train. Our tour group of 9 persons as well as another small tour group had a dedicated car on the train. In fact, we had the last car on the train. That allowed us to go outside at the rear of the train and take some good photos.

 

Our guides were Megan and Meagan. They were young women that kept us laughing all through the tour. As guides they were super. While on the train to our drop off for the hike, we had over an hour to prepare our lunches for the hike. Bread, cheese, lunch meat, condiments and other stuff was laid out and we made our own sandwiches. I make half a peanut butter and jelly and a ham and cheese as well. Also, we were provided with a large fanny pack with water, as well as other snacks like nuts, candy and powerbars. We had plenty to eat on the hike. M and M warned us not to leave food in the forrest, since it could attract bears and cause them to associate people with food, which might result in people becoming bear food. Of course, M and M carried bear spray, just in case.

 

The hike was amazing, the rain forrest was like nothing we had seen before. It was much more than we saw on the short walk in Ketchikan. They pointed out much about the forrest ecology and the plants and animals that live there. The scenery was great, with green moss on the trees, fungi and plants that we don’t see elsewhere. There was a plant that grew all over the floor of the forrest with floppy type leaves and many nasty spikes that would rip apart your skin and clothing if you tried to walk through them. We walked by a mountain stream as well. Fortunately, it did not rain while we were in the forrest. It did start soon after we finished and were waiting for the train to take us back to Skagway. The hike was 6.2 miles with a path loaded with slippery rocks, mud and roots. It was an effort, but we survived. We didn’t stop off in Skagway to see the town. It was back to the ship to clean up, take some alleve and drink some wine.

 

 

GLACIER BAY

 

 

The Sun arrived at the bay around 7am and we awakened early to be able to view the bay. It was awesome. Also, having an aft balcony was perfect for viewing the bay and its glaciers. We saw at least three glaciers, the most impressive one was at the end of the bay. There was a commentary provided by a park ranger that we were not really able to hear on the balcony. Perhaps you could hear it inside the ship.

 

It took a while to reach to best glacier at the end of the bay. The ship did a very slow turn in front of the glacier so everyone could see it well. We all took many photos. We saw some seals sunning on a rock and took their picture. We saw some ice fall off the glacier and you could see small icebergs in the water when approaching the glacier. This viewing and the viewing the next day at the Hubbard Glacier were almost worth the cruise by itself. The mountain scenery was awesome as well. NCL handed out a nice map of Glacier Bay prior to that morning. We didn’t leave the bay until after lunch.

 

 

HUBBARD GLACIER

 

 

The next morning we saw the Hubbard Glacier. This glacier was about as awesome as the glacier that we saw at Glacier Bay. We only had about an hour and a half of viewing the glacier, since the ship didn’t have to venture up a long bay to arrive at the glacier. We got up early to view the glacier and loved every minute.

 

 

SEWARD

 

 

Our cruise ended in Seward and we departed the ship in mid morning, since we had to pick up our bus to Anchorage and Denali. We had booked a three night tour from Alaska Tours and Travel. http://www.alaskatravel.com

 

The tour included a bus trip to Anchorage with a three hour break for lunch that included a pass to the Anchorage Museum. It then continued another bus to Denali, were we had two nights at the Denali Bluffs Hotel. We were on the 9:45am bus, Liz’s bus left at 10:30am and she had booked a transfer to the airport for her flight back home. Ginny and I had enjoyed about an hour and half viewing interesting native tribes exhibits at the museum and and just sat down for lunch in the museum restaurant. I glanced out the window and saw Liz walking toward the museum entrance. Ginny jumped up and surprised Liz, who joined us for lunch. We had a nice lunch, said goodbye again and then picked up our buses.

 

 

DENALI

 

 

Our bus stopped at Talkeetna on the way to Denali for a toilet break. The weather was overcast and we were worried that our one day at the Denali Park would be overcast. It turned out to be fairly clear the next day. We arrived in Denali about 8pm, checked into our hotel and had a late dinner. The Denali Bluffs Hotel was a basic Hotel 6, but when I booked the hotels the options were few, since we arrived at the end of the season. Denali was in the process of shutting down. Our Tundra Wilderness Tour was on Tuesday and the last one of the season was on the next Thursday. The Denali Bluffs was shutting down the day we checked out on Wednesday. The food at the hotel was limited but good. It was pricey, as Alaska tends to be expensive by lower 48 standards. We had a large salad and bowl of soup each and a beer, costing over $50.

 

The next day, we were on the famous Tundra Wilderness Tour, which goes to mile marker 62 in the park and returns. You ride in what looks like a school bus on mostly a gravel road through some magnificent scenery. Also, wildlife is likely to be present. We saw caribou, many moose, bear from a distance, big horned sheep from a distance, eagles, birds and more. I managed to get some pretty good photos of a couple of moose, that were bull moose. We stopped about every hour and a half for a toilet break. The tour was essentially a full day tour. Snack boxes were provided for everyone. The snack was really a light lunch and we probably could have managed without a full lunch, but we were told by others that the snack was not enough, so we bought box lunches from the hotel for $18 each. It was more than we needed with the snack.

 

The tour was worth al the expense and effort getting to and staying in Denali. The landscape was something we had never seen. Probably the closest to Denali was Iceland. I took my binoculars for the tour and it did help me to see the far away bears and big horn sheep.

 

The tour package that we purchased from the tour company indicated that I should check with the clerk about transportation to the train station for our McKinley Explorer glass top dome train ride the next day to Anchorage. The clerk told me that there was a bus to the station at 8:30am for the 9:15 train, That turned out to be true, however that bus was a small bus for transporting people. Fortunately, the bus driver helped us to put our large and heavy bags on vacant seats on the bus. We made it to the train station and soon found out that a rock slide had resulted in our train being cancelled. We were to be bussed back to Anchorage. It took a while, but our bus showed up and after a stop in Talkeetna for lunch, we arrived at our hotel in Anchorage, prior to flying out the next day. The bus ride was scenic, since the weather was better than on our way to Denali. Of course, the bus ride was not the expensive domed train ride for which we paid. I called Alaska Tours and Travel and asked for a refund for the difference between the train and bus. I have not heard yet their response. The tour with Alaska Tours and Travel was largely a very good one, however, we learned that there was a process for picking up our luggage the night before our departure, taking it to the train station. The instructions we were given did not explain that, nor was the hotel clerk aware of this.

 

The Comfort Inn was our medium priced hotel near the Anchorage train station. The people there were very nice and helpful. The shuttle driver took us to a nice restaurant about half a mile from the hotel. The restaurant was called the 49th State. The restaurant was loaded with people and we had to wait for a table. It was clearly a popular restaurant and we discovered that the food and service was excellent. We decided to walk back to the hotel after looking for a drug store. We did find a place to buy sinus medication before arriving back at our hotel. The next morning, after an good complementary breakfast, the hotel shuttle took us to the airport for our flight. We had to transfer in Seattle and Atlanta, but arrived in Jacksonville, FLA about 8am where temps were about 25 degrees warmer that in Anchorage.

 

It was a great trip and our plans worked out almost perfectly. The only major issue was the cancelled train, but that was on mother nature.

Thank for sharing your review!

For those that have been on both NCL Sun and Coral Princess, which one would you choose for Alaska. Itineraries are the same so this comes down to boat. Which offers best viewing opportunities, overall best food (I know this is subjective), etc.

Appreciate any and all suggestions and opinions!

Princess will have a naturalist onboard...I'm not sure that NCL does.

Sort of OT but a tip... when responding to really long posts it is sufficient to highlight a little of the text and copy (Ctrl-C) then use the use the Wrap

tool to insert the bit that was copied into a regular Post Reply (not Quote).

 

4774Papa We did the Sun earlier this month and it was fantastic. We visited Glacier Bay and the Hubbard Glacier.

 

Here is my review of our trip.

 

Then comment (I agree - thanks 4774Papa for the review). My scrolling wheel finger will appreciate it. ;)

Sort of OT but a tip... when responding to really long posts it is sufficient to highlight a little of the text and copy (Ctrl-C) then use the use the Wrap

tool to insert the bit that was copied into a regular Post Reply (not Quote).

 

 

 

Then comment (I agree - thanks 4774Papa for the review). My scrolling wheel finger will appreciate it. ;)

 

Sorry I tried to do it once I had realized what I had done. I was on my iPhone and by they time I saw my post, it was too late to edit it. Apparently you only have 20 min. after you post to edit. :0)

I agree it's a PAIN....LOL

For those that have been on both NCL Sun and Coral Princess, which one would you choose for Alaska. Itineraries are the same so this comes down to boat. Which offers best viewing opportunities, overall best food (I know this is subjective), etc.

Appreciate any and all suggestions and opinions!

Itineraries are not "the same" just because the ports are the same. Times in port can vary significantly and that can make a huge difference in your excursion options. I suggest you look more closely at port times and what activities you plan to do.

Itineraries are not "the same" just because the ports are the same. Times in port can vary significantly and that can make a huge difference in your excursion options. I suggest you look more closely at port times and what activities you plan to do.

They are pretty much the same. Times in port vary by a few hours max. so not a deal breaker

They are pretty much the same. Times in port vary by a few hours max. so not a deal breaker

A few hours can make a big difference, especially when trying to do longer excursions, such as the Tracy Arm trip from Juneau, some of the longer Yukon trips out of Skagway, fly-in bear watching from Ketchikan, etc.

Also, are the glaciers the same? I'm pretty sure the Coral Princess does Glacier Bay and one other glacier, either Hubbard or College Fjord, depending on north or south bound.