Just back from the NCL Sun Vancouver to Seward and back. Any questions?

We had a blast. I would recommend staying in Vancouver a few days before or after.

We did after and are so glad we did. We loved Vancouver (thanks all who helped us plan, especially martincath and xlxo).

We stayed at the YWCA hotel in Vancouver and would highly recommend it. Even my picky husband was ok with it. Spent several hours at Capilano (so beautiful) and did some other touristy stuff. I wish we had planned a longer stay in Vancouver, and we will go back, even if we don't have a cruise planned. Beautiful city.

If you have any questions about any of that, or taking Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver, I'd be happy to offer anything.

Unfortunately I am not the picture taker, hubby is. And didn't save dailies or menus, but I can answer questions. I was surprised at how different the menus were from Shadowmeboy's cruise last year, most particularly lunch. We ended up at the buffet a lot for lunch.

Wonderful, wonderful trip of a lifetime.

Glad to hear you had such a great trip !

What was the highlight ?

Perhaps you could list the ports and your activities at each one.

There were a lot of highlights - some great laughs at the comedy shows, the glaciers, Hubbard, Mendenhall, the dolphins swimming alongside the ship during our last night's dinner at Le Bistro, the people.....

So I'll give a little summary of what we did where - and certainly, if there are questions, please feel free!

We were on the NCL Sun for back to back cruises. We had decided to do back to back, before I ever read about Denali or anything else. I had received one of the cruises as a VIP at a land casino, and won the other one at the land casino on the same weekend. We had a limited time to decide what we wanted to do with our certificates (one week), and had been researching Princess cruises to Alaska. We had sailed Princess years ago and enjoyed it, but alas, they certificates were for NCL. So we're stuck with NCL. I thought it was a great deal, having to pay the admin fee and port fees and tax. We did specialty dining, partly because the drink package wasn't really worth much to us since we don't drink much, and partly because we were getting a drink card from the casino to use. It worked out great.

In every port we went to (except the first time in Skagway), we stopped at the Visitor Center. They were always close to the dock and helped provide a great deal of information and directions.

So for the first trip, we went to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Seward. We only pre-purchased one excursion, which I researched like crazy. Hubby is a train nut, so we took the Yukon Rail and Bus through Chillkoot Charters. It was wonderful. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In Ketchikan, I had researched that they had a historical museum and the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, which is operated by the National Forest Service. This day we were in Ketchikan, it was raining, but not cold. So we went first to the SE Alaska Discovery Center - it was free with our lifetime senior pass. Very nice way to introduce us to Alaska, which a good video and nice exhibits. We walked up to Creek Street and had planned to do the funicular, but it was broken down and I really didn't want to walk up Married Man's trail in the rain. So we walked around Creek Street and saw several seals/otters in the water, waiting for the fish. They poked their heads in and out. There were more by the bridge of the street, versus on creek street. We also went to the Tongass Historical Museum which cost $3 per person. They only had one exhibit as they are in the middle of renovation, so we just enjoyed that exhibit, which was quite beautiful.

The nice thing about no excursion, is that we had a relaxing breakfast on the ship, and didn't have to get off as soon as we docked. Knowing we were going back meant we could save something for the next week's stop. We did shop a little bit in Ketchikan at Tongass, but also decided to wait on some of our purchases, again knowing we'd be back. They had huge end of the season sales, so that was nice.

On our second trip to Ketchikan, the following week, we decided we wanted to go to Totem Bight State Park. We took the city bus which was $2 per person each way. It was a bit of a ride out there, but they were on time, and it was nice to see different parts of the area. Totem Bight State Park was so beautiful. It was raining on and off, and a little chilly. The State Park is very forest-like, and gorgeous. They have lots of totem poles and good information about them. We took about an hour to look around and take photos. The info on the bus was easily accessible, and well marked. After Totem Bight, we got dropped off at the federal building and decided to walk around Creek Street again. There were some shops we wanted to look in again, and we wanted to see if we could see seals/otters again. We did see a couple seals/otters, but not as many as before. We could hear a LOT of yelling and screaming and finally figured out that was the Lumberjack show! We stopped by Tongass at the pier and picked up those items we picked out the week before, and headed back to the ship.

The next port was Juneau. It was again rainy, but colder than Ketchikan. I was very happy hubby and I had purchased rain jackets for the trip. We don't get much rain where we live, so I don't I'd ever had a rain jacket. Had an umbrella, but that's it. We decided to take the city bus out to Mendenhall Glacier. Again, it was interesting to see the city. It was $2 per person each way. It is a good walk to the Visitor Center. I will say this was probably the worst thing we did to save money. It was very rainy, wet, cold, and I had forgotten my rain boots at home. My shoes and socks were soaked by the time we got to the visitor center. Had it been a nice day, I would have been fine. They had a fireplace (fake) where you could warm yourself and dry your jackets. I sat there for a bit to rest and get dried off. The visitor center was wonderful! They had nice exhibits and a cute little shop to find things. I had wanted to do the walk to nugget falls and other hikes, but the weather was just too bad. We did decide on the rainy walk there that we would try to go back on the $45 bus. Thankfully they took us, after we paid the fare. It was still raining pretty good. We went back on that bus, and took the bus to our ship and went to our cabin and changed.

The second trip to Juneau we had talked about going back out to Mendenhall but Hubby wasn't feeling up to it, so we just walked around the city, and shopped at the sales at the T-shirt store, where everything was 50% off. Our time in Juneau this time was much shorter, so we didn't have time to do much else.

In Skagway, we had pre-planned the train trip, which we both enjoyed. Carcross was cute, the food was good, donuts were fabulous, and seeing the baby huskies was neat, although we didn't get to hold them. We did see some people ride on the dirt trails with the huskies. It was interesting to see how excited the dogs got when they knew the trainer was picking some of them to pull a sled. When we got back to Skagway, we decided to visit the town on our next trip as we were pretty worn out from the trip. We had a really great guide, James from Ireland, who had wonderful stories. That is one of the things I enjoyed the most on our Alaska trip, was the people we met and heard from. They really touched me.

The second time we were in Skagway, we decided to take the bus into town and just walk around. I believe it was $2 per person each way. We visited the National Park center which was great. The ranger there was nice, and allowed us to be made junior rangers. They had awesome badges and we passed the test and took the oath and were awarded the badges. Their center is getting ready to close down for the season. She also gave us some maps of some hikes to do, but hubby didn't want to do any of them. So we walked around town, and then got a ride back to the ship.

Our mid-way stop was Seward, and we had decided that even though we could stay on the ship, we wanted to go explore. Again, we took a shuttle into town. Unfortunately, it was a holiday so the visitor center was closed as was the library. There wasn't a whole lot of info out there about Seward, mostly info about going to Anchorage. We decided to take the shuttle into town and look around - thankfully the shuttle didn't strand us at the closed visitor center. Hubby wanted some free wifi so we went to "The Sea Bean" which was easy to find, and we spent about an hour there catching up with family and friends. There were a couple of shops around there that were cute. We ended up going to the Alaska Sea Life Center, which I had planned on anyway. Supposedly they had a discount coupon (20%?) at the visitor center, but with the visitor center closed, we paid full price. It was well worth it. We saw the rescued baby walrus, sea otters, seals, puffin, and all kinds of other wonderful things. They had a very nice touch tank and some beautiful artwork as well. It really is a well put together center. I think we spent at least two hours there. If you go there, towards the end of the exhibits, there is a great place to take pictures, that's free. And you can post them on your facebook page or send it to yourself via email. It has several different backgrounds that you can use, and produces a pretty decent picture. I am not one to get pictures taken or buy pictures of myself, but these were great! The kids were having a great time and really loved all the exhibits, and it was fun to watch them interact with the sea life. From there we took the shuttle back the ship.

There were a couple of differences between cruise 1 and cruise 2. On cruise 2, we went to Icy Strait Point, and cruised Sawyer Glacier. We also got to see Hubbard Glacier again which was still magnificent. I think I could see that Glacier a million times and still be in awe of it.

So for Icy Strait Point, it was raining (again) for most of the time we were there. We took the shuttle to Hoonah and walked around. We went to the canoe shop because there was a "Sale" sign, so I couldn't resist. I am so glad we stopped in there! The gentleman who owns is a retired state trooper. Hubby is a retired police officer. He was wonderful to talk to and showed us his halibut hook, and explained how it was made, why it's made that way, what it's made with. We also saw some fur from otters which was very soft. The woman who works there is also a local, grew up in Ketchikan, but moved to Hoonah when she married, and I spoke with her for a while. She told me about a recent Totem pole that was put up. She explained that her clan is a certain clan name, and in Hoonah a different. The Totem pole was dedicated to her clan, and she had to dedicate to someone and dedicated it to her mother. Talking with her was very moving. She directed us to the carvers shed, which I had heard about and planned to go to.

There we found the carver, carving, and talking to folks. It was wonderful listening to him about the history of totems and carving. He has carved all of his life, and was carving a particular piece, all by hand, no machines, just hand tools. We walked around some more and then took the shuttle back.

Even though we didn't really do much in the way of "excursions", I felt we got a lot out of the ports that we normally wouldn't have, by meeting the people. I was surprised how many people come to the towns to work for the season, who don't live there and only live there for the season. It was nice talking to locals and people who grew up there.

Again, please feel free to ask questions. It may be kind of unorthodox kind of trip, but we enjoyed it immensely.

Thank you for the info. I have a ship question - is there a covered pool? We are on the last cruise of the season -25th Sept. I wondered if I would be able to swim. We also have a Chilkoot tour in Skagway. You have given us some ideas for Juneau and Ketchikan - thank you. We fly over to Vancouver on Thursday for 4 night pre cruse and the cruise drops us off in San Fran - so a few nights there to finish off. So looking forward to this holiday - shame you did not have any photos

no covered pool on the Sun. I saw a few people swimming here and there, and people using the hot tubs, but not much. I did not try them out, although I brought swimsuits and thought about it.

We loved Vancouver. Hopefully your hotel has a pool.

Shadowmeboy has a wonderful review of the NCL Sun for last season, and I think VegasChic does as well. There is no way any of the pictures we took would compare. I studied those reviews over and over again.

Have a wonderful trip! I was surprised how quickly the time went and how sad I was to leave.

We had James as our Chillkoot driver also--he was wonderful!

Holidayhelen, I don't know where you're staying in Vancouver, and I'm sure you already have a hotel.

A couple of comments - the weather was very nice while we were there. We found a really great breakfast restaurant called the Jam Café that is on Beatty street. It is right by the train station Expo Line, Chinatown/Stadium station. There was a bit of a wait, but the food was really wonderful there. Good coffee, great bacon eggs benedict.

I would also recommend going up the Vancouver Lookout tower to have lunch or dinner at the restaurant. If you tell the folks at the elevator that you are going to the restaurant, you don't have to pay to go up in the elevator. It has a revolving restaurant - I believe it goes 360 degrees in an hour. The food was good, a bit pricy, but nice views. We went for dinner, but lunch would be less expensive. They do require that you buy an entrée per person. You can find their menu online. If you go between 3 and 5, it's only appetizers and drinks. We opted for dinner.

I would also recommend Fly Over Canada - it is a lot like Soarin' over California, if you've seen that at Disneyland. It is at Canada Place on the left side, way in the back of the terminal. Really fun ride.

We enjoyed going to Granville Island, but picked a lousy restaurant for dinner so I can't make a recommendation there.

We also loved the Capilano Suspension Bridge. There are a lot of things to do there, and we really enjoyed it.

We wished we had more time in Vancouver as I wanted to go Stanley Park and Grouse Mountain, and explore more, but we just didn't have time.

We don't have subways in the town I live in and I haven't tried to use a subway in many, many years, but I found the map we had with the subway stations on it and the markings for which line it was very helpful. We got the map from our hotel. We found the subway very friendly and easy to use, although we only used it once, after our dinner at the Lookout.

Enjoy your time there!

Thank you for sharing, Did you rent a car in vancouver? What hotel do you recommend? Also, is it easy to find the bus stop/where to the totem pole park? Thank you in advance

Thank you for sharing, Did you rent a car in vancouver? What hotel do you recommend? Also, is it easy to find the bus stop/where to the totem pole park? Thank you in advance

We did not rent a car. I really didn't want the stress of driving in a town I didn't know and dealing with parking, which I've heard is difficult in Vancouver.

We stayed at the YWCA hotel as recommended by some folks here. I know it sounds kind of odd, but it was a decent hotel in a good area of town close to everything, including the train station which was about two short blocks away, although we didn't use it much. We walked to the false creek ferry stop, and walked around town a bit. It was about $120 a night USD, with a senior discount, with one double bed and a private bathroom. They do have rooms with shared bathrooms, either in the hall or connected to another room. I think they have rooms which have as many as 5 beds!! It was incredibly inexpensive compared to the other hotels I looked at. If you are still looking for a room, I would suggest posting on the West coast departures or the Canada board. I got a lot of help from those boards with people actually giving you rates for your dates. I also used trivago and tripadvisor a lot. I initially booked with booking.com but found it was cheaper to book directly with the hotel.

The hotel was clean and the people were very nice and incredibly helpful with directions and a great map.

As far as the bus stop for the totem poles, I went to the visitor center and asked for directions and they gave me great directions. It is right on the main road in town, and about a 5 minute walk from where we were docked. It was pretty well marked, and actually had the schedule taped up on the pole next to the bus stop. It was the Silver line North, and then you take South back.

I made a comment on another post (I think) about how helpful the visitor centers were. We stopped at each one (except the one that was closed in Seward for the holiday). I had a list of things I wanted to do and so I got directions and other help from the visitor center staff that really made it so much easier. Although I had some directions from folks here or research I had done, it was much easier talking with someone with a map in hand and seeing the city.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

Thank you for your quick response, did you hire a taxi to visit other places in Vancouver and from the airport and to the ship?

I prefer not renting a car either.

the only times we used a taxi was to get from the ship to hotel (1-1/2 hour wait!!) and hotel to airport.

Otherwise we walked or took buses or the train. The hotel we stayed at had a button to push to call a cab and they got there within a few minutes - by the time we got the luggage outside, they were there.

If you can, you should try to do alternative transportation from the ship to your hotel. The wait was awful! I know people have talked about going up to Pan Pacific to get a taxi quicker. Or maybe you can get a shuttle ride or something that you arrange beforehand. I didn't hear any particular reason why the wait was so long, and it was only a 2 ship day.

Oh and hotel to ship, we did get a taxi. It was only about $8 CAD. Same with back from ship to hotel. And from the train station (we got there the night before) to the hotel, again about $8 CAD.

We thought about doing the train, but it seemed to complicated and I really did not want to drag luggage.

You are awesome. Thank you for all your detail input

One more question, how far is the hotel from the airport and what form of transportation did you use? $?

we used a taxi to the airport - it was about $30 CAD if I remember correctly. We weren't sure what time we wanted to leave having fun in Vancouver so I didn't plan a shuttle or anything, which may have been cheaper. I have heard they don't have Uber or Lyft in Vancouver at least at this time.

Thank you so much, spending three day in Vancouver before our cruise and I'm so excited to plan it. I wrote down all your suggestions, so if you think of anything else let me know :)

if you do a search on the west coast thread, or the Canada thread, you'll find a huge list of things to do in Vancouver. I wish we had done more. My hubby was nervous to do anything on our flying day and sailing day, so we didn't do much more. But I know the Vancouverites have lots of great suggestions.

We really loved Vancouver and the people.

Thank you so much I will check these boards out

One more question, how far is the hotel from the airport and what form of transportation did you use? $?

http://www.yvr.ca/-/media/yvr/documents/transportation/yvr_2197_fare_brochure_12x9_feb2016_website-(1).pdf

Thank you very much