Ira's Off to Alaska: HAL and Princess

Hi All,

On Sunday, my Lady Wife and I shall be taking the Oosterdam from Vancouver to Seward. This will be followed by a Princess Land/Cruise tour back to Vancouver.

I hope to send back live updates on both HAL and Princess boards.

Ciao for now.

Ira

Looking forward to your review!!!

Bon voyage Ira-have a great time and then tell us all about it afterwards.

Smooth sailing!

Norris

Wow, that sounds like a fantastic trip, and then a future review..

Hoping to hear all the details ... Enjoy !!

Srpilo

Hi All,

......................................

I hope to send back live updates on both HAL and Princess boards.

Ciao for now.

 

Ira

Looking forward to that. Have a great time. :cool:

Reporting from the top deck, oops, floor of the Mark Spencer hotel in Portland.

The flight in from ATL was uneventful.

We went slowly, so that by the time we got to the taxi stand, there was a cab waiting for us.

The ride in from the airport is supposed to be a flat $31, but our cabbie put theflag down on his meter.

I paid the few dollars extra fare and told him that that was his tip. He took itwithgood grace, ie, I am still alive.

Checked our luggage in at the hotel and took a short walk to Clyde Common for a light lunch. Good beer and wine. The salads were nice, $40 w/tyip. More than we are used to at home.

Our room was ready when we got back. It is a junior suite. Rooms are small, but it is nice to have separate living rm/kitchen and bedroom.

The hotel offers a "name your price" deal, so we got this for a very nice rate, considering prices out here.

Tomorrow is spent in Portland, and then we take the Amtrak to Vancouver.

The hotel is offering tea and cookies from 3-5 and wine reception from 5-7.

Portland is hotter today than Atlanta and is expected to be even hotter (100 F) tomorrow.

More to come.

Ira

Hey, Ira, have a nice trip. Save some cookies from tea to wine reception :p

Portland Calling:

Yesterday opened hot and sunny and got hotter, and hotter.

We went off to visit the Lang Shu Chinese Gardens.

The garden is a reproduction of an old, pavilion-style mansion. Quite lovely. Very pleasant. Guided tours every hour or so. Many varieties of tea in the tea house. Lovely way to beat the heat.

Caution: If you are a Type A traveler- don't go. You will be bored silly.

After the gardens, we hopped a tram to the Portland Art Museum.

It was nice and cool.

It seems that these folks came late to the museum scene. Many middling works by major artists and many middling works by middling artists.

It was nice and cool.

Tram back to hotel. Rested. Changed.

Diner at Andina. We had 7:30 reservations.

Arrived at 7:30. Seated immediately. Quite unusual.

The bar area is very noisy. The dining room is not.

The menu offers Andean, Spanish and European/Peruvian fusion. There are small, medium and large plates for sharing, as well as main courses.

Tortilla de Patate and a grilled octopus to start. Diver's scallops on Quinoa cakes and a braised veal shank.

Nice Oregon Pinot Grise, very good cocktails and a bottle of Xingu black beer - excellent.

Top notch service.

Very highly recommended.

Returned by tram.

And so to bed.

Ira

I have a confession to make.

We rode the light-rail, buses and trams without paying.

The first two times because the light-rail came before I could buy tickets. The next time because the ticket machine was out-of-order, and the last time because I had fallen into the dark pit of immorality.

Bon Voyage. :)

To ease the conscience maybe a donation to Portland's wayward society?

have not pozted because computer died.

quick update on princess part of adventure.

accomodations at the captain cook in anchorage very, very good.

transfers and luggage handling by princess very very good

denali lodge lukewarm

mckinley ,odge ok

copper river lodge very nice

visited denali on the 2:10 long tour well worth the voyage to ak

we saw SIX grizzlies, dall sheep, caribou, moose, swans, eagle and

denali, herself, all lit up by the pink setting zun.

pix will follow.

ira

Sounds great. :)

Hi All,

We returned on Friday.

We have been sleeping about 20 hr/day since then.

All that fresh air and sunshine can really tire you out.

It was a terrific month.

As soon as I get organized, I shall start an account of our adventure.

Ira

It was a terrific month.

 

As soon as I get organized, I shall start an account of our adventure.

 

Looking forward to your report.

Glad it was a terrific trip.

Looking forward to your review and a comparison between HAL and Princess. Also looking forward to elaboration on your brief comments regarding the lodges:

denali lodge lukewarm

mckinley ,lodge ok

copper river lodge very nice

We'll be doing a land tour next June and will be visiting both Denali Lodge and McKinley Lodge so I am interested in the reasons for your somewhat less-than-enthusiastic comments regarding those two.

Hi All,

 

We returned on Friday.

 

We have been sleeping about 20 hr/day since then.

 

All that fresh air and sunshine can really tire you out.

 

It was a terrific month.

 

As soon as I get organized, I shall start an account of our adventure.

 

Ira

Welcome home IRA.

Catch your breath and then tell us all about it!

Anticipating....

Norris