sharon_pei

If using city bus to go totem park, how many hours should be budgeted pls? We won't have too much time in this port (scheduled for 6am-2pm, but for late risers who plan to eat proper breakfast, it's probably more likely 8:30am-2pm) and our must-dos include totem park and creek street. Optional items are rest of the city walk tour plus lumberjack show.

Avis's rental is $450+ for 1 day from what I can find. At that price point, we decide to opt for the train/bus combo. But it may still make sense for those larger groups of 4-5 people i guess.

Day 2 comments - If you wish to observe the transit through Johnstone Strait at night, I suggest staying up until about 07:00 to 08:00. As per my previous post, if it is a clear night with reasonable moonlight, the views are fairly impressive. If it is dull and overcast, I don't suggest missing sleep. I didn't know one can see and appreciate the view with moon light. Now I get it. thank you!!! If one stays really late (let's say 12-1am) instead of getting up very early, would he be able to catch some first sight of johnson strait?

Thank you for the information. I am still confused on how early one needs to get up on day 2 to be able to catch the scenery though. Trying to attach a timestamp to the locations mentioned in the post above: on day 1: Entering Georgia Strait, you have a succession of smaller islands on both side, and Vancouver Island to port and mainland to stbd. If close to the Solstice, sunset is about 21:30, with the ship being about Hornby to Courtney, depending on Seymour tides. -- so it is the right understanding that one is better off grabbing a quick bite (instead of spending hours in formal dining room) to catch the sunset, or plan to eat after 9:30pm (not even sure if cruise ship would allow that)? on day 2: Unfortunately, the narrow channel is navigated at night, with the ship being around Robson Bight/Blackfish around the first light. To not miss it, one needs to get up around 5am? (sunrise for June Victoria BC is around 5am, but i am not sure if Victoria BC is the right benchmark to check on sunrise sunset time here). or, by getting up at around 5am-ish, can one still catch the nice part of narrow channel or is it already sort of late? That's the part I am not getting: with the ship being around Robson Bight/Blackfish area, is it good or already entering the wider and hence somewhat less interesting section? I read some old posts from this forum earlier that the cons of south bound itinerary was to miss the best part of inside passage scenery, but those posts were from years ago. Possibly that information is no longer valid due to schedule changes over the years? I wish i can dig these links out but google isn't very helpful here.

Thank you for the guidance on gift cards via AARP. Looks like it has $500 value and $100 value. does the limit of 5 per month apply the $500 value one? if so, that means each month, one can purchase 5x$500=$2500 in value? I tried to log into my princess account and couldn't each link my cruise (booked via costco) to the account. mobile app seems to work for linking to the reservation, but it still doesn't allow me to apply any gift cards as a payment method. do I have to call or chat with its customer support people to apply the gc to remaining balance? I assume the crew appreciation could be paid via gift cards too.

Thank you for the explanation. it's apparently too late for any fare deal that happened in the past and I am looking into the gift card trick. Do I need to pay for the membership to be able to see the gift cards offers? I browsed its website and couldn't find any gift card as a guest. I reserved this cruise on a credit card that offers complimentary trip cancellation insurance just in case any unpredictable things happen last minute. the fare I got is 1689. So it's like paying $170 for travel insurance. maybe it's better to get the giftcard deal through this membership thing and buy travel insurance separately? thoughts?

Thank you so much for sharing your planning progresses! I am pretty late into the game and just started to put things together for a cruise + land trip this coming June. You must have shared in the midst of this long thread, but I can't easy sort it out among so many updates. would you mind kindly sharing again how did you manage to bring down the cruise fee from the original $2200 to $1161.74? i am in the middle of hotel booking and honestly can't find any decent options (motel level) under $200/night. I am sure by now a lot of good ones are gone, but would you mind sharing where you booked just in case there are still some good options left? Thank you so much for sharing and contributing!

thank you for confirming! looks like taxi is the only option. Just did some quick maths: car rental (without employee discount deal) from airport + taxi cost + tip is equivalent to the Mendenhall tour cost for 2 ppl. Those tours are priced very strategically.

We are thinking of the exact same but without an employee benefit based low rate. still much cheaper than if renting from the cruise port. May I ask what's the public transportation option to get us from cruise port to the airport please? I checked the website (https://juneaucapitaltransit.org/routes/riverside-airport-connector/) and it seems there is no direct bus that goes into airport and one would have to connect at valley transit center bay 1? if so, that maybe too time/efforts consuming to give up on.