Wookie01

Part 4

SKAGWAY

We booked a 'Yukon Rail & Bus Excursion' with Chilkoot Charters & Tours. With this tour you can choose to either start or end the tour with the White Pass train portion of the excursion. We opted for the bus on the way out and train on the final portion of the return journey. HAL offer a similar tour but researching the CC forums and Trip Advisor strongly recommended the Chilkoot option over the HAL trip.

This is a long 7.5 hour excursion which is an extension of the White Pass Summit bus/train trip.

The first portion of the trip was a drive in a small bus (about 15 seats) to Fraser where we met the train arriving from Skagway and picked up a couple of extra passengers. We then continued along the Klondike Highway through the scenic lakes and mountains of British Columbia and Yukon to Emerald Lake, before doubling back a couple of miles to Caribou Crossing where we had a hot lunch and some time to explore the Yukon Wildlife Museum and visit the Husky puppies. After lunch we began the return trip which included time to explore Carcross before returning through the spectacular scenery to Fraser. Here we left the bus and boarded the historic narrow-gauge White Pass & Yukon Rail for the 28 mile return trip to Skagway.

Doing this trip with Chilkoot Charters had several big advantages.

i) because we were in a small bus it was much more personalised and although the bus had (approx) 15 seats there was never more than 8 of us onboard so there was plenty of room to move around and place bags, coats etc.

ii) the small bus was able to stop and double back when wildlife was spotted so we were able to twice go back and sit by bears that were spotted on the roadside. the HAL excursion was in large 'tour coaches' that just didn't have the ability to do this.

iii) On the train portion of the journey the HAL group had their own 'exclusive' train cars, those carriages appeared to be quite crowded and full. By comparison our 'general' carriage was virtually empty, about 8 people in total, so we had plenty of access to windows on either side for photos as well as virtually uninterrupted viewing on the outside platforms at the end of each carriage.

This was an excellent excursion, made all the better by the small group and personalised service of the driver/guide. I believe that costs through Chilkoot and HAL were very similar so not a big saving but much better than the crowded HAL option - thoroughly recommended.

see part 5

Part 3

We also did the 'Evening Whale Watching Quest' which was another fantastic excursion. The boat was medium-sized and not overcrowded, the crew were enthusiastic and friendly, and the commentary was informative and helpful. We were very lucky to encounter a baby humpback that was constantly breaching close to our boat, it would have leapt out of the water a minimum of 20 times while we looked on in wonder. Another fantastic excursion, booked through HAL which we thoroughly recommend.

see part 4

Part 2

JUNEAU

We did the 'Five Glacier Seaplane Exploration' which was a flight in an Otter floatplane from Juneau harbour over the glaciers of the district. This was one of the highlights of the trip with spectacular scenery and views, we booked this excursion through HAL and cannot recommend this trip highly enough.

see part 3

I will break this into several sections so that I can include more photographs.

This was our second cruise, the first was on Celebrity Equinox for a 10 day Mediterranean cruise in September 2011.

Our Alaska cruise (and associated trip) was my 60th birthday present, a wonderful way to celebrate a milestone in a location I had long wanted to visit.

We did quite a bit of research before choosing the HAL Volendam cruise which departed Vancouver on June 5th, and we picked this cruise because it included Glacier Bay which I felt was a 'must see' part of the cruise.

Two friends from Melbourne decided to join us for the cruise also.

Our itinerary was:

Wed Jun 5 5pm depart Vancouver

Thu Jun 6 cruising Inside Passage

Fri Jun 7 10am-10.30am Tracy Arm service call

1pm -10.30pm Juneau

Sat Jun 8 7am -9pm Skagway

Sun Jun 9 7am -4pm cruising Glacier Bay

Mon Jun 10 10am-6pm Ketchikan

Tue Jun 11 cruising Inside Passage

Wed Jun 12 7am arrive Vancouver

We booked through 'Vacations To Go' and thoroughly recommend them.

We selected BB6222 which was a balcony cabin near the rear of the ship on the port (left) side on the Verandah Deck, deck 6. At the end of the deck hallway towards the rear of the ship was a door which led out onto a stern viewing area with lounges, not many people seemed to discover this spot and it was a pleasant retreat with stairs up to the Lido and Bar on deck 8.

The cabin was reasonably spacious (similar dimensions to our balcony cabin on the Equinox) and not generally affected by noise problems. However the main dining room was immediately below and if you happened to be in the cabin when they were making P.A. announcements they could be disturbing and quite clearly heard. Our friends were on the same deck in a mid-ship balcony cabin (AA6161) on the right (starboard) side.

Balcony Cabin BB6222

Balcony Cabin BB6222

Bathroom in our cabin

Balcony for BB6222

THE GOOD - HAL/VOLENDAM

- Embarkation and disembarkation was smooth and effortless, very well handled by all concerned and our bags arrived at the cabin in very good time.

- The crew were probably the best part of the HAL experience - cabin attendants were always friendly and helpful, staff in the Lido buffet always had a smile.

THE GOOD - ITINERARY/EXCURSIONS

We were so lucky with the weather during the cruise, we had some cloud and drizzle on the first and last days cruising the Inside Passage but the rest was absolutely fantastic which made the awesome scenery even better.

See part 2 for continuation

Sarah, many people have already stated how excellent your review is, but I just want to add my compliments to you - what a fantastic job!

Thank you so much for the huge effort and thought that you have put into this endeavour, to say that it is of epic proportion is an understatement.

Your photos give real life to the commentary and the whole comes together in delightful package that was a treat to follow.

I have been sitting up in bed since 4.30 this morning reading through the review, and guess what?? In just 5 hrs or so we board the Volendam at Canada Place to do the same cruise! I am so keen to get on board and 'relive' the experiences that I feel I have already shared thanks to your extraordinary efforts.

If you should so choose I believe that you could have a bright future in journalism/photography as your work is captivating.

Thanks again for a delightful review.

Graham, Melbourne Australia.

You are allowed to order a drink from any bar and drink it in your cabin. You just can not order room service with your package.

Newbie question, sorry if it seems obvious to you seasoned cruisers, but I just need to clarify for my 'cruise virgin' peace of mind. :o

Am I getting it correctly that you can a pick up a drink, say a large bottle of San Pellegrino for example, on your beverage package and carry it back to consume in your cabin?

I assume that there are glasses in the cabin so that you can have a bedside overnight drink available?

BTW is 'cabin' correct or is the accepted phraseology 'stateroom'?

TIA

Graham :D