Our Epic Alaskan Adventure - June 14-25, 2014 (Southbound on the NCL Sun)

[stilley9]

we kept driving back over to herring cove, but really didn't see much, so we'd go check out something else. we went to a friend's roadside jelly stand (great stuff - what we bought, she shipped to our house, and it just came this week), saw a few waterfalls and other scenery, and then went back to herring cove for ONE MORE TRY. just as we were pulling off, my dad yelled "i see one"

sure enough, there she was under the bridge (that is a bridge that the zip liners use after they zip)

 

we watched her walk down to the creek and we realized she had at least one cub with her.

 

they walked down to the water for a few minutes, and then headed back under the bridge. there were some zip liners standing there that didn't even see her, and she didn't see them. when she did she got a bit spooked and headed back towards the woods.

 

 

the grass was deceptively tall and i'm sure it was hard for the baby bears to see their mom. so being a good mom, she stood up so they could find her. at this point, we realized there were 3 of them. once she had collected all 3 of them, they ambled leisurely to the safety of the woods.

 

 

[Shazzah]

Enjoying your report. Great bear sighting!

[mapleleaves]

Great trip report!

will you come back to finish it?

[stilley9]

Yes! Have been traveling for work all week in NYC. Home now and ready to finish this off hopefully tomorrow! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[greatlakesgirl]

Looking forward to the rest of it! :)

[stilley9]

Okay, sorry for the delay! It's time to try to finish up this trip (although probably won't happen tonight). So after we saw the bears in Ketchikan, we got back in our taxis and did some more touring. We saw a bit more wildlife, including this little guy and his mom, right on the side of the road.

 

 

snapping pics of eagles never got old for me

 

we headed toward Totem Bight State Park. by this point, my 5 year old was kinda done with wildlife. he was all "oh great, another eagle", and had recently asked for my iPhone to play games on. but for whatever reason, when we got to the totem poles, he was absolutely captivated. he's an awesome reader and he read every single sign and explained the totems to us.

 

 

after the totems, we realized our 3 hour tour had turned into 4 hours and we needed to get back to the ship. David and Kat dropped us back and we thanked them profusely for a wonderful day.

 

 

i was able to speak to my husband, and was sad to learn that they were catching nothing. the captain had decided to keep them out for as long as possible to give them the best shot. they all had a good time, but alas, the fish don't always bite. everyone on all the fishing tours came back empty handed that day. bummer, but it happens. my 8 year old was super sad. the captain really tried hard, as they went out around 1 pm and he didn't bring them back until around 7 pm (was supposed to be 4 hours). they came back and we all boarded the ship.

 

we had reservations (if i remember correctly) at the italian restaurant on the ship. il adagio? i can't believe i've already forgotten. anyway, this is a great restaurant with a view because it's lower - 5th floor. all the other specialty restaurants are up on 11 or 12. we sat and watched the beginning of the inside passage cruise as we had a delicious dinner.

[SilkySal]

Enjoying your experience! Six of us leaving for Fairbanks tomorrow for our1st visit to Alaska! We booked the float plane to the Taku Lodge in Juneau, whale watching in ISP, renting a Green Jeep in Skagway to Emerald Lake, and the taxi tour with Dave & Kat in Ketchikan, as well!!!:cool: Can't wait!! Glad to hear things went well for your group, minus the luggage dilemma!!:eek: Will make sure everyone has all of their luggage before we leave!!:rolleyes:

Edited July 14, 2014 by SilkySal
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[Shazzah]

Interesting that your 5 year old enjoyed the totem poles so much - it's always amazing to see what gets their attention at that age.

 

Continues to sound like you are having a good cruise.

[travgurl]

Love reading all about your adventures. We will be there next summer Fairbanks to Vancouver cruise tour. Thanks so much for sharing!

[stilley9]

Saturday, June 21 continued and Sunday, June 22

We left Ketchikan around 8 pm, and sailed down the Inside Passage. Right away it was a beautiful view, and continued to be all the following day (day at sea). It was very peaceful, and after the weather we had early on, we were grateful for the lake-like cruise of the Inside Passage.

 

 

 

 

need to photoshop this one a bit for the flares, but i still like it. :)

 

 

sunset was absolutely beautiful! i highly encourage some outside viewing down this stretch as it's so peaceful and idyllic.

 

too soon, it was time to go to bed, which really means our cruise was over. :(

 

luckily we had 2 more days in vancouver to look forward to.

[stilley9]

Monday, June 23 - disembarkation in Vancouver

i had selected the latest checkout time possible since we didn't need to rush to the airport. i figured we could use one last leisurely cruise breakfast before we deboarded the Sun. as an aside, this was my 5th cruise on my 5th different cruise line, and out of all of them, i thought NCL had the most relaxed, easy way to get off the boat. it was such a non-event and non-stressful. i really didn't like the way Carnival did it, and now in hindsight, i can't see why everyone doesn't do it like NCL. anyway, i digress...

 

we get off the Sun, find our luggage, and get in the impossibly long taxi line. the Disney ship emptied the same morning and Canada Place was hopping with activity. we finally got up to the front and got 3 taxis to take our party of 10 to our hotel, which was very close.

 

when i booked the vancouver hotels, i was tired of spending a ton of money. so i got smart and did some priceline research. i determined i wanted to be in the robson st. area - great for restaurants, shopping and stanley park, and i gambled on an auction. i believe i selected 4 stars, but it could've been 3 1/2. i use a site that tries to help you predict what hotel you're going to get, and it worked out well. we ended up at the Listel Hotel for about $140 or so (if i remember right). great location, boutique hotel, very nice. we went by there, dropped off all our luggage for the bellman to lock up, and bought tickets for the Hop on Hop Off Trolley (HOHO).

the HOHO stop is quite close to the hotel, so we walked to the stop. the first thing we noticed was that the first trolley that came was packed with people. it was about 11 am by this point. the lady called another one, and it showed up empty! it was great. we had an awesome driver, who took us through stanley park. at this point we'd decided to just sit and ride for a while before we decided what to do next.

 

for vancouver and me, it was love at first sight. i loved alaska in a completely different way (would love to visit again, maybe many times, but in no way could i ever see myself living there. vancouver on the other hand, i could move tomorrow. fantastic, beautiful, clean, cultured, yet outdoorsy city.

 

these pics aren't great as they were taken from the trolley window, but you get the idea....

 

 

 

after the park, we went to granville island. everyone was hungry by this point, so we got off. we ended up at Bridges, which has a spectacular waterfront location. the food was great. EXPENSIVE, but we found most things in Vancouver to be expensive. i had some of the best fish and chips (halibut) i've ever had.

 

 

great views of the water and all the city's bridges, hence the restaurant being called Bridges

 

 

we ate just about every meal outside in vancouver. we were excited to be able to be comfortably outside as it was cold a lot in alaska. vancouver was about 70F and perfect!

[stilley9]

Monday, June 23 continued - Vancouver

after lunch we walked around the market in Granville. the kids loved the fish and there was plenty to look at. it's a very cool market. after a bit, we decided to walk back up to the trolley stop. right away, we knew we wouldn't get lucky this time. the trolleys were packed. we ended up splitting our group up and were on our way.

 

the drivers were very hit or miss. the first one was awesome, and the other ones were just "eh"... but they did get us safely from point to point.

 

after granville, i don't remember all the details but we definitely went through chinatown and toured some areas close to there. by this point, we were ready to go back to our hotel because we'd been out for a while, and the tour was dragging a bit. we had to endure the rest of the tour, and finally we got back around to our stop. after checking in, my husband and both kids fell asleep, so i went walking the streets with my brother. there are some great shops right there on robson.

 

for dinner that night, we went to a place on robson called earls. it was recommended by the hotel and we enjoyed it. we went back to the hotel as 3 of our party was leaving on tuesday morning for a 7 am flight.

 

(next up - we do a day drive to whistler)

[stilley9]

Tuesday, June 24 - day trip to Whistler and last day before we came home. :(

 

Tuesday morning, 3 members of our party left for a super early flight. My family of 7 had one more day, and had already decided that we wanted to drive the Sea to Sky Highway to check out Whistler. Another perk of our Robson St. location is that i was able to walk over to Enterprise for a rental car. We had reserved a minivan because we were staying in a different hotel that night (momentary lapse of judgment on my part) and we needed a big trunk to store all of our luggage. After playing luggage Tetris for 30 minutes, we figured out that there was just no way we could fit 7 people and 7 people's stuff from a 10 day Alaska trip in 1 minivan. No way. So a couple of us headed down to the airport to the Delta Vancouver to drop off all our luggage for the night. Much lighter, we went back to pick up the rest of our party (who had enjoyed a nice breakfast in a bakery) and off we went.

 

We headed north through Stanley Park and over the Lion's Gate.

 

 

we set up my brother's trusty Go Pro to take 1 picture every 30 seconds for the scenic drive - good shots by doing it that way!

 

 

our first stop was Brittania Beach for the copper mine tour and museum. when we saw this, i knew we were in right spot

 

if you have kids (or even if not), this place was GREAT! we loved it. i googled stops between vancouver and whistler and this place came highly recommended. the tour was awesome - it's a historic national site and was a real copper mine. it was educational and interesting and the kids loved it. they also loved the gold panning.

 

[stilley9]

more pics from Brittania Mine Museum

 

this place really is a marvel to see the conditions the miners worked in and how amazing it was to build something like this so long ago.

 

 

fantastic tour guide!

 

[stilley9]

after our first stop, we headed up the road to whistler. it really is a beautiful drive. you don't need a destination, just take in the scenery!

 

 

 

 

what i did all day long:

 

 

[stilley9]

Sea to Sky Highway continued

 

Because we had stopped so much and stayed so long at the Mine Museum, we got up to Whistler later than expected. We had a late lunch at Splitz Grille, right in Whistler Village. Great burgers. We really wanted to ride the Peak2Peak Gondola that connects Whistler to Blackcomb. Alas, I learned that in the summer, just about EVERYTHING closes in Whistler at 5 pm. By the time we got up there to the gondola, they had already stopped taking people up. So we didn't do it. But it was still worth the trip, just for the sights along the way. Whistler is a great little village too!

 

We started heading back towards Vancouver. On the way home, we stopped in Squamish at Shannon Falls. It's a beautiful waterfall just right off the highway. Super easy, 5 minutes walk from the parking lot.

 

 

 

 

after the falls, we headed back to the Delta, dropped everyone off by the airport hotel, drove the rental back to Robson, and took a cab back to the Delta. Before we did that, my husband and i had to admire the beautiful sunset from the area near Canada Place.

 

 

 

[stilley9]

continued (Vancouver summed up)

 

we stayed that night in the Delta by the airport. it was another priceline steal, at about $100 i think. it was great for that price. really nice staff, clean big rooms, free shuttle to airport. they had a decent restaurant out on a pier that overlooked the water and it was quite nice to sit out there for dinner and watch the planes land.

 

overall, vancouver was fabulous. i could absolutely live in that city! i can't wait to go back for another visit sometime soon.

 

 

And that was it. Wednesday morning, June 25 we left bright and early for the long trip back to Charlotte. it was a much easier trip home from vancouver than the trip out to anchorage. overall, we loved our experience. it wasn't perfect by any stretch, but the hurricane conditions and the lost luggage just made our memories more colorful.

 

i decided that i wouldn't want to go to alaska every year. but i'm so glad i went and i would love to go back in 5 years or so. maybe take another cruise or maybe rent an rv and tour more of the interior. i was left in awe of the sheer size and beauty of alaska in general. i know that there is much too much to see for 10 trips, much less 1 trip.

 

there are definitely some things i wish i would've planned differently, even as much as we loved our trip. i have another post called "lessons learned" where i posted those. they're mostly my opinions, but maybe they'll help.

 

thanks for reading and i hope you all enjoy the beautiful last frontier as much as my family did!

[mapleleaves]

Thanks for the trip report and photos! I bet it was fun to relive your vacation. And we enjoyed reading about it.

 

Isn't Vancouver a great city? One of my favorite places is Vancouver Island. It has everything ... lovely sand beaches on the east side, wild coastline on the west side, an abundance of black bears throughout, grizzly excursions from the north end, whale watching, fishing, and the lovely capital, Victoria.

 

Thx again for the report. Cheers !

[Shazzah]

Thanks again for your report and photos.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

Great review. Can you tell me more about the rental lens for your camera? Something you did in your hometown?

[stilley9]

Great review. Can you tell me more about the rental lens for your camera? Something you did in your hometown?

 

no, actually, found out about www.lensrental.com

from this site - it was great and easy! highly recommended.

[uvasag]

Great review. I booked my cruise from Seward to Vancouver for next July but it was right after reading your review and took some great money saving tips from you. I had one question for you. I'm planning on doing the Kenai Fjords tour in Seward. Do you think that's enough for seeing the Alaskan wildlife. The whale tours on other ports can become pricy especially for a family of 4 and was wondering if it would be an overkill to do 2 whale watching/wild marine life tours ?

[stilley9]

Great review. I booked my cruise from Seward to Vancouver for next July but it was right after reading your review and took some great money saving tips from you. I had one question for you. I'm planning on doing the Kenai Fjords tour in Seward. Do you think that's enough for seeing the Alaskan wildlife. The whale tours on other ports can become pricy especially for a family of 4 and was wondering if it would be an overkill to do 2 whale watching/wild marine life tours ?

 

thanks! i'm sure some would say yes, but i'll echo something i read on this forum when i started researching - that is, figure out your priorities and plan accordingly. for me, i i really wanted to maximize the chances for seeing wildlife, especially whales and other sealife. so we had a marvelous time on the cruise in the kenai fjords. HOWEVER, the cruise the very next day was cancelled because of the storm we went through. so if i had been on the sunday cruise and missed it, i would've been glad to have the icy strait point whale watching cruise booked. the weather is so iffy in alaska, i wouldn't want to take any chances. my opinion is to book both cruises as you never know what you're going to get. and if you see whales twice, that's a double bonus! :)

[uvasag]

thanks! i'm sure some would say yes, but i'll echo something i read on this forum when i started researching - that is, figure out your priorities and plan accordingly. for me, i i really wanted to maximize the chances for seeing wildlife, especially whales and other sealife. so we had a marvelous time on the cruise in the kenai fjords. HOWEVER, the cruise the very next day was cancelled because of the storm we went through. so if i had been on the sunday cruise and missed it, i would've been glad to have the icy strait point whale watching cruise booked. the weather is so iffy in alaska, i wouldn't want to take any chances. my opinion is to book both cruises as you never know what you're going to get. and if you see whales twice, that's a double bonus! :)

 

Thank you. Yeah it makes sense to book 2 excursions as you never know what the weather will be like and watching wildlife is my priority.