Review of Infnity Alaskan Cruise 4th Sept 2016

[Deeliteful]

This is my cruise review and includes my short trip to Vancouver Island pre-cruise too.

I did this cruise last year in June and absolutely loved it and loved BC too. I re-booked whilst on the cruise to go again this time in the hope of seeing bears, hence my booking for September.

I left my home to travel to Vancouver from Leeds/Bradford via Heathrow and was lucky enough to get upgraded to Business class on the Heathrow- Vancouver flight, wish I could afford this every time I fly!

After a great flight we landed in Vancouver and waited for our luggage. My plan was to leave my big case (containing mainly clothes for the cruise) in Vancouver airport and travel to Vancouver island the next morning with just my small case containing hiking type clothes.

After waiting 2.5 hours (luggage arrival was really, really sloooooow) I realised my smaller case was probably still in London and so it turned out. So I wearily made my way to the taxi line and to the Travelodge for my first night. Travelodge in Richmond needs some tlc but the staff were amazing and I slept well in a clean room with a comfy bed.

Next morning I made my way back to the airport to get my flight to Campbell River. My suitcase just made their 50lb limit! I stood close to the exit to ensure I got a window seat and in fact we all got a window seat! I think I was also the only passenger who didn't have to bend to get to their seat (I am 4ft 11", it is occasionally advantageous😉)

Unfortunately it was raining so didn't get to see much out of the window anyway. Landed and picked up my hire car from Budget, excellent and friendly service, and made my way to my hotel, the Comfort Inn.

Got lost a couple of times on the way but found it eventually and checked into another clean and comfortable room, this time with a view of the harbour. I then drove out to Elk Falls national park to view the falls and maybe see some bears!

The drive was an easy one but the weather was still rainy but I had my rain gear on and just went for it (as my nephew says there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing!), he 's right.

The falls were lovely but completely spoilt IMO by the building of a suspension with a chain link fence (over 5ft) and steps to the bridge. Why spoil such a beautiful, natural view like this? Totally not necessary and a complete waste of money. No bears.

I drove back to the hotel and decided to have a nap and get up for dinner around 6pm ish (this was at 4.15 in the afternoon). I slept until midnight and then slept some more. Missing dinner is no bad thing for my shape!

Friday morning I ate a good breakfast at the hotel and then drove out along the sea front for a while. I was getting excited for my trip with Discovery Marine Tours to see Grizzlies (hopefully) on some of the islands out to the mainland. At 12 noon I duly arrived and we settled into our boat and started off on the trip.

We saw no whales but did see sea lions and harbour seals and then arrived via the Seymour narrows to Bute inlet to meet our Hamalco guides to the Orford river.

At the first tower we waited expectantly but not a bear in sight 😥 I said to our

guide "you do know I will cry if I don't see any bears today", she replied, "we just can't promise, they are wild animals. We did see two yesterday." I know they are wild but I was so looking forward to getting a chance to see them and especially if they were catching fish, a real bucket list dream for me.

 

We got to the next tower and there they were out on the river! BEARS, big grizzly bears. I was so emotional, it was just amazing and then we saw more, and more. In fact we saw 15 Grizzlies that day, I could not wipe the smile from my face. It was more than I ever could have hoped for. What a day.

Hopefully my pics will post and then I'll continue with my review including the cruise!

[Deeliteful]

Can't see to get pics up. Only little thumbnails. Will keep trying!

[claudiniusmaximus]

Great that you saw so many bears:)

[Deeliteful]

Great that you saw so many bears:)

 

it really was - thanks.

 

Ok so I'll keep trying to put pics up - sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don't.

So after my fabulous day seeing Grizzlies I set off on Saturday to fly back to Vancouver. I stayed at the Pan Pacific again as it is so great to give your cases to the Bell Boy and then not see them again until they are in your cabin! Also to just go down in the lift to the port. It's not a cheap hotel but you can get some deals there if you try (I didn't but two of my CC roll callers did). My small suitcase had also been delivered here so I was happy to see that.

I have spent time in Vancouver before so wanted just to chill today as I only had half a day here before the cruise, so that's just what I did. I also met up with Gayle and Tim from CC for dinner where we went to the Irish bar and restaurant in Canada Place - Mahoney & Sons. It was good - not great but would go back.

Sunday shone bright and clear and the Infinity was at the dock just waiting for me to board. I know a lot of people complain about embarkation here but it was a breeze - about 20 mins from check in to ship.

I had a wander around the ship and checked out a couple of cocktails! I went up to the roof terrace as this wasn't on the ship last year, it was a great spot and as the weather was so good I stayed up there relaxing (all alone - not another sole there).

Our CCers were also going to hold the sailaway party here and of course it did fill up then and it was great to see so many faces I had been talking to for over a year.

So back to my cabin (which was the same aft cabin I had last year 7206), I changed for dinner - and started off at the Martini Bar. I love this place, the bartenders are fabulous - good at what they do and funny and friendly too. I believe I may have stopped there every night!:D

There was a mix up with my dinner reservation - I had booked a large table for late dining and they had me down for select dining (my time dining, whatever it is called). They did change it but after the first night I met up with some CCers (Arlene, Mick, Fred, Caroline, Susan and Marsha) for drinks and dinner most nights, they were great fun.

I enjoyed dinner in the MDR 5 out of 7 nights and really could not fault the food in there.

Our roll call had booked a night at Qsine for the Wednesday (I think) and this was terrific. Be careful though it is very easy to order too much food! Highly recommended though and the drinks are fun too.

I made a mistake in booking a pass to the Persian Garden without checking them out first - I just assumed they were the same as I had done before. However they weren't. There were no heated loungers just a heated bench (can't relax on that) and it was very small in general. I went just once. Real waste of money, lucky I had some OBC.

Our first port of call was Hoonah (Icy Straight Point) and I had booked a bear trip here. Sad to see we didn't see any bears though others on non-bear viewing tours did :( I wasn't impressed with our guide at all - when he stopped anywhere there might have been bears he gave up after a couple of minutes and went elsewhere. It was a very rainy day but we did get to see eagles, an eagles' nest and some black tailed deer so not a complete waste of time.

I also enjoyed some halibut and chips at the restaurant on the pier which were excellent. Back to the ship for drinks and dinner.

I don't go to any of the shows unless they really appeal (and most don't) I enjoy sitting on my balcony looking at the scenery and looking out for wildlife until darkness falls.

I then enjoy a drink or two at the Martini bar, have dinner, a couple of after dinner drinks, maybe listen to some music and then visit the casino. I usually play Texas Hold 'em poker but this year it was a machine not dealer dealt (the casino manager said it has always been the same but I know I played last year on the ship and it was dealer dealt!) anyway the machine hardly ever worked so most of us gave up and I donated a little money on other table games but it's not the same. They could easily have set up a table as most of the dealers were standing at empty tables but they "weren't allowed" - how NOT to keep your customers happy.

Sea days are always great I think. It's just so lovely to be able to sit on your balcony and do nothing - maybe read but in Alaska they really are See Days, so much to watch out for - lovely.

 

Hubbard Glacier, Juneau and Ketchikan next - will there be whales and bears - let's see. Pics attached (if they are attached) are Eagles at ISP and bears at Bute Inlet in BC.

[TheCalicoCat]

We are returning so that we can see bears too. (next year, I hope we are as lucky as you.)

[Deeliteful]

Highly recommend going to BC for a few days first, hope you are lucky too.

 

 

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[mapleleaves]

Nice to read about someone taking a bear viewing trip on Vancouver Island. The island offers so many sights and activities. I like to spend a week there camping every summer. Great orca viewing near the north end.

 

Which company did you use at ISP? Don't think i've ever read a positive review of those bear' searches'.

[notentirelynormal]

.

Nice to read about someone taking a bear viewing trip on Vancouver Island. The island offers so many sights and activities. I like to spend a week there camping every summer. Great orca viewing near the north end.

 

Which company did you use at ISP? Don't think i've ever read a positive review of those bear' searches'.

 

Okay. Here is my "bear" viewing from when I was a kid. We had a trailer. We went camping (in a trailer) on Vancouver Island. My parents preferred we didn't use the toilet in the trailer cos that was extra work. So, here we are parked in a camp ground. I have to go to the bathroom around 8 at night. I'm around 10. My step father and I head to the camp ground toilets. As we are walking down the road we see these EYES. They are really high, like around 6 feet high EYES. They aren't moving but WE are. Yup, we are heading back to the trailer. I was advised it was okay to use the toilet in the trailer from then on. I think my step father peed his pants :D. He was terrified. I was 10 and didn't know better but man was it fun to see my stepfather freaked.

 

The next day we headed down the same path. WHAT could have caused those eye sightings. We looked around and tried to figure different scenarios. We game up with, well, nothing. These eyes were in the middle of the road. They were high. It was a spot in the middle of the road. Never did THAT again!

 

As a young wife and mother my mother had many encounters with bears in BC. Dad owned a lumber camp in the middle of nowhere. My mother was 19 YO with a baby in tow and one in the oven. Wonderful dad stuck her in the camp to cook for all the workers. She had to keep track of the baby while cooking and running to the garbage hoping to avoid those same hungry bears. She stated that it was pretty darn scary at night running to the garbage.

 

She tells stories of camping with her young children where they had to keep the food up high (in the ice chest and with a rope) so the bears wouldn't get to it. One trip they (her and another family) had to cut it short because back then milk was in glass bottles. The bears had come into the camp area, picked up the ice chest and broken all the milk bottles. For her, four kids at that point. Hard to camp without milk. We were 1 year apart. So, 6, 5, 4, and 2. Dad was unavailable but she manged the camping and the bears. Again YIKES to camping back then. :eek:

[Deeliteful]

Mapleleaves, I used Discovery Marine Safaris in Campbell River, they are on Facebook and have some amazing pics. They were very professional, highly recommend.

Notentirelynormal -wow!

 

 

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[Deeliteful]

Now to Hubbard Glacier. What a spectacular day. The glacier is awesome. I loved this day last year but it poured and poured with rain. This year it was so sunny that I was sunbathing on my balcony once we had left the bay, wall to wall sunshine, glacier calving and majestic scenery. What more could you ask for?

Next stop Juneau. I opted to do the whale trip with Harv and Marv again. Again I was not disappointed. A great day with lots of whale sightings (humpbacks) including breaching and fluking. Absolutely loved it. Small boat again with only about 8 of us do plenty f room to get outside, front or back and get up close and personal (with the whales!) and get some pics.

They don't have permits any more to take you to Mendenhall just to a stop to take pics but really too far away. If you can do both it is certainly worth taking the bus or cab to see the glacier and walk the trail to nugget falls.

Ketchikan, this year I had booked for a Rainforest hike which I was told was pretty easy and flat and should take about two hours. Chance to see bears too. Well most of that is true although the hike was near 3 hours but even this old dear made it! Our well informed guide showed us the flora and fauna of the area or explained it if we didn't see it. We saw quite a bit of bear scat so knew they must be there somewhere, hoping not to bump into any on the trail itself though!

We got to the final waterfall and the salmon were jumping, which is a fabulous thing to see.....and then....... a black bear came out of the forest for a quick bite to eat. Watching him fish was such a joy. I hope my pics show up.

Back to Ketchikan itself, I did a little bit of shopping buying some fleece tops for my two baby great nephews which they will look really cool in, then headed back to the ship. My cruise was drawing to a close but it had been amazing.

The final day at Sea was cruising the Inside Passage, the scenery was spectacular, also lots of orcas to be seen, so good that I stayed on my balcony and had room service for dinner, just a great, great day finishing with a fabulous sunset.

 

I still had a tour in Vancouver from the ship as my flight was not until the evening.

The tour took us out to Shannon Falls and then onto the Sea to Sky gondola at Squamish. Amazing day. Again we had beautiful sunshine, the falls were incredible and the gondola ride just breathtaking. Highly recommend this trip if you have a later flight as it finishes off dropping you at the airport and you have had no worries about your luggage and a great finish to your holiday.

I think that is the end of my review. Happy to answer any questions if I can. Pics will now be added! Fingers crossed.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Deeliteful

[claudiniusmaximus]

Great shot of the glacier!

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

Keith

[denatravels]

 

 

 

 

 

I still had a tour in Vancouver from the ship as my flight was not until the evening.

 

The tour took us out to Shannon Falls and then onto the Sea to Sky gondola at Squamish. Amazing day. Again we had beautiful sunshine, the falls were incredible and the gondola ride just breathtaking. Highly recommend this trip if you have a later flight as it finishes off dropping you at the airport and you have had no worries about your luggage and a great finish to your holiday.

 

 

 

Is this something that you think I can book onboard or will it likely sell out?

 

 

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[xlxo]

This is likely the tour you went on...

http://vancouvertours.com/tour/post-cruise-sea-to-sky/

[Deeliteful]

Denatravels, I booked it on board. Definitely worth it IMO our driver was a star too.

Thanks Keith glad you enjoyed it.

 

 

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