Canadian Rockies Cruise Tour Review

[fuzz]

(Also posted on Princess)

 

Well, we are back from our two week princess Rocky Mountain/Diamond cruise excursion and it was great. I will give a two part(land/cruise) short review for those who would like to read about it. Of course a book could be written on the adventure.

First and foremost the folks at Princess know how to make your trip memorable. Our tour guide “Stef” was the best I have ever been around. She, in large part, made a good trip great. Thanks to Princess.

We flew into Calgary from Greensboro and found our instructions for the tour at the Fairmont Palliser. The city is clean and energetic but we were there about 18 hours so our view was limited. We met our group at a cocktail gathering and left the next morning for Banff at 10:00 am.

The drive over to Banff was exciting. The Rockies just pop up out of the plains and literally you find yourself in the middle of these magnificent mountains almost without warning. Banff is a great little alpine town with pricey , but interesting stores. The DH had a good time shopping while I sat on the bench enjoying people watching and the sun. We went over to the Banff Springs hotel around 4:00 after visiting Bow Falls. The Hotel is world famous for its design, food and view and we were not disappointed. Our bags were in the room upon arrival as they were every night. Our stay was very nice. We ate Alberta Beef at the Bow Grill which overlooked the Bow River Valley, what a setting.

After our group picture in the morning, we set off for Lake Louise. We went to Moraine Lake in the valley of the 10 peaks, which I felt was more spectacular than Lake Louise. The group rode a ski lift up to a mountain top that overlooked Lake Louise and the mountains behind. Lots of pictures here. Although the Lake Louise setting is spectacular the Hotel (Fairmont) was our least favorite of the trip. It was crowded, the food service was somewhat lax and someone set off the fire alarm on our floor. Other than that it was super.

The next day we proceeded to Jasper with stops at the Athabasca Glacier and a trip down to the Takahaw (sic) falls. We went up onto the glacier on special busses and walked around for about a half an hour. Someone produced a bottle of Glenfiddich and all had a short libation of scotch and glacier water, what a treat. The weather is still fantastic with puffy white clouds AND TEMPS IN THE 60’S. We rode up to a view overlooking Peyote Lake. We were at over 7500 feet and some of us found we could not move around as quick as we do at home.

The afternoon ended at the Jasper Park Lodge (my personal favorite). The setting is beautiful and the food fantastic. The lodge (Fairmont) has a much more relaxed feel and sitting in front of the large fireplace having a toddy was very relaxing. We were to bed early because our train portion of the trip begins early the next day.

We say goodbye to our driver Vic, who was excellent, (he actually backed the bus up a mountain road so we could see Takahaw (sic) falls), and board the Rocky Mountaineer train for our journey to Vancouver. This was the only rainy day of the first week and we missed some of the mountain views but the trip down the river canyons was exciting and the ride into Kamloops, the stop for the night, gave us a perspective of both desert and mountains. Our train guide was Cobi, and she also made our trip comfortable.

Kamloops is the mid point of the train trip and we stayed at a Best Western, good for Kamloops but not to the Fairmont standard. We went to bed early and were off to Vancouver at 7:30 am. The trip to Vancouver was interesting and the scenery much different. There is a sharp distinction between the Cascades and the Rockies , both were interesting. We arrived at the Waterfront Fairmont around 5:30 and again found our bags waiting in our rooms. The Waterfront Hotel is new and is a world class stay. We ended our land portion with a group party and were off to Seattle early for the Diamond.

I will drop a line tonight with the cruise review. Overall our land trip was wonderful and we will go back to places we have been. Princess did an excellent job of providing the best service possible.

[Host Caroline]

Thanks for the great review:) We visited the Rockies on Vacation about 6 years ago flying into Calgary and heading to Waterton Lakes, Glacier National Park and then up to Banff and Jasper with a stop at Lake Louise.. This is a lovely area and definitely a great option for precruise!!! or just a vacation