Our Alaska adventure on the Norwegian Sun, June 5-12

Where do I begin. We have been home now for about 3 weeks since we left Friday, June 2nd on our 2 week adventure to Alaska. I hope everyone that has been had a fantastic time, and if anyone has yet to go, I hope you enjoy this review and it gives you some ideas. I am still coming down from such an incredible trip....the food, drinks, entertainment, accommodations, weather, scenery, wildlife, people we met along the way.....all fantastic! I would love to add some photos, but it fails every time I try. If anyone has some ideas on how to shrink the files as I'm guessing they are too large or recommendations on how to get you all some pictures....would love to hear!

We arrived in Vancouver around 2:00 p.m. Friday afternoon and oh my gosh....the line to get through customs was huge! There had to have been 1000+ people in line. Was told they had 9 flights come in about the same time and they weren't prepared. After we were herded like cattle through the line, we finally got to where we could do our electronic declarations and then finally made it to custom agents.....there were 3, just 3. He looked at our declaration and passport, then passed us on through. Our luggage of course had been removed from the conveyer and placed off to the side. We then joined the line for a taxi downtown, finally arriving to our hotel after about 2+ hours. Vancouver is beautiful and oh so clean! We stayed at the Auberge in the Terminal City Club just a block from Canada Place on Hastings street. We had a king suite over looking the harbor and Canada place with incredible views....perfect location to everything we wanted to see and do while in Vancouver. Friday late afternoon, after checking into the hotel, we wandered down to the sea wall and Harbor front, taking it all in. We went over to Canada Place, then walked along outside the Convention center along the sea wall. Ended up at Tap & Barrell where we sat outside having adult beverages, watching the float planes take off and land and ended up there for dinner. It is right next to the Orca sculpture and the Olympic Cauldron. The cauldron all lit up at night was beautiful as were the sails on Canada Place which changed colors. We met a lovely couple who was sitting next to us from Australia who were leaving the next day and had a fun conversation with them. A fun relaxing evening after a full day of travel!

Saturday, June 3rd was our 29th Wedding Anniversary so we spent the day in Victoria traveling there with Harbour Air. It was another beautiful day with clear skies and nice temps! We were up and at it early, with check in at Harbour Air at 7:30 for our 8:00 flight. This was the first time flying in a small float plane, so was a little anxious at first but once we took off and got up in the air....the views were incredible and all my worries went out the window! It flies at a lower level so you can see things so much better as we went along. The Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia were beautiful. We arrived in Victoria at 8:30 and decided to get a feel of the Inner Harbour prior to heading out to Burchart Gardens. We went into the Empress Hotel to look around....absolutely beautiful and cha-ching!! I can't imagine the cost of a room here....it was just decadent! We boarded our bus out to Burchart Gardens with a narrated tour through Victoria proper and the area between Victoria and the gardens. All I can say about the Gardens is it is absolutely stunning and just blows your mind that they exist and have been there for well over 100 years. Truly a garden of Eden! Even if you don't think you or your spouse are into flowers....you have got to see this. Incredible! We spent several hours there walking among the different gardens and areas, with the sunken garden of course being my favorite. Arriving back to the Inner harbor, we walked over to the Parliament building and then debated on a horse drawn carriage ride, but they were kind of pricey so decided not to. Instead, we got around using the water taxi's in the harbor taking us to different areas that we wanted to see. Was a fun and easy way to get around. We had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf (Bard's for Fish and chips....yummo!), checked out the houseboats, enjoyed a chunky harbor seal flirting with everyone, looking for handouts. Then we took the taxi back across the harbour and had it drop us over by Chinatown, to wander around there as we made our way back to the Inner Harbour....stopping at different stores and shops along the way. We took our flight back, and John got to sit in the co-pilot seat and thought that was a treat! Thoroughly enjoyed that! After landing back in Vancouver about 6:30, we then walked down to Gastown, caught the steam clock going off at 8:00 p.m., and we ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory which had incredible pasta and was beautiful inside with so much stain glass windows throughout. When we left, it was dark walking back to our hotel, but the lights on the trees in Gastown, the people laughing and having fun at bars and restaurants and finding a store named Michelle's (I had to stop and get something since my name was on the store), was an enjoyable evening and walk back! All in all a very memorable Anniversary!

Sunday morning, June 4th we took off for Capilano Suspension Bridge Park from Canada Place on the free shuttle, again with an informative narrated tour about the area heading over to North Vancouver. I did not realize the West Vancouver was the most expensive real estate in the world...huh! Would love to tour the inside of one of those homes! We have had beautiful weather so far and today was another picture perfect day. The suspension bridge, was high, it was long, it was wobbly.....but oh so cool! Absolutely loved it. We then enjoyed a raptor bird show, did the treehouse walk on suspension bridges between the trees. Walking back over the long suspension bridge, we then did the cliff walk....incredible views and so pretty! A little nerve wracking knowing that the only thing holding this massive cliff walk and all these people on it, to the cliff are these cables but again, so cool! By the time we were done with all that, it was a little weird walking normally.....our legs felt a little rubbery and felt a little unsteady with our gait. We then took the bus back to Canada Place and started our Hop On/Hop Off tour of Vancouver....spending most of our time in Stanley Park and Granville Island, we did get off again in Gastown as it is just a cool area of town and then back to Canada Place. When we got back, we walked over to Mahoney & Sons for some adult beverages, and appetizers and to watch the ships leaving that day. We caught one of the Holland America's pulling out....was so fun to see and got us excited for our turn the next day! We then walked back to hotel to get ready to eat dinner, and we chose to eat close at The Lions Pub, a British Pub in atmosphere and food and was really good. After that, went back to the hotel to get organized and ready to go the next morning. About 12:30 we were awoken to the alarms going off, and a calm voice telling us to evacuate the building that this was not a drill and to remain calm. Well....we were on the 9th floor so on go the sweat pants, shoes and jacket and down the stairs we go with our passports and phones. Evidently there was a malfunction in the fire board...it took about 20 minutes for Vancouvers finest to show up but they did with several trucks and lots of sirens and lights going. Glad it was just a malfunction and it certainly added some excitement to our adventure!

Monday, June 5th.....departure day! We got up early, got everything packed up and then we went to Tom Horton's to grab a breakfast sandwich and then walked down to the Vancouver Lookout. Again, it was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and clear skies. The view from the tower was impressive....we could see Mt. Baker in Washington from there. Hearing about the historic buildings in the area, learning some more of Vancouvers history was really great. The best part was looking down and seeing the Sun getting all ready for her next guests who would be shortly boarding. We headed back to the Auberge but stopped enroute at a drugstore to get some Tylenol Arthritis Strength to bring along....was kind of cool to get it in both English/French directions! My hips and John's knees were starting to bother with all the walking we had done the past 3 days, with a lot more in the future so thought this would be a good supplement to our Naproxen Sodium! Back at the hotel, the Bellman loaded up our luggage on a cart, we checked out and away he went, walking our luggage down to Canada Place for us.....talk about service! We checked in with the cruiseline, got through customs and security and away we went....on board by 12:15 p.m and sitting at the Topsiders Bar at 12:20 celebrating our first cruise!

To be continued........ :)

Well, we're finally on board and won't be able to get to our staterooms until about 2:00 pm, so we went to the Great Outdoors Buffet and had some lunch, then wandered around learning the ship. We went to our inside cabin when we were able and our luggage was there, so we unpacked and settled in. I was worried about it being cramped and small, but was pleasantly surprised on how much room we actually had. We met our room steward, and then went forward on the top deck and settled in for sail away. We were set up right next to the infamous compass that later had problems.....I swear we didn't touch it!! :p Sail away was really neat and it was sinking in, we were doing this and so excited! We waved at the folks on land along the sea wall, and put our hands in the air as we went under Lions Bridge, cruising along heading out to sea behind the Disney Wonder and all the sudden, it seemed like we were stopping and there were some guys that were now working on the compass next to us. We sat there going in circles, I'm assuming trying to calibrate the compass. We eventually went down to the sail away party pool side. It was so much fun! We had reservations at 7:00 at LaCucina and had a fabulous dinner there.....french onion soup, shrimp parmesan risoto, iceberg wedge salad and a ribeye steak that was fantastic! We went to Dazzles after dinner and listened to the band for awhile, took a walk around the Promenade as it was getting dark enjoying the breeze, then back to the cabin and off to bed......

To be continued.......

Great review so far, thanks for taking the time. Congratulations on your 29th wedding anniversary :)

Great review so far, thanks for taking the time. Congratulations on your 29th wedding anniversary :)

Thank you!

Tueday June 6th was our first at sea day. We slept in that morning, and took our time heading out for the day. We had a light breakfast and then wandered the ship for a bit, learning our way around and going to places we hadn't seen yet. We had our meet and greet from the Roll Call in Las Ramblas bar at 11:00. Was fun to put a name with a face and visit with everyone in person. We were a small group, and Norwegian still rolled out the red carpet and we met several of the crew directors. While we were up there, you could really feel the motion of the ship as that day it really began to rock. John was getting more nauseated as the longer we stayed up there and knew he needed to leave before something bad happened. We said our goodbyes and apologized, tried moving down to a lower level, went outside to get some fresh air, ate a sandwich thinking something in his stomach would help.....nope. The pool water was completely splashing out at one end as the boat rocked. I wasn't nauseated, but felt very off balance like I had a few too many. Trying to walk down the halls we pretty much bounced off the sides as we moved along to our cabin. We had gotten some scolpamine patches, Meclazine, ginger candy and were using it....but it was ineffective for this. We got back to the cabin, and the closet doors were popping open, coats on the wall swinging back and forth, the bathroom door opening and closing. We had a mid-ship on the 9th floor but you could still feel it. We were in open water between Vancouver Island and Queen Charlotte Islands and the wind was coming off the Pacific pretty good slamming the ship broadside and really got it rocking. We just stayed in the cabin that afternoon with the lights off, but watching the map on the TV laying down. I had some old Phenergan (Promethazine) prescription anti-nausea medication I brought and gave one of those to John. I had changed our dinner reservation at Cagneys to the next night as I wasn't sure how John would be feeling. By 5:00'ish we got behind Queen Charlotte island and things calmed down. John got to feeling better so we went up to the sports bar and had a light snack, then we went to watch the evening production in the Stardust Lounge...heading to Dazzles lounge afterward. So......it kind of was our bummer day of the whole trip, but was a treat to meet the folks from the Roll Call, we were still on a cruise ship, and we weren't at work and on vacation! The next day, our first port, Ketchikan.

To be continued.....

Enjoying reading your review. I also get sea sick when the sea is rough and know how John feels. Hopefully the rest of your trip is better.

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Nice review! Thanks for doing it.

Thank you so much for your review! We are sailing on the Sun on August 28th northbound and then southbound back to Vancouver. So excited. Love love love your review.

We took this cruise almost exactly a year earlier.

What nice memories!

(But we had PERFECT weather. Even though rain was predicted for each day, we had brilliant skies and sun, and peaceful seas. I hate to admit it, but I was wishing for a bit more "action"...)

Thanks!

Enjoying your review. Happy anniversary!

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Wednesday June 7th- Ketchikan

We got up early this morning as we were to be in port at 7:00 am until 4:00 p.m. When we walked out onto the Great Outdoors for breakfast (we liked eating breakfast outside) and saw this cute little town nestled along the coast with all it's bright colored homes and buildings a big smile came across my face. I was so worried about rain, especially here and the forecast all week called for 60-70% chance of rain....but this morning, it was just slightly overcast and peeks of blue here and there behind the clouds. Perfect! We had arranged a 3 hour tour with a local Tlingit guide born and raised in Ketchikan, living there his entire life. We met him at the dock, and then we picked up another couple that was traveling on Holland America and off we went. Rich was great....the very 1st thing I needed was a Diet Coke....I know, really?? Well....NCL only has Pepsi products and I am not fond of Diet Pepsi, but I'm also not a coffee drinker, so I was so happy when he gladly stopped at the local grocery store so I could get one! It was so good!! We took off and headed toward Saxman Village....stopping as we came across a black tail deer and fawn close to the road. We watched them for a bit, and then turned up the street toward the Clan house, but did not go inside....just stopped and looked at the different totems along the street and around the house. We then proceeded to round Mountain Point....looking at the beautiful homes along the point and picturing the incredible view they had from their homes. We traveled on up to Herring Cove and stopped for a bit to watch some eagles, both juvenile and adult. We did not see any bears as we knew it was way too early, but we did see a very large paw print in the mud so know they had been there eating on the sweet grass. In the bay, we saw several seals close to shore as the tide was coming in. In the distance John saw a humpback whale feeding, catching glimpses of his back and tail as he dove down. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall, and I think it was coming off of Whitman Creek but I'm not 100% on that. I was up at the top of some rocks and took pictures for several other folks who had also stopped. We then went on back to town and Rich showed us several things and told us a lot about the culture of the Tlingit people. Knowing that I was medical, he took me by the beautiful new hospitals and clinics....amazing and they are a level 1 trauma hospital in the region so all critical major cases in SE Alaska get life flighted here. He told us about growing up in Ketchikan, how the town is growing every year....took us by the new middle school that was beautiful. We then went west out of town and showed us the ferry system, with a new ferry in dry dock being completed. I was surprised on the size of the airport in Ketchikan, with a runway large enough for major planes and airlines. Then we went down to Ward cove before heading back to town. We spent 3 hours with him and thoroughly enjoyed our time.....getting to see a part of Ketchikan you normally don't get to see. Answering all our questions about what the job market is like, what the weather is like in the winter besides the rain, etc..... He dropped us at Creek Street and we then wandered around there looking through the shops, took the Funicular up to Cape Fox Lodge and looked around the beautiful lobby, John having a coffee for a nice little break. We went on back down to Creek Street and proceeded to walk down to Front Street and went to the Tongass Trading Company for some souvenirs to take back home for the kids. We took pictures of the iconic landmarks.....the water guage, the Ketchikan banner (Salmon capital), the beautiful sculpture welcoming travelers to Ketchikan.

When we got back to the ship, we took our purchases back to our room, then made our way again to the Great Outdoors and sat outside having some adult beverages and watched as we sailed away leaving Ketchikan. We went by the Guard Island light house, then we could see the totems at Totem Bight Park from the ship in the distance....we sat there talking about our fun first day in port. After awhile, we went back to our room so we went back to the room to change and get ready for dinner at Cagney's. We both had the ribeye and it was fantastic...do you see a trend here? Yes, were from Iowa....yes, we love our beef and pork! After dinner, we went to Dazzles again for some drinks and good laughter. Just loved the cruise director David and his associates. So much fun!! Before retiring back in our cabin, we again took a stroll around the Promenade deck.....another beautiful night. Tomorrow, Juneau.......

To be continued...... :)

Taking this same northbound cruise on July 17th. Excited to read your review on your activities and the Sun!

Thanks so much for your review so far. We are going on the Sun in 26 days. We also have an inside cabin. Where did you find your Ketchikan guide? can you send me a link? What was your favorite thing to do in each port? Great shopping? Great seafood?......so excited..and your review is amazing...thanks..

Happy faces.....so excited to be finally going to Alaska after 16 months of planning, surviving my employer (hospital) filing bankruptcy last December, getting purchased in the auction by another hospital, making the cut and getting to keep accrued vacation hours. Needless to say, it's been a very stressful 6 months!

We arrive in the Vancouver all excited about being here, and then we walked a long long ways to customs......

After we finally get to customs, we wait. We had just been in a group about this size at the top of the escalator. The guy in the black shirt....this is how everyone was feeling at this point. We'd been standing in line at customs now for 45 minutes and a long ways to go!

We finally made it to our hotel and what a welcoming site! Home sweet home for the next 3 days!

We got all checked in and our room more than exceeded what I had expected.....and the view, wow the view. I got a great deal on Booking.com last fall. If anyone is needing a great place to stay....this is it.

Living room area with bathroom, Keurig coffee, frig, etc... behind me.

The bedroom, with sitting area and an extremely comfortable king size bed. The next couple pictures are the view......it was perfect!!

This is the hotel from the food court area across from Canada Place by Tom Horton's

Thanks so much for this review, we are doing this cruise on Aug 12. I'm looking forward to seeing more of what we can expect!

Sadly, little did we know this would be the only Orca we would see on this trip..... :(

Harbour Air base.......these guys took off all day long. We decided to fly with them to Victoria instead of taking the BC Ferries as it was faster and would give us more time in Victoria, and we would be back at night to do something.

Canada Place....an extremely busy port as there were 1-2 ships there departing every day.

Water-taxi heading across the harbor to North Vancouver

So this is Poutine....french fries covered with pulled pork, gravy and cheese curds. It was interesting, but good!

John having dinner.....he doctored up his burger with bacon, and an extra patty! His first meal since we left home at 6:30 a.m. Central time (which by now was about 9:00 p.m.central time) We both enjoyed one of Vancouvers craft beers, Bridge (The brewery) Bourbon Blood Orange and was quite tasty!

Dinner by Sunset....was a beautiful night and probably one of the last sunsets we would see as the further north we got, the later they got.

The next few pictures were taken on our walk home and back at the hotel lobby when we got there. Since the hotel was attached to the Terminal City Club, and there was an event going on that night, we got to see a little before going up to our room. Interesting!

2010 Olympic Cauldron, beautiful when it's all lit up at night!

Cool looking glove hanging in the Convention Center.....didn't notice it during the day!

Canada Place all lit up at night.....the sails change colors.

Vancouver Lookout from out in front of Canada Place

Vancouver Lookout from our hotel room......

Event at the Terminal City Club.....yep, those are girls hanging upside down from sheets!

So glad you got the photo posting thing figured out...your pictures are incredible!! (Curious to know what kind of camera you are using.)

I discovered poutine when we were in Vancouver in 2014...yum!

Was the photo of the canoe taken in the Vancouver airport? We flew out of there just a few days before and I didn't see anything like that. Really cool!!

I'm just finishing up my review of our Sun cruise and now am looking forward to enjoying yours! (And BTW...my neighbor's mom lives in Marshalltown!)

Saturday morning, June 3rd! Happy Anniversary John! Here is the Nieuw Amsterdam Rotterdam coming into dock at 6:40 in the morning. A beautiful ship!

Interior of Harbour Air Float Plane....it held I think 12 people and it was a snug fit!

Train crossing the trestle in West Vancouver....

Lighthouse at the entrance to the Vancouver Harbor. I would love to be living here.....wouldn't that be beautiful!

Approaching Victoria Inner Harbour

John, being a musician appreciates any and all music he hears. I loved all the flower beds that were already planted. They didn't have the flower baskets hanging from the light post yet, or the Welcome to Victoria in the ground in front of Parliament, but it was early in the year! Couldn't wait to get to Burchart Gardens!

Not the best picture, as there is some reflection from the window on the bus heading to Burchart Gardens....but I got to see another Orca so I guess the one in Vancouver wasn't the only one!!

The Empress Hotel......just beautiful, inside and out!

So glad you got the photo posting thing figured out...your pictures are incredible!! (Curious to know what kind of camera you are using.)

 

I discovered poutine when we were in Vancouver in 2014...yum!

 

Was the photo of the canoe taken in the Vancouver airport? We flew out of there just a few days before and I didn't see anything like that. Really cool!!

 

I'm just finishing up my review of our Sun cruise and now am looking forward to enjoying yours! (And BTW...my neighbor's mom lives in Marshalltown!)

Most of the pictures that I am posting were taken with my new cellphone.....the Samsung 8. We had just gotten it prior to the cruise, and John then had my old Samsung 7 as he was needing a new phone. ;p The clarity and color in the pictures were incredible.... Besides our cellphones, which took the majority of the pictures, we also had our Sony HV400 for the zoom which was great, but the clarity and color from our cellphones was so much better!

The canoe and bird above it was there where arrivals had to walk through to get to customs....a long walk. I noticed that they were doing a lot of remodeling at the airport.

Small world! Really...your neighbors Mom lives here? Did your neighbor graduate from here too, I did from 1980. What is her maiden name if I may ask?

If anyone will be stopping in Victoria, do NOT miss the Burchart Gardens whether you like flowers or not. It is absolutely stunning and there is nothing else like it in the world. What an incredible vision Jennie Burchart had transforming this old quarry 100+ years ago and to know that it is still owned and managed by the family. Amazing!

I wished my Lavender looked like this!

The Burchart Home

And, I wish my hanging baskets looked like these did!! :)

What we saw when we came out of this wooded setting was.....wow, words can not describe!