INFINITY PHOTOS AND Critique 9-3-2005

[gonetomontana]

Photos of our Alaska Cruise 9-3-2005 are at http://www.youngsorchard.com

Best part of our cruise was The Ports of Call. We really liked the Whale Watch at Point Adolphus , Icy Strait, Hoonah, Ak

 

Best things we did

Whale Watch at Icy Strait, Hoonah, Ak - THE BEST!!!!

Hubbard Glacier, Disenchantment Bay, Yakutat, Ak

Misty Fjords Flight Seeing, Taquan Air, Ketchikan, Ak

Cruise the Grenville Channel

 

OK things we did

Grandville Island Public Market, Vancouver, BC

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

Whale Watch, Juneau, Ak

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Ak

 

Things we should have done

Skagway Rail trip to White Pass

Skagway Helicopter to Glaciers

Red Dog Saloon, Juneau, Ak (Wyatt Earp left his gun there for us to see)

Juneau Tram to mountain top

Whale Watch (ORCAs) Victoria, BC

 

Our Next Cruise will be out of Galveston, Tx. on the Splendor of the Sea and then the Celebrity Galaxy (Panama Canal) and then the Rapsody of the sea. Next Alaska Cruise wil be with someone that stops again at ICY STRAIT POINT, maybe the INFINITY again.

 

Thanks to all the new friends we met that made our Alaska Cruise none stop Wonderful!!! Loved that Main Dining each night & then relaxing in the Celebrity Theater Shows. Thanks INFINITY Crew & Entertainers!!!

 

Steve & Jan Young

Wichita Falls, Texas

(Charlie, Tx Telephone Exchange)

orchard@wf.net

[lindasuej]

Your photos are beautiful. I want to go to Alaska but DH said no, it is to cold for him (We live in Florida). We are going on the Infinity 10/9 to Hawaii. Hope ours is a pleasureable as yours looks.

Thanks for sharing,

Linda & Tom

[mii]

I also agree that your photo's are great. We were also on the Infinity this past June to Alaska and Icy Strait Point and Hubbard Glacier was spectacular. Glad you had a great time.

 

Marilyn

[House_Atreides]

We are in the midst of planning our cruise to Alaska in 2007--these photos make me wish it was tomorrow!!!

 

Thank you for the breathtaking photos!!! Sounds and looks like you had a great time!

 

Mary:D

[dileep]

We did Alaska on the Infinity in July 2004. The highlight was taking the Coastal Helicopters trip from Juneau over the ice fileds and landing on Norris Glacier. They pick a different glacier on different flights.

 

some pictures at http://community.webshots.com/album/174510240VqtHVK

[gumballz]

gonetomontana.......I know this is a long shot....but by any chance did you meet a lady by the name of Lydia Medina on that cruise? That's my mother in law and it was her first cruise. She went with her sister and some friends. She called us a few nights ago and told us all about it, she had a blast!

 

Thanks for sharing the pics! :)

[wvufan]

Howdy,

 

Thanks for the great pictures. Will hopefully post ours next week sometime.

 

We got home this afternoon from the Infinity Sep 15-27th Alaska trip, and it far exceeded all expectations. Absolutely fabulous!

 

We coordinated several excursions through Orca in Juneau (they do Captain Larry and also made arrangements for us for Coastal trip in Juneau and flightseeing in Ketchikan. Our ship itinerary changed several times before sailing and they were super about taking care of all the changes).

 

Will post another review elsewhere when my brain and body meet up in the same time zone, but here's some quickie feedback.

 

Vancouver-walked to Stanley Park-beautiful-and then took city bus to Gastown area. Nice day.

 

Icy Strait-walked the nature trail and to town. Most uncommercialized off all the ports, and the locals are very friendly and interested in sharing their history and culture.

 

Ketchikan-did fjords flightseeing with Carlin Air (we had originially tried to get Island Wings, but scheduling didn't work out. We have since learned that they are both very comparable and would do either in the future). Spectacular!

 

Juneau. Coastal Helicopter first (another spectacular) followed by Captain Larry who picked us up at the helicopter place. Almost continuouls whale sightings-some as close as 50 feet from his boat. Captain Larry would be a must again for us if we return.

 

Skagway-we rented a new Camry from Avis and drove to Emerald Lake in the Yukon. With our AARP discount, it was $43 plus gas! Went with another couple, and it was, well, spectacular! Roughly paralleled the train, but we could stop when we wanted, etc. Feedback from train was not as positive.

 

Victoria. Walked to town, went in the Empress, took city bus to Butchart Gardens-absolutely beautiful. Walked around more and then back to ship.

 

Hubbard Glacier. Beyond description. Our ship was at the nearest point to the Glacier itself for more than an hour, and he turned so that all would have a great view. Lots of calving-spectacular.

 

The Infinity is a wonderful ship with a great crew. We would not change a thing we did, but our next trip we will likely schedule a bear watch.

 

We went out to SF 3 days early and stayed at Fisherman's Wharf. Walked across Golden Gate bridge, went to Alcatraz, etc. Super.

 

Alaska is more than a cruise, it is an experience. Go!

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[fllady]

thanks for sharing. wvufan could you tell me where you stayed in San Fran? Would you recommend the hotel? thanks for any other information.

[gonetomontana]

We stayed at the ORCHARD Hotel on Bush Street and Powell. The hotel was built in 2001 and was very nice and the rooms are big. Price included a very good breakfast. The doorman took care of renting a car for us that we turned in at the airport (Budget Rent a Car). The Market street Cable car ran right to the Powell Street turn around and the powell street cable car stopped at our hotel. It was great, and the price was $165.00

 

The hotel is also very close to the China Town Gate on Grant Street

 

If you are going to Napa, Ca. Try Suzie & Ken at the Cedar Gables Inn B&B

 

Steve Young

[masterbaker]

Howdy,

 

Skagway-we rented a new Camry from Avis and drove to Emerald Lake in the Yukon. With our AARP discount, it was $43 plus gas! Went with another couple, and it was, well, spectacular! Roughly paralleled the train, but we could stop when we wanted, etc. Feedback from train was not as positive.

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

 

Avis gave AARP discounts? We could have saved a few bucks. Oh well, live and learn. It was still worth every penny to be able to see everything at our own pace.

 

 

 

Steve, your pics were great! Much better than mine (which I thought were great too). Is it possible to order a couple of your glacier shots from webshots or can only you do that? Your glacier shots just blew me away. Shows the difference between a really good camera and my Sony cybershot.

[flashdog_1]

Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos. I see that every month, and maybe every week, in Alaska gives you a slightly different view of things that you'd think wouldn't change in summer, like the amount of snow/ice on the mountains. Looks like you had wonderful weather...a real bonus.

[gonetomontana]

Avis gave AARP discounts? We could have saved a few bucks. Oh well, live and learn. It was still worth every penny to be able to see everything at our own pace.

 

 

 

Steve, your pics were great! Much better than mine (which I thought were great too). Is it possible to order a couple of your glacier shots from webshots or can only you do that? Your glacier shots just blew me away. Shows the difference between a really good camera and my Sony cybershot.

 

Hello Friends,

 

Wow! What a time we had, and so much that we didn't get to do. We will certainly go back within the next two years.

 

Our next cruises will be out of Galveston, Maybe on the Splendor of the Sea, Galaxy, or the Rhapsody of the Sea. We really enjoyed the Rhapsody.

 

Help yourself to ordering prints and downloading pictures. I put these pictures in the "Community" part of Webshots for all to enjoy.

 

Keep us posted on what you are up to in your travels. How is the National Parks plans coming. We have Traveled entensively in Arkansas (Western), Oklahoma (Everywhere), Louisiana (Along the Mississippi), Texas (Everywhere), New Mexico (everywhere), Colorado (Everywhere), South Dakota (Western),Wyoming (Everywhere), Mississippi (Along the River), and (Southeastern Montana).

 

Since we discovered Crusing, our 5th wheel camper has been used very llittle.

 

Thanks for the email.

 

orchard@wf.net

[masterbaker]

Thanks Steve, we really did have a great time and we sure couldn't have asked for better weather right? We are still in the planning stages for our land cruise out west. Probably going to fly into Vegas and start from there. :D I'm holding onto your e-mail addy in case I come up with some more questions. We enjoyed the Rhapsody too, sailed it to Hawaii and booked the Galaxy while onboard the Infinity for a southern caribbean. Looks like we like the same ships.;) Loved meeting you both. Best wishes in your future travels, maybe we will end up on the same ship again in the future.

 

Happy sails,

 

Ginny

[wvufan]

Hi Fl Lady:) et al

 

We went to SF 3 days before we were to sail in order to visit that great city. We paid about $449 round trip(total for both of us including fees, taxes, etc.) from Philly to Oakland on Southwest. Oakland is a breeze-much better than going into SF, and about the same distance from town. When we got there, we took the public tran (BART) into SF and actually walked with our luggage about a mile or little more to the hotel, but easily could have gotten cheap cab. When we returned, we took the shuttle which was $40 for the 2 of us. The shuttles can be arranged ahead of time over the internet.

 

We stayed at the Fisherman's Wharf Radisson (decent enough hotel with super location)-got it through Priceline for $70 per night plus tax. It is right at Fisherman's Wharf. That is where the sea lions have their encampment-I estimate 150 of them on a grouping of wooden rafts. Among other things, we rode street car which comes near the hotel, we took a great trip to Alcatraz (book ahead of time on Blue and Gold fleet), took the local bus to the Golden Gate bridge and walked over and back (about 40 minutes each way), we also took local bus to Golden Gate Park and walked though a lot of that to the Cliff House and then another bus back to town where we transferred to bus to Fisherman's Wharf. We walked to Coit Tower (great view) and Lombard Street as well as other attractions. I went to a SF Giants ballgame-easy to get to on public tran and great park. One interesting place was the Maritime Museum, which is next to Fisherman's Wharf and free. SF is a great town and we are very glad we went early. The public transportation system is good and easy to understand. It was nice to be acclimated to time difference and at ease before we sailed. We were only 4 blocks from the pier, so we simply walked to the ship.

 

Have fun,

 

OOOEEE:D :D Bob and Phyl

[littleboy]

thanks for the great pictures we are sailing on the infinity next April to go thru the panama canal we are really looking forward to it. I hear she is a nice ship. We still have 6 months to go we booked it a year ago so time is moving a little some what.

[fllady]

Bob&Phyll, thanks for the information. We are probably going to use priceline also. We can't do much walking, but have been to SF before so kind of know where we'll go. Getting there a few days ahead is exactly right, need a few days to reset our clocks! Thanks Again.