Alaska Northbound from Vancouverthere - review and photos

[laurabegorrah]

Better late than never, right? We were on the NCL Jewel’sAug 20th sailing, starting in Vancouver, with stops in Ketchikan,Juneau, and Skagway, ending in Seward. Overall, our weather was rainy and cold, and we were very glad we packedboth rain gear as well as hats and gloves. All of our booked excursions were either changed or cancelled because ofthe weather, leading to some last minute scrambling for things to do. But we took it all in stride and had a blast! Below is my review and link to my googlephoto album of the trip. Enjoy!

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fm2x29URrRLZpxWr8

 

Vancouver:

We stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt Regency, booked throughHotwire.com. It has a great location forboth the port and Gastown. Since we onlyhad one full day in Vancouver, we decided we weren’t going to try to seeeverything and prioritized the Capilano Bridge and poutine lol.

• 
  
• The free shuttle for the bridge picked us up right at the hotel. To try to beat the crowds we took the first shuttle out. At the time there were a lot of fires burning and the smoke was blocking the sun and making everything look very hazy. The benefit was that with the sun blocked, the temp was beautiful in the 60s lol.
  
• After the bridge, we went to Frenchies Diner for our poutine fix. It has a great dive bar feel, and the food and drinks were great!
  
• We finished the day with a walk around Gastown – which was kind of meh. It was packed with people and had a very touristy vibe. And I really don’t get the excitement over the steam clock lol.
  

Ketchikan:

 

• 
  
• Our original tour was a flight through Misty Fjords. Ironically, it was too misty lol. We were given the option of flying the Fjord and probably not seeing anything, or taking their bear viewing flight tour instead. We picked the bears and were not at all disappointed! While we were there we saw at least 5 – 6 bears – including 2 babies!
  
• Lunch was at Annabelle’s. DAMN! This might’ve been the best meal we had on the trip! We started with the Smoked Salmon dip, then a cup of the famous clam chowder, on to king crab legs, and ended with the PB Pie. I’m amazed I didn’t explode.
  
• Finally, we wandered Creek Street where we saw a few seals playing with salmon in the creek. We also toured Dolly’s house – another meh.
  

Juneau:

 

Because of how warm the summer had been, our original helicopter/glacier/dogsled tour was cancelled – which we knew about a few weeks in advance of thecruise. We had a lot of OBC, so wedecided to try one of the ship sponsored tours and wait to book until we wereon board. Well, lo and behold NCL had analmost identical tour to the one that was cancelled but going to a differentglacier that didn’t have the melting snow/danger issues. We booked on day one of the cruise andthought we were set. While Ketchikan wasa bit misty, Juneau was full on rain and wind and tour 2 gets cancelled 5minutes after the tour start time leaving really no time lol. Slight backstory – we traveled Iceland in thesummer of 2017 and saw a ton of glaciers (both from afar, right next to, and ontop of aka walking) and also did an AMAZING whale watching boat trip, so wekind of felt like “been there, done that” for Mendnehall glacier and whalewatching. With the weather as crappy asit was, we walked around town a bit, then decided to just head back to the shipand relax on our huge aft balcony with spiked hot chocolate and snacks. Lol While not at all “Alaska”, it was kind of niceto have a relaxing day

 

Skagway:

Surprise, surprise. It was another rainy day! We hadplanned a flightseeing private tour of Glacier Bay. We called the morning of, and similar toMisty Fjords, our pilot said he could still take us, but it was very doubtfulwe’d actually see anything. We hadplanned slightly better in Skagway and already identified 2 NCL sponsored tourswe’d try for if Glacier Bay was a bust.

• 
  
• In the morning we went to Jewell Gardens and did a glass blowing class. Not only was it super fun, we got a great and unique souvenir with the glass ornaments that we made. Added bonus, since we were semi inside, we were protected from the rain. The tour included a snack/light lunch, which was nice
  
• We then finally got our dog fix with the sled dog musher’s camp. A van took us up into the mountains through the pouring rain to base camp, then a beefy, beasty ATV took us up to the dog camp. Many of the dogs had either run in the Iditarod or were training for it, and boy were they ready to run as soon as they heard the ATV coming up the mountain. They didn’t care about the rain, or the mud, or anything, they just wanted to run! We got a few laps around the wooded trail in the cart, then back down in the ATV to MEET THE PUPPIES!!!!!!! Even with the rain and the cold, this was an amazing excursion.
  

Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier:

 

No excursions these days, but boy was I thankful for our aftbalcony. It was so nice to have a placeto get away from the crowds and relax and just take in the views. Thankfully, our day at Hubbard was amazingclear (if still pretty cold) and the views were impressive. We even got to see a few calvings!

 

Seward:

• 
  
• We ended up doing the 6 hour Kenai Fjords cruise through Major Marine Tours. When we checked in, we were told “the seas are a bit rougher than normal, if you are at all prone to sea sickness, we suggest you take something now.” Neither of us have ever had an issue, so we passed…..but there were a lot of people that really, really should’ve taken their advice. Once we left the shelter of the bay, at least ¼ of the passengers were on deck revisiting breakfast. I give major kudos to the crew who continually checked on everyone, passing out barf bags and giving suggestions to make passengers more comfortable. While I didn’t get overly motion sick, I was freaking out being surrounded by all of the people that were, so I stayed up on the top deck, braving the rain to stay away from the sick. I would guess the waves were around 10-15 feet…maybe….? I’m very bad at guessing these types of things lol. But the swells were big enough to knock you off of your feet if you weren’t holding on to something. This lasted for about 30-40 min or so, until we were back into protected waters. The rest of the sailing was much more calm, and we got to enjoy glaciers, sea life, and a decent lunch. We normally don’t go out of our way to chat with strangers and making friends, but combining the assigned seating and rough seas, we ended up having a lot of fun with our tablemates!
  
• The clouds finally parted and we saw some blue sky (and an amazing sunset) on out train trip north to Anchorage. We splurged and got Goldstar car, and it was totally worth it! The panoramic windows and open deck in the back made it easy to get some great photos as we headed through Chugach National Forest. Goldstar includes food and drinks
  

Anchorage:

 

Both hotels were booked through Hotwire.com.

• 
  
• Our first night was in a Quality Suites by the train station. The hotel is definitely showing wear and tear – I didn’t feel comfortable walking around our room without shoes on – but it’s close to the train station and has free breakfast. And it was cheap lol
  
• After our time in Denali, we spent one more night in Anchorage at the Diamond Center Hotel. The building felt more like an office building than a hotel, but it was much cleaner and nicer feeling than the Quality Suites. But the location is a bit far downtown.
  
• We rented a car through Enterprise (they pick you up) for our drive to Denali (with a stop in Talkeetna)
  

Denali:

 

 

• We booked 2 nights in McKinley Creekside cabins. They are about 20 min south of the park entrance. I loved how cute and homey the whole propertyfelt. Our cabin was small, but clean andhad everything you could need – coffee maker, mini fridge, microwave. Plus, theonsite café had great food.
  
• We had planned to just do the park transit bus to save a bit of $$, deciding how far into the park to go based on the weather that day. But with all of our cancelled excursions during the cruise, we felt we could splurge a bit - and save a LOT of time - and take a plane in and bus out. We booked the tour directly with the Cabin’s front desk the morning of, and were scheduled to get our plane at 11am. That gave us time for a nice breakfast and a quick hike around the park entrance. Boy, was this tour worth it, swapping 6 hours on a bus for 1 hour on a plane – with the added bonus of flying around the summit of Denali!!! This ended up being one of our best days weather wise the whole trip. Our pilot said this was the first day in weeks he was able to fly the direct route up to Denali, which is a much smoother flight. The sky was blue and perfectly clear and we had STUNNING views of Denali. The plane lands at Kantishna then you pick up a bus to head out of the park. We saw a ton of wildlife – and we had the added bonus of a professional wildlife photographer on our bus who was able to spot things way before our driver. The highlight was a caribou and family of grizzlies that came within 10 feet of the bus. It was awe inspiring.
  

[AKStafford]

But we took it all in stride and had a blast!

 

 

That is the key to a great trip... and maybe even a great life...

Glad you enjoyed your time in our great state. Feel free to come back any time.

[tampagirl2]

Thank you for this review and beautiful pictures! We are going on Jewel northbound next summer!

 

After your 2 nights Denali, you spent a night in Anchorage - did you leave the next day or night? Did you do anything in Anchorage? I haven't booked our return flight home yet. I'm thinking of driving back from Denali and flying out that night.

 

Your bear watching tour looks amazing! I'm kinda bummed we are going in June and will miss those tours.

[laurabegorrah]

That is the key to a great trip... and maybe even a great life...

Glad you enjoyed your time in our great state. Feel free to come back any time.

 

On our way back from Denali we stopped in Wasilla for lunch! Chepo's, rated best Mexican food in town! (It actually was really good....lol )

[laurabegorrah]

After your 2 nights Denali, you spent a night in Anchorage - did you leave the next day or night? Did you do anything in Anchorage? I haven't booked our return flight home yet. I'm thinking of driving back from Denali and flying out that night.

 

We drove back from Denali on Thursday, spent the night in Anchorage, and flew home Friday. I ended up getting a bit sick, so I was kind of glad we didn't book an extra day in Anchorage (even though there was plenty we could've done). We got back to Anchorage early enough we could've flown out Thursday night, but we didn't want to worry or stress about traffic or car problems on the drive back. The only thing we did in Anchorage was go to a movie lol

 

Enjoy you cruise! We loved the NB itinerary and the Jewel!

[Kellie in Texas]

Your pictures are absolutely stunning! Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[hiccups]

Thanks for sharing--we are thinking about an Alaskan cruise next summer so it was great to have this review. Do you recall how much the Denali plane tour was?

[laurabegorrah]

Thanks for sharing--we are thinking about an Alaskan cruise next summer so it was great to have this review. Do you recall how much the Denali plane tour was?

 

It was like $290ish...? Almost positive it was $300. That covered both the plane ride and the bus. It was really the perfect way to get the most out of a day in Denali - especially since we only had the one day to see as much as possible

[masterdrago]

On our way back from Denali we stopped in Wasilla for lunch! Chepo's, rated best Mexican food in town! (It actually was really good....lol )

Seriously. Mexican food in Alaska. We are in SE Texas but I'm sure that my Joy will be ready for some Mex after a few days of Salmon!!

[PhillyTravelBug]

Beautiful review with stunning pictures. I hope it’s okay that I saved some to use as backgrounds on my iPad.

[AuroraRose]

What was the private Glacier Bay tour that you were going to do? Our cruise doesn't visit GB and I was hoping to find a tour in port that would go there so that we can still see it.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Beautiful! Amazing! Stunning! Your pictures make me want to go back to Denali. That was so smart of you to do the flight + bus. Thank you so much for your review. BTW, I think I've been in that aft suite. :D

[laurabegorrah]

What was the private Glacier Bay tour that you were going to do? Our cruise doesn't visit GB and I was hoping to find a tour in port that would go there so that we can still see it.

 

We booked with Drake. He was so great to work with - and I loved that he was completely honest about what we would (or wouldn't) see that day and allowed us to decided if we wanted to cancel or not.

 

http://www.flydrake.com/skagway-flightseeing.html

 

 

Glad you all enjoyed my photos and review :) (and feel free to use my photos however you'd like lol)

[peg013]

On 10/5/2018 at 9:15 AM, laurabegorrah said:

 

It was like $290ish...? Almost positive it was $300. That covered both the plane ride and the bus. It was really the perfect way to get the most out of a day in Denali - especially since we only had the one day to see as much as possible

 

Hi Laura. Do you know what the name of the tour was? It sounds perfect for us but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I know you booked it direct through your cabin but do you know where I might be able to book it?

Peg

[Oakman58]

Great review and thanks for sharing your beautiful photos.

[laurabegorrah]

On 10/29/2018 at 7:19 PM, peg013 said:

 

Hi Laura. Do you know what the name of the tour was? It sounds perfect for us but I haven't been able to find it anywhere. I know you booked it direct through your cabin but do you know where I might be able to book it?

Peg

 

It was with Kantishna Air Taxi.  I believe it was their day excursion with the 55 min scenic extension (link below).  After circling Mt Denali, we landed and were able to have lunch at the Kantishna Lodge, which was a nice break before the long bus ride back out.

 

http://www.katair.com/excursions/denali-park-day-excursions/