Review Of Spirit Of The Rockies Land Tour 22nd May 2006

[suron]

This is a review (quite long) of our Rockies Land Tour which we took prior to our Alaskan cruise on Dawn Princess (review of the cruise can be found in the Members Review section for anyone interested)

 

Monday 22nd May - After leaving Heathrow at 13.15 we arrived in Calgary at 15.35 local time. It was an excellent flight with good food and a good in-flight entertainment programme. Princess representatives were waiting to greet us and we were directed to our coach where we met our fellow passengers on the tour and our Tour Director, Dahla Dent, and our driver for the week Tom. Our group consisted of only 14 people so on the comfy 40-seater coach we had plenty of room!

 

We left Calgary and headed to Banff. It was en route to Banff that we were informed of a change in hotel. We had been changed from the Caribou Lodge to the Ptarmigan Inn. As we neared Banff we could see Mount Rundle and the Cascade Mountain. The Ptarmigan Inn, our base for two nights was well located on Banff Avenue and within easy reach of the quaint town centre with its numerous shops and restaurants. Our room was luxury itself - two massive 6ft beds (the renown Mountain Feather beds with fluffy down duvets). Easy chairs and a large desk, wide-screen TV and the other furniture looked lost in the huge room and the bathroom too was large. We had a splendid view of Cascade Mountain from our balcony. The hotel restaurant served excellent food where we ate the first night. The Buffet breakfast was excellent too.

 

Tuesday 23rd May - Our journey this morning took us from Banff along the Bow Valley. We had a photo stop at the famous Banff Springs Hotel and continued on to visit Bow Falls. We then drove to Moraine Lake and along the Valley of the Ten Peaks. On the way we stopped at the Spiral Tunnels viewpoint and were lucky enough to watch the Rocky Mountaineer Train going through these huge winding tunnels. Our next stop was at the Kicking Horse River Valley and we stood in awe there by the Natural Bridge where the rive has eroded a hole in the limestone rock allowing the whole river to pass through a very narrow slit.

 

We then made our way on to Lake Louise where lunch was provided at the Chateau Lake Louise. The scenery around the Lake and the Chateau was breathtaking and the Lake was still quite frozen in many places. The eerie silence was broken with the sounds of humming birds and we saw several golden mantled ground squirrels scampering around the pathways. Before having lunch we had a group photo taken with the stunning backdrop of the Lake as a reminder of our visit. Lunch itself was delicious and the oppulence of the dining room set the scene for a relaxing interlude.

 

After lunch we headed to the Lake Louise Ski Lift where an optional excursion ($20 Canadian)took us to the top of Mt. Whitehorn where we had wonderful views of Lake Louise and the Chateau. Our journey back along the Trans Canada Highway gave us our first sighting of several deer and elk crossing the road. Some of them were very co-operative and stood perfectly still whilst we were able to take some great photographs!

 

We walked into town in the evening and had a very nice meal.

 

Wednesday 24th - We left Banff for our journey to Jasper. Travelling though the Icefield Parkway was a wonderland of icy peaks, glaciers and lakes. Peyto Lake was like an artist's pallette of greens and blues and the Crowfoot Glacier was an impressive sight - it has distinctive "toes" which resemble the foot of a crow, hence its name.

 

We travelled to the famous Athabasca Glacier where we boarded a snowmobile for the thrilling ride across the glacier. Large "ridges" of rock on either side of the glacier are called moraines which are left behind as the glacier retreats. We were able to wander across the ice and we sampled the clear glacier water. It was at this point that our Tour Director, Dahla, produced a large bottle of whisky and some plastic beakers and we were able to enjoy a tot of whisky (or two!) with the pure water. It was a memorable experience to stand on that glacier, the weather was perfect with the sun glistening on the snow-capped peaks above us.

 

Travelling north the road took us to the Sunwapta Falls and soon we saw Mount Kerkelin rising up at the foot of which are the dramatic Athabasca Falls. The bridge over the river provides stunning views of the thundering water. We continued on to Jasper for our overnight stay at the Marmot Lodge.

 

This hotel was a little disappointing. Although clean and spacious the room was geared more towards self-catering purposes and lacked the finer touches of the Banff hotel. It was also quite a way out from the town centre. As I have arthritis and cannot walk long distances it meant having to have a taxi into and back from town as no shuttle buses were provided. Jasper itself is a very interesting town with lots of good restaurants and shops. We ate at Smitty's Family restaurant and took advantage of one of their Senior Citizen's specials which was really very good.

 

We were lucky enough to see the Rocky Mountaineer Train waiting at the station as we walked down the main street.

 

Thursday 25th May - We left Jasper en route to Sun Peaks. We stopped at Maligne Canyon which was quite dramatic and we took the trails over the footbridges to view the depths of the canyon. We continued on our way seeing Mount Edith Cavell (named after the World War 1 Red Cross Nurse) and we arrived at Mount Robson which is some 3,900 metres high. We had a lunch stop here in the pleasant restaurant. Unfortunately the top of the mountain was clouded in mist but even though we could not see its full height it was a most impressive sight.

 

Late afternoon found us alongside the mighty North Thompson River. Dhala and Tom rummaged in the underneath of the coach and produced a massive ice box containing bottles of wine, sodas and beers. They also had potato chips, salsa dips, maple leaf cookies and other tasty items and we had a lovely picnic right there by the river.

 

We continued our journey and there were lots of OOHs and AHHs as we approached Sun Peaks Resort our next stop on the tour. We were booked into the Sundance Lodge. The rooms here were the largest of any so far on the tour and although geared to self-catering skiing holidays (even down to a dish washeer) they still had the WOW factor. The views from the balcony were unbelievable and there were mountain views all around. Sun Peaks is a stunning location with specialist (expensive) shops, some great trails through wooded areas, a golf course, spa and all amenieties you could wish for.

 

We had our Farewell Dinner that evening and it was a chance for us all to be together and talk over our experiences of the week. During the meal we sighted three black bears just wandering along the ski slopes and we managed to get some lovely photographs.

 

Friday 26th May - We left Sun Peaks and took the Coquihalla Highway. Along the Fraser River Valley we saw the timber and logging companies just outside Kamloops. We visited Minter Gardens which were a blaze of colour and beautifully landscapped - unfortunately we had a torrential downpour half-way through this visit (the only rain during the whole trip in fact!) but with the umbrellas provided by the garden's staff we just carried on and it did not spoil our enjoyment.

 

Once back on the coach we soon saw the Vancouver skyline and we drove through the city with brief glimpses of Chinatown and Gastown on the way to the Westin Bayshore Hotel. We were very disappointed not to have the tour of Stanley Park which was listed on the itinerary but reasons for this may become clear further on in this report!

 

The Westin Bayshore was a superb hotel right by the marina and with our room on the top floor (9th) we had some magnificent views.

 

Our driver Tom had to leave us in Vancouver (he should have stayed with us right to Seattle) and return to base in Calgary and this was probably the reason for missing out the tour of Stanley Park.

 

Dahla did promise we would go to Stanley Park next morning. To allow for this we were asked to be ready to leave the hotel at 7.45 a.m. However our group was linked up with two other groups (they had done the train as part of their Rockies Tour) who were joining us on Dawn Princess. They were with their respective tour directors and we had their driver.

 

The other tour directors and our new driver seemed more intent in getting us across the border in Seattle as quickly as possible so our tour of Stanley Park was a rapid ten minute drive with no chances of photo stops at the fountain, the totem poles and other points of interest. We were quite angry about this and was really the only downside of the whole tour. We made our feelings known to Dahla as we lost this visit which was listed as part of our itinerary.

 

Apparently crossing the border (which incidentally cost us $6 each!) can take a while if Customs decide to off-load all the luggage from the coach. It is here that fingerprints and photos are taken but we only had our hand luggage inspected and the whole process took 35 mins!!

 

We arrived in Seattle at 11.50 a.m. We said our farewells to Dahla and joined Dawn Princess for the start of our Alaskan cruise.

 

The Rockies Tour was spectaculur. We had a very friendly group who all got on extremely well together. The scenery was awesome, we stayed in some superb hotels where the service was faultless and we saw lots of wildlife in various places. It was a shame that here in the UK we never received the pre-tour information booklet for the Rockies section of our holiday. We did receive an Alaskan Land Tour Excursion booklet which was no use to us at all!

 

We would recommend that if you are planning an Alaskan cruise then you should definitely link it with a tour of the Rockies first. You will not be disappointed and the memories will last forever.

 

From Suron in Bristol, England

[suron]

Someone has asked me about luggage arrangements on the Rockies Land Tour.

 

On the outward flight to Calgary on Air Canada from Heathrow we were allowed two cases each and each case could be no more than 23 kgs. On the return flight from Seattle to Heathrow with British Airways the allowance was 32 kgs per case (again two per person) - this may be reduced some time in the near future, so do check before departure as the excess weight charges are quite high.

 

We only took three cases and packed one large one with everything we would both need for the cruise element and kept one case each for the land tour. On arrival in Calgary we were asked to label any cases only for use on the cruise and these were locked away in a secure section of the luggage hold of the coach we travelled on for the whole week. We did not see those cases again until we reached Vancouver and we then had to check out all three of our cases before boarding the coach to Seattle. Once in Seattle we did not see our cases again until they were delivered to our cabins.

 

The two cases we had for the Land Tour section would be off-loaded from the coach at each arrival point. They would be delivered to our rooms almost immediately we had checked in. Cases had to be left outside the rooms by a certain time each morning and would then be loaded on to the coach and we would not see them again until we reached our next destination.

 

There was plenty of room on the coach to store things in the overhead lockers and it was quite safe to leave items on the coach when stopping at various places of interest along the route. We were lucky with so few people on a big coach but I am sure it would not be a problem even with a large party on board.

 

We did not take the Rocky Mountaineer Train and there may be different rules applicable to that as regards luggage.

 

Hope this helps those of you with queries about luggage arrangements.

 

Suron:)

[cruiseryyc]

Sounds like you had a great time in my part of the world. However I'm still trying to figure out the $6.00 per person charge to cross the border!! I've never heard of such a thing, perhaps someone who crosses the border on a regular basis can enlighten us.

[suron]

Sounds like you had a great time in my part of the world. However I'm still trying to figure out the $6.00 per person charge to cross the border!! I've never heard of such a thing, perhaps someone who crosses the border on a regular basis can enlighten us.

 

The $US6 which we had to pay was for crossing the border at Seattle. It is probably just a charged levied for non US or non Canadian visitors so coming from the UK we had to pay up. Does this seem like a probable reason?

 

It was a fantastic trip and we will remember it for a long time to come.

 

Regards

Suron

[cruiseryyc]

No that's not a good enough reason, at least for me. Does the US Homeland Secuirty feel that by paying this fee they will weed out terriorists entering the country!!! Hopefully someone can figure this one out for us, I've also never seen any mention of it on these boards.

 

I couldn't find your review of the cruise portion of your tour, have you not posted it yet? The Dawn is my favorite ship.

[suron]

No that's not a good enough reason, at least for me. Does the US Homeland Secuirty feel that by paying this fee they will weed out terriorists entering the country!!! Hopefully someone can figure this one out for us, I've also never seen any mention of it on these boards.

 

I couldn't find your review of the cruise portion of your tour, have you not posted it yet? The Dawn is my favorite ship.

 

Have written the review of the cruise but according to an e-mail received confirming receipt of it it will be a couple of days before it appears in the members reviews section.

 

Suron

[suron]

No that's not a good enough reason, at least for me. Does the US Homeland Secuirty feel that by paying this fee they will weed out terriorists entering the country!!! Hopefully someone can figure this one out for us, I've also never seen any mention of it on these boards.

 

I couldn't find your review of the cruise portion of your tour, have you not posted it yet? The Dawn is my favorite ship.

 

Just to let you know that the review of our cruise on Dawn Princess has now been published and can be found at

 

www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=19049

 

Regards from Suron in Bristol,England

[Ju1es]

It sounds like you had a great time. I went to Alberta a few years ago and reading your review reminded me of all these fun things that we did! It really is beautiful.

[rtd8450]

FYI, I drove a tour bus here in Canada for a year-or-so, and the $6 fee levied to non-US, Non-Canadian visitors to the USA is a visa-processing fee. We don't need 'em, but apparently most other countries' citizens do...

[msapoch]

According to info on the border corssing, looks like the $6.00 fee is a U.S. fee and not a Canadian fee for foreigners (guess they don't consider U.S. citizens are foreigners in Canada and vice versa). I found this same info at several different sites. Don't forget that you can apply for the

GST Refunds

Non-residents of Canada can obtain a refund on the national Goods and Services Tax (GST) for eligible goods. Receipts must show a minimum of $50 on goods and $200 on short term accommodation and goods,before taxes. Original receipts required. Call 1-800-668-4748 for information and details. There is no territorial sales tax in the Yukon.

 

 

http://www.themilepost.com/faq/crossing_border.shtml

 

Identification: Returning U.S. residents and Canadian Nationals are generally exempt from passport requirements, although documentation such as a passport, birth certificate, naturalization certification and other supporting ID will facilitate your border crossing. (The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requiring all travelers to and from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted form of documentation to enter or reenter the United States is expected to apply to all air, sea and land border crossings by December 2007.) A valid, unexpired passport and visa are required for all other foreign nationals. Nationals of countries participating in the Visa Waiver program may present unexpired machine-readable passports. Certain persons may require specific supporting documentation such as an employment petition, student authorization, or approval notice.

 

Foreign visitors entering the U.S. for the first time are required to pay a land border user fee of $6 U.S. per person. (This fee does not apply to citizens of Canada.) This fee is payable in U.S. currency or U.S. travelers checks only. Have U.S. funds prior to arriving at the U.S. border.