Just back home from Infinity cruise

[Colleen51]

We had our first cruise ever on Infinity to Alaska and absolutely loved it. We had a clear calm day at the Hubbard Glacier which was just superb. Loved the ship and the wonderful crew. Met up with the people I had made contact with on these boards and who generously had information and maps for us for our Canadaian leg of our holiday. Loved the scenery in Alaska. Our port call to Sitka was cancelled due to bad weather so the Captain took us cruising Misty Fiords National Monument. Wow what a bonus - absolutely beautiful. I think I am hooked on cruising. The Canadian Rockies were fantastic - and the Canadian people were very friendly and welcoming to tourists. We loved Canada. Highlights - the Hubbard Glacier and Misty Fiords and Whistler and Banff area. WE had a great trip. Back to work tomorrow. Colleen.

[OCruisers]

Colleen .... So glad you had a great cruise!

 

When you have a minute, could you tell us a little more about going to "Misty Fiords National Monument"?

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Colleen51]

Infinity was supposed to go to Sitka but bad weather meant we wouldn't be able to tender in to the port. We heard that one ship still went to Sitka and just sat in the harbour while another ship diverted to Juneau. Our captain decided to take us to Misty Fiords. We were delayed in Juneau while a pilot for the Misty Fiords was taken on board. We cruised down past Ketchikan - which was interesting to cruise past so close to shore as we had been there a couple of days before, and then we entered the Misty Fiord and very slowly cruised around the small inlets ( probably seemed small as the ship was so big), we saw float planes doing their bit and saw eagles but no bears on the shore. The weather cleared and the scenery was just spectacular. There were lots of waterfalls and we saw the area where the float planes drop off people to do their snorkelling and kayak trips. It was fascinating looking up into the little inlets and to areas in the distance with the mist rising over them. We took lots of photos but they don't capture the size of the mountains and the stillness of the area and the almost churh like ambience of the area. A true bonus to our trip.We cruised in the area for a couple of hours before heading out to continue down to Vancouver.

[BobJanice]

Wow you were truly lucky to have gone to the Misty Fiord as it cost us $300 for the plane ride! So happy that you had a great time

[CaptData]

From a Canadian, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip here. Thank you for the comp. Banff is very lovely.

[OCruisers]

Thanks, Colleen! Wow! Sounds wonderful!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Colleen51]

A bit more about our cruise:

We cruised within 1/2 mile of Hubbard Glacier and it was just awesome. The ship did two 360s so we had time to really enjoy the experience. The weather cleared and it was just beautiful. We did the Neets Bay float plane trip out of Ketchikan which was OK. My husband loved the float plane ride and the views from the plane were spectacular. We saw one bear in the distance eating a salmon - so I guess this is a trip for earlier in the season but at least we saw a bear!! There was also a baby bear in a tree.The weather in Juneau was terrible so all flight seeing was cancelled so we didn't get to do our helicopter to the glacier tour. We did a booked off the pier bus tour of Juneau which was only so so - supposed to be 2 hours but we were back in under 1 1/2 and the tour guide was very bored with doing the trip. He only gave us 20 minutes at Mendenhall glacier which was annoying since we got back early - but that's the way it goes. My DH loved having time in the Red Dog Saloon and I did lots of shopping .

This was our first cruise so we have nothing to compare it with - but we just loved the Infinity - wouldn't change a thing about the ship or the wonderful crew. My husband is Coeliac and they catered for his diet just wonderfully. Our maitr'd Caterina was just fantastic and we enjoyed talking with paolo,Ramil and erica - they were great.Loved our balcony cabin - so glad we did that. Having drinks and cheese platter on the balcony while cruising the Mist Fiords was just bliss. We loved the entertainment and found cruising just the most relaxing way to holiday.

We met up with our contacts from these boards which was great. We were really touched when Barb and Mary Lou had information for our Canada tour with them for us. We used their info so it was very timely.

We loved Canada and the Canadians are just so friendly and welcoming to tourists and the Rockies just beautiful.We saw a bear near Rogers Pass and also at Whistler. We also saw many squirrels and chipmunks and woodpeckers ( all animals we don't have in Australia). We drove around the Rockies which let us stop when we wanted and explore further. I just loved Whistler - it was like our Thedbo but 100 times bigger. My husband did the Zip Trek tour through the forest and just loved it. WE went to the Athabasca Glacier since we hadn't got to fly to the Mendenhall and that was great.

Air Canada bumped us off our flight to Hawaii so we ended up only having part of a day there which was annoying. Air Canada were not helpful at all - but that was the only hitch in our 4 week trip - so we were lucky.

Thanks everyone for the info from these boards - it helped us tremendously. I had waffles from the waffle station and DH had Sushi from the Sushi bar - we enjoyed a spa and found the email access great as I sent trip reports home from there. It was great to already know about these aspects of the cruise.

 

I think I have overused the words awesome,magnificent and spectacular since I got home but that the only way to describe Alaska and the Rockies. A beautiful part of the world. If I didn't live in Australia I think I'd live in Canada.

We have many great memories and some beautiful photos. Colleen