Our Trip to Alaska

[Shopinpat]

Part 1

Just returned from our 3 week vacations and I feel obliged to report my findings. Keep in mind that everyone has their own ideas so the following are mine.

I do want to thank everyone on the site for helping and answering all my questions they were so helpful.

This will take a few sittings so I will begin with the flight/Vancouver/ship.

 

This was our first trip on Alaskan Airlines and I must say we were very impressed. The nice part was for 100.00 you can upgrade to 1st class if the seats are available nice treat if you can budget it.

 

Vancouver was our first stop. The airport was a mad house took us 1 1/2 hours to get through customs. Some natives said that this was not the norm anyway we finally got our luggage and headed for the limo stand.

Very easy out the door of baggage claim and within 5 minutes we were on the road to the Hampton Inn on Robson. Hotel is very clean, rooms were great and the top floor with hot tub and lounge area was wonderful and relaxing. We thought breakfast was great. One different hot entry each day and lots of yogurt, diff breads, fruits oatmeal etc.

And believe me this is a huge expense if you have to go out and buy daily.

So figure that in when planning where to stay.

I must say the service at this hotel was exemplry. Everyone was so helpful. there is also a bar and restaurant at street level so if you did not want to leave you didn't have to. The prices we thought quite reasonable. Drinks were not anywhere we went.

We ate on the rooftop at the Landmark hotel and the view was wonderful, the food excellant the service and condition of the restaurant was shabby.

We did go to Stanley Park, I say skip the carriage ride and go right to the free shuttle which is very nice and takes you all around the park just grab a map and if you get a good driver he may tell you a few things about the park. We felt the service people in the park were quite dull most people looked like they did not want to be there at all. We asked directions twice and were given the wrong info. We ate at the Fish house in the park and though the food was good and pricey the service again was mediocre. Our waitress forgot to put my husbands soup order in and then

when she brought out the food said oh sorry I forgot to put your soup order in! That is pretty much the service we recieved in restaurants in Vancouver. We did go to the Gold Fish restaurant and although the service was ok we were not crazy about the food. So, you take the good with the bad. I did think the food was a bit pricey in all of Vancouver.

If you are interested in a casino there is one a short walk from the hotel.

We did go over there one day and had a good time.

The hotel also has a shuttle to the cruise ship which was really nice. The hotels shuttle took us to a few places could be of the tipping we did but otherwise we felt it was very nice touch by the hotel and they did go out of there way to accomodate us. Would stay at this hotel again no questions about it.

We boarded the ship Millenium which took about 1 hour total and we were in our staterooms. The outside of the ship is very pristine however our staterooms did look a bit worn and tattered. We have taken a few Celebrity cruises and we were quite shocked with the ship. Our rooms lamps were potted and marked and should have been replaced. The towels were very warn, the shower mat was stained and replaced every few days. I dont believe that they vacuumed the room the entire time we were there and the sheets were changed 1 time. As we have stayed in cc class before we were quite surprised at the state of the rooms.

Our room stewart was ok, when I asked for a feather pillow he said he had to talk to his supervisor. The amenities in the bathroom were in pumps for shampoo and soap we never used them but never remember seeing that

in the rooms before.

We all thought the food was great. THey must have a new pastry chef becuase the desserts were wonderful. If you are going on the Millenium do not miss and budget for the specialty restaurant the food and service can not be touched anywhere. It was unbelievable and well worth every penny!!!

We only went to a couple of shows and they were fine. The singing quartet was great and we went and saw them a few times in different areas of the ship. We did notice there were lots of sales going on around the ship not sure if that was because it was the end of season for Alaska.

The service on the ship just did not seem like the usual Celebrity ships.

Not sure if all their contracts were over and they were going home or what but it seemed to be lacking the usual helpful attitude. However,Our bus boy was the best and really tried to please nightly.

 

I will write again on the ports of call.

Anyone have any questions I will try and answer.

[5fathom]

We also just returned from Alaska. We are directing this post to Seniors or for those having mobility problems. We are in our late 60's and very mobile. When considering Alaska review the Cruise tours very carefully. We choose Princess tour 10S. We now wish we would have chosen 9S for the following reason. A couple of the tours spend two nights either at Mt McKinley or Denali Lodges then rail direct to Whittier. Our tour spent one night at each, one night in Ancorage and bus to Whitter. The problem is you do not arrive in Ancorage until after 9pm and just have time to eat, sleep and be back on the bus early the next morning. Check all land tours carefully to be sure you pick the one that suits your needs best. By time we reached the Sapphire in Whittier we were exhausted. DUE THE LAND TOUR BEFORE THE CRUISE, that is the best advice I can give. By all means see Alaska. It's magnificence will live long in your memories.

[cruisin'mama]

You were in a CC cabin and got shampoo out of a dispenser instead of nice little bottles?

[dolfansam]

Part 1

Just returned from our 3 week vacations and I feel obliged to report my findings. Keep in mind that everyone has their own ideas so the following are mine.

I do want to thank everyone on the site for helping and answering all my questions they were so helpful.

This will take a few sittings so I will begin with the flight/Vancouver/ship.

 

This was our first trip on Alaskan Airlines and I must say we were very impressed. The nice part was for 100.00 you can upgrade to 1st class if the seats are available nice treat if you can budget it.

 

Vancouver was our first stop. The airport was a mad house took us 1 1/2 hours to get through customs. Some natives said that this was not the norm anyway we finally got our luggage and headed for the limo stand.

Very easy out the door of baggage claim and within 5 minutes we were on the road to the Hampton Inn on Robson. Hotel is very clean, rooms were great and the top floor with hot tub and lounge area was wonderful and relaxing. We thought breakfast was great. One different hot entry each day and lots of yogurt, diff breads, fruits oatmeal etc.

And believe me this is a huge expense if you have to go out and buy daily.

So figure that in when planning where to stay.

I must say the service at this hotel was exemplry. Everyone was so helpful. there is also a bar and restaurant at street level so if you did not want to leave you didn't have to. The prices we thought quite reasonable. Drinks were not anywhere we went.

We ate on the rooftop at the Landmark hotel and the view was wonderful, the food excellant the service and condition of the restaurant was shabby.

We did go to Stanley Park, I say skip the carriage ride and go right to the free shuttle which is very nice and takes you all around the park just grab a map and if you get a good driver he may tell you a few things about the park. We felt the service people in the park were quite dull most people looked like they did not want to be there at all. We asked directions twice and were given the wrong info. We ate at the Fish house in the park and though the food was good and pricey the service again was mediocre. Our waitress forgot to put my husbands soup order in and then

when she brought out the food said oh sorry I forgot to put your soup order in! That is pretty much the service we recieved in restaurants in Vancouver. We did go to the Gold Fish restaurant and although the service was ok we were not crazy about the food. So, you take the good with the bad. I did think the food was a bit pricey in all of Vancouver.

If you are interested in a casino there is one a short walk from the hotel.

We did go over there one day and had a good time.

The hotel also has a shuttle to the cruise ship which was really nice. The hotels shuttle took us to a few places could be of the tipping we did but otherwise we felt it was very nice touch by the hotel and they did go out of there way to accomodate us. Would stay at this hotel again no questions about it.

We boarded the ship Millenium which took about 1 hour total and we were in our staterooms. The outside of the ship is very pristine however our staterooms did look a bit worn and tattered. We have taken a few Celebrity cruises and we were quite shocked with the ship. Our rooms lamps were potted and marked and should have been replaced. The towels were very warn, the shower mat was stained and replaced every few days. I dont believe that they vacuumed the room the entire time we were there and the sheets were changed 1 time. As we have stayed in cc class before we were quite surprised at the state of the rooms.

Our room stewart was ok, when I asked for a feather pillow he said he had to talk to his supervisor. The amenities in the bathroom were in pumps for shampoo and soap we never used them but never remember seeing that

in the rooms before.

We all thought the food was great. THey must have a new pastry chef becuase the desserts were wonderful. If you are going on the Millenium do not miss and budget for the specialty restaurant the food and service can not be touched anywhere. It was unbelievable and well worth every penny!!!

We only went to a couple of shows and they were fine. The singing quartet was great and we went and saw them a few times in different areas of the ship. We did notice there were lots of sales going on around the ship not sure if that was because it was the end of season for Alaska.

The service on the ship just did not seem like the usual Celebrity ships.

Not sure if all their contracts were over and they were going home or what but it seemed to be lacking the usual helpful attitude. However,Our bus boy was the best and really tried to please nightly.

 

I will write again on the ports of call.

Anyone have any questions I will try and answer.

 

I was on the same cruise (Sept 5th) as you Pat and I agree about the service staff. My room steward I saw twice the entire cruise. She told me to let her know if I needed anything, but I never saw her. She did a great job on the room and I really did not need anything. When the envelopes came around, I put the slip of paper in the envelope stating I had prepaid the tips and I planned on personally handing them to each person some with a little extra in them. She had other ideas, she took her envelope when she came to make the room. Needless to say, she did not get the extra money I was thinking of putting in the envelope.

 

I thought the food was alright, but certainly nothing to write home about. Food was often cold and/or lacked flavor. It is the first time ever on a cruise where I was still hungry after dinner. The desserts were fantastic.

 

I loved the Naturalist Milos. He was very informative and quite funny. I could have just stayed on the ship in the Cosmos and whale watched and with him and have been very happy.

 

It was my first time to Alaska since I left at age 2 1/2, many many years ago. I am looking forward to going back in a few years with my nieces who were very upset I went without them. I think I may actually get my mom and dad to go too. Mom is now actually talking about it despite her fear of flying. I tried to talk her into it for years and finally just went alone. I think she feels bad I went alone, but I had a great time and made the most out of each port.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home.

 

Thanks for your report. Looking forward to your Port review.

[Shopinpat]

Part 2 Ports of Call

 

I would like to start this part by saying that everything you have read about attire is correct. You will need a good rain jacket, layering clothes, a fleece. My suggestions is to purchase your fleece, sweat shirt etc at your first port of call. If you do go at the end of the season like we did everything was 1/2 off so we did get lots of bargains.

 

I will start with Ketchican, I loved it this is a quaint little town with lots of history. Most of our traveling partners went on the Bering Sea Crab Fishermans tour and loved it. They all came back very excited and glad they went. I on the other hand did the touristy things. Yes there are jewelry stores here and yes you can look past it if it is not your thing and walk straight up to Creek Street. What a fun place. I watched the salmon swim upstream for awhile and the beautiful waterfall. I also shopped. I bought a fleece jacket here for $ 20.00 that I wore all through Alaska. I also bought some Amber Jewelry and my husband bought a hand carved Ulu knife (165.) at a store called Fish Creek Company. they had some beautiful things and again the sales were everywhere. Went to Dollys house and walked the whole Creek Street and around town. I loved

it here. There are artists that are willing to talk to you and it was a fun town. Ok I did splurge here and bought myself a Parazul purse!

 

Next port was Juneau, Most of our traveling buddies went on the Glacier and whale watching and they loved it. One gal went on the sled dog discovery and mushers camp and loved that also.

I on the other hand did the town. I walked and shopped and went to the

Red Dog Saloon.

There are a couple of kiosks right when you get off the ship to the left the first one is a soap/cream shop where I purchased some wonderful creams while my husband went two kiosks down and ate the best chowder and crab legs he has ever had. He was in his glory! In fact I spent too much time shopping and when I went back to get him he stated to late I had to order another crab leg. It was amazing to watch the people try a taste of chowder and turn around and say I have to have some of that. Keep in mind this is a kiosk, with some plastic chairs and a wait as everything is cooked to order. The place was PACKED and it was lightly raining. If you like crab this is the place to have it.

 

The next port was Skagway! All I can say is Wow. I do want to thank Murray at this point for all his help and answering all my questions prior to leavening and his guide was fantastic and amusing!

We rented a mini van from Avis. They were great to deal with. If you are thinking about going to Skagway and not doing emerald lake why go?? The only way to see this is to rent a car and do it. If you only listen to one thing I say please rent your car before you go. I can not tell you how many people walked into the rental place and were so upset that no one had any cars available. This is a must do in Skagway and get Murrays guide.

We left early around 8:30 a.m and headed up the trail it was a bit foggy but the clouds lifted and Wow. Scenery like one has never seen before.

It was breathtaking. we did stop for the many stops along the way and did stop for Cinnamon Buns and coffee and soup as you suggested Murray and it was fun. We stayed a bit longer that anticipated but well worth it.

We did see a bear eating berries on the side of the road at about the same exact spot Murray suggests it in his guide. In fact I had to laugh thinking you planned that Murray! It was great. We did make all the stops along the way and had a great day. We all loved it. What an experience. If you dont do this you will be sorry for sure.

It was a lot cheaper than taking the train and or bus and so much more

convenient. I can not say enough about this drive and Murrays guide.

We even had time to go back into town and shop awhile. Bought some jade figurines a bear for one to remember our trip in Skagway.

 

Next port Icy Straight Point or Hoonah. If you ask my husband he was thrilled. He went fishing and caught more Halibut than he could bring home. Yes we did have it shipped and have already recieved it. They do have all that down to a science. Let me know if you have specific questions about this.

There is a warehouse/museum right on the dock where you are tendered in. There is a small shop of woodworking that is very nice. Locally owned they also own the wood factory in town. I did purchase some things there as they were locally made. Keep in mind lots of things are made in china so beware if you want locally made things you need to really look.

 

Next Hubbard Glacier. I can not say enough about the expertise of the Capt of our ship. He got so close you felt like you could touch the glaciers. What a awesome site. I dont think one can explain the beauty or the looks of what we saw. The calfing the colors it was amazing. He turned that ship around on a dime. It was exciting the only way to describe. No one wanted to leave there balcony for fear of missing something.

 

I loved all the ports of call. If anyone has any questions please ask. I could go on and on however it would turn into a book.

If you have any questions on shopping I did plenty so ask away.

Again thanks to all on this board that had so many good ideas of which I did follow quite a bit. Part three will be our 7 days on land.

Until then happy planning and do your homework!

[Shopinpat]

Part 3. This will be my 3rd and last review of our trip to Alaska. This is the land portion.

If I can say one thing we did not do was follow the advice and do the land on our own. I realize for some people they need to do the land tour but it is confining and regimented. So having said that.

 

We arrived in Seward and were greeted by our tour buses. Our tour leader was sick so we did not have one we would pick her up later.

Our first stop was a unplanned unexpected stop to a wildlife museum.

First they told us it was included however when we went in they told us it was 20.00 a person or we could go back to our bus driver and get 20% off

coupon. We chose to walk into town and have lunch and look around.

We did stop at a wildlife center where the animals were caged/fenced in

as they had been hurt in one way or another. I did not feel that this was

Alaska but again you go where the bus takes you.

 

We got back to the bus as indicated and we were off to Aleyska. By far the best hotel we stayed at and for sure the best dinner we had was up at the top at the 7 Glaciers. (If you can put it in your budget I would definitely eat up there. We went up while it was still light and came down when the sun went down. The meal was one of the best I have ever eaten. You can go to Hotel Aleyska on web and get a sampling of prices and menu. Do to the fact we were on a cruise/tour we were all given rooms with 2 double beds. I am sure that is the price you pay for going on a cruise tour but for one night after we were told they could not change it we moved on. There is not much to do in Aleyska as this is a ski town and I am sure in the winter it comes alive. We did go into town and eat at a restaurant suggested by our waitress it was ok. We did walk from town to the jade store. They were very interesting and lots of history.

 

We then headed the next day to Anchorage where we stayed at the Mariott. I can not recommend this hotel at all. The service was horrible in the restaurants and the place was dirty. The rugs in the elevator looked like they had never been vacuumed the same in our room. A tray

of room service food was outside our door for 2 days. It was certainly not like the hotels I am used to. We did go to breakfast at Capt Cooks which is 2 blocks away and the place looked wonderful very clean. We ate breakfast there and it was great. Went to the Ulu factory in Anchorage and it was very interestesting they were quite friendly and allowed me to watch the handles being made. I did pick up some knifes and had them shipped home. The monorgammed the blades which was kind of neat for a personal touch. I would suggest going there and getting your knives if anyone is interested in Ulus. The next day we headed to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. This was very interesting and they had different shows going on relating to Alaskan cultures.

 

We next headed for Talkeetna, stopping for Ice Cream with 3 other buses was just not our cup of tea. Lots of lines and a small place this is life on a tour bus. In Talkeentna we did the float boat trip which was fun we did not see any wildlife and we really were not expecting to but it was fun and our guide was a very young boy who was quite entertaining. We had dinner at the lodge which was ok.

 

Next we boarded the train to Denali. I will say they did not spare any money on this train. It was beautiful however again we were hearded to go eat as soon as we got on the train. The lunch was ok.

Being on the train was very nice. Very roomy and the scenery was wonderful. We got to Denali and headed toward our hotel on a cliff.

The Grand Denali which was getting ready to close the next day so things were a bit hectic.

We went to dinner at the Cabin Nite Dinner theatre. The food was ok but the entertainment was enjoyable. I dont think it was worth the $ but again personal opinions. The hotel was ok the breakfast the next day which was 14.00 for a buffet was a joke. They ran out of certain foods and we all thought that they should have adjusted the price accordingly but again it was the end of the season and they were closing up for the winter.

The next day we went on the Wilderness tour which if you read the sites

they tell you this is also not worth it. The park is beautiful and only wish again that we had done all this on our own plus everything was getting ready to close for the season. We did see some moose however you needed really good binoculars to see them.

I must note that all of the plane excursions that we booked were cancelled. Which is very common in Alaska. Even the trip to the Artic Circle was cancelled.

The next day we boarded the train for Fairbanks and they wanted you on the train and down to the dining car to eat. The dinner food was much better than the lunch. The ride again was very enjoyable and comfortable.

 

We arrived in Fairbanks to Pikes Waterfront Lodge. It was an ok hotel.

Our carpet in our room was heavily stained and certainly had not been vacuumed in awhile. We never ate at the restaurant here we did go to the Pump Room which was nice but the service was very very slow.

We did the sternwheeler and panned for gold all very touristy and not sure how authentic any of it was but it was entertaining.

We flew back to Anchorage and booked a B and B at the Leopard for our last night. The breakfast was great and beds very comfortable. You could not beat the prices as a hotel room in Anchorage is pretty high.

This was our first trip to Alaska and although we made some mistakes with our plans I am glad we did it. The scenery is breathtaking however if you know up front that the service is mediocre and the hotels are the same you will not be disappointed.

I can only stress to everyone to do your homework and if possible plan your own land trip.

I will be glad to try and answer any questions.

Happy planning.....and thanks again to all who helped me plan this trip.