Preliminary itinerary for B2B - Comments please

[karatemom2]

We are planning a two week B2B cruise on the Diamond Princess in June. Following is a very preliminary itinerary with some ideas I have for each port. Comments and suggestions would be most welcome!!

 

Vancouver Day 1 - Arrive around 3 p.m. check into hotel. Visit Stanley Park for a few hours and then head to Chinatown for the Night Market.

 

Vancouver Day 2 - Open to suggestions for morning, head to port around 11:30 a.m. to board the Diamond Princess

 

Ketchikan Day 1 - Take funicular to Cape Fox Lodge for breakfast, explore Creek Street, maybe rent fishing poles and try to fish off bridge, visit Totem Heritage Center and museum.

 

Juneau Day 1 - Adventure Bound trip to Tracy Arm Fjord

 

Skagway Day 1 - Morning spend time at Klondike Gold Rush National Park, do some of the walking tours and ranger programs. Afternoon Chilkoot Trail and Float excursion. Evening explore the town.

 

Whittier - Rent a car at Avis, head out to Turnagin Arm. Stop at Girdwood and hike Winners Creek trail and visit Crow Creek Mine. Take tram at Alyeska for lunch. Drive to Anchorage in the afternoon and visit Alaska Native Heritage Center.

 

Skagway Day 2 - Take ferry to Haines and visit Klukwan village or do the Takshanuk 4X4 excursion.

 

Juneau Day 2 - Mount Roberts Tramway for breakfast then pick up rental car and explore the area - Mendenhall Glacier, Shrine of St. Therese, Gold Mine, Salmon Hatchery, etc.

 

Ketchikan Day 2 - Southeast Kayaks in a.m. and then Totem Bight and some hiking in the afternoon.

[Putterdude]

Mary;

Perhaps one of the other Vancouver posters can comment on the Chinatown Night Market...the only reason I raise this is because the Chinese population has been spread out throughout the Greater Vancouver area and now one of the largest populations of Chinese live out in Richmond near the Vancover Airport thus deluting the appeal of Vancouver's old Chinatown.

For your day of embarkation there is a tour sponsored by Vancouver Tours which is specifically designed for cruisers. They pick you up at your hotel with your luggage, do a very good tour and then drop you and your luggage off at Canada Place in time for embarkation. Here is a link:

http://www.vancouvertours.com/

[karatemom2]

Thanks for the link, that looks like a good option. I was curious about Chinatown. I found out about the night market via an online link and it looked interesting, but if there isn't much to see maybe we'll just take more time at Stanley Park. Is there a good place to eat dinner there?

[Putterdude]

Don't leap off the Chinatown too soon...with the huge influx of the Chinese before the turnover of Hong Kong the dynamics of Chinatown did change a great deal .... so believe me I don't profess to be the expert on the topic of the Night Market, I was just flashing an amber light hoping that someone would say it was great.

Failing Chinatown how about an early evening stroll around Granville Island with dinner at the Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel. Or if the weather is good consider doing Stanley Park on the morning of embarkation and on the day of arrival go over to the Capilano Suspension Bridge then up to Grouse Mountain for dinner. Here are a couple of links:

http://flash.granvilleislandhotel.com/

www.capbridge.com/

http://www.grousemountain.com/Winter/

[tetleytea]

Isn't Chinatown, like, a place you don't particularly want to be at night?

[Putterdude]

Chinatown itself is very safe but there is an area between downtown and Chinatown as well as north of Chinatown which is rather unsavory to say the least....in this case they will have a car so I am not concerned about that.

[Budget Queen]

You have a very nice itinerary, but you are too early for shore fishing out of Ketchikan going in June.