Captain Canuck

photos from 2004

Days Inn is about half a kilometer (googlemaps) from Bridgeport station..easy to do if you do not have luggage, with luggage may be easier to take shuttle to airport and board skytrain there (fee for use of airport station though)

Accent Inn is further from station. has a free shuttle to airport. stayed at the Accent Inn a long time ago. clean and basic room.

last year pre hawaii cruise we stayed at the Radisson Vancouver Airport. nice modern hotel very close to a skytrain station. stayed there the night before flight to Hawaii to take cruise back to Vancouver. used skytrain to go in and see downtown...Soarinig over Canada at Pan pacific hotel and gassy Jack etc. but we have been to Vcr lots so had seen stuff before.

if you can get decent rate for Radisson I would try it. it has a free shuttle from the airport (have to call for it from aiport courtesy phone bank)

last poster just reminded me of trip to Yellowknife for work in winter...local RCMP took me for a drive out onto a frozen lake to see the lights....was going to take pictures but so cold the shutter on my Pentax film camera froze..so no pics

was going to post a link to somebody who had done a slide show showing the entire trip to rome...found the link address in an old cc message but the page is gone..but found this youtube that might help

I did this a long time ago so may have changed. train is frequent and easy..remember to punch the ticket..little machines on the train or on platforms...buy the one that gives you use of Rome buses and metro for the day. there are a couple of circle lines that go by the major sites. if you plan on going inside Vatican or Collosseum it will take up a lot of your day. that is ok but just plan the time ahead of time

love Rome..you should have a good time

I think you are the first person I have ever seen on CC suggesting visit to Villa Borghese. I spent a summer 40 years ago at the British School in Rome which is close. Loved the gardens. But my comment is that having spent 5 weeks in Rome with a professor as a guide I still did not see everything I should have. Your plan sounds like a good balance of seeing the highlights plus stuff like picnics to make the stay memorable. Hope you have a great time.

so I am signed up for a local service that is supposed to give me an email when the chance of visible lights is high. Just got home and my wife shows me great photos of the lights posted on the website of local tv outlet. no email...and it was around zero celsius last night so not that cold...

the jinx continues

took my wife to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. tour in a small boat out in the harbor to get away from city lights. much smaller boat so movement would have been more pronounced. long story short after cold ride no lights to be seen.

punchline is we live up north so have seen the Lights from our backyard. also, lights move (some say dance) so movement of the ship is not the only factor...stop down a bit and increase exposure

I am old and have a torn ACL. I also have an incredible fear of heights. But I went up on the wall and it was well worth it. Only suggestion I would make is I went up stairs that were very narrow and had no guard rail. Found out later there are several places to go up so would have chosen a better place. If time is an issue you can like somebody said do a part walk. Enjoy

vote for Uber...stayed at a hotel close to the port with a free shuttle..but got there by Uber and got to airport from port by uber...cleaner than any cab I have ever been in...love that the amount of the trip is predetermined.

duck tour in Ketchican...picks up right on the dock...narrow stairs to get on board but if you board early you should have lots to time to get on

https://akduck.com/

I am new to using Uber...tried it the first time in LA pre cruise....cleaner than any taxi I have ever been in..also like that fare is done before ride...unbelievably I was scammed by an Athens Greece cab driver...(think I was the only one ever....sarcasm alert)...why I would go Uber rather than cab if available

1. dress in layers....weather changes quick so be ready to put on and take off clothes. should not be too cold so a waterproof jacket and a hoody or sweater should do the trick. small back pack to carry this stuff when you do not need it a good plan.

2. Canada Line is really easy to do. and cheap. taxi with luggage easier but subject to traffic so exact cost hard to calculate. Uber might be a choice.

3. there is a laundry https://www.princesslodges.com/princess-alaska-lodges/mckinley-lodge/mckinley-amenities/

have fun

WOW..Carnival crew seen kicking somebody that was down..also directing attention to filming rather than stopping the fight. Major hit to Carnival credibility on this one.

I've read about the local bus before. How close does it get you to the entrance?

there is a stop about 100 feet or so just past the entrance..sign for the Garden facing the road is fairly small..we asked the driver when we got on and she made sure she stopped for us

our original plan was to take a tour..but it departed about an hour after we could get there on our own. had figured out the local bus as plan B .

return bus stop is just on the other side of the road

mendenhall gardens

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mendenhall-gardens

we did this with a local bus...was really easy and cheap..was our second time at this port so had seen the glacier before

there are tours that do this to..both from the gardens and other

Amalfi coast

we tend to tour on our own. Amalfi coast though we took the ships tour. traffic there is insane and thought there was a good chance we would be late getting back to the ship. we were. but as we were on the ships tour they waited...

did the ruby in January...did uber..cheaper and better..car was cleaner than any cab ever taken..just upsize to make sure you have room for luggage

we did Pompeii of a cruise..had planned DIY with a bus from just outside the port....then the ship put on a bus just to Pompeii with a drop off then pick up later. really cost effective and meant did not have to get out of the port area on one bus then find the Pompeii bus. Likely not advertised at first so other tours fill

can recommend watching Decoding the Ancients

Episode 3 - Vesuvius & The Fear of God

puts Pompeii in context

have had good experiences with joining up with other people from cruise critic on the roll call to do excursions together...but with only 8 people so far likely not happening

for your cruise public transit (ie train or bus) are valid options. train schedules are online...we did Pisa and Florence on our own using the train. planned so we could miss the return train we planned on and still had 1 train to get back in time. walk from the station to tower of Pisa was doable but may be more than you want to do. googlemap it so you know the actual distances.

if you want to do the Ufizzi in Florence you probably need to get tickets in advance. lines for tickets can be insane.

my strategy for cruise excursions in Europe is to normally do a hop on hop off bus to get an overview of the city. not enough time to go inside stuff if you want a sense of the city. but if you want to do say the Vatican..focus on that and everything else is gravy

have fun..planning is all part of the fun

oops

got confused..on our last Alaska cruise we flew in the morning of the cruise....little over an hour flight and leave every hour so was not worried about missing flilght

we stayed at Radisson Vancouver airport pre cruise..but cruise left out of Honolulu and came back to Vancouver. Stayed in Vancouver the night before our flight to HNL took the train into Canada Place area.

we had previously stayed at an airport hotel for an Alaska cruise That time we stayed at the Quality Inn which was not as nice as Radisson but had a deal on parking. We drove to Vancouver that time.

Nobody really cares about any of this but I hate giving incorrect info.

Radisson was nice and Skytrain was close.

we have only done b2b once. same issue...expensive flight so 1 week not worth it. we figured out cost of hotel rental car etc more than a second cruise. we ended up having a night ashore between 2 different cruise ships. did one of the big ones (Oasis I think) and a newer Princess ship. got a good deal on a hotel in Fort lauderdale and managed to do laundry. bringing this to your attention as it opens up cruise choices.

can drop your bags at cruise terminal likely around 10 or so and walk the area before boarding

Thanks! Where did you stay?

Radisson Vancouver Airport

have to admit have not used MIA in a bit because it was old

FLL my pick. Miami is ok but FLL is just easier. Lots of hotel choices. If you come a few days early you can rent a car and stay further from the airport at lower price. can drive to everglades or go shopping at huge outlet mall....rental cars mostly drop off at airport and there is a shuttle to the ships.