DragonOfTheSeas

Well. I will give it a try and if noboby wants it I will keep it in the collection.:)

And don't be surprised that the C$1 and $2 are coins.

Yes, I noticed that on a trip to Nova Scotia. I found a $2 canadian bill from long ago in my foreign money pouch. I plan to spend that this trip just to get rid of it. (I used to save my left over foreign money as a keepsake. Then it just turned into clutter):eek:

 

Our cabs have all been downsized and while they will handle 4 average sized adults, however with any amount of luggage .... well you won't fit. The good news is that about 17% of the taxi fleet is mini-vans .... so you may have to wait an extra few minutes for one but that is likely what you need.

That is good to know they have the mini vans. I am sure we will need one.

Thanks Putterdude for that very complete post. We like HOHO tours for the convenience of visiting the attractions. (public transportations often drop off a few blocks away. That is not an issue if you are one place--but, the walking adds up quickly.) The trolley offers two days for the price of one if I buy online. Also, they divide their route into two tours.(red and blue) This lets us focus on one part of the city at a time. However, I will look into the Pink bus before we buy tickets. We used the pink bus on a New England/Canada cruise. They were very good.

Since we are two couples we will likely take a taxi to the hotel. :)

Thank you both for your help in re3gards to the location of the Hampton Inn.

I am sure my questions have already been answered, however, I did not find them in the 50+ pages I read. :) Thank you in advance for your help.

We are arriving in Vancouver on August 29 and sailing on the Radiance on the 31st. We have a room at the Hampton Inn on Robeson for 3 reasons. I used Hilton Honors points for the first night, they have an airport shuttle and we have read that Robeson street is the shopping district. (the other woman in our group is a shopper)

We plan on doing the 2 day HOHO either trolley or bus.

My questions are--is the Hampton inn near the shopping area? In an OK section of town? Which of the two HOHO is the best?

Blondie--we are on the Radiance with you and going to Denali. While it is humanly possible to do the trip it would not be a pleasant trip.

We are taking the Park Connect bus that leaves Seward at 10:30 AM. It stops for 1.5 hrs in Anchorage and 30 mins in Talkeetna. It gets to Denali at 9PM. If you had a rental car you could leave earlier (a little) and take shorter stops. However, you will likely want to make stops at scenic locations. I doubt you would get there much before we do.

You could get the first shuttle of the morning--making sure you leave the park for Anchorage by 2:00-ish.

Several AK experts have answered a similar post and HIGHLY suggest you not do this. They suggest taking your time in Seward or spending a day in Anchorage.

I visited the Denali National Park and Preserve page on Facebook. I searched their pictures from last September. (easy to do since they use the timeline feature) I found a great picture of an Aurora on Sept 28. We will be in Denali on Sept 7-8, 2012. I have hope. :)

There is a small outdoor mall called Mongoose Junction about 1-2 blocks from the ferry pier. I found some nice things. However, it is upscale/pricey shopping. I found some one-of-a kind items akong with the usual things.

I can not tell you about the walking tour--I did not take it.

Yes--there are chairs and umbrellas for rent at the National Park. (Trunk Bay) We saw a numer of people rent chairs--but, only one umbrella. (We decided to use the shade from the trees.)

We are not cheap, but, there was a $25 deposit for each thing you rented (to make sure you brought it back--I get that) I think a $75 deposit is too much.

With paying for the taxi to the beach ($6) + park admission ($4) + rental($15 each) + deposit ($25 each item)+ lunch (about $15/per person) we were afraid we would not have enough money to buy anything in town.

We just got back from our cruise two weeks ago. We took the cruise excursion "Destination St. John: National Park Cruise" for $40 per person. We usually go on our own in port unless there is a good reason. I feel this excursion is that reason.

We left a 9:30 on a ferry right beside the ship. It was a 45 min narrated ride. Then we docked on Cruz Bay. This ferry included 3 other tours that started and ended together, "Destination St. John-- 1-Shopping, 2-Historic Walking Tour and 3-Volunteerism." Once they left we took a 30 min ride around the north side of the island and saw the beaches from the boat. that was very nice. then we had 3.5 hours of free time. We left Cruz Bay on the ferry at 3:30 and got back at 4:30pm. (got two free rum punched on the ride back) We were the last group to get back on the ship that left at 5PM. We figured the cost for doing it on our own to be the same or more than the tour.

Look at the time frame you are in St. Thomas. This was a bargain and I had peace of mind.:)