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Grand Alaska and Panama


rafinmd
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I leave Tuesday morning on my next adventure. Things start off with a train trip Baltimore to Vancouver with overnight stays in New York and Toronto. Next phase is my “Grand Alaska” segment a cruise/ovrland/cruise sailing on the Volendam to Skagway, overland to Denali and Anchorage and winding up on the Westerdam back to Vancouver. (Kazu, no rush on a Bon Voyage; I'll have regular internet access through Thursday)

 

After a few days rail interlude to San Francisco the final stage is the Crystal Symphony through the Panama Canal, ending up in New York August 30.

 

I’m reporting on the trip in several places starting with my blog at http://morethangetaways.wordpress.com

 

That will always be the first place I update as it hosts the photo images.

 

There will be 3 Cruise Critic threads. This one on the Maryland Cruisers forum will cover the whole trip.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2654111

 

There will be a second one on the Holland America Froum for the rail and Holland America portions (Baltimore-Alaska-San Francisco), and one on the Crystal Forum starting Baltimore to Vancouver and picking up again once I leave Vancouver for San Francisco and the Symphony.

 

The time is essentially here.

 

Roy

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Safe travels, Roy, on another interesting adventure. Returning the "regular" route to the east coast this year rather than "arctic" route! Thinking of doing the Volendam's return to Ft Lauderdale in Sept, so will be anxious to hear your review. As the sister ship to Zaandam, which we both liked, it should be fine.

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Another grand adventure of the most unusual kind. How I love following along on your trips.

Thank you so much for letting us know where to find the details. Have the best of times.

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Safe travels, Roy, on another interesting adventure. Returning the "regular" route to the east coast this year rather than "arctic" route! Thinking of doing the Volendam's return to Ft Lauderdale in Sept, so will be anxious to hear your review. As the sister ship to Zaandam, which we both liked, it should be fine.

 

This will be my first time on the Volendam, but looking forward to it as the Zaandam is my favorite HAL ship that hasn't been sold.

 

Greetings from Train 174 between Wilmington and Philadelphia. Everything is going well (and on time) so far, although the internet has been worse than typical ship's internet. With luck I'll be in New York about 1:30.

 

Roy

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Day VIA0, Tuesday, July 10, 2018, New York

 

The day started out very nice with a cool morning. The Airport Shuttle called Monday night and changed my pickup from 9:10 to 9:15 but it was actually there a little before 9:10 and I was at the BWI Amtrak station about 9:45 for my 10:30 train.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/bwi.jpg

 

My train was listed as “on time” and approached the platform precisely as expected. Business Class was comfortable as usual although the wifi was excruciatingly slow. We crossed the Delaware into New Jersey about 1 and pulled up to the platform in Penn Station about 1:40, around 5 minutes late.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/delaware.jpg

 

My hotel, the New Yorker, was virtually across the street, but my room was not ready so I left my bags with the bell staff.

 

I have 2 favorite food chains (many of my readers have probably heard the stories but I rarely get the chance to visit both the same day. Tim Hortons has a shop in Penn Station and I stopped there for their Chicken Noodle soup as well as taking a few Tim Bits with me.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/timmiesnyp.jpg

 

Amtrak has had a massive track reconstruction project in New York. The Penn Station work is mostly done but they have moved the disruption a bit north to work on the segment leading up the Hudson. This has resulted in moving tomorrow’s train to Grand Central Station and I scouted out the route there in the morning. It is possible to do on the subway but I decided the steps and transfers were a bit more than I wanted to do fully loaded.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/mta.jpg

 

I skipped the subway back and opted instead for the M42 bus back to 8th avenue and walked back to the hotel. Even though it was almost the regular checkin time of 4PM it took about 20 minutes to get a set of room keys and head up to room 2529, overlooking Madison Square Garden.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/newyorker.jpg

 

While Tim Hortons has a small presence in the US, Panera has none whatsoever in Canada, but there is a shop near Penn Station (actually the one which became a life line for me when I was stranded in New York after superstorm Sandy). I stopped there for dinner before heading up to 45th street for my show.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/dishes10.jpg

 

I returned to the hotel after the show and arrived after a bit of shopping around 9:30.

 

My parting shot today will be an update on one from the Northwest Passage:

 

“I agonized about a parting shot for today. It clearly had to be 9-11 related and I did not want to say the same things everyone else was saying about the tragedy and the heroes. My solution only occurred to me at dinner. It is appropriate that on this 15th anniversary that we were sailing down the coast of Newfoundland, where many planes made emergency landings and passengers were stranded as all air traffic was shut down. The people of Newfoundland generously opened their homes and extended their hospitality in every way possible to an unexpected influx of people. On this day I extend my thanks to the people of Newfoundland, the rest of Maritime Canada and I’m sure the rest of Canada for their generous hospitality in a time of unprecedented crisis.”

 

A reader at the time recommended I see the play “Come from Away”. I knew it was playing both in New York and in Washington and I saw it in Ford’s Theater. I had not heard much about the New York version for a long time but the cast appeared in one of the Televised versions of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade last year. I investigated then and bought a ticked for the New York run at Schoenfeld Theater. I definitely felt like it was worth a second look, and coincidentally one of the actresses from the Ford’s version was new to the cast.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/schoenfeld.jpg

 

Roy

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WOW Roy, another fantastic adventure your on! So enjoy!! I’ll be onboard reading each morning with my coffee!

We had a switch with HAL because of the Prinesdam sale. We are now on the Rotterdam we were on Volendam doing Panama from San Diego. Going to do a TA once in FLL!

Enjoyed your pics too!!

Loved Jacqui ‘s adventures last so now with you👍

Denise 😊

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(from yesterday's sailaway thread)As you can see by my posts, you didn't really miss much.

 

Are you going to Montreal or Toronto to catch the train?

 

It's Toronto. The Canadian starts in Toronto so I would need to take a local train if I went to Montreal.

 

 

Roy

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Day VIA1, Wednesday, July 11, 2018, Amtrak Maple Leaf

 

I was not thrilled with the New Yorker. The $30 “Facility Fee” felt like a bait and switch but that is becoming pretty prevalent in the hotel industry. More distressing was the absence of the scheduled 4:30 wake up call. It became somewhat moot though as I was awakened by “the call of nature” about 4:45. I did a bit of reshuffling of my bags and left the hotel about 5:40. As indicated yesterday, the dry subway run involved a combination of stairs and transfers that I thought would be a bit too much fully loaded and the doorman hauled a cab for me.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/bags.jpg

 

Packing light seems to be a relic of my past. I followed the precedents of my Northwest Passage cruise and have sent my biggest bag (50 pounds) by Luggage Forward to Anchorage. I will meet up with it when I board the Westerdam July 29. In the meantime I am using 2 backpacks. The larger one is 36 pounds loaded and has a zipped out section that can be carried separately, The smaller (20 pounds) is usually carried backwards over my chest. This leaves both hands free but it does become a burden when standing.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/grandcentral.jpg

 

This is virtually the same luggage I used for an attempted 70-day circumnavigation of the world in 2003. A couple of things have changed over the past 15 years. Today’s luggage includes probably 20 pounds of computer and camera equipment and medicines which replaces extra clothing and so on I carried then (I had just 1 small camera, fewer meds, and used computers at hotels and internet cafes). The other change is that it is more of an effort now than 15 years ago. At that time I could walk a mile or more fully loaded; today I’m pretty much done around a quarter mile.

 

I arrived at Grand Central a little before 6. There were indications that gates would open 20 minutes before our 6:40 departure and I headed to the station master’s office which has some seating.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/waiting.jpg

 

Announcements indicated that international passengers needed to check in ahead of time, and I left the waiting room about 6:10. ticket and NEXUS card were checked and I was given numbered tags for each bag. Boarding started soon after that and Toronto passengers were directed to the last car.

 

I had originally booked Business Class but was suspended when the train moved to Grand Central. Seating was more dense in coach but it wasn’t crowded. We left promptly at 6:40 but getting to daylight took longer than from Penn Station.

 

We followed the Hudson River Valley as far as Albany, passing West Point on the opposite shore

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/westpoint.jpg

 

 

Wifi along the Hudson was about like that on board ship as far as Albany. I got a daylight look at the train there as we switched locomotives.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/train63.jpg

 

Once we left Albany I never got wifi in my car again although it appeared to work in the café car.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/cafe.jpg

 

The first leg of our westbound journey followed the Mohawk River which also serves as the modern Erie Canal.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/mohawk.jpg

 

When I grew up in Syracuse the New York Central Railroad was a major

player in the region, It went belly up long ago but there was a locomotive decorated in NYC colors that looked pretty good. Sadly, I really didn’t see much that looked familiar in Syracuse.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/nyc.jpg

 

As we crossed the Niagara River into Canada a bridge blocked my view of the falls but I did get a good look at the rapids below the falls.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/whirlpool.jpg

 

We ran behind schedule for most of Western New York and were about 15 minutes late when we crossed the boarder. That was a bit of a pain as we had to carry all our luggage through the customs office and meet with the officers. I made the mistake of asking about water after leaving customs and was directed into the VIA station. That ended up meaning I had to wait with new passengers there and was one of the last to reboard.

 

There is one significant difference between the Maple Leaf and other International trains. Both the trains to Montreal and Vancouver are fully Amtrak trains although entering foreign soil. The Maple Leaf is taken over by VIA at the boarder with VIA personnel, a VIA café menu, and often a VIA locomotive. Coffee turned out to be cheaper in Canada in the US. I was directed to the first car for the continuing journey and the wifi worked for the first several miles of the journey.

 

We had an ontime arrival in Toronto but the station is undergoing renovations and is currently very confusing. It’s just over a quarter mile to the Novotel but I used a taxi mainly because I didn’t know where I was going. Dinner was at Tim Hortons just before they closed.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/novotel.jpg

 

An unpleasant surprise was waiting when I checked my emails. The Eastbound Canadian is running many hours behind and my train (scheduled for 10PM Thursday) will not be available until Friday. There should be an update at 11AM today.

 

As I enter part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, I’ll take my parting shot from a recent wedding, specifically Bishop Michael Bruce Curry. While very few people have not heard his sermon, I especially liked a quip he made in an interview after the service. “Harry and Megan already preached the sermon; I just gave it language. Bishop Curry, I like how you think.

 

Roy

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I am now in ViA's business lounge. As briefly mentioned yesterday, my train is very late (9AM Friday instead of 10PM Thursday) and they are putting me up overnight in a hotel, but not the Novotel. They have a shuttle which will pick us up at the station and take us to the hotel in about a half hour.

 

Krazy Kruisers, I hope not. I am shcduled for about 2 1/2 days in Vancouver so there should be plenty of time to take care of any problems.

 

Roy

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Thanks Krazy Kruizers.

Day VIA2, Thursday, July 12,, 2018, Toronto

 

I hate to call this a productive day. A lot got done but was still far behind where I expected to be at the end of the day. I had no real reason to be early and slept a bit late, until 6:30.

 

When I was a boy one of our main supermarket chains was Loblaws. I think they’ve long been out of business in the US but still seem to be around in Canada. It was the nearest grocery to the Novotel and I bought a few things I didn’t want to take across the boarder, mainly fruits.

 

I stopped at Union Station several times the first was about 8:30 and I inquired at information about the train. They didn’t really have an update on my train but they said my the train from Vancouver was due about 8PM, 11 hours behind schedule. I checked with the Novotel and they said they could accommodate me if necessary for a second night but to notify them as early as possible.

 

My email from VIA said to call them for an update at 11AM. When I called it was “call again at noon”. Then they had an answer. My train was rescheduled for 9AM Friday and they would put me up in a hotel but there were not really details. I was told to report to the ticket office at 4 for a voucher and more details, but I had the afternoon free.

 

I stored my bags at the Novotel and took just the IPAD and got a quick lunch. Then came a walk down to the harbor and a stop at Tim Hortons for tea and a little bit of internet.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/yyzharbor.jpg

 

I was back at Union Station just a little after 4. As I waited in the ticket line an agent came over and escorted me and several other Train 1 passengers to the Business Class Lounge. We are all booked into the Sheraton Richmond Hill, about a 40 minute drive from Union Station with a shuttle to the hotel about every 90 minutes. They suggested we check anything we are checking before going to the hotel. Union Station is quite close to the CN tower although I didn’t actually go there.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/cntower.jpg

 

I got my bags from the Novotel and am checking the main compartment of the big bag. With the stuff I bought at Loblaws the bags are really stuffed but everything fits if I wear jacket (or it can go in a foldable bag). I got a quick dinner at the Union Station food court and returned to the Business Lounge about 5:30 for the 6:30 shuttle.

 

The hotel is out in the sticks but the room (more like a suite) is very nice. My breakfast ticket says “6:30" but I think the clerk said they will actually open at 6. We meet at 6:30 to return to Union Station so I am hoping for about an hour in the VIA lounge before we board the train.

 

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/sheraton.jpg

 

I had a tentative posting schedule for the trip (no internet on Friday, posting from Winnipeg on Saturday, Jasper on Sunday, and Vancouver on Monday. Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear anything from me until Tuesday since those stops are now likely to come in the middle of the night. Any time I get to go online will be an unplanned blessing.

 

My parting shot–always build some flexibility into ANY travel plans.

 

Roy

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Roy you have more paience than I would ever have!! I am so glad things are turning around even with the train delay! Your room looks very nice too .

That is one thing about you which is fun!

You are very adventurous. Maybe some day we will try a train in the US.

Looking forward to more from you! Understand the WiFi situation and will hope for something next Wednesday!

Enjoy the ride Roy!!!

Denise:)

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Thanks Denise.

 

 

I am now back in Union Station’s Business Lounge. My train is still due to depart at 9AM (11 hours late), and have reservations for early seating (lunch and dinner) in the dining car. This is far from official but I asked the dining steward about what happens with such a late departure. She said “it up to the freight but we usually make up time”. I take that guardedly as good news that I may see some daylight in Vancouver on Monday. Signing off for now.

 

Roy

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Oh wow. Just found this thread! Very happy about that.

 

Random thoughts as I read through:

 

Come From Away! Absolutely loved it at Ford’s Theatre. What an amazing and heartwarming production. Did you find any difference when you saw it in NY?

 

Union Station in Toronto is a disaster with the construction. Impossible to find anything anywhere. Will be happy to see that finished.

 

Am excited to read your reviews of the trip from Toronto to Vancouver. But... did I read this right? The Canadian is actually an Amtrak train?

 

Thanks for posting Roy. Enjoy your travels!

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Oh wow. Just found this thread! Very happy about that.

 

Random thoughts as I read through:

 

Come From Away! Absolutely loved it at Ford’s Theatre. What an amazing and heartwarming production. Did you find any difference when you saw it in NY?

 

Union Station in Toronto is a disaster with the construction. Impossible to find anything anywhere. Will be happy to see that finished.

 

Am excited to read your reviews of the trip from Toronto to Vancouver. But... did I read this right? The Canadian is actually an Amtrak train?

 

Thanks for posting Roy. Enjoy your travels!

 

 

ViaRail [Canada] and Amtrak [uS] cooperate, have a common tracking system https://asm.transitdocs.com . Like he said yesterday in Toronto, some trains cross the the border. My Amtrak trip [June] to Montreal included the Adirondack #69. Our train went directly into Montreal - a immigration inspection at the border [i don't which side it is done on] was completed in about an hour and a half. We never left the train, The return Adirondack leaves from Montreal.

 

There is also one [maybe 2 - I don't know how far north the Coast Starlight goes.] on the west coast from Vancouver to Seattle and reverse - can't remember the train name. Everything else in Canada is ViaRail. I don't know if Roy will have internet - E-W long-distance trains in US don't.

 

As Roy will have spent a few days in Canada riding their trains - you will probably get a fuller answer from him. I have only ridden one ViaRail - from Montreal to Quebec City - that was almost 2 years ago.

 

Hope this is enough of an answer until Roy can post again.

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Thanks Carole. I have experienced the cross-border train travel so knew about the co-operation between the two lines. I was just surprised to read that The Canadian is an Amtrak train and not a Via Rail train. (If I read that part correctly.)

 

As an aside, the train from Toronto crossing at Buffalo takes you through some beautiful scenery I would have never seen otherwise. But far too long a trip due to freight trains on the US side of the border.

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Thanks Carole. I have experienced the cross-border train travel so knew about the co-operation between the two lines. I was just surprised to read that The Canadian is an Amtrak train and not a Via Rail train. (If I read that part correctly.)

 

As an aside, the train from Toronto crossing at Buffalo takes you through some beautiful scenery I would have never seen otherwise. But far too long a trip due to freight trains on the US side of the border.

 

 

The Canadian is all ViaRail.

 

One thing I heard about Canadian trains - they have roomettes with toilets, but at night the mattress sits on top of the toilet - making it inaccessible at night. [??] Weird.

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The Canadian is all ViaRail.

Thank you!

 

One thing I heard about Canadian trains - they have roomettes with toilets, but at night the mattress sits on top of the toilet - making it inaccessible at night. [??] Weird.

Definitely weird. Have not heard that before. My husband and I are planning a cross-Canada trip in Prestige Class. Really looking forward to that.

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The Canadian is all ViaRail.

 

One thing I heard about Canadian trains - they have roomettes with toilets, but at night the mattress sits on top of the toilet - making it inaccessible at night. [??] Weird.

 

 

I wouldn't like having the mattress over the top of the toilet.

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