Help - Rockies + Alaska

[Deasean]

Can anyone advise on a good tour (train or bus) in the rockies (we love the wilds) and a combination cruise to Alaska from Vancouver Please.

 

We are planning to be in Canada from end August 06.

 

Thanks V. Much

Sean

[Big Al B.]

I'm not sure there are cruisetours with both areas, but you could get the VIA (Canadian Rail) train in Vancouver that goes across Canada. It has a stop in Jasper. From there there is a bus tour that goes up to Banff and back. You could then return to Vancouver or for some more of the Rockies, take the train all the way to the East. We rode it from Toronto to Vancouver and back (3 days each way) and loved it.

[dodieh]

Princess has cruise/tours that leave Vancouver BC and go to Whittier from where you get the train to take you up to Denali or where ever you decide you want to go in Alaska. This is a beautiful cruise...lots of wilderness in the inside passage and certainly Alaska, our "last frontier" is as uninhabited as you can get and has great mountain ranges. As to the Canadian or U.S. Rockies, I don't know where you are going to be travelling from to make any suggestions, but the Canadian R.R. as suggested by a previous poster is supposed to be a really great way to see that part of Canada.

[Mr_Cruise]

Alaskan cruises and cruisetours... the area I am most familiar with.

 

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity offer a couple different Cruisetour options with this combination.

 

As an example, an itinerary I recently booked for some clients in Australia begins in Calgary AB and travels via rail on the Rocky Mountaineer luxury cars all the way through the rockies (stops/overnights along the way at several amazing locations) to Vancouver BC where they will then board their cruise ship for a 7 night Vancouver round trip inside passage Alaskan cruise.

 

The two ships doing this itinerary in 2006 are the Serenade of the Seas for Royal Caribbean and the Celebrity Infinity.

 

Good luck with your plans.

[Big Al B.]

That looks very much like a tour that I think HAL used to have. The motorcoach is the one I was thinking of as well as the Rocky Mountaineer train part. It is possible that the Kamloops to Vancouver section is on the VIA rail train coming across Canada.

[docksider21]

Hi

 

The cruise lines offer trains tours from Anchorage to Fairbanks on the Alaskan Railroad with a stop a Denali.

 

You can also ride the Alaskan Railroad from Seward to Anchorage.

 

The Rocky Mountaineer railroad leaves Vancouver and goes with the Canadian Rockies to Baniff/Jasper.

 

The White Mountain Pass railroad operates a short line slightly north of there.

 

Amtrak has completely refurbished the Empirer Builder, which travels from Chicago to Seattle.

 

I suggest you thoroughly read the HAL and the Princess cruise brochures on Alaska, so you can pick out a cruise and travel date. You can either buy their cruise-tour package, or once you have a cruise tentativlely in mind, you will be in shape to add independent tours

 

Good Luck

[hotmike98]

Princess also offers a pre-or post cruise Canadian Rockies bus tour. Several couples in our group did that in advance of our Alaskan cruise which was out of Seattle, but I am sure they would have similar trips for Vancouver based cruises. Get your TA to collect the brochures from several of the cruise lines and you will find what's going to be available for next year. Also check individual websites of the various lines.