Trip review -- June 5 to June 22 -- long

bbjaspan · July 8, 2007

After 2 weeks home, I am finally getting to this trip review. It will be quite long, so I will post it in pieces.

Our Alaska trip consisted of 3 days in Vancouver, a 7-night northbound cruise departing June 8 on Celebrity Summit from Vancouver to Seward, and a 7-day land adventure on our own. DH and I had been on one previous cruise, also on Celebrity Summit, through the Panama Canal, in December, 2005. We were pleased the first time, so we chose Summit again with a veranda cabin 2 doors down from our previous cabin. We chose early June because we were advised that June was Alaska’s driest month and hoped to avoid some of the crowds before all the kids got out of school. We were going to also book a land tour through Celebrity but changed our minds after much interaction with the Cruise Critic message boards, and are glad we did.

Overall, it was a good trip, not a great trip. Our big disappointments were very bad luck with the weather in Vancouver and on the cruise, being too early for salmon and, therefore, bear sightings, and being too early to get closer than 4 miles from Hubbard Glacier. We also had some disappointing excursion experiences.

In this first post, I will describe our 3 days in Vancouver.

Tuesday, June 5 – depart Georgia, arrive in Vancouver

A bad start: To get to our 8:45am Delta flight (using Delta points) direct from Atlanta to Vancouver, we arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 5:30am to take us to the MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit) station, a mile and a half from our house, for a 45 minute ride to the airport. While waiting in our driveway for the taxi, we picked up our newspaper that had been delivered in spite of having been stopped. (When we got home, we learned that our mail was delivered that day as well, even though that was the start date for a hold mail request we had given to the post office.) When the taxi was 5 minutes late, we called the dispatcher and learned that the driver had "forgotten" to get up on time. We woke up my ex-husband who jumped in his car and arrived at the same time as the 20-minute-late taxi (that we sent away). Fortunately, we had allowed an extra buffer of time.

We landed in Vancouver at 11:15am, zipped through Customs and Immigration, and took a taxi (credit card, $33US including tip) to the Marriott Pinnacle (Marriott points) for our 3-night stay. Beside using points, we had chosen the Marriott for its proximity to Canada Place and didn’t learn until a few weeks before the cruise that we were embarking from Ballantyne Pier. It was too early to check into our room so we checked our bags with the hotel and were pleased to accept their offer of a free "welcome" cup of coffee in their restaurant. They also gave us access to their concierge lounge (although I am no longer a Gold elite member) which was a wonderful benefit.

Our plan for this day was to use the Seabus and public bus to visit Grouse Mountain, but the on and off rain and fog prevented us from even seeing much of North Vancouver from the 25th floor of the Marriott, making Grouse not a good idea. We donned our rain jackets, pulled out our Frommer’s Alaska and began the walking tour. We walked from the Marriott to Canada Place and Gastown (great steam clock), to the edge of China Town, then back along Robson Street and to the Marriott. We were understandably exhausted, considering our early wake-up time, the long flight, the time change, etc. We checked into our room and decided to peek into the concierge lounge. We sat at a table by the window, overlooking the water. Even with the fog, we could watch seaplanes taking off and landing at their dock. The hors d’oeuvres were delicious, salmon cakes and more, followed by coffee and cookies. We were happy for that to be our dinner.

Wednesday, June 6 -- Vancouver

Cloudy, foggy and rainy again! No Grouse Mountain today. Breakfast at the Concierge Lounge. Weather or not, we decided this was the day to visit Stanley Park. The simple plan would have been to purchase a 2-day hop-on-hop-off ticket on the Vancouver Trolley, which would take us not only to, but also around within Stanley Park as well as all around Vancouver. But we heard a rumor, confirmed by the Marriott concierge, that the Vancouver Trolley bus drivers might strike that day (they never did) and leave us high and dry with no refund. Our other option was the Big Bus, similar to the Vancouver Trolley, but Big Bus only went to the front of Stanley Park, not all around to Prospect Point. In addition, we understood that the free Stanley Park shuttle was not to begin service until June 19; in fact, we later learned that the shuttle was in need of repair, was waiting for a part, and would not operate until some time in July.

So we donned our rain jackets and walked from the Marriott along the water (Coal Harbor) to Stanley Park. We stopped and watched the seaplanes at their terminal, checked out the menu at Cardero’s (planning to have dinner there that night or the next), and photographed some young men in skulling boats. Once at Stanley Park we walked counterclockwise, passing the Totem Poles, 9 o’clock Gun, the lighthouse, and the Girl in Wetsuit statue before we gave up on our ambition to walk all the way to Prospect Point (hope we didn’t miss too much). Instead, we left the shore path, and walked along a beautiful more wild/natural trail, taking pictures of our first wildlife sightings of the trip – raccoons.

We had a nice sandwich lunch at X Marks the Spot, just outside the park on Denman Street, then boarded a Big Bus, rode to China Town where we walked around with our Frommer’s walking guide, including a visit to the free part of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden. I guess our previous visits to both the NY and San Francisco China Town’s left us underwhelmed. We reboarded the Big Bus and rode the rest of its loop, disembarking at their shop in Gastown for free ice cream, then walked all the way back to the Marriott.

Our next day would be our last in Vancouver before our cruise. Checking with the concierge for the weather forecast told us it would be more of the same. No Grouse Mountain. We hadn’t yet visited Granville Island, but would it be worth a whole day? So, in spite of having decided before our trip NOT to do so, we signed up for an all-day trek to Victoria with Landsea Tours ($165US pp).

A planned quick stop at the Concierge Lounge turned out to be dinner again – we were tired, and the good-sized fried halibut filets, spanikopita, and more, satisfied us.

Thursday, June 7 -- Vancouver

Our excursion to Victoria was LONG – bus ride (1 hour?) to ferry, 1½ hour Queen of Saanich ferry ride (scenery would have been better if it wasn’t so foggy/rainy), more bus ride into Victoria. The sun came out! (But not in Vancouver, we later learned.) We visited the Royal British Columbia Museum (included), walked through the lobby of the Empress Hotel, strolled along the harbor and ate lunch there. Then reconvened with our group for the bus ride to Butchart Gardens (also included). The Gardens were amazing and beautiful. Back to the bus for ride to the ferry, another 1½ hours on the ferry, then bus ride back to Marriott. I’m not sure Butchart Gardens was worth all that time and travel.

We had to have dinner out one night in Vancouver. But it was too late for the "nicer" places and we were too tired to freshen up. So we went to highly recommended ("… the best Chinese restaurant I have ever eaten from (and I grew up in NYC)…", I had read here) Hon’s on Robson Street. Sorry, but we are also from NYC and it was not so great. We ordered a chicken and vegetable dish and there was something "funny" about the texture of the chicken – either it was not cooked well enough or I don’t know. I just ate the veggies.

bbjaspan · July 8, 2007

Here's my review of the first 3 days of our cruise:

Friday, June 8 – board Summit

We were ready to embark! The fog still sat on the North Vancouver peaks and we’d had enough of that. We took a taxi to Ballentyne Pier ($15US), arriving EARLY at 11:00am. The folks who had disembarked the Summit that morning were still in a LONG line waiting for non-appearing taxis and there was a bit of a scuffle for ours. Along with another couple, we were the FIRST to check our luggage… and then it seemed like ours was the LAST luggage to be delivered to the cabin, at 5:50pm, 10 minutes before our main seating dinner. First in, last out, I guess. (The other couple, in concierge class, got their luggage quickly, by 2:00pm.)

We were not so pleased with our dinner table assignment – upstairs, near the dining room entrance, ironically, right near the table we had on our previous Summit cruise. Felt like second class – couldn’t see the live music, the Baked Alaska parade of the wait staff, etc. We spoke to the Maitre d’ and by the next evening we were downstairs, in the center of the dining room.

Saturday, June 9 – Inside Passage

It was raining, and foggy. All of our photos show the wet decks – at the bar in the stern, around the swimming pool, the helicopter pad – and foggy scenery. Rain jackets. Plastic bags on our cameras (make sure you have these).

We attended several seminars that, frustratingly, overlapped each other – the naturalist, digital cameras, binoculars, and procrastination.

Tucked into our Celebrity Today! that we received each evening with the schedule for the next day, was a flyer telling of a comedian that would perform at 7:00pm that night. With our 6:00pm dinner, we hoped we could make that performance by skipping dessert. But at 6:55, we hadn’t yet been served our entrée. So, with appetizer, soup and bread under our belts, we ran to the theatre… About 2 dozen people were outside the closed theatre doors, learning that there had been a mistake, that the comedian was for the next night. We went up to the Waterfall Café, thinking there would be a casual dinner buffet there, but learned they had only sushi, pizza and pasta – all too high-carb for my Type 1 diabetes – and stir-fry. Unfortunately, I was not yet enough over my bad Hon’s experience to face stir-fry. We might have been able to explain our way into Casual Dining even without a reservation, but we decided not to try. We had coffee and dessert and went to the show.

Sunday, June 10 – Ketchikan

We woke up and looked out from our balcony at Ketchikan, whose streets were wet with rain. Would it never end?

We had booked a Misty Fiords Flightseeing excursion with Michelle at Island Wings Air Service, and the weather did not interfere. There were 6 of us in the plane, all with window seats. We were directed to our seats, and as the smallest of the group, as Michelle said, I had the “best seat in the house” – the back bench seat alone to myself, giving me the ability to look out of both sides of the plane. We had expected misty, and misty, beautiful scenery is certainly what we got. We landed on a pretty lake, climbed out along the pontoon and so to shore. Michelle pointed out a place where, “at low tide,” she often saw bears, but the tide was high. Michelle knew how to work all our cameras and took some great pictures. Highly recommended.

After our return, we picked up a free walking tour map at the dock visitor center. We walked to Creek Street and saw all the houses on stilts over the water, then took the funicular (sign said $2 but there was no one to pay) up to the Fox Westmark, looked at the totem poles out the back, then walked down the “married man’s trail.” We turned right on Park and took the long walk up the hill to the Hatchery and Eagle Center. We passed the salmon ladder, which was deserted (too early, come back in a week or two). When we reached the Hatchery ticket booth, the young man inside advised against buying a ticket because “there’s nothing much to see – no grown salmon.” We decided to skip the Eagle Center as well. We were hungry! And ready for Burger Queen! – “…on the far side of the visitor’s center, thru the tunnel, little place, best lunch of a Halibut Sandwich (one of the best meals of the trip)…” we had read here. We found it, and we have a picture of me standing outside the door next to the sign that says that it is CLOSED ON SUNDAY!

So we got back on the ship and had a delicious lunch of a salmon burger.

bbjaspan · July 8, 2007

Here's my review of our Juneau excursions:

Monday, June 11 – Juneau

As I look at the pictures we took from our balcony that morning, the streets are wet and it is RAINING! This was to be our big day – 2 great excursions: First, a Mendenhall Glacier Trek with Above & Beyond Alaska, then whale watching with Harv and Marv’s.

Glacier Trek with Above & Beyond

We had booked the Glacier Trek, in November 2006, after reading the following report on this board from cruising dfl:

On Monday we docked in Juneau and I was SO excited. We had booked a glacier trek and ice climbing excursion with an independent company named Above & Beyond Alaska and I've always wanted to go ice climbing. Before we met Becky, our trip leader, we had a small detail to take care of…

We handled our details, then went to meet Becky and the other couple who joined us. Let me just say that I had very high expectations for this trip, and it exceeded my expectations in every way. It was unbelievable!!! Becky led the 4 of us along a fun and challenging unmarked forest path for about 2 hours, stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous views along the way. We climbed up and down boulders, through streams, basically enjoyed the journey to the Mendenhall Glacier immensely. And Becky was super -- she told us about growing up in Alaska, taught us about the area, the glacier and so much more.

Well we finally reached the glacier, and it was spectacular. We reached a spot right next to it, coming up from the left. We put on crampons, grabbed the ice axes we had carried in (they provide everything, from special backpacks to snacks to all the ice climbing equipment) and stepped onto the beautiful glacier. What a rush! Then Becky led us into a cave underneath the glacier -- spectacular!! We hiked across the glacier, learning about the crevasses and how to climb, descend, etc. And we climbed up a wall about 25 feet high, which was super fun. Just walking around the glacier was spectacular. While we were there, the helicopters kept roaring in and roaring out and we were SO happy to be on the glacier by foot power and really interacting with nature vs. the quick & intrusive helicopter trips. I think we were on the glacier for at least 90 minutes, though it felt like 5. And then we turned around and made the trip back to the van in a little over an hour, loving the scenery once again and enjoying the quick pace. That was absolutely the most incredible day on our cruise!

As for the glacier trek, I can't recommend it enough. It was absolutely the highlight of our vacation. You don't have to have any climbing experience. The couple that joined us had none, and didn't have a lot of hiking experience either. As long as you can walk a few miles (it's a total of just under 6) and are game for trying something new, you're good. You don't even have to do the climb part if you don't want to, though I'm betting that when you see it, you'll want to. And it doesn't matter how high you climb, it's just fun trying. Becky told us that she's taken families out with younger children and older members.

I read that and said to my DH, “That sounds fantastic! We have to do that!” I called and booked the tour for us with Becky. We weren’t sure about the ice-climbing but she explained that we could decide after we were there, that the climbers and non-climbers would be together and “those that don’t climb will walk around more.” Since I have done some rock-climbing, I was hoping to do the ice-climbing; DH said, “No way.” Becky e-mailed me an itinerary that began with picking us up at the cruise ship dock at 9:00am and ended with a drop off at the dock at 3:00pm.

But we were also reading about the great whale watching we could do in Juneau and we would have until 9:00pm. I called Harv & Marv’s and they said we could go “any time – 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00.” I called Becky back and she suggested we book the whale watching for 3:00pm, she would drop us off at the Auke Bay boat harbor for the whale watching, which was much closer than the ship dock. No problem. We figured that even if we were exhausted, we’d rather get right onto the whale watching boat than hang around “resting” for an hour or so. We booked with Harv & Marv for 3:00pm.

It was chilly and raining. We donned our long underwear, tops and bottoms, fleece jackets, and our full rain gear, pants and jacket. We were out early and connected with the young couple, from Germany, joining us on the trek. Our pick up was late. It wasn’t Becky, because she had a baby 2 months ago, it was Kevin. He was a nice guy, but he wasn’t the Becky of cruising dfl’s description. I can NOT report that he “told us about growing up in Alaska, taught us about the area, the glacier and so much more.” We geared up, adding ice axes and harnesses to our packs. By now, I was so excited about ice-climbing! We hiked in the rain, which is probably why the views were not so gorgeous. It was muddy. We rushed, barely having time to take a couple of pictures. When we got to the “rock-scrambling” part (as advertised) it was not boulders, but STEEP, sharp, WET and SLIPPERY from the rain and lichens, rocky, major hills (little mountains?), up and down more than one of them. A few times Kevin was hesitant about the route to take. Instead of the hour and a half scheduled for the hike, it took us 2¼ hours to reach the glacier.

Before we got to the glacier, I realized that our schedule was greatly compromised. At my suggestion, Kevin called Becky and asked her to check with Harv and Marv’s to see if we could move to a later tour with them. They were fully booked and could not do that.

Kevin helped us up onto the glacier, one by one. It was difficult to stand there in our boots, on the wet ice, without slipping. Kevin unloaded 5 pairs of crampons from his pack and attached them to our boots for us, as we stood on one leg at a time. I think it would have been much easier and faster to have put on the crampons before we were on the ice, as cruising dfl indicates they did. (Would it also have been faster if he had shown us how to do it ourselves?) What a difference the crampons made! We could walk on the ice so easily!

We walked into the cave in the glacier. Yes, it was spectacular. But we were so rushed there was not enough time to take the pictures we would have liked. Kevin rushed us out to show us a few other crevasses and things in the immediate vicinity. After about 20 minutes, if that long, we were done. Not the 90 minutes cruising dfl had, or the hour that Becky’s e-mailed itinerary indicated. We never used the ice axes, or learned what they were for. We never used the harnesses, or learned what they were for. We never had the promised opportunity to try ice-climbing.

We retreated over the wet rock hills. It would have been so easy to get seriously hurt there. We bogied back to the van, unloaded our gear, and Kevin raced to Auke Bay. We got there just about 3:00pm, in time for whale watching.

But I was so disappointed! $330 for a hike in the woods and 20 minutes on the glacier. NOT WORTH IT! And how unfair it was for the other couple, who never complained, who had their glacier trek cut short so that we could make our next excursion.

How experienced was Kevin? How many of these excursions has he led? Would Becky have done it better? Would the hike have taken less time? Would she have saved time by being more sure of the route over the rocks and on to the glacier? Would she have been more efficient at donning the crampons? Or would the schedule she layed out just not work on a rainy day? But it rains a lot in Alaska. Any schedule should take that into consideration. Would we have learned more from Becky?

After writing this today, I realize that I must communicate with Becky, tell her how we feel, and ask her the questions. I will do that and report back here.

Whale Watching with Harv and Marv’s

We boarded Harv’s (aka Jay) boat soaking wet inside and out, inside from the perspiration generated from the hiking/rock climbing and outside from the rain. Jay pulled the boat away from the dock. I figured that we’d have some amount of cruising before we would begin looking for whales. I sat down inside the boat cabin to get organized. I adjusted my clothing as necessary. I took my binoculars out of the bag. The rain that had stopped started again, so I replaced my camera into the plastic, waterproof bag. In time for this excursion, the evening before I had read the camera manual to learn how to do “continuous shooting.” I turned on the camera and set it for continuous. We were barely into the center of the boat harbor when Jay cut the engines and pointed to the blowing of a humpback whale near shore. I popped my head out of the cabin into the rain. Jay shouted something and then I saw something coming out of the water right near the boat. I pointed my camera at it and pressed and held the shoot button as that whale breached and then sunk back into the water and dove, tail flipping. I was the only person, out of 6 passengers, in the boat that caught the whale “on film” (actually on my memory card).  No one else was ready yet. My DH’s camera was not even out of his bag. But I was also the only person who didn’t really see the whale, except through the 2½” screen of my camera. 

It was a great ride. We saw other whales, including some Orcas, but nothing to compare to that first one. They were all much farther away. We saw harbor seals and/or sea lions (I’m not sure which) and eagles as well. We passed the island where Jay lives with his family. I loved the small boat and that we were only 6. Plenty of room to move about and see from all directions. No one got seasick. We had taken Bonine but I don’t really think that was necessary.

I highly recommend whale watching with Harv & Marv’s.

bbjaspan · July 8, 2007

I'm redoing the previous message so you can tell which is the part from cruising dfl and which is from me:

Monday, June 11 – Juneau

As I look at the pictures we took from our balcony that morning, the streets are wet and it is RAINING! This was to be our big day – 2 great excursions: First, a Mendenhall Glacier Trek with Above & Beyond Alaska, then whale watching with Harv and Marv’s.

Glacier Trek with Above & Beyond

We had booked the Glacier Trek, in November 2006, after reading the following report on this board from cruising dfl:

======================================================

On Monday we docked in Juneau and I was SO excited. We had booked a glacier trek and ice climbing excursion with an independent company named Above & Beyond Alaska and I've always wanted to go ice climbing. Before we met Becky, our trip leader, we had a small detail to take care of…

We handled our details, then went to meet Becky and the other couple who joined us. Let me just say that I had very high expectations for this trip, and it exceeded my expectations in every way. It was unbelievable!!! Becky led the 4 of us along a fun and challenging unmarked forest path for about 2 hours, stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous views along the way. We climbed up and down boulders, through streams, basically enjoyed the journey to the Mendenhall Glacier immensely. And Becky was super -- she told us about growing up in Alaska, taught us about the area, the glacier and so much more.

Well we finally reached the glacier, and it was spectacular. We reached a spot right next to it, coming up from the left. We put on crampons, grabbed the ice axes we had carried in (they provide everything, from special backpacks to snacks to all the ice climbing equipment) and stepped onto the beautiful glacier. What a rush! Then Becky led us into a cave underneath the glacier -- spectacular!! We hiked across the glacier, learning about the crevasses and how to climb, descend, etc. And we climbed up a wall about 25 feet high, which was super fun. Just walking around the glacier was spectacular. While we were there, the helicopters kept roaring in and roaring out and we were SO happy to be on the glacier by foot power and really interacting with nature vs. the quick & intrusive helicopter trips. I think we were on the glacier for at least 90 minutes, though it felt like 5. And then we turned around and made the trip back to the van in a little over an hour, loving the scenery once again and enjoying the quick pace. That was absolutely the most incredible day on our cruise!

As for the glacier trek, I can't recommend it enough. It was absolutely the highlight of our vacation. You don't have to have any climbing experience. The couple that joined us had none, and didn't have a lot of hiking experience either. As long as you can walk a few miles (it's a total of just under 6) and are game for trying something new, you're good. You don't even have to do the climb part if you don't want to, though I'm betting that when you see it, you'll want to. And it doesn't matter how high you climb, it's just fun trying. Becky told us that she's taken families out with younger children and older members.

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