Alaskan Trip Report

Our trip began on Sunday, July 11th arriving in Vancouver for a northbound cruise on the Carnival Spirit leaving Wednesday, July 14th. We used Yellow Cab from the airport - approx $30 with tip. Lodging for three nights at the Hyatt purchased on Priceline for $65 per night-9th floor, corner room-awesome, and they even gave us our Hyatt points and the concierge was very helpful. We like to walk and we toured Stanley Park and Gastown on our own on Sunday. Enjoyed dinner Sunday night at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown. Monday we caught the bus to Grouse Mountain and Capilano Bridge. Both were wonderful. That night we dined on the rooftop at Joe Fortes-excellent but pricey. Tuesday, we took the West Coast Sightseeing tour bus to Victoria. The bus picked us up at our hotel at 8:30am. We spent all day touring the Butchart Gardens and the downtown area including the Empress Hotel. Our tour guide was Jeff and according to him the only Native American guide in Vancouver. He was very informative on the area as well as his people and culture. We were back to our hotel at about 10:30pm. A long day but well worth the $124 per person.

Wednesday morning we slept in late and had breakfast at Bellaggio's. About noon we taxied to Canada Place (approx $5 plus tip) and were aboard ship at about 12:30. Easy embarkation. Ate lunch at the buffet, orientated ourselves to the ship. Luggage arrived shortly so we settled in and awaited for the rest of our group. We were cruising with 24 other family & friends. Due to computer problems with NW airlines they were late getting into Vancouver and didn't arrive until after 4:30pm. Apparently there were other flights that were delayed as well as we didn't sail until 6:30pm instead of the 5:30pm departure time that was scheduled. Read more