The most enjoyable part of our cruise occurred while on a tour from Skagway Port. We disembarked and found Skagway Tours. Though we hesitated to take the 3+ hour tour up to the Yukon, we are extremely glad we did! We had the best guide and driver that anyone could hope for: River. This wonderful woman proved to be informative, considerate, helpful, and kind. She made this trip the highlight of our off-ship exploring.
Not only did she entertain us with stories of the region but she also provided an ongoing narrative about the way the mountains, rivers, and lakes were formed and continued to exist. She pointed out animals and things to look for and then, when she would spot one, she would stop the bus and we were able to take many pictures and video of these sights.
Our most memorable sight was this absolutely gorgeous black bear. He was just strolling along the roadside munching on tasty grasses and shoots. He seemed to not even notice us but continued to graze while thrilling us with his actions. He finally lumbered off into the brush but we remember saying: "Well, that just made every dollar we spent for this trip worth every penny!!"
Excellent cabin. Clean, bright, cheerful. Stateroom Assistant ... Perfect! Nice balcony with chairs and table. Loved the shower!!
We took an old fashioned trolly along with several other families. We had a very colorful and expressive driver/guide. We loved his stories and hoped to see the bears he said were frequent visitors to Ketchikan. We did not. We traveled up to the totem poles and the salmon creek / pond. The scenery was beautiful and the guide was nice. We are glad we took this ride up there.
As we would have missed dinner if we had left the ship at 5:45PM (a thing we did not want to do as we LOVED our dinners at the Blu) we were only in Victoria from 7:30 - 10:30 PM. We did see beautifully lit buildings and harbors. However, we only had time to see a tiny portion of the city. I wish we could have seen the city during daylight hours and for a bit longer that a few hours.
We walked through town and visited many shop and saw a lot of unique sights. We enjoyed not having to be on a timed tour.
We enjoyed a nice lunch and a tasty drink.