It was a sublime sleep in our room at the Sahara Hotel which was rudely interrupted by a 4.30pm alarm, reminding us of our 7am flight. Such a shame to leave a wonderfully cosy bed.
We returned the car, flew from Vegas to Portland and then Portland to Vancouver. We were anxious about the flights because our original itinerary was to fly direct from Vegas to Vancouver with Air Canada, but they cancelled their morning flight and so we were bumped onto the alternative via Portland. The anxiety came because the cruise had bumped up their departure time from 6pm to 4pm and our rerouted itinerary meant landing at 11.50am instead of 10.30am, so our buffer had shrunk to 4 hrs, assuming no delays.
At Portland we were treated to a view of two fighter jets taking off down runway. Apparently, the Air Force shares the facilities with the Portland International Airport, so that was very exciting to see them accelerating and taking off in front of our eyes. It was a little taste of Top Gun.
retro on a twin prop Bombardier Q400, so being on a smaller plane was different as well. Fortunately, all our flights departed on time and we were seated in the first five rows, so we made the cruise on time. In fact, we had to go through immigration three times in a day which is a record for us. We had to exit the US, enter Canada and then the US on Holland America. It was all very annoying and left our feet and legs rather sore from all the queues.
Vancouver was a sunny 23C so we checked into our room and made our way to the Lido Market for a belated lunch of make your own salad. The good news? Wed been upgraded from a Verandah room to a Signature Suite. The bad news? It was only one level below the buffet so we may not need to use the stairs as much. Obesity here we come!
We departed Vancouver at 4pm and made our way out of the harbour under Lions Gate Bridge and into the inside passage between the mainland and Vancouver Island. A single seal swam up to the ship to farewell
us as we pulled out. No otters. Its been exactly 20 years since we were in Vancouver. Its changed a lot with lots of extra sky scrapers.
We left the good weather behind in Vancouver and awoke to rain and fog which is supposed to be with us for the rest of the trip. It could be that cruise v2.0 is bust v2.0 as well.
On days at sea there are plenty of things to do on the ship. We got up at 9am, skipped breakfast, attended a couple of talks about the port stops and wildlife. I caught up on my blog, ate lunch in the Dining Room, had a nap and sat on the balcony watching the inside passage cruise past at the lower levels, as we couldnt see anything above the cloud. Dinner was back at Lido followed by a dance concert on the mains stage and some personal movement to pop tunes in the Rolling Stones Lounge. The entertainers are very good.
We traversed fjords as we cruised into Juneau, Alaskas capital. Unfortunately, the rain had set in and we could only see a couple hundred metres above the water line so whatever peaks surround the town, evaded us. It looks like it might be pretty. Will have to look at photos on Google. Temp had dropped to a max of 12C – quite a change from 38C in Vegas!
We put on our rain gear and headed out for a hike. We left the tourists behind inside their souvenir shops and climbed up the hills behind the town, to a road that led to the Mt Roberts trail head. Mt Roberts usually has an expensive cable car running for US $45 return, but if you hike up and buy $15 worth of food per person you can ride down for cheaper. We were planning on hiking this strenuous trail to save money – 2km one way with a 500m gain – but alas, the cable car was shut for the day due to high winds.
We quickly decided we didnt want to walk 4km on the strenuous trail in the consistent rain, so we chose a shorter trail
called Flume.
