By this Author: moorsey88

I drove to the Toronto airport in the morning via the 407 on a weekday in just under an hour. That was a success all on it's own. Quickly found a parking spot as there were lots to choose from and met up with my Mom who came in from Kitchener - let the adventure begin!

We dropped off our luggage and updated our boarding passes to 'priority', so my mom had a little extra time to board. Sometimes travelling with seniors has some advantages!

Easy, uneventful flight to Vancouver - just under 5 hours. My mom won the carousel luggage challenge so the first round of cocktails were on me! Grabbed an Uber from the airport which took about 30 minutes, ($40) to take us to our accommodations for the night. Our hotel: Carmana Hotel & Suites. Great location - 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite on the 24th floor with a balcony - cool views!

After freshening up in the apartment, we headed out on foot and walked down to the harbour since it was such a beautiful day. We walked along the waterfront promenade and stopped for an early dinner at Cardero's - most delicious! We were even able to sit outside on the patio - fantastic views over the harbour! After dinner we continued our walk into Stanley Park and along the seawall.

We managed to clock in 20 000 steps during our walk - not bad for a travel day! A quick stop at Shopper's Drug Mart to purchase a replacement hand cream since my Mom had hers confiscated at YYZ because it was too big!

Tried to stay awake for as long as we could to adjust to west coast time as soon as possible. But that didn't last long...we were done by 9:30 p.m.

So...early to rise as we are still adjusting to the time change. We checked out of the hotel at 10:15 a.m. and grabbed an Uber ($9) to the Port of Vancouver to embark on Holland America's Zaandam to set sail to Alaska.

The entire check in process was smooth and fairly quick. We arrived at the port by 10:30 a.m. and were on the ship by 11:00 and the rooms were ready by 11:30 a.m. - amazing! We dropped off our hand luggage and toured the boat a bit. We had some lunch sitting beside the pool, along with some sangria. Zaandam is a smaller ship which had about 1500 passengers on board for this cruise.

Sail-away just after 3:00 p.m. Great day in Vancouver for beginning our trip through the inside passage and onward to Alaska. The weather was fantastic! WE enjoyed a super dinner in the main dining room and then sat around the pool to watch the scenery. We even went up to the Crow's Nest on Deck 9 which was a indoor lounge on the top deck with great views on both sides of the ship.

I caught an amazing sunset while walking around the outdoor promenade on Deck 3 and to my surprise saw a humpback whale emerge from the water - but too quick to grab a photo. Very cool! Maybe another day - wildlife and weather can be very unpredictable in Alaska.

Sea Day...means a relaxed and chill kind of morning! We got up at leisure and headed to breakfast in the main dining room. Then it was time for me to hit the spa and make good use of my spa package I purchased for daily access. We hung out by the pool as well listening to some live music. the guitar player was set up right beside us, so we had no trouble hearing him.

We watched the polar bear plunge at the outdoor pool, even though the pool is heated, they poured icy water over the participants. No, I did not do this as I have done it about 7 times in Canada in January! (really cold) True North Strong and Freeze Your Ass Off.

While I was at the spa, I am sure my Mom had her own adventure walking around the ship - likely going into the shops, walking around the outdoor promenade or sitting poolside reading or people watching. I just couldn't find her afterwards. No worries - she will re-surface for the next meal I am sure. She can't really get lost, can she?? But she did miss Happy Hour! haha.

Dressy night for dinner and then off to the show at the World Stage. Dinner was great, show was good! Then capped off the evening in the Ocean Bar listening to the DAM Band - playing all kinds of popular music. We knew every song. Good times!

Tomorrow we move the clocks back another hour, so we will now be 4 hours behind Toronto time.

Expected arrival to Juneau on this day was 1:30 p.m. so this gave us plenty of time to get organized at our leisure and head to the dining room for breakfast. To our delight, we were treated to a wildlife show during breakfast: whales and dolphins saying good morning by jumping and diving out of the water. The people in the dining room even applauded. A good sign for good things ahead, hopefully.

Juneau Fun Facts:
> Alaska's territorial capital in 1906
> in 1959 Alaska became the 49th state
> no roads connect it to the rest of North America - only was to access here is by air or by sea

Great views as we came into the port of Juneau, even with light drizzle, which followed by a bit of sun - all kinds of weather today. After lunch we disembarked the ship and made the short walk to the Glacier Express Bus which took us to Mendenhall Glacier which took 15 minutes from downtown. Excursion was $80 each - a little steep but gets us there and back on time. It seemed to be the going rate. We saw so many Bald Eagles on the bus ride there - very cool.

Once we arrived to the Visitors Centre, we had 2 hours to explore the area. We did the short hike to Nugget Falls which was a 2.5 km round trip. The Falls really made you appreciate the power of the water and we were at low tide. Amazing views!


Bus back to Juneau and then we went to the Red Dog Saloon. We had a have a cocktail here. Originating during the heyday of Juneau’s glorious mining era, this world famous saloon has provided hospitality and fellowship to weary travelers and local patrons alike. It was a good spot to take in the local vibe...even though everyone in there was likely a tourist!

On the way back to the ship, we did some shopping - I don't really need another sweatshirt, right?!?! Once back on board, we changed out of our warm layers and into some more casual for dinner.

Over 21 000 steps today. Time for bed...or hit up the piano bar?

Skagway was the largest city at the peak of the Gold Rush with over 10 000 residents which is about 10 times more than it is today. We had an early start to get to breakfast and then we got organized to head into Skagway for our pre-booked excursion on the White Pass Summit Train.

Once we got to the train station, (short walk from the pier) I needed to check us in for our journey. The ticket agent asked if we were there for the 9:00 a.m. tour, but we were not. I asked if we could change our reservation since we were there right now - and we could! Since the weather was pretty good at the moment, I decided it was a good thing to do! Going early also meant the train was not as busy. Sitting on the left side is the prime spot if you are only going one way, but you will obviously see both if you are doing the round-trip journey, which we were!

We arrived to the summit - actually crossed into B.C. - and the train does a loop around and heads back along the same way we just came. The journey took 2 hours 45 minutes and cost $155 USD - a little steep, but worth it, especially in great weather!

Quick stop back to the ship after our train ride to grab some lunch and then head back out to explore the rest of the town of Skagway. The most important purchase of the trip was successfully made: the magnet!

Later in the afternoon, back on board the ship, it was time to hit the spa. My mom had an hour or so to get into some mischief on her own. We met up again for Happy Hour in the Crow's Nest.

After dinner we went to the show on the World Stag at the front of the ship: Hits on 45 - songs from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. It was a very good show. We knew every song.

Still light out after 10:00 p.m. and sunrise was at 4:08 a.m. so it messes with the sleep patterns a bit. But hey, everything is always better on vacation...so just roll with it!