Celebrity Cruises, Canadian Rockies, driving around west coast California

[Viridianne]

Day 5 Skagway

I think this was one of the highlights. The excursions were fun and hard to choose from. I wanted to try the dog sledding, but we ended up taking the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway day trip.


We took a bus to Yukon, going through the Klondike route. A harsh, dead landscape. The road is dangerous especially in winter when there are blizzards and icy, winding roads.


Many who went on the Klondike Gold Rush gave up half-way.


The gold rush thought they could use a boat to make the passage easier.


But we made it to the Alaska-Yukon border!

 

[Viridianne]

On our way back we stopped by the Yukon Suspension Bridge. They gave us bison chilli and you can put a stamp on your passport.




Don't worry, I checked with them that it's legal!

Then we took the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway back to Skagway.


Really nice views of the mountains and valleys. Couldn't get much good photos as there were some obnoxious, giant Americans ...


The stop at Skagway. My mum had a problem with passport check (they couldn't find the customs stamp, duh) along with some other passengers.

This is where Celebrity customer experience shone for me. They sent another bus for us late comers and the ship actually waited for us.

A lesson learned was to always book your excursions directly with the cruise in case things go wrong and they'll be responsible for it.

 

[Viridianne]

Good bye, Skagway!



Day 6 was a day spent at sea. I think I went to some show commemorating Steve Irwin as the Cruise director of entertainment used to work with him. He was funny. I went to a wine tasting about how the shape of glass affect the taste of wine. And of course, more free drinks from the cellar and Bali Bar crew

Day 7 we touched down at Victoria, BC in the evening. Again, this is where it's worth getting an excursion directly from the cruise. My mum, the cheapskate, thought it'll be cheaper to go to the Butchart Gardens by ourselves. It turns out the Gardens are closed after 4pm, as we docked at 5/6pm.

So we ended up walking around the city of Victoria. We went to Chinatown and Fan Tan Alley.


Day 7 we arrive at Seattle and say goodbye to Celebrity Solstice. The process was much faster than when we boarded the ship!

We stayed 3 days at Seattle.

Seattle

Of course we had to go to the first Starbucks store! En route I met a girl from Vegas, who used to live at Seattle, who was meeting her childhood friend from Sydney (what a small world, eh?). It turns out she didn't know where the first Starbucks store was either. We ended up finding it together.


We got some souvenirs and stuff.

Now this is the USA and good coffee is hard to come by. So we're not ashamed to say we stopped by Starbucks often for our caffeine fix (and also for free wifi).

We went to the Space Needle


and Chihuly glass garden


Ate a lot at the Pike Street Market.

And my mum went on a shopping craze at Macy's and Nordstrom. Lest to say the rest of our USA trip is centred around her shopping spree.

 

[Viridianne]

Calgary

Sunday comes and we prepare for our flight to Canada. I made the mistake of using my Aeroplan miles to book award flights. I should have paid cash instead. I had close 30k which would have been enough for a future upgrade to J. At the time of booking I thought I wasn't going to Canada for a long time anyway, might as well use it before it expires. Ah well, more lessons learned!


Seattle Amex lounge with new gold jeans from the shopping spree.
The guy at the front desk was from Queensland. I think the wine they served was some local ones.

My mum didn't believe we'll be flying on propeller planes.


Air Canada Bombardier

Chasing the sunset


Canadian Rockies

We arrived at Calgary close to midnight, exhausted. We stayed at Radisson Calgary Airport so the shuttle service was most welcome. After spending a week in a cramped up ship cabin, the hotel room was huge in comparison. We felt it was luxurious xD
The next night we stayed in the city as we had a 5am bus to Banff.


View towards Calgary city

 

[Viridianne]

Banff

We used Brewster for our Banff-Lake Louise-Jasper trips. They operate one-way tours so you get to see the sights and stuff along the way to the next city. It was pretty good as we got to plan our travels without backtracking. We only have a week before our flight to LA!


Calgary to Banff


A bear had smashed the phone that they took it away ...

View of Fairmont Banff


View from the mountain we took a gondola on

 

[Viridianne]

We also went on a lake cruise (I got to drive the boat a bit)



saw some big butt sheeps and deers


And ended the day at Tony Roma's as mum insisted it's cheaper than the Australian one

The second day at Banff we explored the town and went to checkout the Fairmont Hotel.

 

[Viridianne]

Waiting for the bus to take us to Lake Louise


Have to come back here in winter or to stay at Fairmont Lake Louise some day!



We also went to Yoho National Park for a nice trail walk.


Alvin the Chipmunk's mum.



Had burger for lunch at Emerald Lake.

 

[Viridianne]

We stayed overnight at Lake Louise village.

I always get excited when I find Australian products overseas.
I don't know what Dad's cookies all about.


Next morning was another bus day trip, passing through the Athabasca glaciers to Jasper.




Riding that Mars rover thing was fun!


To think that our future generation may not have a chance to see this. The glaciers has melted rapidly since 1980s.

 

[Viridianne]

The world is your esky!


Also tried some glacier water. Fresh.


Another one of those glass bottom bridge thingies. Not for the fear-of-heights.


We saw a bear a while back!

 

[Viridianne]

The train to Vancouver only operates on certain days, we were forced to stay at Jasper for 2 nights.

I swear I took some photos of Jasper but I can't find it right now. Must have been on my other phone.

I discovered a lot of the workers in these touristy towns were seasonal workers. My mum is considering working there when she decides to retire.
Food were outrageously expensive and American-sized portions.

On the last day we boarded Via Rail to Vancouver. It was rainy and delayed. I ate sushi from the supermarket and mum bought Timbits.



One carriage has malfunctioning heating system. So we were forced to squeeze into the other Y carriages.

We had dinner at the train. (I swear I took photos) I had a tuna steak and my mum had some Asian stir fry. She said it was probably pre-made sauce because it was so sweet. Again, outrageously expensive but I thought it'll be a long time before another overnight train trip and I still had my Canadian bank account so we kinda splurged a bit in the Canadian part of our trip.


Night view was eerie but calm.


Back in Vancouver in the morning!

 

[RB]

Good to read the later parts. Some great photos there that remind me of great holidays we had in Alaska & Canada