Tuesday, 22 August & Wednesday, 23 August
Anchorage-Vancouver-Toronto
A quiet, leisurely morning with breakfast at the
hotel and a walk to the waterfront area. We had our bags out and were checked
out by 11, with 3 hours until the airport transfer. Several others from our
group, plus Dave, were in the lobby, so we had a last chat and farewell. Great
guide and great group to travel with, now dispersing all over North America and
to Holland and Australia. We were at the airport in plenty of time for the
3-hour flight to Vancouver, where we had an easy pass through customs. Once we
found our gate, there was time for a snack at the restaurant beside it. After a
long, uneventful flight and a limo ride through rush-hour traffic, we were home
by 8:30 am, roughly 14 hours after our departure from the hotel. Larry went off
right away to a Men’s Breakfast, but I opted for bed before anything else.
We were very impressed with Holland America,
from one end of this tour to the other. On board the Volendam, we had real VIP
treatment, with concierges in the Neptune Lounge and attentive (but
unobtrusive) room stewards. We enjoyed the meals and the entertainment.
Their
app, used for communication and information, was not simple to use and we’d
have preferred something in which we could have more confidence. When we
disembarked at Skagway, David Yekell took over our trip and always did a
terrific job. He kept us well-informed and entertained. Excursions were
well-planned and well-managed, and there was lots of choice.
The various
driver-guides were entertaining and informative, and got us safely to our
various destinations. There was a lot of travel, sometimes over sketchy roads,
so they needed A-1 driving skills. The trip is suggested to be heavy on
wildlife, but that part was not up to our expectations. We did see creatures,
but fewer than we expected, and generally from greater distances. We had better
sightings in BC before the trip.
We’re not really shoppers, but we could see
that there were lots of opportunities for those who were. It seemed that our
luggage was magically whisked from one hotel room to the next, with no effort
on our part and, at each stop, we easily received our room keys and information
about our individual arrangements. The Holland America hotels were comfortable
and attractive, with efficient, helpful staff. The one exception to that was in
Anchorage, where the hotel was adequate, but not close to the same standard.
Holland America hires summer staff from all over the world for their hotels,
and that leads to a very interesting mix of people. We enjoyed conversations
with several of the students who were working hard, but getting a lot from
their experience. On board, the staff were also from all over, and we heard
interesting stories from them as well.
Skagway and Dawson City were both fun
towns to walk around in and hear stories about. Panning for gold was fun, but
much more difficult than it looks. Denali is a beautiful park, and just
breathing the air there was a great pleasure. We didn’t see the mountain,
because of low-hanging cloud and mist, but the rest of the scenery is
spectacular. There was sticker shock for us throughout the north. By the end of
the trip, most of those prices started to seem normal, but I think the credit
card bill this month will be rather high.
The weather was damp and chilly for
most of the trip, so we didn’t wear the more-summery clothes we took. We
weren’t uncomfortable, though, so it wasn’t really a problem.
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