Excursion Review: Victoria, Canada Craigdarroch Castle and CityHighlights

Today we arrived in Victoria, Canada to a sunny day. We hopped on our tour bus and did a drive through the city before heading to a castle style Victorian manor home.

Here are some photos.

Reminds me a bit of Downton Abbey just a little smaller.

A nice morning.

Today we boarded our Disney Cruise Ship, the 'Disney Wonder'

Today we boarded our cruise ship the
Disney Wonder for a 4 night cruise before we head back to Australia. The cruise takes us to Victoria, Canada and then we have a few sea days before arriving in San Diego.

Our 1 bedroom suite is really nice. Stateroom 8602, here are my photos:

Huge balcony:

1st bathroom:

2nd bathroom:

We were greeted with a reception for suite guests where the concierge explained everything to us and made us feel very welcome.

We are about to go to the mandatory emergency drill and then we head off to dinner at Animator's Palate.  This restaurant is unique as the walls are covered in Disney cartoons in black and white and as the dinner progresses, they turn to full colour! 

Excursion review: Vancouver to Whistler Rocky Mountaineer Trip

Today we are on an excursion I booked through Viator.

We were picked up at 6.50 am at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver where we are staying and transferred to the train station where we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer train to go to Whistler. 

It's a lovely sunny day here with a forecast   temperature of 27 degrees. 

The train trip is a very picturesque ride through the fjords and mountains.

On the train they served us a nice breakfast of yoghurt and a ham and cheese croissant along with tea, coffee and juices. Very nice.

The trip to Whistler takes 2-3 hours. 

Here are some photos taken from the train as we made our way through the fjords and up to the mountain.

When we arrived in Whistler we had four hours free time before we had to meet our bus to go back down the muntain.

We had a nice lunch at The Blacks Pub. Heaps of Aussies everywhere!

Then we went on a cable car trip up to the top of Whistler mountain where we would get on a gondola to go 'peak 2 peak' between Whistler mountain and Blackcomb mountain. A bit scary but awesome. Here are soma shots we took.

These little cable cars take up to 6 people. 

This was just the cable car up the mountain. It took 25 minutes so you can imagine how high we had to go. As we approached the top of the mountain, the views became more majestic as snow topped mountains came into view. I can only imagine this place in winter with snow everywhere. I can see why this was the location of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Then at the top of the mountain we got on the gondola to go across to the other peak. Here is a photo of the gondola car. This one seats up to 24 people.

Just awesome.

Then we did the same trip in reverse to return to the base.

After this we went to meet our bus and started on the 3 hour rude back to Vancouver.

We got back to our hotel after 7.00pm so we were super tired. We had been out six 6.00am.

A great excursion, big day. Tomorrow we board the Disney Wonder!!

Hubbard Glacier

On the cruise we spent two days at Hubbard Glacier. The ship goes right up to the glacier and spins around a few times so everyone gets a good look.
The whole day is spectacular as you sail up to the glacier, the anticipation builds. Get a great spot on your balcony or on deck, grab a hot beverage and prepare to be dazzled. At this place it is like all the worries of the world are forgotten. It is very cold but worth every moment.

As you sail up to the glacier the water is more and more littered with glacier ice. The sight of this glacier and the sounds of it cracking are eerie and this is an awesome experience.

Photos below

Juneau, Alaska - on our own

Today we are in Juneau for the second time on this trip. Last time we were here we went on an excursion to the glacier so this time we decided to explore on our own. In Juneau we step off the ship and we are in the main tourist part of town Right at the wharf is the Mount Roberts Tramway which is a cable car that takes you up Mount Roberts. Tickets are a little pricey, $32 per adult and $16 per child but you get a full day pass it you want to have multiple rides.

We took the cable car up, it is a little eery going into the clouds hanging by this cable but was worth the experience. We did a little souvenir shopping at the store and then went and had lunch at the restaurant there. Very nice meals and a lovely setting. I had to have the king crab legs, I am hooked on these and I doubt I will get to have then again!

After lunch we took the cable car down the mountain and went shopping.

We had attended a shopping presentation on board the ship. This presentation was designed to give you the best tips on shopping in each of the ports and how to get the best discounts.

One thing I was surprised about was that all these Alaskan towns are full of jewellery stores. Just about every second store is a jewellery store. I didn't understand why this was the case. It turns out Alaska is the place to shop for precious gems and jewels! The stores here are the size of department stores.  The stores open only during the cruise season and then pack up and go home. The selection is endless! When we attended the presentation we got to understand about he different gems available here. 

We started our shopping at Diamonds International to get our free charm bracelet. They are very smart getting you in the door to get your 'free' bracelet and then they start the sales pitch. Anyway they must have seen me coming because I left this store much poorer!

In the next store Effy, I managed not to buy anything other than a small earring and pendant set which was a special offer that I had from the ship.

The next store we went to was Del Sol. This is a great store for t shirts that change colour in the sun. They also have Disney character t shirts that change colour in the sun too. We got a few of these. Michael was disappointed he couldn't wear one right away, there is no sun here! 

We kept going on our shopping tour, in the drizzly rain and our next stop was Milano Jewellery. I wanted to go to this store to get our free rain poncho....but left 30 minutes later after having purchased some 'dancing diamond' earrings. I am such an easy mark!

I think we will stay away from the jewellery stores for the rest if the trip!

Here are some photos of the ship alongside the town.

Here is a photo from the top of Mount Roberts. The two ships are Rhapsody of the Seas and Silver Shadow. There is also a Holland America ship here in addition to ours.

Although it was raining, which is normal for Jueanu, we had a good day out.