Sun 16/05 - arrived 7:00, half an hour ahead of schedule. Meet/greet with Carla from Scenic - minibus to Fairmont in centre of town. On Gold floor with nibblies and breakfast included. Dead tired but went to Grouse Mountain, a big landmark in VC. Snow covered peaks. Grissly bears. Even more tired by the time we got back so snooze for an hour from 15:00. Dinner at The Keg Caesar, a block down the road. Marta had sirloin, I had Dungeness crab. Both were great. $67 all up. Great value.

Photos: Arriving at the airport and our Fairmont Vancouver hotel room.

Mon 17/05 - Scenic sightseeing tour from 8:00 to 14:00. Not bad but a bit slow at times. Then relaxing for rest of afternoon until the formal welcome dinner in the Waddington room where we got our badges etc and got to give a brief intro talk about ourselves. Seems to be a reasonable bunch of 29 on the tour. Early to bed as still a bit tired and early start tomorrow.

Photos: Dinner at the Keg Caeser restaurant and walking across a sky walkway during the excursion.

Tue 18/05 - up at 4:45, bags out 5:30. Train 7:30. Slow start. Very nice and comfortable. Dead tired. Superb food. Plenty to drink. Pleasant company. Grey skies. Rain or drizzle most of the way. Daly & Thompson rivers muddy brown most of the way and that is the way they normally are, carrying silt from mountains to the sea. Some 262 miles of dead boring slow progress for some 11 hours. Having seen the Amazon, Mississippi and Rhine, these are only JUST rivers. We are told that the slow pace is due to maintenance works being carried out daily throughout the year. Boring, boring, boring - how long can you look at an inconspicuous river on a slow train to Kamloops? Still, most of the group appear to find it all pretty exciting, snapping away with with their camera. Some have never been overseas before so I guess that is understandable. Running commentary on and off during the day gives history and/or information about where we are. Food is excellent. Alcohol supply is at no charge and appears unlimited.

Photos: Rocky Mountaineer Train, inside and out.

Wed 19/05 - onto the bus at 6:15 and to the station. Train left at 7:00. Beautiful day, blue skies with scattered cottonbud clouds a little later. Same deal - 12 hours on the train with few interesting sights, at least until afternoon when we hit the Rockies. For me at least it's hard filling in 12 hours with nothing to do. Snoozing, boozing and reading seems to defeat the purpose of the exercise. I can do that for much less than the $2500 or so the trip costs. Food was excellent though, as was the wine to go with it, and liquor was unlimited and almost foisted upon the passengers, maybe to dull them into an alcoholic daze. As one passenger asked as we [and may others] were standing in the aisle at one stage: Why do we stand in the aisle? Answer: It's harder to fall asleep that way.

Photos: The Canadian Rockies through the train ceiling.

Thu 20/05 - Banff overcast, cold [5 to 9 max] and drizzly. Bow River rafting was very average, sitting on a rubber ducky as we drifted for 8 kms down stream and have various mountains etc pointed out. No drizzle, just cold. Then wandered down the street for a look around but really to cold and drizzly to do much so day basically snoozing back at the hotel and doing a conducted tour of the hotel. Fairmont here is fantastic. Looks like an old castle. 768 rooms. Luxurious. Dinner in German restaurant, with no German, beer, wine, sausage or menu items. Started snowing as we finished dinner. Very cold. Forecast for Lake Louise tomorrow is -6 to +6. And we're nearly into summer?

Photos: Banff downtown scenes, in coffee shop [lousy coffee throughout Canada] and Fairmont Hotel.

Fri 21/05 - On to Lake Louise with stops for Gondola trip at Banff on way out and Lake Emerald for photos. Lunch at Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise on the way. Very cold. Snowing probably most of the way. Snow settling on trees so really looked like Christmas. Dinner at great restaurant, superb meal with superb view. No "Gold' class for us here but accommodation still OK.

Photo: Lake Louise in front of hotel.

Photo: Lake Emerald en route to Lake Louise.

Sat 22/05 - on to Jasper today via the Athabasca Glacier. Great stop and ride onto the glacier in "Ice Explorer". Some photo stops along the way and spotted bears and other wild life on the way. Jasper is just a tourist town full of souvenir shops and restaurants. Got to Fairmont motel, about 15 mins drive out of town, about 17:30. Dinner booked for 18:30 so little time to relax. That has been a problem everywhere so far - we arrive just in time for the dinner booked. Feels like rush, rush, rush.

Photo: Abathasca Glacier [in centre in background].

Photos: Abathasca Glacier in background and Marta with huge Ice Explorers behind.

Air con didn't work [controls installed but when I rang to ask how to work it as I couldn't switch it on was told it wasn't connected due to environmental considerations - so why have the controls there?], TV remote didn't work [guy who came told me I needed to use a different remote, which I hadn't noticed, and the one I had been using was just to switch it on/off - however that wasn't working and it seemed to work OK with the other remote so left it at that], couldn't connect to internet [when I called I was told the instructions in the rooms to use the cable no longer applied and that I should be using wireless, which isn't mentioned anywhere - but wireless wouldn't work either so they sent around a tech with a new cable which eventually worked OK] and they had no AU/CA power adapters left. When we got back after dinner there was an ice bucket? with comlimentary bottle of wine and note of apology from tour agent at front desk and an AU/CA power adapter. Seems they had one after all? Computer now hooks into wireless connection automatically so cable no longer required - but neither remote now works for the TV. Also unable to actually log into the internet again - says it doesn't recognise our name or room number. Hmmm.... looks like Fawlty Towers is alive an well in Jasper.

Photos: Jasper Park Lodge and black bear grazing on roadside.

Sun 23/05 - at Jasper for the day with our activity this morning being rafting down the Athabaska River. Marta said she hadn't asked for that and I have no recollection of it being discussed with me so no idea why we ended up with that. Anyway, it turned out to be really good. The river [stream?] is fed by the Glacier we saw yesterday and that's its only real source of water. If the day is cold the river height drops as there is little ice melt. If that day is warm the height increases. Temperature never gets above 3 deg C. Afternoon free. Wandered around the grounds [700 acres incl the golf course and lake] and then shuttle into town for a few supplies for the evening as we didn't feel like dining out. A bath and a bottle of wine and I was in bed and asleep by 5:00. Didn't get up until 6:30 the next day. Missed out on a great party the group had beside the lake, just in front of cabin. Miserably cold but everyone came with a bottle of wine and seemed to have a great time.

Mon 24/05 - On to Sun Peaks at 10:00. Long day, lost an hour and arrived at 5:00. Stop at Mt Robson, highest point on Rockies, for quick coffee. Group dinner at 18:00 followed by presentation on Canada, Hudson Bay Co and Northwest Co histories. Excellent and interesting. Got to bed at 22:00 for bags out at 6:45 and departure 7:45. The coaches are scarry. No markers at side of roads. No safety barriers. Vertical drops 100'+ along the way. Driver says we would all die anyway if we went over the edge so no point in markers or flimsy barriers.

Tue 25/05 - on the coach at 7:30 and to Whistler at 16:00. Bear talk at 16:30. Really interesting. Dinner at Wildlife restaurant at 6:45. Nice meal of bouillabaisse and a rare prime rib for Marta.

Wed 26/05 - 7.45 departure for dog sled run. High in the mountains with still heaps of snow. Go up in 4WD. Facinating experience. Then a wander around town before a light lunch and back to Fairmont Whistler at 14:00. Snooze for an hour and then drinks and dinner.

Photo: Dog sled team lining up to take us for a run.

Photos: Dinner at Whistler, ride up mountain to dogs, the dogs, in the sled and view of Whistler on the way down.

Thu 27/05 - 6:25* - 7:30 bags out, on the road at 9:00. Nice and sunny but cool, not that the temperature outside makes much difference on the coach. Stop at Shannon Falls, quite a spectacular waterfall, then on to Horseshoe Bay for ferry to Vancouver Island and two hours drive to Victoria and the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Very smart and fashionable old hotel recently renovated and our double room [BR plus separate lounge/study] on the Gold floor is brilliant. I think the room must be a Scenic Platinum privilege that goes with the limo pickup and return service at departure airports. Either that or we just got lucky.

Photos: Victoria's Fairmont Empress Hotel, view from room, bedroom, private study adjoining.

Fri 28/05 - woke up to a cold and wet morning - overcast and raining. Decided to give the Butchart Gardens tour a miss and had a wander around town instead. Lots of interesting novelty shops and the usual malls and department stores. Also had a look at a Chapters bookstore, similar in size and concept to Borders. Bought a book for reading on the cruise. Wanted to buy the 3rd of Steig Larson's trilogy but it has only just been released in Canada so is in hardback only at CA$32. Will buy it for half that in paperback when we get back to Sydney. Group dinner at 18:45 as the final dinner for the on-the-road part of the tour.

2. Alaska

Sat 29/05 - bags out 6:30, breakfast at 7:00 departure at 7:45. Cold and wet again. Apparently NOT a typical Canadain spring but these are the breaks. Most of the trip has been fine. Coach to ferry for an hour and a half back to Vancouver then an hour to the departure port in the city and then two hours in a queue to get the customs and immigration, complete with full fingerprinting of both hands and photo with web cam. On board by 2:30 and a fairly average lunch in the Lido restaurant/bistro. 3-3.5 stars. Then drinks in the Crows Nest until about 20:00 and dinner with a couple of Pomms, 4 Kiwis and a couple from Canada. To bed around 22:00 and slept through until 5:30.

Photo: Zuiderdam - the ship we will be on for the next week.

Photo: The big flying whale painting we will wake up to each morning. Wonder what that's all about?

Sun 30/05 - started cloudy but sunshine soon came through. Breakfast with a couple from Pennsylvania and Charlestown near Newcastle, who tell us they are with another Scenic group, almost wholly from the Charlestown area as HWT had a big promotion there. Then a relaxing morning. and day at sea. Dinner at the Lido. Average.

Photos: Boarding, our stateroom and the Lido Dining Room used mainly for breakfast and lunch.

Mon 31/05 - bright and sunny - in Juneau today. Off at 9:00 on catamaran to see glaciers and local wildlife. Picked up 5.5 hours before Juneau. Sawyer Glacier was brilliant. Got really close. Spotted whales. Connected back with Zuiderdam at 14:30 in Juneau. Not much in Juneau. Small tourist town full of diamond and tanzanite shops - and souvenirs. Had great crab legs and a beer at King Crabs Shack behind library. Dinner at The Pinnacle. We had lobster tails, which were small but nice.

Photo: The Sawyer Glacier - it's huge and we're very close but it's hard to convey that in a photo.

Photo: The Spectacular Tracy Arms Fjords.

Photos: Catamaran leaving for fjords and galciers excursion with Zuiderdam and Rotterdam ships in the background, the whole of Juneau from high up in a gondola and Marta downtown.

Photo: Having a feed of crab legs in The king Crab Shack behind the library.

Tue 01/06 - overcast but fine, then sunny. Skagway is a very small town [500-800 during winter] with some 10,000 tourists today from 4 ships. At least one ship in port every day to 29/09. Bought a nice ornament made by local artist. Wandered around the back streets to get a feel for the town, read a bit. Dinner at The Pinnacle.

Photos: Skagway main street and a local "bordello tour guide" strutting her stuff.

Photo: Skagway shops in main street.

Wed 02/06 - sun up at about 2:30 am when I opened my eyes. High on the horizon by 4:30 when I got up to sit in the Crows Nest bar for the expansive views approaching Glacier Bay, where we cruise for the day. Saw the Pacific and Majestic Glaciers, large and interesting, although Sawyer [Junea] and Athabaska [Canada] had been more spectacular. It had taken until around 12:00 to get to these glaciers. Early in the morning I had seen many whales and seals but there was little wildlife to be seen the rest of the day. It clouded over around 1:00 and was a bleak and rainy afternoon. We had dinner in the room [poor food and poor service]. I was very tired so was in bed around 7:30. Must be the lack of having anything to do all day.

Photos: Views cruising Glacier Bay, Margerie Glacier [blue] and Grand Pacific Glacier [black].

Thu 03/06 - overcast morning as we arrive in Ketchican and then cold and rainy most of the day. Another small tourist town, although this one is has some 8,000 permanents so must have a purpose other than tourism. Shopping is essentially the same as Juneau and Skagway though. Diamonds, tanzanite and souvenirs. We strolled around town, caught a local bus a for a wider view and then back to the ship. Departure was at 17:30. Noticed a cough late in evening. Maybe picked up a shipboard bug at last?

Photos: Arriving in Ketchican in miserable weather with three other ships and jewelry shops typical of every port at which we call.

Fri 04/06 - at sea - cold, overcast and raining. Morning meeting to find out disembarking times and process tomorrow. The day was spent snoozing, reading, eating and gazing out to sea. Farewell cocktails for our group at 16:00 and then a special farewell dinner at night for all passengers, at which the kitchen and serving staff put on a bit of a show. Cough again, indigestion and sore burning chest.

Sat 05/06 - overcast and cold but not raining. We [the group with pink luggage tags, number 4 bus and staying or transiting at the Fairmont Vancouver] - there are lots of groups, each to a different destination - were scheduled to disembark 08:20-08:30 but an announcement at 08:30 asked all passengers to take a seat in the lounge as departures had been delayed. It seems that the luggage [picked up at 13:00 that morning] was not yet ready for us on the dock. Disembarked about half an hour later to join queues at immigration control and then another to the bus. Finally boarded but then bus would not start so everyone needed to be transferred to another bus. Our hotel was only 5-6 blocks away so we got off and walked. Only one other couple also got off. Checked in at the Gold floor and straight to the room, already waiting. Felt like we'd arrived home. Had a coffee and were heading out when we saw the bus finally arrive. Then a walk around Vancouver, a train out to Metrotown some 15 minutes out of the city, got off at Chinatown on the way back, had lunch, walked around the quaint streets of Gastown to buy some presents then back to the hotel for a quick rest before dinner. Dinner was at The Keg Caeser again, for an excellent feed of steak and king crab legs. It was interesting to watch pedestrians all walking around in shorts and/or short sleeved shirts etc as the temp was about 10-12. Looks like the locals think that as it's summer it MUST be warm. ??? Persistent intermittent cough and sore chest.

Sun 06/06 - a nice alternating cloudy and sunny day with a max of 17. Breakfast then a walk to the waterfront and about 3 kms along seawall in Stanley Gardens before heading back. Jacket was too hot but having it off was too cold. Sore chest. Back to hotel at 14:30 for a coffee and then off for a late snack-lunch next door before drinks and rest at the hotel. After lunch Marta went shopping and found some "fantastic specials" with which to cram into our already tight bags while I caught up with the blog notes and got all this online. A snack for dinner and then to bed.

Mon 07/06 - last day here - forecast high is 19 and sunny - looking out the window it's wet and cold and completely overcast. We leave at 23:00 tonight. Check out is at 14:00 but they will store our bags and give us access to the lounge until we leave. Cough worse overnight so will need to find some cough elixir before we leave. Went and found a nearby Chapters store, then back to pack. Finsihed about 12:00 and left it with concierge. Walked down Pender to Chinatown [sun now out] for lunch then back via Pender. The humanity there for two to three blocks was BAD news. The great unwashed. The unemployed. The unemployable. The spivs. The mentally deranged. The deformed. They were all there, basically in rags. David Copperfield sprang to mind. We knew we were back in civilisation when we saw the Cannabis Cultural Headquarters on our right, followed by the Center for Swordplay shortly after on our right. Then up to the Vancouver Tower viewing deck and back to Chapters for a closer look at a couple of books I had noticed there earlier and back to the hotel lounge by about 16:00 for a quiet read an nibblies before dinner downstairs. Then a cab to the airport at 20:00 for our flight out at 23:00 to arrive back in Sydney tomorrow [Wed 09/06/10] at 08:00.

3. To Sum Up...

Our purpose for the trip was see at first hand the Canadian Rockies and Alaskan Glaciers. We found the trip excellent and worthwhile overall and are pleased to have done it. Having said that, we also found some short comings.

The Rocky Mountaineer provided excellent food, service and views. However it was far too long and I found it boring and uncomfortable for 2 days x 12 hours. Day 1 was a waste of time, with the latter part of day 2 the only time to get really interesting. The group of 16 ladies who joined us in Kamloops for the second day had the right idea. They got to sample the Rocky Mountaineer Gold Leaf experience at half the cost and less boredom. The Gold Leaf experience was actually pretty good. Excellent food and plenty of "free" liquor all day long. I think they were plying us with booze to take our minds of having nothing else to do except maybe snooze and read. At about $2500 for the trip though, that's a pretty expenive way to snooze or read, and gaze around only occassionally to see where we are.

The Athabasca Glacier between Banff and Lake Louise was spectacular, as was all the scenery that day due to the recent and continuing snow which blanketed the mountains in white. There was sufficient snow to highlight the trees in white and several bear sightings added excitement. The dog sledding at Whistler was brilliant. The Jasper Lodge was a Faulty Towers experience but overall the accommodation and service everywhere was great. Food was all good but there were no highlights that I now remember. The closest was in Banff, going to a German restaurant with no German beer, no German wine, no German sausage, no sauerkraut, no pickles or any German dish, other than one in name only.

The cruise was a disappointment. Some revelled in it and wanted the time doubled or extended to at least 10 days. On the other hand, there were others more than ready to get off early. The ports were tiny old towns/villages. The excusions offered were little more than something to get people on shore and spend money. Some passengers enjoyed what they selected. Others did not. We gave most of them a miss. All ports emphasise diamond, tanzanite and jewellry shops, interspersed with large souvenir shops. With the way all these were promoted on board I suspect that the ships or staff have a big financial interest in them. We also noticed that we were travelling in a "convoy". There were always at least 4 cruise ships in port at the same time - the Zuiderdam, Rotterdam, Golden Princess and another Princess I don't now remember. All about the same size. Also a Celbrity ship at a couple of ports. With around 2,000 passengers each this swelled the population of all towns we visited considerably while we were in port.

The highlight of the cruise for us was the Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer adventure by catameran before we docked at Juneau, the first time I understand this had been offered. Sawyer Glacier was brilliant, giving us very close and personal views of a calving glacier. The views in Glacier Bay would probably have seemed more spectacular had we not already seen Athabasca or Sawyer so the whole day cruising around Glacier Bay was, although interesting at times, a bit of an anti-climax. We only had three ports on our 7-days cruise so 4 days were spent at sea. I noticed in local papers that there are many other Alaskan ports on offer with other cruise ships.

I'd rate the Zuiderdam [Holland America Line] as 3.5 stars, same as the Scenic European River Cruise ships. By comparison, the Queeen Mary 2 was 5 stars and Nautica [Oceania Line] 5.5 stars. The rooms and balconies on the Zuiderdam were quite a bit larger than on any of the others. However the TV was placed square to the SIDE of of the bed [ie not possible for two people to view comfortably] and the chairs and couch were uncomfortbale for longish periods. The bed was hard and I had a sore back or backache most mornings. The balcony was unuseable as it was too cold.

Food onboard was reasonable but again nothing memorable even though we ate at the top [extra cost] Pinnacle Restaurant several times. We did however have excellent food elsewhere - at The Keg Ceasar in Vancouver with sirloin steak for Marta and Dungeness Crab for me on our first night in Vancouver and then again with sirloin steak & King Crab when we returned, at The King Crab Shack in Juneau for a delicious feed of crab legs with great friendly service and at the East Fusion Food Restaurant in Chinatown Vancouver for an excellent Hot & Spicy Seafood Soup.

Overall, we are pleased to have done the trip and despite some of the negatives, which in the wider context are relatively minor, had a great time and experience to remember.