Vancouver and Alaska Cruise

Vancouver and Alaska Cruise

Enjoy four nights exploring the beautiful city of Vancouver before embarking on this stunning seven-night Alaska cruise. While in Vancouver you will be treated to a tour of the city, taking in Robson Street, Stanley Park, Prospect Point and English Bay Beaches, Granville Island, and historic Gastown, and you'll have plenty of time to explore the city at your own pace.

You will then board Holland America's MS Noordam for a round voyage taking in the south east coast of Alaska. Catch your breath as ice-blue glaciers thunder and crash. Savour a salmon bake, take a wildlife cruise, try dogsledding and enjoy totem- pole gazing. Ports of call include the Inside Passage, Juneau, the Capital of Alaska with a unique blend of the cosmopolitan and the frontier, and Skagway, rooted in the gold rush 100 years ago. You will also be able to enjoy the grand Glacier Bay and the cultural diversity of Ketchican before returning to Vancouver.

What's Included:

• Return flights
• 4 nights accommodation
• Vancouver City Tour
• 7 night Alaska cruise with Holland America
• All meals onboard your cruise from dinner on embarkation day to breakfast on disembarkation day
• Entertainment onboard
• Port taxes

Day 1: London - Vancouver

On arrival into Vancouver make your way to your chosen hotel. The rest of the day is free to explore this city of nature on your own.

Day 2: Vancouver City Tour

This morning see the sights of Vancouver on an included tour, including Robson Street, Stanley Park, Prospect Point and English Bay Beaches, Granville Island, and historic Gastown. Final stop at The Lookout for 360° views of the spectacular city.

Days 3 - 4: Vancouver

It is easy to have an authentic experience and get to the heart of what makes this city so different. Surrounded by mountains and the sea, and with vibrant neighbourhoods it doesn’t matter where you go today – you’ll enjoy discovering the sights and simply wandering, dining and shopping. Your day can start with wildlife-watching on the water and end with a round of bespoke cocktails at the latest lounge, and still include boutique shopping and a mountain hike in between.

Day 5: Board MS Noordam

Known as the Gateway to the Pacific, Vancouver is a thriving, modern city where the mountains and forests meet the sea. Many cruises start and end here, so why not come a little early or linger on after your cruise to enjoy its many attractions.

Day 6: Cruise the Inside Passage

This is the scenic waterway that reaches 1000 miles from beautiful British Columbia to historic Skagway, Alaska. Through a maze of bays, straits, arms and fjords you’ll cruise past an ever-changing panorama of unspoiled beauty with cascading waterfalls, virgin forests and majestic glacier-carved fjords.

Day 7: Cruise Tracy Arm enroute to Juneau

Though it’s not as well known as Glacier Bay, some naturalists claim that Tracy Arm Fjord's Sawyer Glacier is even more spectacular. Framed by 7000-foot high snow-capped mountains, the Sawyer Glacier boasts an impressive list of wildlife, black and brown bears, deer, wolves and moose. Even mountain goats, which usually keep to higher elevation, have been seen near its base.

Next you will sail to Alaska's capital city, Juneau, born in the gold rush of 1880. Today it is the scenery and fauna that is the town’s fortune with wild mountains, fjords and glaciers dominating. Wildlife is abundant – you may spot humpback and killer whales, sea lions, porpoise, eagles and deer and the majestic Mendanhall Glacier is close by.

Day 8: Skagway

A hundred years ago some 20,000 gold prospectors came stampeding through Skagway, a little town that still survives today with it’s false fronted buildings and wooden boardwalks lining the streets.

Day 9: Cruise spectacular Glacier Bay

It’s not surprising that long, narrow, Glacier Bay attracts such a variety of wildlife. Along one side runs the edge of Glacier National Park, home to wolves, moose, grizzly and brown bears, blacktail deer and lynx. Listen for the amazing sound of a glacier ‘calving’. Once you hear it, you’ll never forget it.

Day 10: Ketchikan

The name ‘Ketchikan’ comes from the native language word for “Where the eagles meet”. Much of the town’s colourful past is still in evidence, like the world’s largest collection of totem poles, staring out to sea.

Day 11: Cruise the Inside Passage

Day 12: Vancouver - London

After disembarking from your cruise, you will be transfered to the airport for your return flight home.