3 or 4 night Alaska cruises ?

Hi,

I may be on the West coast early July 2008 and was wondering if there
are any short cruises to Alaska, e.g. from/to Vancouver or Seattle.

If not, what good alternative is there for some ocean excitement
(whalewatching) for 2 or 3 nights in Vancouver or Seattle.

Thanks for any help

Frank
Geneva, Switzerland

Nothing that I am aware of. There are some overnighter's out of Juneau but
nothing from Seattle or Vancouver that I know of.

If you are going to be in Seattle I would suggest you take the Clipper over to
Victoria and spend a couple nights there. Take a Seaplane ride or a whale
watching day excursion while you are there. Any hotel you select would be happy
with assisting you with arrangements but for comfort and location I would
recommend the Empress. It is a great Hotel.

Have a great visit to the USA, and thanks for bringing some of our money back
.......... ;-)

Cal Ford
Lido Deck Cruises






In article ,
SwissCruiser says...

Hi,

I may be on the West coast early July 2008 and was wondering if there
are any short cruises to Alaska, e.g. from/to Vancouver or Seattle.

If not, what good alternative is there for some ocean excitement
(whalewatching) for 2 or 3 nights in Vancouver or Seattle.

Thanks for any help

Frank
Geneva, Switzerland

On 3 Apr 2008 09:19:46 -0700, Cal Ford
wrote:

Nothing that I am aware of. There are some overnighter's out of Juneau but
nothing from Seattle or Vancouver that I know of.

If you are going to be in Seattle I would suggest you take the Clipper over to
Victoria and spend a couple nights there. Take a Seaplane ride or a whale
watching day excursion while you are there. Any hotel you select would be happy
with assisting you with arrangements but for comfort and location I would
recommend the Empress. It is a great Hotel.

Have a great visit to the USA, and thanks for bringing some of our money back
......... ;-)

Cal Ford
Lido Deck Cruises

We enjoyed Victoria and in some ways liked it better than Vancouver or
Seattle. We stayed at the Grand Pacific and can recommend it. They
were very helpful.

It was somewhat less expensive than the Empress but certainly not
inexpensive.

On Thu, 3 Apr 2008 05:57:21 -0700 (PDT), SwissCruiser
wrote:

Hi,

I may be on the West coast early July 2008 and was wondering if there
are any short cruises to Alaska, e.g. from/to Vancouver or Seattle.

If not, what good alternative is there for some ocean excitement
(whalewatching) for 2 or 3 nights in Vancouver or Seattle.

Thanks for any help

Frank
Geneva, Switzerland

No short cruises to Alaska. It takes a day and a half to get from
Seattle or Vancouver to Ketchikan, the southernmost port in Alaska.

I would agree that Victoria would be an interesting place to visit. We
were there for a couple of weeks in late February/early March. The
Empress and the other hotels right by the inner harbor are nice but
very expensive. A room with a king size bed without a view of the
harbor is CDN$429/night.

You could save a fair bit by staying at one of the motels along the
Gorge. It is not right downtown but is a short bus or cab ride. For
example: Victoria Travelodge, 229 Gorge Road East, Victoria, BC V9A
1L1, Canada (250) 388-6611
Non-Smoking Room With 2 Double Beds/ Complimentary In-Room Coffee/Tea/
Complimentary Parking/ Local Calls
1 night (1 Room): CAD 144.00
Taxes: CAD 21.60
* Total: CAD 165.60

You can go whale watching. There are several different whale watching
tour companies that offer trips. They include Prince of Whales, Orca
Spirit Adventures, SpringTide Whale Tours, Eagle Wing Tours, and Ocean
Explorations. Whale sightings are particularly spectacular in May,
June, July, August and September. We went out with Prince of Whales
tours in late February. This was a poor time of year for whale
watching and we didn't see any whales although we did see bald eagles,
seals, sea lions, and an elephant seal. We did hear that the next day
there were a pod of orcas near the coast and that people on the tour
that day got a spectacular view.

The Royal BC Museum near the inner harbor is a great place to visit.
Near the museum is Beacon Hill park which is a great place to walk
around. Be sure to see the heron nests in the trees. Another
interesting place to visit near the harbor is Fisherman's Wharf.
If you want to check out the photos of our trip to Victoria, see:
http://www.neufie.com/Victoria-2008/...bum/index.html

Gerry

On 4/3/2008 7:52 PM Brian plucked Senior Frog's Magic Twanger and said:
On 3 Apr 2008 09:19:46 -0700, Cal Ford
wrote:


Nothing that I am aware of. There are some overnighter's out of Juneau but
nothing from Seattle or Vancouver that I know of.

If you are going to be in Seattle I would suggest you take the Clipper over to
Victoria and spend a couple nights there. Take a Seaplane ride or a whale
watching day excursion while you are there. Any hotel you select would be happy
with assisting you with arrangements but for comfort and location I would
recommend the Empress. It is a great Hotel.

Have a great visit to the USA, and thanks for bringing some of our money back
......... ;-)

Cal Ford
Lido Deck Cruises


We enjoyed Victoria and in some ways liked it better than Vancouver or
Seattle. We stayed at the Grand Pacific and can recommend it. They
were very helpful.

It was somewhat less expensive than the Empress but certainly not
inexpensive.

For whale watching being close to the water on a watching excursion boat
is better than viewing from a cruise ship. You can do this from
Seattle, Vancouver Is., BC Can or Vancouver. The shortest cruise from
Seattle that I know about is, the "Pacific Northwest" cruise offered by
Holland America Lines (HAL). Ports of Call may include: Astoria,
Oregon, Victoria BC and Vancouver, BC with a return to Seattle, Wa.
Including days at sea the entire cruise lasts 5 days. But there are no
stops in Alaska on this cruise.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Dear all,

Thanks for these helpful hints. At least now I can for good forget the
idea of cruising (5 days is too long).
But the whale watching and Seattle-Victoria trip will be considered
carefully.
Regards,

Frank
Geneva, Switzerland

In mid season, the cruises out of Seattle are all week-long crises.

If you are looking forwhale watching and a great diversion, look at the
SanJuan Islands in the Puget Sound north of Seattle.
http://www.sanjuansafaris.com/

RT

"SwissCruiser" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I may be on the West coast early July 2008 and was wondering if there
are any short cruises to Alaska, e.g. from/to Vancouver or Seattle.

If not, what good alternative is there for some ocean excitement
(whalewatching) for 2 or 3 nights in Vancouver or Seattle.

Thanks for any help

Frank
Geneva, Switzerland

GTip10 wrote:
In mid season, the cruises out of Seattle are all week-long crises.
^^^^^^

that doesn't sound very reassuring


--
Anne
South Australia