The Canadian Rockies With Alaska Cruise – Cosmos (20 Days From Vancouver to Vancouver)
after nearly 6 hours of nothing on offer, which was given begrudgingly. Finally we arrived in Vancouver, where we caught the train to Davie Street to our hotel – Sandman Suites on Davie. An old building in the centre of the Gay Centre of Vancouver. A sex shop across the road, and a gay bar a few doors up. We met our tour director, Heather in the foyer. Next day we commenced our 14 day journey stopping at places like Kelowna, Banff, Jasper, Sun Peaks, Whistler and Victoria. One stop had no public toilet/washroom, but we could pay $12 Canadian dollars to use the toilets in a museum. No amount of requests from the tour director would convince the proprietor to allow us entry, but agreed we could use them for only $6.00.
Unfortunately, we were given no breakfast meals for the 14 days. This meant having to walk often distances in excess of 2 km each way to get some food in for breakfast the next day. Other bus tours cancelled going to Jasper due to a major fire causing smoke and breathing difficulties for the people of Jasper. We continued and stayed in a hotel with such features as no power except with a generator on half power, meaning no television, no air conditioning, and no internet. Shops were at a distance, so far to walk older passengers couldn’t do it, and no other means of transport to get there. We regularly had to wait to our first stop to purchase breakfast and coffee.
Be prepared to pay gratuities for everything, starting at 15% up to 25% then add the tax paid on most things, particularly alcohol, this can add quite a bit to any bill, then add any fees for converting Canadian/American dollar to Australian. A $440 dollar bill ended up paying over $600.
Finally we arrived back at Vancouver Canada place where we were to embark on our ship, Holland American Lines Koningsdam. This would have been the best example of poor organisation ever. We have cruised from both Sydney and Melbourne with no bother boarding within 30 minutes. Embarkation took 2 1/2 hours of lining up and being herded like sheep. The whole episode was farcical.
We paid over $1800 extra on the price of the cruise to be upgraded to a porthole. Imagine our surprise to find the Aussie in the room next to us who paid less than us minus the upgrade to get a porthole, or the couple who $600 extra on the price of the cabin to get a balcony. I enquired with the ship purser who advised that this was something arranged through the travel agent who could have arranged this with other packages such as a drink package, an Internet package or a free upgrade. The internet was available to all for ONLY $29.99 for a day, or $140 for the week.
Our first port was Juneau, this consisted of 3 separate shops, a jewellery shop, a souvenir shop or a clothing shop. Throw in one or two other shops, it was hardly worth leaving the ship for. Second port was Skagway, a pleasant shopping street with many variety of shops. The White Pass and Yukon Route train is well worth the trip for 3 hours. The scenery is unbelievable. The third port was Ketchikan, a pretty town with many interesting tours available. Overall the cruise was enjoyable and the views are breath taking, unfortunately the cruise was the second last for the season and as such many items such as fruit juice was unavailable , or certain wines due to no restocking.
We arrived back in Vancouver for our return flight to Sydney. After putting our suitcases thru, the man from Air Canada stated the seat allocation would occur 4 hours prior to the flight at the gate. We waited at the gate for someone from Air Canada to arrive at the given time, but unfortunately they didn’t show for a further 4 hours. I approached the representative from Air Canada, and advised him that we were checked in but had no seat allocation. He informed me that it was highly unlikely we would get a seat as the plane was over booked and required people to offer to catch a later flight the next day. I advised him we also had a connecting flight in Sydney. He said he would try to get us on board but we would be sitting separately. Eventually we were allocated seats together and boarded. Due to nobody checking the carry on luggage there was insufficient room for all the bags so this caused further dramas and delays. After this was finally sorted, we left Vancouver nearly an hour late, which caused a chain reaction for the numerous passengers with connecting flights.
On arrival in Sydney alternative flights had to be arranged by Air Canada, including ours. We flew out an hour and a half later than our original flights. An adventurous 3 weeks with many ups, but just as many downs. Sights were unbelievable and make it worth the money.
Very excited to fly from Melbourne to Sydney to catch an Air Canada flight to Vancouver. What a disappointment Air Canada is. The plane was a Dreamliner, that could not have been more uncomfortable if they tried. Served a hot meal within an hour of take off. An alcoholic drink was offered straight after. We were required to ask a hostess for a drink …read more
