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Canada & Alaska A Right Proper Bucket List Trip

16th October 2024

Like many other people who enjoy travelling and trying to see our beautiful planet, the thought of ever seeing Canada and Alaska had always appealed to us and been on the bucket list. So after more than two years of planning and saving, we finally did it. 

We flew from Heathrow to Calgary (I believe there are direct flights available from Manchester now too), and joined an organised tour. We were taken to the gorgeous town of Banff in the Canadian Rockies. What a lovely place, just amazing views and scenery whichever way you looked. We spent three nights there and had two days of touring the area, including going up the Banff Sky Gondola, the Hot Springs and the beautiful scenery of Lakes Louise, Moraine and Peyto. The colours are truly amazing.

We continued the sightseeing tour through the Rockies, via Kamloops and on our fifth day arrived at the lovely city of Vancouver. After an overnight stay, the following morning we joined our cruise ship, the Celebrity Solstice. A lovely, more traditional looking ship I would say, with a much more manageable (still nearly 3000) number of passengers, and more like what we prefer. 

We then set off on a 7 night Alaska Cruise. Wow. What can I say? I know the expletives are coming thick and fast and they are sometimes used a bit too frequently nowadays, but honestly, they are all so true on this trip. We sailed the Inside Passage with a first day at sea (not exactly a hardship on a five star cruise liner, is it. In fact we do rather enjoy sea days) and then we had a day at Icy Strait Point, which is a great place for all kinds of trips and activities and sightseeing. We got back to the ship late afternoon and literally from our balcony watched some Orca Whales in the calm waters just near us. Amazing.

The next day, and this was our particular highlight, we sailed to the Hubbard Glacier. This is hard to describe. We were weather dependent on how close we could get.. I will leave you to look up how big this thing is, and it is a struggle to get the enormity of it onto photographs (and I certainly tried), but the Captain, and the Pilots on board, took us so close to this glacier that you could hear it creaking and cracking and see it calving (bits falling off it). We spent a few hours there just sitting on the ship looking at it. Truly an amazing experience we will never forget, and we said a few times how humble we felt to be so close to such an amazing sight.

After that, the next day was a stop at Juneau. Lots of things to do and wildlife to see (we saw quite a few Bald Eagles, they are not actually bald, their heads are white, and some people did see a Brown Bear, and we saw another glacier.

Our final stop was at Ketchikan, which was another fascinating place with lots to see and do, before another sea day sailing back through the Inside Passage to Vancouver. We then flew back directly from Vancouver.

What an amazing and memorable trip. We are so pleased we finally did it.

Andy