Finally checked off the Alaskan cruise on my dad's bucket list! Alaskan cruise season is May to Sep, and my exams ended in May so June was an opportune time. It seems like Princess Cruises and Holland America are the two main cruise lines for Alaska, and I eventually picked Princess as it seemed a bit livelier. There were soo many different itineraries comprising different directions (North to South or vice versa), different departure ports (Vancouver or Seattle), different Alaskan ports, as well as cruise only, land then cruise or cruise then land. And then of course, which ship, which room, whether to get the package or not. I started researching last year and still couldn't make a decision. Until around February when I realised many of the options were getting sold out that I decided to just go ahead and settled on a 7 day, north bound cruise on Discovery Princess departing Vancouver.
We took an early morning flight at 7am, direct from Sg to Vancouver on Aircanada. The meals were a little odd - it was dinner, then a snack, then breakfast, and I tried the low calorie meal option as the regular menu didn't appeal much. Ended up with a solid hunk of chicken breast, the veg option for the sandwich snack was just the veg option, as well as an omelette with some veg and a chicken patty for breakfast. Not too bad. The 15h flight felt like a million years and I finished 3.5 movies!
We finally landed in Vancouver on the dot at 650am on 28 June, which is BEFORE when we left, because of the huge time different. Customs and luggage pickup was smooth, and we arrived at Blue Horizon Hotel around 9am. Lo and behold, the room was ready!
First stop was Granville Island Public Market! There are two ferries and I specifically decided to go for the aquabus just because the boats look cute and more quaint haha. Its a suuuuper short ride and the attendants barely have time to collect fares.
Since we were still full from breakfast, we just explored the place and went into every souvenir store to digest, before finally heading to the market to procure the two items I was targeting - Lee's honey dipper donuts and La Bise caneles. So yummy!
We caught a bus back to the downtown side of Vancouver, and embarked on a veryyy long walk along the seawall, from Coal Harbour to Stanley Park and stopped by the Brockton Point Lighthouse where we could also see the Lions Gate Bridge, followed by the totem poles!
From Stanley Park, we took a bus to Gastown for a coffee break at Revolver! Cortado and flat white were pretty good, and banana bread was also decent though it was cold.
It was still early so we had time to do some shopping along Robson St. And of course, it's world cup season and there happened to be a Canada match where they thrashed Qatar 6-0 so the streets were ALIVE.
Managed to buy a tee and some other souvenirs, dropped off our loot at the hotel then went for dinner at Nightingale. Had the brussel sprouts, duck confit, lemon ricotta agnolotti, and grilled halibut. sooo good. couldn't pass up dessert, and of course had to get some choc with earl grey mousse that was delish.
Day 2
Another lovely day in Vancouver. We headed out super early to be first in line for Medina's as they don't take reservations and were indeed the first customers heh. Got the liege waffle with white choc pistachio sauce, veg frittata and salmon toast, and everything was a hit. The flat white and mocha were superb too, and prices were super reasonable too, even after tips.
Walked back to our hotel to catch the free shuttle to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which is one of the main tourist attractions in Vancouver. So it happens that our hotel is a partner of the bridge, hence the shuttle stops there and we got discounts for tickets too. Tickets cost upwards of 70pp, but the park is super well maintained and there's a bunch of activities apart from the bridge so I would say it's pretty worth it.
We listened to the staff explain the meaning of the totem poles, then crossed the (very crowded) bridge.
There were some treetop walks that reminded me of hundred acre wood. Then just went around visiting the various stations and learning about wildlife.
Caught the bus back to Canada Place and took some pretty touristy photos.
Then walked over to Nemesis Coffee for a light lunch. The pistachio raspberry pain suisse was meh (pastries which are not heated up are usually meh), but the freshly made mortadella sandwich was v good! Coffee was decent but didn't blow my mind.
Walked by the famous Steam Clock at Gastown.
Next stop was Chinatown. We walked around the Sun Yat Sen gardens, but didn't wanna pay for the Botanic Gardens heh.
I initially planned to have ice cream after dinner, but decided to head there earlier instead. So we walked about 20 minutes south to Earnest's ice cream, passing by the Science World which was decked out as a football lol.
Got two of their signatures - whisky hazelnut and salty choc rye cookie which were so good! Wanted to try the london fog too but I was stressed at the sampling station. Oh wells.
And then walked all the way back to Chinatown to visit the Chinese Canadian museum cos I've always been curious about why there were so many Chinese/HKers in Vancouver. Unfortunately the museum didn't really delve that much on this aspect, as the focus was on the particular family who owned the house and some rotating exhibits.
Finally, dinner at Kissa Tanto which is one starred! We went with the ala carte menu to try a variety of dishes. Starter was some tuna confit with potato and tobiko on baguette which was unlike anything we've ever tasted. A tad salty though. Then two of their signature pastas - tajarin and charcoal udon. Both were 10/10. SO good. And finally the half roasted spring chicken done two ways which was delicious but portion was huge. Had to have a side of broccolini for greens, and was just absolutely stuffed.
Day 3 (Cruise Day 1)
Last morning in Vancouver! Breakfast at Palate Kitchen - specifically for their famous french toast which is deep fried. Would only try this when on holiday with ppl to share the dish with lol. Soo sinful but yummy. Was also pleasantly surprised by the mushroom truffle hummus toast which was super flavourful. Flat white was good, which is to be expected as this place is an offshoot of Pallet coffee roasters. Also tried the biscoff latte which was just sweet lol.
Then it was shopping time, going around to all the drug stores to buy souvenirs and cheap cerave.
Final cafe stop at Timbertrain at Gastown. Another flat white and cortado combi plus a sweet snack.
Headed back to the hotel to check out and took an Uber to Canada Place as we didn't wanna drag our luggage for 15min lol. After some confusion by the Uber driver, we arrived at the correct place for boarding. I was surprised by how smooth the whole process was. Truly a well oiled machine - from luggage tagging so the porters could bring it to our rooms, collection of medallion, customs and finally boarding the ship.
We booked a mini suite so we have two singles and a sofa bed. It just feels like a very small hotel room with a balcony. We were on the Marina deck just below the pool deck, which is a bad idea as the protruding pool deck blocks views and you can hear the pool chairs getting dragged. Lesson learnt!
First things first - lunch at the buffet!
Then spent the rest of the day mostly exploring the humongous ship, learning what forward, aft, port and starboard are, as well as where all the dining spots are. Also went for trivia challenge and did terribly lol.
Luckily I read online to make reservations for dinner, so I just booked Ketchikan Dining Room every night. There are 3 dining rooms on Discovery Princess - Juneau Dining Room is a fixed time slot daily, Ketchikan accepts reservations at different time slots, and Skagway is for walk-ins.
Service was pretty slow (tends to be on sea days when everyone is onboard). Food was okay - we had a chowder, shrimp cocktail and salad for appetisers, salmon, chicken and beef for mains, and creme brulee, cheesecake and pistachio mousse for dessert. I think the desserts at the buffet/international cafe were generally better than the dining room though.
Day 4 (Cruise Day 2)
Day 2 is another sea day so it was just lots of eating and watching shows. Definitely not my style of vacation, but suited for older folk!
For breakfast, you could either have it at the Ketchikan Dining Room (on a walk-in basis from 7am), the buffet, or the international cafe. For the first breakfast, we tried the dining room. I started with a muffin and a fruit platter, then got the eggs ben which was that lump of cheese lol and a side of salmon. The avo toast was pretty decent, and hard to go wrong with omelettes, but that pancake was really bad! Which was disappointing because they initially forgot it and we waited super long for it.
Caught the Welcome show which gave an intro to the cruise.
Just to add some excitement, we kept joining raffles or lucky draws haha. And sat in at an art auction.
Lunch at the buffet, then had to work off the calories with a run at the amazing gym.
Followed by dinner at the dining room again. Escargot, french onion soup and salad for appetisers, suck, salmon and halibut for mains, then sorbet, souffle and a dark choc entremet for dessert. This was one of the better dinners at the dining rooms.
Ended off the night watching folks dance at the piazza.
Day 5 (Cruise Day 3)
Finally the first port day at Ketchikan, aka salmon capital of the world. It was a short stop since we arrived at 8am but had to be back by 1.30pm so I didn't book any excursions.
Had a light breakfast at the buffet before disembarking. It was a little gloomy at first but the weather improved and became beautiful!
First stop was a cafe visit! Island Brew Cafe which is a small, quaint place serving bakes and coffee. I tried the pistachio latte and it came in the most gigantic mug ever. I'm convinced the portion sizes are the number 1 reason why the obesity rate in US is sky high. Shrinkflation is a good thing haha. Anyway, we tried the cinnamon roll and salmon scone which were pretty good!
Passed by the Ketchikan Museum so we popped in, and found out about the salmon walk which is a trail around the town that traces their journey. With lots of interesting facts about salmon along the way.
Next stop was the Totem Heritage Center.
Then shopping at Creek Street. It's the salmon capital so of course we had to try some smoked salmon.
And queued for the famous but super ex smoked salmon crepe. One crepe for 30 USD is daylight robbery, but it was indeed very good. Then popped into the adjacent shop to buy a tee and ended up with an affogato as well.
It was about 1.15pm so we headed back on the ship, and I love that they always welcome us back with a small hot drink.
Continued the gluttony with some snacks and pastries from the 24h international cafe.
Dinner was at the buffet as the dining room menu didn't look exciting. The buffet has an insane number of choices and my plate always looks suuuper full because I always wanna try abit of everything. Also, raw veggies take up too much space and I always start with the salad so my plate is always 3/4 full after.
And halfway through dinner, there was an announcement of a whale sighting so of course everyone rushed to the windows! Here you can see a glimpse of it haha.
And ended the day with a show at the Princess Theatre.
Day 6 (Cruise Day 4)
Second port day - Juneau! The big day with two big excursions planned.
Another buffet breakfast!
We headed to Deck 5 around 8 and while we saw a queue, the staff kept saying it wasn't a queue and we could sit. Luckily we paid no heed to them because of course people naturally form a queue. The ship took awhile to get clearance and everyone was getting kanchiong since some people (like me) had tours booked for 830am.
Luckily the instructions were pretty clear and we managed to find the staff for our whale watch tour. Boarded the bus for a 20min ride to the area where the boats docked, and quickly boarded the boat. We had a captain and a guide who was super good and gave all lots of info on what we could expect to see. We had to go pretty far and first sighting was killing whales/orcas! There was a group of them near the shore and my binoculars came in handy.
Then drove out to another area and managed to see some whales! Sooo the classic whale in the air pic is actually hardly ever seen - most of the time we only see the tail or the fluke, which we saw a few times.
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We also saw a huge group of sea lions perching on some random pole. And of course, bald eagles. We got suuper lucky with the weather as it was forecasted to rain but it only drizzled a bit at the end of our excursion. We also managed to catch a glimpse of the Mendenhall Glacier from the waters.
After about 1.5h on the waters, we got on the bus back to town. Then it was time for lunch at Tracy's Crab Shack. Luckily we were early so the queue wasn't too long. But they ran out of the red crab claws so we had to get the leg which costs 90 bucks :O Also decided to also try the half snow crab, the crab bisque, and the pulled pork sliders so the total bill came up to over 200 bucks. Oh well, it's a once in a lifetime thing!
The thing is, we rarely eat crab like that in Sg so we were clueless as to how to tackle it but this family next to us saw us struggling and started giving us tips and I became an expert after that haha. HUGE chunks of meat that were super fresh and sweet.
Walked around town for a bit to shop for souvenirs then it was check in for our second adventure - helicopter ride to Mendenhall Glacier!
So we boarded a small van to the take off area, got geared up in rain pants, rain costs, boots, and were also given a hip pack to store stuff on the ride. Then we were loaded onto the helicopters and I was in the front middle next to the pilot. We were given headphones but actually the noise wasn't too bad. Had a suuper scenic ride to the glacier and finally could tell the difference between a glacier and just regular snow.
Then we landed ON the glacier, disembarked and got our crampons fitted for the glacier walk. What a magical experience. The glacier was SO blue. took lots of pics, dipped my hand into glacier water and collected some using the cool reusable cans they gave us.
After the walk, the helicopters came to pick us up and we headed back to the base to remove all the gear and headed back to town.
Did some quick souvenir shopping then headed back up the ship for dinner at the dining room. I mainly wanted to try the cod fillet but it was below expectations.
Ending off the day at the gym with some incredible views.
Day 7 (Cruise Day 5)
Third and last port - Skagway!
Had a super early breakfast around 6am, because the ship doesn't dock directly at the pier so we need to take a water shuttle and I needed to be one of the first few to disembark for the White Pass tour at 730am. Our tender tickets were for group 3 but I think we ended up on the first water shuttle out so we ended up being early and having to wait for the Chilkoot Tours rep instead.
We started off with a short ride around downtown to the rail station then boarded the historic White Pass train which goes up to Yukon. Managed to sit on the left as recommended but unfortunately the weather was gloomy so we didn't get the best views. But still, sitting on a train travelling on the side of a mountain is pretty incredible.
The train stops at Fraser station where there's Canadian customs and it's fascinating going through customs on a train. We disembarked then got picked up by our guide and took a bus back down and stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge! We had about an hour to explore the area, which isn't a lot of time so we prioritised crossing the bridge before going back to read all the little signs.
On the way back to town, we stopped at several scenic sights. It was suuuper foggy but still managed to get some pretty good views and a shot with the Welcome to Alaska sign!
So Skagway downtown has been well preserved in the 1800s style when it was booming from the gold rush. The weather also cleared up so the views were incredible.
Back on our cafe hopping adventure - first stop was cafe on 5th! Got a flat white, cortado and this chocolate brownie/cake that was really good! The cruise only provides brewed coffee and I didn't get the beverage package so I've been desperate for coffee on shore.
Next stop was Lucy's Bakery which is famous for cinnamon rolls but they were sold out so we tried the rhubarb cupcake instead which was super good! Also got the nectar on the yukon latte just cos it was a funky name but it's really just maple latte and incredibly sweet.
Went around buying lots of tees and souvenirs, and had to join the queue for ice cream too.
We also had time to visit the Skagway museum as well as a couple of museums to learn more about the interesting history. It's absolutely crazy that Russia sold Alaska to US for 7.2million USD, then Alaska turned out to be a literal treasure trove with gold and oil.
Had our first dinner in Alaska at Skagway Fish Company. Got the platter which comes with fried halibut fish, grilled salmon and breaded shrimp with chips. This was too sinful, so balanced that with a grilled halibut with veg and rice, as well as a crab bisque.
Ended off the night with an incredible acrobatics performance by Duo Lumiere.
Day 8 (Cruise Day 6)
Glacier Bay day!
Woke up super early to not miss a thing. But breakfast first - in the dining room today as there was smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes for the specials. I also got the granola with yoghurt and fruit, trying to recreate my daily breakfast lol.
The national park rangers actually board the cruise to give commentary so I headed to check out their info desk and bought some souvenirs.
Since we have a balcony, we stayed in our room and followed the commentary from there. Weather was quite gloomy so the views weren't great though, but we did get incredible views of the main glaciers.
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After we left Glacier Bay, we were greedy and went to get a coney dog from the Salty Dog Grill and the soft serve ice cream from Swirl, just to try all the complimentary food offerings lol.
I had a reservation for Ketchikan Dining Room but wanted to head for dinner earlier and try the Skagway dining room. Well, i chose the wrong day to try this as there was a surf and turf (steak and lobster) item on the menu so the queue for the walk-in dining room was extra long. We spent 40min queuing, then took very long to get served. But have to say the food was pretty good that day. I enjoyed my devilled eggs appetiser. The seared tuna and duck confit were decent as well. And the choc dessert and my blueberry crumble with ice cream were yummy.
There was some dance competition at the piazza which was HILARIOUS. And then the theatre show was Viva La Musica which I was really looking forward to...but I was soo tired i ended up sleeping through half of it -_-
Day 9 (Cruise Day 7)
Last day of the cruise - to College Fjord!
Breakfast at the international cafe as I've been wanting to try the smoked salmon sandwich.
Since it's a sea day, there's alott of entertainment. 10am was a culinary demonstration by the head chefs which was super fun.
Then some crew appreciation followed by a galley tour of the kitchen area, which was just a walk through the empty galley.
We passed by officers vs guests mega jenga which was a hoot to watch. I have to applaud the crew for their enthusiasm.
We went to the theatre SO many times this day - noon was a presentation with a brief history of Alaska that was fascinating. Can't believe I've never heard of the Diomede islands before!
Lunch at the buffet, which had a ton of specials including prawns and crayfish. I was being suuuuper greedy cos there was so many cake specials and they gave such huge slices.
Then back to the Princess Theatre for the naturalist's presentation on salmon and bears. We're now experts in the 5 types of salmon and black vs grizzly bears after this trip.
It was around 5pm by now so we headed back to our rooms for College Fjord and omg this was INCREDIBLE. Just glacier after glacier, culminating in the Hubbard glacier where we saw ice calving which is when the ice falls off the glacier. Also managed to spot lots of wildlife - sea otters, seals and even mountain goats! No whale this time, but we did manage to catch one on of the earlier days.
Final dinner at the buffet, and it was crazy because it was nearly 9pm but it was still BRIGHT outside.
And then the final show which featured all the artists from the previous shows.
Day 10
We arrived at Whittier slightly after midnight but disembarkation starts early morning so we got to have a final breakfast at the buffet.
It was all super smooth until we left the ship then it was utter chaos with everyone just trying to find their luggage which were already portered out to the terminal. I had booked my Whittier to Anchorage transport with Welcome Anchorage and it was scheduled for 9am, but we disembarked around 8am since I wasn't sure how long the process would take, so we ended up having to wait about an hour for the driver.
Unfortunately it was rainy so we didn't get much views. But we did manage a short hike to Byron glacier.
Then a ride around the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center where they have moose, bears, bisons, reindeer, wolves etc in huge enclosures. I was FASCINATED by the bisons. They really look like those even animals in cartoons!
Stopped over at Girdwood for lunch but the options were meh so we just got some pastries from the bakery and omg i have never seen a larger cinnamon roll in my life. It's like...4x the size of a regular cinnamon roll lol. It looked too daunting though so we settled on a feta cheese spinach croissant and a maple glazed donut cake. And tried this Alaskan birch-flavoured ice cream just for fun.
Had to skip the Virgin Creek walk due to the weather, but we managed to spot a couple of eagles on the way to Anchorage.
Checked in to Holiday Inn at Midtown, which is a super new hotel and very spacious (especially compared to our cruise cabin).
It was about 4.30pm so we took an Uber to downtown Anchorage to visit the museum. We only had about 1.5h to explore since it closes at 6pm but I think we managed to cover most of it.
Walked around the downtown which was not much of a downtown at all. The mall was so SAD lol. Like half of the shops weren't open and the food court was also devoid of people.
So the transportation system is also not the best - the buses run every half hour or every hour and the last bus is around 7+pm. There was this one final bus 25 we had to take to our dinner spot and I was so scared we would miss it lol. Luckily, it arrived on time and we made it to Altura Bistro. Last dinner and the food was amazing. Started with complimentary sourdough with scallion cream cheese, poached pear salad and crab/prawn bisque. Mains were chicken confit, black cod and a seasonal gnocchi. Sooo good but super filling and were unfortunately too full for dessert.
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It was a 15min walk back to our hotel, and it looked like an afternoon rather than an evening. Solstice just passed so the days are still incredibly long. Went for a run at the gym, finished washing up etc past midnight and it was still bright outside lol.
Day 11
Head to Snow City cafe in downtown very early, or so we thought. But no, it was 740am and the waitlist was 13 groups long! So I joined the waitlist and decided not to waste time by hurrying over to Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop to get bakes for our intended airport lunch. Everything looked so good and we eventually ended up with a foccacia, choc croissant, scone and muffin, and couldn't resist just eating the pain au choc on the spot.
Made it back in time for our number to be called, ordered, then waited more than 45min for our DRINKS. The food came out and the drinks took another 15min which is crazy. Luckily it was one of the better coffees we've had this trip. Got their famous pecan sticky bun which was super good, as well as the half and half benedict and stuffed french toast which were just suuuper decadent.
Took an Uber to the Anchorage Native Heritage Center about 15min drive away to view some of the village sites and managed to catch the native dance performance as well so that was nice.
Unfortunately had to speed through the museum as we were rushing to head back to the hotel to check out and head to the airport...and our timing was perfect until...they cancelled our flight from Vancouver to Sg.
We were literally at the check in counter just to drop off our bags and the counter staff was like..is your flight cancelled? And i was like no, they cancelled the original one back in March (this was the Anchorage to Vancouver leg..which they then rescheduled to be after the Vancouver to Sg lake lol and it was a whole mess to rebook). Then the staff were like oh this rebooked one is ALSO cancelled. I was in disbelief!Obviously, there aren't many flight options to Singapore. We ended up getting rebooked on Alaska airlines to Seattle, EVA Air from Seattle to Taipei, then China Airlines from Taipei to Sg, which puts the total travel time at like 25h. This meant that our departure from Anchorage was delayed till 7pm, which meant I could have had a few more precious hours touring. AND when we tried to check in, the Alaskan Airlines counter staff was having trouble checking us in for the final leg on China Airlines from Taipei to Sg, and I was also unable to view any evidence of this ticket on the China Airlines app. I ran back and forth between the Air Canada staff (who was in her office then trying to get off work) as well as the Alaska Airlines staff trying to figure out what was going on. I really do appreciate the Alaska Airlines staff who tried so hard to help us and managed to get our luggage tagged all the way to Singapore though. And eventually we got notification that the 'waitlist cleared' for China Airlines. Which was insane because what if the waitlist didn't clear. We were in the same predicament as an Alaskan family travelling to Singapore so luckily we had company haha. After three flights, we finally made it home, and our luggage almost didn't make it. What an ordeal. Anyway, just save yourself the agony and never book Air Canada!
Anyway, to kill the extra time, we had our bakes for Fire Island which were really yummy, then went to explore whatever w could of Anchorage airport which included this Sports Hall of Fame.
