A trip report from clients who enjoyed a 7-night Inside Passage cruise (from Seattle) in August 2009:

Annie,

We had a wonderful time on the cruise and would recommend an Alaska voyage to anyone.

Sleep Inn was very cordial. They picked us up at the airport in about 10 minutes and gave us adjoining rooms with Suzie and John for the evening. Breakfast was a buffet with eggs, waffles, cereal and pastries with coffee and juice.

I programmed my cell phone with the numbers of Sleep Inn and Seattle Express which made it easy to contact them. I seem to know where my cell would be and not the paper work. It takes about an hour from Sleep Inn to Pier. Seattle Express was waiting for us when we got off the ship. Great Idea, thank you.

Our impressions of the Zaandam…It was clean and the service was okay, except for lunch at the Pinnacle Grill. We would like to thank you for that treat. I hate to say it didn’t seem that great for the extra money. The waiter was arrogant and we had to wait for John’s salad for about 5 minutes and had to ask for more water. Food was so-so, main dining room was just as good if not better.

Our Stateroom was roomy, didn’t have to walk around bed, lots of closet space.

Juneau is a great little town we enjoyed the bike ride because we felt like we saw more of the locals and the back areas. Went through the college and saw totem poles and then to Auke lake. It was beautiful and the Church had a window looking out over the lake. We then saw Mendenhall glacier up closes and personal. We had hot drinks and energy bars there. We were on a bike path thru the forest and then arrived at pick up point which had another view of Mendenhall glacier. We also saw a bear trying his hand at fishing. Then to the Alaskan Brewery to have some great beers, loved the Alaskan white. As a recommendation, the bikes could have been kept inside. We all had very wet butts for some time.

As we arrived at Sitka I was working out and I could see all the small isles with houses on them. It was spectacular. We walked around and went to the National Historic park, (lots of totems) several churches and the quaint downtown area. Beautiful Russian buildings mixed in with native culture.

At Ketchikan, we left the ship early and did the city walking tour. (maps at visitor center) We didn’t have a map the first hour but used the one from the ship. Found most all the high points and again we walked a lot of streets the locals use. Great pictures of salmon going upstream, the stream or creek goes right thru town.

Victoria we need to go back to because we didn’t get there until dusk. Bus driver very knowledgeable about city and Butchart Gardens. You do need to see the gardens in the daylight, not at night. (Not very good lighting in gardens) Would not recommend as a tour unless you could stay at least 3 hours at the gardens during the daylight.

Thanks for everything!

Sandy and Chuck

Road trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada — August 2009

After two weeks of heat and humidity in Rhode Island, we were thrilled to jump in the car and point it north towards the border!

We left after work on a Tuesday night, and made it as far as Auburn, Maine before stopping for the night at a Residence Inn (which was surprisingly nice – brand new hotel, BIG room, free breakfast, what more could we want?)

On Wednesday we headed out bright and early and took the scenic route up the Maine coast to the border at Calais, and then on to St. John (New Brunswick) where we stopped for lunch. Two ships were in port at St. John that day (one Carnival and one Princess) and it was really strange to see everyone walking around exploring the port and to feel like a “local” because we weren’t hopping back on a ship to sail away.

From St. John it was an easy ride through New Brunswick to the Confederation Bridge – an eight-mile span (the longest in the world crossing ice covered water) that links Prince Edward Island with the mainland.

Once we made it onto the island, we headed to the town of Summerside, to check into our hotel – the Silver Fox Inn. This quaint Victorian B&B turned out to be a great home base for us. Summerside itself is more or less in the middle of the island, so it was easy to get to all the sightseeing we wanted to do, and the inn was within walking distance of all the shops/restaurants in Summerside. Staying in such a small inn does feel a bit like being a guest at someone’s home, though, so we felt a little bit weird about late comings and goings, or skipping out on breakfast in the morning. If you want to be a little more anonymous, there were larger hotels in the area.

The next two days were spent circumnavigating the island. On Thursday we drove the “North Cape Coastal Drive” to Malpeque Bay (where the famous Malpeque oysters come from), Tignish, North Cape, West Cape, and the “Region Evangeline” — the Acadian part of the island. On Friday, we drove the “Points East Coastal Drive” to North Lake (the tuna capital of the world), East Point, Souris, Spry Point, and more. In both cases, we were consistently amazed by the scenic vistas around every turn of the road. The island consists of amazingly green fields (like what I imagine Ireland to be), weathered farm houses, steep cliffs of red clay soil, rough rocky beaches, and calm blue inlets. The only part that’s really developed at all is the capital, Charlottetown, where there are malls, a university, and a busy downtown.

On Saturday, my husband went tuna fishing with a good friend of his and I spent the day touring the middle section of the island. I had heard that this area, in and around Cavendish, was the tackier, more touristy part of the island (mainly because it houses the Anne of Green Gables museums, which are a major attraction). I was pleasantly surprised to see that this is a lovely area, and not overly tacky at all. It reminded me a little bit of Cape Cod, with its roadside ice cream stands and a couple of cute minigolf places for the kids. I skipped the Anne of Green Gables stuff (sorry, but I’m not a real fan), and opted instead to spend some time at the Prince Edward Island National Park, which was absolutely gorgeous. It has miles of seashore, sprinkled with campsites, hiking trails, beaches, and scenic overlooks, and was completely deserted when I was there.

Sunday morning was an early one, as we had to get on the road by 6am for the drive back home to Rhode Island. We made great time, taking the most direct route on major highways through Canada and Maine, and were back home in about ten hours. If we had more time, I would have loved to have come home via Nova Scotia, and the catamaran ferry from there to Portland, Maine, but we’ll just have to do that next time!

For all of my photos, click here.

And here are a few overall observations from this trip:

• The island has several well-marked touring loops, and it’s pretty easy to follow the signs to the various towns/attractions, but a GPS is helpful. We paid a few dollars to download the Canada maps into our GPS, and were very happy we had done so.
• We had planned to change US dollars in Canadian currency once we arrived in PEI, but the friends we were visiting (who spend a month or two there every year) advised us that it’s really not worth it right now, and they were right. At about 1.08 for the current conversion rate, by the time we paid fees to change it over we really wouldn’t have gained much. We found that every place we went took US dollars.
• Having seen Charlottetown, I can say that it’s the least attractive part of the island. For anyone who visits PEI on a cruise (and docks in Charlottetown), I would strongly urge you to get out and see the rest of the island.