Alaska - Cruise Disembarkation Day in Vancouver Part 1

Since we started this journey as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska, disembarkation at the end of the cruise in Vancouver, British Columbia was unusual in that it meant ending in a city I'd also never visited. Aside from our Grand Med cruise the year before this, most of our city sightseeing was pre-embarkation because we'd return to the same city post cruise. I wish I still had the name of the private tour company we used and the price quote to share but all I can remember is that our guide was the son of the owner and his Dad emigrated to BC from Hong Kong. 

We booked a private tour for the two of us with pickup at the port. The young man, who as mentioned told us later was the son of the owner, arrived on time in a nice roomy SUV. Always a plus when you have several pieces of luggage. One of the most frequently visited places in Vancouver, especially by cruise passengers is the complex where your ship docks known as Canada Place. Our first stop on this tour was the top of the complex featuring the Vancouver Lookout and the Vancouver Lookout Viewing Deck. The Lookout shares space with the Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant with slanted floor to waist high windows and telescope viewers to use. 

Our guide pointed out a few noticeable landmarks from this vantage point but I soon ventured off to snap photos while he chatted with Dad. 

And of course it didn't take long for me to spot a great view of the ship we just left, the Grand Princess.

One of the rare times you'll see an empty pool deck:

Hey, nice aft!

Our next stop was a visit to the city's historic Gastown district. We mostly drove around seeing the area from the car except for a photo stop at the town's historic antique style clock. It is partially powered by steam and whistles like a tea kettle once on the hour.

One of the recurring themes on these trips includes visiting something related to when the city hosted the Olympics. Our next stop this day was to see Vancouver's Olympic Cauldron, built for when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics in 2010.

Stay tuned for the next installment where we visit totem poles and take an unnerving gondola ride!

Alaska - Post cruise - My what big poles you have!

Our disembarkation city tour of Vancouver continues with a visit to Stanley Park known for its beautifully designed totem poles, some of which are as tall as the trees themselves. Or even taller than them like this work of art:

It's amazing to see the intricate details put into these totem poles as they are carved. If you ever have the chance to visit this place, take the time to savor each level as each pole is designed around a theme to tell a story or convey a message. 

These totem poles, collectively known as the First Nations Totem Poles feature a wide array of patterns and colors as well as heights.

I'm curious to know what the model or inspiration was for the guy depicted in the middle of this totem pole on the left:

You can really see the pride these artists had for their designs:

Several had 3-D features like this one carved to look like a bird in flight:

Insert random picture taken this day of two of my favorite things to photograph on a trip - the local flag and a lighthouse!

On the drive out of Stanley Park, we stopped to see Vancouver's version of Copenhagen's famous Little Mermaid statue. Who could have predicted that two years later I would be fulfilling a bucket list dream of seeing the real Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. While often referred to as Vancouver's Little Mermaid statue, the real name of the sculpture is called Girl in a Wet Suit. The life size bronze sculpture was created in 1972 by Elek Imredy. Today, the statue was being enjoyed by tourists and birds alike:

After a quick stroll along the pier at Porteau Cove Provincial Park where we watched divers in wet suits and scuba gear seem to work on something around the buoys in the water, it was time to ride a gondola. 

Will the darkening clouds be in our favor?

Alaska - Post Cruise in Vancouver - We take to the skies!

As we started to drive to our next stop of the tour, Sea to Sky Gondola, the winds picked up and it started to drizzle. Our guide questioned whether they'd even be running the gondola but we all agreed to at least head there and see before making any changes to the plans. Once at the facility, we browsed the gift shop while our guide called in to double check that the gondola was running. Of course the gift shop stays open even if the whole premise of the place isn't running! He came back with the news that it was still operating and directed us toward the gondolas. 

I seem to recall we had to pay for our tickets, it wasn't included in the tour rate. Here's the current list of hours and rates based on whether you visit on a weekday or weekend and what age you are.

The word gondola can have two different meanings depending on your location. In my cruise travel experiences, I've been to Venice (aka that other trip I never bothered to write up yet) and ridden in their small boat shaped similar to a canoe on the canals steered with a long pole by a narrating and serenading gondolier. Here in Vancouver, a gondola is a capsule with bench seats and glass walls that rides up and down a mountain side via a cable.

The venue does offer assistance to anyone needing help entering or exiting the gondola and has level ground for rolling walkers or a wheelchair in and out. Depending on the size of your group seems to be the rule for how crowded your gondola will be. It can hold anywhere from 1 to 6 people seated on the benches. If you're not a fan of heights or enclosed spaces, this may be an issue for you. At least they don't fill each capsule with the next 14-16 people in line like they do at the London Eye. 

The Sea to Sky Gondola attraction can be a great stop to spend an hour or two while visiting Vancouver. You get a cool ride up and down the mountain with beautiful aerial views. At the summit is multiple restaurants whether you're looking for a quick bite and some coffee or more of a sit down meal. With your body refueled, you can pick the adventure that fits your comfort level. Take in the wonders of nature on a slower pace walking or hiking a variety of trails that leave from the restaurant's doors. If thrills are what you seek, opt for the suspension bridge or what they call the Squamish Via Ferrata which has you safely tethered to fixed cables while you climb a series of ladder like rungs built into the side of the mountain in addition to the suspension bridges. I've climbed many a hill and hiked in my day but checking out the experience for this on their website makes me think it should be called Squeamish instead. The fact that they picture little kids celebrating reaching the top on their website makes me feel old.

Off we went to board a gondola with just us inside. Here's what the one in front of us looked like from the outside.

Much like a ski lift, the gondolas operate as part of a loop. You board on one side to head up the mountain and you get out on the other side once you've come back down. The higher we got in the gondola, the heavier it started to rain. With the rain came the wind and several times we felt our little capsule rocking back and forth. The higher in elevation we reached, the more the mist and fog obscured our views. It made for an uncomfortable and unnerving ride when the rocking was combined with the limited visibility. 

No the window wasn't dirty - just a sign of things to come as we got high enough to see the pavilion roof covering where you enter and exit the gondolas at the bottom.

Our view straight out at the horizon as we continued to climb:

We would reach periodic clearings where the clouds would part enough for us to see the mountainside:

Hmm, I thought we left the glaciers back in Alaska. Oh, no that's the fog hanging out over the town we just rose above:

We were soon at an altitude where we could see clearly but the fog was above and below us. It was quite the sight to see each gondola pod appear from the vapor.

Our guide gave us a couple hours to explore alone and get some lunch with the offer to have the gift shop owner call him should we decide to leave earlier than that. You could have easily enjoyed a couple hours at the top but our weather today prevented us from even seeing the trail outside the doors much less walk it. We took the time to grab a burger and fries from a cafeteria style restaurant and relax at one of the multiple long picnic tables inside Summit Lodge. After some browsing at the shops up there as well, we opted to head back down fearing that the weather might get worse. Thankfully once we reached ground level, the rain had eased off. 

Back in the SUV we go as we travel from the high skies to the low underground.

Alaska - Post Cruise Tour of Vancouver - From above the clouds to below ground

Our final stop of today's tour takes us to the Britannia Mine Museum. This was a destination of particular interest to Dad but I'd say it's geared more toward families with kids. Check out the current ticket prices here and the list of hours here.

There are several buildings on the grounds to walk around and explore but the main feature involves riding a trolley style car into the mines and walking along the dimly lit caves on uneven dirt. If you have limited mobility, I'd recommend staying above ground and enjoying the exhibits. 

The price of admission gets you a 45 minute total guided tour. The undergound portion runs ever 30 minutes so you can head over and grab the next one whenever you're ready. It's also easy to walk back over afterwards and spend more time looking at the exhibits if you want more time. The tour concludes with a guided explanation of the main building featuring all the original ramps and machinery. While seeing a mine, though a national historic site, isn't at the top of my to do list, I enjoyed hearing our guide point out all of the TV shows and movies that have used the site to film. If you're a fan of Hallmark Channel movies, you've seen this place on your TV screens. I remember watching Candance Cameron Bure in one of her Aurora Teagarden themed Hallmark Movies & Mysteries where she is being chased throughout the building with all of the ramps, machines, and catwalks several years later wondering why it seemed so familiar. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to climb those same rickety ramps and stairs. 

If you're traveling with kids, they'd enjoy such on site experiences as a play area and posing for pictures in front of giant trucks. Those cardboard cutouts are life size. 

Price of admission does include the chance to do some gold panning. We opted to skip that but it was quite the hot spot for the kids visiting today.

With some time to kill before the next tour started, we checked out two of the buildings dedicated to exhibits. One was called the Machine Shop and featured the machines used back when the mine was operational. 

Thank you sir for stopping on the other side of the glass display right when I was taking a picture of the signs. Makes for a fun photo bomb:

Another building showcased items the miners discovered featuring gems as well as random household objects.

Oh that's where that old bike and toilet went!

You've heard the phrase - "Everything but the kitchen sink"- well they found one of those too:

How do you showcase that the mining helped create many things that would never have been possible in scientific advancements? By creating the Starship Enterprise out of Lego of course:

The crew on the bridge doesn't seem too happy about this idea though:

We next made our way over to the mine itself and got outfitted with hard hats before boarding the yellow trolley car. We stayed on the trolley car for the first few minutes of our arrival into the mine. Our Britannia guide hopped off to walk next to the trolley and give information about how the mining was done. 

After her talk, we all were directed to hop off the trolley and she led us on a walk through the mine including to darker places as we went deeper underground. There was several lights and lanterns along the way for safety but at one point, she warned us before shutting off all the lights to momentarily show how dark it really was for the miners. We stayed on foot for the rest of our time exploring the mine eventually coming back out into the sunlight where we started. After everyone returned their hard hats, she led us to the main building with the ramps and larger machines. 

What do you mean it's not safe to climb this centuries old wooden stairs and cart ramp combo? This is looking up at the access to the catwalk system from the floor level.

After the tour was over, we took some time looking around the grounds before returning to the SUV. 

Having been running around the city of Vancouver all day after getting up early for debarkation, the rain that started pouring buckets for our drive to the airport didn't help me stay awake. We arrived at the airport with about 90 minutes to kill before they'd even let us check in for our flight much less actually board a few hours later. To this day I remember the look on the customs/security agent's face when she saw our tickets for the flight from Vancouver to Baltimore had us connecting in Atlanta. Pretty much the same confusing look we had when we were forced into booking a flight that physically took us past our home to head south and then fly back up to our home. 

Even though I completed my 17th and 18th cruises last fall, if you ask me what my favorite itinerary was, this Alaska trip will be my answer every time!  Would I go back to Alaska again? Absolutely. Would I recommend doing the land and cruise combo? 100% Would I recommend doing this classic cruise itinerary with Princess? You betcha! They really do make the experience above and beyond while you're under their wing. Thank you for reading this report to the end even though I started writing it just before the Alaska cruise season and cruising in general was cancelled. May we all stay healthy and happy and return to safely seeing the world once again one cruise itinerary at a time in the not too distant future!