Heart of the Canadian Rockies with Alaska Cruise - 2022

Welcome to Calgary! Your Tour Director is on hand late this afternoon to answer any questions.

The discovery of oil converted this ranching town into a sophisticated city. It is also home to the world-famous Calgary Stampede. Tour many of the city’s attractions, including Canada Olympic Park and the Saddledome. Motor west through the foothills and into Banff National Park, gateway to the majestic Canadian Rockies. An orientation tour includes Banff’s unspoiled beauty.

Banff is one of Canada’s favorite year-round resorts, with summer activities such as hiking, boating, and fishing. With a free day, your Tour Director will suggest an optional helicopter ride over the Canadian Rockies.

Enjoy a day of scenic grandeur. First stop is Lake Louise, whose turquoise waters create a natural mirror that reflects the surroundings. Up next: a stop at the Columbia Icefield to experience the Ice Explorer, an all-terrain vehicle that travels on ice measuring 750 feet thick. Then, journey north into Jasper National Park, where precipitous gorges, snowcapped summits, and lakes of exquisite blues and greens come into view as the motorcoach scales three mountain passes. Later, your Tour Director suggests an optional float trip down the Athabasca River. Enjoy an orientation tour of Jasper townsite upon arrival.

Today, join our optional excursion to Maligne Lake and Spirit Island, where you embark on a narrated cruise of the lake. The balance of the day is free to enjoy everything Jasper has to offer—from guided hikes and quaint shops to meandering wildlife.

Depart Jasper and follow the Fraser River to the base of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The Yellowhead Highway continues south along the mighty Thompson River, with spectacular views of the Monashee Mountains. Overnight in Kamloops.

As you travel through British Columbia’s Coast Mountain Range to its majestic Pacific coastline, the vegetation changes from desert landscape to lush alpine forest. Board your ferry for the spectacular crossing to Vancouver Island. Sightseeing in Victoria includes world-famous Butchart Gardens, the Inner Harbour, Bastion Square, and Thunderbird Park. This evening, consider a stroll along the lively Waterfront Promenade.

Today is free to explore on your own. You may choose to join an optional wildlife and whale watching trip cruising the beautiful waters of the San Juan and Gulf Islands, looking for whales, porpoises, seals, and eagles. Your Tour Director will have ideas for enjoying this most British of Canadian cities.

This morning, set sail across the Strait of Georgia and through the spectacular Gulf Islands. In Vancouver, city sightseeing includes Stanley Park, Gastown, Chinatown, and other famous landmarks. The remainder of the day is free to explore Robson Street and experience British Columbia’s premier shopping and entertainment location.

Embark your cruise ship.

Spend the day cruising one of the world’s most spectacular waterways. Located along the coast of British Columbia, the Inside Passage is the longest sheltered inland waterway in the world. Watch the water for orcas and humpback whales.

Located at the foot of grand mountain peaks on Gastineau Channel, Alaska’s capital city of Juneau has massive Mendenhall Glacier and the Juneau Icefield at its back door. Visit the rustic shops in town—or get out and kayak, raft, hike, whale watch, flightsee, or fish. There’s no end to the adventure because of the long daylight hours.

In winter, the sidewalks are all but rolled up in Skagway, so you can imagine the frightful conditions endured by gold prospectors who passed through en route to the Yukon. Take your time and poke your head into every little shop, from the Trail Bench to Lynch & Kennedy’s Dry Goods. The Red Onion Saloon, with its honky-tonk piano and costumed barmaids, is a treasure trove of memorabilia featuring pictures of Klondike Kate, Peahull Annie, and other historic characters. To complete the picture of those rip-roaring days, visit the nostalgic Trail of ’98 Museum.

Glacier Bay has more actively calving tidewater glaciers than anyplace else in the world. How does it feel when a colossal chunk of ice splits off a glacier and crashes into the sea? The sound is like thunder. The impact shoots water hundreds of meters into the air. You hold your breath as you capture the moment on camera, then you wait for it all to happen again.

Alaska’s “First City” of Ketchikan is so named because it is the first major landfall for most cruisers as they enter the picturesque fjords of the Inside Passage, where the town clings to the banks of the Tongass Narrows, flanked by green forests nurtured by abundant rain. An important hub of the salmon-fishing and -packing industries—visitors can try their luck on a sport-fishing excursion or simply savor the fresh seafood at one of the local restaurants. It is also one of the best spots along the Inside Passage to explore the rich cultural sights of Native Alaskan nations like the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.

Arguably one of the greatest cruising routes in the world, the Inside Passage stretches through stunning landscapes, from Misty Fjords National Monument to famed Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve. Sailing the Inside Passage offers opportunities to spot some of Alaska’s most iconic wildlife, with humpback whales and orca plying the bountiful waters alongside the ships, bald eagles soaring overhead and brown bears lumbering on the shoreline.

Your cruise ends this morning. Please schedule flights after Noon.