Utopia of the Seas

A couple months ago I was invited to celebrate my friend’s birthday on the Royal Caribbean Utopia of the Seas. I had a fabulous time.

I highly recommend.

Alaska: College Fjord & Seward

Today is the last day of cruising. Luckily there is no early start. I start my morning with a causal breakfast and a rest on the upper deck.

I have no plans until the afternoon so I sign up for a wine tasting. I try many wines and snack on some cheese.

We arrive in College Fjord and it is time for the on deck observation. I see more beautiful vistas and glaciers. What we see here are tidewater glaciers -glaciers that are fed by the snow and break off into the sea.

It is the last night on the ship so the main dining room has its napkin swirling music celebration.

I try to stay out a little my last night but I don’t make it a late night.

The next morning we depart early.

The cruise port is Whittier but it is actually 60 miles from Anchorage. Transportation options are limited so we hop on a bus to take us to the Anchorage airport. From there I am picking up a rental car but I will spend a couple hours with family in town while they wait for their flight. The bus ride to Anchorage is scenic and the driver plays theme music as we travel through the long tunnels. There is some commentary on the way, so you aren’t just getting a quiet and boring bus ride.

Today is no Kings protest so I briefly participate in the protest by honking while I drive by in my rental car.

My cousin and I stop for lunch. He splurges on King Crab once again and I try a Yak burger.

I drop him off at the airport and start my drive to Seward where I am spending my next few days. During my initial planning I wanted to take the coastal trains to Seward because I read the views on the journey are unforgettable but the I am unable to fit the train times into my schedule. I rent an expensive rental car instead. I am rewarded with a beautiful drive of my own where I stop occasionally to enjoy the views during the two plus hour drive.

When I arrive my motel room is ready. Accommodations in Seward are not fancy and they are not cheap but the room is clean and convenient to town. Hotels tend to be pricey here because there aren’t many of them and the official tourist season is fairly short.

I check into my room and walk into town to see if they have tables at the highly rated Cookery restaurant and they do. I sit at the bar and eat the most delicious meal. The service is friendly and they actually cook salmon correctly. I could have eaten here multiple times since the menu looks fantastic.

It’s still early and due to the sun setting very late this time of year it appears I have so much day left so I walk around town and along the water. I pass by a campsite that is lively. It seems like many drive their campers out here for the summer and enjoy the mild temperatures. (Or I am just really lucky because I have terrific weather during my entire Alaska adventures.

Tomorrow I have a nature cruise and I hope it leaves as scheduled in the morning. In the past I’ve had bad luck with those types of cruises but I feel like my luck is changing.

Vancouver Canada

This summer I went on my first Alaska cruise. More on that cruise later but first I want talk about the day or so I had exploring Vancouver, Canada (British Columbia) – the starting point of the cruise. I have only been to Canada once before and that visit was to Montreal, so I am excited to see another part of this incredibly large country that I have put off visiting for way too long. Although Vancouver has much to offer in the form of natural resources I decided to keep this visit a city exploration since I plan of spending a week observing wildlife in Alaska.

The hotel we chose is further away from the action than I want in Metrotown but I soon see that it is very convenient to get to downtown Vancouver by the elevated train. I take it a few times during my stay. I am in Vancouver with some family members but they arrive later in the evening so my first evening is exploring on my own.

For my first evening I spend most of my time in Chinatown. It is a little rougher in this part of town but I generally feel safe. This is also the location of some good eateries and cute cafes. My first stop is the recommended Phnom Penh Restaurant, a Cambodian and Vietnamese restaurant. I knew arriving that there would probably be a wait since they don’t take reservations. I am told the wait is thirty to forty minutes and they take my phone number for when my table is ready. I wander around the neighborhood while I wait – it actually ends up being closer to sixty minutes and I would have stopped somewhere for a cocktail if I knew the wait would be that long.

I order too much food for one person because there are many things I want to try. Everything I ordered (butter beef, water spinach, chicken wings, moo moo shake) was good and I vow to come back to try more. What I really like is that even though it is awkward to dine alone, especially at a family style Asian restaurant, they seemed to be accommodating by letting me order smaller portions of some of the dishes. A little politeness goes a long way – I am used to being treated as second class in some countries as a solo diner but they did not (although I am certain I would have gotten a table faster if I had a bigger party since there weren’t many smaller tables).

Next stop is at Laowai for a cocktail. They have an interesting food menu that I would be taking advantage of if I hadn’t just eaten a large meal.

I have a reservation at a speakeasy nearby. I walk the neighborhood while I wait for my reservation time.

My last stop is at Bagheera, a speakeasy with an entrance themed like a horse betting window. This is once again another place with an interesting food menu, many of them Indian themed. I want to come back when I am hungry and try some of the menu items.

The next morning my cousin and I take the train into downtown Vancouver and then walk down to the ferries.

We take a ferry out to Granville Island for some snacks and to walk around. There are so many food choices here that I wish I scheduled more time in Vancouver to hang out here. In the summer there is live music and other events happening on Granville Island. Definitely visit their market if you are ever in town.

We also linger a bit to watch some geese and ducks.

We have a food tour scheduled this afternoon so we head to the Waterfront Station to meet up with our group.

We automatically have a connection to the tour guide who has the same name as my cousin’s sister who passed away many years go (I also was very close to this cousin who was six months younger than I). The guide is an actress but also holds many different roles, one of which is as a tour guide. We try a number of dishes around the downtown area and she tells us a little history of each location. While I didn’t love all the food choices (this tour might have been better in Chinatown) she did a good job overall. The tour at least was a good introduction to the city.

After our tour we take a break to have a drink and a view.

Our next adventure is to walk the sea wall down to Stanley Park. We enjoy nice views along the way as well as a seal but our legs and feet are tired. We pledge that we will at least continue on until the Totem poles but then allow ourselves to uber back to the hotel.