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Our time in Victoria was great, a very warm and dry compared to Vancouver. It was good to stop for two nights, do some washing and just re-sort all our stuff.
Victoria was a great place to visit, we took a sea plane flight over the town and just went for a wander around the shops. There are numerous little boat taxis in the harbour so got a ride back to our hotel. We had dinner in a pub in town one night, it had a great band which Barry and another guy enjoyed until very late.
We had a great farewell dinner in Victoria to say goodbye to our great tour director, he was a bit overcome. I think he would be rapt with the amazing tip he received.
We left Victoria and back to the ferry and then to the ship on Saturday 24 May. As we were going onto an American ship we were effectively leaving Canadian soil and going to America. Therefore we had to clear customs and immigration, it turned out to be a couple of hours but we had chairs to sit in while we waited, which was good.
Then we
walked onto our ship the Statendam - WOW - we were entertained with drinks by the pool then taken to our Stateroom (cabin) where our bags arrived shortly after. Our room is tiny - we have to wait as we cannot pass each other in the hallway, but once we unpacked and got underway we were hardly in our room.
Every night we have mail, telling us what we will be doing the next day, there are activities constantly; bingo, casino, chef cooking demonstrations, shows to name a few. Also there is food - you can get a burger or an icecream any time, or eat at the Lido deck - casual, Pinnacle Restaurant (formal), or the Rotterdam dinning room which is where most people who have fixed dinner times eat. As we have open dining we choose what we will do each day. The first day we were up and in the gym at 8am lazed by the pool, walked around the deck, ate, then dressed up for dinner.
One night we had Champagne with the Captain, the show at 7pm and dinner at 8pm then off to the Ice Ball afterward. Unfortunately that night we hit
the open Pacific Ocean so I didn’t get much sleep - Barry however was totally out to it.
We have been to two ports so far Juneau and Skaguay - both very touristy but nice to wander around. We went on a rafting trip for 4 hours in Juno and in Skaguay we went on a old train up the White Pass and are about to go on a walking tour of the town. All the big tours are really expensive, people are paying up to $700.00 USD for helicopter and then dog sledding - we decided we didn’t need to do those.
Today has been absolutely lovely with a whole day traveling up Glacial Bay. I will make a new entry for that.
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barblarsen
Barbara Larsen
Aboard the Statendam
Hi Everyone Thanks for all your comments, i have updated our story but it is really difficult to download our photos, i will have to do it when we get back to Victoria. We are having a fabulous time on the wonderful floating hotel. Barbara