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Alaska 2022 Aug. Advice Please!


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My wife and I are in our 50's and are very active, we are hiking in Juneau and biking down Whites Pass in Skagway as well as hiking and rafting. We have been to most of the lower 48 National Parks, but haven't been to Alaska. 

1) Thoughts on our 10 hour stop in Victoria. Again never have been and the gardens look great, but open to other ideas. 

2) Our flight out of Seattle is at 10:00PM. We will have checked luggage and are looking for ideas of what to do both for the day and if you know of anywhere to safely store our luggage while we visit Seattle.

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58 minutes ago, foxrunner said:

My wife and I are in our 50's and are very active, we are hiking in Juneau and biking down Whites Pass in Skagway as well as hiking and rafting. We have been to most of the lower 48 National Parks, but haven't been to Alaska. 

1) Thoughts on our 10 hour stop in Victoria. Again never have been and the gardens look great, but open to other ideas. 

2) Our flight out of Seattle is at 10:00PM. We will have checked luggage and are looking for ideas of what to do both for the day and if you know of anywhere to safely store our luggage while we visit Seattle.

The Butchart Gardens are a must-do and Victoria also has a very good natural history museum. We love walking along the waterfront downtown (which I don't think is near the cruise port so check a map) and there are a lot of whale watching adventure tours to consider as one walks along... check the times they go off and which killer whale pods they are focused on. 

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1 hour ago, foxrunner said:

1) Thoughts on our 10 hour stop in Victoria. Again never have been and the gardens look great, but open to other ideas. 

2) Our flight out of Seattle is at 10:00PM. We will have checked luggage and are looking for ideas of what to do both for the day and if you know of anywhere to safely store our luggage while we visit Seattle.

1) Butchart Gardens. Victoria has many sites that you can visit by foot.  The floating homes are pretty and also walking distance from downtown.  We felt that we spent too much time in Victoria though.

2) If you debark first thing in the morning, with transportation to downtown Seattle, you will have a good 6 hours of time to explore, quite possibly more dpending on when you feel comfortable getting to the airport.

Pike Market can consume most of your time and since my family is a food first family, we spent days there (before and after cruise).  The main pier with the Aquarium is walking distance from Pike.  I suggest the Wings Over Washington ride.  It is at Pier 58 (I think) next to the ferris wheel).  If you plan to do space needle, take the monorail and skip the ferris wheel.  The Space Needle area has the Museum of Pop Culture and we really enjoyed that.  Total time spent at Space Needle and Museum of Pop culture was about 4 hours including the monorail ride.  Don't eat there.  Eat at Pike Market.

If you want more detailed and specific things that we did this past June, I would be more than happy to share.  Otherwise, you can find my Alaskan Cruise Recap post where I share some other thoughts.  We were only scheduled to be in Seattle 3 days, but with flight cancellations and such, ended up staying 5 days.  We did alot.

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3 hours ago, foxrunner said:

2) Our flight out of Seattle is at 10:00PM. We will have checked luggage and are looking for ideas of what to do both for the day and if you know of anywhere to safely store our luggage while we visit Seattle.

I know the Port of Seattle used to have luggage valet available. I'm not sure up and running currently with COVID or not.  I know it hasn't returned to the Florida ports yet, but the Seattle tourism websites don't seem to indicate that the service was suspended.  If it is available you may want to consider that.  You sign up and when you leave you luggage out on the last night of the cruise they take it to the airport and check it in for you.  Of course this only works if you are checking your bags when you fly and not packing anything you'll need while exploring Seattle.

Otherwise they do have luggage storage at the airport that you can pay for at Smarte Carte.  You'd have to get from the port to the airport to do this, of course, and then go out and explore.  It's very easy to use the light rail to get to the Seattle attractions from the airport once you've dumped your luggage.

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1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

I know the Port of Seattle used to have luggage valet available.

Thanks!  We just called Royal and they do offer the Luggage Valet in Seattle.  Has anyone used it recently in Seattle, and if so, what was the fee?  The customer rep we spoke with could only give us an estimate.  Also, if you've used the luggage valet, how was the experience?

Ashley, if memory serves, you went on the Skagway bicycle trip. Any tips?

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6 hours ago, foxrunner said:

 

Ashley, if memory serves, you went on the Skagway bicycle trip. Any tips?

My tip:  When your spouse puts their bicycle helmet on BACKWARDS, be sure to take a photo, or the rest of your life the story will be told that you are the one who did it.

Other than that (which I think is very important) there's not much  to tip about.  It's super fun, very relaxing.  Of course check the weather so you know what clothes to bring, but it's pretty simple.  They haul you up there, you coast back down!

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We used Port of Seattle's "Port Valet" luggage service when cruised the first week of June this year.  We received out luggage tags the day before debarkation. We checked three bags on Southwest from SEA-BWI.  Everything arrived without any issues. I highly recommend it if your planning to do any touring after the cruise and before you fly back.

Here's the link to self-register:  https://maketraveleasier.com/PortValet

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3 hours ago, Sea Squirrel said:

We are just staying on the ship for our sailing. Victoria seems like a yawn for us compared to the great things on Ovation. Even our 16 yr old daughter voted for a hard pass on Victoria. Canada is amazing Victoria but seems like a boring port to us. 

My kids did not have any interest in going in to Victoria. My mom and I walked from the ship in to town, got some coffee, took the horse and buggy ride, and then had tea at the Empress. It was perfect for us, but my kids definitely would not have enjoyed it. 🙂

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22 hours ago, foxrunner said:

2) Our flight out of Seattle is at 10:00PM. We will have checked luggage and are looking for ideas of what to do both for the day and if you know of anywhere to safely store our luggage while we visit Seattle.

port valet? they take your luggage the night before you disembark and you don't have to worry with it until you get to your home air terminal

we wish we could make use of it but we are flying out early the next day, which is outside of the window of availability

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13 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

My tip:  When your spouse puts their bicycle helmet on BACKWARDS, be sure to take a photo, or the rest of your life the story will be told that you are the one who did it.

Other than that (which I think is very important) there's not much  to tip about.  It's super fun, very relaxing.  Of course check the weather so you know what clothes to bring, but it's pretty simple.  They haul you up there, you coast back down!

Was the coast down ever frightening? I’m Not a huge bike rider but have ridden here and there and mostly on vacation.  Thinking you just keep pumping the hand breaks!

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13 minutes ago, Kathleen said:

Was the coast down ever frightening? I’m Not a huge bike rider but have ridden here and there and mostly on vacation.  Thinking you just keep pumping the hand breaks!

No, it wasn't.  And I'm not a super brave biker, especially down hills. The tour was filled with people of all ages and various levels of cycling experience.

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