Honeymoon in Western Canada/ Alaska

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bartbridge

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Trying to organise our HM to western Canada followed by an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver. We have either 5 or 6 nights before the cruise so we were thinking of flying into Calgary and driving to Vancouver. Any suggestions on where we might stay along the way? We'd rather not be on the road every day and would probably stay in Vancouver the night before the cruise?

We went to travel agents and the following stops were suggested:
Banff or Lake Louise
Jasper
Kamloops
Whistler

As I said we'd rather not be on the road every day so maybe a night in Calgary followed by maybe 2 or 3 other stops between there and Vancouver? We'd probably stay 2 nights in Vancouver after the cruise so we could see a bit of the city. Any help is appreciated....
 
Bartbridge, trying to organise a similar trip, Did you manage it how did ye get on?
 
We did this trip from Vancouver to Calgary in winter last year, drove through the Rockies - absolutely fabulous.....

Our car/jeep we got through a Canadian rental company worked out cheaper - we brought our own sat nav having uploaded the maps here (also cheaper) - we stayed a week in jasper and a week in Banff - Calgary is a city like any other we stayed a night in Vancouver also - it is a lovely city too - but I prefered the countryside its a personal choice..... We also visted Whistler - also fabulous but we were there in winter it is quite expensive so we didnt stay in Whistler itself but outside the resort close enough to drive too and from for the couple of day we were there and again for us it was the trip of a lifetime - Wow........

I did all our arrangements - our flights were through an agent the rest of the work was mine....

Enjoy hope you have a fab time as we did...

J
 
Thanks for that J!
Feel free to send on any more tips or recommendations! ;)
Thanks again have looked into flights into Calgary out of Vancouver trying to see if I can organise the rest myself
 
Your welcome glad to help......

Get your lonely planet now and it will really help you with your research - I found that invaluable, to be honest I had our route mapped out and all our flights booked and the first night in each place in a nice hotel - from there on we got a great deal in Jasper in a hotel and then we went onto a sister hotel in Banff where we got the same deal so it worked out really well for us.

For us the airports in New York were snowbound so we had to drive from New York to Toronto (I wouldnt advise this really - a boring trip!! by comparison) but we did get to see Niagra Falls even if it was at night!!

I found internal flights in Canada to be quite cheap....

We didnt have a laptop with us and I found this a bit of a bummer as the internet cafes were not always that easy to come by....

Pm me if you have any other questions......

J
 
Fuel costs in Canda were cheap we had a 3+L (it was a big engine!) and it was not expensive not what we are used to anyway!!!!!

Infact I thought everything was cheaper a lot cheaper!!!!
 
Hi Bartbridge,
This is exactly what we are doing on our honeymoon!!! We are getting married at the end of July and heading on our honeymooen on 1st August. It was not the easiest trip to plan, nor the cheapest but I could not be more excited. We are flying: Dublin-London & then London-Vancouver. We are spending 4 nights in Vancouver before boarding a cruise (roundtrip) to Alaska. After the cruise, another night in Vancouver before picking up a rental car and off to the Sunshine Coast where we have rented an amazing place for a week. We are planning to do day trips to Whistler, Jasper and other places: still trying to finalise that bit. We wanted to have a base to which we could come back. After this, we are back in Vancouver for 2 nights before heading home. We booked through Trailfinders, except the self catering bit, and they were brilliant to deal with. Dealt with them in the past and would highly recommend them. Mongola
 
Can I ask which cruise are you going on? I would highly recommend booking your excursion, if you want to do some early and before you go. We did a Caribbean cruise 2 years ago and waited to have boarded the boat to choose them. We found out that they were slightly more expensive once onboard. Also, make sure your prepay your gratuities. It is normally done before though.
 
We did this trip a couple of years ago, 5 night in Vancouver followed by a cruise on the Celebrity Mercury. Make sure you take the Rocky Mountaineer train to whistler in Vancouver, its expensive and a full day out but well worth it.

If on the cruise you are stop at "Icy Strait Point" contact keith_skaflestad direct (google his name) for a bear spotting trip.
 
Sorry only seeing this now, we flew into Calgary, did 1 night there then hired a jeep and drove to Banff for 2 nights. During the 2 days we drove up to Lake Louise, Moraine Lake (beautiful place and less crowded than Lake Louise), and up to the boundary between Banff and Jasper national parks. The roads are really good everywhere which is great. Travelled from Banff to Kelowna then for 2 nights and then on to Vancouver for a night before going on the Alaskan cruise for 7 nights with Celebrity Century. We stayed in Vancouver for 2 nights when we got back aswell to do a bit of sightseeing in Vancouver.

Mongola if you're doing a day trip to Jasper you will be exhausted as from what I remember it'll be a 3 or 4 hour car/bus journey each way. We didn't get to Whistler but it's supposed to be lovely and I think it's only an hour and a half each way. Vancouver is a lovely city to have a look around with lots of nice places to eat and Stanley park and the marina area are really nice. There are activities around the Vancouver area if you didn't want to have to spend too long travelling.
 
Many thanks for the tips. We have not yet decided what we are going to do as the day trips while based on the sunshine coast. What do you think is doable as day trips?
Also, any comments, reviews on the Celebrity Century as this will be our cruiseship.
 
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