We had been planning to go to The Inside Passage Cruise for quite some time as Wendy’s  70^th Birthday present. So we thought we would expand things a little by spending some time in San Francisco and Vancouver. So we booked a long way ahead (15 months) and this was during the height of Covid and the restrictions that changed our lives for ever. We needed something to look forward to so we booked with Holland America for the cruise and then started to build the holiday around that. Nearly everyone we spoke to were far too hesitant to make overseas plans  but we reasoned the world may not be the same but it would have opened up a lot by the time we were scheduled to go. This proved correct. We had originally booked flights from Sydney o San Francisco and return with Qantas using points and dollars. This was done 12 months in advance. About 6 weeks before we were scheduled to leave, the wonderful Qantas changed our booking to flights Sydney to Los Angeles and return. I made lengthy phone calls to Qantas asking why they would not honour the fare to San Francisco – they ignored my plea and said there wasn’t anything they could do about it. After many choice words with them I cancelled and got a refund and immediately booked air fares return to SFO with United Airlines. We have vowed never to fly Qantas again but we do have 200k points to use so our trip to Korea/Japan may be using those points.

Saturday 30^th September 2022 at 10.30am we flew out of Sydney. Arrived SFO at about 7.30am went slowly through immigration and went to The BART train service into San Francisco without incident. Arrived at Club Quarters Hotel in the Embarcadero Area and they informed us our room was in fact ready and we could use it immediately. Lovely long hot shower. Then as always, a couple of hours walking the neighbourhood and found some provisions for breakfasts etc. Had dinner at the local Irish Pub. The dinks were OK with the food was very ordinary. Bangers and Mash and a Shepherd’s Pie with 2 beers cost about $115.

Sunday 31^st August we walked to Fisherman’s Wharf via the touristy streets but this helped with our orientation. Aussie $ vs US$ was about 1/3 – 2/3. That is $6.50 US = $10Aud. And then of course there is the dreaded TIP of no less than 18%. The Clam Chowder we had for lunch was nothing like we remembered 25 years before. No taste/flavour.

 Walked back to Club Quarters and then walked about 25 minutes to Oracle Park to see the SF Giants play Chicago Cubs in baseball. Our seats were in the bleachers and were great for a panoramic view of the ball park.

We stayed until the bottom of the 5^th inning where Giants were up 4-0 runs. The most expensive Hot Dog in the world can be bought at Oracle Park. The actual hot dog was about $11 and with onions/sauce came to about $13.50 and then of course the minimum tip I was allowed to give of the EFT machine was 18% so that after conversions and bank changes my hot dog cost $21.46. Never the less it was great experience and we are happy we did it although it was crap.

Monday 1^st August walked to Union Square where there is the high end shopping and then Chinatown. Found a lovely little Chinese restaurant. One old bloke who took the orders, cooked the meal, served to meal and took your money. Good food from a very efficient man. Later walked to Coit Tower which is on top of Telegraph Hill. A good long slow uphill walk. Then walked back to accommodation. Did a lot of walking that day but thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tuesday  2^nd August we went on a full day wine tasting tour of Napa Valley. Our coach left from near  Fishermans Wharf We travelled to Napa via the Golden Gate Bridge.

An hour later after listening to the driver who never stopped talking but didn’t seem to know much about wines, he just thought he sounded like Morgan Freeman (and maybe looked like him) we arrived at the first winery called Madonna Winery          

Madonna Winery is a family owned concern and their Pinot Grigio and Rose were of good quality. The wine tasting procedure in Napa is different to that of Australia. We were given an empty glass when we got off the bus and they didn’t even look like giving us a taste until they had gone thru their entire spiel in the barrel room.

Looking back Madonna was the best of the wineries we visited, at least they showed an interest. We then motored on to Sonoma for lunch. That is, they dropped us off in the town square and said see you in 90 minutes. After walking the main streets and a few back streets of Sonoma we decided to have a Mexican lunch. The Mexican Taster consisted of a little bit of nearly everything on the menu. Turned out to be a good choice – good food and reasonably priced.

We then motored on to the second winery – Ru Vango Vineyard.

What a disappointment. The winery was actually purchased in recent times by an art lover and they used it more of an art gallery than a winery. The wines were crap. The Service was crap and Tower Tours should be ashamed to take their customers there. The cheapest artwork was about $250k. Tower Tours knew the issue before they took us there but none-the-less did so. We then went to the 3^rd winery and it was so bad we can’t remember its name. They sat us down on some chairs at tables in the sun. Served us 2 tastings and then ignored us. Everyone on the tour was disappointed. Napa Valley is apparently renowned for their Chardonnays – not one winery had a Chardy on their tasting menu. All in all the Napa Valley wine tour was a disappointment and it wasn’t cheap. $200US each!

Wednesday 3^rd August  – we left San Francisco Embarcadero area with a feeling the place is very tired. Streets are drab. Infrastructure outdated and the place needs a good clean up.

We took The BART to the airport for our flight to Seattle. Arrived Seattle without incident, it was good they catered for all passengers! Stayed at the Crown Plaza. It was close to the airport but not close to anything else. Dinner at the Motel was ordinary. Chowder very creamy and little seafood. The Halibut was also ordinary.

Thursday 4^th August we flew Seattle to Anchorage.

 Holland America arranged a coach to take us to the Motel in town. We walked around Anchorage for about an hour before we decided to have a drink and a feed at The Bear Paw Pub. The Burger was average.

                                      

The thing that stood out whilst walking the streets of Anchorage was the amount of homelessness.

Friday 5^th August early start – bags outside door by 6.00am. Breakfast at 7.00am then all aboard the McKinley Explorer Train to Denali. Great guide in our carriage. Entertaining and knowledgeable.

Arrived Denali Railway Station and then coached to McKinley Chalet where we went immediately and got a full Covid test which was thankfully negative.

McKinley Chalet is owned by Holland America. Next door is the Princess Chalet with are both owned by Carnival. Denali is virtually deserted during winter after the last cruise ship leaves about mid-September. We had a day tour of Denali National Park in a rickety old school bus. Whilst we did see some brown bears,moose, Doll sheep and  Caribou they were too far away to get a decent photo.

Sunday 7^th August another early start, bags outside at 6.00am and bus left at 8.00am from Denali to Whittier to board the Nieuwe Amsterdam. Stopped along the way. Great scenery and good food for lunch at a diner. We had to make it to Whittier at a specific time as the road tunnel  into Whittier is shared with the train. We made it with 10 minutes to spare and it took 6 minutes to get through the tunnel. Once out of the tunnel the ship was immediately there.

Boarding went smoothly. Went to cabin, Allans bag was there but Wendy’s wasn’t.  Finally turned up after about 90minutes. Wendy had a large bottle of Listerine in the bag and they must have thought it was alcohol.

Monday 8^th August – lazy first day on board. Viewed Hubbard Glacier which was spectacular.

 Did a wine tasting with the on-board sommelier.

Dress up night tonight. Whilst we were very presentable we noted the others were not wearing the Dinner Suits and Lounge Suits that we seen on previous ships. But there was still the 5.00pm queue at the dining room? We dined at 7.00pm. After dinner we went to the BB King lounge to listen to some wonderful singers and a great band.

Tuesday 9^th August – day started foggy but as we went further into Glacier Bay. Spectacular scenery.

So many glaciers and a very harsh environment. Two  of the galciersthat stood out were Lumpugh and John Hopkins. That was the day  –  and that night we dined at Tamarind Restaruant that had such glowing revues from friends who had sailed Holland America before. It was an upmarket asian style restaurant. As was our luck it must have been an off night. Allans entrée was cold and our main course was a Wasabi Beef and a seered Barramundi  which were both acceptable but not special and of course they offered a special which we paid an extra $20US for which was a lobster tail. The lobster tail was cut into bite size pieces, crumbed and deep fried and covered in a sweet chili sauce that your get from Woolworths. You couldn’t tell if it was lobster or chicken etc. Theres probably a song there – ‘that aint no way to treat a lobster – no way’. Tamarinda was a disappointment.Unfortunately we didn’t  let the staff know of our displeasure – should have.

After the Tamarind diner we seen a comedian on the lounge who was very good and he told the age old story of the cabbage diet which of course contained scenes of farting and belching and shitting etc.

Wednesday 10^th August. We sailed into Skagway. Interesting main street which was in the style of the old west. Lots of tourist shops and eateries. Jewelery, and general junk.

Walked the streets for an hour or so and went back to the ship for lunch.

 In the afternoon we joined the White Pass and Yukon Route  Railway (elev 880m).

The train trip was tremendous and the scenery spectacular. The tour guide was a font of knowlwedge with the history of the building of the railroad, the gold rush and the Yukon. She knew where all the photo ops were. The cariages were well heated with oil burners.

Thursday 11^th August –Arrive  Juneau the capital of Alaska. We didn’t have a tour booked so went for a walk through the town centre. Plenty of jewelery/gem stores. More than most asian stores. Oh so touristy. Whilst a nice clean city its  nothing special. After walking for a couple of hours we went back to the boat for lunch and then lazed the rest of the afternoon. We had prebooked and paid for a special diner at Rudi’s Sal de Mer restaurant for that evening. It was sensational. (Unlike Tamarind Restaurant which we apparently got them on a bad night as a lot of people said their meals were great) Our first taste was the complimentary bagette and condiments which was great then the appetiser of Rudi’s Seafood stack and Bouliabaise. Both were wonderful.

Our mains were Halbut with lemon butter and Whole Dover Sole Munierre. Both were 1^st class.

We finished with Rudi’s Souffle and Apple Tart Tartine – both scrumptious. The went to watch some BBKings R&B and then to bed.

Friday 12^th August called into Ketchican at around 11.00am and walked the immediate port area for an hour or so and went back to the ship for lunch. That afternoon we indulged in the Lumberjack Show. It was held in an arena in the middle of town near the harbour. It showcased the frontier opening up and the hard work done by the lumberjacks to fell and transport lumber/timber. The show went for over an hour and showed how the men struggled with the hostile conditions.

The show was well done. Ketchican thrives only on tourism.

Saturday 13^th August – a sea day. Sea days are boring for us. Going to the gym and walking the decks can only be done for so long. Other activities on the ship (pokies and drinking etc) don’t appeal so slumming it drinking coffee and trying not to eat too much is pretty much all we did. Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill Steak house was very good. Allan tried the steak tartare which was great.

Sunday 14^th August – Arrived Vancouver. Disembarked without fuss.

Waited ¾ hr for a taxi to take us to our Air BnB accomodation. We got there about 10.00am but couldn’t drop our bags of until midday so we walked the local area to get a feel for our neighborhood. Some good grovery stores across the road. Very adjacent to the train station and Rogers Stadium. The homeless were prevelent even though it was a more up-market area. The main area for the homeless was Hasting Street. They weren’t just your drug ravaged people they were more your struggling people trying to make ends meet and just could get out of the syndrome. Booked into the one bedroom apartment in a condominium that has all the modern conveniences and 1^st class appliances. Had our first home cooked meal ina while of duck breat and vegetables.

Monday 15^th May – we walked the local area and down to the touristy parts near the wharf. After lunch we decided to walk to Stanley Park. Thankfully we took sweat rags with us. The day was hot and steamy. We covered about ¾ of the park which is well worth a visit.

Decided to take the bus back to the accomodation. Our app told us we had walked 13 hot sweaty kilometres.

Tuesday 16^th August – We learned how to use the Skytrain today. We had arranged to meet with Rick and Paula at Rock River Casino. Rick had recently retired from The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission in Banbasa India and had married Paula in Vancouver. Rock River Casino is about a 40 minute Skytrain ride from the city. We met up and had lunch and a good old chat. It’s the happiest we’ve ever seen Rick (and the healthiest) They will be good for each other.

In the afternoon we wandered through the Chinatown Garden which was very impressive – then walked back to our digs via Hastings Street. This street is the worst example we’ve seen of homelessness anywhere. The people were genuine in their need for accomodation. There was not much evidence of drugs etc, just people trying to get through life. Young women with children, old men and women who have fallen through the cracks of society. It’s a blight on Vancouver and Canada although the homelesness in US is just as bad. On the TV news that night they interviewed a lady who said she could go into a shelter at night but her teenage son could not go with her so she slept on the street with him. The tents these people had as permanent shelter is appalling.

Wednesday 17^th August – Used the train again and did lots of walking looking for the Bloedil Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park and the Van Duson Gardens. Bloedil Conservatory was set as a rain forest with a great range of plants and animals (mainly birdlife)

The Van Dusen gardens – could have spent the whole day there – just wonderful place on earth in need of rain.

Ron and Margaret arrived at the apartment at about 8.00pm after an arduous journey from Sydney – L.A – Vancouver. Had Pizza at the local joint around the corner, had a coupla beers and a chat and then bed. Ron and Marg bunked down on our lounge. It was a big L shaped lounge and very comfortable. They only going to be in Vancouver for two nights and decent accomodation where we were was about $450AUD/night.

Thursday 18^th August  – spent the day walking around Gastown, the Wharf Terminal where they needed to get a negative Covid test which cost $80AUD each, then walked further around the city and came home via Hastings Street just to show Ron and Marg the extent of the homelessness.  Jetlag and lots of walking meant a leisurely afternoon napping. Had Vietnamese for dinner.

Friday 29^th August – we said our goodbyes and headed to the airport at about 9.30am for a 12.30pm flight to San Franscisco. Arrived SF about 3.00pm and thanks to technology we were able to check our bags to Sydney about 6 hours before the flight. Alla went well with the flights and got home safely.