when we first started landing this trip over a year ago- I was so stressed. There wasn’t much information available. I started by comparing a land vs cruise trip. I stayed up until 1am one night deep in research. I found the land route seemed more expensive, harder to get around, a lot of driving and the cost of food, lodging and gas higher. There are also many places you cannot reach by land I. Alaska, meaning you’d have to go in a sea plane or by boat. We also have food allergies, my oldest is celiac so we have to be very careful where we eat.

I finally decided on a cruise. I researched all the cruise options, lines, ways to travel, ports, and where you start and end. My head was spinning but settled on a Royal Caribbean 7 night cruise on a smaller ship that did the inside passage. It left from Vancouver, BC and ended in Seward, Alaska. The next step was planning excursions for the ports. Unfortunately, there was a lack of info on the excursions. Were there taxis or easy transportation? Did I need something booked for every port? I did not get the answers to a lot of these questions until after the cruise, so I’m here to help you plan.

Vancouver

Our cruise started at the end of August from Vancouver, BC. Due to work schedules we flew in the day before. Unfortunately, our flight was moved to a later departure time so we did not arrive until 12AM pct, which was 3 am EST. We flew Alaskan air and scored first class tickets during a Thanksgiving sale for the same price as main cabin. That was a fun experience. I highly recommend using the ican arrival app to help clear customs at the airport faster. One app for our whole family. Once we cleared customs we went to the taxi line and quickly and easily got a taxi to our hotel downtown. The taxi was a $30 flat rate.

I booked the Fairmont downtown (here are three Fairmonts in Vancouver) using my American Express platinum card. We found out once we arrived we’d been upgraded to a club level room that included a fantastic free breakfasthat day and many other perks we didn’t get to experience due to having to check out. Since we had to check out at noon but wanted to explore Vancouver, we had our luggage held by bell services. After checkout we went to the Vancouver lookout. We arrived right when they opened, which I highly recommend as it quickly crowded. The views were great, even with the wildfire haze. We saw our ship from the top.

after the Lookout we walked around downtown and the sea walk. We saw the Fairmont Pacific Rim, which connects to the cruise terminal. I was happy we stayed away from the crowds and busy but if you don’t want to Uber ( Vancouver has and Lyft) to the cruise terminal then it’s a great location as you can walk right into the ship with all your luggage but defiantly busy! We picked up our luggage from the hotel storage and got to an Uber the cruise port. It was around $25.00 for a midsized SUV

getting on the boat.

The Vancouver cruise terminal is busy. There is one terminal, one customs and one security for all cruise lines. We were in a suite and there was a suite departure line. The regular line moved faster in all honesty and was easy. Bags go through security and people through metal detectors then on to customs. The customs line was long and took over half an hour. We choose our boarding time closer to 1pm because the crowds are typically less and it gave us more time to explore the city. I was happy we did as it took us almost an hour total to get through security and customs with the lines. We usually prefer to board cruises later due to the crowds on the ship being high as no ones room is ready yet. We also prefer to carry on own luggage on the ship and go right to the room. We did our muster station drill through the app and visited our muster station to finish check in. Once we did that, we went to our room. The room keys are on your door. My family had surprised me with a Royal Caribbean birthday package. The room was decorated and there was even a gluten free cake waiting. It was a really sweet surprise and a great way to celebrate my last year in my 30’s. We unpacked and hung out on the balcony as the ship left the harbor. The views were great!

My favorite cruise tradition is to sit outside on our balcony as the ship leaves. Vancouver did not disappoint in views. We used the rest of the afternoon to explore the boat, unpack and eat a special birthday dinner in one of the speciality restaurants, Samba. It is a Brazilian Steakhouse. It was delicious.

We spent the rest of the night in the room, watching the scenery go by and journaling. We were all pretty exhausted from the busy travel day.

Skip if you dont have food allergies. Navigating food allergies on Royal Caribbean is super easy. The first night in main dinning room, the options are limited as nothing has been prepared in advance. After dinner, you will be given a menu of the next nights meals and will pick what is available for your food allergy. There is usually a lot to pick from. The Wind Jammer has many options available if you just ask. I found gluten free buns, bread and pizza. They have many of buffet options labeled as well.