Take a Canadian Icefield Discovery tour from Calgary to Vancouver, including VIA Rail – the sort of trip that’s so spectacular it takes your breath away. Add a stay in the gracious city of Vancouver and a seven-night Grand Princess Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Whittier.
That’s the essence of ‘Voyage of the Glaciers’, a memorable new 17-day fly-cruise-and-tour holiday from Worldwide Cruise Centres (worldwidecruisecentres.com.au).
‘Voyage of the Glaciers’ includes flights to and from Australia. The holiday begins with a flight from Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne to Calgary, Gateway to the Rockies, on 16 May 2015, followed by transfer to the Calgary International Hotel for a night’s rest to prepare for adventures ahead.
The holiday, packed with sights and excitement, costs from A$5199 twin share per person if booked by the end of October 2014. The deal is valid until that date or until it books out. Making value even better, a bonus US$60 in onboard credit applies per twin cabin on the Grand Princess cruise.
From Calgary, you’ll set out on a four-night/five-day Icefield Discovery Tour to Vancouver. It includes a two-night stay at the Banff Caribou Lodge, a night at the Deer Lodge Lake Louise, a night at the Sawridge Inn Jasper, and a night in a Private Sleeper Bedroom aboard VIA Rail Sleeper Touring service from Jasper to Vancouver.
Along the way you’ll travel by coach along the Icefields Parkway, one of North America’s most scenic highways. See enormous Columbia Icefield and ride the Ice Explorer on the Athabasca Glacier. Stop at the award-winning Glacier Skywalk to experience a glass-floored observation platform poised 280 metres over glacier-formed valleys and waterfalls.
The terrain around Bow and Peyto Lakes, the Crowfoot Glacier and the Athabasca Falls is renowned for sightings of bear, elk, moose and mountain sheep – so keep your camera ready.
After a relaxing morning in the mountain town of Jasper, board the VIA Rail train, in Sleeper Touring Class, to Vancouver. Traverse Jasper National Park and pass the sprawling grandeur of Mount Robson, then follow the mighty Thompson River all the way to the Fraser Valley and the coastal city of Vancouver.
In the evening, train attendants transform your quarters into a cosy bedroom. Prior to dinner, enjoy complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres in the Dome to relish the joy of train travel with views of panoramic scenery.
Arriving in Vancouver, you’ll spend two nights at the Rosedale on Robson Hotel in the heart of Vancouver’s entertainment district.
Now its time to board Grand Princess for a seven-night Alaska cruise. All shipboard main meals (excluding specialty restaurants) are included. The ship offers innovative touches like Movies Under the Stars, an Italian-inspired Piazza – plus yoga lessons, pools and spas – but most of the excitement happens ashore.
Highlights include phenomenal Glacier Bay, where 16 massive tidewater glaciers plunge into icy fjords. On land, brown, black forage for food along gravel beaches. Occasionally the rare glacier bear (with blue-tinted fur) is sighted.
Grand Princess calls enters College Fjord (five tidewater glaciers) and visits the historic town of Juneau at the foot of grand mountain peaks, the Klondike gold-rush settlement of Skagway and Ketchikan with its totem poles,
Arriving at Whittier on Western Prince William Sound, you’ll transfer to Anchorage Airport and fly back to Australia at the end of a fabulous holiday.
To find your local Worldwide Cruise Centres agent go to: www.worldwidecruisecentres.com.au
SOURCE Worldwide Cruise Centre