Our Itinerary

Brantford, Ontario

Our holiday is divided into three parts.  For the first six days we’ll be staying with Marion and Mike whom we met on a Caribbean cruise over Easter 2019.  They live on the eastern side of Canada at Brantford in Ontario province - https://www.brantford.ca/en/index.aspx# , about a 45-minute drive from the Niagara and Horseshoe Falls and about an hour away from Toronto.

Vancouver

Then we’ll fly to Vancouver, on the very western edge of Canada for a day of sightseeing, followed by a 10-night cruise to Alaska.  The cruise is one postponed from this time in 2020 and there will still, two years on, be some covid-related restrictions affecting us on this cruise.

As the cruise ends, we’ll disembark and spend a second day in Vancouver. Marion and Mike will fly off home before us and we will follow on back to the UK on an overnight flight.  We land the next day at Heathrow and have decided to have an overnight stay there to avoid the risk of jet lag affecting our driving as we head north home.

Our full itinerary is as follows -

Monday 6 June

We depart LHR Terminal 5 at 1705 on BA99 (Boeing 777) - track my flight. We arrive at Toronto Terminal 3 at 1955 [Flight of 7 hrs 50 mins]. We expect to arrive at the Marion and Mike's house at around 10pm their time (Tues 3am UK time)

Tuesday 7 June

Our hosts have suggested that we have a restful day after travelling to be rounded off with a BBQ supper with visitors Marj and Dave, who were with them on the original cruise, and Marion and Mike's neighbours and good friends Frank and Linda.

Wednesday 8 June

We’ll have a look around the local area with lunch at Elora, said to be the most beautiful community in Ontario province. See - https://www.elora.info/ and https://bit.ly/3GJYqMA

Thursday 9 June

We’ll drive to Niagara for an overnight stay at the Embassy Suites - https://bit.ly/3PYNjnm. We’re likely to have dinner at the Keg Steakhouse - https://fallsviewrestaurant.com/ and view the fireworks over the falls at 10pm - https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/fireworks/.

Friday 10 June

There is a variety of things to do in the falls area but the highlight of today is certain to be the Hornblower Boat tour to the falls -https://bit.ly/3x8MGyO.  We will then return to Brantford.

Saturday 11 June

We will drive to Toronto for a 1-hour harbour tour - https://harbourtourstoronto.ca/, then on to the Hop On, Hop Off City Tour - https://city-sightseeing.com/en/13/toronto and a possible trip up the CN Tower - https://www.cntower.ca/

Sunday 12 June

We leave Brantford and return to Toronto and depart at 1345 with Flair airlines (flight F81223) for Vancouver where we’ll arrive at 1545 after a 5-hour flight. Track this flight. Vancouver is 8 hours behind UK time. We’ll spend two nights in an Airbnb that Marion and Mike have stayed in before.

Monday 13 June

We’ll spend the day in Vancouver and go on the Grouse Mountain Skyride to the top of Vancouver - https://www.grousemountain.com/skyride, visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge  -https://www.capbridge.com and visit Stanley Park - https://bit.ly/3zeHqMQ

Tuesday 14 June

Alaska Cruise on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth

We’ll leave our accommodation and embark on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth for a 10-day cruise to Alaska.  Our supposed check in time is 1615 but we’ve been advised that if we arrive around midday we may get on earlier.  And then we set sail.

Wednesday 15 June

We’ll spend a day at sea en route to our next stop, leaving Canadian waters and entering the US.

Thursday 16 June

We arrive in Juneau, the Alaska state capital where we’ll embark on a city tour - https://www.traveljuneau.com/ and then go on the see the Mendenhall Glacier - https://bit.ly/3zgVNjH before returning to the ship.

Friday 17 June

A day of cruising as we visit the Hubbard Glacier - https://bit.ly/3NhwceR. This is the most northerly point on our cruise and, at just over 60 degrees north and only a few days before the summer solstice, we should get some midnight sun.

Saturday 18 June

We dock in Skagway  - https://www.skagway.com/ and our tour here is on a train up the White Horse Pass - https://bit.ly/3NQ52eP

Sunday 19 June

Today we cruise into Glacier Bay.  This is a fragile area and only an allotted number of ship are allowed to enter each season.  At all times a park ranger must be on board to ensure that there is minimal pollution to this valuable natural feature - https://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm

Monday 20 June

We dock in Sitka where we will see the highlights of the town - https://visitsitka.org/.

Tuesday 21 June

We move down the coast to Ketchikan where once again, we will see the highlights of the town - https://www.visit-ketchikan.com/.

Wednesday 22 June

We spend the day at sea sailing towards our last port stop before Vancouver.

Thursday 23 June

Back in Canada, we arrive in Victoria - https://www.tourismvictoria.com/. Here we will have a drive around the city and visit the Butchart Gardens - https://www.butchartgardens.com/.

Friday 24 June

We leave the ship and put our luggage into left luggage near the dockside.  We’ll then have the day at leisure in Vancouver.  Marion and Mike fly out to Toronto at 1635, while we leave some time later at 2050 on flight BA84 - track my flight.

Saturday 25 June

After our overnight flight of 9 hours and 15 minutes we’re due to land at Heathrow at 1405. We’ll then have a night at the Premier Inn, Heathrow.

Sunday 26 June

After breakfast we’ll set off for home - and a well-earned rest, no doubt!

DON'T FORGET: you can enlarge images by clicking on them