Alaska &  The Yukon – June 24, 2012 21 Days

7 Day Cruise + 14 Day Land Tour

7-Night Cruise
Inside Cabins Starting at $1067 Plus Tax +                                                               Land Portion $2929 DBL $2639 TRPL $4059 SNGL

Join Sunwest Tours and Holland America for a ‘Once in a Lifetime” tour through Alaska and the Yukon. After enjoying your 7-night cruise aboard the Zaandam, one of Holland America’s premiere ships, you will have an opportunity to discover Alaska and the Yukon by land as we travel back home for 13 days in one of our deluxe motor coaches.

Tour Inclusions at Sea:

• 7-night cruise on the Zaandam by Holland America
• 3 Deluxe Meals a day, including snacks at your choice of 3 restaurants
• Choice of inner cabin, outer cabin or veranda rooms
• Whitepass Railroad excursion

Tour Inclusions on Land:

• Transportation by fully equipped motor coach
• Escorted by professional tour director
• Nightly accommodation and baggage handling – 1 suitcase per person
• Meals- 5 Dinner, and 3 Breakfast
• Liard Hot Springs – bring towel & swimsuit
• Watson Lake – sign forest
• Whitehorse – Frantic Follies – Gay 90’s Vaudeville Review
• Dawson City – City tour & gold panning at Claim #33
• Dawson City – Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall
• Fairbanks – 4 hour Discovery Riverboat cruise
• Fairbanks – Alaskaland & “all-you-can-eat” salmon bake

Day 1 – June 24 – Okanagan to Vancouver – **All meals included on the ship

Welcome aboard for our exciting new tour of Alaska and the Yukon. Magnificent sights unfold as we travel the Coquihalla Highway, with a coffee stop in Chilliwack then carrying on to our destination port, The Canada Place Pier in Vancouver. There we will board the extravagant Zaandam, one of Holland America’s finest cruise ships, and we are on our way to Alaska.

Day 2 – June 25 – Scenic cruising Inside Passage – **3 Meals included

Today we cruise through the Inside Passage, carved by glaciers and blanketed with majestic hemlock and spruce. This leisurely cruise among the fjords and forested islands of the Inside Passage takes you into prime habitate for Bald Eagles, Sea Lions, Porpoise, and Whales. Along with all the sights of the Inside Passage there is also lots to explore on the ship.

Day 3 – June 26 – Ketchikan, Alaska – **3 Meals included

This morning we dock in Ketchikan, also well known as the salmon capital of the world and a paradise for sport fishermen and naturalists alike. An outstanding collection of totem poles is offered for anyone interested in Native art. Take time for yourself or your partner to discover this mystery town or join Holland America for planned Shore Excursions; Best of Ketchikan & Floatplane Flight seeing? Saxman Native Village; Backcountry Jeep & Canoe Safari.

Day 4 – June 27 – Ketchikan to Juneau – **3 Meals included

Today we will spend a whole day in Juneau, the capital city of Alaska. There are numerous sights and plenty of places to explore while visiting this city, such as the Alaska State Museum, House of Wickersham, Juneau-Douglas City Museum, Patsy Ann Statue, and the Mt. Roberts Tram. Spend the day exploring on your own or take part in one of Holland Americas planned shore excursions: Four Glacier Adventure by Helicopter, Mendenhall Glacier & Whale Quest or Gold Panning at Gold Creek.

Day 5 – June 28 – Juneau to Skagway – **3 Meals included

We make a full day stop at Skagway today, the oldest incorporated city in Alaska that grew incredibly during the Klondike Gold Rush. After the gold rush, Skagway might have become a ghost town if it weren’t for the construction of White Pass & Yukon Route Railway in 1898. The Klondike Gold Rush Natural Historic Park is the main tourist attraction. We will be taking a trip on the White Pass & Yukon Railway.

Day 6 – June 29 – Skagway to Glacier Bay National Park – **3 Meals included

Today we enjoy a scenic cruise of Glacier Bay National Park. The park has snow capped mountain ranges rising to over 15,000 feet, coastal beaches with protected coves, and freshwater lakes. A variety of marine life and wildlife surround the area.

Day 7 – June 30 – Glacier Bay National Park to Glaciers of College Fjord – **3 Meals

We are spending another day on our adventure filled ship as we experience the sights of the Glaciers of College Fjord. Tucked into the northwest corner of Prince William Sound, College Fjord, surrounded by over a dozen glaciers is easily the equal of the much more famous Glacier Bay. Some of these glaciers have spruce forests growing right up to the very edge of the ice, giving a sense of scale now seen in Glacier Bay

Day 8 – July 1 – Glaciers of College Fjord to Anchorage

The boat will dock early this morning in Seward and we will all bid farewell to our new sailing friends. After meeting our bus driver we will carry on with our journey to our first destination on land, Anchorage Alaska. On our travels today we’ll enjoy a half-day city tour delighting in the sights of this very modern city, which includes Earthquake Park, an interpretive display, showing the results of Anchorage’s 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. At 9.2 on the Richter scale, the most powerful tremor ever felt in North America, the quake leveled a number of area neighborhoods. Also enjoy downtown Anchorage with its shops and restaurants. Our hotel for the next two evening will be the Westmark Hotel.

Day 9 – July 2 – Anchorage

Explore Anchorage and see the city that rose from a railroad tent city through the incredible earthquake to the modern city of today. Take in the 3D Alaska Experience Theatre to learn more or spend your time exploring this beautiful city which has great shopping and eating establishments.

Day 10 – July 3 – Anchorage to Fairbanks

Today we travel north on the Parks Highway to Alaska’s northern most city. As we near Denali National Park we may get our first glimpse of North America’s highest mountain, Mt. McKinley. The highway follows the Chulitna River where we see many white river rafting vessels. Our final stop before Fairbanks is Nenana, best known for the Nenana Ice Classic, where prizes are awarded to the ones who guess the exact minute of the ice breakup on the Tanana River. Our hotel for the next two nights will be the, Springhill Suites.

Day 11 July 4 – Fairbanks – Dinner

Relax and enjoy your 4-hour journey along the Chena and Tanana rivers aboard the Riverboat sternwheeler, ‘Discovery 3’. Guides discuss wildlife, history, geology & customs. With a stopover at an Indian village, you will see a dog-sled demonstration with Susan Butcher, an Iditarod champion. This evening we will visit the Pioneer theme park, Alaskaland, with an “all you can eat” salmon, halibut or rib dinner. Afterwards we enjoy a musical show depicting the history of Fairbanks.

Day 12 – July 5 – Fairbanks to Tok

Today we follow the famous Alaska Highway with magnificent views of the Alaska Range. After lunch we stop at Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway for a excellent photo opportunity. We also will have a chance to view the famous Alaska pipeline at Big Delta. In Tok, the Dog Sled Capital of Alaska, our hotel for the night is Youngs Motel .

Day 13 – July 6 – Tok to Dawson City

Today we travel the spectacular skyline route known as the ‘Top of the World’ highway. We stop at a quaint little place called Chicken which boasts the best cinnamon buns in Alaska. As we leave the highway, we cross on a ferry over the Yukon River to Canada’s Gold Rush city, Dawson City. Try your luck gambling tonight at Diamond Tooth Gerties, Canada’s oldest gaming hall. Your accommodations for the next two nights will be at the Triple J Hotel.

Day 14- July 7 – Dawson City – BBQ Dinner

A narrated 3-hour tour of the area this morning includes tales of the great gold rush of ’98, gold-panning at Claim 33 and viewing the old gold processing dredge #4. This afternoon is free to visit the cabins of Robert W. Service and Jack London, browse through the quaint shops or relax in the home town of Pierre Berton. This evening we will enjoy a wonderful BBQ Dinner at our hotel.

Day 15 – July 8 – Dawson City to Whitehorse

We bid farewell to the Klondike city to follow the old stage coach route to Whitehorse. Along the way we stop for a view of the 5 Finger Rapids on the Yukon River which were a navigational hazard to the early miners. We also view the remains of an old roadhouse used by the early stage coaches. Our hotel for the next two nights in the Yukon’s largest city and capital is the B.W. Gold Rush Inn

Day 16 – July 9 – Whitehorse

Today we enjoy a visit to Miles canyon on the Yukon River, where you may cross the river on a suspension bridge. We follow the Old White Pass Railroad Route to Carcross, on the shores of Lake Bennett, a stopping place for gold stampeders on their way to the Klondike goldfields and a major stop on the railroad. Enjoy the quaint General Store and the old station house. On our return to Whitehorse, we will tour the SS Klondike – a national historic site, built in 1929, the largest vessel on the Yukon. The afternoon is free for you to enjoy the shops of Whitehorse, before departing for the Frantic Follies, the best music show in the Yukon.

Day 17 – July 10 – Whitehorse to Muncho Lake – Dinner

Enjoy the exhilarating landscape of the Yukon and British Columbia as we pass by snow-covered peaks, flowering valleys and dense forest. Lunch at Watson Lake, home of the Signpost Forest .We follow the mighty Laird River and on to Muncho Lake, a beautiful deep green lake, 7 miles long. Our hotel is the largest log structure in BC: The Northern Rockies

Day 18 – July 11 – Muncho Lake – Buffet Breakfast, & Dinner

Our picturesque location at the northern edge of the Rocky Mountains. This afternoon we’ll drive to Liard Hot Springs for a swim in the natural setting of Liard Provincial Park.

Day 19 – July 12 – Muncho Lake to Fort St. John – Breakfast Buffet & Farewell Dinner

We follow the world-famous Alaska Highway entering the Peace River country with its oil rigs and grain fields. We stop for lunch in Fort Nelson – first established in 1805 by the North West Fur Trading Co. Our overnight stay is Fort St. John, dubbed the “energetic City’, where we will be having our Farewell Dinner at the Northern Grand our hotel for the evening.

Day 20 – July 13- Fort St. John to Quesnel

Today’s travels take us to the W.A.C Bennett Dam where we view a video on the construction of the dam. From there we travel to Chetwynd and Prince George before arriving at The Billy Barker Hotel in Quesnel, a town located on the Fraser River. Enjoy an evening of fun at this Hotel.

Day 21 – July 14 – Quesnel to Kelowna

We travel home today through Williams Lake, Hundred Mile House & Kamloops before arriving back in the Central Okanagan. It is a day to say farewell to our friends and return home with a feeling of fulfillment from seeing the ‘Last Frontier’!

**Itinerary & casino packages subject to change without notice**

Sunwest tours reserves the right to withdraw all or part of any tour should condition warrant.

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