[Helene2008]

It sounds like you are doing the same cruise I went on a few years ago. We did a land trip prior to the cruise and flew into Seattle, took a boat from there to Victoria (which is a beautiful town) then on to Vancouver. I don't remember the name of the hotel, but it is where out ship departed from. While there we went to Butchart Gardens which I would recommend..it was beautiful. There is also an old town by the hotel in Vancouver (within walking distance) that was also nice. There are many side tours that you can take from the cruise ship...we took one that was a bus tour into a small town (sorry can't remember the name) stayed there a few hours, had dinner there and then took a small plane back to the ship...flying over glaciers. Hope that helps and enjoy your trip, Alaska is beautiful.