Amazing Canada, USA and Alaska - Our Pre and Post Alaska Cruise Report (Updated!)

Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report . 2012 . September

This post is a follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. In this post, we would like to share our pre and post cruise itinerary. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

From tiny little Singapore in Southeast Asia, we found ourselves having to travel across half of the globe to Vancouver where the Diamond Princess departs for our 10-day Gulf of Alaska cruise-tour.  Not that we minded!

Our vacation started with a 19 hour flight to Los Angeles via Singapore Airlines. It was not our first trip to the United States.  In fact, this is our third USA trip in 2 years!  The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco were not new to us, but since we making the trip across the Pacific, we took the opportunity to re-visit these beautiful cities again.

We also took the opportunity to visit 2 new cities, Vancouver and Seattle.
  
Vancouver, Canada – a land that we had never stepped foot on before this trip.   It holds so much much beauty and culture that we must come back again soon, for the few days that we spent at Vancouver pre-cruise was not sufficient to explore it in greater depths.

Seattle, USA – the place renowned for its great coffee and which was the birth place of the famous Starbucks chain of coffee houses was a stop-over point for us on the way home to Singapore.

The beauty of this trip was that we got to experience the cultures and beauty of a few different cities, had a relaxing and eye-opening cruise to Alaska where we got to see lots of wildlife, did lots of shopping at and out of Alaska, and had great experience with gourmet food and coffee all within a short but exciting period of 18 days. 

Here's a quick preview of our itinerary.  Stay tuned and bookmark this page as we bring you the details in each article.

Last Updated: 14 August 2013

PRE-CRUISE

Singapore -> Los Angeles via Singapore Airlines

Hotel Review:  Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport

Los Angeles -> San Francisco via Southwest Airline

Airline Review:  Southwest Airline
Hotel Review: Red Roof Inn San Francisco Airport
San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace
Restaurant Review: Blue Bottle Coffee
Restaurant Review: Hollywood Cafe
Pier 39 and Fisherman Wharf
Alcatraz Visit Part 1 - Exploring Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Visit Part 2 - Cellhouse Audio Tour

Seals resting on Pier 39 (Credits: staysf.com)

Alcatraz Island (Credits:www.baycityguide.com)

San Francisco -> Vancouver via United Airlines

Airline Review: United Airlines
Hotel Review: Days Inn Vancouver Downtown
Vancouver Chinatown Walking Tour
Restaurant Review:  New Town Bakery and Restaurant
Vancouver Cruise Terminal and Gas Town
Granville Island Public Market

Vancouver Gastown (Credits: www.flickriver.com)

Gulf of Alaska Cruise on Diamond Princess

Alaska Cruise Trip - Our Full Story

POST-CRUISE

Fairbanks -> Seattle via Alaska Airlines

Airline Review: Alaska Airline
Hotel Review: Hampton Inn Seattle-Airport
Restaurant Review: Pike Place Chowder
The First Starbucks Store
Pike Place Market
Restaurant Review:  PF Chang’s China Bistro

Restaurant Review:  Jade Garden Restaurant
Seattle Chinatown

Pike Place Market (Credits: seattlephotographs.smugmug.com)

First Starbucks Store (Credits: thekotykreport.blogspot.com)

Seattle -> San Francisco via Alaska Airlines

Airline Review: Alaska Airline
Hotel Review: Red Roof Inn San Francisco Airport again!
Downtown San Francisco
San Francisco Chinatown
Restaurant Review: Oriental Pearl Restaurant
Land’s End Hiking Trail

 San Francisco -> Singapore via Singapore Airlines

This post is a follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

Like us on Facebook @ Discover. Book . Travel and follow us on Twitter @Discoverbooktra!

Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!

Airline Review: Southwest Airlines Flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco

Los Angeles to San Francisco (Alaska Pre Cruise) . 2012 . September 13

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

Several airlines fly direct from Los Angeles to San Francisco – United, Southwest, Delta, American, and Virgin America.  Flight time is around 1 hour and 20 minutes, and there are around 40 to 50 flights per day offered by the above airlines. We chose to fly with Southwest as it offers the cheapest ticket price and two free checked bags per person! This certainly comes in useful for us as we had packed quite a fair bit of luggage for our Alaskan Cruise.

Online Booking

We had booked our air tickets directly online through the Southwest Airlines website, which offers a choice of three flexible fare categories as follows:

Wanna Get Away Fare
Southwest's Lowest Fare. Although this fare isn't refundable, if you need to cancel your trip, 100% of your ticket value can still be applied to future travel for up to 12 months.

Anytime Fare
With this fare, if you have a change of plans and need to cancel your flight, you'll receive 100% of your ticket value as a refund to your original form of payment when booking this fully-refundable fare.

Business Select Fare
Business Select is their most rewarding, completely refundable fare. You'll receive Priority Boarding, access to our Priority Ticket Counter and Security Lanes, and a premium drink ($5 value), and maximum Rapid Rewards Points.

Southwest Fare Types (Credits: millionmilesecrets.com)

Although we only booked the air tickets 2 weeks in advance, we still manage to secure 2 tickets at the Wanna Get Away Fare of USD$68.80 per person for an early flight at 6.10am to San Francisco! :) That works out to around SGD $85 per person!

Check-in

As it was an early morning flight, we had to wake up very early so that we could reach the airport by 4.30am for check-in. It was advised on Southwest's website that we should arrive at the airport 90 minutes before departure.  As we were staying at Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport, we were able to take their 24 hour shared shuttle to the airport. Do check out our review of the hotel here!

Photo taken while we were travelling on the shuttle to the airport. That's how early we were up, at the crack of dawn!

We were at the airport on time at 4.30am and there was already a long queue at the Southwest Check-In Counters. However, there was no Southwest Check-in Staff in sight. It was probably around 1 hour before flight that the check-in staff arrived.

Check in was a bit messy initially with the large crowd, but it soon settled down and we were off to the boarding gate by 5.30am.

Boarding

We were impressed by Southwest's Boarding policy where passengers board the aircraft based on their assigned boarding positions when they check in. Your boarding group (A, B, or C) and number (1-60) will be displayed on your boarding pass.

General boarding starts with Business Select customers, who are guaranteed positions at the front of the A Group, followed by Rapid Rewards A-List Members and the remaining Customers in the A Group, families with children under age 5, then groups B and C. You can purchase an earlybird check-in at USD $12.50 one-way per person if you do not belong to the above groups. This should ensure that you will be assigned under the A Group which will allow you to board earlier.

A Group Boarding Positions at the Gate. You will stand at your boarding position based on your group and number assigned. This ensures orderly and quick boarding onto the aircraft.

Tip: Southwest has an open seating policy, so there are no assigned seats on your tickets. You are free to sit at any available seat when you get onboard.

Photo taken on board the flight. It was pretty full for an early morning flight with pockets of empty seats.

Cabin Amenities and Food

The seat pitch of the leather seat was slightly cramped, compared to previous short haul (Silkair, Berjaya Air) or budget carriers (Air Asia, Scoot) that we have taken in Asia. However, for a short flight of less than 1 and a half hours, we guess passengers would not mind the seat pitch as long as the price is cheap.

Being a low cost carrier, no full meals were provided by Southwest on board. But they do provide a complimentary drink and snack for this short haul flight, which is a pleasant surprise for us! :)

You could choose from a selection of complimentary non-alchoholic beverages which include cold soft drinks like Coke, Sprite and Dr Pepper, Minute Maid juices as well as hot coffee and tea.

We opt for the Minute Maid Apple Juice and a Hot Cocoa.

On our flight, we were also offered a complimentary pack of Pretzels each, which surprisingly was quite tasty! Do try them if you are on board a Southwest Flight!

In Flight Magazine and Shopping - Spirit Magazine and Skymall

If you did not bring your IPAD or personal entertainment devices on board for the short flight, you may want to flip through the on board in flight travel magazine or shopping guide from Southwest.

We took some photos on the flight as dawn starts to break...

 and some more as we fly through the white clouds and the US terrains...

Time flies fast for the short flight...soon we were touching down at San Francisco Airport...

Waiting to collect our checked in luggages at the SouthWest Belt at San Francisco Airport.

Overall, the flight was comfortable, and the landing and take-off smooth. We also enjoyed the complimentary drink and snack provided.

Final Verdict:  We like Southwest's free check-in luggage for the first two pieces, its Boarding Policy and complimentary beverages and snack. However, the check-in process can be better managed. Overall, we would have no hesitation to take another Southwest flight when we travelled to USA again the next time!

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

Like us on Facebook @ Discover. Book . Travel and follow us on Twitter @Discoverbooktra!

Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!

Hotel Review: Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport

Los Angeles (Alaska Pre Cruise) . 2012 . September 12

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

More than a year after coming back from the sunny sea side city of Los Angeles, we are back to this beautiful city again en-route to Vancouver for our cruise to Alaska. We had a brief one night stay at Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport before catching an early morning flight to San Francisco the next day.

Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport offers guests who are looking for a hotel by LAX a new flexible check-in option any time of the day or night and stay for 24 hours with no extra charge. You could also opt for a cheaper day room rental if you only need the room for a quick rest before your flight. This special rate is available Monday – Friday for check-in after 8:00 AM and check-out before 5:00 PM.

There's a free complimentary shuttle bus to Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport, which runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to and from the Los Angeles International Airport approximately every 20 minutes.  At the airport, once you have claimed your luggage head outside and stand beneath the red sign and watch for the Four Points LAX shuttle.

Sights of other hotels along the way to the Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport.  To be honest, they look pretty good too, and are located nearer to the airport.

The Surroundings

A Big carpet at the entrance of the Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport greeted us as we reached the hotel.

A very comfortable, spacious and relaxing setting, the Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport is designed to look like a beach resort with an outdoor pool and a slanted glass roof.  Of course, in sunny California, everybody is out here for some sun-tanning though I beg to differ.

We were assigned a Starwood Preferred Guest room after applying the SPG member card following our stay at Westin Langkawi Resorts & Spa.

 

The Room

The room was generally clean and certainly provide a comfortable stay for travellers who need to catch an early flight the next morning or arriving on a late night flight.

The Bathroom

The bathroom, though not luxurious is at least clean and spacious, complete with a bath tub.

The only surprise for us was that the coffee-maker was placed in the bathroom!

The Corridors

Generally clean and spacious environment as we made our way out from our room to find some food after a long flight!

Lift area.

The Shuttle Service

Amongst all the airport hotels that we had stayed in, we must comment that Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport had the best system of informing their guest where their shuttle bus is and when it is expected to reach the hotel to pick them up.

The moving blue dot gives you real time information on the whereabouts of the complimentary airport shuttle bus!  As a result, we never had any miscommunications with the front desk on when the shuttle bus will turn up to pick us up.

Amenities

The fitness center at Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport opens 24 hours (normally the fitness center would close in the late evening in typical hotels), probably to cater to its hotel guests that could check in around the clock.

 There is also a swimming pool that opens daily from 6am to 10pm.

Dining Options

Not many, in my opinion, if you don’t happen to drive.  There are of course in-house bars and restaurants, but they are not suitable for the budget conscious.

The in-house restaurant, Comfort offer travelers a breakfast buffet to satisfy their varied tastes as well as a lunch and dinner menu that embodies the Southern California lifestyle.

There is also a coffee bar and Brewster's, Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport's in-house bar

Thank goodness for the Burger King outlet located within a 5 min walk across the hotel. It is situated directly opposite Renaissance Hotel.

Final Verdict:

Overall, we had a pleasant one night stay at Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport and would recommend the hotel to travellers who are looking for a comfortable and affordable hotel to stay near the Los Angeles Airport. We were impressed by its efficient shuttle service and its flexible check-in option for any 24 hour stay.

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. To receive notifications on updates, subscribe to our blog via RSS feed and email.

Like us on Facebook @ Discover. Book . Travel and follow us on Twitter @Discoverbooktra!

Do check out our Flickr photos & Youtube videos too!