West Coast Canada, Inside Passage Cruise and Innovative Gardens

You will be met at Vancouver International airport and transferred to your hotel. Depart the hotel at 2:00 pm today and enjoy a visit to Nitobe Memorial Garden, part of the University of British Columbia Botanical Gardens. It is said to be one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan. Enjoy a Welcome Dinner this evening and get to know your Botanical Guide and fellow travellers.

Explore the highlights of Vancouver on a scenic city tour, taking in the sparkling waterfront and vibrant urban culture before venturing into the lush coastal temperate rainforest to cross the iconic Capilano Suspension Bridge. From our position high above the canyon, we can gaze down at towering Douglas fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock. These giants of British Columbia’s old‑growth forests can soar 60–70 metres high. Our journey continues through the natural beauty of Stanley Park, where majestic cedars surround an extraordinary collection of First Nations art and traditional totem poles. A guided tour here offers meaningful insight into the stories and significance behind the carvings. We conclude our day at the Bill Reid Gallery, where the artistry and cultural legacy of the Haida people come to life in a powerful and memorable way.

Set out from Vancouver on a scenic ferry ride across the Salish Sea to Vancouver Island. Our afternoon is spent at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, where a guided walk along the ethnobotanical trail reveals how Indigenous communities have long used native plants for food, medicine, and cultural practices. As we wander these tranquil gardens and forested pathways, we gain a deeper appreciation for the region’s natural heritage. Continue to Victoria, enjoying a guided walking tour of the downtown precinct before settling into the iconic hotel, Fairmont Empress.

Visit The Butchart Gardens before the public is granted access and enjoy an exclusive breakfast in the original Butchart residence. Developed upon the site of a former quarry, the property was transformed by Jennie Butchart more than 100 years ago into a haven teeming with lush greenery and colourful blooms. Our early morning visit gives us the opportunity to wander among these mesmerising floral displays without the crowds. Afterwards, we visit Abkhazi Garden, developed by the exiled Georgian prince, Nicholas Abkhazi, and his wife, Peggy Pemberton-Carter. Enjoy a tour of the magnificent heritage garden and a high tea lunch.

Begin your morning with a visit to the elegant gardens of Victoria’s Government House, residence of the Lieutenant Governor and the official home of the King’s representative in British Columbia. With a local expert leading the way, wander the diverse landscape of specialty gardens, from sweeping rockeries to beautifully arranged beds of Mediterranean herbs, each corner of the grounds offering a distinct charm and character. We then depart Canada by ferry, cruising south to the United States, and the city of Seattle. Take a brief orientation tour before arriving at our hotel.

Begin the day with a visit to a private garden before heading to Chihuly Garden and Glass, home to one of the finest collections of blown glass outside Venice. Wander the outdoor installations and soaring glass atrium, where vibrant sculptures are displayed among lush plantings. Enjoy the work of Washington’s renowned glass artist, Dale Chihuly, whose creativity has helped make the region a global centre for glassblowing. We finish our time in Seattle with a sunset cruise taking in breathtaking Puget Sound, a large estuary harbouring many forested islands, with a backdrop of distant snow‑capped peaks.

This morning, fly from Seattle to the Alaskan capital of Juneau. From here, we board Seabourn Encore. This luxurious vessel serves as our floating hotel for the next seven nights, during our explorations of Alaska and the Inside Passage.

A World Heritage site since 1992, Glacier Bay National Park features temperate, coniferous rainforest, as well as massive glaciers and icebergs. During our cruise, keep watch for black and brown bears, wolves, moose, eagles and ravens as they go about their daily routines along the park’s abundant shores. Harbor seals and whales can also be seen frolicking within the waters of the bay. Further south, we cruise Chatham Strait, bounded on the east by Admiralty and Kulu Islands and in the west by Chichagof and Baranof Islands. Occupied by the Tlingit people for thousands of years, the region was mapped by Spanish, French and British explorers during the late 18th century, before being named in honor of William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, in 1794.

Our southerly voyage continues to Decision Passage, at the western end of Sumner Strait. Arrive at Wrangell Island, one of more than a thousand islands within the Alexander Archipelago. The island’s namesake capital is a true Alaskan frontier town, deeply rooted in the heritage of the Tlingit people, the fur trade and the gold rush. Petroglyphs near the Stikine River, at Petroglyph Beach State Historic Site and Totem Park, suggest the presence of the Tlingit people here thousands of years ago. The Stikine River, Shakes Glacier and Anan Creek Bear Observatory are highlights in the region. Anan Creek boasts the largest pink salmon run of the Inside Passage, attracting brown and black bears in great numbers. Wrangell was named for Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel, a Russian explorer and administrator of the Russian-American Company during the mid-1800's. Choose from several optional shore excursions* on offer today in Wrangell. This afternoon, cruise the Stikine Strait, a picturesque channel running through Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago.

Today our vessel cruises the Behm Canal, which forms part of the Inside Passage on the route between Ketchikan and the Misty Fjords National Monument. The canal was named in honor of Magnus von Behm, by George Vancouver during his surveying expedition of 1793. Von Behm had earlier been governor of Kamchatka, in the Russian Far East, when Vancouver – at that time a crew member aboard Captain Cook’s HMS Discovery – called at Petropavlovsk, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, with news of Cook’s death. 

Arriving in Misty Fjords, you will have the option to take an excursion* by Zodiac to experience the area’s natural wonders. Misty Fjords National Monument is a section of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska’s south-eastern Panhandle region. The monument consists of more than two million acres of deeply cut fjords, virgin forest and wilderness.

Prince Rupert, set before coastal mountains, features the shops and restaurants of Cow Bay, the Museum of Northern British Columbia, the totem carving house and stunning sunken gardens. The region is also home to one of the highest concentrations of grizzly bears in North America. The Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary, established in 1994, was the first area in Canada to be protected specifically for grizzlies and their habitat. Choose from several excursions* on offer today in Prince Rupert.

Enjoy a full day of scenic cruising along some of British Columbia’s most striking waterways. Grenville Channel is a long, sheltered passage framed by steep mountains and dotted with small Indigenous reserves and marine parks. Continue into Whale Channel, a wildlife‑rich corridor between Gil Island and Princess Royal Island, surrounded by rugged, snow‑capped peaks. Our journey then leads through Princess Royal Channel, a remote region home to tiny First Nations villages that occupy the forest and a sanctuary to Kermode bears, eagles and wolves. The surrounding waters teem with salmon, whales, orcas and dolphins. You may wish to attend a lecture presented by our Botanical Guide aboard the ship today. Learn about the diverse scenery we have so far encountered during our cruise.

Arrive in the village of Alert Bay, on Cormorant Island, where the Kwakwaka'wakw people have lived continuously for thousands of years. Walk along the shoreline and see remnants of the region’s fish‑salting past, its sweeping coastal views, and abundant marine life. The U’mista Cultural Centre, meanwhile, showcases the renowned Potlatch Collection, including masks and ceremonial objects, which was returned to the community in the 1980s, having been earlier confiscated by the authorities. Optional Zodiac excursions* explore the wildlife‑rich Cormorant Channel Marine Park, home to seabirds, seals, and occasionally orcas. Continue cruising across Johnstone Strait and the Seymour Narrows, known for their intense tidal currents. It was also here that the controlled explosion of the navigational hazard, Ripple Rock, took place in 1958. Enjoy a Farewell Dinner aboard the ship this evening.

After breakfast today, we disembark Seabourn Encore in Vancouver. From here, you will be transferred to the airport as our journey concludes.