I would be really grateful for any advice that anyone could give.
I had planned to fly Globspan Glasgow to Vancouver on Wednesday 9th July to embark on an Alaskan cruise on Saturday 12th July. However, Globespan recently keep changing European flights and so now I feel quite vulnerable because if the Wednesday 9th flight was cancelled for any reason then my family might miss an expensive cruise. So I am now thinking of changing my flight to Saturday 5th July thinking that we would have a bit more flexibility if anything were to go wrong.
I had originally thought that with having only the 10th/11th in Vancouver before the cruise, I would not have time to visit Vancouver Island. However, if I change the flights we could overnight in Vancouver, have 5 nights on Vancouver island, and overnight in Vancouver before the cruise.
After the cruise we then have a further 10 nights before departing from Calgary on 29th July. I had thought about spending another 2 nights in Vancouver (so we'd have 4 in total) and then go Whistler, Sunpeaks, Jasper, Canmore and on to Calgary.
I would appreciate advice on whether:
1. Would 4 nights be enough to enjoy most of what Vancouver has to offer, bearing in mind that it will not be a 4 straight nights, but fragmented into 1 + 1 + 2?
2. I'm wondering if I do go to Vancouver Island, will 5 nights be long enough, and whould we give Victoria a miss since people seem to think it is quite like the UK? Also would it be best to hire a car in Vancouver and take it to Vancouver Island, or wait until we get to VI?
3. Our flight out of Calgary is late evening so is it worth staying there the night before? I have read that it is only about an hours drive from Canmore to Calgary so that would allow us a number of hours there before our flight. However, if there is a lot to see then I'll schedule in an overnight stay.
Views appreciated.