Daveintb

On 9/11/2019 at 7:06 PM, KansCocoa said:

This is great!! We are doing a B2B on Radiance next year - and we were lucky enough to score #9256 for both legs...we can’t wait! The aft balcony looked amazing on the deck plans, so your photos helped me decide that we made the best choice!!!

You made a good choice, that balcony was very spacious and the room was just right, you will have a blast.

4 hours ago, kochleffel said:

Thank you for posting all this! I have the same itinerary booked for next year and I'm considering some of the same excursions.

 

I like your photos. Could you post about the camera and lens(es)?

 The camera is a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000, there are no lenses as it is a fixed lens with a great zoom, that is the beauty of that camera. Lots of info online about it. 

3 hours ago, Mountaineer0313 said:

 

 

Did you guys have an aft facing balcony?!

 Yes we did, had corner aft 9256 and was very nice enjoying the great views. 

Thanks, we seen a total of 5 different bears that day.

Thanks for your kind words, sounds like an amazing trip you have planned, have fun.

All in all it was a great trip, never did get much of the anticipated rain and we were blessed with good weather almost every day. Radiance of the Seas is in great shape and the staff is very friendly and we loved the aft balcony views we got from cabin # 9256. 

Seen this gal out of the corner of my eye on the road so I turned around and got these pics.

The next day it was time to drive back to Anchorage and catch a flight home, however, mother nature threw us a curve ball and a wildfire had closed down the George Parks Highway. Long story short we did make it in time for our flight with just a few minutes to spare and what should have been a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive turned into 7 1/2 hour crawl.

   Again we were blessed with blue skies and we seen Denali on the way out of Cantwell.

Polychrome Pass was simply breathtaking in person.

We also spotted 3 grizzlies on a mountain side feeding on berries.We never did see Mt Denali on that first day, at one of the rest stops I asked our driver where could I see it if I were to drive on my own ( rental car ) and she told me around mile marker 9 on the park road. So the next day we had nothing planned so we took of on our own and were lucky enough that the skies were clear enough to show us the mountain.

Somebody on the bus spotted a eagle flying in the distance and below it was a big male grizzly.The caribou and moose were always closer to the road.

Denali National Park is phenomenal ! One of the most majestic places I have ever seen. We were scheduled to take the shuttle bus to Eielson Visitor Center but a flood the day before had shut down the road so we made it as far as Toklat River Rest Stop. Never the less we still had seen incredible scenery and grizzly bears, caribou, moose and Dall sheep.These Dall sheep were a long way off !

We were sad that our wonderful cruise had come to an end but we were excited to get to Denali. We stayed 3 nights at McKinley Creekside Cabins and where we had an excellent stay. They have a cafe/bakery on site and we were pleasently surprised how great the food was. We learned on the last day that they grow their own veggies and flowers in the on site greenhouse. The little creek running along side the property, very serene place to relax.

Sailing between Hubbard Glacier and Seward we seen this huge mountain in the distance.

Next up was Hubbard Glacier, where we seen some pretty good calving going on.

Sailing out of Skagway was spectacular.

Moving on to Skagway where we rode the train, did some shoping in town and caught a buzz in the Red Onion Saloon.  

After the long day with Adventure Bound we took a ride up Mt Roberts.