~*Lou*~

Some animals from AWCC, and the view of Turnagain Arm from the top of Mt Alyeska (my children throwing snowballs)

Just in case its of interest, when travelling between Anchorage and Seward, if you have a car and the time, Girdwood and the Portage Valley make excellent stops. We spent a couple of nights Girdwood and visited the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center, as well as taking the tram up Mt Alyeska, and driving towards Whittier to visit Begich-Boggs Visitor Center, taking the short hike to Byron Glacier and the boat trip to Portage Glacier.

LUCKYNANA - we had an inside cabin when we were on Radiance too, 4 of us, quad share, 2 adults and children aged 5 and 7, there was plenty of space. We have since been on MSC Poesia and Coral Princess, also inside cabins, and Radiance is the most spacious, the other 2 didn't have room for 2 seater couch!

Excellent idea! We were on Radiance northbound in 2015 and Coral Princess southbound last year so I'll add what I can to match your itinerary. While in Seward (2 nights)  we visited the Sealife Center, saw sea otters and harbour seals from the beach, and had a fabulous time exploring Resurrection Bay with Kenai Fjords Tours (we were on the 8am 6 hour trip).

TWANGSTER - no such thing as too many photos - your images are amazing!

Ohhh exciting! We were on Coral in Alaska in 2019 and had a wonderful time - wrap around promenade deck, lots of outside viewing decks, buffet at the front of the ship (excellent indoor viewing in inclement weather), you can get out the front on decks 9, 10 and 11, as well as the rear of the ship (we were in an inside cabin so the outdoor viewing was really important to us). Might have to have a little look at itineraries ….!

Having done both Radiance northbound and Coral Princess southbound, I would encourage you to consider a cruise itinerary that included scenic cruising in Glacier Bay NP, and one big advantage of sailing Princess is you sail from Whittier, not Seward, giving you a very scenic evening on departure as you cruise through Prince William Sound.

However if you are absolutely set on RCI, I suggest a either a northbound or southbound cruise, rather than round trip from Seattle. I think on the round trip you sail west of Vancouver Island and not east? I recommend sailing east, its very scenic. You also get (or should get, it was cancelled due to poor weather when I was on Radiance) Hubbard Glacier on a one-way itinerary. If you do one-way, can you afford the time and do some travel on land within Alaska? We had a week with a rental car after our northbound cruise and went as far as Denali. Prior to the southbound cruise we had 5 nights with a rental car and focused on Girdwood/Seward/Kenai Fjords before taking the very scenic train from Anchorage to Whittier the morning of our cruise, then glacier quest small boat cruise in the afternoon before boarding Coral Princess for an evening departure - that was a fabulous day.

We had internal cabins on both these cruises, we couldn't afford the balcony on top of airfares from Australia and extra time in Alaska. We didn't regret it - we were very careful in choosing ships with plenty of public outdoor viewing decks, in fact both Radiance and Coral had decent indoor viewing spots too, lots of glass.

Hope that helps

Lou

On ‎5‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 11:13 PM, lr657 said:

Serenade itineraries have her sailing from Honolulu to Sydney on September 17th. She is currently somewhere in the Caribbean. If the ports actually do open in September, wonder what the plan for Serenade will be for the 2020/2021 season. 

I have a booking on Serenade on 30th Dec 2020 for 13 nights to New Zealand. Obviously watching and waiting as patiently as possible to see what actually happens.

We will be on board Serenade somewhere between Australia and New Zealand for New Year Eve. We've not cruised over the holiday period before and have no idea what to expect. I assume it will be a formal night but what else could we expect in the way of activities on NYE that might appeal to our family (children will be 13 and 10 years old). And aside from semi formal and formal nights, are there any other themed nights (13 night cruise if that matters)?

Many thanks

Lou

I only found one in our cabin on Coral (June 2019) - at the back of the TV and it was slow, but it did work.

Post in the Alaska board but in short, DIY would be so much better for you - we've done it twice with children (have a search on my user name, we cruised to Alaska with DIY in Alaska in 2015 and 2019 and I did a detailed trip report for both.

I would expect you ca purchase a myki card at the grey ticket machine in the middle of your photo, just past the hand rails. That machine should sell you a myki card and let you top up its value too, before you hop on the tram into the city.

We have cruised to Alaska twice, in 2015 with children aged 5 & 7 yrs, and then in 2019 by which time the children were 9 & 11 yrs. Trip reports are here:

and here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221528

Try to fit in a small boat trip from Seward or Whittier (depending which port your cruise starts or ends at) - 26 Glaciers or Glacier Quest in Prince William Sound out of Whittier and Kenai Fjords cruise out of Seward - this will deliver on the sea lions, whales, other sea mammals and get you close to glaciers and fabulous scenery. You should see sea mammals from the cruise ship too, but at more of a distance - but you do have to be looking - I loved walking round the promenade deck in the evening and seeing wildlife in the water, I would have missed it if I was in the theatre or a bar.

hope that helps

Lou

We have cruised to Alaska twice, both times including some time in Alaska with a rental car. We cruised to Alaska in 2015 with children aged 5 and 7 yrs (trip report here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2221528)

and then again in 2019 with children now aged 9 & 11 yrs (trip report here:

I can't comment on NCI, but my children enjoyed the kids club on both Radiance of the Seas and Coral Princess. For my children, as long as they can swim (indoor pools on both Radiance and Coral) and there is ice cream, I can pretty much take them anywhere.

Hope that helps

Lou

48 minutes ago, JSSpence said:

Thanks Lou - as a complete novice, the main difference in your Alaska trips that I saw was Glacier NP vs the Hubbard attempt (forgive me if there's a third that I didn't see). At this early stage for us we're generally looking for a southbound cruise with inland tour after that works for us with our 8 yo. I'm very curious about your thoughts on RCI's southbound itinerary vs Princess's, since you've been on both those routes (even if you went a different direction). 

Hi

The 3rd cruise was to the Med, not Alaska, with MSC.

I think having done both NB and SB, we preferred SB. We had a few days in Alaska first, then the cruise (then a week in the Canadian Rockies). When we chose to go back to Alaska the second time I had 2 criteria for the cruise itinerary - must be a nice long day in Skagway so we could do the day trip we wanted, and must have Glacier Bay NP. That narrowed down which cruise line to go with very quickly for us. Compared to the RCI's itinerary, sailing with Princess meant missing Icy Straight Point, which we enjoyed enough the first time but we weren't rushing back to (unlike Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, which had things we either wanted to do a second time, or had other things we wanted to try having done something different the first time).

Hope that helps

Lou

45 minutes ago, Lovesacruise said:

I love this! I am looking at Coral for June next year. Got some great tips. What did you think of the ship in general. I think she had a refurb in January this year.

You might want to Google "Coral dry dock 2019" or something similar for details, I believe the dry dock was mostly addressing behind the scenes stuff like getting Coral ready for Medallion. We hadn't been on her before so don't have a direct comparison of before and after the dry dock. We also haven't sailed on any of the new mega ships (any cruiseline) to have a comparison to anything new and glossy either. We enjoyed Coral but we were really there for the itinerary, and not super-fussy about the ship. For us, being in an inside cabin, all the outside viewing decks Coral offered were a big draw card.

1 hour ago, JSSpence said:

I read both this report and from your previous trip, thank you so much! We are starting to plan a 2021 trip with our son who will be nearly 10 at the time of the trip. What was your perspective on Princess vs Royal Caribbean (specifically Radiance of the Seas) for the trips you took? Those are the lines we're targeting, so I'm curious as to why you switched to Princess for this trip, etc. Thanks!

My children enjoyed both Radiance and Coral - their priorities are pool, kids club and buffet, preferably including ice cream (both had soft serve), also sports facilities like basketball court and mini golf.

We chose Princess the 2nd time round because of the itinerary - I really wanted Glacier Bay NP which Royal Caribbean didn't offer. We have now cruised 3 times, 3 different lines, 2 different locations, at the end of the day the itinerary is most important thing for us.

Hope that helps

Lou

Have a read of another current thread - Cruising Alaska with Little Ones - there will be some useful suggestions in there.

Hope that helps

Lou

RCLcruiser2012 -  there weren't many kids in kids club but enough for them to run the usual age groupings, although I did find when I collected them in the evening they were all together, usually watching a movie. They didn't mind.

Not sure if this helps but in 2015 my children were 5 and 7 yrs, then in 2019 they were 9 & 11 yrs.

Both my children enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool on the ship on both trips - happy kids, happy family. They also enjoyed the kids club on-board both times too. But I think under-3's can't swim or use kids club, might vary from cruise line to cruise line.

Ketchikan - first time we just wandered round, Creek St, rode the funicular up to the hotel above Creek St. There was a book store where we let them choose a book each, one was a storybook about the 3 bears (polar, black and brown) and another about an otter, those books were read and reread for years and we talked about the trip heaps after as well. Second trip we did a kayaking trip, my children really enjoyed this but they don't take children under 8. This would work if one adult looks after the children while everyone else kayaks.

Juneau - we took the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and walked to Nugget Falls. An active 4 yo could do it, the younger two should be in baby carriers on a parents' back. Second time we hired a car for the day, did Mendenhall again, but also out to Eagle Beach and St Therese Shrine. Having a the flexibility of a car (or cars in the case of your group of 14) might be helpful, especially with children who needs naps.

Skagway - Chilkoot Charters bus/train half day trip - the 4yo would be ok with this if they liked trains, however I'm not sure about the younger two. The bus part is 90 mins with about 3 photo stops and no toilet stops. Toilets are on the train. Is it possible for one adult to look after the younger two (or three) while everyone else does a tour? Or again hire cars for the day, the scenery from the road is very similar to the train, or some adults could come back by train as long as enough adults to drive the cars back, with the young children in the cars for the their naps?

Icy Strait point - I think this has been developed more since I was there but we just explored on foot - my children were happy running through the forest with the very tall trees and then playing on the rocky beach. I think this is a good port for whale watching - again could one adult look after the 3 children for the day while everyone else takes a whale watching trip? (not the same adult who misses out on the activity in other ports, rotate the parenting duties!)

Looking for animals - sea mammals from the ship - 4 yo might be interested, if so try to get them to watch some documentaries before they leave home so they know what they are looking for (Sea otters, seals, sea lions, whales, porpoise). Younger 2 won't be interested, their parents will have to carefully plan how they keep them entertained both on board and off the ship, so everyone else can enjoy the scenery. There will be very few other children, especially that young, on board. The vast majority of cruise ship passengers to Alaska are much older.

Hope some of that helps.

If you do a search on my user name, I did a detailed trip review of both trips (or look on the sticky thread 2015 trip reports and 2019 trips reports for my user name).

Lou

Hi

i have scoured the deckplans and looked on the RCI website but I can’t work out if there is ice cream or soft serve (aside from on the MDR menu) available or if there is pizza available on Serenade (travelling with teens, this is important!).

Four years ago I was on Radiance (sister ship) which at that time had only soft serve frozen yogurt in Windjammer, and no pizza but did have a hot dog/grill place outside Windjammer near the pool.

many thanks 

Lou 

And when they say be at the station one hour before the train goes, you can get there a bit closer to departure time. Boarding the train started 30 mins before the train went. When you arrive, you hand in your luggage at the white tent next to the train station main building (if you are boarding a ship that same day), then walk into the main station building. Line up to get your tickets from the ticket office (I had booked online through the Alaska Railroad website, this "check in" involves showing some photo ID) and then you wait until boarding the train starts. We rushed our breakfast to get there exactly 60 mins before but the queue to check in/get tickets wasn't long, we could have got there 45 mins before departure, and still had heaps of time, even allowing for them handling our luggage. They just don't want people (with bags for cruise ships) arriving 10 mins before the train goes!

To clarify, Glacier Bay isn't a port of call where you get off the ship, but is a full day of scenic cruising.

I have cruised Alaska once without Glacier Bay on the itinerary, and on that cruise due to poor weather we had to skip Hubbard Glacier, so wound up with no glaciers viewed from the ship. We did visit Mendenhall Glacier from Juneau, and we also saw glaciers on a small boat trip in the Kenai Fjords from Seward.

The second time we cruised we got amazing weather and had an itinerary that included Glacier Bay, and we reached Hubbard this time too. We also did Glacier Quest small boat trip (26 Glaciers is another option) from Whittier before the cruise.

The thing is you can be very very lucky or unlucky with weather, no matter which itinerary you choose. Poor weather might mean you have to miss the port/scenic viewing altogether, or you are there but can hardly see anything.

I am not sure I am making much sense. Glacier Bay is amazing but if you get unlucky with weather, you might wonder what the fuss was about. So the suggestion that you try to have 2 days of glacier viewing in your itinerary is a good one (ie, Glacier Bay plus Hubbard or College). However, there are other ways to see glaciers in Alaska (see my ideas above). Are there other criteria that you have in deciding which Alaskan cruise to do, other things that are important to you?

We were on Coral in June southbound from Whittier to Vancouver and my review including Patters is here:

I don't know how a round trip would vary from the one way itinerary. Movies (from June) were listed on the Patters. I didn't get any MDR menus, just the children's menu.

Yes there were some theme nights in Horizon Buffet - look on the back page of each of the Patters. And there IS an international café but its relatively small.

Wow, i’m Looking at the deck plan and I can’t even work our where this is, clever you for finding it- do you think Regal or Majestic (other Royal class ships) would have same aft and front access? 

Many thanks

Lou 

Can I ask you about the upper bunk and the balcony? We are thinking of cruising on Sapphire next year, there are 4 of us including 2 children. Are all balcony cabins the same, that you cannot access the balcony if the upper bunk is down? The only photo I have seen is the one on the Princess website when you book, and it has the beds closer to the door/bathroom (picture shows twin single lower beds, with 2 Pullmans directly above), with a desk/seating area/tv and then the balcony, so I can't see how the upper bunk would affect the balcony use - is the Princess photo deceptive, or do some balcony types vary, or something else I am missing?

Many thanks

Lou

Can I ask about your impressions  of the open deck space for this ship? For the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay days? Also did you sail east or west of Vancouver Island? And did your children swim in any of the pools?

Many thanks

Lou