JosieRhodes

again Happy Travels to all

Shannon Falls:

Disembarkation was a breeze for us. One benefit of having older kids is that they help with all the luggage, etc.

Keeping the trend alive, we rented our last vehicle from Avis - a mini van this time. Surveyed the group as to whether they wanted to get out and walk around somewhere like Stanley Park or Capilano Suspension Bridge park first, and the answer was no. So, we did Plan B which involved some initial "scenic driving." The family often uses finger quotations when mentioning scenic driving as I find a way to fit it in to almost every vacation.

We took the Sea to Sky Highway toward Whistler with Shannon Falls being our initial destination. Great "scenic driving" if I do say so. Again, there is a lot of great hiking up this way, but we pretty much took it easy on our last vacation day.

Back in Vancouver, we stayed at the Holiday Inn (Richmond) which is near the airport as had a 6:15am flight out next day.

And, so this is the end of my review (husband is like are you still writing that...). Hope you enjoyed and happy to try to answer any questions on anything - though with only one trip to AK under my belt, there is a lot I don't know compared to many on this valuable cruise critic forum.

Happy travels to all!!!

Last morning - on way in to Vancouver port:

Sea to Sky Highway pics:

Dining/Food

Food is so subjective that going to pass on making a lot of comments about it. Maybe a cost-cutting trending across the fleet, but seemed to be less variety offered in Windjammer compared to our FOS cruise last year. That said, there were some things I liked so much that had over and over again. I probably had over a dozen ham and brie baguette sandwiches from the Park Cafe over during of the cruise. The sunflower seed granola bars offered for free in the Cafe Latitudes were also excellent, along with the Cafe Mochas ( which were not free)

Impatience is a personal character flaw of mine, but I did find service in the main dining room to be slow. Also, on our two previous Royal cruises, EOS, New England/Nova Scotia, 2008 and FOS, Western Caribbean, 2013, we somehow surprisingly ended up with the same waiter, Erwin Bogle (think he was also in training for promotion during 2013). He was so very excellent at his job that we were completely spoiled, and I am not sure anyone could live up to the service he provided on both those cruises.

Shows

Did not watch the productions shows, but felt the guest entertainment was great. We went to and really enjoyed all these shows. We saw Dean Austin (comedian), Al Ducharme (comedian), Greg London (comedian/singer impersonations) and Ron Lucas (comedian/ventriloquist).

Cruise Director/Captain

I usually don't pay attention to the CD on board and never remember their names. This really doesn't impact my vacation experience in general. However, for the first time, I will say I will always remember that our Alaska CD's name was Amy :). Husband will remember her outfit during 70s party when she dressed up as part of the Village People :) I did think she did a good job during The Quest game.

I thought Captain Goran was charming.

Spa

Think spa is outrageously expensive compared to rates at home, but I did have a hot stone massage due to having OBC to spend. I enjoyed it a lot.

Gym

I am limited in what I can do due to having past hip surgery and lingering issues with my left hip, but I enjoyed hanging out here with my daughter, while she did a much more strenuous work-out. Gym had great views out the front of the ship, and we often had it mostly to ourselves when squeezing in a visit at end of day. As always, it could be very crowded mid mornings.

Picture taking on the ship

Probably someone identified this as away to generate more income, but now they station people to take spontaneous pics as you enter the Windjammer for breakfast, etc. Not really a morning person, and sometimes I just wanted to go get more coffee, gulp down my breakfast as trying to make it off the ship for a tour, etc., and felt some photographers just would not take a polite no as an answer. And, I really cringed at how some of those pics came out - yuck.

The best family pics (everyone looking happy enough) that we got were actually when we boarded the ship, and we all happened to be in shorts.

So, surprisingly. even though I had spent a lot of time trying to find pics of cabin 9076's balcony, I forgot to take a really good pic of the actual balcony size/lay-out (oh well)

I could often be found like this:

view from balcony - think leaving Hubbard Glacier:

best pic of entire balcony from room:

Two favorite Radiance "wake" pics

leaving Icy Strait Point port:

on last day at sea:

was on bow of ship on numerous occasions - always interesting:

Cabin & Balcony (continued)

One other thing to note about this cabin is that it was on the port (left) side of the ship for the southbound route. I picked this side based on reading this forum, plus seemed logical to put the cabin on the side between the ship and land. However, now that the cruise is over, I think I now agree with everyone who says it really doesn’t matter. Sure we saw great stuff from the balcony, but my unscientific observation was that could also see great stuff on the right side too. For example, on the last sea day, at times there were really beautiful views from the right side of the ship. (admit I never once really looked at the map to see our exact route). So, given some of the best views are found while walking around the ship, I think balcony cabins on either side of the ship would have been fine (for me) for those times when in the cabin.

One slightly annoying thing that just never figured out, and I never bothered to ask anyone as wasn't that big a deal was that I could not hear the Captain's announcements from inside the room. There was a dial for this near bathroom in cabin.

Finally, I am “direction challenged” at times and this sign helped me numerous times as we were in 9076:p

Radiance: general condition and lay-out

I thought the Radiance looked great, but I am somewhat oblivious to stuff not actively looking for. Both my daughter and I were happy to have the general impression that people were always cleaning something on the ship.

None of us got sick with anything on this vacation, and some of this I attribute to: that, for the first time, we actually wiped down (with anti bacterial wipes) the arm rests and trays on all of the airplanes bringing us to AK. My daughter and I had recently read an article on how “surface germs” cause the most illness related problems on planes. I also wiped down some of the stuff in cabin.

So, while the Radiance did not strike me as either “brand new” or “decrepit - on its last leg,” my husband did mention noticing some rust here or there, but again it did not impact the quality of our vacation.

The family still likes the freedom class lay-out the best. They did like the Radiance too - just a matter of degree and future preference. They prefer the internal promenade, the flow rider, and a higher rock wall (some of these things not applicable for AK cruise anyhow).

I surprisingly kinda fell in love with the radiance class. I had always wanted to do a radiance class ship, and even though I was on outside decks a lot, I REALLY enjoyed the ability to also see land/ocean when inside the ship - loved the glass elevators looking out. I liked the smaller venue for The Quest game, and I liked the size and "coziness" of the Aurora theater, compared to FOS's bigger auditorium.

Some of the relatively few pics I took on the ship:

by the spa - just liked them:

by Star quest (I think) - just thought cool and we took many pics of this:p:

We did the float plane with Island Wings in June and had Michelle as our pilot. You mentioned about sitting in the last seat of her plane and in order to be able to have that seat you must weigh no more than 180 lbs. My husband had the pleasure of the last seat on both legs of our flight. Only him, myself and one other passenger would have qualified for it due to its weight restriction. Obviously, that restriction was no problem for you either. I let him have it both times since he is the main photographer and he also mentioned the fact that at times the camera did pick up a glare. By the way, you have many beautiful pictures!

Thanks. That's good to know. I remember giving our weights when made reservation with Island Wings.

Thanks so much for your review and pictures - they are great!

We don't leave until September and we are doing a private whale watching in the morning in Juneau and then if the weather is "decent", we have the 2 for 1 coupons from Northern Lights and will take the Mt Roberts Tram up and do some hiking. We hike LOTs in Colorado and think it would make for a nice afternoon, weather pending. How much time would you say we could spend up there on the trails? Patti

Ps. Thanks for the thank you too:). I really hope you can find the info looking for. I really could kick myself now for not getting an earlier start as Roberts Peak sounds interesting on a clear day.

We did spend a brief amount of time in Talkeeetna - wish could spend more time everywhere.

Wonder how many people have had their pic taken with this sign or taken a pic of this sign. - just can't resist:)

From the river bank at end of town:

Flying Squirrel resteraunt on outskirts of Talkeetna - think menu changes daily

Grilled cheese was interesting and tasty...

Talkeetna Camper Park:

So, on the last day at sea, I vowed to get in doing those things usually do on cruises with my kids… playing ping pong, miniature golf, and shuffleboard. We had not managed to do any of these yet. Radiance seemed to have only one shuffleboard near the arcade vs. having shuffleboards on the outside promenade deck. We played golf early, and the weather was so pleasant that I was in shorts most of the day. We finally got a chance to play ping pong and shuffleboard around midnight.

Wrapping up my thoughts about the Radiance and trip planning in general

This is according to my personal bias so just some opinions as "food for thought" as you plan your trips. I was always interested in hearing other opinions on these boards to give me different perspectives and things to think about while planning.

Booking this cruise

I usually just book things myself, and I did book this cruise as soon as Royal Caribbean opened it up. However, I did try something new (which made me a bit nervous at first) and used a web site to get “bids” from various travel agents. I reviewed them to see which ones didn’t have extra cancellation fees, called a few agents, and eventually switched my reservation to a travel agent to get a nice chunk of OBC and some other perks. I believe had thirty days to do this, per Royal’s rules on their site at the time booked this cruise - March 2013.

Organizing reservations/documenting schedule

This time around I used an iPad app for the first time called Triprider to organize the schedule and put reservation confirmations all in one place. This really made my life easier, especially with sharing the schedule with other family members, etc. I continue to use this app for future vacations of all sorts - land ones in near future.

Cabin & Balcony

We were in a port side D1 cabin on the side of the hump with a little bit bigger balcony than normal - Cabin 9076.

So, I never had a balcony before. I think I read every post on the Alaska forum on this subject, and went back and forth a lot, but finally, just fell back on the fact that always said that if we ever went to AK, would get a balcony. Because in the end, you just need to make a personal decision and go with it - easier said than done for me.

So post cruise, I can say that, for me, it was REALLY worth it. I would get a balcony again for AK, but probably could live without it for other cruises. The balcony was well protected, and wind never seemed to be an issue. I was running all over the ship a lot, but when in the cabin, I was usually on the balcony. Every morning we ordered coffee via room service, and the first cup of the day was drank while sitting on the balcony. And again, it was a very novel experience for me in general, as first time on any cruise that able to do this.

I also saw several threads about noise related to these cabins near the Centrum. This cabin is right by Centrum elevators and very close to the ship's library. For me, the pros outweighed the cons related to this cabin. The pros for me were the little bit bigger balcony which was private enough, the very convenient location (as I was always running back to exchange cameras, pick up something forgot, see if kids there), and loved being able to step outside and see what was going on in the Centrum, etc. Also, we loved being right by the library which had little tables/chairs outside of it. As, if we were all going somewhere together, whoever was ready first would say, hey, I'll wait for you at the library - which cut down on cabin congestion at times.

For the cons related to noise, shutting the door was good enough for me. Generally, this muffled sounds enough that it was low to no background noise for me personally. It was louder during the Centrum parties (i.e. 70s disco). I would definitely stay in this room again. I will mention that other members of my family said they were aware of the Centrum sounds all of the time, but it didn't seem to overly bother them. I mention this because if you want complete to nearly complete quiet, I would say this is NOT the cabin for you.

the Centrum from above:

Posting this to show how variable the weather was, it was really warm when we were in Seward...

Also in Seward - where I just sat for an hour or two, as tired from getting up so early for train, nice place to people watch

just like this one, not even sure what glacier..

Hubbard Glacier - the captain must of done at least two or three "donuts :D

from the train from Anchorage to Seward

Also, I highly recommend gold star service if considering it, as yep, it was expensive and certainly not a bargain, but I loved the open air deck for viewing. In this clip, we actually had it all to ourselves (though at times it could get VERY crowded but that didn't tend to last long - people moved around a lot) ps. yep I need to learn how to pan the camera more SLOWLY

[YOUTUBE]Ud-6EHM68ic[/YOUTUBE]

and one from one of our many stops on the Seward Highway near Anchorage, which we went up and down (via rental car) between Anchorage, Girdwood, and Whittier over two days:

Matanuska Glacier

This is what the boots/crampons that you borrow look like - highly recommend using theirs unless you have your own crampons, etc.

The train ride from Anchorage to Seward was also wonderful and so many amazing views - one right after the other...

Glenn Highway and first view of Matanuska Glacier (will always be special as was first glacier ever saw and then actually walked on - super cool)

more from glacier hike with Nova - some of my favorites

Wrapping up Ketchikan

When I re-read this review, realize I am extremely upbeat about AK, but hey it is genuine :D

One negative thing right now is that husband did go salmon fishing via a Royal Caribbean excursion in Ketchikan. He said at first he was apprehensive regarding this excursion, as he booked it last minute on this ship. He ended up having a great time. However, he decided to have some of the fish he caught processed and sent home. Credit card was billed at time, and still no fish have arrived here yet. If it doesn't get resolved, I am going to ask him for name of company to post here. He was REALLY looking forward to this fish arriving.

So, as I sat down to post my review for the last sea day and our one day in Vancouver, I had been reviewing my pics (thousands of them…) of trip and realized I didn’t even post some of my favorites so far, so here are a couple more as think I am trying to extend this review as once over... guess the vacation is really over :eek: For the first time, I took most of my pics as RAW & jpeg, so I will have quite the project in the fall to go through all of the RAW ones. I’ve never tried to edit RAW files before.

I don't think these pictures capture the true beauty and scale of AK, but hope gives people a general feel for what you see in some of these areas. Will probably take forever before I get around to making my typical Shutterfly book for this vacation - so many pic choice to make!

Driving along Glenn Highway - pretty much wanted to pull over every 5 seconds to soak in the view...

Thanks so much for your review and pictures - they are great!

We don't leave until September and we are doing a private whale watching in the morning in Juneau and then if the weather is "decent", we have the 2 for 1 coupons from Northern Lights and will take the Mt Roberts Tram up and do some hiking. We hike LOTs in Colorado and think it would make for a nice afternoon, weather pending. How much time would you say we could spend up there on the trails? Patti

Hi Patti,

I don't want to give you incorrect info so you might want to post a separate thread to see if anyone has gone to the very top and might have a better feel for it than me. I do know there are just so MANY hiking choices around Juneau.

My husband and I got off the tram and just starting walking, missing the trail sign with different trails/mileage (which saw when returned to take tram down). We just kept walking “up” as the views got better and better. As we were pretty much just meandering and enjoying the views, it wasn’t until we got pass the cross and talked to some folks coming down that we realized we could hike up to the “snow.” We also spent some time just watching this guy (in pic) as seemed like a flock of birds was following him.

So, we were able to go a bit pass the cross, but then we had to book it down to catch the ship:(.

I didn’t take a pic of the trail sign by the tram, but found it on internet - see below. It lists Roberts Peak as 3.1 miles, but I don't even know if that is one way or out and back. Sorry can't be of more help. I wished we had hiked more on this trip, but it just didn't work out that way.

saw him from the cross

from internet - this is right where get off tram at top (we completely missed it when starting out:o)

Have a great trip!

Mapleleaves - thank you for that great information! Hearing your strategy for 2-3 days in more remote locations and then an overnight in more populated campgrounds was a huge help. I read yours and Karen's post to DH last nite. I think this will be our next trip to AK:D.

 

Karen - we know EXACTLY what that campground near Matanuska looks like - we had lunch in the cafe on our 17 day land only trip last year! We were staying in a rental cabin close to the glacier and our host had mentioned the cafe had wonderful lunches. She was right! The scenery all around was spectacular, no matter which direction you looked. Will use your tip about contacting AAA (we too are members) for that campground booklet - excellent idea. I also have a book - Camping in AK or something like that, that I've referred to over the years and which gives great descriptions (and sometimes photos) of the various private and public campgrounds throughout AK, but concentrating on the route from Canada to AK in particular - another route on our 'bucket list.'

 

I subscribe to a blog written by a North Pole, AK photographer (Susan Stevenson) who does several camping trips throughout the state every year, and her most interesting trip, to us, is the one she does every year from Fairbanks down the Richardson to Valdez. Yup, I can understand your fascination w/that route, Karen, and we'll definitely be trying that one some time in the future! Also would love to do the Denali Highway sometime - either w/an RV or a rental car that permits driving on that road.

 

Sigh....so many compelling routes and so little time!:o

 

Again, many thanx to both of you for your comments and suggestions. Appreciate it!

Thank you for the Susan Stevenson blog reference. I agree, Alaska seems compelling in every direction :D

I contacted them back in early spring for next August. After I was confirm Ed for the date and time I wanted (pre-lottery) I sent the deposit it. Shona contacted and said it didn't have to be in until January so she sent it back. Guess I was a little anxious!

I checked our your video of the plane and I feel a bit better now. It looks like seating is two (pilot/co-pilot), then three, then two, then one? It so, then I believe everyone can see because the middle seat would look out the front?

Correct. Yes, my son, when sitting in the middle of the middle row, said he could see out the front and both sides, but not sure if people would of semi blocked pictures (if had picture taker in that seat).

Great trip report and photos. Thanks so much for sharing. What a wonderful family vacation! You really made the most of every location.

Your daughter was beaming in every photo .... is that her disposition? or was that a pose for the camera? or did she realize what a fantastic experience she was enjoying?

I have to say after meeting Laura's daughter in person several times, she is a very charismatic girl:) that seemed to have a very sunny disposition.

Karen

I do owe you a few drinks! We totally missed the sail away in Seward, did anyone go to Adrienne's cabin?

 

 

Laura

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes, we did for a little bit. Ritah and family were there, Al and Annie, May have missed some...

Just an FYI for anyone interested in Anan... I started contacting tour operators in April 2013 for our July 2014 trip, about a month after booked cruise. I then just touched based with them after the first lottery in the fall. For a planner like me, it was a bit perplexing to have to be patient regarding the uncertainty of what would happen in the lotteries. However, I can see why they want to limit visitors and support that for sure.

See u did finish it before me:)

Great pic of the bear in tree as I just could not get the angle right to capture him, just too dark for my camera to capture. Hey, I think u might still owe me a drink for those Anan permits, so maybe someday we will be on another cruise together:p

OP - thank you for this wonderful review - the photos and commentary are outstanding. I'm particularly interested in your impressions and more importantly, photos that you provided of the RV portion of your trip. As long-time and often visitors (both cruise and land only) to AK, we're toying with our next trip doing the RV route, atleast partially. The photos you've included of your views from the various campgrounds is helping to solidify my case with DH that we don't HAVE to stay in huge, tightly packed trailer-to-trailer type campgrounds, which to him is a fate worse than death:D. We're much more independent and adventerous, and prefer to be away from crowds and civilization for that matter;). Also posting the RV rental contract about prohibited and/or limited road usage is a great tip - thank you!

 

Okay, back to your regular programming. Please (please, please:p) continue!

Thank you for the very kind words about my review.

I probably share the same perspective as your husband, and along the lines of what mapleleaves was saying, it was a bit tough to balance hook ups with non-parking lot looking RV campgrounds. So, here is just a recap which I hope will help support your case with DH :-) as I probably did try to take the most "scenic" pics of the campgrounds that I could for the family scrapbook :o

I gave Grand View Cafe and RV Park my highest marks as it was 1) on the beautiful Glenn Highway 2) not that big, and 3) while yep, a big, flat lot with vehicles close on both sides, there was great scenery all around, no RVs in front of us blocking the view - it did not make me feel crowded and cramped. We had slot six with nothing blocking our view forward.

Talkeetna Camper Park was great for us because we could walk into Talkeetna. Yep, tight slots but at least treed lots, and it felt "homey" to me. The couple in the office was very friendly and informative. So, I would stay there again.

Big Bear RV Park had the most "mall parking lot" feel to it, other than the actual parking lot at Great Alaskan Holidays - we joked all night about spending our first AK night "in the wild" of the GAH parking lot - it is great that they offer the option though for people like us coming from far away. This RV park was clean, well managed, and had a great, bright, big laundry room with free wi fi. However, it really was just lines of RVs tightly packed - not very scenic at all and not where I would spend more than a "pass thru" night.

I had many other routes semi flushed out such as driving to Glennallen then on Richardson Highway and Thompson Pass - which would really like to see one day. Think cc rule is you cannot review what you didn't actually do, but seemed like at least one promising place with views and hook-ups near Tolsona Creek that really caught my eye.

What helped me get organized and find good campground candidate was requesting free info from Triple A, as I am a member. They sent me Woodall's official campground guide which rates them on facilities, restrooms & showers, and visual appearance. I also could cross-reference a few to tripadvisor reviews.

Thinking about it a bit more, there was a couple, who kinda seemed like newlyweds, and they had the third row with two seats going out and coming back. The couple from Australia got the co-pilot seat and "back row for one" on the way to Anan, and then my son and I got the co-pilot seat and back row coming back from Anan which seems logical/fair to me. Couple from Australia got the second row with the guide on way back to ship. Also, it was really cool to come in for a landing next to all the cruise ships.

I'm really enjoying your pictures of Anan! I'm so glad I booked this excursion. I picked Island Wings because of the guide the was offered. I just thought that members in my group would feel more comfortable. Your pictures were the first ones of Anan that showed the inside of the blind so thanks for that! We were originally going to book a Southbound cruise but the timing didn't work for us so we booked Northbound. Now I'm glad I did because of what you said about feeling a bit sad in Ketchikan because of it being the last stop and its the one I'm most looking forward to.

Question for you: how was the seating on Michele's plane? You said you son was in a middle seat? For some reason I thought I had read that each seat had a window. Is this not the case? I'm the picture taker but I'm the smallest so I'm afraid if it goes by size I might end up in a middle seat.

Hi,

Glad you enjoyed them. Yes, before I went, I was very curious about what the "photo blind" looked like:).

Wow, u sound like me as I have had a lifetime of sitting in the middle of the back seats of cars - designated to be the person to sit "over the hump" due to being the smallest, etc.:)

I think if you called Shona from Island Wings, she would be able to give you more "official" insight on this, and I bet it varies a bit by # and weight of passengers.

However, regarding our trip, I think everyone doesn't get a window due to carrying an extra person, the guide. Someone gets to sit in co-pilot seat, three people are in the next row. Michelle looks at everyone, and then calls people to the plane based on where she thinks they should sit and which parties are together.

On the way out, she told me that either my son or me could have the second row window and middle seat. He is bigger than me but I took the window so could get some pics, thinking he could have window seat on way back. He actually said he was able to view out the front and both sides of plane, but of course he wasn't trying to take any pics either. The guide also sat by the door in second row after helping get plane ready for take off. Next row has two seats, and then one spacious seat in the back with windows on both sides.

So, another reason I was personally thrilled with Michelle is that she did not automatically put the smallest person in the middle (that would be me:))

On the way back I think she switched it up to be fair, but I am thinking she has to weigh doing that with weight distribution, etc. so again Shona could probably provide more official insight. Shona is extremely easy to deal with.

So, anyhow, on way back, my son got the co-pilot seat, the biggest guy ended up in the second row, and I got the back seat to myself :D. I mean that has never (ok, maybe a time or two) happened to me before when someone bigger was around. However, with the sun, I was getting reflection on the window that I didn't know quite how to eliminate for pics - maybe someone more photographer savvy than me does.

And, I think everyone had a good time on the ride back, regardless of seat.

If you go to my post entry approx. around #54 - number in upper right corner of these posts and watch the YouTube clip I embedded (let me know if doesn't work), I pan from window to window and u can see the seating of everyone in front of me.

Wishing u clear skies and lots of bears!

I'll just add the closet pic:)

And one more

Have a great trip, these rooms are very spacious...