2018 Trip Reports Alaska

We got into Juneau at 7 and left at 9:30. I know Adventure Bound had us back by 6 PM. I would call the vendor. They are very easy to work with and I remember waiting for a few people that made the trip with us. It might have been from another ship. I know they want to accommodate cruisers because that is the bulk of their business. I am reading my notes from Sofia and check in was 8:10 with theoretical 8:30 departure, but I know it was a little late for the reason above, I also remember them dropping a few passengers closer to their ship, but if you leave at 9 that should absolutely not be a problem. The phone is 907-463-2509. I booked it on 12/4/17 according to my notes, so you have time to decide. It was prepaid but refundable up to close to departure. Good luck planning your cruise. These boards are so helpful in planning and there are so many things to consider.

Today was Hubbard Glacier day and once again the weather was grey, because we had enjoyed up close viewing of a smaller glacier on our Adventure Bound trip and had seen calving there, we were not as disappointed that this viewing was not up to expectations. The speaker on board gave information about the glaciers and could be heard from most locations on the ship. We did end up going to the muster station floor as there it was less crowded and you were blocked from the wind. It was nice to see it a little and I don’t know how close we got relative to other trips, but we did turn 180 so both sides could get the views. After a few hours we were on our way and heading toward our final stop Seward. It became rainy and colder so we made our way to the indoor movie theater to watch Jumanji. We were not the only ones with that idea as there was no seating available if you came close to showtime . Surprisingly when we got out of the show the sun had come out so we made our way to the upper deck for the afternoon and enjoyed some sun on our faces. They had a piece of the glacier ice on board and a lot of people inspected it and it was a nice photo opportunity. The last cruise day was bittersweet as we could have stayed longer, but we had some things planned in Seward and Anchorage before returning home so we did not have to leave Alaska yet.

So disembarkation day, we walked off around 9 am as we were staying in Seward. The walk is not too far to Harbor 360, but we were helped by dock workers to a Hertz shuttle driver who kindly drove us there. We were able to store our luggage until check in as we were doing the Kenai Fjords tour that was leaving at 11:30 AM. Harbor 360 has an open lobby where people were waiting and they offered us to help ourselves to coffee. There were a lot of people waiting to go and probably a lot of guests would be taking the Radiance southbound later that evening. We did a little exploring of the area around the hotel and walked down to the harbor to see the boats. There were so many Major Marine boats that it’s hard to believe they could all be going at one time but during high season perhaps they are. The Kenai Fjords tour was a lot of fun and we saw our first Orcas on that trip. The mother and baby came right up by our boat then under it and did rolls for us right on the side of the boat we were on. Once again, I am not able to take whale pictures, but the joy of seeing them will live in my brain. The ride out and back did get rough for about 15 minutes. If you are prone to seasickness, I would take something. My husband who is not normally bothered at all struggled a little as did several others on the trip. They do offer seasickness treatments on the trip but it seems like preemptive measures would be better. The scenery was breathtaking and it was a nice time with a Young park ranger on board to help us to appreciate the area. We did elect to have the salmon/prime rib luncheon and it was very good salmon per my husband. All in all I would recommend this tour as another chance to see some of the beautiful scenery that coastal Alaska has.

This is one of my best

The second day in Seward we took a shuttle to Exit Glacier. This is a $15.00 round trip and most people spend approximately 2 and 1/2 hours there according to Alaska experts unless you are into scheduled treks with Park services. We enjoyed this place as it was a different perspective for us on glaciers and there are landmarks about the receding glacier and where it was at certain points in time. There is also a visitor center to learn more. The trails are easy to navigate and it was a nice way to spend part of our last day in Seward. We had the 6 pm train to Anchorage scheduled and they stored our luggage for us for the day. When we returned we were dropped in Seward proper and took a hike down along the water back toward the harbor. There are a lot of shops in this part of town and restaurants according to the shuttle driver but we did not spend much time in town because once we started the walk along the water we never made it back up to the streets in town. At 6 PM we took the Seward to Anchorage train. There is a lot of beautiful scenery on this trip too, and we did not upgrade to dome class, but still enjoyed the ride. In May there was plenty of room still on the train on a Saturday evening, but I cannot speak for availability otherwise. I had booked reservations earlier in planning our trip as I did not want to worry about not having transportation to Anchorage. We did not fly out until Sunday evening so picked up a ride to Ted Stevens Airport for a rental car. There were drivers waiting when we got off the train and a Lyft driver charged us $20.00 to get us to the airport. We had our car within 10 minutes and the total was $47:00 for a 24 hour rental. We made it to our hotel and were sleeping by 11:30 as we knew the next day was going to be long.

So the day in Anchorage was spent shopping downtown for souvenirs. They did have a street craft fair on Sunday where we got Earrings made by an Alaskan resident for our two daughters. For our 5 grandkids we gave up trying to find local gifts and bought things they would like. I had not researched Anchorage as much so we had some fun trying to figure out what to do. We did end up driving to Thunderbird Falls and hiking there. It was a nice hike and it is not too strenuous for most abilities. The time was winding down and we made our way to the Ted Stephens Airport to turn our rental car in and fly back to Pittsburgh. Security was fairly intense at this airport, so give yourself time to go through it. We were not cutting it close, but with the lines the way they were and the thoroughness of the security team, I would not. This is the end of my review. It has been fun and I have enjoyed sharing our Alaska story. For anyone that has followed it go out and make your own memories now and enjoy as much as you can in the beautiful state of Alaska.

Thanks for the great review and pictures! We board the Radiance Northbound on July 13th. We are really getting excited.

Have a wonderful time. Thank you for your kind words.

Thank you. If you go you will not be disappointed.

Well we have booked Radiance of the Seas from Honolulu to Vancouver in May next year followed by Golden Princess Northbound glacier cruise, we are thinking of booking Adventure Bound in Juneau and the Misty Fjords with Kevin, so excited now booked.

What a great review. Thank you for taking the time to share.

I so enjoyed your trip report. We are doing the southbound next year. Couple of questions. On the Adventure Bound Tracy Arm Glacier Watch. I've looked at that tour and it looks to depart at 8:30am and Radiance shows on our cruise to be in Juneau from 9a-9p. Was there any issues with your times? Number two. We have a whale watch reserved with Shawn (Glacier Wind). Have you read either one of his books?

CruisingJodi: We are planning a DIY after our cruise next summer on the Millenium. I noticed you took the Denali BackCountry Adventure. I'm wondering if you had to do this again, if you would still book this tour through Denali? We would like to do some hiking in the park also. We will be in the area for 3 days. I know many people take the Hop On Hop Off Bus because it is less expensive, but it looks like you learned alot from the narrated bus tour. 

I wish we wouldn't have made our cabin reservations so early, which are non-refundable because we got a TourSaver Book and could have had a better deal elsewhere.

You did a great job on your review and it helped us to play our DIY. Thank you!

Cha=CHING!

CruisingJodi, 

I have greatly enjoyed your review and awesome photos! I'm just in the beginning stages of planning our July 2020 cruise (a 30th anniversary celebration 💕)! I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with information and suggestions all the while trying to be somewhat sensible with a budget; however, your post has been delightful and reminded me to enjoy this experience and the reason we are celebrating! Thank you again! Angie😊

Doing Radiance Vancouver to Anchorage (with post tour) in May One thing I can't find reading everyones reviews and trip reports is clothing. How cold rainy was it? Do I need to pack a parka, or just fleece and rain/coat pants? The days you said not as many people on deck, I want to be! Hoping to enjoy every minute.Thank you for the detailed and informative report

We went in mid June and completely overpacked 🙂. The weather is so iffy... we brought raincoats and warm jackets, but didn’t use them.  Alaska is hard to pack for!

On 2/22/2019 at 12:10 PM, vacationlover_mn said:

We went in mid June and completely overpacked 🙂. The weather is so iffy... we brought raincoats and warm jackets, but didn’t use them.  Alaska is hard to pack for!

It is so hard to know! We’re going mid June this year, and I’m struggling with the same thing. We live in Georgia so we’re not used to crazy cold and want to be prepared, but also don’t want to overpack. We’re going on a 13 day land-sea trip so we’ve got so many days to cover!!

13 hours ago, ErLee said:

It is so hard to know! We’re going mid June this year, and I’m struggling with the same thing. We live in Georgia so we’re not used to crazy cold and want to be prepared, but also don’t want to overpack. We’re going on a 13 day land-sea trip so we’ve got so many days to cover!!

The best advice we followed was lots of layers 🙂