Review ~ RC Cruise Tour #12 ~ July 8 - 20, 2012

[msvacation]

I have been very fortunate to gain so much information from the cruise critic board that I wanted to "pay it forward" and post a review of our Alaskan cruise tour. Always keep in mind that these are my opinions and they will certainly differ from other points of view.

 

My dh and I are in our early 50's and this was our second trip to Alaska. The first was a round trip on the inside passage 9 years ago. This time we wanted to see more and booked a cruise tour a year in advance. We had a great time on the land portion of the tour and saw beautiful scenery, lots of wildlife, and met many friendly people, locals and tour companions.

 

The cruise tour was great, but after doing a year of research, I would feel very comfortable planning our next trip to Alaska and touring independently.

 

Some of the great perks of the cruise tour were:

Door to door service from airport to hotels to excursions

Rooms were ready when we arrived and luggage delivered

No handling of luggage ~ only what you chose to keep with you daily

Tour guide who was very helpful and full of knowledge

Wilderness Express (domed train cars)

 

The following is our itinerary:

Day 1 ~ Arrive at Anchorage Marriott

Day 2 ~ A.M. train from Anchorage to Talkeetna (Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge)

Day 3 ~ Noon train Talkeetna to Denali (Grande Denali Lodge)

Day 4 ~ Tundra wilderness tour

Day 5 ~ Bus to Anchorage Marriott

Day 6 ~ Bus from Anchorage to Seward to board Radiance of the Seas

Day 7 ~ Hubbard Glacier (cruising)

Day 8 ~ Juneau

Day 9 ~ Skagway

Day 10 ~ Icy Strait Point

Day 11 ~ Ketchikan

Day 12 ~ Inside Passage (cruising)

Day 13 ~ Vancouver, B.C.

 

A more detailed account of what we experienced and the excursions we took will follow. I will also try to answer any questions you may have.

[msvacation]

Because we were flying from the east coast, we decided to arrive a day before our land portion started. After a very long day of travel, we arrived in Anchorage around 5 p.m. We called our hotel shuttle and were pleased to be off the airplanes and able to stretch out at the hotel. There were several fast food places and restaurants within walking distance of the hotel and after a we had a bite to eat we returned to our hotel, and figuring in the time difference, it was getting late and we were exhausted from our early morning departure. We are really glad we came in a day early to get some rest before the land tour started.

 

Day ~ 1

We took the hotel shuttle back to the airport after check out time and shortly after arriving there, we met with a RC rep who gave us special tags for our luggage and they loaded them onto a luggage cart and that was the last time we had to move our luggage ourselves until leaving the ship in Vancouver. We got onto a RC bus along with a few others and proceeded to our next hotel the Anchorage Marriott Downtown. A RC rep met us at the hotel and gave us our room key and our luggage was brought up. Hotel room was nice and we only stayed in long enough to use the facilities and gather our "sightseeing" gear.

 

We headed out to explore some of Anchorage. Had a late lunch at the Snow Goose restaurant and pub. They had outdoor seating and since it was a pretty day and it looked out over the inlet, we sat out there with other brave souls. A few times the wind picked up and I was second guessing our seating choice.....but we are here for adventure, right?? :) After lunch we went into several shops and worked our way to the Alaska visitor center where we were going to catch a city trolley tour. After the tour we decided to head back to the hotel where we would meet our tour quide for the next few days.

We met with Julie and discussed our itinerary for the next 5 days. We also scheduled 2 more excursions for this week. After getting new luggage tags (this is where you decide which bags you want every night and which ones you will not need until the last night before going to the ship) and more information, we headed to the room for the evening. I think we are still experiencing some travel weariness. Tomorrow morning will be an early one as we have to have our luggage outside the door by 6 a.m. and will leave for the train station at 7:30 a.m.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 2

Today we travel to Talkeetna by train and we have The Three Rivers Tour by jet boat scheduled for afternoon.

 

We met in the lobby of the hotel at 7:30 to be transferred by bus to the Alaska Railroad Station. We loaded onto our domed railcar for our journey to Talkeetna. The scenery was beautiful and we saw 2 moose and some swans on our way. The railcar was a double decker with comfy seats on the top with wonderful viewing and a dining car below. We had breakfast on the train. They were big meals and we were full. Went out onto the platform for some fresh (cold) air and a few pictures, then back upstairs to our seats.

We arrived in Talkeetna shortly after 11 a.m. and rode the bus into (well the outskirts) of town. The town is so small they do not allow buses down their main street. We walked around for a bit and down to the river bank.

We headed back to the lodge around 1:30 to check out our accomodations and get ready for our afternoon jet boat tour. We spent most of our time outside on the beautiful deck area enjoying the view of Mount McKinley or Denali as the locals call it.

Everyone was excited because only 30% of the people who visit get to see the mountain in all its glory. Most times it is covered in clouds. It is the largest mountain in North America. We are lucky to see it all!

A bus came to pick us up at 3 p.m. for our 4 and half hour jet boat tour. We had a wonderful driver and great naturalist who explained so much to us..........wish my memory was better. We got off the boat for an hour to visit an authentic trappers cabin and learn about their way of life. Back on the boat for a speedy return to the launch zone. It was an enjoyable trip and we even got to see a huge eagle nest and a few eagles. After getting a bus back to the lodge, we went to dinner in the lodge restaurant and back to the room for some needed relaxing and soon time for bed. Another full day coming up tomorrow.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 3

Today we travel by train to Denali and we have The Husky Homestead Tour scheduled for later today.

This morning we had breakfast in the lodge Bistro restaurant. After breakfast we had a little walk outside and took some photos of the mountain, which we could no longer see because of all the clouds moving in.

We sat in one of the lobby areas in front of the fireplace visiting with some new friends before leaving for the train station.

We boarded the train and were heading down the rails by 11 a.m. On today's train ride we saw a momma moose and two young babies. More beautiful scenery and some rain while we were warm and dry on the train traveling to Denali. They served lunch on the train today and since we were not real hungry for lunch, we waited until almost last to go downstairs to the dining car and opted to have desserts instead of a meal. Dh had the Forest Torte, a pastry shell filled with raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and rhubarb, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a scoop of whip cream and raspberry sauce drizzled all over. I had the Brownie Extroidenaire, a yummy chocolate brownie with warm fudge sauce, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a scoop of whip cream with chocolate sauce drizzled all over. Dh helped me finish mine. Yummy! The train brought us to Denali around 3:45 p.m. We got onto our motor coach and were brought to the Denali Grande Lodge on the side of mountain. After getting our room key as we stepped off the bus, we went to our room where our luggage was already awaiting our arrival. (Dh is really liking this perk of the cruise tour.) We walked around checking out the lodge and I ordered a box lunch for me for our Tundra Wilderness tour tomorrow because I already know from cruise critic research I will not like what they provide. We decided to have some supper now, because we have our excursion this evening and will not be back until after 9 p.m. Hung out with another couple for supper and then we left on our Husky Homestead Tour (by Jeff King, 4 Time Iditarod Champion).

A small bus picked us up at the lodge door and 20 minutes later we arrived at the King homestead. As soon as we got off the bus we were given puppies to hold if we wanted. They ranged in age from 3 weeks to 3 months. We got to hold one of the three week old babies. They actually told us by holding a puppy we were training a future dog. People interaction is very important, so we were all helping in the training for Jeff King. :) Jeff spoke to us briefly first and explained a little about how he came to be here in Alaska and how the business is a family business and then his youngest daughter, Ellen, took over and gave us many facts and stories about sledding and her Dad and the dogs and she had us all laughing and enjoying ourselves. A few demonstrations and then we moved inside where is was a bit warmer and Jeff took over explaining the Iditarod racing process with lots of facts and tons of humor. He was absolutely great! Our time here flew by quickly. He wrote his own book about his adventures and we bought an autographed copy from him. If you like dogs or are familiar with the Iditarod, you will certainly enjoy this tour. Back on the shuttle bus for the trip back to the lodge. We have an early morning tomorrow going into Denali on the Tundra Wilderness Tour.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am loving your review.

 

The pictures are wonderful.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 4

Today our excursion is the Tundra Wilderness Tour.

 

This morning we got up and had a quick continental breakfast and then on the bus to go to Denali Park for the Tundra Wilderness Tour. The bus was an upgraded school bus (benches were replaced with cushioned two seaters).

We were each given a boxed lunch to enjoy whenever we wanted as long as we ate on the bus and did not leave any food or garbage anywhere. The box lunch included a roll, cheddar cheese, reindeer sausage, potato chips, carrots, and snack mix. (I already was aware of what was in them and ordered a special box lunch for myself the night before. This was not included and cost extra, but worth it to me.)

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous with lots of sunshine. It was breezy most of the day, and in the higher elevations, a little chilly. Our tour lasted for a little over 8 hours and during our visit we saw golden eagles, ptarmigans, squirrels, dall sheep, moose, caribou, and 8 grizzlies, two were sows with 2 cubs each.

We were also rewarded with the 30% award again with Mt. McKinley (Denali) being out in full view today! It was magnificent to see!

The park is very pristine and they keep it that way by limiting how far you can drive into the park. Self drivers do not get very far, but you can take one of the many shuttle buses into Denali. This way they can control people from interacting (stupidly) with nature and can keep the park clean from humans.

Brave and adventurous souls may hike and backpack and bike through the park after attaining permits to do this. There were bathroom facilities along the roadway, but they were the "no running water kind". We had a long and very rewarding day with all the scenery and wildlife we saw. After returning to the lodge and a few phone calls to home, we went to the restaurant for supper. Tomorrow we head back to Anchorage.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Thank you--I am loving your review. You can see by my signature we will be on the Radiance in about a week for the last NB cruise of the season.

 

I was very pleased to see a picture of the TWT bus. Everyone describes them as a converted school bus. Yes--I can see the shell my be the same as a school bus. But, the inside looks fairly confortable. (even a overhead compartment to place a carry on tote.)

 

Looking forward to the rest!:p

[msvacation]

I am loving your review.

 

The pictures are wonderful.

 

Thank you. I have learned so much from these boards and hopefully I can help others with my experiences and thoughts and pictures.

[msvacation]

Thank you--I am loving your review. You can see by my signature we will be on the Radiance in about a week for the last NB cruise of the season.

 

I was very pleased to see a picture of the TWT bus. Everyone describes them as a converted school bus. Yes--I can see the shell my be the same as a school bus. But, the inside looks fairly confortable. (even a overhead compartment to place a carry on tote.)

 

Looking forward to the rest!:p

 

I am glad you are enjoying the review. You will have so much fun on the Radiance. This was our third time and it is still a great ship to see Alaska from.

 

I was curious before we left about the TWT buses and that is why I posted the picture. They were not as comfortable as the train seats and the full size motor coach, but they were not bad at all. After 8 hours though, we were ready to stretch out again. I truly didn't even think about that until almost back to the lodge....my time was consumed with the wonderful scenery and wildlife. There was some storage above the seats for smaller items. They also have monitors inside the bus and the driver has a zoom camera so if the wildlife is too far away, you can still see it on the monitors. That was great for some who had mobility issues and could not move around inside the bus to see.

 

I also see from your signature that you will be on the EOS right before us. We are looking forward to that upcoming cruise. This will be our first time on the EOS and to Bermuda.

 

Happy Vacation!

[msvacation]

Day ~ 5

Today we travel my motor coach to Anchorage and visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

This morning we had a light breakfast and took a few more photos from the lodge. The lodge is on a mountain side with a curvy, winding road leading to it.

We left the Grande Denali Lodge at 9:30 a.m. on our motor coach. Today's weather was very overcast with lots of clouds and rain off and on today. A good day for travel. We played some games on the bus and talked about some of the excursions that people had done in the last few days.

The sights were different along the road, but dreary today. A couple of bathroom breaks were made. One stop at a very primitive (and smelly) area. The next stop was at the Alaska War Memorial. A small general store was the next break where almost everyone on the bus bought ice cream or hot dogs. We just munched on our snacks in the back pack.

We have been so fortunate with the weather so far, we didn't mind the overcast travel day.

We arrived at the Alaska Native Heritage Center at 3 p.m. It was a very nice museum and outdoor display of Alaska's first people. We walked the grounds and watched some of their story telling dances.

We left the center and headed to the Anchorage Marriott for our final land tour night. Our original plan was to visit the Ulu Factory but as it was raining pretty good and we would have to walk several blocks to catch a shuttle, (and at 5' and short legs I would be soaked) we decided to just have dinner in the hotel and maybe try to make it over there in the morning before we leave. Back up to the room for the evening and we discover one of our bags is missing. Of course, it is the bag that has our set/sail pass in, but I will remain calm. (Dh chuckling about that!) After calling down to the front desk, they assured me that they were still delivering bags. They did get 7 busses in this evening. Hopefully it arrives soon. Some friends who will be joining us on the Radiance called and they are in Seward. We will see them tomorrow afternoon. Our bag finally arrived about an hour later. Yippee! Cruise documents safe and sound. There is one thing I will say about a RC cruise tour, they are very efficient considering the amount of people and luggage they deal with.

[mapleleaves]

I really enjoyed your photos of the scenery inside Denali. I don't think people realize the tremendous differences between the scenery of the interior and the coast. Your photo shows the color in the ridges, the rolling terrain, the greenery and the wide open space. And lucky you to see the mountain.

I had read that on clear days the TWT travels a little further. Did you turn around at Toklat, where the bookstore is located?

[msvacation]

I really enjoyed your photos of the scenery inside Denali. I don't think people realize the tremendous differences between the scenery of the interior and the coast. Your photo shows the color in the ridges, the rolling terrain, the greenery and the wide open space. And lucky you to see the mountain.

I had read that on clear days the TWT travels a little further. Did you turn around at Toklat, where the bookstore is located?

 

Thanks for the compliments. We consider ourselves very lucky to have seen the mountain. The pictures still do not do the park justice. To stand there in the vastness and tranquility of the park is amazing. We actually went to somewhere around the 62 mile mark I believe, and I think it was Stony Hill Overlook.

[Keith1010]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to write and post it.

 

Keith

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Can not wait for the cruise portion!:)

[msvacation]

Day ~ 6

Today we travel by motor coach from Anchorage to Seward.

 

Up this morning to have our bags all packed up and ship tags on and ready to head for the Radiance. It was still a bit rainy this morning so we caught a taxi to the Ulu Factory where we purchased a few souvenirs. We bought an Ulu Knife for ourselves and 3 others for family. (Be careful if you buy these in other stores as not all of them are Alaskan made. There are many cheap knock offs.) These are great gifts and Alaskan made. They opened at 8 a.m. and we were the first customers. After making our purchases we chose to have them shipped directly home to avoid the hassle of dealing with the knives on the ship and flights. The courteous girl who helped us with our purchases called a taxi for us to go back to the hotel. We went down to the hotel Cafe for breakfast and soon after that we loaded back onto the motor coach for our final land journey to Seward. Our tour director Julie and bus driver Mike had to leave us today because another tour guide had gotten sick and they needed them. They were great and we will miss them. Replacing them was our new driver, Vicki, who was very nice.

The day was overcast with very low clouds. The scenery was still pretty and a couple of bathroom stops were made along the way. We also made a stop at the Alaska Conservation Center where they care for rescue animals. They had bears, moose, eagles, lynx, reindeer, caribou, owls, and several other species. It just wasn't the same as seeing these animals in their natural habitat, but good for them, because without this center they would not have survived.

We arrived in Seward around 2:30 p.m. and the Radiance was the only ship at port. Check in was a breeze and went very quickly. No waiting anywhere at all. We went right up to our room and checked out our balcony. Then we did what almost every cruiser does after boarding the ship...... we went to the buffet.

After grabbing a quick bite to hold us over until later, we called our friends and met them on deck. We visited and walked around the ship with us giving them the grand tour, after all, we have been on this ship twice before.

We wandered back to our room where our luggage had just arrived and we met our room steward, John. After unpacking, it was time for dinner and we all headed down to the dining room. The meal was delicious and enjoyed by all. We chose to do My Time Dining, because we were not sure if we would be eating at the same time every night. We had great table staff and decided to make our reservations each night as we left at around the same time so we could have the same waiters. It worked out great for us all week. I would do My Time Dining again. After dinner, the boys (22 year old, 17 year old, and 15 year old) would ditch us adults and we would go for walks around the ship which became a nightly ritual for us. We did go to a couple of shows during the week, but also liked to spend some of the evening in the casino. Sail away from Seward was at 8 p.m.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 7

Today we cruised to Hubbard Glacier.

 

After breakfast we went for a walk around the ship looking for possible good spots to view Hubbard Glacier where we will be arriving around 2 p.m. When we visited Alaska the first time, we spent the entire time on our balcony while at the glacier. This time we decided to brave the elements and view it from one of the upper decks. (I will admit, I caved first up on deck to scurry back to our enclosed balcony and a cup of hot chocolate.)

Our friends joined us around noon to enjoy the views from our balcony. We even saw a few whales from the ship today. The weather started out cloudy, but as we got closer to the glacier the sun actually came out for a while.

We went up on the upper decks to brave the breeze and watch the views of Yakutat Bay leading into the glacier. Saw a few sea otters, but no sea lions floating on ice as we did when visiting here before. We watched the glacier for a while on deck and the cold got the better of me and I told him I was heading to the room to watch from the balcony. He followed me right away so he must have been a bit chilly also.

The ship got pretty close to the glacier and we could hear and see the calving (when ice breaks off and falls into the water). Each time it would make a thunderous roar like thunderstorm from home. It was massive and beautiful (and very cold). The ship turned around a couple of times so both sides would have a view.

While cruising away from the glacier, we noticed this hillside that seemed to have faces on it. Can you see them? We thought it was interesting.

Before long it was time to get ready for formal night dining. After dinner we all went to the evening show, a comedian and singer from Vegas. He was pretty good. After the show we went to a "finish the lyric" game and then we decided to call it a day.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 8

Today we will dock at Juneau. Our excursion today is a whale watch with Harv & Marv's Whale Watch Adventures.

 

As I awoke this morning and stepped out onto our balcony, we were working our way in towards Juneau where we docked at 8:30 a.m. Had breakfast in the buffet and back to the room to organize the backpack with cameras, batteries, binoculars, extra layers, all the stuff we would need for our whale watch. Our tour today was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. with Harv & Marv's Whale Watch Adventures. I booked them independantly after reading many good reviews on cruisecritic.com. It was a great choice. We were met right off the ship at 10:20 with a representative who took us to our shuttle. The shuttle driver then drove us about 20 minutes to the dock where our boat was waiting. Our boat is the silver/grey one on the right side of the dock.

There were two other couples on the tour with us, one of them I was familiar with from cruisecritic. We met our Captain, Liz (who was absolutely wonderful) and loaded into the 7 person boat. We headed out into Auckland Bay where we spotted eagles right away and then traveled a bit more until we found some humpback whales. A few we were pretty close to the boat, about 150 feet from us. That was awesome.

We saw some mommas and the their calves and there were three whales kinda hanging together and we saw whale tales from them several times. It was cool. They are so huge and graceful. Before we knew it, our time was up and we were headed back to the docks. On the way we stopped by a buoy where some sea lions were playing "king of the buoy". That was comical.

Liz was a great captain and gave us a lot of information and the tour was special because of the personalization of it. After the boat tour we were on the shuttle again and made a stop at Mendenhall Glacier.

We rode the shuttle back into town and dropped some people off down town who wanted to shop. Dh asked if I wanted to shop and I believe I saw relief wash over his face as I said we didn't have to. :) We grabbed a snack on the ship to hold us until dinner and then we did some people watching as our balcony is dockside. After dinner the adults did our evening stroll on the ship and then tried our brains at a trivia game, but ended up ditching that (none of us were familiar with the chosen topic) and went to the singing/dance show.

[Fluffy Terry]

Wow you are making me so excited about our cruise tour July 2013 - cant wait, Have been on the cruise portion before but not the land portion - so have a few questions - am trying to sort out what to do in our free time in each town - when you arrive do you get an itinery of times you arrive and how do you go about independently booking excursions - without knowing what time we arrive in each town dont know how I would book the extras - did you just wait till you got into each town to book your extra time? Our cruise tour starts in Fairbanks and like yourself we are going in a day early and renting a car to see the sights - I hate arriving the same day and from what I have read there is quite a bit to see around fairbanks - we are flying from Canada so the trip will be long and would get in fairly late if we chose to come in the same day - just would be arriving and going to hotel and sleeping - they only have given us general information so far on each stop (ie you will have evening and next morning) that doesnt tell me how much time so really am wondering how the extra excursions work. Were you able to book the extras as soon as you receive the itinery in anchorage or did you have to wait till you got to each town to book

 

Any information you could provide would be appreciated - thanks

[msvacation]

Wow you are making me so excited about our cruise tour July 2013 - cant wait, Have been on the cruise portion before but not the land portion - so have a few questions - am trying to sort out what to do in our free time in each town - when you arrive do you get an itinery of times you arrive and how do you go about independently booking excursions - without knowing what time we arrive in each town dont know how I would book the extras - did you just wait till you got into each town to book your extra time? Our cruise tour starts in Fairbanks and like yourself we are going in a day early and renting a car to see the sights - I hate arriving the same day and from what I have read there is quite a bit to see around fairbanks - we are flying from Canada so the trip will be long and would get in fairly late if we chose to come in the same day - just would be arriving and going to hotel and sleeping - they only have given us general information so far on each stop (ie you will have evening and next morning) that doesnt tell me how much time so really am wondering how the extra excursions work. Were you able to book the extras as soon as you receive the itinery in anchorage or did you have to wait till you got to each town to book

 

Any information you could provide would be appreciated - thanks

 

So glad that I can help with your pre-cruise anticipation. That is always part of the fun for me. We usually plan way in advance and I love doing all the research and learning.

 

Prior to our cruise (after final payment) I was able to print out an itinerary of the entire cruise tour. The one thing I found difficult with cruise tours was that they are not time specific. For instance the itinerary said, "Anchorage/Talkeetna Transfer: In the morning, you'll board the Wilderness Express, our luxury domed rail car, for the journey to the quaint town of Talkeetna. Trip length approximately 4 hours." That gave us approximate travel times so I had an idea of how long we would actually be in each destination.

 

I also was unable to book any land tour excursions prior to the cruise, and after several calls to RC :(, I finally got an agent who had done an Alaskan cruise tour. She assured me that some cruise tours for some reason, do not book excursions in advance, but upon arriving in Alaska and after meeting your tour guide, you would be able to book your excursions. At that point, I took a deep breath and decided to just go with the flow. (Hard for me because I am such a planner!) I do recommend you checking out what shore excursions are offered in each place you will visit prior to going. I did that and was pretty sure what we wanted to do and the first evening of our cruise tour, we booked an additional 2 excursions besides the stuff that was already included in the tour. That first evening we also were given a brochure that had approximate times of arrivals, free time, departure times, and travel time. It all worked out for us. :)

Because of not knowing the times, I booked our excursions on the land portion through RC. The cruise portion I was able to do all independent.

 

I totally advise arriving a day early if possible. We had such a long travel day and you do not want to start your vacation tired. I am glad we did that for rest as well as allowing extra time for the unknown problems that could arise when traveling across country. We did not get to Fairbanks this time and have also heard there is lots to see and do there. That will be on our agenda for our next trip to Alaska.

Hope this wasn't to lengthy and that I was able to answer your questions.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 9

Today we are docked in Skagway and have rented a car for the day.

 

We left the ship around 7 a.m. The Avis office opened at 8 a.m. and we wanted to be there early to avoid any lines. From where our ship was docked it was about a mile walk. The skies were overcast, but no rain, and it was a nice morning for a walk. We were the first to arrive at the office and when they opened we filled out the paperwork, got our toyota corolla and stopped at the local IGA store for some picnic supplies. We were on the road at 8:30 a.m. I had printed off Murrays Guide, which is a milepost guide of all things we would be seeing. It was very informative. For quite some time the road and the White Pass and Yukon Railroad traveled within site of each other. (We did the railroad the first time we visited and it was nice also.)

The scenery along the road was beautiful. The bonus of driving is you can stop at your leisure as often as you want and as long as you want. If we came upon an area where there were many tours or people we just passed them by and stopped on the way back.

The Captain William Moore Bridge crosses an active earthquake fault. The engineers were aware of a potential for disaster when they first built the bridge in 1901, this is why this asymmetric cable-stayed bridge is anchored only on one end, so when the ground below shifts, the bridge isn’t torn apart.

This was such a beautiful drive and it was hard to pick the photos to share.

 

[msvacation]

Day ~ 9

Skagway continued....

 

If you want to avoid the crowds, driving this road will do it. There are so many scenic and secluded areas to pull off.

Welcome to the Yukon and leaving British Columbia.

This is part of an old silver mine from around 1910.

Bove Island, another scenic stop.

Would you think of a desert this far north? Here is the Carcross dunes system.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 9

Skagway continued....

 

Our primary destination on this road trip is Emerald Lake. This is where most tourists turn around and head back to Skagway. We arrived at the lake and it was starting to drizzle rain so we snapped a few photos and continued heading north. The rain stopped and we found an area to have our picnic. We were probably about 20 miles south of Whitehorse and after we ate, we split from our friends as they wanted to continue on to Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon Territory, and we decided to head south and stop at some of the places we missed on the way up. By the time we got back to Emerald Lake the rain had stopped.

The intense color of the lake comes from light reflecting off white deposits of marl, a mixture of clay and calcium carbonate, at the bottom of the shallow waters.

We made our way back towards Skagway with a few more stops we couldn't resist.

We still had some time so we took a little journey on Dyea Road where we were able to get some ship photos. We put about 200 miles round trip on our rental. We got back to town around 5 p.m. and filled the car with gas and then Dh dropped me off at the pier and returned the rental car.

This evening after dinner, we played a trivia game and then spent some time in the casino playing cards.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 10

Today we visit Icy Strait Point which is a tender port. Our excursion today is with Teckk Outback Adventures. We have both a bear search and whale watch booked with them.

 

This is a new port for us. We are to meet our tour at 8 a.m., so we were ready to tender shortly after 7 a.m. No tender lines at all and we were on the tender and to the shore in minutes. We had time to walk around a bit and take some pictures.

Thank goodness this was not the dock we were using! :)

We walked to a parking area away from the pier and in a short time a van showed up to take us into town to the starting point of our bear search. Our tour is with Teckk Outback Adventures and they have been recommended on cruise critic. (We were not disappointed!) It is a family owned business and we were picked up by Killian and Cole (who are Keith's, the owner's sons). Killian talked about life in Hoonah and growing up here on our way to where our bear adventure would begin. We made final payment, used the facilities, and Keith arrived to take us on our bear adventure. He has a great sense of humor and was a lot of fun on the tour. He loves to talk about everything and wants to get to know you also. I had the pleasure of riding "shotgun" in the van and we talked and laughted quite a bit. We traveled out onto old logging roads that were very secluded. We saw many piles of bear poop on the road and eventually were rewarded with sighting a huge male brown bear a short way off the road from us.

Keith was out of the van and getting the bear's attention for more photos. He really knows what he is doing and does carry a gun for safety reasons. He is very respectful of the bears.

We watched this male for a bit, and then headed on down the road. We saw 5 bear and 3 of them were young cubs still hanging together, but not with mom anymore, on our adventure today. We learned so much about bears and their habits and our tour time flew by.

Back into town for a quick break and then off to the whale boat. We were able to see quite a few whales, but not able to get very close to them today. They were not in their usual feeding area, they had headed farther out today. The water was a little choppy today and hard to hold the camera still, so not many pics of whales today, but a wonderful show none the less. Soon it was time to head back to the ship. We said our goodbyes to Keith, Edna, and Killian and tendered back to the Radiance. We had a great time and they were very nice people. We would book with them again.

Tonight was our second formal night, and we decided we really didn't feel like getting dressed up, so we had dinner in the Windjammer. Our evening entertainment was in the casino before retiring for the night.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 11

Today we will visit Ketchikan. We have the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour scheduled for today.

 

We were almost to Ketchikan this morning when we woke up. Our Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's tour was not until 12:30 today, so after breakfast we met up with our friends and walked into town and up to Creek Street to see if there were any salmon. :( There were a few, but nothing jumping and trying too hard to get upstream.

We strolled back down towards the ship and stopped in the room for a quick break before heading out onto the Aleutin Ballad Crab Fishing excursion. It is actually docked right across from us. This fishing boat was on the second season of "The Deadliest Catch", if you are familiar with this show on the Discovery channel.

It was fun and very interesting to see and learn how these men make their living. They pulled pods up out of the water and showed us many different types of fish and crabs and even an octupus. You could touch and look closely and even hold some of the sea life.

 

They took us to a cove where the eagles were gathering for the salmon season and they started throwing some fish off the boat and the eagles were flying in very close and snatching the fish from the water. There were adults as well as young ones. It was totally awesome to see that many eagles in one place and so very close.

Again, our time went by quickly, 3 and 1/2 hours, and we had to head back to the docks. We stopped by a store for some bottled water and returned to the ship from our last port of call on this magnificent Alaskan trip. Most of the days we did different things than our friends, so it was always fun catching up with the days events during dinner.

[msvacation]

Day ~ 12

Sea Day

 

Today will be our last full day on the Radiance. Where has our time gone? We met our friends for a late brunch today and then the day was spent wandering around the ship, napping, packing, and watching the scenery from our balcony. After dinner and dessert tonight, we convinced the boys to take some photos with all of us together. We took some in the dining room and then out to the Centrum on the staircase for some more pictures. They were good sports and we finally let them go for the evening. (They took off quickly before we could change our minds!) :D The adults headed up to our balcony to relax and enjoy the scenery.

As the sun was going down, the colors in the sky were changing and everything took on a beautiful hue. Here are just a few of the pictures.

 

We decided to spend our last evening at the casino playing cards and I am happy to report that Dh and I both brought a little of RC's money home with us! ;)