** Alaska - Radiance of the Seas - dept 29th May 2015 - with two children **

[greatlakesgirl]

Really enjoying your review and your pics are outstanding!

[hhalliv]

Love your detail and pictures! Heading out on the Radiance in August so I'm very excited to hear all about it

[emeraldcity]

22 evenings from now, I'll be throwing the last few things in the suitcases and heading out to the store for some last minute something I forgot. I've been planning my Alaska trip for years and it's almost here!

 

I'm enjoying the armchair review of what's in store for me in mid-July.

 

I love the pictures of the T-Shirts ... "Send some more tourists ... " I may need one of those.

[~*Lou*~]

View around ISP at the end of the day (after clouds lifted)

 

ISP from Radiance (also end of the day)

 

Tender returning to Radiance

 

Tender returning to Radiance

 

Tender being winched back on board

 

Tender being winched back on board

[~*Lou*~]

Tender being winched back on board at ISP

 

Higher ...

 

Landing dock being folded away at ISP

 

Pirate Night children’s club dancing in Centrum

 

Leaving ISP behind (about 9.30pm)

 

Juneau from Radiance

[~*Lou*~]

Iceberg from Mendenhall Glacier

 

Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls from “Photo Point” trail (listed as easy, paved, 0.5 mile round trip)

 

Nugget Falls map

 

Trail to Nugget Falls (listed as moderate, gravel, 2 mile round trip – my children did it easily)

 

Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls

 

End of trail to Nugget Falls

[~*Lou*~]

Children playing on the beach by Nugget Falls

 

Nugget Falls with Mendenhall Glacier behind

 

Mendenhall Glacier

 

Icebergs from Mendenhall

 

Evening, after leaving Juneau

[~*Lou*~]

Wednesday 3rd June - Skagway

 

Another Windjammer breakfast then we join our Chilkoot Charters tour at 8.15am. What a difference in weather, it's cold and wet and windy and low cloud and I'm grateful for every layer of clothing I have for the children - long sleeve tee, fleece vest, fleece jacket and waterproof jacket. We're doing the 3.5 hr trip with coach tour followed by White Pass and Yukon train from Fraser back to Skagway. The trip up includes 3 stops for photos, and once we gain elevation through the pass, the cloud is so low we're completely enveloped and can't see a thing. It miraculously clears enough at the Alaska/Canada border for photos, and by the time we get to Fraser we can see it is lifting a bit and the sun is trying to break through in between more rain. The tour guide tells us if it were just a few more degrees cooler, the falling rain would be snow, it's about 7-10 deg C (45-50 deg F).

 

The train ride back is great, with amazing scenery, the children loved the train and all the waterfalls we see. This was one of my husband’s trip highlights. Inside the carriages is warm and cosy, but step outside to take a photo and its really cold! Bottled water is provided for free, no other food or drink available to buy, but you can eat food you have brought with you on the train. There is a toilet in each carriage.

 

Once off the train, the tour company took us back to the ship (although it's a short distance, we could have walked through town back to the ship, but the children were tired and more than ready to be back on board and eating lunch). It's really cold as we walk along the dock and get back on board for Windjammer lunch. Like previous days we put the children in kids club for the afternoon, and we rug up and go for walk through Skagway. It's a cute little place, love the raised wooden side walks and all the wooden buildings.

 

Back on board we take the children for a swim before family-time cut-off in the Solarium, afternoon tea at Park Cafe and then up on deck for sail-away at 4.30pm, it's really windy this time. The helipad is too windy, especially for the children but we briefly find a sheltered spot on deck 11 in the covered rear seating for the windjammer (go to deck 12, walk to the aft, walk down the stairs to deck 11). I'd have stayed there longer but the children were getting bored.

 

Dinner in the Main Dining Room, it's formal night and again we have only the most casual clothing, there is a big variety of clothing worn in the dining room, from tux and long gowns through to our jeans (we were not the only ones dressed casually). Part way through the meal all the chefs come out, loud music was played and they dance (some considerably more enthusiastically than others) through the dining room, are presented and cheered and clapped on the staircase and dance out again. After dinner the children again wanted to go to the children's club, we tried walking round on deck but it's too windy and we settle for views from the Windjammer before collecting children and putting them to bed.

 

By bed time, the ship is moving so fast (22.6 knots, compared to 12-13 knots on our first sea day and 5-6 knots overnight between ISP and Juneau and Skagway) we have already passed back by Juneau and Icy Straight Point and heading west. We do have a long way to go to get to Seward by Friday morning. Only hoping it's not too rough when we get out of the channel and into exposed waters.

 

Tomorrow - sea day including Hubbard Glacier.

[~*Lou*~]

4 cruiseships in Skagway

 

Above the cloud line, coach trip from Skagway, headed for White Pass Railway

 

Fraser train station

 

White Pass railway

 

White Pass railway

 

White Pass railway - flags at the border

[~*Lou*~]

View down valley

 

Disused bridge ("shake shake bridge" if you know the story of Thomas the Tank Engine)

 

Skagway, cute street, raised wooden sidewalk

 

Leaving Skagway

 

View from deck after leaving Skagway, about 9pm

 

Rainbow, evening after leaving Skagway

[~*Lou*~]

Thursday 4th June - Not-Hubbard-glacier - we woke about midnight to find the ship really moving around, Captain Carl made an announcement shortly after saying we would not be able to safely get to Hubbard glacier, the waves (8 metres) & wind (80 knots, compared against forecast 40-50 knots) were both too big (bigger than forecast), and the low pressure system that we were experiencing was making the weather too poor (he later estimated the low pressure reached about 940-950 hP). In fact he was turning the ship to face directly into the waves for now, as the safest and least uncomfortable direction to travel, and the weather system was moving fast, once it had settled a bit, we could resume the course to Seward.

 

There was at least one more announcement before morning (it's a bit blurry in my head now). Once we woke properly in the morning and looked at the TV screen, by turning the ship directly into the waves, he had turned the ship around and we were travelling back exactly in the direction we had already travelled from Skagway. About 9am and after couple more announcements from the captain, the weather had apparently settled enough (winds and waves) for us to turn back to our course direct to Seward. It still felt rough to us but better than middle of the night. The indoor and outdoor swimming pools had been drained (and they took advantage of draining the indoor pool to do some maintenance). The wind was so bad it shredded the USA flag flying above the bridge. There were seasickness bags on every staircase. The air temperature was about 9 deg C (48 deg F) the whole day, and it rained on and off. We never saw land through the mist and we did not see sun either.

 

Both children felt unwell after breakfast, one was ill. We put seas bands on both children, and had both take motion sickness tablets (one could chew the tablet, the other one took the tablet crushed in a teaspoon of honey). Through the morning they occasionally nibbled a plain toasted bagel and sipped water. By lunchtime both had improved enough to eat a light lunch (waves still rough but less than before) and by 2pm when children's club opened for the afternoon they both begged to go.

 

The afternoon felt calmer than the morning but still rough, grey, no land insight, no sun, rain on and off. Miserable way to finish the cruise even without missing out in seeing Hubbard.

 

Dinner at windjammer then children asked to return to kid's club for one last play while we picked a couple of photos from the photo gallery and started to pack, it's always miserable seeing suitcases being placed in the hallways. It was rougher again this evening and we gave both children another motion sickness tablet before bed.

We have a 6.50am departure timeslot, and we need to be on the 7am shuttle round to join the 8am Kenai fjords cruise. Cross our fingers it's a calmer night.

 

Tomorrow - Seward & Kenai Fjords

[~*Lou*~]

Sea day, non-Hubbard Glacier, the change of route due to storm (photo taken as we turn back toward Seward)

 

Sea day, non-Hubbard Glacier, the change of route due to storm

 

Empty Solarium pool (due to storm)

 

Shredded flag through the Solarium glass roof (due to storm)

 

Maintenance opportunity (due to drained pool due to storm)

 

Repainted pool!

[~*Lou*~]

Friday 5th June - Seward

 

Bye-bye Radiance of the Seas. Disembarkation was pretty smooth. We had our luggage tags and timeslot allocated the previous day, we put our cases outside our cabin in the evening as directed. In the morning we had a quick Windjammer breakfast.

 

Only Windjammer (from 5.30am) and the Main Dining Room (from 6am) were open for breakfast on the final day. Then we gathered at our allocated "meeting lounge" (Aurora theatre, deck 5) at our allocated time (6.50am).

 

Our departure number was called just a few minutes late, we walked off, scanned our seapasses one last time, walked down the gangway, into the pouring rain & cold (welcome to Alaska). You have to walk about 100m in the open, I was glad I had raincoats on all of us. Then into the baggage hall, which is like a junior sized aircraft hangar.

 

We collected our cases and walked over to the Kenai Fjords Tours kiosk, we had checked in with them by 7.05am. They had a shuttle for us, few mins wait, and they kindly dropped our cases at the Hertz rental car office on the way. By 7.30am we had checked in & boarded the Alaskan Explorer boat ready for our 6 hr cruise.

 

Sea bands back on the children and half a seasickness tablet for each child with breakfast too. The rain continued, however our captain explained this was better than warm sunshine for wildlife spotting (excellent way to put a positive spin on it!). Initially the waters were calm but sea swells developed as we reached open waters. The captain was expecting this (leftover from the storm we had experienced on the ship) but he was not expecting the wind and therefore waves that came too. He had to modify our route to minimise how much really unpleasant movement we experienced, and a few people were seasick, the staff coped really well, cheerily handing out seasickness bags and encouraging people who felt unwell to be on the lower deck in the middle of the boat.

 

By keeping the children looking out at the horizon (me endlessly chirping on about looking for birds), one complained of not feeling well but neither got sick. By the end of the cruise we had seen bald eagles (one with a small bird in its talons), 3 sea otters, steller sea lions, harbour seals, dall's porpoises, couple of humpback whales and endless birds, probably the only thing we didn't see that we hoped to was a puffin.

 

The cruise included lunch - chicken Caesar wrap, bag of crisps, muesli bar & glass of water about 11.30am, and a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie at 1.30pm on our way back into Seward small boat harbour. There was a limited range of other snacks & drinks available to purchase on board. I had a couple of other snacks in my bag for when the children inevitably complained of being hungry (probably more bored than actually hungry). There was a bakery open across the street from the Kenai Fjords office we could have purchased something extra from before the cruise if we had wanted.

 

Note - in terms of snacks you could possibly find on Radiance to slip into your bag, there were bags of crisps at Park Cafe salad bar, and some days at lunch or dinner I saw small packets of dry crackers (saltines or water crackers), often near a soup station in Windjammer. Also boxes of dry cereal like mini wheats or corn puffs from Windjammer or Park Cafe at breakfast.

 

We returned to Seward at 2pm and they kindly shuttled us back to Hertz where we collected our rental car. With a quick stop at Safeway in the way out of Seward (cereal, milk, fruit, dry crackers, snap lock bags for packing snacks, laundry powder), we were on our way by 3pm north to Girdwood. The drive took nearly 2 hrs, very nice scenery despite continuing rain and low cloud obscuring the tops of the snowy peaks. Anything not high up and covered in snow was green, really green apart from the petrified trees (result of 1964 earthquake).

 

At Girdwood we found our accommodation (Alyeska Accommodation in Girdwood). We had rented a 2 bedroom ski condo for 3 nights, it's out of ski season. Spotted a squirrel while waiting to get into our condo. Dinner at Jack Sprat (across the road, nice but expensive, they did have a children's menu and were very welcoming of the children including providing some colouring in).

 

Bath and bed for the children, laundry catch up for mummy - I had deliberately picked a condo with a washer & dryer, coming off a ship with no self serve laundry facilities and having packed very light.

 

Tomorrow - Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center and Alyeska Tram

[~*Lou*~]

Radiance in Seward

 

Radiance in Seward from Small Boat Harbour

 

Dall’s porpoises (best I could get, they move so fast obviously!) - seeing them right under the bow was a real thrill

 

Another attempt at Dall's porpoises

 

Harbour seals

 

Sea otters

[~*Lou*~]

Holgate Glacier – Kenai Fjords

 

ice in the water at Holgate Glacier

 

Leaving Holgate Glacier

 

Leaving Holgate Glacier

 

Leaving Holgate Glacier

 

Steller sea lions

[~*Lou*~]

Steller sea lions

 

Bear Glacier – note the blue ice bergs in front (left hand side of picture), actually as large as a city block

[~*Lou*~]

Saturday 6th June - Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center & Alyeska Tram

 

Woke at 4.30am when it got light, made sure the children's room was dark, and snuggled down for more sleep. After breakfast in our condo, we headed for the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Centre (AWCC), which was 12 miles back down Seward Hwy. At this time of year it is open 8am to 8pm and entry cost $25 for 2 adults (children under 12 are free) and the ticket is valid all day, including free re-entry if we want.

 

The weather was cold and light rain - temp never got above 13 Deg C (55 deg F) all day and we never got sun. We needed all the layers we could get - I dressed the children in long sleeve tee, fleece jacket, fleece vest, & waterproof jacket - I was particularly grateful we had decent quality waterproof clothes given it rained on and off all day and we were outside most of it.

 

The AWCC website says allow 1-2 hours for a visit, we were there 2.5 hrs in the morning - I should point out both children are very keen on animals, and before our holiday had been happily watching wildlife documentaries on the types of animals we would see. We saw porcupine, elk, musk ox, caribou, wood bison including a newborn wood bison (born the previous evening), bald eagle, horned owl, Lynx, brown bear, black bears, black tailed deer and moose.

 

The daily program (which I think changes daily, it was hand written on a white board near the doors to the gift shop) included Lynx feeding at 11.30am which we saw, and also black bear feeding at 3.30pm and brown bear feeding at 4.30pm.

 

AWCC has a gift shop which includes a limited range of food & drink - hot & cold drinks, pretzels, popcorn, nuts, bagged chips, one choice of soup of the day, really small fridge with pre-made sandwiches, selection of muffins & chocolate bars - the 4 of us shared a bag of popcorn (warm but very salty) for $3 and hot chocolate for $2 as morning tea.

 

So after seeing the Lynx, we headed for Hotel Alyeska and the Alyeska Tram. The tickets cost $95 for the 4 of us including the younger child (under 6 yrs) being free but these tickets included $60 of meal vouchers for the Bore Deli at the top of the tram ride. We didn't need the whole $60 for lunch for the 4 of us, so I used the remaining credit to buy snacks we could use later in the trip. The tram ride was spectacular, and at the top, all the ski runs were closed but there was a small amount of snow on the ground, enough for my children (who have only seen snow up close once before) to be very excited. Despite lack of entirely appropriate footwear and clothing, they enjoyed some snow play before and after their lunch.

 

Back down on the tram, and back down the road to AWCC in time for the black bear feeding and then we walked round looking at some of the animals we particularly liked from the morning's visit, including the red fox who had been hiding earlier in the day and reminded us all of Mr Todd from Beatrix Potter stories. Then we watched the brown bear feeding before heading back to our condo.

 

The black and brown bears are in adjacent enclosures, it was very funny to watch the brown bears pacing up and down, watching the black bears being fed first. Lots of "puppy dog" eyes, moving up close to the fence, standing up on hind legs, sitting and staring at the keepers, which made for great viewing for us.

 

After we had seen enough bears (and hoping to see bears in the wild in Denali later in the week), we went back to our condo briefly then to Chair 5 in Girdwood for dinner (child-friendly, kids menu and colouring in provided), however they did not have ice cream available for dessert so we then drove down to the ice cream shop at the gas station at the intersection of Seward Hwy and Alyeska hwy. Saw another squirrel as we entered the condo.

 

Tomorrow - Portage Glacier and Byron Glacier

[~*Lou*~]

Porcupine at Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC)

 

Bit tricky to see but there are 2 black bears (LHS) and 3 brown bears (RHS) in this picture - AWCC

 

Brown bears waiting for food, staring at the keepers – AWCC

 

Brown bears waiting for food, staring at the keepers – AWCC

 

Brown bears waiting for food, staring at the keepers – AWCC

 

Brown bears waiting for food, this CAN'T be comfortable - AWCC

Edited June 16, 2015 by ~*Lou*~

[~*Lou*~]

Brown bear at AWCC

 

Black bears at AWCC

 

Black bears at AWCC

 

Black bears at AWCC

 

Black bears at AWCC

 

Wood bison and newborn baby (born the previous evening) at AWCC

[~*Lou*~]

Red fox at AWCC

 

Caribou at AWCC

 

Exactly what the sign says (at AWCC)

 

Reindeer being walked at AWCC

 

Bald eagle at AWCC

 

Lynx at AWCC

[~*Lou*~]

Daily activities at AWCC

 

View of Turnagain Arm from Alyeska Tram terminal (and snowplay)

[cruisnpat]

Great review. We just got home 10 days ago from our Alaska land tour. After the land portion we rented a car for 9 days and just happened to be in Seward the same day as you. We had great weather all of our trip until we went to Seward and then it rained from the time we left Anchorage until we got back into Anchorage. Love your pictures, brought back lots of memories. Thanks.

[golf43]

Thanks for posting your review. I have enjoyed reading all about it. We are doing an Alaskan cruise tour in 2016 aboard the Radiance.

[MisterMom]

THANK YOU so much for your timely review. We leave next week for the same cruise. This'll be a repeat for us (link to my last Radiance review in my sig file). Glad y'all had a good time!

[nivek82]

Thanks for the great review. Alaska reviews are not common here and sure nice to see. Now to make sure dw doesn't see this or I'll be booking this trip myself. 😜