Photo Review Solstice Alaska June 26 to July 3, 2015

[loupana]

Today before we arrived in Juneau we had lunch in Tuscan Grille, as I mentioned earlier we got $5 off per person and it was well worth the $20 charge per person we paid...

 

 

For lunch it has a scaled back menu, you choose 1 of 2 choices in each section

 

 

 

 

 

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A few more pics in Tuscan Grille

 

 

 

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We arrive in Juneau and it is raining again

 

 

Our plans for Juneau was go up Mount Roberts Tram and take in the great view of Juneau. We bought this excursion through the ship because I thought it would fast track us on the tender. I think the cost was similar if we just went to the tram and bought passes. It didn't fast track us since this excursion has no time associated with it. You just go anytime during the day you please. Which I was glad it did because it was so foggy when we arrived you couldn't even see the Tram.

 

Getting off the tender

 

 

 

A look back at our ship from the pier

 

 

FYI, the whole tender process was not a big deal. DW picked up tender tickets from Cellar Masters when they became available at 10AM, we were in group 8. Waited for our number to be called and away we went.

[loupana]

Once we were off the ship the rain had stopped, but because of the fog and the fact we didn't see the glacier in Tracy Arm earlier in the morning we bought tickets on the Blue Bus to go to the Mendenhall Glacier.

 

 

 

My camera has an amazing zoom, this photo was taken from the same spot the previous two were taken from...

 

 

Walked down the path to get up close and personal to the falls and glacier

 

 

 

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We were lucky to catch the bus back to Juneau as soon as we went back to the bus stop.

 

Back in Juneau the fog had lifted enough so we went up Mount Roberts...

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A shot of the tram after we returned

 

 

Walking back to the tender I took a few pics of Juneau

 

 

 

 

Another shot of the Solstice, I never get tired of these...

 

 

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A good shot from our balcony showing tenders deployed

 

 

Tonight's dinner was Top Chef at Sea menu, I must say we loved all our meals but if we had to choose our least favorite menu selection this would be it

 

 

 

Again we loved all our food, but my parents had a restaurant until they retired and we would never send out a bowl of soup that looked like this

 

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Final Tender arriving 9:48PM

 

 

 

Check out the date and time of this photo, still twilight

2015/06/29 23:17:57

 

 

Thats all the time I have for tonight...will continue tomorrow with Day 5 June 30th, 2015. Solstice arrives in Skagway

[loupana]

And now, it is my turn to say...your photo review is superb! Exactly what I look for when reading reviews. I am a visual person and your pictures truly speak a thousand words...Oh, and did I mention, I am a foodie?...so your food porn was simply salivating Dahlink! I do have a question regarding your choice of cabins...our DF are joining us on Solstice for this same cruise (sadly, not until Sept of '16) and they have chosen a deck 6 hump cabin. Did the presence of the Tenders bother you at all? Did they impede your enjoyment of the balcony and your overall view of the scenery? Your photos inspire me to do a better job of documenting the interior of the ship...seems I stop at the Sunset bar or martini bar and all plans of photo shoots go out the window. Such is the cruising life...Happy Sails and Cheers! Julie

 

If this was a Caribbean cruise I don't think I would care about the obstructed balcony. But since this cruise was all about nature I must admit I wish I wasn't on deck 6. If you saw the two video clips I posted they would have been much better if the lifeboats were not there.

[cruiznLYNN]

Great review and photography! Brought back memories of my Alaskan cruise 5 years ago. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

[Klstaack]

Thanks again for the great pictures....I am loving all of them.

[micruiser12]

Thanks for posting your great pics! We will be on the Solstice to Alaska in August and seeing your pictures is getting me even more excited to go! Looking forward to Skagway pics.

[gacruisergal]

Great review and great pictures. We will be on Solstice on 9/11. We cruised in Alaska many years ago and loved it then. Can't wait to see what has changed with the town and villages after all these years. I'm sure the scenery will be pretty much the same and I do want to compare the view with the one we had in June 2012 to the North Cape in Norway. That cruise too was fantastic and a must do on everyone's bucket-list..

[BecciBoo]

That is why we were so delighted to snag 2 deck 9 aft balconies when we booked the day they announced the 2016 Itins.

 

We had aft on Radiance of the Seas and it was fabulous, retreating views of all the ports and Hubbard Glacier! Your view is so much more expansive on the aft, when you pass something in the side cabins, you can only see it for a brief time whereas the aft view remains for so much longer. I highly recommend it!

Loving your review...such a long wait for ours:o

[CoronaCRZR]

Lou, those are some great shots.

I really enjoyed your GoPro time lapse shots.

 

Great job!

[Escriteur]

Thanks for sharing this amazing photo review. :) We did the June 12 sailing on the Solstice, and I'm still trying to finish organizing, captioning, and culling my photos before I post my own review. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who regularly photographs food! ;)

 

It was a lot of fun reliving our own trip through your photos (I've been skimming through your full album on Flickr - WOW!); so thanks again for posting your review and the link to your full photo collection.

 

~ Shay

[mike&lorrie]

Lou, We were on the ship with you. Great job of capturing the activities and the ship. Thanks.

[loupana]

June 30th 2015 day 5

 

Skagway Alaska

 

We booked the "White Pass Summit Rail & Bus" from Chilkoot Charters & Tours. We wanted the Train ride to Fraser BC first then bus ride back. So we took the earliest time so we were up early for breakfast. We took the Train at 7:30AM and bus back. Train ride was about 1 hour 45 min. bus back I don't think was 1 hour. DW and DM did some more shopping in Skagway and we were back onboard for a late lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[loupana]

GoPro was setup to video the whole ride and take a photo every 5 seconds. So I thought I was going to have some excellent video and photos...well that plan was squashed when I wasn't able to attached it to the left side of the train so all I got was a wall of rock and very little else. All the valleys and scenery views are on the left side going up to Fraser BC. So I spent most of my time outside between the cars taking as many photos as I could with my sony camera.

 

 

 

 

Here is a shot of what you get mostly from the right side of the train

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2015 by LouTheGlue

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Now we board the bus to head back down to Skagway

 

 

A photo of the next train heading up to Fraser BC

 

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Back in Skagway