Alaska Cruise Tour & Cruise on the Radiance of the Seas Review 7/25/15 – 8/7/15

[underthemoon53]

Thanks again for the lovely review I enjoyed every minute of it and loved the photos. It has made me more excited till my cruise next June!!!

[sailingwithfriends]

Like many others, I have really enjoyed your review. We sailed on the Radiance in June from Vancouver to Seward. It was a great vacation. We plan to go again in 2018 to try and see so many things we weren't able to during our 10 days. Your review has given me many items to check off our list.

[Iloveowls]

This report was very helpful. I am a newbie and will be doing the 1b cruisetour. I appreciated the estimates for money needed for food on the land portion. I am going to reread and take notes for which places need cash and which will take credit.

I was a little confused about the luggage during the land part. Do we only get to take one suitcase?

Thanks so much for your insights.

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

This report was very helpful. I am a newbie and will be doing the 1b cruisetour. I appreciated the estimates for money needed for food on the land portion. I am going to reread and take notes for which places need cash and which will take credit.

I was a little confused about the luggage during the land part. Do we only get to take one suitcase?

Thanks so much for your insights.

 

 

I might be able to help regarding luggage...this is assuming you have the pre cruise tour....:)

 

We packed our cruise only suitcase, it will be tagged separately when you give it to the tour director on the first day of your land tour and won't see it until it arrived in your cabin. We packed for the land tour in 2 small roller bags, those had to be put out each morning at 6 am.

 

I still had one small carry on for my camera, Ipad, medicine and other essentials.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Enjoy your cruise tour!

 

***

[hansolosmom]

Thank you so much for the review. I've always wondered how the cruise tours work, so I really appreciate that info. I agree with doing land in addition to the cruise in Alaska. I'm hoping we can try it next year.

[Bmorecruiser021]

This report was very helpful. I am a newbie and will be doing the 1b cruisetour. I appreciated the estimates for money needed for food on the land portion. I am going to reread and take notes for which places need cash and which will take credit.

 

I was a little confused about the luggage during the land part. Do we only get to take one suitcase?

 

Thanks so much for your insights.

 

 

Good evening :)

 

Arizona is right, you can take as many suitcases as you want. When the land tour start you get to decide which of the suitcases you brought you get to see daily and which ones go directly to the ship. Everyone does it differently. For example. Ali and I brought 2 suitcases, and 2 carry on's on the air plane (1 suitcase each 1 carry on each). That way we did not have to pay for extra bags. The way we pack, 1 suitcase is mine and one suitcase is her's, so we had to have all the suitcases delivered to our hotel rooms each night (those suitcases got a purple tag, but the color varies). My in-laws packed the same number of suitcases, but one had a weeks worth of clothing for both of them, and so did the other, so they were able to tag one of their suitcases with a purple tag, and see it every night in all those hotel rooms, and then they tagged the other with the white tag and did not see it again until boarding the cruise ship. This allowed them to have more space in their hotel rooms each night (not a big priority for us personally) also Ali packed an additional, folded, duffel, in her suitcase, that we filled with souvenirs. That also got a purple tag (and we had to pay extra on the flight back). So it's all up to you on how you want to pack and how much you want to bring. Hope I was helpful :)

[tripster]

WOW, great review! Once of the best I've seen. Very informative...and LOVE the photos! Thanks for sharing. Glad that you had such a great Land/Cruise Vacation! The Inside Passage was my all-time favorite cruise so far, but didn't have the $$$ to do the Land-tour. Still, TOP rated!! :)

[SpicegalTx]

I got totally immersed in your review! In fact I was late for an appointment. hehe We're going next week. I enjoyed narrative & photos. I felt I was there with you. I also appreciate you letting us know costs I wasn't even thinking about. You answered questions I couldn't find answers to. We're bringing layers & rain gear. Is there anything y'all over or under packed? We're only taking 1 suitcase each, so we won't have one to leave on bus. Thanks for the tips about talking to locals too. Oh, what camera did you use? You also kept good notes to make such a comprehensive review. Great job! I can't believe this is your first review! Awesome!

[Coolcruise02]

Great job....loved it!

[edjny]

I We're only taking 1 suitcase each, so we won't have one to leave on bus.

 

I would suggest that instead of packing one suitcase for each of you, you divide up all the stuff. Pack all the stuff you will both need for the land tour in one suitcase and all the stuff for the ship in the other. Of course, there will be some things that you will need on both, so those go into the "Tour" suitcase. This way you minimize the number of suitcases you are dealing with on the land tour.

[Bmorecruiser021]

I got totally immersed in your review! In fact I was late for an appointment. hehe We're going next week. I enjoyed narrative & photos. I felt I was there with you. I also appreciate you letting us know costs I wasn't even thinking about. You answered questions I couldn't find answers to. We're bringing layers & rain gear. Is there anything y'all over or under packed? We're only taking 1 suitcase each, so we won't have one to leave on bus. Thanks for the tips about talking to locals too. Oh, what camera did you use? You also kept good notes to make such a comprehensive review. Great job! I can't believe this is your first review! Awesome!

 

 

Thank you so much for all the kind words! The only thing I really overpacked was T-shirts, and that's because I always buy so many when we go on vacation. I get one from each port (or city in this case) and then I end up wearing them, before the vacation is finished, so I ended up not wearing about 5 shirts I brought. I under packed pants. Brought plenty of shorts, it being summer and all, but not enough jeans. I also didn't realize that there were 2 formal night and only packed one formal outfit. Same with Ali, she only packed one dress. My camera is a simple Sony Cyber Shot I got at Walmart a few years back. Hope this helps :) Have a great cruise!!!

[SpicegalTx]

Thanks for suggestion about suitcases! That would save some room!

[SpicegalTx]

Alright! We just went through our suitcases and separated & combined. We made one for land & one for cruise. Stilled stayed within the airline weight limit too!

 

Thanks again for suggestion!

[edjny]

Alright! We just went through our suitcases and separated & combined. We made one for land & one for cruise. Stilled stayed within the airline weight limit too!

 

Thanks again for suggestion!

 

BTW, it is a good idea to divide up your stuff for every cruise. It is not unknown for suitcases to get lost/delayed when they are going on the airline or the ship. If each of you have your own suitcase and that happened, one of you would have a big problem....

[sail2sea518]

Thanks so much for such a detailed review; we are leaving in a few days for a self guided pre-cruise trip and then spending two nights in Vancouver. It is too bad more people do not take in Vancouver; it is such an amazing town surrounded by water with (I think) four bridges. So much to see and do - I've never even made it to Whistler! (my youngest daughter lives there and works in the film industry).

Edited August 24, 2015 by sail2sea518

[bluebeard39]

Thank you so much for all the kind words! The only thing I really overpacked was T-shirts, and that's because I always buy so many when we go on vacation. I get one from each port (or city in this case) and then I end up wearing them, before the vacation is finished, so I ended up not wearing about 5 shirts I brought. I under packed pants. Brought plenty of shorts, it being summer and all, but not enough jeans. I also didn't realize that there were 2 formal night and only packed one formal outfit. Same with Ali, she only packed one dress. My camera is a simple Sony Cyber Shot I got at Walmart a few years back. Hope this helps :) Have a great cruise!!!

Hello there, Could you tell me if you and your wife used waterproof shoes or boots when you went out on your tours. Thank you in Advance, Paul

[Bmorecruiser021]

Hello there, Could you tell me if you and your wife used waterproof shoes or boots when you went out on your tours. Thank you in Advance, Paul

 

 

Good Evening,

 

No, no waterproof shoes, just closed toes sneakers. When we went on the glacier they gave us snow boots that slipped right on over our sneaker. And if we had gone on the white water rafting, they give you a dry suit with feet, I was told. Hope that helps :)

[Bmorecruiser021]

Thanks so much for such a detailed review; we are leaving in a few days for a self guided pre-cruise trip and then spending two nights in Vancouver. It is too bad more people do not take in Vancouver; it is such an amazing town surrounded by water with (I think) four bridges. So much to see and do - I've never even made it to Whistler! (my youngest daughter lives there and works in the film industry).

 

 

Thank you :) yeah I wish we could have had more time in Vancouver. More of a reason to go again ;)

[Robinhill]

what was the name of this hotel? It is really pretty and i love the view.

[BecciBoo]

That IS indeed sad that you missed Hubbard which is not to be missed and was the favorite of our whole cruise...so....another chance for you to repeat! Do her again just the cruise part from Vancouver and back. So you can experience this natural wonder.....we loved glacier day so much we wished the ship would've stayed hours longer.

 

Great review and pics.:D

[Bmorecruiser021]

That IS indeed sad that you missed Hubbard which is not to be missed and was the favorite of our whole cruise...so....another chance for you to repeat! Do her again just the cruise part from Vancouver and back. So you can experience this natural wonder.....we loved glacier day so much we wished the ship would've stayed hours longer.

 

 

 

Great review and pics.:D

 

 

Thank you so much! Yes we want to go back and see Hubbard really bad. We heard from other cruiser that was an incredible experience.

[Bmorecruiser021]

what was the name of this hotel? It is really pretty and i love the view.

 

 

Hey Robin, which hotel? I don't see a picture [emoji1]

[ledaebel]

Your review , summary and photos made me anxious to use the Radiance. Our 3 generation family had planned to go to London and Paris but since the trouble in Paris we decided to stay stateside.

 

But, you did such a great job, and I am starting to plan too late, our TA is having difficulty finding us a balcony cabin for this summer. Today, I told her to start in Anchorage not Vancouver. I hope to get good news tomorrow.

 

If we get the cruise we will definitely want to go on a tour similar to yours. We will plan on starting a day early since our trip to the Galapagos had so many airline problems (every plane was 6 to 24 hours late, lost our luggage and also got stranded in Ecuador for 2 days on the way home) and we don't want to be exhausted before we start.

 

You captured the beauty of Alaska, the rugged activities and the ship's finest features. Thank You.

[Bmorecruiser021]

Your review , summary and photos made me anxious to use the Radiance. Our 3 generation family had planned to go to London and Paris but since the trouble in Paris we decided to stay stateside.

 

 

 

But, you did such a great job, and I am starting to plan too late, our TA is having difficulty finding us a balcony cabin for this summer. Today, I told her to start in Anchorage not Vancouver. I hope to get good news tomorrow.

 

 

 

If we get the cruise we will definitely want to go on a tour similar to yours. We will plan on starting a day early since our trip to the Galapagos had so many airline problems (every plane was 6 to 24 hours late, lost our luggage and also got stranded in Ecuador for 2 days on the way home) and we don't want to be exhausted before we start.

 

 

 

You captured the beauty of Alaska, the rugged activities and the ship's finest features. Thank You.

 

 

Thank you so much for the kind words. Good luck! Hope you have a wonderful vacation!

[skrapngal]

just came across your review this morning. We just booked the Anchorage-Vancouver cruise in May of 2017. We'll be renting a car and doing 5 or 6 days (Anchorage-Denali and possibly Fairbanks).

 

We looked into the cruisetour, but I'm a research guru in my spare time and I figured between the 5 of us in our party we could do it cheaper by renting a car and staying in B&B's. Sure it's a little bit more hassle, but I love doing the research legwork.

 

Loved your pictures, I was especially interested in learning about the 30% Denali viewing. That way everyone will know about not having too high of an expectation there.

 

Do you remember what the upcharge for Samba Grill was? I realize it might change between your cruise in 2015 and mine in 2017 but it will give me a ballpark.

Edited February 28, 2016 by skrapngal