Radiance North Bound 8/5-8/12

[mickym]

Hello,

First and Formost I want to thank Budget Queen and everyone else here that was SOOOO much help in planning this cruise!!!

DH and myself and 16 other members of DH's family took this trip together. I was not sure at all how well this would work but it went wonderfully and we are all wondering where to go next. Any suggestions?? I have been receiving tons of pats on the back from DH's whole family for all the information I supplied them with and tours we booked thanks to you all, so on behalf of all of them I thank you as well!!

 

EMBARKATION went very smoothing and quickly.

RADIANCE of the Seas- We found the ship to be very nice (although we don't have a lot to compare it to as this is only our second cruise) with glass everywhere so you don't have to miss any views from anywhere. We had an inside cabin which I was prepared to be very disapointed with as I had decided, after reading on here, that a balcony was a must. I really ended up being very satisfied with the interior as we only went to the room to sleep. If you want to have quiet time away from the people a balcony on this scenic cruise would be great but traveling in a group as we were we really wanted to spend our time with family so this worked out very well. The rooms, of course, are small but I'd say they are very much as represented on the ships website and we were comfortable. The service was very good everywhere. Our dinning room waiters were FANTASTIC!! We tried to take John home with us, even bribed him with one of the cousins daughters, but he was from India and was arrainged to be married next year. The food was good. I've probably eaten better but never enjoyed it more with the good company and great service. I definately give John and assistant waiter Nas A+++ for makeing our evening meals one of the highlights of the curise. Formal nights were great fun for a country girl that doesn't get to dress up very often. The ladies looked great and the guys, most of which were in suits with a smatering of tuxes, looked handsome weather they liked it or not,:p .The entertainment was good and if I happend to fall asleep a few times it was from exaustion not boardom.

 

PORTS

JUNEAU-We tendered in at juneau and this went very smoothly. The weather was very nice. We were shuttled out to Mendenhall Glacier by Orca Enterprises. We took the hike around the lake to the falls and found it very beautiful. We also saw a bear feeding on some salmon. Orca picked us up again and took us on a whale watch with Capt. Larry and Dirk. This was an amazing experience!! We saw a few humpbacks in the area that the other tour boats were and then the fun began. We all got back in the boat and Larry took of on a whale of an Orca hunt!!! We were not disipointed when we found 20 to 30 Orcas, not far from our boat, putting on a fantastic show for us. It was awesome!! Larry seldome speaks but when my DH got back in the boat and made the comment about how lucky we were to find the whales Larry turned around with a huge grin and a beaming face and said"lucky??" I made it clear that this was not luck, this was Capt. Larry. What a great experience!! One we will never forget and we have same really nice pictures to remind us. Another A+++ here.

 

SKAGWAY-We took the White Pass and Yukon Railroad and the bus up into the Yukon through Chillkoot Tours and Charters. This was very pretty and very interesting but it rained this whole day and we also had some heavy fog at times which put a damper on the day. The views would have to be really amazing on a clear day. We still had plenty tiime to walk around town. Yes, it is a comercialized town for sure but if I don't have a little of this touristy stuff it wouldn't seem like a real vacation to me. We hit the Alaska Shirt Factory and picked up all the little trinkity stuff we needed to bring home to people and got that taken care of so we didn't have to use up the rest of our port time shoping. Shoping is not really my thing so was glad to have that done but if you like jewelry you're in luck in Skagway!

 

SITKA-Sitka is the place our group all decided it would be great to come and live in for the summer if we could. It was pretty and quaint and interesting. We had very nice weather here. We walked around on our own and also used the Tribal Tour bus to get around. We went through St. Micheals( which I found prettier on the outside then inside) the Raptor Center (not really my thing) and the Sitka National Park (enjoyed the totem poles and some close encounters with eagles.

 

ICY STRAIT/HOONAH-This port was a huge treat for DH, myself and eight other lucky members of our group who booked a tour with Kieth of Teckk Outfitters. Kieth is a third generation resident of Hoonah, married to a full blooded Klingit indian. This was definately not a memorized speach but rather just Kieth visiting with us about life on this island, his family(400 of the 900 residents are his relation) the history of his area, etc. while also showing great interest in each of our lives. He did all this while taking us in to the remotest areas far from the normal tour bus routes. We saw close ups of bears and eagles and got wonderful pictures to prove it but had we seen no wild life at all it would have been well worth the price (which he reduced by a bunch when we filled up his van, without our asking for a discount at all) just to have this true Alaska experience. Following our tour he took us to his home and invited us in where we paid for the tour, used his bathroom, met his son, looked at family pictures, ate some of his homemade halibut jerky,took pictures with him, etc. He then droped us off at his uncles resturant where we had FRESH crab legs. I give Kieth the third A+++ of our trip for a truely unforgetable true Alaskan expieriance!

 

HUBBARD GLACIER- This was the greatest disipointment of the trip. I had read such great things about this day but Mother Nature decided she had been kind enough to us this trip and sent us a very rainy, foggy day. We really couldn't see anything and it was misserable to be up on deck. Our pictues look just like a bunch of fog. We could hear the calving but couldn't see any of it. Oh well, you can't win'em all:( .

 

The ride from Seward to Anchorage was beautiful.

Debarkation was smooth and even going through security right after the liquid explosive scare was surprisingly easy.

One problem I had was dizziness both on the ship and on land for about four days following the cruise. Any of you know how to avoid this?

Well I guess that's about it.

Thanks again everyone and for those of you in the planing stages have a WONDERFUL cruise.

[dizbuster]

Excellent review, I enjoyed reading it!

[mickym]

Thanks dizbuster. I really enjoyed your review and your beautiful pictures!!

[dizbuster]

Why, thank you right back :)