Just Back from the Radiance! Fantastic!

[VJS]

WOW! What a great trip. Went from August 24-31. What great weather. It was sunny almost every day.

 

Brief review:

 

Embarked in Vancouver. Got on at noon. Absolutely no lines. Took 10 minutes. Beautiful sunny day.

 

DAY 1

 

At sea. Worked out. Played Bingo. Sat on balcony and read. Relaxing day.

 

DAY 2-Ketchikan

 

Flew on Float Plane with Michelle with Island Wings. Folks, DO NOT CANCEL!! This was one of the highlights of the trip. I felt very safe and she was very professional. She talked about Steve's crash as she was there right after it happened. Interesting. It sprinked about 10 minutes. The most rain we saw all week. Again another beautiful day. Especially to be up in the air and then land on a remote mountain lake. Just awesome.

 

That night was the total eclipse of the moon. Stayed up to see it. Great. And people saw the northern lights! Unfortunetly, I had come out to late. But what a clear sky and great eclipse.

 

Ate in Chops. Not impressed. Seemed as though they were having a lot of problems. Comped our $20.

 

DAY 3-Juneau

 

Did the zip-lines with Canopy tours. This was great and I am afraid of heights!! Seemed very knowledgable and safe. If you need any more info, just ask. Then took helicpter with TEMPSCO to Mendenhall and had guided walk. Just fantastic. I am running out of adjectives to describe how great everything was!! Sunny, but very cold on glacier. Dress warm. We had plenty of layers and were fine, but there were some very unprepared people who were very cold. Again, another highlight of trip.

 

DAY 4-Skagway

 

Did the only cruise booked tour. (The other tours I booked independently).

Did the Wilderness Safari. Excellent. Would highly recommend. Again, very sunny, warm and clear. Got so close to glacier and the water was placid. No wind. Was told this is very rare to be this clear and have calm waters.

 

Ate in Portifinos. Excellent. Maria was the best. Made reservations for last night-it was that good. Heads above Chops.

 

DAY 5-Icy Straight

 

Whale watched with Glacier Winds. Just the 4 of us my husband and our 2 friends). Saw so many whales!! Would highly recommend doing whale watching here as there is not much else to do.

 

DAY 6 -At Sea Hubbard Glacier

 

Absolutely FANTASTIC!! Sunnyand clear. Got to get right up to glacier and seemed to stay a long time. Unbelievable.

 

Day-7-Disembarked in Seward. Had arranged on our own to stay for a couple of days. We did an all day kayak trip from Fox Island. Again, sunny, warm and calm waters. Fantastic.

 

Day-8- Seward

 

Took 6 hour Kenai Fjords catamaran tour. This was FABULOUS. Was afraid it might be too long, but could have stayed another 4 hours! Saw otters, sea lions, eagles, orcas and more. Also went to another great glacier and stayed a long time. Lots of calving.

 

This was one of the best trips of our lives. If you have any questions, please ask.

[NancyIL]

Welcome back, and thanks for sharing the highlights of your trip!

[VJS]

Also, Thanks to everyone for all your advice. I really learned a lot on this message board and used many suggestions which helped make our trip so wonderful.

[Host Kewlguy]

Thanks for the great review. We're looking forward to visiting Alaska on the Radiance next September.

[RCCLismyfav]

Thank you for the review and we are booked for Sept. 2008.

 

I guess I missed where Steve had an accident, can someone please fill me in? :confused:

 

Hello Kewlguy, time is going fast! :p

[VJS]

Steve is a pilot for another floatplane company.

[RCCLismyfav]

Steve is a pilot for another floatplane company.

 

What happen? :confused:

[qiangf2]

What happen? :confused:

 

There were several threads about this incident on this board. here is one of them. Steve and his wife survived the crash.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=617077&highlight=crash