Just Back from Radiance 7/3 - 7/10

[ike201]

I'm going to write a review in a few days, but if you have any questions about the Radiance, traveling with kids or the excursions we did, please ask. I traveled with my husband & 4 kids (14, 12, 10, & 3 1/2 yr old).

 

Thur -Vancouver, stayed in YWCA hotel

Fri - boarded the Radiance

Sun - Ketchikan; Bear Creek zipline

Mon - Juneau; Mendenhall Glacier, walked to waterfall, Coastal Helicopter- glacier landing/dogsledding

Tues - Skagway; Chilkoot Tours- train ride to Fraser, van back

Wed - ISP - whale watching with FISHES

Fri - Seward; disembark Radiance, 6 hr Kenai Fjord National Park with Renown, train ride to Anchorage, overnight at Clarion Suites

Sat - traveled to Denali National Park, overnight at McKinley Creekside Cabins

Sun -Denali National Park- 7: 30 am shuttle bus to Eielson; drove to Fairbanks stopped at North Pole, flight home to Newark 1:30 am Mon morning

 

Amazing trip, great weather, beautiful ship. Thanks to everyone on the board for all the great tips.

[Disney Girl 202]

Hi there,

 

We are going on the Radiance in September with our kids 13 and 10, so I am very interested in your post! We also have FISHES booked and we are considering ziplining in Juneau or a wildlife tour in Sitka. Unfortunately, we are on a tight budget, so even that is a stretch. Can you tell me what your kids enjoyed the most for excursions and would you recommend the ziplining. Any other hints about kids and the ship would also be great. Thanks so much.

[ike201]

Your kids will love the Radiance. My kids loved the camp/teen activities.

When we came back from an excursion we would all go swimming except

for my 10 yr old. He wanted to go to camp.

 

Their favorite excursions were the dogsledding & ziplining. We had to do the Bear Creek b/c my 10 yr old weighed only 70 lbs, some of the other ziplining requires you to be 90 lbs. They would have preferred to do the more challenging one. My friend did the ziplining in Juneau & loved it.

 

We were on a tight budget too. We stayed in budget hotels & only ate on the ship. Which meant we would sometimes do something in the morning, come back on the ship to eat lunch & go out again. We spent really no money on the ship. There is an arcade which my 10 yr old begged to play, but then forgot about it b/c of all the camp activites. ( teens have a free night at the arcade). FISHES was great. Saw tons of whales, no breeching though. We took the afternoon tour. The morning tour saw a moose swimming, 4 bears & around 12 whales breeching. Floyd said it's just luck, nothing to do with morning or afternoon tour.

[Disney Girl 202]

Thanks for your quick reply! You sound so much like us - we are planning to only eat on the ship as well. I am surprised that the whale watching was not a highlight! Can you tell me more about the dog sledding the cost? We were also thinking about this, but I think it is out of reach. Did you ever wish you had more time just to see the towns, or were you happy having excursions? I can hardly wait to see the ship - we picked Royal Caribbean because we thought it would be best for the kids - sounds like we might have made the right choice. Thanks again for your help.

[ike201]

whale watching was great & the kids loved it. All the excursions were amazing. Dog sledding was $450 pp. It's something I saved up for, for a very long time. I'm glad I did it. Would I do it again? Probably not, b/c of the cost. I would have enjoyed the trip just as much even if I didn't do the dogsledding. We had plenty of time to see the town, b/c we don't really love to shop. The towns are very touristy. We stopped in the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau. We peeked in Red Onion Saloon in Skagway. Another thing we did that we loved was Mendanhall Glacier, the hike to the waterfall. It was amazing how close you can get to the waterfall. We took a cab there ($35 each way) The shuttle bus would be cheaper for you if there is 4 of you. The only 2 things we regretted were in Skagway, we loved the train ride, we wished we took the train ride back instead of the van. And we did gold panning at Gold Dredge Tour. It was a rip off, would not recommend.

[Disney Girl 202]

Sorry to keep bugging you, but having kids the same age and the same ship, seems almost too good to be true:). Thanks for all the advice. The train in Skagway was something else we were considering, however, I think the kids would enjoy the ziplining or the wildlife tour more. Would you agree, or is the train ride really not to be missed? I do realize that ziplines are available in a lot of other places, but I would think the rainforest would make it a bit more special. Thanks again for all your help.

[TC,SC Belle]

If you really want snow for your dog sled experience then it is going to be expensive. But we had time in Seward to do a summer dog sled tour. It was only about $60 per person and the company was Seivey's (not sure about the spelling). It was one of our favorite things we did.

[cordi]

We were also on Radiance July 3-10. Have twin 14 year olds.

As previous poster said great weather - awesome trip.

Taking private shore excursions will greatly enhance your trip.

At some point however it comes down to how you want to spend your money.

We went whale watching with TECCK in Icy Straight. A fabulous time- saw many whales - none breached though. We had the boat ride to ourselves and the small boat experience alone was worth it even if we hadn't seen whales.

Through the ship, we took the 5 hour Kenai fjords trip combined with transfer to Anchorage age and saw an incredible amount of wildlife including breeching whales that looked like they were doing a performance in sea world. Amazing! You never know.

As great as that was I a sort of wish we had taken the longer 6 hour tour to see more glaciers. Logistically we were concerned with handling lugage and making our plane in Anchorage on time.

In Juneau take the shuttle to Mendenhall and hike around to the waterfall. Only $14.00 per person.

Our best value excursion was with Dyea Dave's friend Howard. He took the 4 of us upto Emerald Lake for only $60 per person - a glorious 7 hour trip!

No regrets at all about not going by train!

 

Other great but pricy options are Ketchikan float plane, all day Tracy Arm Cruise and helicopter landing/dog sled ride. You can book heli tour right from dock at Juneau for about $400 per person as opposed to $500 from ship.

If you can aford these excursions go for them- if it will tax your budget for months to come enjoy the lower cost options.

Whatever you do enjoy!

Hope to post full review soon!

[ike201]

Sorry to keep bugging you, but having kids the same age and the same ship, seems almost too good to be true:). Thanks for all the advice. The train in Skagway was something else we were considering, however, I think the kids would enjoy the ziplining or the wildlife tour more. Would you agree, or is the train ride really not to be missed? I do realize that ziplines are available in a lot of other places, but I would think the rainforest would make it a bit more special. Thanks again for all your help.

 

You are not bugging me at all - people were so helpful on this board, I'm glad I can help. I ended up loving the train ride much more than I had anticipated. My 14 yr old really was interested in the history of Skagway & really appreciated it, whereas my 10 & 12 yr old probably would have preferred to be back at camp. I think it comes down to personality, my 12 yr old wouldn't appreciate something like that until he was 25, whereas my 14 yr old would have loved it at 10. I didn't consider leaving my kids on the boat while we were on excursions, but while I was on the train the thought ran through my mind, maybe I should have left them & went all the way up to Emerald Lake. Cordi has a great point about Dyea Dave & alot of people rent cars to save money & go all the way up to Emerald Lake. It's a hard call, I didn't go on a wildlife tour, maybe someone else can answer. I think it depends on what you end up seeing which it all luck & timing. I know when I did ziplining they sometimes see bears, but I was so nervous, I forgot to look.

[ike201]

Cordi - did you go to the meet & mingle? I ended up missing it & swimming instead, wish I went. The whales breeching in Kenai Fjords was awesome wasn't it?

[CRUISTER]

The only 2 things we regretted were in Skagway, we loved the train ride, we wished we took the train ride back instead of the van. And we did gold panning at Gold Dredge Tour. It was a rip off, would not recommend.

 

Hi -

 

I am wondering about your thought on the train ride...Was there a tour available that allowed the group to ride both ways on the train or is it that you would have preferred to ride back on the train after taking a van to the summit? What tour company did you use?

 

Thank you for your anticipated response.

[ike201]

We booked through Chilkoot Tours & took the train to the summit, and the van back. I just thought the train was so relaxing & the scenery was so beautiful. I think more than regretting the van ride back is that I regret not taking the train furthur on to Emerald Lake. Chilkoot Tours was great & informative, it's just the scenery was so beautiful from the train, I wished I could have seen more of it. I think you can book directly with the train to go both ways, or our ship offered an excursion as well.

 

Just a note on gold panning - the kids did love it, my husband & I thought it was alot of money for what you get ($20 pp for around 10 minutes of gold panning)

[born 2 cruise]

I would go to emerald lake. On our cruise 6-13--6-20, track was washed out so we rented a car. Best thing we did. Emerald lake is super.

 

Vis

[Disney Girl 202]

Thanks so much for all the answers - it has really helped - now we just have to make a decision :o

[Starfish67]

Cordi and others - I have two boys 11 & 7. We booked with TECKK for whale watching in two weeks. Any advice? How was the boat? Do I need to bring anything (food, drinks,etc)? :confused: Also looking to book helicoptor with dog sled in Juneau. Who did you use? Was it worth the extra money for the dog sledding? Thanks. Can't wait to get there already.:eek:

[cordi]

My Radiance review was just posted.

Ike, we missed the Meet and Mingle ! Sorry!

Starfish, my kids loved the TECKK whale watch- the time went by so fast

We came very close to booking the dog sled helicopter ride on the dock, but didn't.$2,00 for the four of us would have impacted our budget for months. I did hear great feed back on it though.

As stated in my review it is much cheaper to book it at the dock than on ship.

I forgot to describe the teen activities!

The 12-14 group is kept separate from the 15-17 group in all activities.

They had a many fun activities including a free arcade party, hottub/pool party rock climbing contest etc.

My 14 1/2 year old twins mainly used the program to meet other kids, then go off on their own and play mini golf, swim etc. They had a great time. They have many new Facebook "Friends"

You probably won't have that many kids on a September Sailing.

No matter what they will have a great time and so will you.

[ike201]

Starfish 67 - We booked Coastal helicopters directly for the dogsledding/glacier landing. They have a website with all the prices & different tours. We loved it. Definitely would recommend them. Other companies we looked into was ERA & Tempsco (spelling might be wrong).

Went with Coastal b/c they were slightly cheaper, all 3 gets good recommendations on this board.

[Starfish67]

Thanks. I will wait and book helicoptor at the dock for glacier landing (no dog sledding). I'm doing whale watching boat in Icy Strait Point and was wondering if I needed to do Kenai Fjords tour also. Doesn't the cruise ship go that same route anyways?

Cordi - Should I bring food on the TECKK boat? Is there a bathroom on board?

Anyone do the hatchery/glacier tour in Juneau? Any good?

I leave in 2 weeks and just started packing today.:eek:

[Starfish67]

Cordi - Where is your review posted? I could not find it. Thanks for your insight.

[cordi]

Starfish, To find my review go to Reviews. Then to Member Reviews, Royal Carribean, then Radiance of the Sea.

There is a bathroom on board the TECKK boat. They don't serve food, but I think they have water on board. We were so busy looking for whales no one thought about food. The time went by really fast. There were only 4 of us on the TECKK boat, the Kenai fjords boat held around 100-150. The Kenai fjords boat served an all you can eat prime rib/salmon buffet that was really good. The two excursions were very different experiences and all 4 of us loved them both.

I just realized that you have the younger kids. They have a great Jr. Ranger program on the Kenai fjords trips that really seemed to keep the kids interested and engaged.

The 6 hour kenai fjords trip is considered by many to be the "better" trip because it goes out into the glaciers while our 5 hour trip just stayed in Resurection Bay. We did the 5 hr. through the ship because it included transfer to the airport.

[Miss Fig]

The 6 hour kenai fjords trip is considered by many to be the "better" trip because it goes out into the glaciers while our 5 hour trip just stayed in Resurection Bay. We did the 5 hr. through the ship because it included transfer to the airport.

 

Hi, I was on the 7/3 Radiance sailing too. Best vacation! I just want to point out to others that I did the 6 hour Renown tour in Kenji Fjords & made it to the 6pm departure of the train to Anchorage easily. It can be done! I booked everything in Seward independently. It's a great trip, we saw so much wildlife, the water was gorgeous; the trip flew by. At the glacier, the captain cut the engines and asked everyone to be quiet. Magical. We also lucked out b/c a sleeping Mama whale and her calf woke up & put on a spectacular breeching & pec fin waving display. Unbelievable. My F was grumbling a bit about a 6 hour tour, and after that he was like, okay, that just made this whole trip worth it, I don't care if we don't see another thing. Glad you got to see it too!

[ike201]

Thanks. I will wait and book helicoptor at the dock for glacier landing (no dog sledding). I'm doing whale watching boat in Icy Strait Point and was wondering if I needed to do Kenai Fjords tour also. Doesn't the cruise ship go that same route anyways?

Cordi - Should I bring food on the TECKK boat? Is there a bathroom on board?

Anyone do the hatchery/glacier tour in Juneau? Any good?

I leave in 2 weeks and just started packing today.:eek:

 

Whale watching in ISP & Kenai Fjords tours were entirely different. I was trying to decide which one to do & I'm so glad we did both. Whale watching you are surrounded by whales (8 to 12 at a time) on a small boat, whereas the Kenai Fjords tour you see whales, sea lions, a ton of different wildlife, plus the glacier. Loved them both!

[Starfish67]

Good to know. In Seward I will likely do the Bear Glacier Tour with Renown. Has anyone done the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari in Skagway? I have not read any posts about this tour and that's the only excursion I booked in Skagway. Also, what is the tipping policy with the private excurions? Do I tip the helicoptor pilot or deck mates? Thanks for the feedback and nice review Cordi.

[Starfish67]

Good to know. In Seward I will likely do the Bear Glacier Tour with Renown. Has anyone done the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari in Skagway? I have not read any posts about this tour and that's the only excursion I booked in Skagway. Also, what is the tipping policy with the private excurions? Do I tip the helicoptor pilot or deck mates? Thanks for the feedback and nice review Cordi.

 

 

OK, I know its 2am but I just read good things about the Glacier Point Wildnerness Tour. But now it looks like I may cancel the Hatchery & Glacier tour in Juneau in favor of going at my own pace so I can explore more of Mendenhall Glacier and hopefully catch a heli ride in the afternoon. Are taxis readily available at each of these places? Seems that everything can be booked at each port and I've spent the past few weeks booking excursions.

[TrinaP1204]

Thanks. I will wait and book helicoptor at the dock for glacier landing (no dog sledding). I'm doing whale watching boat in Icy Strait Point and was wondering if I needed to do Kenai Fjords tour also. Doesn't the cruise ship go that same route anyways?

Cordi - Should I bring food on the TECKK boat? Is there a bathroom on board?

Anyone do the hatchery/glacier tour in Juneau? Any good?

I leave in 2 weeks and just started packing today.:eek:

 

Are you on the Radiance on Aug 7-14. We are.