Alaska Cruise Glacier views from ship enough?

[harleygal33]

I am cruising the Radiance of the Seas on July 31 with my 8 and 9 year old sons. They want to do the Yukon RR, Goldmine and dog mushers for sure. I am wondering if viewing the glaciers and whales from the ship are enough or should we do an actual glacier tour and a whale watching tour seperately? Thank you for any advice.

[RoofingPrincess]

I was on the Serenade last month - not the same ports as the Radiance since R does one-way trips while S is round-trip Vancouver - and we didn't see many whales from the ship. Part of that is, I think, due to the port-intensive itinerary (which yours is as well). I didn't sit out on deck on the day we cruised the Inside Passage, looking for wildlife (we had wild life of our own inside the ship :) )

I did see plenty of whales when I went on a tour in Icy Strait Point (which you will also be visiting). I went with an independent tour operator called F.I.S.H.E.S. - the boat only takes six people, and the owner/tour guide, Floyd, is knowledgeable and personable. Since it is a small tour, though, he may already be booked up by now. When I tried to book, his morning tour was full, but he offered a shorter tour (2 hours instead of 3) in the afternoon, at 2/3 the price. It had to be shorter to get us back to the ship on time.

Serenade was scheduled to go to Tracy Arm, but since it was too icy, our captain took us to Endicott Arm to see Dawes Glacier instead. Conditions were fantastic, we were right up next to the glacier, and the captain turned the ship in a full circle six times so everyone could get a good look. Don't know what conditions are like for Radiance at Hubbard, but if you and your boys have your hearts set on being *on* a glacier, you'll need to take a tour.

If you don't have plans for Juneau, you may want to go see Mendenhall Glacier; I saw it as part of an organized tour, but according to folks on this board, it's easy enough to catch the bus and go out there. Our tour didn't have enough time for us to hike down to the waterfall near the glacier, but you might have time. And the trails and open spaces would be a great chance for your boys to run around and burn off some energy!

[CowPrincess]

Seeing a whale from a cruiseship is in no way like really seeing a whale :D On a cruise ship you are MANY, MANY feet above the waterline, so that whale is usually just a dot in the distance... a good whalewatch will have you at waterlevel (more or less) and near the whales. I'd strongly recommend taking your kids on a whale watch tour.

[rjm1cc]

Never gone whale watching but from the ship you may see a few and not very well. If you want to see whales do not count on it from the ship.

 

Glacier's are a different story. I think the ship will be enough.

[cloverose]

Never gone whale watching but from the ship you may see a few and not very well. If you want to see whales do not count on it from the ship.

 

Glacier's are a different story. I think the ship will be enough.

We just returned from the Carnival Spirit Southbound Whittier to Vancouver July 1-8. One highlight of our trip was a Prince William Sound Glacier Cruise with Major Marine Tours we did the afternoon of embarkation before we boarded the ship. It was awesome! We were much closer than the glacier viewing from the ship and it was the only opportunity we had to see and hear actual glacier calving. The second highlight of our trip was a whale watching tour with Orca Enterprises in Juneau. It was also wonderful! We saw pods of whales cooperatively seeking food, which the crew said was unusual except for this time of the year when babies are being cared for. I have one picture of eight blows in the same picture. Orca also took us to Mendenhall Glacier on the way back from the whale watching tour. That was a good opportunity to spend time on a land excursion near enough to enjoy a glacier. I booked both excursions online directly from their websites, thanks to info posted on these boards.

Our cruise was the trip of a lifetime for us. Carnival Spirit is beautiful and we throughly enjoyed the cruise, but I am so glad we booked these separate shore excursions as well. Enjoy Alaska, whatever you decide!

[Coolcruise02]

I think your sons would love a whale watching tour as you have to be very diligent and patient to see them from the ship. :)

[GranMona]

I am cruising the Radiance of the Seas on July 31 with my 8 and 9 year old sons. They want to do the Yukon RR, Goldmine and dog mushers for sure. I am wondering if viewing the glaciers and whales from the ship are enough or should we do an actual glacier tour and a whale watching tour seperately? Thank you for any advice.

You and your sons will love Hubbard Glacier! By July 31 you should be able to get in nice and close to it. Note that it takes a couple of hours of cruising to get in close after it is spotted in the distance. Youngersters probably would get a little antsy standing on deck that long. Yes, to the RR, Goldmine and dog mushers. I would go on a small boat whale watch out of ISP. You will see lots of whales up close as opposed to quite a distance normally on the ship. We use TECKK Outfitters. http://www.teckkoutfittersicystrait.com/ They have always given us a great tour. They also have a 3 hour bear search that your sons would really enjoy also.

Enjoy your cruise. The Radiance is one of my favorite ships!

[Saphira7]

The Mendenhall Glacier is a must do! We just got back a couple of days ago and it was awesome! We took the $7 shuttle that was right outside the ship. While we were there we did the hike to the waterfall and we had kids with us ages 8-15 and they all loved it. Also I know we probably got really lucky because we saw many whales from the ship. They also got really close and with our binoculars it was amazing.

[margelang]

Although we saw many whale tails and blow, it was always far away from the ship. We saw a boat that was most likely a whale tour and there was plenty of action for them! We all wished we had been on that tour...

 

As for the glacier, we took the 3-hr glacier hike on Mendenhall in Juneau. There were 4 adults, no kids. We LOVED it. Best part of the entire trip. I HIGHLY recommend any tour that allows for a walk, if not a hike, on the glacier. We drank some water from a small waterfall, repelled from a 50 ft tall ice wall and then hacked our way back up. Good fun. Note I've never done ANY of this.

 

Determine cost, time of tour and physical ability for extended hikes... but it was the best experience and worth every penny. Get your hands/feet on Alaska.

[stevecmo]

On the glaciers from the ship - it's kind of hit and miss. We were on the HAL Ryndam at Hubbard Glacier on June 12th. There were people on the ship that were doing a back to back and on their northbound trip, they didn't get very close or spend much time at Hubbard. On our southbound trip we got very close and were there for quite awhile. We thought it was awesome.

 

Based on what we'd read we didn't think it would be enough so we did a Prince William Sound glacier cruise before boarding the Ryndam. That was awesome as well. Saw some orca's on that trip.

 

The Radiance was at Hubbard the same day we were there. If you're interested you can see pictures of our Hubbard experience (including a shot or two of the Radiance if I remeber correctly) as well as our PWS cruise.

 

 

Hope that helps.

[msd360]

If you can time the cruise ship as it transits Icy Strait and Point Adolphus, you are almost guaranteed to see a whale from the ship. I had to get on deck before 6am the morning before docking in Juneau and was rewarded.

 

However I also took a Kenai Fjords cruise from Seward, and the whales from this boat were way better than anything you could see from the ship, also otters, puffins, dall porpoise, seals, etc. Here is a picture I shot from this boat. There are others in the gallery. If your camera has a burst mode where it will shoot several frames per second, it makes it very easy to snag shots like this. Otherwise, trying to click the button at just the right instant is problematic. I shot over 800 frames in our 10-day trip. The 170-ish in the gallery are the best.

 

The Kenai cruise also goes much closer to a glacier much smaller than Hubbard, but still very impressive.

[Twinkd]

Hi there - my husband and I are also sailing on this cruise - we have quite an active roll call board going that you are welcome to join. We also have a confirmed Meet and Mingle once onboard.

 

We are doing the White Pass Rail trip, Whale Watching with Orca in Juneau and also with F.I.S.H.E.S. in IPS. Both of these Whale Watching trips were booked independently and following great reviews on these boards.

 

Hope you join our board and we meet up at the Meet and Mingle. If not - enjoy your trip - we are soo excited!!! :D

[decr]

Just returned on Coral Princess.

 

You see plenty of glaciers from the ship, don't worry about that.

 

If you want to see whales, I would do a whale watching trip. You can catch a glipse of a couple from the ship, but having someone take you closer in is much much better.