Bellamariya

What can we do and see on our own in these ports. The only thing we really wanted to do is a whale watching tour and that pretty much wipes out our $ for tours. So we are looking at what we can do on our own or for a small amount. Thanks for your suggestions in advance

We just returned from an Alaskan B2B and found a couple of gems that we had not heard about.

Juneau - The Alaskan Brewing Co tour. $20 gets you a shuttle from town to the brewery and back, a brewery tour and history lesson and 6 (7oz) glasses of beer to sample. I am not a huge fan of beer but their range is so out of the ordinary, some standouts were the Oatmeal Stout, Smoked Porter and Raspberry Wheat. Just go to the outlet on the main street, a few minutes walk from the dock, and book yourself in, they leave every few hours.

Skagway - Another $20 gem - the Days of ’98 show, a burlesque/vaudeville style show about Soapy Smith, a Skagway Klondike Gold Rush character. Really enjoyed this show but would suggest if you don’t want to be chosen to take part in the show, don’t sit at the front or the edges!

Someone else has already mentioned the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and the walk to Nugget Falls, this was one of the highlights of our trip and we also recommend it :)

As far as your suitcase is concerned, don't settle for anything less than what is a fair price for replacement of your luggage. On our last cruise, the handle was broken off of our large suitcase when it was delivered to our stateroom. The handle was in working order when we dropped it off with the porters. We took the suitcase down to guest services, filled out a form, and they said they would get back to us. They did the next day by offering us replacement piece of luggage. The piece they offered us was comical. It was cheaply made, flimsy and a crappy zipper. We turned down since it was not comparable to what they broke. After going back and forth for 2 days, we settled on $150 replacement cost. In the end, we got what was deserved. They will try to low ball you. Don't fall for it.

Thanks for the advice :)

I have never had an issue like this before and I wasn't really sure how to handle it.

We had Wilton on the Rhapsody out of Sydney to Hawaii in 2009 (I wonder if it was the same guy - widowed with two children in boarding school). He was the best cabin attendant and we loved him!

 

We are doing our first b2b on Radiance next year - Vancouver, B.C. to Hawaii to Sydney and can't wait! Was glad to read your review. I get so tired of reading all the negative - there are just too many complainers. I understand things don't always go as planned but not very many people post the positives any more. Thanks again!

I would love to do a long repositioning like the Hawaii to Sydney! All those Tutti Salad days ;)

I agree about the negative reviews, I have read so many that said Radiance was worn out and desperate for a refurb but wracking my brain and looking through some of the (over 10,000!) photo's taken by our group I seriously cannot see what they were talking about!

Thanks for sharing. Aren't B2B's fun? Fun enough to get you hooked :)

Cindy

 

Definitely hooked on the B2B, especially for cruises that have ports with too much too see and do in one day :)

 

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Thanks for your review.

 

We are doing a back to back on the Radiance starting in mid-August.

 

We've never done a back to back before (although we have done over 30 cruises), so it is new to us.

 

What can you tell me about how the process goes?

The process was very simple. Closed our cash account on the final day of the first cruise, then the next morning picked up our new room keys/cards and an 'in transit' card from Guest Services. Our luggage stayed in our stateroom as we had the same room.

We went and did a tour booked through RCI and dinged out for the final time with our original cards.

When we came back to the ship we waited in line as usual and as we dinged in with the new cards our new photo was taken. Easy!

I have been reading a lot of reviews of the most recent cruises on Radiance of the Seas and it has felt overwhelmingly negative. So I thought I would share my experience and that of the 5 people that were on the cruise with me :)

These were cruises 5 and 6 for me so I did have a few other cruises to compare to.

There were 6 of us (Australians in our 30’s and 40’s) travelling together (3 couples in 3 staterooms) for a B2B Alaskan adventure and we chose Radiance of the Seas as my previous cruise on RCI had been amazing. Two of our friends celebrated their wedding anniversary on the first cruise. My husband and I celebrated ours on the second cruise.

Embarkation at Canada Place was easy and we were on the ship and checking out the Windjammer in no time. No problems carrying on our 2 bottles of wine.

First impressions of Radiance were good; she is a clean ship with elegant decorations and an easy layout. Staff were friendly and smiling and we were off to a great start!

Food and Drink

We liked that Radiance opened up Izumi and Rita’s during mealtimes in the Windjammer, so we never had a problem finding a seat, even with 6 people. As the Doghouse is also adjoining, we occasionally sat there for a late afternoon snack with a few extras brought in from the Windjammer or an amazing beef on weck from the Park Cafe.

We found that mixing the free iced tea and lemonade together made the perfect lemon iced tea and drank that every day :)

We had chosen MTD so were in Cascades dining room. My husband and I went to the dining room just after boarding and scoped out the tables. We found a great table for 6 by the window and spoke to the hostess at the front who managed to allocate this table to us for 6.30pm every night for the first cruise.

On the 2nd cruise we changed this to 8pm as we found that the long days onshore in Alaska, and late afternoon snacks to make up for missing lunch, left us too full to truly enjoy the meals served.

I prefer all meals to be in the dining room but some days this was not possible. We had dinner in Windjammer once and were pleasantly surprised. Late lunch a couple of times and a few afternoon teas as well, could not complain about the range of food on offer or the temperatures, we always found something to make us happy and lots of things we went back for more than once.

I don’t really eat breakfast; most times I will just have a coffee and a glass of tomato juice. The coffee in WJ was awful and juice was limited to orange or apple so I tried to stick to the MDR just for the good coffee and juice. On the days that I did have breakfast in the WJ I mixed a packet of chocolate mix into the coffee and that made it palatable. Have to say I love the hot chocolate mix on RCI, we had one almost every night before bed.

My husband was a big fan of the smoked salmon plate and had it almost every day.

On sea days we couldn’t miss the Tutti Salad in the MDR! I would choose a cruise with extra sea days just to get this!

Dinners in the MDR were consistently good. Our waiters were great and we made sure we got the same table for the 2nd cruise so we could stay in their area.

We chose Samba Grill for our anniversary dinner and were not let down; we would recommend Samba for all the meat lovers out there!

We only got very dressed up for one of the four formal nights and that was so we could get a set of photos of the 6 of us to commemorate the trip. Not that we dressed sloppily for dinner on the other nights!

Stateroom

We love to sleep in so chose an inside stateroom, 9017 forward. Our last cruise was in a JS and we found that the light woke us earlier than we liked and with Alaska having barely 4 hours of darkness we didn’t want to risk it.

The stateroom was compact with plenty of storage. Our steward Wilton was very good and we enjoyed his cheery greetings and towel animals. On our anniversary he left a bottle of bubbly in our room for us to share with our friends.

Activities and Entertainment

We were never bored on this trip! This was quite a port intensive itinerary with 5 ports in 7 days. From mini golf, playing pool, trivia (we won quite a few times and got prizes ranging from a keyring to a tshirt), bingo, fruit carving, karaoke, stage shows, The Quest, adult comedy….wow we barely had a minute to spare!

The 2nd cruise was a bit slower for us so we had some time to relax, some ports we felt didn’t need a tour on the 2nd visit and some activities were repeated exactly so didn’t need to be done again (The Quest was one and that disappointed me as it is one of my favourites). We used the 2nd cruise to catch up on activities we didn’t have time for the 1st time around like shuffleboard and rock climbing.

The Ports

Ketchikan – On the 1st visit we went to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and highly recommend it! Creek St had some interesting history. We found a free bus that took us on a loop of Ketchikan and took about 20 minutes.

Too many jewellery stores and being hassled by every single shop owner got a bit tedious so I would avoid the main street unless I actually wanted to buy jewellery.

We have a policy of eating and drinking new local delicacies when we travel so I tried King Crab here, it was expensive but yummy.

2nd visit we took the free bus and went to Walmart, might seem like a strange excursion but as Aussies we wanted to see what it was like ;)

We found Ketchikan was the best place for souvenirs and bought most things from here.

Icy Strait Point was great for whale and eagle watching from the shore. We hiked some trails looking for wildlife and walked into Hoonah, not much to see there. The Cannery Museum right at the dock was very interesting and we spent a fair bit of time wandering around in there and learning the history of Icy Strait Point. We went to the cultural show in the afternoon and found it a bit ordinary.

On the 2nd visit I only went ashore for a quick lunch of beer battered halibut as I had never tried it, absolutely loved it, also tried the Cannery Red Ale and really enjoyed it.

Skagway – on the 1st visit we didn’t really have anything planned apart from a vague idea that we would book the White Pass Rail, unfortunately we were too late to get onto this tour so we booked ourselves on Dolly’s Wildlife Tour. While Dolly was entertaining I was underwhelmed by the tour. If I had known we would just drive up the road and back again the same way I probably would have saved the $50+. Very little wildlife to be seen from a busy main road unfortunately.

On the 2nd visit we did the White Pass Rail tour that we had reserved on the previous visit. We took a bus to Fraser and caught the train back, a slightly longer trip than RCI’s tour. The scenery was stunning both ways and our bus driver kept up an interesting commentary the whole way.

In the afternoon, after a quick lunch onboard, we went back into town and saw the Days of ’98 show, a burlesque/vaudeville style show about Soapy Smith, a Skagway Klondike Gold Rush character. Really enjoyed this show but would suggest if you don’t want to be chosen to take part in the show, don’t sit at the front or the edges!

Juneau – this would have to be my favourite port. On our 1st visit we went to one of the stalls on the wharf and bought tickets ($20 return normally, though we got a group discount for buying 6) for a shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier and our first hike took us to Nugget Falls. We spent hours here just looking at the glacier and the falls and were even entertained by a couple of guys that stripped down to their underwear and jumped into the waterfall!

We couldn’t hike one of the trails as it was closed due to a mother bear and her cubs being spotted the day before, what a shame as I would have loved to have seen them. A bit of shopping in Juneau town rounded out the day.

Our 2nd visit we did the Alaskan Brewing Co brewery tour and this was a bargain! $20 each included transport, a brewery tour and history lesson which was really interesting and 6 (7oz) glasses of beer and 2 souvenir glasses to keep! The first 3 beers were chosen by our guide and we were given 3 tokens to exchange for 3 more of our choice. Some of the standouts were the Oatmeal Stout, the Smoked Porter (tasted like liquid bacon!!) and the Raspberry Wheat, out of 8 different flavours that I tried (my husband chose a couple different to mine) there was only one I didn’t like and I have never been much of a beer drinker so I was pleasantly surprised. We were a very merry bunch on the trip back to town!

Later that afternoon we took the Mt Roberts Tramway cable car to the top of the mountain and did another long hike. Highlight was when we had 6 eagles soaring above our heads at once, so close we could see their individual markings.

Hubbard Glacier – just wow! Our 1st visit we got up early as we were scheduled to arrive at the glacier at 7am. We woke up to heavy fog and were worried that we wouldn’t see anything! As we got closer the fog disappeared and the glacier came into view – what can I say but wow!! We didn’t get in very close as the captain said there was too much ice but I was still excited to be so close to a glacier and the scenery was amazing.

2nd visit we were visiting in the afternoon, from 2pm – 6pm, once again there was heavy fog and it was much closer to the glacier so the captain took us in as far as he possibly could. We got so close that we witnessed at least 5 calvings! Absolutely breathtaking! A tender boat was sent out to collect a chunk of ice and that was used for the afternoon ice carving, an added bonus!

Seward

We booked RCI’s Kenai Fjords tour which was only available for B2B cruisers. This included a visit to the Sea Life Centre and a boat tour with an all you can eat salmon and prime rib buffet lunch. Again I found the tour underwhelming. The food was not the best quality, with the cheapest salmon served and very little sides to go with it and the wait for food was very long, about 2 hours from the first people served til our table was called.

We spent a lot of time chasing apparent sightings from other boats but the wildlife seemed to disappear before we got to each site, with an occasional whale fin seen in the distance or small speck on a mountainside that we were told was a goat. We did see plenty of sea lions and birds, but again, only from a distance.

Guest Services

We had very little interaction with guest services but the small amount we did have was very positive. One issue that I brought to their attention was remedied quickly and without fuss.

All in all this was a great cruise. We had what was apparently unprecedented amazing weather, with 14 straight days of blue skies and sunshine. Every port we stopped at the locals were marvelling at the weather and the lack of rain! Wildlife sightings from the ship were many and varied and exciting for people from the southern hemisphere that don’t usually see these creatures.

But of course nothing can be perfect. If I’m telling the good then I should also tell the not so good! There was nothing major but I wasn’t on the cruise with rose coloured glasses either.

First was receiving my suitcase with one of the wheels completely torn off rendering it useless. It made for a rough trip home with 3 flights and trying to drag the case around all the airports as it could no longer stand on its own. I have contacted RCI and am waiting for a response.

As a first time B2B cruiser I was surprised and disappointed that the CD didn’t have a couple of different spiels. Everything she did and said was word for word identical on both cruises. Activities such as Quest were identical and it was ironic that she even warned people not to cheat because they knew what the quests would be! Even her introduction for two completely different headliner acts was identical. I know it must get boring for a CD to do the same things over and over but practicing 2 different intros or coming up with 2 sets of quests couldn’t be that hard?

On night 12 we arrived for dinner to be met by the hostess telling us that she had given our table away as someone else wanted it and she ‘couldn’t say no’. I was dumbfounded that this happened. This was the table that we had booked and turned up for on time, every single night (apart from the one night that we cancelled early and went to the WJ) and she couldn’t say no to someone else that wanted it? Why?? We were told that our waiter had objected and asked that they be placed at another table but they were still sat at the table we had reserved.

We were placed in another section but the hostess still had our regular waiters serve us, the impact of this was that they simply had another table to serve that was close to, but out of their usual area, slowing down service to everyone and making them rush from place to place and placing extra stress on them.

Toilet problems had some people very angry but we were largely unaffected. There were always toilets out somewhere and lines in the ladies could get pretty long, especially straight after shows. One afternoon our stateroom toilet was not working and one evening all the public toilets were closed dues to issues. We have a ‘no elevators’ rule so this meant extra stairs each time I needed to use the bathroom, not exactly a negative on a cruise where there is 24 hour food and we ate plenty of it ;)

Getting off at Vancouver was quick and painless, we had a leisurely last breakfast and did the self assist debarkation. I was sad to be leaving after such a great trip but am I consoling myself by planning my next cruise and yes, it will again be on RCI :)

I am booked to sail on Radiance in August and I must say, I am dismayed by reports of rust, plumbing problems, cosmetic wear and tear, etc. Didn't the ship recently have a refurb/upgrade? Why is it in such poor shape? And if anyone has anything positive to say, that would be welcome too!

We were on Radiance for a B2B from May 15th-29th and loved it. Yes there were the odd plumbing issues, but in 6 cruises (not all with RCI) there has been an issue on every single one, I think that is the nature of the systems used on cruise ships.

We loved the ship and thought she was beautiful and I can't remember a single thing that stands out as being worn out.

Went to Samba Grill for our anniversary dinner and loved it but I have always been a fan of Brazilian food :)

I have read some of the reviews that others have posted and honestly wonder if we could have been on the same cruise, I hope to get my review done soon as my entire 2 week experience was fantastic.

We were on Radiance last month for an Alaskan B2B and went to Samba Grill. Worth every cent!

Rita's is definitely a Crabshack and compared to land prices for King Crab and Halibut, was quite a bit cheaper.

Good to hear you enjoyed your day here in Vila.

A bit sad that P&O are advising people to not go past town though, the best things here are out of town including Cascades Waterfall which is in great shape and Hideaway Island which is one of my favourite snorkelling spots.

Received an official reply and among other things it said this:

At this time, travel details, flight details, and the in transit field do not have to be updated.

So it seems this field does not matter and doesn't even need to be filled in.

It was wonderful to see the streets and businesses filled with visitors again :)

We haven't put our prices up at all, lol didn't even think to do that ;)

Tomorrow we have Pacific Pearl arriving and it feels like life here is returning to normal.

You are visiting Alaska on a Cruise Ship. Alaska is an American State. You will no doubt do shore excursions, therefore, you are not in transit and should have answered that you were At Sea on ...xxx.. Cruise ship.

 

You also mention that you are on a stopover in LAX but i am assuming you are staying airside and just changing flights. This is the only time you are in transit.

 

The same logic goes for Americans flying into Australia to do a NZ cruise ex Sydney. They still need the ETA.

 

Hugh

So confusing! I have also been advised by someone off this site that they chose in transit last time they did this and had no issues.

I have now sent the question directly to the authorities in the US and will post back their reply.

No..if you are in transit in the US, then what you did is right.

Thanks WaveSplasher :)

We assumed the port stops were classed as transit, just wanted to be sure and see what other Aussies put on their applications.

Stopover ?

If it is an airline stop and you are staying in transit area of airport, you do not need ESTA.. However, if entering USA thru Immigration/Homeland Security, and going beyond "airside" and also not going thru transit lounges, you will an ESTA because you will enter USA..

 

Sue and Phil.

Hi Sue and Phil, I need an ESTA for the cruise, my question was should I choose "in transit" as I am not staying in the US but visiting US ports on a cruise ship or "not in transit" in which case I need to supply an address and contact details in the US.

Me again and I need more help!

Just as a reminder, we are Australians travelling to Vancouver (stopover at LAX) for an Alaskan B2B starting and ending in Vancouver and flying out from Vancouver (again with a stopover at LAX).

Now I have applied for our ESTA's and I am confused about one question where they ask if we are in transit and I answered yes. I assume we are in transit as we have no accommodation or contact details for the US that they ask for if we answer no. Am I wrong? Was I supposed to say not in transit and write down the ships details?

That is great, thank you!

If I'm am dieing in the humidity do you recommend the water taxi to the left of the wharf? I hear it is the same as the bus to get to town ? ( $5) if it isn't too hit, we will walk

We are coming from nz so have nzd, so are changing into aud, but might change a bit into whatever currency Vanuatu and New Caledonia use. Am changing that in auckland tomorrow.

I wanted to go to the hideaway, on the local bus from town, which would be about $16 return all up, but then $15 each to get on it...so that takes us over the $20 each, Lols.

Thank you, the markets and the food from them sound good, we can sit and watch..are there swimming holes near by? Either from the boat or in town?

We will def have a wander through the resorts, we did that in Fiji, just to see them..well nice.

We didn't eat, as they were Exy, but we didn't swim there either, but worth a thought ...ESP if I am dieing from said humidity.

Thank you again, very nice of you to share your information. :)

The weather is cooling down now, very little humidity, but the water here doesn't fall below 25 degrees so it's nice to swim all year round :)

Most resorts are on the water, either beach or lagoon so swimming will be easy, they also have pools.

There is a good spot for swimming on the mainland across from Hideaway, at the Beach Bar. No entry fee there and a nice spot for a cold drink. The bus fare to this area should only be around 300vt pp each way and there are normally lots of buses because of people heading to Hideaway.

Normally I would have purchased the 7 day package, but not on this cruise. I used my free D+ internet minutes and didn't have any problems.

 

The reason not to get the package? Your cell phone will connect with USA land cell towers for a large part of the cruise. If I had photos, I just transferred them to my cell phone. Now that AT&T lets me use my phone as a wireless hot spot it will be that much easier.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Sadly I don't have a US phone :( As an Australian that lives in Vanuatu, our phones don't even have the option to roam.

Good to know that the ships internet will work :)

I always get an internet package while cruising, to keep in contact with family and to update my travel blogs.

I know reception may be patchy on an Alaskan cruise. Can anyone tell me of their actual experience?

Thank you for that. I wonder if you could help me...we have $20 aud each, ( for noemea as well! But I hear there is a free bus and a hop on bus, so will use them) so $40. Yes, we shouldn't be cruising, but there you go! What would you do with that $40. ?

You don't need much money to enjoy being in Vila, town is an easy walk from the wharf and local buses are cheap if you are not leaving the greater town area (150vt pp). I would exchange the money for vatu though. Goodies do the best rate and charge no fees. Yes, people here accept AUD but the exchange may not be as good.

When we travel somewhere new our first priority is to try the local food and drink. You can buy a cold Tusker (our local beer) from the grocery stores for about 220vt (about $2.50) and if the markets are open some stall holders sell banana, manioc or sweet potato chips or if you are brave, a serve of hot tulluck (yummy meat filled manioc cake) or laplap. Grab a seat along the waterfront and enjoy the view while you eat and drink!

Check out which resorts are open, most have a policy that you can spend the day and use the facilities as long as you buy a meal or a drink.

There is a handicraft market near the wharf that sells locally made goods. You can walk from there to the ship after you have finished browsing.

Hope this has helped!

When I was there 2 years ago they were slammed by an earthquake an hour after we left.

We were? Strangely I have no recollection of that at all and I was definitely living here at that time.

We were so disappointed when the Radiance visit was cancelled at the last minute. Looking forward to seeing all the visitors on Wednesday when Pacific Dawn docks :)

Mystery Island is a port on the cruise I'm doing in September on Holland. Do you think they will skip this port and replace it with a different one?

The wharf at Mystery Island has been damaged before and the locals were quite quick to have it repaired. I would think it would be fixed by the time your cruise arrives in September. Mystery Island is one of my favourites for snorkelling.

Do you have to pay to go on to hideaway island?

Yes you do. When you arrive on the island you pay an entry fee, last time I checked it was $15.

Bellamariya, thanks so much for the report of how things are looking over there! Do you work there?

Yes we live here and own a business. We, along with many locals are shaking our heads and wondering why this stop was cancelled, we are ready and waiting!

Bellamariya owns the La Tentation restaurant on the Port Vila waterfront ....she doesn't promote it on these boards,but I can confirm it's one the best restaurants in Port Vila.

 

We visited the restaurant twice on a land vacation at the Le Lagon resort.

Thanks for your lovely compliment aussie cruzer :)

Nevermind, I found the article on the Vanuatu Daily Post website. ;) Very exciting! I can't wait to get over there and do what I can to support those beautiful people. Thanks for posting and letting us know.

 

Here is the link if anyone else is interested in reading the article: http://www.dailypost.vu/news/article_a918e3be-ddb7-51da-81c4-fb6c2563d634.html

Thanks for posting the link, good news should definitely be shared :)

Hopefully we will be there next Saturday, if the Radiance docks.

They are saying no change to our itinerary, so we may be one of the first ships back:) If so,plan on spending our day eating, drinking and shopping at the local businesses.

 

Chez

Front page of today's paper confirms Radiance passengers will be disembarking on the 4th! Woohoo! See you all here :)