Live from the Radiance of the Seas Last NB cruise

Then we headed for the Granville island via False Creek Ferry.

They have vendors each day. But, Thursday is a special market day on the island. It is a fun place to browse and sample the produce and baked goods at the various boths.

We had lunch while we were there.

They had a number of artisan booths. It was a little pricey for me. (a pottery bowl for $350)

Our next stop was Gastown. It was the original site of Vancouer.

Today it is a trendy and quaint area of restaurants, shops and museums.

Here we are with "Gassey Smith."

Our final picture for tonight is the gas clock. I jusr missed getting a picture of the steam coming out when it chimed.

Today is the day!

Bon Voyage! Wishing you a wonderful cruise, lots of blue skies and sun!

I have still not adjusted to Pacific time--so, another early morning! Today that was OK. The Hampton Inn has a free shuttle that will take us to the pier. However, they do not take reservations until 7am (first come first served). So, I was first in line. :)

The Vancouver Public Library main branch is 3 blocks away. So, I walked up there this morning. 6 blocks doesn't really qualify for my exercise resolution. But, it is better than nothing.

Most of Vancouver is very modern. Many of their heritage buildings are less than 100 years old. However, they have a odd mix in a couple of places. The library is one of these. It is done to resemble Roman architecture.

Complete with the plaza of pigeons. ( I am sure they were not part of the design.)

Somehow it seems out of place among all of the skyscrapers.

On the next street is wall art (made completely of dots) designed to look like medieval art.

Notice how all of the buildings have trees and green space on the roofs.

We are off to Canada Place to board the ship in a couple of hours. I will not post again until we get to Ketchikan on Sunday--since I will not have internet on the ship. Talk to you soon!

Hey Dragon! Bumping this back up for you!

Hope things are going well so far and that you're having a fabulous time! Looking forward to hearing from you sometime today.

Your pictures are wonderful! Hope you enjoy your cruise and can't wait to hear more about your adventures.

Barb

August 31, 2012 –Boarding the Radiance of the Seas—We had made arrangements with our hotel for a complimentary transfer to the cruise terminal at Canada Place.

We left the hotel just before 10:30am. The cruise documents said the Radiance would begin boarding at 1:30pm—but, past CC pax told us to get there early. (What great advice!) We were through immigration/customs and the cruise registration process in less than ½ hour. At 11:15 they began letting us on the ship. The rooms would not be ready until1pm, but, the Windjammer and the Park Café were open for lunch. We toured around the ship for awhile. (VERY nice) We have never sailed this class of ship before. The many venues with floor to ceiling windows are made for Alaska viewing.

We decided to try the Windjammer and were not disappointed. It was planned for maximum efficiency. The food was good (Honey Stung Chicken anyone?). I especially found the beverage center worked well. It is a large bar in the center of the Windjammer where staff members continuously dispense beverages. It is much quicker than the old self serve beverage stations. I have a soda card and found this very easy to use.

After lunch our rooms were ready. (no luggage, bummer!) It was such a beautiful day in Vancouver that we had packed bathing suits in our carry-on bag (74 and sunny). We changed and headed to the pool. I gave it a try. Ahhh! It was a well heated salt water pool and several of us took a dip. When most people walked by they thought we were crazy!

We changed and got ready for the muster drill. I thought it was unusually long. Our muster station was on deck 5 near the gangway. We noticed a large number of pax still boarding while the drill was ongoing. I wondered if they were delaying the completion of the drill to say these people were onboard for the drill. There must have been a delayed flight booked through the cruise line. If it was one of the rest of us—forget about it!

They had a nice sail away party on deck 11 by the pool. The music was good and the ship’s dancers got the party started. We watched from deck 12 so we could see the sea planes take off and land.

We are sorry now that we have not booked one of those. We plan to see if we can do this in Anchorage. We found our friends in the Viking Crown Lounge and we joined them for a snack and an adult beverage as we watched Radiance sail under the Lion’s Gate Bridge and pass the lighthouse.

We had late dinner seating at a nice table for 8 by the window. Unfortunately there were only 4 of us at the table. We noticed a number of empty seats. We hope our tablemates come to dinner tomorrow.

We discovered the Colony Club after dinner. It had a very British feel to it with lots of dark wood and a nautical theme. The rear of the club had a window wall that curved above you. I told my DH that this was my aft balcony.

After a few dances we called it a night.

September 1, 2012 – Sea Day: We are finally adjusting to the time change. Did I mention we are gaining another hour tonight? Alaska is 4 hours behind the east coast.

We did not do very much today. It is too cool for me to get in the pool. But, that did not stop others from using it. One thing about an Alaskan cruise—there are no chair hogs in sight.

My friend and I attended the shopping briefing (not special) and the lecture on Ketchikan. About 50 people got up and left during the lecture—while I thought that was rude, I felt their pain.

We had a very nice Meet and Mingle in the Quill and Compass; another British themed venue. (42 CC members attend)

Tonight is formal night. I know one of the most asked questions is regarding dress for formal night. People were dressed more than I thoughht. I saw a number of tuxedos and gowns. Most men had on suitsd/sportcoats and ties. (Some dress shirts with no tie) Women had little black dresses or black pants and shiny tops. (black was the theme for the night.)

Here are a couple of pictures of the ship centrum. Pictures are taking a long time to load--so, I will do them in stages--more later!

These pictures do not do this ship justice.

Looking down from the 8th floor where our cabin is:

Loving your review, thanks for taking the time out of your vacation to post. I know how frustrating it is to load the pictures. Are you reducing the file size of the pictures? I sometimes do that here on CC, especially when downloading on the ship and it helps on the time it takes to get them loaded.

Bill

Dragon...Happy to hear that you are aboard and settled in your home away from home. Love your pictures! I know that posting them is new to you but you surely have some practice taking them behind you. They are beautiful. I liked the ones of the NeoRoman building and all the flowers. Nice to see you in the pool on embarkation day.;) Glad you got some use out of it. I like the use of purple in the centrum of the ship. Sorry that you have vacancies at your dinner table. Wish I was there to help fill it up.:D Keep the reports coming!

From your home state, wishing you a wonderful cruise.

You pictures are delightful and your commentary excellent.

I am just so enjoying your pictures and commentaries. The way you comment makes me feel as though I am taking part in the cruise with you both. I was thrilled to see you in the pool which is one of my favorite place to be on the ship and I would have probably done the same thing if I were there and been in the pool with you:D. Thanks for sharing!

We are so enjoying your review and happy to be along for the ride on this beautiful ship. It will be hard to wait for the next installment.

Have a wonderful vacation.

Dragon...Happy to hear that you are aboard and settled in your home away from home. Love your pictures! I know that posting them is new to you but you surely have some practice taking them behind you. They are beautiful. I liked the ones of the NeoRoman building and all the flowers. Nice to see you in the pool on embarkation day.;) Glad you got some use out of it. I like the use of purple in the centrum of the ship. Sorry that you have vacancies at your dinner table. Wish I was there to help fill it up.:D Keep the reports coming!

Delta--I wish you were here, too.

Our table mates did come to dinner last night. I forgot to mention that. (sorry) They are a family of 4. (Mom, Dad and 2 twenty-something children.) We look forward to getting to know them better.

Loving your review, thanks for taking the time out of your vacation to post. I know how frustrating it is to load the pictures. Are you reducing the file size of the pictures? I sometimes do that here on CC, especially when downloading on the ship and it helps on the time it takes to get them loaded.

Bill

I am using the smaller size of the pics--but, you know how slow uploading is on a ship. :eek:

This will be a quick post from Ketchikan to get started. I will post more after I have uploaded more pictures.

Ketchikan is a very small town. It is built into the side of the mountains around it.

Today there were three ships in port. Celebrity Infinity, a Carnival I do not know the name of and the Radiance of the Seas. We got here at 7 am, but we did not get off until a little before 9. The city bus was running on a Sunday schedule. We spent our morning at Totem Bight State Park and Potlatch Park. These are about 10 miles outside of town, so we rode the city bus ($1 each way; $.50 for seniors). The bus runs every hour.

You pick up the bus next to the eagle. You can see how close it is to the ship.

This state park started as a depression era CCC project to preserve abandoned Totem poles from various Alaska villages. Artisans duplicated and repaired totem poles and built a clan house before they turned it over to Alaska to operate. It is a beautiful waterfront location and we enjoyed touring on our own. It can get crowded when tour buses arrive.

This is the clan house:

This is a clan house from Potlatch Park.

Dragon

Thank you for the post. We are doing the southbound sailing on Radiance next Summer with 40 of my closest friends and family. Love the pictures. It is making me more excited about the trip and it is 10 months away. One question, is the elevator to the Viking Crwn Lounge, forward, Aft or mid ship? I heard there was only one elevator that gets you there. Any idea on this?

Enjoying it so far. Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us.

Sheila

Thank you so much for the time and effort you are putting into this review. Seeing pics again of Ketchikan made me realise just how much I miss Alaska. I HAVE to go back!!

Dragon

 

Thank you for the post. We are doing the southbound sailing on Radiance next Summer with 40 of my closest friends and family. Love the pictures. It is making me more excited about the trip and it is 10 months away. One question, is the elevator to the Viking Crwn Lounge, forward, Aft or mid ship? I heard there was only one elevator that gets you there. Any idea on this?

I am glad you are enjoying it. The Viking Crown Lounge is now the StarQuest. I am not sure why the name change --since it is the Viking Crown on all of their ships. The elevators that go up to 13 are to one side of the Centrum.

I want to follow your adventures! We are doing our first Alaskan cruise next August! We are doing Southbound.

Ketchikan--continued from the previous posting:

The Totem poles were pretty spectacular. We saw one that my DH thinks was 150 feet. We hate the cedar trees that grow in our yard at home. (It seems there is always one falling on our driveway each winter in the snow.) But, we have a new found appreciation for cedar after seeing these totem poles made of red and yellow cedar.

For a self guided tour/description of the totem poles at Totem Bight Park click here: http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/totempol.htm

It is hard to do them justice with a picture.

I bought an Alaskan made Ulu knife at the gift shop in Potlatch Park.

It has a beautifully carved handle in the shape of a fish. (The Radiance staff collects your knives as you board. They label and store them for the duration of the cruise. ) In the interest of full disclosure, buying my Ulu caused me to narrowly miss the 11:10am bus back to town. The DH had already boarded the bus—but, got off to wait for the next bus with me. (a true pal)

As we waited we talked to an Alaska park volunteer. Totem Bight Park gives them a place to park their RV and $10/day in exchange for her work as a naturlist. They are heading back to Oregon next week.

The inside of the Clan hHouse at Potlatch Park:

I will finish in another posting. Cruise Critic will only allow a few pictures in each posting.

I want to follow your adventures! We are doing our first Alaskan cruise next August! We are doing Southbound.

You will love it. It is different from any cruise we have ever taken. (in a good way!)

Back in town we did some shopping on the pier and Creek Street.

Ketchikan may be the Salmon Capital of the world –but, it is also the shopping capital of Alaska. The Tongass Trading Company, which sells everything from touristy trinkets to high quality outdoor goods, had 3 stores within 2 city blocks. There were sales going on in many stores as the Alaska season is quickly coming to an end.

After eating several samples of smoked salmon as we shopped (almost like shopping at Costco!), we stopped and ate Salmon balls and fish chowder at a Creek Street pub. After a stop along the bridge to watch the salmon we boarded the ship to end our port day.

This one looked to be about 24 inches.

PS—We had a partly sunny day with temps in the high 50s. That is a bargain. Ketchikan gets around 12 feet of rain each year. Cross your fingers for tomorrow.

Enjoying your pictures and a great review.

Dragon

 

Thank you for the post. We are doing the southbound sailing on Radiance next Summer with 40 of my closest friends and family. Love the pictures. It is making me more excited about the trip and it is 10 months away. One question, is the elevator to the Viking Crwn Lounge, forward, Aft or mid ship? I heard there was only one elevator that gets you there. Any idea on this?

Which sailing are you on next summer? We are on the July 19th southbound trip. We onlyhave 6 so far - but the number seems to grow by the day.