June 2nd 2017 - Radiance 7 night Northbound Alaska Cruise Review!

Hello all and welcome to my review of our northbound Alaskan cruise on Radiance of the Seas. This will by my first review with pictures so it might take me a bit to get everything up, but I wanted to get this going before the next northbound cruise heads out.

A bit of background - I planned this trip back in April '16 before my wife and I tied the knot in June '16. My plan (which worked out beautifully) was that this trip was a Christmas present, an Anniversary present, and a Birthday present for my wife. I might have gone over our budget for Christmas but I think she was ok with it. :D

Our planned itinerary:

Monday May 29th - fly into Seattle to spend a few days with the wife's friends.

Thursday June 1st - Amtrak to Vancouver

Friday the 2nd - Board the Ship

3rd - Sea Day

4th - Ketchikan

5th - Icy Strait

6th - Juneau

7th - Skagway

8th - Hubbard Glacier

9th - Debark in Seward / take Alaska Railroad to Anchorage

10th - Rent car and drive to Denali

11th - Shuttle bus tour of Denali

12th - Drive back to Anchorage

13th (really early) - fly home

Monday May 29 - Leaving Home

We woke up at 3:45am and even though I was excited, it was just too early. We went through our pre-cruise checklist, got organized pretty quickly, and headed out to sit on our front porch to wait for an Uber we ordered the night before. Our Uber came in a timely manner and we went through airport security without issues. We do have TSA Pre-check and while this early in the morning the lines are super short, it's nice not having to take out liquids or take off shoes.

On our first leg to Denver, I noticed a coworker who was doing an internship in Denver on the flight with us. Once we landed, we waited at the gate to say hi as our next flight's gate was just on the opposite wall from where we deboarded. We had a few minutes to stretch before we had to line up for the next flight. Our second leg to Seattle was a bit nicer as we got the emergency exit row with the extra leg room. As we were approaching the airport, we had to wait for clearance so our pilot did a loop near Mount Rainier so the entire plane could get a look.

Mt Rainier:

Once we landed in Seattle just after 10:20am local time (3 hour difference) we headed to the Google Fi Travel Trolley. For those with Google Fi service, you can get a free item out of the giant kiosk of goodies. It took a bit of work lining up my phone's NFC chip with their reader but I was able to get a USB-C cable for free. If you do not have Google Fi service, you can answer trivia questions to get an item, but the questions are hard and it is timed. My wife tried the trivia game to win some playing cards but the population questions were out of our sphere of knowledge.

Travel Trolley:

From there we grabbed our checked bag and walked to the Link rail station. The path is fairly well marked and mid-morning there are plenty people going the same way. There was a very nice Sheriff's Deputy that was walking people through buying passes from the self serve kiosk. We bought cards for $5 and put another $10 in fares on each. We then boarded the rail, met some nice people from northern Ohio, and hopped off at the Westlake station. We were going to take the Streetcar closer to our hotel, but we just walked it instead. It wasn't a bad walk in general but with luggage it was a bit of a chore. We would end up walking the same route a couple more times without luggage and it was fairly easy.

Once checked on at the Holiday Inn Express Downtown and made reservations for a car to the train station on Thursday, we were free of our luggage and able to freshen up. They gave us an amazing room on the 6th floor with vaulted ceilings that has a great view of the Space Needle.

The view from our room:

We were now getting hungry and also wanted to stop by the REI flagship store. We walked over to Lunchbox Laboratory and had some great burgers and Mac'n'Cheese fries. From there, it was time for REI.

The entrance to Seattle's REI flagship store (doors are just up and to the left):

The Seattle REI is massive compared to anything in Ohio. They carry so many more products and so many more sizes than other stores. The thing that made this day crazy is it was the last day of REI's anniversary sale. The store was packed with shoppers but even so it didn't seem too crowded and the checkout line moved fairly quickly. My wife was a "kid in a candy store".

From there it was back to the hotel to drop our purchases off and get ready to meet friends for dinner. First we headed back to Westlake center to check out Seattle Nordstrom Rack. We didn't find anything great, so we hiked to our bus stop to head North.

We walked a few blocks from the shopping area to get to the bus stop and quickly got to our friends’ place and met their new baby. After a few quick hellos, we all were off to dinner at ZapVerr, a Thai restaurant; the food was very good. After dinner, we walked past our friend’s Google building, the Theo chocolate factory, and then back to their home.

We were fading fast so we headed out, grabbed an express bus back downtown, and got ready for bed the moment we got into our room. By the time this section of notes is done, it is 9:00pm local time or just after midnight for us. At least tomorrow, no time changes will come into effect.

Tuesday May 30 - Seattle

(times in PST)

Woke up at 4:00am (stupid jet lag), registered our Orca transit cards so we could add value to them if needed, and updated yesterday's notes. We went down to breakfast at 7:00am and then headed for the Pike Street Public Market. Along the way, we did find one of the Amazon Banana Stands but they hadn’t yet been stocked for the day.

Amazon Banana Stand:

Public Market:

When we arrived at the market, if we hadn't eaten a big breakfast, I was going to buy a sticky bun that looked and smelled like my mom used to make. Most shops were still prepping for the day so we just wandered around until we stumbled on the First Starbucks Store where we got a coffee (and I had a sip to say I had coffee from the First Starbucks Store).

We then decided to head up to the Pacific Science Center. We had to wait a few minutes before they opened at 10:00am. It was a nice place but a smaller than what we are used to with having COSI in Columbus.

Pacific Science Center:

Tuesday cont.

We then headed to the Space Needle for our brunch reservations at Sky City and got in at 11:30am. The food was excellent as well as the view. We had a waffle as the appetizer, prime rib for our entrees, and we shared each other's strawberry and rhubarb crumble and strawberries and cream for dessert. We counted 16 high rise cranes and as we found out the day before, Seattle is building so quickly that there are not enough cranes for all the building projects. A quick trip up to the observation deck to get a couple pictures, and then back down to the ground.

We were planning to go through the Chihuly exhibit but saw the early bird prices would save us $20, so we decided to do that tomorrow and we went to the MoPop museum instead. They currently have a Jim Henson exhibit which was amazing and brought back many childhood memories. On top of that, their exhibits were very engaging and was very fun to see a lot of modern cultural history pieces. I know different museums interest different people, and I found this one fascinating.

It was now 4:30pm and we were starting to lose steam so we headed back to the hotel with a quick detour at Walgreens for a soda.

My wife wanted to go to the Kavu store which happened to be back near the Market, so we hiked over and did find a bag for her and a short sleeve button up shirt for me (and being that it is red and gray, it will fit well with my OSU apparel). We walked back down the Market but everything was now closed for the evening (6:45pm). Note for the future - the best times for the market are after 10am and before 5pm. We did stop at Beecher's handmade cheese and had a really awesome grilled cheese sandwich and a fantastic cup of mac'n'cheese for dinner.

From there, it was a hike to return a shirt at REI that we forgot the day before. Then another shorter hike to the hotel where we finally had a chance to get off our feet. We were able to get to bed just about 9:00pm and had walked over 10 miles in the day.

Wednesday May 31 - Friends

Woke up a bit before 6:00am, slowly got ready, and headed down to breakfast. At 8:00am we walked over to the Chihuly Glass and Garden exhibit and arrived 15 minutes before they opened at 8:30am. It was a very nice exhibit and because we were there so early, it was like having a private showing. The other side of that is that because there was nobody else there, we got through the entire thing in about 30 minutes.

From there we walked a bit to a QFC grocery to add value to our Orca transit cards as we could use cash in person and could add smaller amounts. Then we hiked a few streets and hopped on a bus to meet our friends for brunch. We ate at Roxy's Diner which had good food, and then it was a day of seeing the sights in Fremont.

We walked over to check out tour details of Theo Chocolate, walked over to see the Fremont Troll under the bridge, walked back to Theo and started our tour. We learned the process of how they make their chocolate, saw all the machines, and sampled quite a lot of chocolate. I found out that I prefer the 70% plain dark chocolate.

Fremont Troll:

Afterwards we went walking along the waterway, stopped for a quick refreshment, then headed over to the Gasworks park. We saw a few pontoon boats land and take off.

Gasworks park:

We then headed back towards Fremont where we said our goodbyes and hopped on a bus back to our hotel. We got back just about 4:00pm.

Around 5:30pm we went out to Serious Pie but stopped by Dahlia Bakery and picked up dessert for later. One pizza at Serious Pie was enough for both of us. We walked back with a quick stop at CVS for cough drops and lactaid for our next two weeks.

Thursday June 1 - Vancouver

Woke up at 5:30am, ate breakfast, grabbed our stuff, and headed to the lobby to catch our ride to the train station. Our town car arrived just before 7:00am and we got to the Amtrak station around 7:15am. Check In was fairly smooth and we got nice legroom seats at the front of car 6 facing a pair of unoccupied seats. We left the station right at 7:45am and I have been surprised at how well they keep their schedule.

Then just before pulling into Mount Vernon at 9:25am, we were notified that there was a "trespasser" situation with the South bound 513 train that was North of us. We stopped at Mount Vernon and were told they didn't have an estimate yet on when we would restart but could be anywhere between 30 minutes and 4 hours. In total we ended up waiting 1 hour and 40 minutes but we did get a complimentary snack and a bottle of water. Most of this time the couple sitting next to us were in panic mode trying to come up with a backup plan - apparently they were flying out of Vancouver for an overseas trip and didn't have much wiggle room. I think it all worked out but it reinforced my belief to arrive a day before your next mode of transportation.

From there the ride was smooth, we pulled into the Vancouver station right around 1:45pm, two hours after our scheduled arrival time. We took the SkyTrain just a couple stops and walked four blocks to the Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel. The hotel is in a decent area and is fairly close to the port. The room was quite nice and had floor to ceiling windows. After check in and dropping off our bags, we walked out to the water at the convention center, watched a couple pontoon planes take off and land, then headed to lunch/dinner. We decided on Steamworks Brewing and they had generous burger and sandwich portions.

We walked a bit after, heard then saw the steam powered clock…

...and then walked around the Canada Place center where we will be boarding tomorrow. After watching a few more pontoon planes, we headed back to the hotel to rest our legs. Turned out we were more tired than we thought so we called it a night around 8:00pm.

Friday June 2 - Boarding

We woke up early, packed our bags, and headed out to breakfast. We had some extra time and decided to walk along the waterfront and check out our ship. We arrived at Canada Place right at 7:00am and the Radiance was pulling into port at that same moment. We grabbed a few pictures and then continued on our journey to Cafe Medina for breakfast.

Cafe Medina:

After killing a bit more time, we were within the first few people to be seated and it filled up quickly. We each got a waffle with a different sauce and split a Wolves Breakfast. In retrospect, we would have been happier getting more waffles and skipping the tray-o-meat. The waffles were outstanding by themselves and the sauces added just a bit extra.

After breakfast, we decided to walk to Granville Island and check out the market.

Looking at the map, it looks so close - we didn't realize that it would be a hike over a large bridge and then backtrack to get down to the market. The Market was a great spot to wander, had lots of fresh produce, great bakeries, and some neat art stalls. We ended up buying a sticky bun and a donut - different vendors but both were great.

Then as our time was beginning to get tight, we walked back over the bridge and to the hotel. The walk took about 30 minutes but and even though it's 10+ stories in the air, the path to get up and over the bridge is gradual so you don't notice it until you are looking down on the buildings you were just visiting. Even not being afraid of heights myself, this walk is not for the faint of heart. We did hear afterwards that there is possibly a ferry over to the island, but we did not look into any further as we were already back.

We grabbed our luggage, checked out of the hotel, and walked back over to Canada Place to board our cruise. The setup is a bit odd that you go downstairs to drop off luggage, upstairs to check in, downstairs to go through customs, and then upstairs to board the ship. They make it work but is a maze of a process. But even with all that, we entered the terminal at 11:45am and we were sitting in the Windjammer with lunch at 12:45pm.

Hump Balcony 7600:

Our rooms were ready at 1:00pm, and we went up to a quick meetup with some members of our roll call in the Viking Crown at 2:00pm. We chatted for awhile and then headed out to get ready for muster. We were assigned X01 which is in the hallway before you enter the Schooner Bar - very odd place to gather people and generally a wasted space on the ship. A note if your muster station is here - this space gets warm and air doesn't flow easily. There are air vents along the wall with paintings, but we were three feet to one side and didn't get any of the nice cool fresh air. Pick your spot carefully if you need to wait in this area.

After muster, we then went up on deck to sit in the sun and watch us pull out of port and under the Lions Gate bridge.

We then headed to our cabin at about 5:30pm and our luggage was waiting for us. A quick unpacking and then changing and it was off to dinner at 6:30pm. We had a nice meal, ate too much, and were done at 8:00pm. We checked out the shops, walked outside to look at the sights and quickly realized the temperature had dropped in the short time we had been moving. We went back to our cabin to rest a bit before planning to go to the comedian show.

The comedian was decently funny, but afterwards we were tired enough that we went back to our cabin to pass out for the night.

Saturday June 3 - Sea day

We got got up enough at 7:00am to go to breakfast, watch some scenery pass by. While we were doing so we saw a pilot boat approach and pulled up to our ship to drop somebody off. We then headed off to listen to a talk by a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. He gave us the background on how the RCMP evolved over time.

Then it was off to our Meet & Mingle. We mostly chatted with the people we met the day before and didn't win any prizes. We walked a bit, checked out the sales, saw some Alaska stuff that will be cheaper tomorrow, and then it was time for lunch in the Windjammer / Boardwalk Dog House.

Today is light on pictures, but I did take this one of our balcony:

After lunch we headed back to the room to rest a bit before the sexy lumberjack contest. The contest was six older gentlemen doing odd dances for a hat and a towel; it was slightly humorous. Around 3pm we wandered around the ship, played checkers, and generally killed time until dinner. Tonight was formal night but we went smart casual without any problem. We then watched a bit of the Captain's welcome speech before heading to the casino.

I played a bit of craps while my wife played the slots and I was up a couple dollars in very little time. Then we changed for the pool and headed for the Solarium. The pool was cool but comfortable and we hopped in the hot tub as well. Then back to the room to rinse off, back up to the pool deck to check towels back in, grab a snack from the Park Cafe, and off to bed.

Sunday June 4 - Ketchikan

(times in Alaskan time zone)

I woke up around 5:00am and checked our position on my offline GPS map app - we were getting close to Ketchikan. I took a bunch of pictures of us pulling into port and then a couple pictures of the Celebrity ship pulling in behind us as we turned around. We got up to the Windjammer just before it opened, as we were eating we saw a bald eagle fly by the ship (maybe 30 feet away), then headed back to our cabin to get outfitted for the day. The rain was not quite heavy but it was constant and with the high around 55 today, it was going to be bad if we didn't stay dry.

I wore a pair of travel pants with a pair of rain pants over them with a light down jacket and a rain jacket over that. I was dry the entire day but at times I did have to finagle my backpack under my raincoat.

We disembarked just after 7:00am but our rental wasn't supposed to be ready until 8:00am, so we wandered through a couple close shops. The guy from First City Car Rental pulled up and called my cell phone while we were waiting under the pavilion. We ended up with a Jeep Compass and it was already waiting for us a berth 4 (the guy just brought the keys). Once the iPad forms were filled out, we were on our way.

We headed North to Totem Bight State Park and the rain kept coming. The drive took about 20 minutes and there was minor construction immediately before the park. Once there, we walked around and took photos and explored the sights. We probably spent just under a half hour there.

We hopped back in our car and drove back south through town to Saxman Totem Village. We paid our $5 each and wandered around. It was a nice place but felt more built rather than natural like Totem Bight. If I had to pick one or the other, Totem Bight would be my choice.

Then it was time to explore town. We found a parking lot just in front of Creek Street that had 2 hour parking Mon-Fri (we were lucky it was Sunday). We walked up Creek Street and checked out the shops, walked back through the main part of town, stopped at KetchiCandies for a quick treat, and then rummaged through the Tongass shops. They have four stores in total and most sold the exact same tourist stuff except one had an upstairs section that was a real outdoor outfitter.

We then walked over to Burger Queen to grab a much talked about burger only to find out they are closed on Sundays. So then it was back to the Creek Street to pick up the car and drop it back off at the berth 4 pavilion.

We waited in the rain to board the ship, found our room attendant cleaning our room when we got back, and so we headed to the Windjammer for lunch. After refueling, we went back to cabin to finish drying out and rest for a bit. After an hour nap, we headed to the Solarium to watch for runners and for us to pull out of port.

No runners and we de-docked smoothly and for a while a Celebrity ship was sailing next to us. We then went to our room to change for an early dinner. After dinner was Royal's top tier event. It wasn't anything special, but they gave out free drinks. Then we walked through the casino where I broke even, then continued on to the impressionist show with Jonathan Clark. I don't know if it was because we were sitting off to the side and the sound wasn't as good there, but his impressions were just ok. He was still funny and entertaining and even without his impersonations he has a good voice.

Then it was off to the centrum for 70s night. It was the standard Royal 70s night which we have seen a few times previously and as we were getting tired, we headed back to the room for bed.

Monday June 5 - Icy Strait

Woke up at 5:00am and finished notes from the previous day. We got up and headed to breakfast at the Windjammer and it began to feel like there was no variety in food choices. After eating, we got our gear together and headed to deck 5 to watch is pull into the dock at Icy Strait. At this point we noticed a pair of Bald Eagles sitting in a tree near the dock.

We grabbed a few things we forgot from the room and headed out. The dock was nice and modern with wide bridges with an easy walk to the Adventure Center. We walked through the center and out the doors on the opposite side to a path that led us to our independent tour operator. We had booked a whale watching excursion with Misty Bay Lodge who contracts with Alaska Galore Tours.

We met up with Peter and Captain Dan who took us out on the ship "The Island" with about 12 of our newest friends. A quick safety briefing was given and then we were told to shout if we saw whale plumes. We did see a couple, but there was news of a much better bunch up ahead - and yes there were. We saw a group of about 8 to 10 bubble netting - one whale would grab air, dive down, and then blow out all the air and all the food would travel up with the bubbles. Then all the whales gather together and eat everything in the bubble "net".

At one point Captain Dan turned off the engine in one spot just to cut the noise. What we didn't know is that just seconds later we were the chosen path the whales decided to take. The group of them came right towards us and got about 30 feet from the boat and then swam under us.

Yes, that is a black baseball cap in the bottom right corner of another one of the passengers on our boat.

Monday cont.

After following the pod around for a while (and watching the Sea Lions that followed the whales as well)

we headed over to a spot where Puffins were hanging out. We got some nice pictures of them before we headed back for the day.

Once off the boat, we started walking back to the port and stopped in Icy Strait Brewing on the way. My wife had a nice beer that she liked and bought a pint glass.

After about a 30 minute walk, we made it back to the shops at the port where we picked out a christmas ornament and had it personalized and shipped home. We got back on ship for lunch just before 3pm and ended up eating too much. We went back to the room to rest and backup the massive amount of pictures we took from the day.

We then went to dinner, had the "Happy Anniversary" song sung to us, went back to room to rest, got up to watch the Quest, swung by the casino to lose a few bucks, and then off to bed.

Very interesting account of your travel. Enjoying the photos too. Following along.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review! I'm enjoying it and can't wait for our own adventure to start in August.

Hello all and welcome to my review of our northbound Alaskan cruise on Radiance of the Seas. This will by my first review with pictures so it might take me a bit to get everything up, but I wanted to get this going before the next northbound cruise heads out.

 

A bit of background - I planned this trip back in April '16 before my wife and I tied the knot in June '16. My plan (which worked out beautifully) was that this trip was a Christmas present, an Anniversary present, and a Birthday present for my wife. I might have gone over our budget for Christmas but I think she was ok with it. :D

 

Our planned itinerary:

Monday May 29th - fly into Seattle to spend a few days with the wife's friends.

Thursday June 1st - Amtrak to Vancouver

Friday the 2nd - Board the Ship

3rd - Sea Day

4th - Ketchikan

5th - Icy Strait

6th - Juneau

7th - Skagway

8th - Hubbard Glacier

9th - Debark in Seward / take Alaska Railroad to Anchorage

10th - Rent car and drive to Denali

11th - Shuttle bus tour of Denali

12th - Drive back to Anchorage

13th (really early) - fly home

Great review, have read all thru icy straight, looking forward to the rest of your review.

Such a brilliant review so far, thank you for taking the time to share what you did and your great photos.

Thanks everybody. I try to take my notes each evening of the trip otherwise I think I will forget details. Now as I'm looking through pictures, I remember a few things that I left out of my notes.

Tuesday June 6 - Juneau

Woke up about 6:00am and watched us pull into port from our balcony. We ate a quick breakfast and were off the ship and walking to our rental car by 7:30am.

You can tell which balcony is ours:

Just after 8:00am we arrived at Juneau Car Rental. It is a small place at the southern most dock but it is a fairly easy walk.

We started driving North through town and then on to Mendenhall Glacier. Town is a bit crowded due to the cruise ship people, but once through it is like any small city. On our drive we saw a bunch of Bald Eagles sitting on street light poles and my wife saw about 10 off to the right near a creek. We parked in the small lot, paid our $5 per person at the automated kiosk in the parking lot (which I don't think everyone does, but should), and began our hike. We walked along a couple of small paths and then hiked out to Nugget Falls. The scenery was amazing and we spent a good hour just taking it all in.

On the way back we walked along the water where the views are never ending, stopped inside the visitor center for a quick peek, and then we were off to Eagle Beach.

Eagle Beach is another 15 minutes North of Mendenhall and has great views of snow capped mountains across water. There are a couple short walking paths, but nothing too extravagant. While we didn't see any eagles there, the view of the mountains was outstanding.

We then headed back in the direction of town with a quick stop at the Shrine of Saint Terease. It was an ok stop, but not anything worth going out of your way for.

However we did see this birdie flying around:

Then it was back towards town again with minor stops at Costco, a gas station, and then through town to drop off the car at 1:30pm. We walked back past some shops, got back on our ship, dropped our gear off at our room, and headed to lunch. After a quick bite and a change of shoes, we got back off the ship and wandered through the shops around the port. Unfortunately it is all the same touristy junk you can find anywhere, but we did stop by a crepe stand and got a very tasty Cinnamon Roll Crepe.

Then it was back on the ship at about 4:30pm to rest up before dinner. We did not end up with exciting options for the evening, so after dinner we called it a night.

Wednesday June 7 - Skagway

We woke up at 5:30am to get ready for breakfast in the Windjammer at 6:00am. We ate fairly quickly, went back to the room to equip ourselves for what we thought was going to be a rainy and cold day, and headed out. The gangway was to be at deck 2 forward, so we walked down to deck 5 to walk along the outside of the ship. As we were heading forward, there was a gangway on deck 5 that was even with the pier. The gentleman asked us if we were going ashore, radioed in to check if the ship was cleared, and as he was given the all clear, we were the first to walk right off.

It was a bit confusing to find our tour as it was just past the security checkpoint at the end of the pier. We had booked the White Pass train and Bike excursion (make sure you have your Passport) - we loaded into vans at the dock to take us to the train. The White Pass Train is a must do at least once and has beautiful views as long as you sit on the left going up the mountain.

After many pictures, we arrived in Fraser, Canada where we hopped on vans with bikes to take us just across the border back into the US.

Just across the real border, we got our bikes with suspension and disc brakes and after a quick mandatory safety speech, we were on our way. Almost the entire ride is downhill and we were holding the brakes most of the way. We stopped a few times on the way down, watched a blasting operation that will be widening a bridge, took lots of pictures, passed through US Customs, and had a great time. I kinda wished we had a GoPro to film the bike ride, but I think it was better taking it all in with your own eyes.

We arrived back in Skagway, dropped off the bikes, and shed a few layers of clothes as it was now almost 70 degrees. We wandered around town, checked out a few stores, ate lunch at the Red Onion Saloon,

and then headed back to the ship at about 3:00pm.

When we got there, the ship had noticeably risen with the tide and deck 3 was now about even with the pier. We walked down the ramp, boarded on deck 2, dropped off our stuff in the cabin, and had a relaxing evening with dinner and an early night.

Thursday June 8 - Hubbard Glacier

We woke up early, got dressed for the cold, and went to breakfast at 6:00am. There were already plenty of people ready to see the glacier so we ate fast and then checked out a couple viewing locations. We eventually settled on the Helipad for a while which worked well as the ship turned so the port side was facing the glacier first. After about 20 or so minutes, the Captain was turning the ship so the starboard would be able to see so we went to our cabin to continue watching from our balcony.

The blue colors in the ice are amazingly deep.

We saw quite a few calvings, a sea lion sitting on ice as we were pulling in, a seal as we were headed out, and the ship launched a rescue boat to go pick up some of the ice so people onboard could get a good look.

After all the glacier fun, we went and watched the egg drop contest in the centrum, saw the ice carving of a bear on the pool deck, and then had lunch at the buffet before an afternoon nap.

We woke up around 4:00pm, walked around the ship, didn't see much to do, and went back to our room. We then went to dinner at 6:00pm, they sang happy birthday to me before I explained that it was my wife's birthday, and then they sang happy birthday to her. We bid adieu to our wait staff, went to the casino and won a few bucks, the farewell show, final packing of our luggage, back to the casino for the slot raffle (didn't win), bet a few more at the tables and won a bit more, checked out the new comedian who wasn't great, and then back to the cabin to put our bags out and call it a night.

(a side note)

I got a new camera for this trip - a Sony DSC-HX80. My previous pocket camera, Sony DSC-TX30, is waterproof but only has a 5x zoom. The new camera is still pocket sized but has a 30x zoom which is partially why I have been taking some really good shots. The problem I had today was a slightly scary one (no I didn't lose the camera). When I copy over the day's pictures to my tablet, I remove them from the camera so I know I have plenty of room for the next day's pictures. When I do this and put the card back in the camera, the camera flips out as it thinks there should be pictures but they aren't there. To fix this, you click on Menu > Delete and it will ask if you want to delete everything from date "xx/xx/xxxx" to which I say yes and move along. The problem I had this day was that I forgot that I had taken video of the ice calvings and while videos are stored in a different directory than the pictures (so I didn't copy the videos over), the delete everything from date function still deletes everything including the videos.

DANGIT!

But being a quick thinker and having my older camera with me that I wasn't really using, I swapped memory cards so I wouldn't be writing anymore to the card I accidentally deleted. When we would arrive in Anchorage the next night and I could get wifi, I was able to download my favorite undelete program and I recovered my videos. Whew.

I will try to get any cool videos posted later; I know I have one decent one of the calvings.

Friday June 9 - Seward

Our alarm was set for 6:00am but we woke up before it. We had a moderately quick breakfast in the Windjammer, went back to the room to grab our stuff, and then hung out in the Solarium for a bit. We were just about to walk down about 40 minutes before our scheduled departure time when we noticed on the info board that our departure number had been called (we never heard it).

So we walked down another couple of flights to deck five, found a security stand and we were scanned off the ship. As we walked into the port building, I spotted our bags right away in the first row on the left (group 12). We grabbed our bags and walked right out. I now love the fact that we went through customs on the way onto the ship in Vancouver.

We walked the 15 minutes to the train depot, checked in for our evening mode of transit to Anchorage, and dropped our bags with the train porters. Then it was a walk into town to find our ride to the glacier. We ended up walking past Liquid Adventures as I had forgot what we were looking for, Googled a bit, walked back, and the first available shuttle was 10:30am so we had about an hour to kill. We walked around town a bit more, grabbed a coffee, and then headed to our shuttle.

We picked up our van in the parking lot in front of Liquid Adventures and had about a 15 minute ride to Exit Glacier. We scheduled to be there for two hours and it worked out to be just the right amount of time. We walked out the scenic route and then on to the Edge of the Glacier trail. They have sign markings along the trail that show where the glacier was each year and it is sad to see how quickly it is disappearing.

We met back up with our shuttle and asked to be dropped in the downtown area. As we were getting hungry, we headed to Seward Brewery and had some great burgers. They have a very good sauce for both the burgers and fries - it definitely had blue cheese dressing in it and we are leaning towards ketchup but could be thousand island. I think we might experiment with this idea when we get home.

After lunch we explored the shops and then took our van drivers suggestion and walked along water back to town.

We were able to see an otter fishing for his lunch.

Friday cont.

We arrived back at the train depot an hour before boarding. Not much to do there but to sit and wait. As we had the Gold Star service, we had reserved seats so didn't feel like we were in a rush. One advantage to the Gold Star car is that there is an outside area on the upper level that you can walk out onto to take pictures.

The train left promptly at 6:00pm and we saw a few moose, some eagles, a beaver, and a bear but almost all were in the distance or when they heard the train started to run away.

Got into Anchorage just about 10:30pm and it really dawned on us how far North we now were. I took a picture of the train on our walk to the hotel and it looks like it was taken at 7:00pm instead of 10:30pm. None of the street lights were on either as it was still plenty light out.

This picture does not look like it was taken at 10:30pm:

We walked to the Comfort Inn Ship Creek, checked into a nice clean room, and as we had an early day planned, we decompressed before falling asleep at 11:30pm.

Saturday June 10 - Drive

Woke up by alarm at 4:45am so we could make our 5:00am shuttle to the airport. We had a rental car reserved at 6:00am and it is much cheaper to do a round trip rental from the airport. Picked up the car and drove back to the hotel for breakfast, then some quick showering and repacking of our bags before checkout. We walked back to the train station to pick up a souvenir and then it was in the car heading North to Denali.

Due to the lack of sleep, I was struggling to stay awake while driving so we made frequent stops to stretch our legs and grabbed a Coke from Chubby's IGA. After a while, the scenery on the drive became so spectacular that it was amazing just to take it all in. Overall it was the most enjoyable four and a half hour drive I ever had.

We arrived at the Denali park just before 1:00pm and checked out the 100 year celebrations. We got a hamburger lunch from the park staff at a outdoor grill tent, checked out a Subaru sponsor and then headed to the bus for the dog sled demonstration.

The dog demo was cool, it was nice to see how excited the dogs get to "go to work". After a quick 15 minute talk, it was our time to visit with the dogs. Not only is this fun, but it helps the dogs get accustomed to other people and be more social. You can just call their name and if they are feeling friendly, they will come up and put their back to you to prepare to be pet.

Then it was back to the visitor center where I won a Denali commemorative pint glass in a raffle. We swung by the Wilderness Access Center to check in for our shuttle trip the next day (which was a good idea as there was no line at all), and headed to our B&B at the Denali Dome Home.

We arrived and were given the quick rundown (don't let the dogs outside as there can be Moose in the yard), dropped our bags in the room, and headed out to dinner at Prospector's Pizza. It was very good, had a great crust, and just enough spice for us.

After poking around the shops in Glitter Gulch, we headed back to our B&B for the night to get ready for our Denali Shuttle trip tomorrow.

Wow you got lucky! (Love that eagle photo.)

Do you have a fancy camera with big lenses?

Wow you got lucky! (Love that eagle photo.)

 

Do you have a fancy camera with big lenses?

Yes, I did get lucky with eagle shots.

No actually to the fancy camera. We got a new pocket sized super-zoom camera:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-DSCHX80-Point-Shoot-Camera/dp/B01CQEN2U2

I've got it set for continuous shooting mode so even if I just tap the shutter button, it takes three pictures really fast. It's great for getting clear shots, but then I also have to go back through and delete two-thirds of extra pictures.

Some of my other shots while just walking around in airports or from a car to wherever were taken with my cell phone, a Google Pixel. One thing I love about the Pixel is that you can tap on the screen and it instantly adjusts the brightness. It's great for seeing what you will end up with.

Excellent review. Alaska is awesome. Brought back memories. Thank you