Alaska Review: 10-Day DIY on Land & Radiance Southbound, 6/12/18-6/30/18 (VERY LONG)

Having seen all there was to see by late afternoon, we were left with the decision to kill even more time or go back to the Lodge to check-in and not long after come right back down to the SeaLife Center area for dinner so we decided to go for a walk by the water where we saw a ton of RV’s,Iditarod-related statues, and this little guy hanging out not far from the shore…

We eventually got bored but were caught in between going to dinner before we were hungry and staying bored as well getting to the Lodge on the late side because the shuttle only runs every hour (with stops and the SeaLife Center and the small boat harbor before returning to the Lodge). We ended up eating on the early side at Thorn’s Showcase Lounge. I had read many positive reviews about their famous “Bucket O’ Butt” and they had a typical bar menu for my wife so it seemed like a no-brainer and it delivered. I actually ordered a Butt basket which came with a side item (I got tater tots) in lieu of a couple more pieces of halibut while my wife had chicken fingers with sweet potato fries. We both enjoyed the food. Their halibut is fried but in a very light batter, not a thick crunchy one like traditional fish n chips, so you could really taste the halibut. This made it my 4th halibut dinner out of 9 nights but it was prepared differently each time. Add in the cod in Denali and the fish n chips at Humpy’s in Anchorage (made with cod) and I felt I had reached my seafood quotient for the land portion. Yes, there’s one night left but we had plans to go to a burger place.

After my wife decided against her 2nd gelato plan, we headed back to the SeaLife Center, and finally took the shuttle to our final land hotel. The Seward Windsong Lodge is split up into a main building that houses the lobby and front desk and several separate buildings of two stories each with multiple rooms on each floor. Our travel consultant requested the furthest building for us (not that it’s very far) because it’s quiet and backs up to the woods. We were on the 2nd floor and had a back balcony that overlooked those woods. We didn’t spend much time there of course but it was nice and peaceful. After a long day with a lot of walking and a 9-hour Kenai Fjord Tour on tomorrow’s agenda, we went to bed on the early side.

Day 10 - Seward

Our final day on land had finally arrived. After another coffee for me, bagel for my wife breakfast, we took the shuttle to the small boat harbor on the early side. Upon boarding, we took someone’s advice and headed to the 2nd deck of the boat and grabbed two inside seats by the windows at a table. It was cool and on the rainy side although not very heavy. The logic was that you can spend as much time as you wanted outside but over the course of nine hours it was obviously nice to have a good inside seat. This worked out very well as my wife is the photographer (if you couldn’t tell) and doesn’t mind being out in the rain as much as I do so I actually spent a decent amount of time inside. We had the table to ourselves for a while, which was nice, but were eventually joined by a couple from Oregon. They were friendly and the husband spent 90% of the trip outside taking pictures anyway. His poor wife was a bit seasick early on (along with several others) but eventually began to feel better. The boat had a small café counter that sold snacks, beverages, and motion sickness remedies. There was also an oven which was used to bake cinnamon rolls for breakfast and cookies in the afternoon. Everyone was also given a chicken wrap and chips for lunch. Of course we were there to see sea life and a glacier but these little touches made for an especially pleasant experience since nine hours is a pretty long tour and there were obviously lulls in the action. We saw plenty of sea life including humpbacks, sea lions, harbor seals, and puffins. The highlight of the sea life was when we saw two humpbacks lunge feeding. We learned that was basically the two whale version of bubble-netting. Since there weren’t enough to bubble net, they swim around gathering/steering a bunch of fish into a group near the surface (like bubble netting) so that they can then lunge at them, mouth wide-open. Another cool aspect was that it was easy to tell where to look while the humpbacks were submerged because tons of gulls would gather on the water to poach some of the fish before the whales came up to feed. I’ll post some sea life pictures and then move onto the glacier.

We eventually approached Northwestern Glacier and it was calving all over the place. Even the crew said they had hardly ever seen that much going on. Unfortunately still pictures wouldn’t do it justice but here’s the glacier.

For our final stop, the captain pulled into a cove and steered the bow of the boat extremely close to a waterfall so everyone could take pictures.

The lunge feeding I described and posted pictures of earlier was actually on the way back but since I went a bit out of order, I’ll just end the Fjord Tour discussion here by saying that I highly recommend taking the nine hour version if able and not taking it at all if you get sea sick (that may sound obvious but it clearly wasn’t to the numerous people we saw having a miserable day while we were having a great one).

We got back to the harbor around 5:30pm and the rain had subsided to a drizzle. For our final dinner on land, I found a place that had nothing to do with either Alaska or seafood but was quite unique and had good reviews. We took a short walk to “Red’s,” a counter service burger joint. Of course, there’s nothing unique about that, until you sit down… inside a converted school bus that has been retrofitted with small booths and tables. Unfortunately it delivered on the uniqueness more than the food although we think that was because they forgot to call our number when it was first ready, causing it to sit for a bit. It was a shame because there was nothing wrong with the burgers or fries; they just could/should have been hotter.

After dinner, we left the Red’s bus and headed for another bus, the shuttle back to the Lodge, which wound up almost completely full. Our land portion was finally coming to an end and while we loved almost all of it (except that one 24 hour period of course) we still had an entire cruise with more cities to visit and three more excursions planned. Also, as an added bonus, we didn’t have to set an alarm. We could get up as late as we wanted; we just had to check out by 11:00am. Since we’re early risers anyway and enjoy being one of the first ones on the ship when we cruise, our plan was to check out shortly before 11:00am and head to the cruise port.

Day 11 (Cruise Day 1 - Seward)

After a leisurely morning in our hotel room complete with coffee, catching up on various stuff via the internet (the wifi was excellent by the way, despite being a separate building far from the main lodge), the world cup, and our final full size showers of the trip, we headed to the front desk to check out around 10:30am. The lobby was packed and there were extra shuttles running. As we learned, there were cruisers who had both just gotten off the ship and were doing a post-tour as well as several RCI pre-tours that were finishing up with the day in Seward before boarding Radiance later in the day. We were going to take the 10:45am, but I made a phone call that ran long while my wife struck up a lengthy conversation with a couple who had just gotten off of Radiance Northbound. So as they traded stories and recommendations from their respective trips thus far while I was on the phone, we missed the 10:45am shuttle and wound up taking one at 11:00am.

We arrived at the port terminal and we were literally the only cruisers there. It looked like an empty warehouse. We breezed through check-in and were told we were the second couple to board the ship (damn, so close to first). I anticipated the ship being empty during the day as the RCI pre-tours don’t board until much later and others would of course be making their way to Seward from Anchorage or wherever or simply doing something in Seward before boarding the cruise but this was almost comical. We’ve been amongst the first on much larger classes out of Port Canaveral and they start out on the empty side before quickly filling up but nothing like this.

Having never been on Radiance class before, we explored the ship a bit, politely refusing the numerous offers to buy drink packages, wifi, specialty dining, etc. We saw several crew members with one eye on the world cup if they were in an area with TV’s since they were all tuned to soccer (which, as a big fan, was nice to see). Once such crew member in the Colony Club filled me in on the current match and we then stopped at Giovanni’s to arrange our FNDR reservations. The RCI website let us choose 6:00pm but since we learned that was muster time and wouldn’t be possible, we switched it to 6:30pm. We then headed to the WJ for lunch around 12:15pm. More cruisers had arrived but it was still on the quiet side. After lunch, with little left to explore that we weren’t already familiar with from our other cruises and 1:00pm approaching, we decided to sit on some couches near the deck 8 centum area and waited for our stateroom (8156) to be made available. While there we began a lengthy conversation with a nice woman from Dallas who has just recently been on a Baltic cruise and was hitting up Alaska before returning home. The conversation ran well past 1:00pm when the staterooms were available and we made it to ours around 1:30pm.

We checked out our cabin for the differences between Radiance and the other classes we had cruised (almost entirely Voyager and above) but they were minimal. The shower had a curtain rather than a door (which we knew to expect) and there was actually more storage space in terms of shelving that we remembered from Oasis last summer. Other than that, it looked like a typical stateroom and was in pretty good shape for an older ship. The one area that needed improvement was the mattress. It was thin and had lost so much cushion that it really should have been replaced. I know I could have asked for a replacement or egg crates at the very least but decided to give it one night’s sleep before bothering to complain. We also met our stateroom attendant, Yoga. He never stopped smiling and could not have been nicer. We told him that we’re experienced with RCI and low maintenance so not to worry and only requested some extra hangers (which we always do). We told him no hurry but he was back with a stack of hangers in less than 10 minutes.

We hung out in the room for a bit, occasionally checking for our luggage. In the meantime, we had the balcony door open when we heard what sounded like water spraying and began see some mist outside the balcony. After popping my head out, I quickly closed the balcony door as there was someone on a lift spraying down the balconies and glass sliding doors on headed our way. Had either of us not been paying attention, we might have begun our cruise with a soggy stateroom.

To our delight, our luggage arrived at 3:30pm so we got to unpack early. Mission accomplished, we both changed and headed to the DL to relax with a couple drinks (for me) before muster at 6:00pm and Giovanni’s at 6:30pm. The DL was very small on Radiance but seemed to have just enough seats. Muster was muster except we got to experience the indoor video version twice on Oasis last summer so stepping outside felt old school… not to mention that we were both wearing short sleeves for dinner and it was a bit chilly out on deck. As soon as it ended we headed inside to warm up and enjoy some Italian goodness (after stopping at the Schooner Bar so I could bring a drink to dinner using one of my three free Diamond drink vouchers).

Giovanni’s was empty and we were given a lovely table by a window. We both said we missed the view and music of central park being just outside but it was still Giovanni’s and the view during sail away wasn’t bad at all. Dinner was excellent as usual. This menu was slightly different than the one from last summer on Oasis but the changes only improved our meal, if anything. We both always get the filet mignon, which has always come with a wine sauce that neither us care for as well as mashed potatoes. There was now a second sauce option, gorgonzola butter, which I ordered and thought was excellent. The mashed potatoes had also been replaced with fries which were perfectly fine in their own right although I think my wife missed her mashed potatoes. Before the filet, she had a Caesar salad while I tried the almond crusted scallops (another new option). The scallops were light and cooked perfectly and delicious. Sticking with the seafood theme, I also ordered crab ravioli with sweet corn, also excellent. My wife got a side order of risotto (minus the mushrooms) as she usually does and it was also very good. That’s what I would have normally ordered myself until I saw the crab ravioli (also new compared to last summer). Finally, the last menu addition made my wife very happy. As much as we have always loved Giovanni’s, there was never a dessert she liked… until they added chocolate cake. She now likes Giovanni’s even more. I had both the panna cotta and a small cannoli. Our server was excellent, by the way. I later learned that his “day job” was serving food in Park Café in the morning.

We went to the 9:45pm Welcome Aboard show which was actually headlined by a comedian (we much prefer comedians and magicians to singers so we were happy). He was pretty funny and was scheduled for a late night adult version the next night which we could tell would likely be even better than the PG-rated set we had just heard. After that, we headed to bed. Unless there’s a late night show or I’m in the mood for a late night snack, we don’t generally stay up super late on cruises.

Day 12 (Cruise Day 2 - Hubbard Glacier)

In the Caribbean, we have a very standard morning routine. We wake up really early (like 6am or slightly earlier) and my wife goes running on the track while I head to the DL for multiple cappuccinos (I value the DL coffee machine almost as much as I do my free drinks each evening) and usually grab something small from somewhere like a pastry or park café egg sandwich for what I like to call “pre-breakfast.” My wife was not running on this trip, however, between not wanting to have to pack running gear and resting a minor injury from her weekly running back home. So she wound up sleeping until a more reasonable 7-8am most mornings. I didn’t want to change my routine, however, as I naturally wake up early and enjoy my early morning cappuccino, so we came up with a new version that worked out well. We never really made use of curtain in the middle of the stateroom that can divide the bed from the rest of the room before. After some experimenting, I realized I could extend the TV far enough from the wall and face it towards the sofa so that I could slide the curtain behind it and completely shield the bed. So my routine for this cruise was to leave the curtain partially extended when we went to bed and upon waking up, quietly slide it behind the TV, and then get dressed to go get my cappuccino (for which I utilized one of our Denali Backcountry travel mugs) before returning to watch the world cup (the group stage games started very early in Alaska) until my wife woke up, all without disturbing Sleeping Beauty. Now that you’ve read way more about our morning cruise routine than you ever wanted to know, onto the day…

After my wife woke up, we went to the WJ for breakfast. I had a salmon omelet (which I couldn’t get on Oasis last summer b/c its only omelet station is in the Wipeout Café and they don’t have salmon there). This wasn’t meant to be part of my seafood theme, I just enjoy lox (salmon) and eggs and previously got them almost every morning on other ships. I also had some bacon and sausage on the side and finished my meal with a small bowl of Muesli, something I discovered a few cruises ago and have had on just about every cruise morning since.

Next, we headed to the pool deck for a clothing sale. I had asked on CC before we left what people wore on the ship since I assumed it would be comfortable inside while it could be windy and cold on deck. I was on the right track and received accurate answers but the disparity was even greater than I realized. It was overly warm in certain areas of the ship to the point that anything other than short sleeves made us uncomfortable while it was predictable quite cool on the pool deck and pretty darn cold when the wind was blowing so going from one to the other was quite an experience. We rarely buy stuff on board but my wife found a thin white puffy jacket type vest that was embroidered with “Alaska” and a whale tale in white where a logo would normally be so it seemed like a good souvenir. From distance, it just looks like a solid white vest, so it wasn’t overly touristy looking and the 50% off made the price reasonable (though still not a huge bargain). We then headed back to the room to drop off the vest before going to the Meet & Mingle at 10:00am.

I had only attended one M&M before, last summer, and it was run by an activity staff member who was friendly but didn’t really do much more than raffle off prizes so there wasn’t any meeting or mingling. This one was held in Starquest and I was pleasantly surprised when both our cruise director, Cuddy, and his activities manager, Emma, showed up to host it. Cuddy was funny (as he was the entire cruise) and made quite a few CC jokes. He then fostered mingling by giving everyone a bingo card that was filled out by finding people in the room who met each bingo square’s criteria and putting their name down. The squares had descriptions like “has never cruised before,” “gets sea sick,” “is a military veteran,” etc. It was a fun idea but everyone was so busy running around frantically asking for names that we weren’t exactly meeting each other. After declaring a winner, we moved on to the raffle where, for the second time, we didn’t win anything. Oh well.

With nothing planned until lunch, we went to a glacier talk being given by some sort of expert in the main theater. I don’t mean to be rude but we left after ten minutes because we couldn’t take it anymore. I have no doubt this gentleman knew his stuff but his slow, monotone delivery was that of a college professor who puts his class to sleep. The glaciologist, MJ, from the National Geographic group was far more energetic and engaging. My wife taught middle school science for a few years before moving to kindergarten and truly enjoys stuff like this, so it wasn’t the subject matter, it was the delivery.

We usually have lunch in Park Café on Oasis class for the paninis (along with the kummelweck and salad bar) but since Radiance has a more abbreviated version of Park Café (no paninis) we decided to try the MDR for the tutti salad that’s so popular on CC. We were seated at a large table with two other families (one of which didn’t seem to be getting along) and my wife headed for the salad bar while I had what was meant to be a freshly made reuben from an adjacent serving area (there was a cook standing there making them). We were both disappointed. My wife’s salad was fine but she didn’t find it any different than one she could have made for her in Park Café or one she could make herself in WJ and my reuben must have been sitting out for a while because it wasn’t even warm, let alone freshly made. Oh well, no biggie, what we love about the food on cruises is that if you don’t like something, there are plenty of other options. So we headed to the WJ for the usual random assortment of lunch items and desserts (although 90% of the time I just have cookies for dessert as I’ve been addicted to them since my first ever cruise 16 years ago and now even bring a Ziploc bag along so I can keep a handful of them fresh in our stateroom at all times).

We went back to our room for a bit while we waited for Hubbard Glacier to appear. We saw from the TV channel that shows you the live view from the bridge that people were gathering on the helipad as early as 1:30pm even though we wouldn’t reach it for at least another hour. We eventually made our way down there but as we approached (if you want to call it that) it was obvious that the ship was barely moving. There was so much ice in the ocean that we couldn’t even get close. Having seen (and hiked upon) several glaciers already during our land portion, we weren’t nearly as disappointed as others may have been. You could hear the small chunks of ice pinging off the side of the ship as we moved through them which we thought was pretty cool. My wife didn’t take many pictures but this one is a good representation…

We took a quick nap after that before getting dressed for the evening. This was the first formal night but since we weren’t planning to eat in the MDR for dinner, we hardly got dressed up although we did put on slightly nicer tops with our jeans to take pictures. We never buy any pictures due to the outrageous cost but do take them since we’re each entitled to a freebie as part of our Diamond perks. After a few photos, we made our nightly visit to the DL. We then headed to the WJ for dinner. On Radiance, each night had a theme that was announced by the entrance. We had noticed the first night’s was Chinese while tonight’s was Italian. This was different from our experience on Oasis last summer where there weren’t posted themes. There was somewhat of a theme most nights but also plenty of random stuff and always many of the items that were on that night’s MDR menu. Anyway, the highlight this night was a cook-to-order pasta station that we both enjoyed. My wife had chicken and broccoli alfredo while I had seafood alfredo. She also had chicken parmigiana from the buffet amongst other things. Despite being picky, she can usually find several items on an Italian menu. I eat too much to remember everything I had each night.

After dinner, if we aren’t immediately heading to a show, we usually go back to the room to check tomorrow’s compass (and of course look for towel animals). So that’s what we did since the only show we were attending was the late night adult comedy show. Staying up late proved worthwhile as we were right about the comedian. His adult material was even funnier than his material from the night before.

Day 13 (Cruise Day 3 - Juneau)

I’ll stop describing our early mornings at this point as you can just assume I had lots of cappuccino and watched soccer until my wife woke up and we went to the WJ for breakfast.

We didn’t have anything planned in Juneau so we just got off the ship in the morning to walk around the port area. In hindsight, we should have booked a whale watching excursion here like my wife wanted but as I may have mentioned at some point, the length and cost of the trip just grew and grew after we changed the land tour to a 10-day DIY with some costly excursions that I had to skip some things. We left this off b/c we hoped to see whales on the Kenai Fjords Tour (which we did, just not orcas) and possibly during our sea kayaking excursion in Ketchikan. Oh well, something for next time.

Walking around the ports in Alaska is surprisingly similar to walking around them in Caribbean… which is certainly not a good thing. You’ll even find the same exact jewelry and clothing chains like Diamonds International and Del Sol. Of course there some Alaskan-themed stores as well but we found them to be either extremely touristy (i.e. cheap souvenirs) or so authentic that the products were quite expensive. We weren’t really looking to buy stuff so I’m just conveying our experience. Obviously you should be looking to spend as much time doing actual excursions in Alaska. One last observation was that there were four other ships in port that day. A couple were smaller but it also made it a bit crowded. Some pictures…

We headed back to the ship in time for lunch. Needless to say, it was pretty quiet on board but we enjoy spending port days on the ship for just this reason. Our plan was to hit up the Solarium hot tub after lunch since it was likely to be empty… and it was. We had it all to ourselves and went past the posted 15 minute time limit (shhh, don’t tell anyone). As we approached the half hour mark, we got some company and it was so warm that I was getting sleepy (maybe that 15 minute limit is there for a reason), so we handed it off and went back to the room to shower and relax for a bit.

Eventually it was DL time. My wife doesn’t drink as she both hates the taste of alcohol and doesn’t feel the need to use it to have fun, relax, etc. That said, she’s not opposed to the idea of ever having a drink. We played a fun game last summer on Oasis in which she tried a different drink in the DL each night (most of which would be considered fruity and weak). She quit after about four nights but we have a nice collection of her making a face after taking a sip each night (picture a little kid who just ate something yucky). She can tolerate a frozen drink made weakly but of course the DL doesn’t serve frozen drinks… so she used some ingenuity and came up with a solution. She ordered a weak vodka and pineapple juice along with a tall glass with ice and a straw on the side and asked our friendly DL server (who knew she didn’t really drink) if it would be OK for her to bring up a small bowl of vanilla soft serve from the WJ ice cream machine. He said “of course” and off she went. Vanilla soft serve in hand, she combined it with the vodka and pineapple juice in the tall glass with some ice and voila! My wife had finally found her DL drink…

Tonight’s WJ theme was Mexican. Fortunately, they had some other things for my wife to eat since she won’t touch Mexican outside of nachos (provided the cheese isn’t spicy), which they also had for her, if that counts. I was happy because I enjoy Mexican food and had several fajitas, alternating between chicken and steak. The WJ certainly isn’t an authentic Mexican restaurant but fajitas also don’t require a 5-star chef and I’ll take what I can get. FWIW, I thought they were quite good.

There actually wasn’t a show that night which seemed odd to us since we’re used to the bigger ships but it wasn’t a big deal. There was a 70’s party but that’s not our thing so we went to bed early. We had a full day planned for Skagway the next day anyway.

Day 14 (Cruise Day 4 - Skagway)

We woke up to partly cloudy but otherwise cool and calm weather, which was important since this afternoon was our re-scheduled helicopter/dog sled excursion from that awful weather day back in Girdwood. After breakfast in the WJ we got off the ship to do some shopping/exploring since we just wanted to get back on the ship after returning from our excursion.

You had to take a little walk around a path to get from the ship to the town area but it wasn’t long and included one neat feature. On the rocks that led up a mountain on one side were paintings signified the many cruise ships that had visited Skagway over the years.

Skagway had a similar same mixture of shopping options to Juneau. When I mentioned lots of touristy stores, I didn’t mean it in a negative way. We were actually looking for some inexpensive touristy gifts for family back home and, after walking all around the town, found them here at the Alaska Shirt Company. The store is huge and we were drawn to one section that had $10 combos of either a t-shirt and hat or two t-shirts. For $5/item we actually thought they were pretty nice looking and got several of each for both ourselves and as gifts. We also got two identical stuffed moose that said “Alaska” on the paw for our two young nieces, each in a different color. Here are some examples along with some random pics of Skagway…

We headed back to the ship around 11:15am and saw an incredibly large number of the distinctive red bags used by the Alaska Shirt Company along the way. I think it’s safe to say that it’s a very popular spot for inexpensive souvenirs. The weather had become a bit cooler and windier but not so much so that it would affect our excursion. After lunch in the WJ we got ready for another helicopter ride, glacier landing, and to see some doggies. We met someone from the tour company, Temsco, at the end of the dock and made our way via van to their surprisingly large helicopter operation nearby. They had five helicopters going and they left one right after another from five adjacent landing areas (although not all five were going to the same place). As soon as they landed to let passengers off, they would immediately refuel, load the next set of passengers, and head back out. It ran like a well-oiled machine.

Before heading out to the helicopters, we were briefed inside the building on some safety details and what to expect. After signing a waiver and being fitted with booties that fit over our hiking sneakers and covered the bottom of our jeans to keep them dry in the snow, we were ready to go.

This helicopter ride was very different from our roundtrip to Spencer Glacier in Girdwood as we weren’t flying over a valley but rather up onto a mountain. I didn’t really think about how vertical it would be. Before I get to the dogs, here are some flight-related photos. You can see in the first one that Explorer had joined us in port that day.

Having finally arrived on our snow covered glacier up in the mountains, it was time to meet some dogs. We were placed with Riley of Dark Horse Racing Kennel, a young musher who had just completed his first Yukon Quest In 2018. He explained that he’s based in Fairbanks and brings his dogs down here in the summers to make money to help fund his racing stable. He was a real nice guy but who are we kidding, you go on a dog sledding excursion for the dogs. So without further ado…

Eventually we actually did go dog sledding of course. We were with another couple and the rig consisted of two sleds, one in the front where both people sat with Riley standing behind them and one in the back where one person sat and the other stood. We made a few stops to trade spots as we went around the glacier so everyone could get a chance to stand. I’d say “steer” or “drive” but it was clearly the dogs doing the steering (with Riley’s guidance).

Upon returning to the camp, we got to meet one of Riley’s 3-week-old puppies…

We also got to see how everyone who worked at the camp lived/slept up there. Suffice it to say, it’s not exactly glamorous…

After reluctantly saying goodbye to Riley and his dogs, we boarded the helicopter that had just arrived with a new group of tourists and returned to the Temsco HQ. On the van ride back to the port they offered to drop people off at either the port or in town. We chose the port, of course, having done our shopping and exploring earlier that morning and were ready for our usual relaxing evening on board the ship.

The DL was crowded that night and we ended up sitting with a nice couple who happened to not only be from the Orlando area but who lived in the same town where my wife’s parents lived when they first moved here from the Philadelphia suburbs back in 2000 (we also lived there when we first moved here at the same time and were still dating). After chatting for a while we headed to the WJ for American night. What’s American night you might ask? No idea as the menu was all over the place and very random. I found a few things as usual but my wife didn’t care for much.

Tonight’s headliner was Pengfei, a Chinese magician and acrobat who I thought was quite good. In addition to his magic tricks being entertaining, some were prefaced with a bit of historical narration that was pretty interesting.

Still hungry from dinner, we went to Park Café for a late night snack but my wife didn’t find anything while I learned that there was a hoagie/sub station next to the salad area so I put together an Italian hoagie of sorts and we went to bed. With no Sorrento’s (I know, most people think Sorrento’s is terrible but I don’t mind it for a late night snack), this would have been my go-to spot but for some reason I wasn’t snacking much after dinner, outside of the cookies of course. On that note, we headed back to the room.

Before going to bed, my wife had the curtains open and saw a cool feature in the ocean where the fresh glacier water met the salt water, creating two very distinct colors…

Day 15 (Cruise Day 5 - Icy Straight Point)

After breakfast, we got off the ship only to run back in real quick to grab our rain jackets as it began to drizzle. Take two… We walked across the bridge that took you from the ship to the area that was basically created as a stop by Royal Caribbean. There was very little to see or do there if you didn’t book an excursion (which we hadn’t). The tiny town of Hoonah is 1.5 miles away but a local told us there’s not a whole lot there either so we decided against the walk. Icy Straight Point has a very long zip line that looked fun and I heard some good things about bear and whale watching in Hoonah so I would probably opt for that if/when we return. Honestly, I wouldn’t even get off the ship without an excursion. That said, it was low tide at the time so my wife walked down to the shoreline and found thousands of mussel shells along with clams and other shells. Later in the day, it was completely underwater as the tide had come in, so that was kind of interesting.

Once back on the ship, we had lunch in the WJ and decided to give the Solarium hot tub another shot. It wasn’t completely empty this time but close enough. It also wasn’t as hot as the other day for whatever reason. After 20-30 minutes, we headed back to the room to shower and change for our usual evening routine of photos, DL, and dinner. This was the 2nd formal night by the way. However, tonight’s WJ theme, which we had fortunately checked in advance, would throw a wrench into that routine. It was Indian night, which my wife won’t even go near (this should come as no surprise to anyone has read this far). So as soon as the WJ opened at 6:00pm, she went down to check to see if there were any random, non-Indian options like there usually were. For some reason, tonight was an exception. She returned to the DL to tell me there was absolutely nothing but Indian food. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I told her we should ask the DL concierge if he could get us a last minute MDR reservation so she did. After a short phone call, he told us if we can go down right now there would be a table waiting for us. We thanked him and off we went to our unplanned MDR dinner, on formal night no less.

I had read that Alaska cruises were more casual and we were totally comfortable wearing jeans in the DL. That said, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to wear them to the MDR on formal night, not to mention I was also only wearing a nice polo. Well, upon being seated, I can easily say that while there were plenty of people dressed nicer than we were, there were also plenty dressed just as casually. Somehow we were given a table for two by a window which just added to what turned out to be a wonderful meal. I had the strawberry bisque and onion tart as appetizers (two RC classics), two lobster tails (which came with shrimp on the side), and crème brulee for dessert. I enjoyed each course although the strawberry bisque wasn’t as thick as I remembered and actually had bits of ice in it, leading me to believe that they were using ice to keep it chilled which also watered it down. My wife had her standard MDR meal of Caesar salad followed by grilled chicken and veggies (which is partly why we stopped going to the MDR, to keep her from having the same thing five out of seven nights, but having it once was just fine). For dessert, she was trying to decide between the chocolate lava cake and royal chocolate cake so our server said he would just bring both. She enjoyed her meal as well and liked the lava cake so much that she wished she had just ordered two of those. So somehow I was “forced” to go to lobster night in the MDR by my wife who won’t eat seafood and we both had great meals.

We returned to the DL after dinner to thank Sergei, the DL concierge. I also ordered a drink to go as we wanted to change into more casual, comfortable tops before seeing three shows in a row, something we’ve never done before. That night there was someone described as a vocalist/impressionist, followed by the Love & Marriage game show, followed by another late night adult comedy show with a different comedian this time. The vocalist/impressionist wasn’t for us as his material and the impressions he did were clearly geared towards an older demographic (which was certainly present on the ship, we just weren’t a part of it). Love & Marriage was humorous and entertaining as usual and Cuddy once again added his own humor as host. Finally, the comedian was OK but not nearly as good as the first one. His material wasn’t even all that “adult.” We went back to the room, read tomorrow’s compass, and went to bed.

Day 16 (Cruise Day 6 - Ketchikan)

After breakfast, we got off the boat around 9:30am to walk around the shops near the port. My wife had scheduled sea kayaking with Ketchikan Kayak Company and we were supposed to meet at their office (which was right across the street from where we docked) a little before 11:00am. This was one excursion I definitely wouldn’t have picked and I became even less enthused when I learned that Ketchikan is one of the rainiest cities in the country but, as I mentioned way back at the beginning, this was originally my wife’s trip. Fortunately, it didn’t rain at all and the sea was as calm as a lake for the most part.

After some unremarkable shopping, we got to their office at 10:50am. We were joined by a family of four and a young couple and we all boarded a van and were driven to Clover Pass by the owner, Devon. He used to be a guide before buying the company from the previous owner. We all filled out a waiver via tablet on the van and arrived at the dock after about 25 minutes. There, we met our two guides, Derek and Ryan, and were fitted with waterproof pants and life jackets. We were also offered waterproof jackets as well as dry bags. We were told that they usually use one guide per six people so since we were placed in a party of eight, we got two. One would have been just fine from an instructional and educational standpoint but it was more entertaining with two since they could interact with each other, crack jokes, split up, etc. My wife booked this excursion to not only go sea kayaking for the first time but also in the hopes of spotting some more whales. While we didn’t accomplish the latter, we did see some wildlife, although the first sighting was not what I expected. As we made our way towards an island we stumbled upon two young deer that didn’t seem to care that we were approaching. In fact, they seemed so curious that they were staring at us as much as we were staring at them.

We eventually saw more expected wildlife including several Eagles and a pair of harbor seals that we were told were often seen in that area. Derek and Ryan decided that the first one we saw was the female and at that point told us that her male counterpoint was huge and swapped stories of previous encounters with him. They explained that we didn’t have to worry about them, however, because they would swim away if anyone actually tried to get too close. Well, I think the male must have heard their comments because he showed up a little while later and literally followed us around for a while, submerging and popping up in different spots. Unfortunately my wife didn’t get any pictures of them as paddling a kayak and snapping photos don’t exactly go well together. As we rounded the island, Ryan had gone out ahead of the group and when we caught up to him he was perched in a tree.

Like every guide we encountered all throughout our trip, these guys really seemed to love what they did. Derek was actually a school counselor and only worked as a guide when school was out because he enjoyed kayaking so much.

After about 2.5 hours on the water, we eventually returned to the dock. After returning the borrowed gear, we were given some salmon dip and crackers along with chunks of smoked salmon and eventually returned to the port area. This wasn’t the most exciting excursion of the trip but having never kayaked before, let alone in the Pacific Ocean, it was definitely enjoyable even though we didn’t see any whales.

Once back on board, having not eaten since breakfast (other than the salmon), we headed to the WJ for a late lunch during that “Afternoon Tea” time in between lunch and dinner.

That evening the DL was again crowded and we wound up meeting a very nice solo cruiser named Julia from Scotland. She had done tons of traveling all over the world while we had more expertise in the ways of Royal Caribbean so she traded her stories of faraway lands for RCI tips and tricks. We talked so long that we didn’t head to dinner until 7:45pm. It was OK though b/c we weren’t overly interested in that night’s show starring the on board singers and dancers and we had a late lunch anyway. Tonight’s theme was barbecue and, as is often the case, the offerings were hit and miss. One interesting station I had never seen before offered made-to-order hot sandwiches. I forget all the options but I had pulled pork on a freshly toasted roll and it was quite good. The WJ was closing down by the time we were finished. Having missed/skipped the show, we just went back to our room for the evening and came to the realization that we were leaving Alaska with only a sea day and Vancouver remaining. We also had to move the clock ahead one hour overnight.

Day 17 (Cruise Day 17 - At Sea, Inside Passage)

After losing an hour to the time zone switch, we awoke to lousy weather. It was foggy and raining. The good news was it wasn’t going to affect any land-based activities. We really didn’t do anything special today. We went to a couple trivia events, packed off and on so we wouldn’t have to do it all at once, and eventually spent our final night in the DL and WJ (until our next cruise at least). There was a pretty cool cake on display (and being served) in the WJ at lunch. We saw similar cakes on Oasis last summer but they were decorated more generically as American flags while this was obviously Alaska-centric…

Tonight was seafood night in the WJ. I was really looking forward to it after having an amazing seafood spread in the WJ on Oasis last July, complete with lobster, peeled shrimp, mussels, fried calamari, etc. Sadly, this was not remotely the case on Radiance this summer. In contrast to last summer’s Oasis offerings, there was peel-n-eat shrimp (I don’t have patience for removing shells), soft and chewy fried calamari, unappetizing mussels, and no lobster to be found. I made do of course as I’m not picky and will always find something, I was just hoping for better. Fortunately for my wife, like every night except Indian night (which was now even more fortunate since that was apparently the only way I was going to get lobster on this cruise), there were some non-theme options and she had roasted turkey, a baked potato, and green beans while I tried lots of random seafood items. The only one I remember standing out was the seafood risotto. There was also a cake that my wife really liked. So she ended up enjoying seafood night more than I did, go figure.

After dinner we went back to the room to pack some more, saw the Farewell Show (the comedian was good, the rest was so-so), then finished packing and set our luggage outside the room. We had to decide what to keep with us in our backpacks since we had a long excursion outside Vancouver planned for tomorrow, during which our luggage would be stored under a motor coach until we eventually got dropped off at the airport. We wanted to watch the ship sail under the Lions Gate Bridge and were told that it would occur around 6:00am so we set an alarm and went to bed.

Day 18 (Cruise Day 8 - Vancouver)

We got up a little earlier than we needed to and, for the first time, my wife joined me on my morning trip to the DL for cappuccino. I needed more than just the caffeine this morning as it was pretty cold and windy out on deck. We made our way to the very front of the ship on deck 12 and passed under the bridge around 6:15am. I don’t have any good pictures since my wife took a video instead. It was neat to experience but not nearly as scenic as online postings made it seem.

As soon as we were on the other side we headed indoors for the warmth of the WJ and one last meal onboard. Afterwards, we went to the Colony Club, the scheduled meeting location for our excursion which was supposed to begin at 8:00am. We were going to visit Shannon Falls, a large waterfall located in Squamish, BC, about an hour outside Vancouver. Along with seeing Shannon Falls was a trip on the Sea to Sky Gondola up to the top of a mountain where a restaurant/bar with a large deck overlooking the valley below was located. It was actually featured in a Coors Light commercial because it’s such an amazing view. There are also several hiking trails up there as well as a large suspension bridge that led from one part of the mountain to the deck. Lastly, this excursion included bus transportation to the airport at the end. We chose it as much for the convenience of having our luggage held on the motor coach during our time there and then being dropped off at the airport six hours later as for the beauty of the destination. We obviously had plenty of time to kill.

We had luggage tag #1 and were scheduled to be among the first off the ship. Things did not run smoothly however, so after checking in and receiving our #1 stickers to indicate our excursion, we relaxed on a couch and watched the chaos unfold. Another excursion (the hop on/hop off bus tour) was also scheduled to meet in the Colony Club so the poor staff member at the front who checked us in had to repeatedly direct those taking the bus tour to the middle of the club where a different staff member had their stickers. We also watched her repeatedly field the same questions over and over from confused cruisers. When she asked where they were going, instead of naming their excursion, most of them answered with “Vancouver.”

On top of that, there was a luggage issue of some sort so we didn’t disembark until around 8:20am. We then claimed our luggage and wheeled it over to one of the two motor coaches transporting people on our excursion. Our driver/guide, Gord, was extremely knowledgeable about the area and all things BC. He also loved talking which suited us just fine. As we drove through downtown Vancouver he had tons to tell us about each area of the city we saw along with specific landmarks. We crossed the Lions Gate Bridge and eventually headed out of Vancouver.

After about an hour, we reached Shannon Falls. Gord told us we were only stopping in that spot for about 25 minutes to go up the path to take pictures of the Falls before driving a couple minutes down the road to where the Gondola was located and gave everyone a time to be back on the bus. You could see the Falls from just outside the bus but the higher up the trail you went, the better the view got, so we went up a few levels until we found a less crowded platform with a good view.

We returned to the bus on time as waited for the latecomers who either lost track of time or went further up the path than they should have. A few minutes later, we arrived at the base of the Sea to Sky Gondola and were given our tickets. Sadly, the weather was not cooperating. The light rain wasn’t a big deal but it was so incredibly cloudy and foggy that the visibility as we went up the mountain became virtually non-existent.

We eventually made it to the top and crossed the suspension bridge which my wife, the adventurous one who planned this journey and went ice climbing on a glacier, was not too thrilled about. For whatever reason, she hates bridges and the fact that it was slippery due to the rain didn’t help matters either.

I also have a picture in which she’s displaying her displeasure but I’ll keep that one to myself.

This was our view (or lack thereof) from the deck…

For comparison, here’s that Coors Light commercial I mentioned. This was obviously filmed in the colder months but you’ll get the idea of what the view could/should have looked like on a clear day…

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wcTN/coors-light-mountain-outpost

We spent a little while at the top and went on a very short hike but the weather really put a damper on things (no pun intended). We headed back down on the gondola with some time remaining to check out some stuff at the bottom of the mountain. Lovely view (or lack thereof) on the way down until we approached the ground…

Back at the bottom, we checked out the gift shop and small café before going on a short walk on a trail through the forest area at the base of the mountain. This area was surprisingly scenic with many colors between the trees, plants, mosses, and rocks.

Finally, before returning to the motor coach, we checked one final creature off our wildlife list, the majestic Canadian slug…

Gord resumed his nearly endless stories of the area especially after we went back through Vancouver on the way to the airport (which is actually located in nearby Richmond). We were surprised by the prices he told us it cost to live in various parts of the city. Condos in high rises were priced almost like it was NYC. We felt much of the city looked drab and congested. We were only driving through so it’s definitely possible that we were missing something, but from our limited experience, we didn’t get it. He also made several mentions of various celebrities who spent time in Vancouver, further suggesting we were likely missing something.

We crossed back over the Lions Gate Bridge, which is part of the main road the goes in and out of the city and has three lanes. The middle one alternates directions depending on the traffic flow at different times of the day. We were actually on it during one such switch. Gord warned us that the traffic can get pretty bad, and we did run into some but he said that it really wasn’t that bad by normal standards. Finally, we approached the airport, stopping first at the international terminal since the large majority of us were headed back to the US. Those flying from Vancouver to another Canadian city, even if they were then headed elsewhere, were told to stay on the bus as they would be taken to the domestic terminal at the other end.

There were 40+ passengers on the bus so you can imagine how much luggage was stored below. To no fault of Gord’s, he was tasked with getting it all out himself. This was quite an ask for one person, especially one who wasn’t especially young or in great shape, so he volunteered me to help him with which I didn’t have a problem. He told me he would unload all the bags, he just wanted me to line them up on the sidewalk. That seemed reasonable, I didn’t mind helping, but I was soon pulling luggage off alongside him, not just lining it up. Needless to say, some of those bags/suitcases were pretty heavy. Again, I didn’t blame Gord, this aspect of the tour was poorly designed. That said, I’m not sure enlisting a paying guest to help do manual labor is the best solution ever. To be clear, I wasn’t truly upset by any of this, just sharing my thoughts. We eventually got the job done and I was left wondering where my tips were. It’s pretty customary to give a porter a couple bucks for just tossing your bags onto a cart and I did at least that much work. (I’m joking of course). At least I got to place to our bags at the front end of what turned out to be a massive collection of luggage so we could easily grab them and head into the airport. This is where the only other aspect of our trip took a turn for a worse and our long, frustrating trip home began.

We got to the airport around 3:00pm and knew we would be there for a good eight hours but we were prepared to grab a snack, explore the airport, hang out, catch up on stuff via the internet, etc., before eventually having dinner at one of the sit down restaurants. We weren’t looking forward to spending that much time at an airport but we were prepared to make the best of it. This, however, soon went out the window. We were taking United back to Orlando by way of a 3-hour layover in Chicago at 5:00am CT (much like our first flight, best I could do at the time without spending a fortune). Long after booking I noticed that there was actually a better option on Delta (still a red eye but through Atlanta with a shorter layover), but I’m convinced it either wasn’t listed when I booked the United flight or the price wasn’t good at the time. Anyway, back to the actual story. We approached the Delta check-in area to find a sign stating that check-in began three hours before departure. We verified with a very nice United agent that this was indeed the case, so we could neither check-in nor check our bags until 8:00pm. This also meant we couldn’t pass through security until then, leaving our dinner options limited to whatever was at the front of the airport. On top of all that, I couldn’t even connect to the airport wifi. While not his job, I mentioned this to the United agent who was nice enough to try to help (although I’m tech-savvy enough to have already tried all the basic stuff he did) before finally telling us their wifi isn’t the most reliable). Still trying to make the best of a bad situation, we decided to explore the front of the airport to see what dinner options remained. There were two food courts but, as I mentioned, we wanted to sit down and relax with waiter service since we were stuck there this long.

We first came to a random restaurant with a bar food type menu. It was a little overpriced but everything was approximately 25% less in USD so it wasn’t too bad and would serve its purpose if we didn’t find anything better. Next, we headed for the domestic terminal which was a straight walk down towards the other end of the airport. Along the way, we stopped at an info desk to ask about the unreliable wifi. While chatting with a friendly airport employee, I was able to connect. We soon learned that the wifi was only unreliable near the front of the international terminal. It worked just fine towards the domestic end (yay for small victories). We continued on and stumbled upon White Spot, a local burger chain. We actually knew all about this place, including its history, because Gord told us the story of how a local man started it in the 1920’s as a food cart hooked up to a Ford Model T (precursor to a food truck I guess) before it eventually evolved into an actual carhop restaurant and later became the chain it is today. This was our only other choice but that was perfectly fine with us since it had a good reputation, reasonable prices, offered unlimited fries with your meal, and was large enough that wheeling our suitcases in wouldn’t get in anyone’s way (another victory). With dinner now planned, we settled in by the domestic food court and sat at a high top bar that had outlets so we could charge our phones while killing time until dinner.

Fast forwarding … dinner was very good and the service was excellent. My wife got a burger while I had one last bit of seafood and ordered fish n chips. Both came with the unlimited fries. Her burger was well-cooked as was my fish, crispy not greasy. The fries were fine, unremarkable but nothing wrong with them. They gave us so many with our meal that we only took advantage of the unlimited offer by splitting one reorder that we couldn’t even finish.

We waited until 8:00pm and were finally able to check-in at a kiosk and then check our bags. I had read that when traveling from major Canadian airports to the US, you could actually go through customs in advance in Canada so that upon arriving back in the US you were good to go. This was indeed the case in Vancouver… except for the fact that customs closes at 7:30pm so because we couldn’t check-in until 8:00pm, we would have to go through customs when we arrived in Chicago at 5:00am CT. My wife, already tired from the long day and airport issues, was not very happy with this. We were also told we had to take our bags down the hall to another counter to actually hand them over. This was a minor inconvenience but just one more thing. After finding the luggage counter, we set off to finally pass through security and venture into the rest of the airport.

We headed for gate D76 and somehow had trouble finding it. We walked through terminal D but the numbers stopped short of 76. We then learned that D76 was actually next to the E gates, not D. Don’t ask because I have no explanation. Having walked for a while and been up since 5am, by the time we got to our gate my wife was tired and frustrated. It was empty since we were so early so my wife was going to lie down on the seats there but the air conditioning wasn’t operating in this area, making it quite uncomfortable. This obviously didn’t improve her mood. We wound up walking back towards the nearest main area and stopped at Starbucks so my wife could get a snack and some ice water while I got a venti iced coffee. Obviously I should have ordered decaf but I just wanted a large cold drink ASAP and wasn’t exactly thinking clearly by this point. We cooled off between the drinks and the functional a/c and eventually went back to our gate closer to boarding time. Thankfully the a/c was running by then.

11:00pm rolled around and we were officially on our way home (although we still had a ways to go). We have hardly flown at all over the past decade so we’re not well-qualified to critique airlines but on this trip, we quickly agreed that we preferred Delta. On both our flights out we had screens on the seatbacks in front of us to watch free on-demand movies and TV shows (FYI, we watched Murder on the Orient Express together and didn’t like it). There were also USB ports and outlets by every seat for charging devices. Lastly, while we flew economy on every leg, Delta’s seats felt slightly more comfortable. United did offer similar free on-demand entertainment, but only through their app. There were no seatback screens so you had to use your own device. There was also just one outlet in between each seat on our flight to Chicago and no USB ports. On our final flight (an A320 compared to 737’s on the other three), there weren’t any outlets at all beyond row 21 and we were a few rows behind that. As usual, none of these are exactly deal breakers, my wife actually has an Anker charging device that lasts for like a week before needing recharging itself, just sharing more opinions.

Neither of us slept on the 4-hour flight into Chicago. My wife tried but couldn’t and I didn’t bother, opting to watch The Shape of Water on my phone instead (weird movie). About 90 minutes into the flight came an announcement no flyer wants to hear, “Is there anyone with medical training on the plane?” Déjà vu from the train set in. Again, we hoped that there was nothing seriously wrong for both the person’s well-being but also our selfish preference to not be forced to make an emergency landing. I became concerned when the pilot actually left the cockpit to speak with the flight attendants in person but the flight went on as scheduled and, as best we could tell, a passenger just felt very sick, in a flu/virus symptom way, not something more serious. Someone did answer the request for a passenger with medical training by the way and spent a while lending her assistance.

Day 19 - Chicago to Orlando (HOME)

We landed at the O’Hare international terminal on time and were directed to what seemed like the basement to go through customs. This went extremely smoothly, likely due to how quiet and empty it was at the time. We scanned our passports and answered some questions on a touch screen kiosk, took a photo, and proceeded to a customs agent who was more awake than we were and, after a couple brief questions delivered with a heavy Chicago accent, waived us through to baggage claim where we had to claim our suitcases and take them to the re-check area so they could be transferred to our connecting flight. After that, we found our way to the airport train that whipped around O’Hare from one terminal to the next until we reached our stop. We went through security and headed straight to our gate. We still had plenty of time but we were exhausted and not interested in breakfast. For the first time all trip, I didn’t even want my early morning coffee. O’Hare was already incredibly crowded but I guess it’s one of the busiest airports in the country for a reason. To its credit, however, we felt it was far more organized and well-designed than either Minneapolis/St. Paul or Vancouver.

Boarding time eventually arrived and we were finally on our way back to Orlando after 18 days. Our flight left at 8:05am CT and was scheduled to arrive at 11:39pm ET. Not much to share about this one both because it was uneventful and because I napped for about 90 minutes of it. Unfortunately my wife was never really able to sleep. I woke up shortly before we began our descent. We were both understandably exhausted by this point but when we both starting hearing the faint sound of a cat meowing during the very end of the flight we wondered if we were actually delirious. As it turns out, we weren’t hallucinating. A girl one row in front of us had a cat in a small pet carrier tucked under the seat in front of her. Her cat was just remarkably quiet for most of the flight. After landing, taking the monorail to the main terminal, and retrieving our bags, we were soon outside in the warm Florida air waiting for friends to pick us up. We walked in our front door around 1:00pm, roughly 29 hours after waking up in Radiance of the Seas stateroom 8156 the morning before. The best vacation of our lives thus far had officially come to an end.

Closing Thoughts

First, if you’re still reading, you either deserve a medal or you’re a masochist. I would apologize for the length but you were warned at the beginning.

Joking aside, I’ll keep it short and sweet. This was an amazing trip but not “once in a lifetime” because we’ll almost certainly return. Of course there are things we’d do differently (no more red eyes, excursions in Juneau and Icy Straight Point, etc.) but even if we didn’t want to change anything, there would still be tons of things to do that we didn’t get to. If we learned nothing else it’s that Alaska possesses an almost infinite number of places and activities to experience. It may be a cliché but I truly believe that it offers something for everyone.

Thank you for posting your review, Mike! I have been waiting to hear all about your wonderful DIY trip. While we enjoyed our cruise tour, we will DIY it the next time to go to Alaska and there will be a next time. You have saved me a lot of research.

It is interesting that the shuttle and ice cream at Pike's was free for you guys, that must be if you are not on a cruise tour. The shuttle was $5 round trip for us and I forget what the ice cream costs were, but I know it wasn't free. Coffee in the lobby was $1 and they had a bowl of whole fruit near the cash register of the restaurant that was $2 a piece:eek: even if you had purchased the buffet breakfast.

Love you pictures too, thanks for sharing.

Thank you for posting your review, Mike! I have been waiting to hear all about your wonderful DIY trip. While we enjoyed our cruise tour, we will DIY it the next time to go to Alaska and there will be a next time. You have saved me a lot of research.

 

It is interesting that the shuttle and ice cream at Pike's was free for you guys, that must be if you are not on a cruise tour. The shuttle was $5 round trip for us and I forget what the ice cream costs were, but I know it wasn't free. Coffee in the lobby was $1 and they had a bowl of whole fruit near the cash register of the restaurant that was $2 a piece:eek: even if you had purchased the buffet breakfast.

 

Love you pictures too, thanks for sharing.

I'm glad someone liked it, especially someone who answered my questions before we went. Hell, I'm just glad someone made it through the whole thing (I'm going to assume you did even if you didn't), lol.

I can't explain the ice cream at Pike's. The front desk gave us tokens good for one free scoop each. As for the shuttle, I know they offered one that was $5 that took you into Fairbanks towards the supermarket and restaurants. We didn't take that one, just the airport/train shuttle which was free.

The $1 coffee was in the lobby for us too but that was separate from the free in-room coffee.

I'm glad someone liked it, especially someone who answered my questions before we went. Hell, I'm just glad someone made it through the whole thing (I'm going to assume you did even if you didn't), lol.

 

I can't explain the ice cream at Pike's. The front desk gave us tokens good for one free scoop each. As for the shuttle, I know they offered one that was $5 that took you into Fairbanks towards the supermarket and restaurants. We didn't take that one, just the airport/train shuttle which was free.

 

The $1 coffee was in the lobby for us too but that was separate from the free in-room coffee.

I absolutely made it through the whole thing! I am impressed that you were able to do the whole 10 days without renting a car.