OCD Planner's Live ALASKA Photo Trip Report 16 day Cruise Tour aboard Radiance

[Kimahri]

Hi Cindy

I'm thinking of cutting Fairbanks out of the land portion of our Alaska trip due to time constraints. We're spending two days in Denali, 1 day in Talkeetna, 1 day in Anchorage, 1 day in Girdwood, and 2 days in Seward. Anyhow do you think it's a mistake cutting Fairbanks out of the plans? So much to see and so little time.

 

Also, you had mentioned Avis car rental in Juneau. Did you see where the rental office was at in Juneau? I'm having a hard time figuring out if we can walk there from the ship. I want to pick up a car as quick as possible. We want to go to the church service at the Orthodox church and their Divine Liturgy starts at 9 am. I'm hoping we can get the car quickly and only be a few minutes late for service.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Kimahri

[ace1zoe2]

Hi Cindy

I'm thinking of cutting Fairbanks out of the land portion of our Alaska trip due to time constraints. We're spending two days in Denali, 1 day in Talkeetna, 1 day in Anchorage, 1 day in Girdwood, and 2 days in Seward. Anyhow do you think it's a mistake cutting Fairbanks out of the plans? So much to see and so little time.

 

Also, you had mentioned Avis car rental in Juneau. Did you see where the rental office was at in Juneau? I'm having a hard time figuring out if we can walk there from the ship. I want to pick up a car as quick as possible. We want to go to the church service at the Orthodox church and their Divine Liturgy starts at 9 am. I'm hoping we can get the car quickly and only be a few minutes late for service.

 

Kimahri,

 

We enjoyed our time in Fairbanks with our rental car. However, you are getting 2 days in Denali where we only had the one day, basically noon one day until noon the next day. Only you can decide what's best for you :) There is no way you can see and do everything you'll want to do in one trip - you'll have an excuse to go again someday!

 

The Avis rental was right at the dock, literally a 5 minute or less walk. We had about a 15 minute walk where we went. Had I realized there was an AVIS right there where we disembarked I would have rented from them. Although it depends which berth you dock at. We were right downtown... Rhapsody however was much closer to where we rented from... it would have been 15 minute walk for them to Avis.

 

Hopefully this info will help a little.

[katrina915]

Hi Cindy

I'm thinking of cutting Fairbanks out of the land portion of our Alaska trip due to time constraints. We're spending two days in Denali, 1 day in Talkeetna, 1 day in Anchorage, 1 day in Girdwood, and 2 days in Seward. Anyhow do you think it's a mistake cutting Fairbanks out of the plans? So much to see and so little time.

 

Also, you had mentioned Avis car rental in Juneau. Did you see where the rental office was at in Juneau? I'm having a hard time figuring out if we can walk there from the ship. I want to pick up a car as quick as possible. We want to go to the church service at the Orthodox church and their Divine Liturgy starts at 9 am. I'm hoping we can get the car quickly and only be a few minutes late for service.

 

Everybody has different interests, but I didn't care for Fairbanks all that much. Didn't do the riverboat but that hokey gold mine thingey through HAL and I think we saw a museum.

Edited July 1, 2013 by katrina915

[BabyBokChoy]

Cindy, thank you so much for this terrific and thorough review. Your photography skill is impressive and I did catch a glimpse of your camera on a photo, kudos!! :)

 

Based on your review, my family of four with two young ones will be renting a car in Skagway and taking the route you have detailed in your review. You really made it sound reasonable and easy to do. While I would have loved to do the rail excursion, it will be nice to not book something for four people in one port and do something on our own. I really thank you for explaining it well in your review.

 

I don't think you mentioned much about the fitness center on Radiance. Do you have any more information? Can we access the studio floor area when there are no classes? How much is a class? Did you see people running on track of the cruise ship? Is the temperature pretty low during morning. I might have to bring cold weather running gears... Do you know if the line for the rock climbing is long? I figured given the amount of food served on the ship, I'm gonna need to work out two hours a day to combat it, lol.

 

Thank you again for this wonderful review, I know I will read it a few more times before our cruise.

[Mimi19510]

Amazing review!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Kimahri]

Thanks for the information:)

[ace1zoe2]

Cindy, thank you so much for this terrific and thorough review. Your photography skill is impressive and I did catch a glimpse of your camera on a photo, kudos!! :)

 

Based on your review, my family of four with two young ones will be renting a car in Skagway and taking the route you have detailed in your review. You really made it sound reasonable and easy to do. While I would have loved to do the rail excursion, it will be nice to not book something for four people in one port and do something on our own. I really thank you for explaining it well in your review.

 

I don't think you mentioned much about the fitness center on Radiance. Do you have any more information? Can we access the studio floor area when there are no classes? How much is a class? Did you see people running on track of the cruise ship? Is the temperature pretty low during morning. I might have to bring cold weather running gears... Do you know if the line for the rock climbing is long? I figured given the amount of food served on the ship, I'm gonna need to work out two hours a day to combat it, lol.

 

Thank you again for this wonderful review, I know I will read it a few more times before our cruise.

 

I think that your family will enjoy the opportunity to do Skagway to Carcross on your own. Stopping when you want, staying as long as you want, eating when you want, etc. I think it works much better for a family than being on a motorcoach.

 

I'm sorry, I can't help you with the fitness center... I only went in long enough to take pictures :) The mornings were cooler outside but if I was walking I think I would have warmed up very quickly and been hot wearing cold weather gear.

 

We also never went around the rock climbing wall, but I'm doubting the line was really long. Even when we went in the Caribbean the wait wasn't too long. Most people seemed to be just watching.

 

Thanks for taking time to read my trip report and ask questions. If you think of anything else, ask away. I'll try my best to answer or someone else might chime in.

[ace1zoe2]

Amazing review!

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Thanks so much for the compliment! I appreciate your taking time to read and comment.

 

 

Thanks for the information:)

 

You're welcome! Glad someone else could provide more info too.

Edited July 2, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[Marylandteachergirl]

Ace1Zoe2, again thank you for this incredible resource. I think you referenced two questions I had before the real planning begins for 2015...

 

Do I have to book the cruise tour portion the same day/time I book the cruise, or can I add it later?

 

And, if the cruise price drops, my price would stay the same if I book a cruise tour, correct?

 

I have been reading and re-reading your review. It is absolutely fantastic!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for the great review and cool pictures.

[ace1zoe2]

Ace1Zoe2, again thank you for this incredible resource. I think you referenced two questions I had before the real planning begins for 2015...

 

Do I have to book the cruise tour portion the same day/time I book the cruise, or can I add it later?

 

And, if the cruise price drops, my price would stay the same if I book a cruise tour, correct?

 

I have been reading and re-reading your review. It is absolutely fantastic!

 

I'm so glad that I was able to answer your questions. Thank you so much for your kind words. You will have so much fun planning your Alaska trip over the next couple of years, but I see you have a couple more in the meantime to keep you busy!

 

Happy Sails!

[ace1zoe2]

Thanks for the great review and cool pictures.

 

Melony,

 

Thanks for taking time to read my review and comment, I appreciate it very much.

 

Cruise on! :p

[Marylandteachergirl]

Hi Again,

 

Do I have to book the cruise tour portion the same day/time I book the cruise, or can I add it later?

 

And, if the cruise price drops, my price would stay the same if I book a cruise tour, correct?

 

What are your thoughts on the two questions? I think I just need to book at a price I am happy with, right?

We have only cruised RCI. I admit Princess looks great for Alaska, but my DH is a stick with what you know person...

[ace1zoe2]

Hi Again,

 

Do I have to book the cruise tour portion the same day/time I book the cruise, or can I add it later?

 

And, if the cruise price drops, my price would stay the same if I book a cruise tour, correct?

 

What are your thoughts on the two questions? I think I just need to book at a price I am happy with, right?

We have only cruised RCI. I admit Princess looks great for Alaska, but my DH is a stick with what you know person...

 

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I had answered that question earlier on for someone & I thought you were saying you found the answer without asking your questions :o

 

I'm not sure if you HAVE to book both at the same time. However, say you booked today and say your cruise was $1000pp and the cruise tour was $2000pp and you only book the cruise for $1000. Then 3 months from now you decided you did want to do the cruise tour and the price has now increased to $2500 or $3000 I believe you would have to pay that new price, not the price available when you booked originally.

 

You are correct about the price decrease from what I was told. Others that had cruise only booked, got a decrease in price but the cruise tour did not go down. As a matter of fact it never budged in price after we booked, in either direction.

 

Just my personal experience but every cruise I've been on has been the cheapest at the point I booked it and only increased in price (except Canada/New England I got 2 price drops withing 2 weeks of booking :)). So I always book as soon as the itineraries come out then sit back and watch the prices go up over the next year to year and a half. I'm happy knowing I got the cabin I wanted and that I got the best price I could.

 

Hopefully, I've now answered your questions :) If you need anything else, just let me know.

Edited July 3, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[Marylandteachergirl]

You confirmed what I thought! Again, thank you so much. I was avoiding Alaska because of the cold, but all of your work on such a fantastic and comprehensive review have completely changed my mind.

[margob111]

I'm going to Alaska in May of 2014 and have been scanning these boards since I booked two or so weeks ago. I'm doing a land tour first through Princess then going on the Coral Princess ans cant wait. It took a year to plan our Mediterranean cruise so now I've got a year to plan the Alaska cruise. I'll be following your review.

[whynotnow50]

Hi, wonderfully detailed report.

 

Just wondering how long you spent on the car trip to Carcross and beyond? I'm trying to convince my daughter (adult) it would be fun to do a self drive, but she's not buying it. Is it an easy drive and do you think you see more - not necessarily better, but more close up -- scenery than the train trip?

 

Also, in Juneau, when you went to the Alaskan Depot, was there somewhere to park your car, and could you also drive to the brewery rather than take the $7.50 shuttle each way?

 

Thanks so much for the report.

[dforeigner]

Awesome review! Thank you very much.

[Wisconsin Travelers]

I was not happy about them redeploying our ship & changing the ports but after getting $400 OBC on top of the $150 we already had to move-over to the new itinerary I wasn't as disappointed as I originally was :)

 

Original Sailing – Venice to Barcelona – 10/27/14 to 11/06/14

10 nights

8 ports

2 sea days

Venice – overnight, Corfu, Kotor, Salerno, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Nice, Barcelona

Balcony $1349 for 10 nights (when booked, was up to $1849 now)

 

New Sailing – Rome to Barcelona - 10/29/14-11/6/14

8 nights

7 ports

1 sea day

Rome, Florence/Pisa, Nice, Corsica, Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Valencia (Spain), Barcelona – overnight

Balcony $999 for 8 nights

 

We went ahead and upgraded to a JS for the new sailing since hubby loved the one we had on this cruise. I know RCI is doing everything they can to keep everyone happy but I think it could have been handled better. In hindsight, they should have put all the booked rooms on hold and contacted everyone already booked to see if they wanted to move over or cancel first, before releasing the rooms for general sale.

 

There were already 10 or so people on our roll call that had B2B booked in the same cabins, the aft cabins, hump balconies, etc. that aren't going to be available now. The aft cabin I had booked was already gone. Luckily though I snagged the JS 1100 on the aft corner so I was REALLY happy... but I'm positive someone else is going to be really mad. Luckily I learned about the change early & was on the phone 3 times this weekend trying to get things worked out. We'll just have to do Venice another time :)

 

Cindy, Thanks a million for sharing your wonderful Alaska journal with us! I thought I was OCD about traveling, but you have me beat by a long shot! We are going on a Holland America cruisetour mid-August (somewhat different itinerary than yours) so I picked up some very helpful hints from your experience.

 

Tom and I did a Celebrity Reflection cruise out of Rome last month (different ports than yours), and I want to share with you a couple of tidbits that were really helpful to us. We spent 4 nights in Rome prior to the cruise - stayed at Hotel delle Vittorie which I booked through either Orbitz or Priceline. It was in a great residential area, easy access to public transportation, very clean, very friendly and helpful staff who spoke excellent English, and I think we paid something like 350 Euros for the whole time. We thought it was a very good value. If you or any other CC readers plan to stay here, please contact me directly for some good (and super reasonable) eating tips! barbaramae813@yahoo.com.

 

We used RomeInLimo dot com for airport to hotel transfer - it really wasn't any more than using the train and then taxi to the hotel. Very professional, on time, good English. Highly recommended on CC boards and I agree. We also put together a transfer with them from the pier to the airport at the end of the cruise with 3 other couples and that worked perfectly too.

 

If you want to do any tours in Rome, we strongly recommend Viator dot com. We did the "skip the line vatican tour" and it was fabulous. Long, long lines of people waiting to get in, and our little group of 20 just breezed right past them. The guide was terrific. We would use Viator for any of their other Rome tours (and there are a bunch of them to pick from) without hesitation. If you book one tour online, you'll get an email offering you a discount to book another.

 

Now I'm back to planning all the details for our Alaska trip, so thanks again for all of your work and help. Happy travels to you and Charlie - I hope you enjoy your Med cruise half as much as we did!

[ace1zoe2]

You confirmed what I thought! Again, thank you so much. I was avoiding Alaska because of the cold, but all of your work on such a fantastic and comprehensive review have completely changed my mind.

 

Glad that I could help convince you... I promise that you will not be sorry!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

I'm going to Alaska in May of 2014 and have been scanning these boards since I booked two or so weeks ago. I'm doing a land tour first through Princess then going on the Coral Princess ans cant wait. It took a year to plan our Mediterranean cruise so now I've got a year to plan the Alaska cruise. I'll be following your review.

 

Margob,

 

Thanks for taking time to post. I sure that in all of the detail I have here, you will find at least one or two helpful hints for your trip :)

 

I'm just getting started on the planning stages of our Med cruise for 2014... what fun I have to look forward to!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

Hi, wonderfully detailed report.

 

Just wondering how long you spent on the car trip to Carcross and beyond? I'm trying to convince my daughter (adult) it would be fun to do a self drive, but she's not buying it. Is it an easy drive and do you think you see more - not necessarily better, but more close up -- scenery than the train trip?

 

Also, in Juneau, when you went to the Alaskan Depot, was there somewhere to park your car, and could you also drive to the brewery rather than take the $7.50 shuttle each way?

 

Thanks so much for the report.

 

The trip up to Carcross and back will take approximately 5 hours depending on how many times that you stop, if you go to Caribou Crossing, the Suspension Bridge, have lunch, etc.

 

We made many stops, had lunch, did the Suspension Bridge but not Caribou Crossing (since we'd been before) and it took us about 5 1/2 hours. I highly recommend purchasing the Murray's Guide to the South Klondike Highway if you decide to drive yourself. It gives many mile markers of where to stop that you would normally pass right by & never realize it was there.

 

You can purchase it thru his website at murrays guide dot com for $5, well worth the cost in my opinion.

 

In Juneau we drove to the brewery and there was plenty of parking. I'm not sure what you are referring to when you sy the Alaskan Depot.

 

If I can answer any other questions, please feel free to ask.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

Awesome review! Thank you very much.

 

Thanks so much for taking time to read & post. Glad that you enjoyed my trip report.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

Cindy, Thanks a million for sharing your wonderful Alaska journal with us! I thought I was OCD about traveling, but you have me beat by a long shot! We are going on a Holland America cruisetour mid-August (somewhat different itinerary than yours) so I picked up some very helpful hints from your experience.

 

Tom and I did a Celebrity Reflection cruise out of Rome last month (different ports than yours), and I want to share with you a couple of tidbits that were really helpful to us. We spent 4 nights in Rome prior to the cruise - stayed at Hotel delle Vittorie which I booked through either Orbitz or Priceline. It was in a great residential area, easy access to public transportation, very clean, very friendly and helpful staff who spoke excellent English, and I think we paid something like 350 Euros for the whole time. We thought it was a very good value. If you or any other CC readers plan to stay here, please contact me directly for some good (and super reasonable) eating tips! barbaramae813@yahoo.com.

 

We used RomeInLimo dot com for airport to hotel transfer - it really wasn't any more than using the train and then taxi to the hotel. Very professional, on time, good English. Highly recommended on CC boards and I agree. We also put together a transfer with them from the pier to the airport at the end of the cruise with 3 other couples and that worked perfectly too.

 

If you want to do any tours in Rome, we strongly recommend Viator dot com. We did the "skip the line vatican tour" and it was fabulous. Long, long lines of people waiting to get in, and our little group of 20 just breezed right past them. The guide was terrific. We would use Viator for any of their other Rome tours (and there are a bunch of them to pick from) without hesitation. If you book one tour online, you'll get an email offering you a discount to book another.

 

Now I'm back to planning all the details for our Alaska trip, so thanks again for all of your work and help. Happy travels to you and Charlie - I hope you enjoy your Med cruise half as much as we did!

 

Barbara,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about my Alaska trip and for sharing information about Europe. I am putting your email in my notes and feel certain I will be contacting you in the near future for some first hand tips and info.

 

We have booked a 2 bedroom apartment in Rome to share with our best friends and a 2 bedroom apartment in Barcelona at the end of the trip. We will definitely be looking for good dining venues and ways to save money along the way!

 

Have a great time in Alaska, I don't think that there is any way that you couldn't... it is so beautiful!

 

Happy Sails!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[margob111]

I don't know how many hours it took you to write your review but I've been reading it for days and just finished. Your review is the best I have read on CC to date and reading it as well as Sandy's blog tells me I need to actually finish my reviews. I went to the Caribbean in May and wrote my review and never posted it. I think I did post a few things about my Mediterranean cruise but nothing elaborate. BTW, on our cruise a few years ago, we flew from San Francisco to Paris, spent a few days in Paris, took the night train to Barcelona, spent a few days in Barcelona and then boarded the ship in Barcelona. Our itinerary included Cannes/Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice, and Dubrovnik. We used RomeInLimodotcom in Florence, Rome and Naples and they were fantastic. You also get a discount if you use them for multiple cities. I prepurchased all my tickets, and it came in handy, especially for the Vatican. You will want a private tour guide in the Vatican. I did all the planning for 6 of us and did actually go on several tours in Barcelona with someone I had met on CC, so sometimes there were 8 of us on our tours. I will at some point go back to Italy and spend a month there, I loved it. You will have fun on your cruise - have fun planning and thanks again for the wealth of information you provided on Alaska. I definitely have a head start for my May cruise even if it's on another cruiseline.