Radiance Alaska Review (WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS)

[kruzinkel]

Ahh, yes, that necklace. I remember her well.

 

If I say so myself I think I looked quite good with lipstick, a bra and woman's jewellery.

 

My daughter was dying of embarrassment!!!!

 

shhhhh! we don't talk about quest. what happens on the quest stays on the quest:D

[DT1304]

 

After a relaxing sea day, and the first formal night of the cruise, we awoke to the beautiful sight of Ketchikan from our balcony.

 

My cabin was port side, so at every port (except Icy Strait as it was a tender) we were docked with our balcony facing the pier. This was especially great when we left each port, because I loved sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine and a cheese platter from room service and watching us sail away into the distance.

 

Many of my photos of the ports, taken from the balcony, were done during this sail away from the ports.

 

We went for a quick breakfast in the Windjammer,and then headed off the ship for our first tour of the day.

 

When I was looking at excursions, I did a lot of research and involved my kids as much as I could. That way I could build their excitement, but also ensure that I booked the best excursions that suited all of us. I stayed away from the helicopter or floatplane sightseeing tours because with 5 of us, it got really expensive. I also did not think my kids would even appreciate things like that, unless they got to see bears.

 

I also looked very carefully at what I wanted to book through the ship, and what i wanted to book privately. Most (if not all) the excursions were no more expensive if I booked through the ship. I therefore not only looked at price, but also what type of tour we would experience. For example, whale watching with a ship tour and 150 other people, or book privately and get a small boat experience with just a few others)

 

The first tour we went on was the Ketchikan Duck Tour. I booked this through the ship. There can only be about 18 people on the tour anyway, and if I booked this myself or though the ship, I would have been on the same bus anyway.

 

 

The Ketchikan Duck tour is a bus that takes you around Ketchikan for 45 minutes, showing you all the highlights, and then it drives into the harbor, and you get to see Ketchikan from the water for 45 minutes, offering you a whole different perspective.

 

I knew this tour would be a lot of fun from the second we boarded the bus. The guide was hysterical. His stories and general description of life in Ketchikan were really funny.

 

I would also like to pass on this advice I received for anyone that is going to take this tour. Try get on the right side of the bus. Most of the points of interest to see are on the right side of the bus, so it makes photos a hell of a lot easier than trying to get photos past other passangers.

 

Having said that, I did not take any photos while on the land portion of this tour. My reason for that is that we were going to do a self guided walking tour later in the day, that was to take us past all these sights anyway, so I rather just enjoyed the tour for what it was and kept the photos till later.

 

I must say, that as much fun as this tour was, 45 minutes in the water was a little long, and it started to get a little boring. I would still recommend this tour, but just wish that the water portion was cut down by 15 minutes and it was rather added to the land portion.

 

These photos were taken during the water portion....

 

 

 

 

 

The tour ended, and we were dropped off back at the ship at 10am. We had an hour before our next tour, so went into the souvenir shop right there next to the ship, as well as just walked around the area in front of the ship looking in the various stores.

 

One thing I must say, is for all those of you that are planning on doing any shopping for tourist type of things, I found Ketchikan to be the cheapest of the ports. My wife bought a really nice jacket, with "Alaska" embroidery, for $19,95. I could not believe how cheap it was. I really thought we would find things cheaper and cheaper as we went along, but it actually got more and more expensive from port to port.

 

Basically what i am saying is if you find something you like, get it. Don't wait.

[DT1304]

After a little bit of shopping, we made our way to our next excursion...

 

 

While walking to the show, my daughter made a couple of friends along the way...

 

 

I loved how everything is built over the water....

 

 

Anyway, back to the Lumberjack Show. This was another excursion that I booked through the ship. The price was the same if I booked directly, and the venue where the show is held holds a couple of hundred people, so either way I was not getting "exclusive" treatment booking directly.

 

The show does sell out, so I suggest booking long before getting to Ketchikan if you want to see this.

 

We made our way to our seats in the already packed venue and were treated to a really fun show. There is the host and then there are 4 lumberjacks that they divide into Team USA and Team Canada. they also split the crowd up down the middle so each half had their team to support. (We were team USA)

 

The banter between the "contestants" was great. It is amazing that they do this 3 or 4 times a day, yet it seems like it is the first time. they have such good energy, and the show is also geared very much for the kids to enjoy. There is also a lot of humor that was directed more at the older crowd, and went right over the kids heads.

 

This is Team Canada....

 

 

At the end of each "event" the winning pair picks up one of the wood chips that had been chopped, and gives it to a kid on their side of the audience so that they can "keep track of the scores"

 

It was just a small piece of wood that they gave to the kids, until they spotted how engrossed my kids were in the show, screaming and cheering for Team USA. So they selected my daughter to receive one of the wood chips. Only it was not a wood chip. I think the fact that my daughter is so tiny also added to the fact that they pretty much gave her an entire tree stump. She could not even carry it as it was so heavy, but made for some great laughs from the crowd.

 

After the show they stay to take photos with the guests, and my daughter just had to stop and get autographs...

 

 

 

After the Lumberjack show we did what I was becoming a professional at. We did some shopping. We spent a small fortune in the gift shop at the lumberjack show, and then made our way back to the "Welcome to Ketchikan" arch.

 

We had about 3 and a half hours left before we had to be on board (as we left at 4:30pm) and we were going to use our remaining time to do a self guided walking tour of Ketchikan.

 

I had read lots of reviews that suggested we should not miss Saxman and Potlatch park to see the totem poles, but that involved a bus ride there, some time there, and a bus ride back, and we just did not have the time to do that and see Ketchikan.

 

I also saw that many of the original totem poles that we would have seen, had replicas scattered around Ketchikan that we would see on our walk.

 

I took a quick run back to the ship to drop off all our shopping bags and then met the rest of my family back at the arch to start our walking tour....

[DT1304]

The maps and reviews all reckon that you need 2,5 hours to complete the walking tour. By the time we started it we only had just over 2,5 hours but there were s lot of things that we would just walk by and not stop for any length of time so we would make it pretty easily.

 

We started at the welcome arch and followed the map up towards Creek Street. Some of the totem poles were HUGE and really impressive...

 

 

Take a look at that street at the back, it's amazing how it is built and supported...

 

 

A closer view...

 

 

When we got up to Creek Street, we followed the map around, past "Married Man's Trail" and round the back of town. We would get back to Creek Street later on our walk.

 

The Salmon Ladder....

 

Unfortunately, because we were there so early in the season, we did not get to see any salmon in Ketchikan. The various guides said that we were about 2 weeks too early.

 

(We did get to see lots of salmon swimming and jumping by the time we got to Seward. More on that much later in this review)

 

I'll bet this guy will only ever forget his keys in his car once.....

 

 

That was one of the SHORTER staircases. Imagine walking up that with all your groceries, and then realizing you left the front door keys in the car. NOT FUN!!!

 

We eventually made it back to Creek Street.

 

 

Creek Street was a great place to complete our walking tour. We got to see some of the history (Dolly's House) and also look in the various stores along Creek Street.

 

I of course had to stop on Creek Street for a quick refueling, and we also took the short 1 minute ride up to Fox Creek Lodge.

 

My next post will have photos of Creek Street, Cape Fox Lodge

[DT1304]

My quick refueling on Creek Street....

 

Creek Street photos....

 

 

 

Cape Fox Lodge...

 

After this we headed back to the ship and were of course a few of the last people to get back on board. We were not some of the famouse runners, but still made sure we used every bit of our port time that we could...

 

I love how Ketchikan is quite literally built into the mountain. The next 2 photos were taken from my balcony of typical Ketchikan buildings.....

 

 

[DT1304]

We set sail from Ketchikan at 4:30pm. Here are a couple of scenic photos taken as we sailed away....

 

 

 

 

As we left Ketchikan at 4:30pm, we had lots of time to just relax and admire the scenery before dinner.

 

I am a lover of red meat and had a great steak in the MDR that night.....

 

 

Now as for the food, the steak was not in the same class at the steak from Choppes Grille, but it was still really good.

 

There was Venison on the menu too. I asked our waiter which was better and he said the steak. then he said I should have the venison as the steak was on the menu every night while the venison was not, so I changed my order for the venison.

 

Of course he brought me both, and who am I to waste good food!!!

 

Overall I really LOVED Ketchikan. It is a great place to visit and I think I pretty much got to see a lot in the few hours we were there. My kids loved the Lumberjack show and it was one of their favorite excursions. (Nothing beat the Summer dog sled ride in Seward, but this was right up there as one of their favourites)

 

The last photo before we move on to Icy Strait Point was taken at about 11pm, as we sailed towards Icy Strait....

 

[Tkaklita]

Awwww, too cute of the lumberjack shots with your daughter. I am sure she made their day when asking for their autographs as they did for her with the "tree stump" LOL!! Still chuckling.......

 

Curious, were you by chance going to post the daily compasses at the end of your review or would it be possible for you to email them to me??? I would love the chance to send them off to our group so as to at least see if there is anything we would like to hook up together on? Not that we are planning every minute, but I'd like to be able to hit a few hole in ones, ;)

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[DT1304]

Curious, were you by chance going to post the daily compasses at the end of your review or would it be possible for you to email them to me??? I would love the chance to send them off to our group so as to at least see if there is anything we would like to hook up together on? Not that we are planning every minute, but I'd like to be able to hit a few hole in ones, ;)

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I will see what I can find, but I don't think I kept them. I kept brochures from every tour and excursion, so i will look through that and see if I kept the cruise compasses.

 

One thing I can comment on regarding the ship, was the night time activities. There never really seemed to be many happening. In December there was something happening every night in the Colony club, but this time all i could think of was the Love and Marriage show in the theatre and the Battle of the sexes and Quest in the colony club.

 

They advertised Karaoke one night, but when my wife and elder daughter went to watch, they came back 10 minutes later to say it was not happening.

 

I am a poker player, and went to the casino every night to see if I could get a game. The table was always empty. The dealer said they had one game with 4 players, but when one player left they stopped the game.

 

I guess it was just a different crowd and a different time so the activities were very different.

 

Of course there is the usual bingo and such during the days, and the shows every night.

 

I went on the first night, agree with the comments on another thread that the comedian was not good at all, and only went to one other show, the Motown show.

[jennyau]

Thank you!

 

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Forums mobile app

[Yillup]

Hi Kylie,

 

I am glad you enjoying the review.

 

As for the food, it really was still excellent, so no issues there. I would however suggest you book for a couple of the Speciality restaurants for your cruise. I think an 11 night cruise, eating in the same dining room every night, may get a little boring. (Although we ate there every night except one on our 11 night and loved it)

 

Below are a couple of room photos. Sorry for the bad lighting in the one photo.

 

 

 

FYI, some info regarding the rooms. The rooms you have booked are above the casino. There have been comments on these forums that you may hear noises from the casino such as bells ringing etc as the casino runs till the early hours of the morning. Perhaps bring some earplugs if you are a light sleeper.

 

I have never had a cabin directly above or below a public area that would be open at night, so I can not comment on the accuracy of this concern, but just thought I would let you know.

 

I was in 7018, so was right up front with the theatre below me.

 

On my last cruise I was up on deck 10, and was also up front. I had the salon above me, which only opened long after I was awake, and closed long before I went to bed, so noise was not an issue.

 

Thank you thank you thank you! And thanks for the earplug tip. I'll be bringing a few along with me as my husband AND my son both snore. I'll bring a few extras in case anyone else needs them... lol

 

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Forums mobile app

[ERIE 13]

This is great. Keep it going.

[BecciBoo]

So enjoying your review...great to read another perspective. Just finished up with Cindy and her OCD planner's review.

Need another couple to get me through to ours Sept. 6th. the last cruise of the season I think. Boy that embroidered jacket ought to be really cheap by that time;)

[HeatherC430]

Happy Belated Birthday! We'll be celebrating my husband's 40th on our upcoming Alaska cruise too! Enjoying the review!

[notsomadhatter]

Really enjoying your review. We're pondering Alaska for 2015!

[Dreamer115]

You Hoo! Where are you, came home after the weekend away, expecting to have pages to read and you must also have been away from your computer. Can't wait to read more.:confused:

[DT1304]

Hehehe.

Sorry. Had a really busy weekend and am about to step into a meeting at work.

 

Will continue when back at my computer later today.

 

Icy Strait Point coming up....

[Dreamer115]

I'll try and be more patient its just I have been enjoying it so much.

[DT1304]

I'll try and be more patient its just I have been enjoying it so much.

 

I am glad you are enjoying it. I am enjoying going through my photos and reminding myself of all these great experiences.....

 

Now onto Icy Strait Point.

 

We arrived at this port and it is a tender port. There is not really that much to do at Icy Strait compared with ports like Juneau, so I had planned and booked a whale watching excursion here.

 

Many people book the whale watching in juneau, but since there was so much to do there, I figured we would do the whale watching here instead.

 

Icy Strait has been referred to on the forums as a "man made" port, but I really enjoyed seeing this very small port (and the town of Hoonah) as I felt it gave me a real idea of "Real Alaska".

 

We sat on the balcony and watched us sail into Icy Strait Point, and admired the fantastic scenery.

 

 

 

 

According to our tour guide later that day, Icy Strait and Hoonah have a population of about 1200 people, so it really is a small place. We were to be tendered there until 6pm, with the last tender back to the ship at 5:30pm, so we were in no rush. (our whale watching tour was not until 2pm)

 

We went to a leisurely breakfast in the Windjammer while allowing the rush to get tenders to pass. We figured we would be waiting anyway for those on the ship that had early tours booked.

 

After breakfast we went down to get our tender to the pier, and had to wait about 2 minutes. It was great to just walk on without having to wait in lines. We figured we would spend the morning walking around and perhaps walk to the town of Hoonah, but we never got that far. (We enjoyed the peace and tranquility of Icy Strait enough that it took up the whole morning)

 

Obligatory photo of ship taken from tender....

 

 

We were welcomed on to Icy Strait Point by some locals, who gave us some wood chips to throw into the fire, but we first decided to look around the whole cannery and learn a little about the history of Icy Strait.

 

 

 

For the more adventurous, Icy Strait Point is home to the largest zipline in the world. As you get off the tender and enter the entrance to the store, is the desk for zipline bookings.

 

I had not booked the zipline, because I had booked to do a zipline tour in Skagway that involved many more (albeit shorter) ziplines through the trees. By the time we arrived at Icy Strait Point however, my son was desperate to give this zipline a go, seeing as it was advertised as the longest and highest in the world. I did not think we would get a chance to go as I figured it would be booked up, but they were actually taking bookings for people as they walked up.

 

It is a total of a 1,5 hour tour as they have to get you to the top of the mountain first, and we just had enough time to complete this before our whale watching started so off we went to try get booked on. Unfortunately they had a minimum weight requirement of 90 pounds, which my son did not make, so he could not go. (Which reminds me of the reason why I did not book this excursion to begin with) It looked like a lot of fun though, so would recommend you think about this if you go, although I am saying this from what it looked like, without actually experiencing it first hand.

[DT1304]

We then took a walk along the waterfront to the zipline landing point, stopping at the Icy Strait Point "welcome sign" and at the fire to throw in our woodchip and make our wishes....

 

 

 

We stopped for a hot chocolate (and beer for me) and relaxed on the waterfront, skimming stones and watching a whale play in the water out in the distance neat the ship.

 

I must admit that I thought my son was up to his usual tricks when he insisted we all stare out at the water as he saw a whale. He had a whole group of people staring out at nothing and I was convinced he was just having us on....

 

The we saw a huge tail as the whale dived down. It was awesome to see, and just built the excitement more for our upcoming whale watching tour.

 

After this we took a walk through the forest and looked for wildlife. Some other people said they saw a bald Eagle, but the only wildlife I saw on that walk was my kids!

 

We then did a little shopping for my fridge magnets and baseball caps for my collection, and then figured we would have some lunch while waiting for our tour.

 

The crab on the pier looked pretty good. I am not a seafood eater, but when in Alaska decided I will eat the local foods and experience all that I can. Unfortunately there was quite a wait for food, and I also found it to be really expensive. There is not really anywhere else to eat so they can pretty much charge what they want.

 

So we decided to get a tender back to the ship, drop off our extra bags and had a quick lunch on the ship, before we headed back for our 2 pm tour.

 

As for the whale watching tour, I could have booked a trip with the ship, but that would have involved a much larger boat with lots of people, and I wanted a more exclusive, small boat experience.

 

I tried to book a bear search and whale watching tour, that would have taken most of the day, but when I tried to book, back in February, it was already booked out. They only take small groups of about 6 people, so you need to book really early.

 

I then found another company through recommendations on trip advisor, and booked with them. I paid a little more than the ship organised excursion, but was prepared to do this for the small boat experience.

 

I booked through Hoonah Travel Adventures, and everything was great, from the service when I booked right through till when they dropped us off at the pier after the tour.

 

I had some issues during the booking with my credit card being compromised online (Not through this company but while making another booking elsewhere) and Angie was so patient and helpful is arranging my booking while waiting for my credit card to be sorted out so i could pay my deposit.

 

We were picked up just outside the gates of Icy Strait Point, and were taken on the short drive into Hoonah, where we would meet Captain Paul and begin our search for the whales.

 

There were about 15 people on the boat, and at first I was a little concerned as I thought I had booked a private tour with just my family. (Upon checking this I checked that I was not able to book that tour, with another company as they were full)

 

It was not an issue in the end, as there was never a time when the boat was too ful and we could not get a view of the whales.

 

Captain Paul was really knowledgeable and told some great stories about Hoonah in general, and some of his own personal stories too.

 

We had some rain during this tour, and for the first time on the trip, I experienced cold!

 

We made our way out to search for the whales, over water that was smooth as glass. Captain Paul commented many times that he had not experienced such calm water for weeks. This just made the search for whales a lot easier.

 

Suddenly, in the distance, we spotted the first whale, jumping right out the water and coming back down on its back with a huge splash. Unfortunately it was quite far in the distance so was not expected, and I did not have my camera ready.

 

We headed out to where it was and then came across a huge whale rolling around on the surface, literally playing with a piece of wood. We watched this whale for a while as it just rolled over and over, putting on a great show for us. Paul told us this was a baby, which was pretty unbelievable based on its size....

 

 

Then we saw this HUGE, and I mean HUGE, whale come by, make a really loud noise, and they both then dived down and swam away. It was probably the mother coming to take away her calf.

 

We kept seeing whales pop up all over the place, and as we spotted them, Paul took us closer to get a better view.

 

From the stories I had read on these forums, and the tourist brochures, I thought we would be taken to a place where there would be literally tons (excuse the pun) of whales all around us. This was not the case. We had to make an effort to find them but we still got to see 10-12 whales during the tour. Not bad.

 

I guess they are wild life and we could not expect them to just be where we wanted.

 

One thing to take note of, is that when the whales actually dive down, they can stay down for a long time, so the chances are that we never saw the same whale. You need to have you camera ready because it is not always so easy to get the shot you want. I literally took hundreds of photos to land up with the few reasonably good photos I have. I will not be getting a job as a photographer for national geographic any time soon!!

 

Have a look how calm the water was....

 

 

 

Paul then took us closer to land so we could search for some bears. Unfortunately we could not spot any bears, but we did come across another couple of whales close to land, and then also saw 3 sea lions playing at the water surface. (I can not seem to find my photo of the sea lions)

 

Paul had to get us back in time to get the last tender back to the ship, so we made our way back to Hoonah. We spotted a few more whales as we went past our cruise ship but they dived down pretty soon after we got there, so we just headed back to land.

 

We then took the short ride back to Icy Strait where we were dropped off to get the last tender back to our ship...

 

The town of Hoonah....

 

 

We really enjoyed this tour, and would recommend them to anyone that wanted a smaller boat experience than going through the cruise line.

 

We were back on board by 5:40pm, ready for our 6pm sail away towards Juneau.

 

Of course back on my balcony, drink in hand, and ready to take more scenic photos as we left. Had a nice chat with my cabin neighbours and then we set sail...

 

The next post will have just a few scenic photos as we sailed away. Next day we would be in Juneau.

[DT1304]

 

 

 

 

11pm..... (While I am sure there were times when it was dark, it never really got totally dark during the hours I was awake)

 

[Tkaklita]

You are natural and funny story teller, really enjoying this review. Great shots

too, keep it coming for this is helping me become even more excited for our same cruise in June 2014!!

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Forums mobile app

Edited June 24, 2013 by Tkaklita

[DT1304]

You are natural and funny story teller, really enjoying this review. Great shots

too, keep it coming for this is helping me become even more excited for our same cruise in June 2014!!

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks very much. I am glad you are enjoying this review as much as I am enjoying writing it.

 

I will try continue asap, but have some work commitments that I have to complete. I would really rather be cruising...

 

COME ON LOTTERY!!!!!!!!!

[Dizziedi]

Daniel, so glad you had a great trip!

 

Cheers

Di

[reigle4]

We will be taking our first ever Alaskan cruise and have been ship shopping as to which cruise line to take. We have a 10 year old granddaughter that will be coming with us and we were thinking of taking Disney for that reason but I would be interested in your thoughts as to the amenities for kids aboard the ship you were on.

[DT1304]

We will be taking our first ever Alaskan cruise and have been ship shopping as to which cruise line to take. We have a 10 year old granddaughter that will be coming with us and we were thinking of taking Disney for that reason but I would be interested in your thoughts as to the amenities for kids aboard the ship you were on.

 

Hi,

 

The amenities for kids on Radiance are abundant and fantastic.

 

I must admit that my kids never made use of any of the kids clubs. Thats just their own personal thing. They have never been kids that go off to kids clubs as they do not like the very structured way things are sometimes run. They would prefer to do their own thing on the ship, like go play mini golf, go rock climbing etc.

 

I had my younger kids signed up to kids club for my December cruise on radiance, and after half an hour they were signed out and were rather out and about with us.

 

This time we did not even register them. (And then on the 2nd last day my daughter asked to go to kids club) :rolleyes:

 

My kids would, apart from what I mentioned above, often spend time together playing cards or chess, and my younger 2 also went to a movie together.

 

I am fortunate that my kids are pretty well behaved, so I am not too concerned with them ruining other peoples cruises, but I also don't like to leave them unsupervised anyway, so it is difficult to answer questions about the other activities that are run that I was not there for.

 

Having said that, there is the rock climbing wall, mini golf, sports court, arcade ($), cards tables, chess sets, daily bingo games ($) etc. As for the kids clubs, the facilities looked fantastic and are divided into various age categories. I often saw the kids club kids being taken around the ship doing various activities, and they always looked to be having lots of fun, and were very well supervised by the cruise line staff.

 

Another thing to point out, with regards to the activities that incur an extra cost, like the arcade or bingo, what we did is impose a limit on the kids sea pass cards, so that when they hit that limit it stopped working. They do this for you in 2 minutes at guest services.