Radiance Alaska Review (WITH LOTS OF PHOTOS)

[DT1304]

 

Some homes in Skagway...

 

 

I loved the quaint streets of Skagway...

 

 

 

Based on the reading that I had done on cruise critic, and also the amount of time the excursions desk was trying to push this, I believe that this is the most popular excursion in Skagway.....

 

 

There are so many options to choose from when selecting this tour. Bus up and train down; train up and bus down; train both ways; train all the way beyond the summit, etc etc.

 

I had booked for us to go on the Alaska railroad scenic railway from Seward to Anchorage, and figured my kids would be really bored sitting on a train for another few hours looking at scenery when in Skagway. So for this reason, I did not follow the trend, and did not book the White Pass railroad excursion.

 

I did however want to see the sights and scenery that this excursion had to offer, so booked through the ship an excursion that they called "Up the Summit"

 

What this was, was a bus tour in a smallish bus holding about 18 people, up to the summit and slightly beyond, into Canada, and stopping at many scenic points along the route for photos. It pretty much stopped for photos of all the things we would have seen from the train, but we also got to get some great photos of the train itself in the distance, and it only took 90 minutes in total.

[avalon007]

....Based on the reading that I had done on cruise critic, and also the amount of time the excursions desk was trying to push this, I believe that this is the most popular excursion in Skagway.....

 

 

There are so many options to choose from when selecting this tour. Bus up and train down; train up and bus down; train both ways; train all the way beyond the summit, etc etc.

 

I had booked for us to go on the Alaska railroad scenic railway from Seward to Anchorage, and figured my kids would be really bored sitting on a train for another few hours looking at scenery when in Skagway. So for this reason, I did not follow the trend, and did not book the White Pass railroad excursion.

 

I did however want to see the sights and scenery that this excursion had to offer, so booked through the ship an excursion that they called "Up the Summit"

 

What this was, was a bus tour in a smallish bus holding about 18 people, up to the summit and slightly beyond, into Canada, and stopping at many scenic points along the route for photos. It pretty much stopped for photos of all the things we would have seen from the train, but we also got to get some great photos of the train itself in the distance, and it only took 90 minutes in total.

 

 

Excellent info!!

 

I have been considering wether to do the White Pass rail trip as well, but we just did one on the Taieri Gorge railway in NZ that from the pics I have seen of the Skagway one isn't so different that we felt the need to do it.

 

We found the NZ trip Ok, but a bit boring after the first few hours.

 

I think your boredom level depends on your past experiences & we would have done the Wilderness Express train to Denali & seen loads of scenery on our cruise tour by the time we get to Skagway, plus what we have seen in NZ etc, leads me to believe the 'I'm impressed' meter wouldn't go off as much for us as some of the people on these forums experienced on the White Pass trip.

 

Your 90 minute trip sounds much more suited to us & it's funny you should mention being able to take pics of the train as those are the pics we realised we wanted after the NZ train trip, but you can't get them whilst on the train!! :)

[DT1304]

We went and met Paul, our tour guide, where were told we had a few minutes wait for a couple of passangers that had left their passports on the ship.

 

It was a little frustrating because we were told over and over again that we had to bring passports as we were crossing into Canada, but we did not let this ruin our tour. We used this wait to meet Paul's wife, who was a tour guide on one of the Skagway Street cars.

 

 

Thats Pauls wife in the photo above.

 

Paul was an AMAZING tour guide, and must say, that if/when I go back, I will take this tour again, and will make a special request to have Paul as my guide if he is still working there. He was that good.

 

In fact later that evening I was chatting with my cabin neighbours, and they told me that they had done the tour in the morning. They asked who my tour guide was in the afternoon, because they had Paul as their guide and found him to be so fantastic.

 

Paul and his wife spend the Summer in Skagway and the Winter in California every year, and have been doing so for many years, so they know the area very well, and you could just tell by the way that Paul describes everything that he does not just love his job, but really loves Skagway and Alaska in general.

 

We started the tour with a short drive through Skagway where Paul pointed out a few landmarks and buildings, and then started the drive up the summit.

 

 

I can't help it. I love waterfalls....

 

 

The scenery was breathtaking....

 

 

One of the stops was for a photo at the "Welcome to Alaska" sign...

 

 

[DT1304]

By now we had crossed into Canada, and had to make our way back to Skagway if we were to ensure we did not miss the ship.

 

We had no way of knowing if we would experience any delays crossing back into USA.

 

As it happens, it was incredibly easy.

 

We also got to see some wildlife on the mountain while on the way back down, but sadly still no bears....

 

 

Paul got us back to town on time, and was going to take us straight to the ship, but I requested we get dropped off in town to walk around for half an hour before we had to make our way back to the ship.

 

So we had a quick look around Skagway, spent a little more money at the Alaska Shirt Company, and then headed back to the ship.

 

Skagway was amazing. I loved it. Well, I loved every port we went to, but Skagway was just beautiful.

 

I sat on my balcony for sailaway, and just chatted with my neighbours, "comparing notes" about our relative tours that we did.

 

Some photos of sailaway from Skagway....

 

 

 

We then got ready for dinner and headed down to the MDR where we once again, were overserved. (I prefer to shift the blame for my weight gain onto someone else, by saying we were overserved, rather than by saying we overate!!!)

 

 

After dinner we went, on the advice of our waiter, to the windjammer for our desert.

 

They had an amazing desert buffet with incredible ice sculptures.

 

After the amount of food we ate at dinner, there was no way I was going to fit any desert in, but we still went by just to have a look...

 

 

We finally made it back to our room after a long but fun day, but much to my kids disappointment, there was no towel animal.

 

Instead of a towel animal, our cabin attendant had a great idea to freak my wife out when she would go into the bathroom to take a shower, and it worked. I loved it!!!

 

 

Thats it for Skagway, the next day we were going to Hubbard Glacier, followed by a day at sea. We arranged for an early wake up call so we would be up and on our balcony for the sail into the bay and towards Hubbard Glacier.

[Tkaklita]

LOL!!!! Love the legs, a first that I've seen here (for me at least). Looking very much forward to your shots of Hubbard Glacier, you are a terrific photographer. I felt the peaceness of Skagway, awesome!!

 

Btw, what camera did you use to take the zipline photos. We are doing the zipline in Icy Strait Point and I am thinking of taking my camcorder.

[DT1304]

LOL!!!! Love the legs, a first that I've seen here (for me at least). Looking very much forward to your shots of Hubbard Glacier, you are a terrific photographer. I felt the peaceness of Skagway, awesome!!

 

Btw, what camera did you use to take the zipline photos. We are doing the zipline in Icy Strait Point and I am thinking of taking my camcorder.

 

Thank you. I am available as your official photographer on all your upcoming cruises if you like. Free of charge!!!!

 

All I would require are flight tickets to the port, and a cabin. ;):D

 

I did not want to take my large SLR camera with me on the zipline, so I took a small Cacon Ixus 9515 that I have had for a few years. This is the same camera I used at the Theme Parks in Anaheim.

 

When we got to Capilano bridge in Vancouver and for most of the other photos taken on the cruise, I used my SLR. It is a Canon EOS 550D.

[Tkaklita]

OH that would really kill the girls if I told them that we had our own photographer, LOL!!!

 

I am bringng my Canon T4i with three lenses: The 18-135mm IS STM, the 55-250mm EF-S and the 40mm STM. The camcorder is a Panasonic HX-WA03, especially for the rafting trip in Denali.

 

I hope I can find the magic that you so eloquently brought to life in your shots.

 

Keep'em coming :)

[DT1304]

I had arranged an early wake up call so I could watch the approach to Hubbard Glacier from my balcony with a cup of coffee.

 

Every morning I had woken up before my family, made my way up to Park cafe and picked up a couple cups of coffee to bring back to my balcony. (I know I could have ordered from room service, but this way I could see what was happening on both sides of the ship, and did not have to wait for room service.)

 

I went out on to my balcony, and I must say that the scenery during the approach to Hubbard Glacier was by far the nicest I had seen all cruise. I wanted to just sit there and take it all in, so decided that this day I would order room service.

 

It seemed that all 2500 other passengers had the same idea, because room service were not able to bring coffees until much later in the day, so I made the walk to the Park cafe and picked up some coffees and pastries.

 

I then sat on my balcony, chatting to my cabin neighbours and just admired the beauty of the world going by.

 

One of the most incredible experiences, as we approached the glacier and moved slowly through the ice fields, was not only the sight of all the ice in the water, and the occasional larger iceberg, but the sounds were amazing.

 

Imagine taking a glass full of ice cubes and pouring room temperature water over it. The sounds of the ice cracking as the water was poured over it. Now imagine that multiplied by thousands. The popping and cracking noises of the ice was amazing to hear.

 

As we got closer and closer, the icebergs got larger and larger...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We eventually reached the point where we could no longer approach the glacier and get any closer as the ice fields were getting too thick, with much larger icebergs floating around. As we all know, only about 10% of the iceberg is actually visible, and the captain wanted to keep us safe.

 

Unfortunately, due to how early in the season we were there, we did not get as close as I expected, but we still got a great view, and the Captain did a remarkable job by pivoting the ship back and forth so everyone, on both sides of the ship could get a good view.

 

The ship always faced the Glacier head on, and the best uninterrupted view was from the helipad, or other similar forward facing areas on the ship.

[DT1304]

I made my way down to the helipad to see if I could get a better view than from my balcony. It was really crowded and they were selling coffees and drinks on the helipad to keep the guests warm.

 

I have seen other reviews for this trip where they describe how cold it was. I can confirm that early in the morning, while we at the Glacier, it was pretty cold. Cold weather does not bother me much, and even I was wearing a coat during the morning.

 

Unfortunately I did not get to see any calving of the glacier. I am not sure if I was just unlucky and missed it, or if we were just too far away to see it, even through my binoculars or zoom lenses. When watching the cruise dvd on my TV (As they play it over and over) there were some close up shots of the glacier calving, with HUGE chunks falling into the water creating massive splashes and waves. (I still wonder whether these video clips were filmed that day, or edited in from a previous cruise) My family had done a similar cruise on Radiance to Hubbard Glacier many years ago, and I have seen great photos of the glacier calving that my brother took, but they were there in late July/early August, and managed to get really close to Hubbard Glacier.

 

Hubbard Glacier photo taken during approach....

 

 

Closer......

 

 

I loved the blue colouring of the ice.....

 

 

 

After an hour or so at the Glacier we were went up to the windjammer and had a small breakfast. There were quite a lot of people sitting inside at the Solarium pool, or in the windjammer sitting far from any windows, and I could not help but wonder why people would be all the way at the Hubbard Glacier, have only a few hours there, and not be using every possible minute to admire it. Each to their own I guess.

 

We made sure we got a seat right at the back, in Ritas Cantina, and had our breakfast looking out to sea.

 

After a few hours there, we slowly started making our bay out of the bay and away from the glacier, and started the last sea day on the way to Seward.

 

Leaving Hubbard.....

 

 

[DT1304]

As I said in a previous post, it was pretty cold during the morning at the Glacier. After we left the glacier and started heading towards Seward, the weather was fantastic.

 

In fact the weather was so good that they arranged a poolside BBQ for lunch that day.

 

On the previous cruise over New Years, they had pool side BBQ about 3 times, and it was something that we missed on this cruise. So when they announced that it would be done, we were very happy.

 

We could not wait for the ribs!!!! If any of you are on a sailing when they have a poolside BBQ, make sure you get some ribs.

 

I am sure that they figured that the BBQ would not be as popular as the December cruise, when the pool deck was packed to capacity, as they only had the food on one side. (Last time they had it on both sides) For this reason long lines developed, but it moved pretty fast so was not that much of a concern.

 

 

After a great lunch, some of us were feeling full of energy.....

 

 

 

 

I told you the weather was great.......

 

 

While some of us were feeling full of energy, some of us....

 

well.....

 

not so much......

 

 

After my little powernap, the worst part of the cruise began.....

 

Packing up have our luggage ready before dinner so that we would not have to rush back after dinner to leave our luggage outside our room.

 

One of the worst sites you will see on a ship, are all the bags lined up in the passages. You know that this means the cruise is almost over.

[DT1304]

I have tried to be as accurate as I can in terms of the order of dinners etc. According to my failing memory, I thought we had the second formal night on the night of Hubbard Glacier. I also think that the Quest was on the same night as formal night.

 

Based on the order of my photos, the formal night was actually the night of Skagway, so those photos of the food before, were actually from formal night.

 

We had the quest after formal night. That was lots of fun. I have heaps of photos from the Quest, but as has been rightly pointed out to me, what happens on quest, stays on quest, and we do not talk about quest....

 

Having said that, I will show you just one photo. I am on the right in the black pants but I have no idea who my new best friend is. I just met him that night.

 

 

Anyway, back to the last sea day, after packing I went and sat in the solarium, overlooking the ocean, and just relaxed. A large group (is it called a group) of whales swam by, and it was quite funny to see so many people rush from one side of the solarium to the other to get a glimpse...

 

 

We headed into the MDR for our last dinner on board, and it was another great meal...

 

 

 

Although I come from a place where tipping is not the norm, our waiter and assistant were so fantastic that I wanted to make sure that I gave them something more than just the prepaid tips.

 

I decided to give it to them personally that night rather than leave it in the envelopes in the room. It is not that I wanted a thank you or anything like that, but I wanted to be certain that they received the tips personally. I am sure they do get it if it is left in the envelopes for them, but I like to be sure.

 

After dinner we said our final goodbyes to our waiters, exchanged email addresses etc, and used the last night to wander around the ship and just enjoy all it had to offer.

 

[DT1304]

Sadly, I am not sure when I will get to book another cruise. I aware of this at the time of this cruise, so made sure we walked around the ship on the last night and just enjoyed every last possible moment.

 

Some of the artwork around the ship....

 

 

Sunset at the pool deck...

 

 

A few more sunset shots, taken at about 11:45pm on the last night....

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we would arrive in Seward. We would be getting off the ship at 8:40am, and I had a full day in Seward planned.

 

Although we were getting close to the end of the holiday, Seward turned out to be one of our favourite ports. We had a great day planned, and I would love to go back to Seward and do it all again.

[Tkaklita]

 

A few more sunset shots, taken at about 11:45pm on the last night....

 

 

 

OMG!!! This is so amazing and gorgeous with the ships glass as a beautiful compliment to the incredible colors you captured!!! A top favorite!!

Edited June 27, 2013 by Tkaklita

[Tweedy]

We finally made it back to our room after a long but fun day, but much to my kids disappointment, there was no towel animal.

 

Instead of a towel animal, our cabin attendant had a great idea to freak my wife out when she would go into the bathroom to take a shower, and it worked. I loved it!!!

 

 

 

That photo got good laughs in our house. That's priceless and hats off to your room steward.

[flames]

 

We finally made it back to our room after a long but fun day, but much to my kids disappointment, there was no towel animal.

 

Instead of a towel animal, our cabin attendant had a great idea to freak my wife out when she would go into the bathroom to take a shower, and it worked. I loved it!!!

 

 

.

 

Thanks for the Great Review and this is to funny, I love it:eek::D

 

[jnors]

Thanks for your review. I really enjoyed it and especially your pictures. I can't wait for our cruise next year! :)

[DT1304]

Thank you all for your comments and for reading my review.

 

I will try my best to get on to Seward ASAP.

 

Watch this space...

[G85 SS]

Stunning last day shots. People think sunsets in Florida are pretty. WOW.

 

Your stateroom attendant has a sense of humor. That is funny.

 

I have to admit, I am quite jealous. My father has been on that same cruise twice and both times on Radiance of the Seas. I dream of one day doing that cruise.

[dani negreanu]

Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed trip report. I've read everything and enjoyed it immensely. In fact – I was eagerly awaiting it – since at the beginning you were supposed to sail on "our date" (July 26th) – the same itinerary and also, maybe, a different point of view, since we are both "not-Americans":).

[Realtor at Sea]

We will be taking this cruise next May. Your review has been so very informative and I have taken lots of notes. Love your sense of humor and terrific descriptions especially the one of the crackling noise of all the ice at Hubbard Glacier. Thanks for all your great tips. Did any of the saloons have Alaskan pale ale?

[Dolby1000]

After just viewing a review of the fjords of Norway, now I have two cruises on my bucket list.

 

Excellent review, thank you so much for sharing.

 

OWD

[scoobydrewby]

Fantastic review!! We have been debating the Up to the Summitt excursion in Skagway in July, and your photos and reviews have convinced me to add it on. Can't wait to see the rest...

[masonpips]

Thank you!!!! We leave TOMORROW on the same cruise!! After 11 hours from wakeup in Ks City we are relaxing in our room in Vancouver! Perfect timing to finish your sea days!!!!

[DT1304]

Thank you for taking the time to write this detailed trip report. I've read everything and enjoyed it immensely. In fact – I was eagerly awaiting it – since at the beginning you were supposed to sail on "our date" (July 26th) – the same itinerary and also, maybe, a different point of view, since we are both "not-Americans":).

 

You have a great memory.

 

You are really in for a treat with this cruise. I wish I could be doing it again, coming on my original date.

 

You will get to see lots more in terms of salmon and wildlife going on 26th July.

 

Have a good flight over from Israel.

[DT1304]

We will be taking this cruise next May. Your review has been so very informative and I have taken lots of notes. Love your sense of humor and terrific descriptions especially the one of the crackling noise of all the ice at Hubbard Glacier. Thanks for all your great tips. Did any of the saloons have Alaskan pale ale?

 

Its my pleasure. I am glad I can help.

 

Yes, Alaskan pale Ale is available everywhere, including on the ship. In fact that is what I drank during the sail away from Vancouver.

 

I try taste different beers from all over the world in the various places I visit. The one Alaskan beer that I was not very fond of was the Summer Ale. Pale Ale was one of my favourites.