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The story of our Alaska trip...July 18-Aug. 3, 2013

cruisin'mama

By cruisin'mama,
in Alaska

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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This was our last full day onboard. This is always such a sad day, the day to pack and say goodbye. At least it was Inside Passage day. It started out foggy and overcast, but later in the day it cleared up for a while and was sunny and nice.

 

I spent most of the day enjoying the scenery from the veranda. We ordered room service for lunch. We slowly got things ready to put the luggage outside tonight.

 

We went down and did some minor shopping at the ship’s stores and then went down to guest services to inquire about the leftover money in our onboard credit account. We were assured that it would be refunded to our credit card. ( and it was, just a few days after we disembarked )

We got ready for our last dinner and went down to eat and to say goodbye to our wonderful dining room servers and maitre ‘d. My husband went back to the casino for one last time and I took our son back to the cabin and put him to bed. The luggage was out, the goodbyes were said……. L

 

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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I had set the alarm on my iPhone but the time hadn’t adjusted so it went off an hour late. We were already going under the Lion’s gate Bridge in Vancouver! Time to get moving! I had arranged a private tour of Vancouver with ToursbyLocals.

 

http://www.toursbylocals.com/?s=AW_18A_001a_tours%20by%20locals&gclid=CLzin8vF9rgCFe1_QgodcB8AZQ

 

She was picking us up at 8:30am outside Canada Place. We had asked for an early disembarkation time, but were given 8:15am. We called to let her know we’d be a little late. The 8:00 group was called on time so we thought we’d be close. But then we had to wait and wait. It was pushing 9am before we got off the ship.

 

It was raining in Vancouver. Since we were taking the 5:45pm Amtrak to Seattle, our guide took my husband and our luggage to the train station to put the luggage in storage for the day ( $5 per bag). My son and I waited for them to get back and went into Starbucks while we waited. Soon they returned and off we went for the day. While our guide was nice and had good reviews, we just didn’t seem to click. It wasn’t the fun, personalized tour that I had envisioned. Since there were 2 ships in port and it was a Canadian holiday weekend, I was concerned about doing the HOHO bus, so I went with a private guide. Granted we saw places that the HOHO wouldn’t have taken us, but I almost felt that she didn‘t want to be there that day. Maybe on a different day things would have been different. We did go to Stanley Park, Granville Island and to the Queen Elizabeth park ( which I enjoyed while everyone else waited in the car ), among other places. She dropped us off at the Vancouver Police Museum and when we were done, we caught a cab to the train station.

http://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/

 

We booked Business Class on the train and we were first in line. When checking in, I asked for seats on the right side for the views and was given seats on the left side, arghh! It was ok though. We each had a $3 credit for the café, so we got some food and it was not great and it was expensive. But what do you expect for train food.

 

We arrived in Seattle on time and we were staying at the Cedarbrook Lodge, who arranged a town car to pick us up. We got to the Cedarbrook Lodge around 11pm and checked in and went to bed.

 

http://www.cedarbrooklodge.com/?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=cedarbrook%20lodge%20SeaTac

The next morning, we had the Lodge’s complimentary Northwest style continental breakfast and took their shuttle to the light rail train into downtown. We had a 10am reservation on the Ride the Ducks tour. http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/

We got there about 15 mins before our tour and had to stand in line to get out tickets. We were the last ones to board and off we went. It was a loud and wacky, but fun tour that showed us the sights of Seattle and also Lake Union. It lasted an hour and a half. When it was over, we rode the light rail back to our hotel.

 

The Cedarbrook Lodge is a pretty place, that you would never know was so close to the airport. Each building had a living room with comfy chairs and couches, a big flat screen TV and free snacks. ( Ice cream, candy, water, string cheese, etc) There were two weddings there the day that we were there.

 

We took the hotel shuttle to the airport and got checked in without issue. My husband took his Xanax and prepared for the flight. Luckily this was only a 2 ½ hour flight so I only booked us in coach. He didn’t do as well on the flight home, but he managed. LAX was really crowded when we got back, so I grabbed a standing room only spot on the hotel shuttle to go back and get our car then return to get my husband and son. It was crazy, but we got out of there and were home by 11pm. We hadn’t eaten since lunch, but my son’s wonderful girlfriend had made us some soup and left it in the fridge so I heated up a bowl, then crashed.

 

Our wonderful trip was over. There were only a few glitches, but overall it was a nice trip.

We didn’t do much on the Millennium…we didn’t go to any shows, eat at any specialty restaurants, participate in any activities, etc. so I won’t be able to answer any questions really regarding the ship. But if anyone has any questions about anything that we DID do on the trip, I’ll try to answer them. Our trip was a little different than most people’s due to the fact that we had our son along who has Down Syndrome and we had to wing it at times according to how his day was going. We did see a lot of mosquitoes and took lots of wipes and spray. Even when I did get bit though, they never really itched. We prepared for ALL kind of weather but were lucky and mostly wore shorts and t-shirts/tank tops. I enjoyed traveling around the interior and staying in several different places, but in 8 nights before we boarded the ship, we stayed in 6 different places and we had to lug our suitcases in and out of all of them, some up and down stairs. Since my husband had just had his surgery, I was trying to do most of the lifting of the suitcases and it became kind of a hassle. I’m not sure if I would do that again, or how I could arrange things differently. Maybe we’d rent a motor home…

 

But it was a wonderful trip in a beautiful land that is one of my favorite places.

 

 

 

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BrusselsGirl07

BrusselsGirl07

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I loved your review, and all of your photos were amazing!!! Thanks for posting them, they are just gorgeous! I loved the heart in the clouds photo.

 

I know how you feel about leaving your batteries and charger at home, we did the same thing when we went to Africa for 3 weeks this year! My husband had his camera and all of these amazing lenses, and no way of charging it! I was so upset I cried. We did find a solution, we ended up splurging and buying another of the same camera at the airport in Nairobi, so now we both have one each with some extra lenses we did not have before.

 

You must have been happy that you threw in your small camera as an afterthought for Anan. You still managed to get some great photos of the bears. We are booked to go there as well and now I really can not wait.

 

Thanks again for your time in putting the review together, Yvette

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Bell Ringer

Bell Ringer

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We just reserved the Coastal Classic Gold Star train ride today for next summer in June when we are taking the same cruise! I saw where you deposit your luggage before checking in for the train, but when you get to Seward, where do you find your luggage. We plan on getting off the train, and trying to get a taxi to take us straight to the ship to check in. I don't know if we will get off again to look around or not.

The photos were magnificent, and it was fun to follow some of what we will be doing next June! Thanks for all the specific information!

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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I think that you can also check your luggage thru to the ship like we did to the HIE, but I'm not positive. Maybe somebody can confirm that. Otherwise your luggage will be waiting right where you get off the train. It is a spectacular ride, enjoy!!

 

If I were you, I would head back out after you check in. Seward is a great place!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

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gretnagirl

gretnagirl

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Cruisin' Mama-

 

What a great review! Thank you so much for all the descriptions and photos of your journey. We leave on the reverse of your cruise this Friday, so your review could not have been more timely for us!

 

Like you, we will be traveling with my sister who has Down syndrome (and Autism) so I completely understand having to balance a port-intensive itinerary with the needs of a traveler. That is by far our biggest challenge; being able to marry Jo's needs with our wants. Thank you for sharing how you did it- there's hope that we'll come out of this vacation without too many meltdowns! As it stands, Jo is more than excited to be going on a cruise, but we'll see how happy she is when it comes time to leave for our first excursion...

 

I was also quite glad to hear that you had a positive Select Dining experience as so many others have reported having difficulties with it this season. How did Juan Reyes and Nedim handle having your son in their section? Pardon the question, but my sister has a number of strange requests at dinner time and we find that some servers totally embrace her and others simply accommodate her but without any real interest. Any feedback you can give on this detail is appreciated as, based on your review, I may well request to be seated in Juan Reyes and Nedim's section. Dinner is one of the most significant parts of our cruise experience so we seek out servers who enjoy the quirkiness of our family.

 

Again, thank you so much for your review! I felt as though I was cruising right along with you!

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cassamanda

cassamanda

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Thank you for posting such a great story of your travels in pictures.

We will be doing 8 days pre cruise in Alaska on our own end August 2014 before SB on Radiance from Seward followed by 7 days in Vancouver & the Rockies before continuing on to Hawaii.

We also plan to visit Matanuska and stay overnight at Tundra Rose Cottages. What was your impression of this lodging, anything we should know about?

What was the accommodation like in Anchorage at Ship Creek? Were the rooms airconditioned?

You were upgraded in Seward. What room type did you originally book and would that have been adequate? Did you check out any other lodgings in Seward? B&Bs, Windsong Lodge etc.

We are considering the MM 7.5 hr as it has discount vouchers. How does this tour compare with the 9 hour Northwestern by Kenai Tours?

Sorry about all the questions but we are coming from Australia and really need to check out all options as it is unlikely that we could do this trip again.

Hugh

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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Thank you for posting such a great story of your travels in pictures.

We will be doing 8 days pre cruise in Alaska on our own end August 2014 before SB on Radiance from Seward followed by 7 days in Vancouver & the Rockies before continuing on to Hawaii.

We also plan to visit Matanuska and stay overnight at Tundra Rose Cottages. What was your impression of this lodging, anything we should know about?

What was the accommodation like in Anchorage at Ship Creek? Were the rooms airconditioned?

You were upgraded in Seward. What room type did you originally book and would that have been adequate? Did you check out any other lodgings in Seward? B&Bs, Windsong Lodge etc.

We are considering the MM 7.5 hr as it has discount vouchers. How does this tour compare with the 9 hour Northwestern by Kenai Tours?

Sorry about all the questions but we are coming from Australia and really need to check out all options as it is unlikely that we could do this trip again.

Hugh

 

 

Hugh,

It sounds like you have a great adventure planned! To try to answer some of your questions, at the Tundra Rose, we had asked in the restaurant ( their Front Desk ) for additional towels after we checked in and only found 2 towels in the cabin. After we ate dinner, we went back to the cabin, only to find the owner there leaving us a note as to where to find the extra towels ( in the storage under the futon ). We chatted for a while and she was wonderful. The view from the Glacier View cottage was beautiful and having the little deck out front would have been even better if we had stayed longer and had time to utilize it more.

 

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This is a picture from our deck looking back at the other cabins. I believe ours was the only stand-alone cottage, which we enjoyed. I assume the others would be fine too, but I can't give details about their view or privacy and noise issues The whole area was beautiful though. And the food next door at their restaurant was good.

 

As far as Comfort Inn Ship Creek, 2 years ago when I stayed there with my friend, we had a double room that faced the front of the hotel and the trains. The A/C did not work and since it was warm we had to leave our window open and heard the train all night. This time we had a King room ( with a roll-away ) and I requested one facing the creek. It was warm again, and the A/C worked a little better and it was a quieter room.

The hotel is an uphill walk to downtown, but the ULU Factory next door that has a shuttle that you can use ( we didn't though ).

 

The Holiday Inn Express in Seward has a great location to the train and ship. It also has a great view. We originally had a mountain view room , but then I switched to a Harbor View room ( but wished I could book the Balcony Room! ) I did the booking last Aug. 2012 =) The Harbor view room would have been fine I'm sure, but I LOVE being outdoors so the balcony was such a treat for me!

 

Two years ago, my friend and I had a rented car and stayed out at The Alaska Saltwater Lodge on Resurrection Bay.

 

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We loved the peacefulness of it out there and it's close to Miller's Landing if you plan to do any kayaking with them. But it isn't close to town and you almost have to rent a car, which isn't cheap in Seward.

 

I didn't check out any other hotel options this time since I knew I needed convenience this time with my husband and son.

 

Again, two years ago my friend and I took the Kenai Fjords trip to the Northwestern Glacier, the 9 hour trip. For us, the longer, the better! And we stayed outside on the bow almost the entire 9 hours! We did go farther into the Fjords and it was a beautiful trip, but this year on the 7 1/2 hour Major Marine trip, we actually saw more wildlife and glacier calving. That is just luck though, what you get to see. I was able to use a Toursaver coupon on both trips, however the Major Marine was a Buy one/Get one where the Northwestern trip coupon was a $50 off. I had great weather on both trips and did not see anyone seasick on either trip. ( and I am prone to seasickness and take all the precautions! ) On the Kenai Fjords trip the seating is not assigned and you get a Chicken Caesar wrap for lunch, that was tasty. On the Major Marine trip, the seats are assigned and there is a Prime Rib/ Salmon buffet available for an additional cost. ( I think we paid $19 each this year ). The food was good.I don't think you could go wrong with either trip.

 

I hope I've answered your questions, if you have any more I'll be happy to try to answer them.

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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Cruisin' Mama-

 

What a great review! Thank you so much for all the descriptions and photos of your journey. We leave on the reverse of your cruise this Friday, so your review could not have been more timely for us!

 

Like you, we will be traveling with my sister who has Down syndrome (and Autism) so I completely understand having to balance a port-intensive itinerary with the needs of a traveler. That is by far our biggest challenge; being able to marry Jo's needs with our wants. Thank you for sharing how you did it- there's hope that we'll come out of this vacation without too many meltdowns! As it stands, Jo is more than excited to be going on a cruise, but we'll see how happy she is when it comes time to leave for our first excursion...

 

I was also quite glad to hear that you had a positive Select Dining experience as so many others have reported having difficulties with it this season. How did Juan Reyes and Nedim handle having your son in their section? Pardon the question, but my sister has a number of strange requests at dinner time and we find that some servers totally embrace her and others simply accommodate her but without any real interest. Any feedback you can give on this detail is appreciated as, based on your review, I may well request to be seated in Juan Reyes and Nedim's section. Dinner is one of the most significant parts of our cruise experience so we seek out servers who enjoy the quirkiness of our family.

 

Again, thank you so much for your review! I felt as though I was cruising right along with you!

 

 

If you want to email me, takemeonacruise at Verizon dot net I will be happy to go into more detail about our experiences travelling with our son with Down Syndrome and both the joys and challenges of doing so. I also have pictures with him in them that I can share. I didn't add family pictures in this story because I didn't think that's what people would want to see....

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cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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I loved your review, and all of your photos were amazing!!! Thanks for posting them, they are just gorgeous! I loved the heart in the clouds photo.

 

I know how you feel about leaving your batteries and charger at home, we did the same thing when we went to Africa for 3 weeks this year! My husband had his camera and all of these amazing lenses, and no way of charging it! I was so upset I cried. We did find a solution, we ended up splurging and buying another of the same camera at the airport in Nairobi, so now we both have one each with some extra lenses we did not have before.

 

You must have been happy that you threw in your small camera as an afterthought for Anan. You still managed to get some great photos of the bears. We are booked to go there as well and now I really can not wait.

 

Thanks again for your time in putting the review together, Yvette

 

 

Wow, your camera debacle could have been even worse than mine! But yours turned out great. We did stop and buy another charger, but it didn't charge the battery...:O I wished I had at least had my Panasonic FZ200 at Anan, but Island Wings said everything that you brought had to be strapped to you in the plane and the FZ200 wouldn't fit in the camera bag. And I didn't think that I would be needing it since I had the Nikon 3100 with me. Hindsight is 20/20 and I could have just thrown the FZ200 around my neck. Oh well. Anan is a magical place, you will love it!

Edited by cruisin'mama
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tlcoke

tlcoke

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Thank you for sharing your review. I will be on Millie next summer on a Northbound trip.

 

I loved all the photos especially your sunset photos. I just recently purchased the FZ200 for my trip next year. I have a year to get familiar with the camera and all it's functions and hope I can get some great photos too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
cruisin'mama

cruisin'mama

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Thank you for your kind words. The walk to the train station from the Comfort Inn Ship Creek is maybe 5 minutes. ( You can see it from the hotel ). It is a very easy walk. The hotel shuttle is free but they ask that you sign up for it, although I doubt that everyone who used it had signed up...

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