Trip Report: Radiance of the Seas - Alaska

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

cruiserccl1212,

 

Did you see the "resident" whale that lives right there at the Icy Strait Point pier area? The guide we had on our whale watching excursion said it has been living there for quite a while.

 

It is an amazing sight to be standing on the shore and see it swim by!

 

No I didn't see that. That would of been nice. Though the whale watching was amazing on a small boat.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

After seeing the sea lions, we returned to the harbor in Hoonah. Before getting off the boat, Capt Paul gave us some recommendations for eating lunch in town, or we could get back on the tour bus for a quick ride back to Icy Strait Point. We chose to get a ride back.

 

Our view coming back into ISP:

 

 

 

After arriving back, we walked around the shops and the museum and then went to look for some lunch. We decided on the Crab Station. Great crab!

 

 

 

We then took a walk towards the bottom of the zipline.

 

Some nice views:

 

 

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

A fire pit along the walkway to the bottom of the zipline:

 

 

The Zipline:

 

 

 

Gone Fishin'

 

 

We then walked back to the cannery museum area because it was about time to get on the ship.

 

The museum:

 

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We boarded the ship, dropped our stuff in the room, and went to the helipad to try and get some nice pics.

 

Icy Strait Point:

 

 

 

The road towards Hoonah:

 

 

Beautiful views:

 

 

Edited June 13, 2014 by cruiserccl1212

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Leaving Icy Strait Point:

 

 

More to come... Our day in Juneau.

[jules815]

Really enjoying your review and pictures. Thank you for posting. :)

[Guest maddycat]

Great review! I love the pictures. We did the south bound cruise, preceded by a 5 night land tour in 2005. This is bringing back some wonderful memories. We loved Alaska.

[KSDispatcher]

We are truly enjoying your review and PICTURES!!! We did this same cruise, except southbound, 4 years ago. Preceded by the 5 day land tour. Our favorite vacation hands down! Icy Strait Point was our FAVORITE!!! Eating King Crab/Crab Bisque on the pier was a high point of the entire trip.

[Jocko97]

We went whale watching with Captain Paul and Zach this past May. Hoonah Travel Adventures was amazing!

 

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Alright, sorry for the little delay in continuing my report. I got really busy this weekend, so just bear with me, I'll be continuing tomorrow...

[smarks]

Really looking forward to it. Thanks for sharing photos and your time. Great review.

[rjeffler]

Loved your review. I also just got off the Radiance (right after you) and we also had room 8102! I LOVED it!! So convenient.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Alright, so now I am on to our day in Juneau.

 

Juneau was the first really rainy day of the trip since our first day in Vancouver.

 

We had booked a self-guided kayak trip on Mendenhall Lake in the morning and planned on exploring Juneau in the afternoon. The kayaking was not our favorite excursion, I will elaborate in the coming posts.

 

View of Juneau from our cabin:

 

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by cruiserccl1212

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

On to our kayak excursion.. We booked with Above & Beyond Alaska, they were a great company even though we personally didn't extremely enjoy our excursion. It was just good. Not amazing. We were prepared for the length, but it did seen like quite a long time to get in front of the glacier near nugget falls. It rained the whole trip so that made it a little less enjoyable.

 

We knew it was self guided, however, we kind of assumed there would be other groups on the lake..nope..just us. It was very quiet the whole time, almost made it a little eerie. We kayak regularly, so it wasn't hard.

 

There were great views though!!

 

View of the glacier from where we put the kayaks in:

 

 

On the lake:

 

 

Nugget Falls, from a distance:

 

 

 

 

Nugget Falls:

 

 

(Sorry for the not so good pictures!)

 

The Glacier:

 

[smarks]

Loving your pictures. Thanks.

 

Sandra

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

After we made it back to land, we went straight back to the ship for some warm showers!!

 

We went back into Juneau, and then went to the Red Dog Saloon. Cool place.

 

Sorry, didn't get any pics of the inside, but here's a one of the outside from the ship:

 

 

After eating lunch, we walked around to pick up souvenirs and see the town.

 

For those of you wondering, they sell tours right on the dock:

 

 

"Welcome to Juneau" sign:

 

 

After walking about a bit, we returned to the Radiance.

 

Another view looking at the town:

 

 

More to come.. Leaving Juneau and our day in Skagway..

[sfpen66]

i have enjoyed your pictures and review so far. It brings back memories of when we sailed the Inside Passage. Radiance of the Seas is one of our upcoming cruises this winter. Anxiously waiting for more pictures.

[AshleyDillo]

cruiserccl1212,

 

Did you see the "resident" whale that lives right there at the Icy Strait Point pier area? The guide we had on our whale watching excursion said it has been living there for quite a while.

 

It is an amazing sight to be standing on the shore and see it swim by!

 

We were on the June 6 Radiance sailing and we saw the pier whale at our stop. It swam around by the beachy shore, went under the dock and on the other side blew bubble rings and came up mouth open! It was amazing to see. When we were on the tender from the ship to the shore, they made an announcement reminding the tender drivers to keep 100 feet away from the whales.

[aquajon]

Did anyone dress up for the 70's theme night?

 

 

Sent from outerspace

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Did anyone dress up for the 70's theme night?

 

 

Sent from outerspace

 

Not a ton of passengers dressed up, however with the music and the entertainment staff dressed up, it made it a very fun environment.

[Freetimecrafter]

Thanks for the review. We are going to Alaska September 2015 and the pictures really help.

[Cheryl H]

Thanks for the review. We are going to Alaska September 2015 and the pictures really help.

 

Hello Freetimecrafter,

 

We're on the 09/04/15 cruise too. There's a few of us chatting on the rollcall already. Join us if you like. Not a lot of chatter going yet, but it's way early.

 

Cheryl

[CRUISEFAN0001]

We arrived in Vancouver at approximately 1:15 and by the time we got a cab and got to our hotel it was a little after 2.

 

We stayed at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown. Very nice hotel and great service!

First of all...let me say that you did a super job of capturing your cruise trip.

 

We took ours May 9th, and also stayed at that same Marriott. Your photos really give folks a good idea of what they'll potentially see on future cruises to Alaska on Radiance.

 

As not to distract...I just wanted to mention that I also posted a thread on the Inner Passage on Radiance from our trip, including photos. It's interesting to see that some of the photos in your thread captured the same essence of this outstanding cruise experience. Clearly you enjoyed it.

 

If someone is interested in some additional photos...they are here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2055924

[Dreamer115]

Great review. I live just outside of Vancouver and have not done the Alaska cruise yet. Saving for when we need to slow down a bit. You captured some nice pics of Vancouver as well as gorgeous pics of Alaska so far. Looking forward to more.

 

Connie:)

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Okay continuing on my review...

 

After boarding the ship we went to sit in the Schooner Bar.

 

A lot of seaplanes were landing right next to the ship:

 

 

We later took a walk to get some nice pics..

 

The Mt Roberts Tram:

 

 

The other ships docked with us today:

 

 

Some views after departing:

 

 

The Coral Princess following us out:

 

 

A view from our balcony: