Radiance of the Seas: 5/27/16 - 6/3/16

[MM Montoya]

So enjoying your review! Your pictures are amazing! We are taking this same itinerary in August of 2017. Same ship with an aft balcony. Your pictures show me this will be an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing!:o:o:o:o

 

Yes this will definitely be an awesome trip, especially with an aft balcony!

[MM Montoya]

Next stop was Skagway, honestly I was not looking forward to this port AT ALL! Way back in our planning days my fiancé (at that time) told me he has always wanted to go ziplining, this was beyond freakish to me. I mean why would anyone want to do such a thing? After several months of trying to compromise, he won. I read and read and read trying to find the one place to do this without dying. We landed on Grizzly Falls Zipling Expedition. Our bus driver out to Grizzly Falls was awesome and promised us that we could see the puppies for a minute when he returned to pick us up. Because we were ahead of schedule a bit, he stopped and showed us a few sites, unfortunately my mind registered none of it because I was scared out of my mind. I only remembered that if I survived I would get to hold a puppy!! We got there, got all the necessary gear on, did a couple of small practice rounds and after asking everyone in sight that they promised I was not going to slip out of this stuff, up the steep trail we went. The first zip was the scariest thing I have EVER done in my life, the second was a little easier, and after the third I was loving it!! I am so glad he pushed me to do something so far outside my comfort zone.

 

 

Somewhere on our drive to Grizzly Falls

 

 

The camp

 

 

The Unimog we drove up the very steep mountain in

 

 

Getting all strapped in

 

 

The view from one of the suspension bridges

 

 

My crazy husband doing a FLIP!!

[MM Montoya]

The precious puppy and our bus driver

 

 

I just want to add that the guides at Grizzly Falls were the best. Safety was always there #1 concern and even though I was terrified they did their best to keep me calm while also keeping the dare devils in the group entertained! This excursion was worth every penny.

[MM Montoya]

Icy Strait was one of the ports I was really looking forward to because we had a whale watching excursion booked with Glacier Wind Charters. We took the early excursion and Teresa, the captain’s wife was there waiting for us. There was only 6 of us on this excursion which made it very quaint and everyone got a good view of all that we encountered. Captain Shawn is truly an expert at finding the whales, otters, sea lions and porpoises. It was a little rainy and cold but nothing could stop us from enjoying this excursion. The hot chocolate made my Teresa put Glacier Winds over the top. It was YUMMY!

 

The new dock

 

 

Eagles were everywhere

 

Shawn and Teresa McConnell and Kohola

 

[MM Montoya]

 

 

These sea lions were precious

 

There were hundreds of sea otters, but they sure wouldn't let us get too close

[critterchick]

Following along. We boarded as you left and did a B2B that was fabulous as well. Our M&M was also scheduled for 3:15 on Hubbard Glacier day - I don't imagine that anybody went to it. Really dumb idea.

 

Your pictures are gorgeous!:)

[TexCruise371]

Thanks for sharing :p We board on the 8th for a southbound after our pre cruise tour to Denali. :D

[FluffsMom]

Loving your review!! We did Seward to Vancouver last year - although on HAL instead of RC. It's wonderful seeing your photos and reliving our trip. We also took the Gold Star service train to Seward and stayed at the same B&B, and our next cruise (next year) is on Radiance, so I'm loving th ship info and photos you are posting. Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS on your marriage!!

[MM Montoya]

We had very good weather up to our Ketchikan port. Luckily we didn’t have anything planned so that was ok. We slept in and when the rain seemed to lighten up a bit we headed out to go souvenir shopping. I will say that we did some shopping in every port and I wished we had waited until Ketchikan, they had the best prices by far. I wished it hadn’t been so yucky out so that we could have done some more exploring, but we will put that on our list for next time. We did Samba this night and it was really good, just a word of advice, do not eat anything for at least 8 hours prior to visiting. There was so much food and so little tummy room.

 

 

 

 

We thought this was cute!

 

 

 

[MM Montoya]

Our final day on board was a sea day cruising the inside passage. It was a nice relaxing day. My husband and I did massages on board. While this was a nice experience I would not spend that kind of money again, the prices are over the top. For dinner that night we did our last specialty restaurant and we saved the best for last. Chops Grille was fabulous!

 

 

Dessert at Chops

[MM Montoya]

We debarked in Vancouver, British Columbia and rented a car. I do not suggest doing this. Either walk or take the city transportation system. It was a nightmare finding parking spots. We visited the Capilano Suspension bridge, which was a lot of fun. We got there around 11am and it wasn’t overly busy, but by the time we left at 2pm, it was getting really crowded. We stayed at the Radisson Hotel near the airport and it was nice, got a decent night’s sleep without any interruption. I was not overly impressed with the city of Vancouver, however I was really missing my kids by this point (we had been gone for 11 days). I might have had a different attitude if that was not the case. When we got off the ship I was ready to get home. We will give Vancouver another try at some point in the future.

 

 

 

Overall this was a perfect honeymoon. Radiance of the Seas is a beautiful ship and Alaska is an awe inspiring state. The food was good, the attendants were always smiling and helpful and the Alaska people were welcoming. When our kids get a bit older I will book this exact same cruise to enjoy with them.

 

I will tell anyone and everyone that Alaska is a sight that is not to be missed. I knew we were in for a treat, but had no idea how big a treat it was.