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Trip Report: Radiance July 2016 A Whale of A Time!

cruisingwithcarrie

By cruisingwithcarrie,
in Alaska

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cruisingwithcarrie

cruisingwithcarrie

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Day 6:

 

We took our time in the morning and had breakfast in the main dining room. It was pretty much the same menu as before, but a few items had chocolate in them. The fun thing was that our evening assistant waiter was our head waiter for breakfast and it was his first time as a head waiter (his assistant waiter told us and was so excited for him – it was cute). We really enjoyed him and his service throughout the cruise and he did a great job that morning. We got a kick out of being his first head waiter table and I think he did, too. His name was Kavin, from India.

 

We did not have a tour planned for Skagway. This was my 4th trip to Skagway. The first time we took the train up and back. The second time my mom and I did a white water rafting trip through the eagle preserve in Haines (we took a ferry to get there) and we did a gold panning/sled dog/50 below chamber tour on our third trip. This time, we planned to walk around town.

 

We left for port after breakfast and paid the $5 fee to use the hop on/hop off shuttle all day (otherwise, it was $2 each way). We got off at the City of Skagway Museum. I really enjoyed this museum. It is filled with original artifacts and there is a lot of information on notable people from the gold rush who lived in Skagway. They even had a scavenger hunt for kids to do and they were given an Alaskan flag upon completion. There was a small fee to enter.

 

We spent a lot of time looking at all of the various shops and I purchased an orca print at an art shop. I had it mailed to me and it arrived on time and in good condition. We bought popcorn at a popcorn shop and I bought candied pecans (they were icky), and then we made our way down the main road to the Red Onion Saloon. We had lunch there: turkey sandwiches and chips, and my brother-in-law had clam chowder. My sister, my brother-in-law, and I did the tour while my mom and daughter waited in the restaurant (we had ordered food). I was impressed with all of the information given and the presentation was filled with double entendres and our guide acted the coy part. While the restaurant downstairs is filled with bed pans and provocative images of women on the walls, the upstairs looks like it’s been left the way it was after the gold rush. There are up to 18 layers of wallpaper, as each new girl was allowed to decorate her walls however she wished. There were items left under the floorboards that were discovered and are now sit in glass display cases. There was a stainless steel dress, and the beds in the girls’ rooms had ¾ length twin beds. The madam’s room was larger than the girls’ rooms. And in each room, there was a hole on the floor where the girls would drop the fee they collected. All of the notoriety of this establishment was the result of just 2 years.

 

After the Red Onion Saloon, we watched a video on the gold rush era in a building near the trains on display. We also saw some beautiful flowers throughout Skagway. We shopped a bit more and then we returned to the ship.

 

My daughter spent the afternoon at the kids’ club and we just relaxed around the ship. It was formal night, so we dressed up, took a family photo, and went to the main dining room. Dinner was good. One member of our group ordered 2 lobster tails and they happily obliged. My daughter tried lobster and the soufflé for dessert was amazing. My only gripe with dinner was that the snow crab salad (my favorite kind of crab) said it came with thousand island. It was served with ranch. I’m not a ranch fan. But the lobster was wonderful and the service was great, too.

 

As a treat, and for the first and only time during the cruise, we paid the extra $7 an hour for my daughter to go to the kids’ club in the evening (she loved it). We spent time up in the Starquest Lounge. They didn’t have any diet coke, so I ran down to the champagne bar, bought a can, and ran back up to Starquest. We snagged a table by the windows and enjoyed the music and watching the water for a long time. We then went to the casino. I put my card into a slot machine, played maybe 2 rounds, and all of a sudden I heard my name on the loud speaker – I’d won $10 in playing money! We stayed a while and I walked out with $16! I’ll take it!

 

We picked up my daughter at midnight (she was the last one left and they called us!) and took one last photo of the water before going to bed.

 

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cruisingwithcarrie

cruisingwithcarrie

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Day 7:

 

Hard to believe this was the last day of the cruise. Time just flew by. I woke early and went out on deck for about an hour. No one was out on the 5th deck on our approach to Hubbard Glacier. I made my way out to the helicopter pad on the bow of the ship and there were quite a few people out there. I then made my way back to our cabin and watched the approach from our cabin with my family. Hubbard gave us a good show, with several calvings. We then went to breakfast at the Windjammer. I spent part of my day packing while my daughter played at the kids' club. We then took her swimming and she did the rock wall again. We made our final photo purchases and I had to re-purchase one photo after finding I'd lost it the day before.

 

My daughter cried throughout the last dinner in the main dining room. She didn't want to leave! We caught just a bit of the final show, too.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
scurrymd

scurrymd

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THank you so much for sharing your trip with us all! We board next Friday and I can't wait. Your pictures are amazing and inspire me to try to capture some as well.

 

We board next Friday as well...starting to seem real now! cruisingwithcarrie - thanks for the great review!

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  • 7 months later...
RoyalFan509

RoyalFan509

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We booked this cruise for a few reasons: Icy Strait Point and Seward are new ports to us and we wanted to try the Radiance of the Seas (we've taken RCCL to the western Caribbean and to Scandinavia/Russia). We've been to Alaska twice on Princess - one round trip from Vancouver and one Southbound. And we've done a round trip cruise on Disney to Alaska, too. We let my brother-in-law choose where to cruise, originally. He'd never cruised before, so we gave him the option of the Caribbean or Alaska. He chose Alaska (yay - honestly my favorite place). We chose the ship and itinerary from there.

 

 

Hi I was wondering if you could give me your opinion on both Princess and RCCL when going to Alaska? I have been reading a lot about going to Glacier Bay and I know RCCL does not go there. This is going to be a family cruise with about 4-5 staterooms of people and my husband and I are the only ones who have ever been on a cruise. So I am wondering is it worth spending a little more to go with Princess to go to Glacier bay or do you think everyone would be happy with RCCL, not going to Glacier Bay? This is one of my mom's places she has always wanted to go so I want to make sure it is as perfect as I can, Thanks

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