Our Alaskan Adventure - Review of our June 22 2018 Radiance Southbound Cruise

[Mountaineer0313]

Following! Doing Northbound in August, no landtour unfortunately, due to hubbys work schedule, but definitely a plan for the future.

[RSLeesburg]

Following! Doing Northbound in August, no landtour unfortunately, due to hubbys work schedule, but definitely a plan for the future.

 

 

You are going to have a great time.

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

The dogsled portion was run by Alaska Icefield Expeditions. The site manager was Jessi and our musher was Megan.

 

There were three to four sled teams - each team had two sleds, with room for two people to sit on each sled and one person to stand on the second sled. Megan (our musher) stood on the back of the first sled.

 

The sled ride is broken up into three segments, with a photographer taking your during the first segment (sold afterwards for $30 for one pic, $50 for two - must be former cruise photographers [emoji6]). During the first segment my son and I were in the first sled and my wife was riding the rails on the second sled. One of the dogs pooped during the segment and my son yelled, “oh, I do not need to see that!” [emoji23]

 

My son decided he wanted to ride the rails on the second segment, so I asked Megan if it was alright. She said sure - we are only going 5 miles an hour, and the snow is soft if he falls...lol. So he climbed on and off we went.

 

I have to give a shout out to Max - Mike and Caitlin’s 5 year old son. While we were visiting their place, Max was giving my son instructions on how to stand, steer, and stop the dog sled. I think those instructions gave him the confidence to stand up and ride the rails. Although maybe too much confidence because when I said I wanted to take my turn on the third segment, he would not get off...lol

 

After our ride, we met three of their puppies and then prepared to head back - but remember those ominous looking clouds we saw in previous post - these ones?

 

Well the were much darker by time we were ready to go. In fact, as we were waiting for our helicopter we received word that it had to turn around and head back to airport.

 

OMG... what is going to happen next? Stay tuned...

 

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

And when we left the review, our helicopter was called back to the airport as bad weather was rolling in. Jessie invited us back to the base camp.

 

Where we could sit in one of the tents, or watch the last few dog sled runs...

 

We opted to go inside. My wife asked Jessi what would happen if the helicopters could not make it back up. He told us that they have 30 extra sleeping bags in case guests get stranded on the glacier - because, the only way to get there is via a helicopter. But he quickly added that in the past few years that he had been up on the ice, the never had guests have to spend the night. And after about 20 minutes, we got the call that the chapters were in bound - and sure enough three came in and landed. The team loaded us onto the copters, and we took off quickly. It was raining, cloudy, and dark - tense, so of course, my son fell fast asleep sitting next to the pilot...

 

 

 

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[kastke]

Day 4 - Traveling back to Anchorage / Seward / Board the Ship :D

 

On the fourth day of our adventure, we packed up, boarded the bus, and left Talkeetna for Anchorage. The first part of our journey was about 2 hours and our destination was the Anchorage Museum. We hit some construction, which delayed us a bit - but we eventually arrived at the museum around 11am or so. The museum is very nice; however, we were not good planners - remember the stop at Fred Meyers for snacks? Well, we ran out before this last coach trip, so we headed right over to the museum restaurant for lunch. By time we finished, we only had time to see a fraction of the museum. TIP: For those that enjoy museums, I would recommend seeing this before your tour begins - when you first arrive in Anchorage.

 

Around 12:30pm we boarded the bus to head to Seward. NOTE: I have noticed people taking the train from Anchorage to Seward. I asked our tour guide about this, and she told me that normally we would take it, but with the exceptionally warm weather, they had some much snow melting that the tracks were flooded so the train was not running. I am not sure if this is true or not - would be curious to know if anyone on our cruise were able to take the train or not.

 

PS: The restaurant at the museum has exceptional food.

 

Since we arrived in Anchorage a day before our land tour started, we went to the Anchorage Museum on our own. We enjoyed it. A nice museum; not huge like museums I am used to, but a nice size that you can see it all in a couple of hours.

 

I don’t know if anyone from our cruise was able to take the train from Anchorage to Seward, but I do know the tracks were indeed flooded and the train not running the Sunday/Monday prior. We got talking to a couple at the Marriott that had disembarked in Seward and were supposed to take the train up to Marriott. They got only a short distance on the train and then were moved to a bus for the rest of their transport. The flooding made the tracks unusable. Also, this couple had rain for 5 days of their cruise. I’d say we were very fortunate with the weather we had on our trip!

[RSLeesburg]

Since we arrived in Anchorage a day before our land tour started, we went to the Anchorage Museum on our own. We enjoyed it. A nice museum; not huge like museums I am used to, but a nice size that you can see it all in a couple of hours.

 

 

 

I don’t know if anyone from our cruise was able to take the train from Anchorage to Seward, but I do know the tracks were indeed flooded and the train not running the Sunday/Monday prior. We got talking to a couple at the Marriott that had disembarked in Seward and were supposed to take the train up to Marriott. They got only a short distance on the train and then were moved to a bus for the rest of their transport. The flooding made the tracks unusable. Also, this couple had rain for 5 days of their cruise. I’d say we were very fortunate with the weather we had on our trip!

 

 

Yes. Everyone kept saying what amazing weather we had. It was warm in Anchorage and Denali (in the 70’s), and cooler in Seward (maybe 50-60’s), and it stayed that way for most of the trip - are just a little rain here and there.

 

 

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[kastke]

Day 5 of trip / Day 2 of Cruise - Cruising Hubbard Glacier.

 

We found a place up on deck 12, and here is what we saw...

 

And a close up...

 

I was a little surprised at how far away we stopped. I thought we would get much, much closer - maybe not close enough that I could chip some ice into my drink, but...

 

One additional sighting - there was a piece of ice floating, and with my binoculars I could see a baby sea lion lying on it. So cute!

 

We stayed at Hubbard Glacier for a while and then backed out and to head towards Juneau.

 

 

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Hubbard Glacier was probably the only disappointment of the cruise. We went on the helipad for the viewing. There was so much ice in the water and we could see that some of the larger ice pieces went very deep. There was no way for the ship to safely get in any closer to the glacier and be able to get back out again! So, while I would very much liked to have seen some glacier calving, I understood why they had to stay so far back.

 

One thing about Alaska, and I heard it many times, the landscape and glaciers are ever changing!! We saw bears in Denali and a clear view of Mt Denali, while many people don’t get to see that. In exchange, I didn’t get to see glacier calving.

[Robinhill]

Day 4 - Traveling back to Anchorage / Seward / Board the Ship :D

 

On the fourth day of our adventure, we packed up, boarded the bus, and left Talkeetna for Anchorage. The first part of our journey was about 2 hours and our destination was the Anchorage Museum. We hit some construction, which delayed us a bit - but we eventually arrived at the museum around 11am or so. The museum is very nice; however, we were not good planners - remember the stop at Fred Meyers for snacks? Well, we ran out before this last coach trip, so we headed right over to the museum restaurant for lunch. By time we finished, we only had time to see a fraction of the museum. TIP: For those that enjoy museums, I would recommend seeing this before your tour begins - when you first arrive in Anchorage.

 

Around 12:30pm we boarded the bus to head to Seward. NOTE: I have noticed people taking the train from Anchorage to Seward. I asked our tour guide about this, and she told me that normally we would take it, but with the exceptionally warm weather, they had some much snow melting that the tracks were flooded so the train was not running. I am not sure if this is true or not - would be curious to know if anyone on our cruise were able to take the train or not.

 

PS: The restaurant at the museum has exceptional food.

 

I was on this cruise too but we took the train on Friday 6:30am down to Seward arriving at 11:05am. No problem.

Robin

[waterbug123]

Hubbard Glacier was probably the only disappointment of the cruise. We went on the helipad for the viewing. There was so much ice in the water and we could see that some of the larger ice pieces went very deep. There was no way for the ship to safely get in any closer to the glacier and be able to get back out again! So, while I would very much liked to have seen some glacier calving, I understood why they had to stay so far back.

 

 

Conversely, we were on Millennium last month and Hubbard Glacier was a highlight of our cruise! I can't post a pic right now, but our pix look very different from those posted here.....these look like small black "mountains" of dirt with some snow on them. What we saw was a huge wall of aqua blue/white ice. It was beautiful! There was ice floating in the water but I felt like we were pretty close, all things considered. A few minutes in, we heard what sounded like rolling thunder and shortly after we saw the glacier calving. This happened several times as we saw big chunks break off and splash into the water, and more smaller chunks tumbling down the face of the glacier. It was amazing!

[RSLeesburg]

After getting back from the airport, we stopped for lunch at Hangar on the Wharf, which was excellent! Afterwards, we stopped in a few gift shops and then headed back to the ship.

 

 

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[NEWLKAT]

Day 4 - Traveling back to Anchorage / Seward / Board the Ship :D

 

On the fourth day of our adventure, we packed up, boarded the bus, and left Talkeetna for Anchorage. The first part of our journey was about 2 hours and our destination was the Anchorage Museum. We hit some construction, which delayed us a bit - but we eventually arrived at the museum around 11am or so. The museum is very nice; however, we were not good planners - remember the stop at Fred Meyers for snacks? Well, we ran out before this last coach trip, so we headed right over to the museum restaurant for lunch. By time we finished, we only had time to see a fraction of the museum. TIP: For those that enjoy museums, I would recommend seeing this before your tour begins - when you first arrive in Anchorage.

 

Around 12:30pm we boarded the bus to head to Seward. NOTE: I have noticed people taking the train from Anchorage to Seward. I asked our tour guide about this, and she told me that normally we would take it, but with the exceptionally warm weather, they had some much snow melting that the tracks were flooded so the train was not running. I am not sure if this is true or not - would be curious to know if anyone on our cruise were able to take the train or not.

 

PS: The restaurant at the museum has exceptional food.

 

We were on the same cruise as you departing Seward on June 22. We took the train from Anchorage to Seward on Wednesday June 20 with no problems the train leaves Anchorage about 645am and arrives Seward about 1105am. On Friday morning we took Seward's free cities shuttle to the cruise terminal about 11am, our driver was letting some people know they would be delayed getting where they wanted because the train was coming in and he had to swing by and pick up people,

Edited July 4, 2018 by NEWLKAT

[RSLeesburg]

We were on the same cruise as you departing Seward on June 22. We took the train from Anchorage to Seward on Wednesday June 20 with no problems the train leaves Anchorage about 645am and arrives Seward about 1105am. On Friday morning we took the cities free shuttle to the cruise terminal about 11am, our driver was letting some people know they would be delayed getting where they wanted because the train was coming in and he had to swing by and pick up people, we could hear it coming in as we boarded the boat. I have a feeling it was most likely a timing thing for your cruise tour as the train departs at 645am from Anchorage.

 

 

 

You may be right. We did not arrive back to Anchorage until 11am or so, and then did not leave hot Seward until 12:30pm or so. We may not have been able to catch the train.

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

The ship was in port until 9pm, so there was no formal show that evening - they had jazz in Colony Club, movies in Aurora, and 70’s party in Centrum. Because we ate a late and big lunch, we just grabbed a light supper at WJ. Our son headed to kids club at 7pm, and we went to Quill for trivia. Only our second time doing trivia, but we managed to win two key chains [emoji322]. It was fun, and we tried several other trivia throughout the cruise, but never managed to win anything else...lol. Although one time, I swear there was a guy who looked just like Frank from Trading Spaces. I wanted to go ask him if he was Frank, but figured he was on vacation and deserved his privacy! On our last cruise, my wife and I swore we walked past Ruby from the Great British Baking Show. Weird.

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

Day 7 of our trip / Day 4 of the Cruise - Skagway

 

 

 

The following morning we were in Skagway, and because we love trains, we did the White Pass excursion. We disembarked the ship and the trains were sitting there right in front of us on opposite side of the pier. Our train was up towards the front - I think there were two, one for us, and one reserved for Explorer, which was coming in after us. Explorer also joined us in Juneau, as did a Silver Sea and a Seabourne ship.

 

 

 

Our tour guide on the train was Christina, and she did a great job providing history as we made the journey up to the summit.

 

And of course, we were treated to some amazing views, like mountains...

 

Waterfalls

 

The old bridge and river

 

And a caboose turned into hiker crash pad.

[RSLeesburg]

When we reached the summit, we were all asked to swap seats with the people across the aisle, and help flip the seats around. This allows everyone a chance to sit on the side facing all the great views - and face forward as the train is moving.

 

My son went to late night party zone slept on most of the trip up the mountain, but awoke and wanted to stand on the outside platform for most of the ride home. It was much windier coming down, and we were very close to the engine - how close? This close...

 

But we still had some nice views...

 

When we got back to Skagway, you are given option to get off the train in town, or ride back to ship. We got off in town - although, if I had known that my wife was about to go on one of her shopping sprees, I would have stayed on the train. [emoji23]

 

After spending more than necessary, we walked back to the ship - maybe a 10 minutes walk.

 

Interesting fact: I was talking with one of the guys who worked on the train, and asked him if he was a local. He said that he was. I asked how big Skagway was, he said they had 832 residents, but during season, they had about 1,800. He joked that when a ship comes in, there are more of us than them.

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

For dinner we just stopped by the WJ, our son went to Adventure Ocean, and we caught the headliner - Peng Fei - a magician and acrobat. He was awesome - highly recommend. After that we collected our son and went to bed early. We had an early whale watching excursion planned at our next stop - Icy Strait Point.

[Lvscruzn]

Loved your review!! We did Alaska in August of 2017. We to did a land/cruise tour but a little longer on the land part. Did The Dog Gone It tour also and loved it! Thank you for sharing. My husband did a review on our trip as well. Here is the link to his review in case you or anyone going to Alaska would like to check out. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2613346. Thanks again for your review.

[RSLeesburg]

Loved your review!! We did Alaska in August of 2017. We to did a land/cruise tour but a little longer on the land part. Did The Dog Gone It tour also and loved it! Thank you for sharing. My husband did a review on our trip as well. Here is the link to his review in case you or anyone going to Alaska would like to check out. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2613346. Thanks again for your review.

 

Thanks. I still have a little more to add, but glad that you enjoyed it. Can't wait to read yours!

[RSLeesburg]

Day 8 of our trip / Day 5 of the Cruise - Icy Strait Point

 

What an amazing stop. We booked a whale and marine animal sightseeing tour for this port, and the ship was docked at the pier when we arrived, so very short walk. Our tour guide was Keri, and she was awesome. You know, we had the most amazing tour guides in Alaska - all relatively young people (well, young to me), and they were happy and very knowledgeable. Must be something in the air, or just being surrounded by all that beauty that brings out the best in people.

[RSLeesburg]

The first animal we saw were sea otters - OMG, how cute. Unfortunately, it was hard to get a good picture with my iPhone. TIP: may need good camera to capture some of the magic moments [emoji6]

 

And we also saw whales. Want to know how to spot a whale? First look for the spout of water...

 

Then watch for the hump to come out of the water...

 

Then a deeper arch in the back...

 

And then wait for it...

 

The tail appears...

 

And then disappears...

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

We also saw porpoises, sea lions, and eagles. The sightseeing boat takes you back to the shopping area (of course it does [emoji6]). But on the way, I got this picture of the ship - one of my favorites from the entire trip.

 

At the big red barn, we bought a few more trinkets and then stopped at The Cookhouse for lunch. Then back to the ship.

 

 

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[RSLeesburg]

For dinner that night, my wife and I went to Izumi, which is her absolute favorite! And afterwards we saw the headliner - Paul Boland, a singer and impressionist. He was OK - parts of his show were great, other parts not so much. After the show we stayed and watched the Love and Marriage Show. We have seen clips of the show on TV on other cruises, but never managed to catch the show live - it was really fun. For those that were on our cruise and caught the show - Marriage is like Poker! Best line of the night! After Love & Marriage they had another comedian, but we headed up to AO to pick up our son and head to bed.

[OCSC Mike]

Around 12:30pm we boarded the bus to head to Seward. NOTE: I have noticed people taking the train from Anchorage to Seward. I asked our tour guide about this, and she told me that normally we would take it, but with the exceptionally warm weather, they had some much snow melting that the tracks were flooded so the train was not running. I am not sure if this is true or not - would be curious to know if anyone on our cruise were able to take the train or not.

 

First, nice review. I hope to post my 10 day DIY land + cruise review in the next week or two but I fear it will be quite long. If you recognize my handle from the roll call, you know we were on the same cruise with you.

 

I can't say what you posted above was 100% untrue, but we took the train from Girdwood to Seward two days before you did (same track of course, we were just getting onboard closer to Seward that you were). Prior to that, there was awful weather (rain) that actually caused the water level to cover the tracks near Seward and the train was shut down that day and passengers were switched to buses. The ice melting due to heat doesn't sound legit to me but whatever, as long as you had a great trip, I was just commenting since you mentioned it not sounding true to you either.

[RSLeesburg]

First, nice review. I hope to post my 10 day DIY land + cruise review in the next week or two but I fear it will be quite long. If you recognize my handle from the roll call, you know we were on the same cruise with you.

 

I can't say what you posted above was 100% untrue, but we took the train from Girdwood to Seward two days before you did (same track of course, we were just getting onboard closer to Seward that you were). Prior to that, there was awful weather (rain) that actually caused the water level to cover the tracks near Seward and the train was shut down that day and passengers were switched to buses. The ice melting due to heat doesn't sound legit to me but whatever, as long as you had a great trip, I was just commenting since you mentioned it not sounding true to you either.

 

LOL... Honestly, I could not remember what the guide told us regarding the flooding - it may have been too much rain. I remember the lady on the glacier telling me that they needed to move their camp because it had been so warm that the snow was melting down very fast. So, I may have assumed it was the same thing that impacted the tracks... Another person on our cruise posted that the train was running the morning of our cruise, but it had been out for the previous cruise. My skepticism was in that I was not entirely sure if the train was really out or not, and if it was not out, were we supposed to take it as part of our tour.

 

I remember your handle - did you make it to CC Meet & Greet? My walked in very late, but saw them give away the free stuff. ;)

[RSLeesburg]

Day 9 of our trip / Day 6 of the Cruise - Ketichikan

OMG - Day 6, which means that the cruise is winding down and almost over - tomorrow is our last sea day, which means t-shirt sales, bingo, packing (yuck), and the realization that I need to go back to work again (double yuck).

In Ketichikan, we did the Lumberjack Show and Trolley. By this time, we were pretty tired and were just looking for something light and fun - and this excursion was perfect.