Back from the Radiance and 1 week independent land tour

[Teach345]

First- thank you to all the people who gave me advice and shared their opinions. It had a definite impact on our trip.

I'm going to list all the things we did and where we ate and stayed and give everything a rating 1*-5*.

(1*-I probably wouldn't do again /5*I'd do again in a minute.)

Please ask questions on specific activities for more info :)

Marriott Anchorage Downtown 5*

Thunderbird Falls-3*

Anchorage Heritage Center-3*

Talkeetna Air Taxi Flightsee & Glacier Landing (Toursaver)-5*

Talkeetna Roadhouse Breakfast-3*

Latitude's Lunch-2*

Mt. McKinley Princess (Toursaver)-4*

Dining at Mt. McKinley Princess-3*

Salmon Fishing Talkeetna-*2

Denali Lakeview Inn-4*

Black Diamond ATV (Toursaver)4*

Black Diamond Covered Wagon Tour(Toursaver) 4*

Denali Bus Ride to Fish Lake 5*

Cabin Nite(Toursaver)-3*

Whitewater Rafting/Denali Park Resorts(Toursaver)-4*

Salmon Bake - 2*

Fishing at Shipcreek-4*

Glacier Brewhouse-4*

Comfort Inn Shipcreek-4*

Alaska Railroad-5*

Renown Kenai Tour (Toursaver)-5*

Radiance of the Sea-5*

Hubbard Glacier-4*

Skagway/Driving to Emerald Lake-5*

F.I.S.H.E.S./Icy Strait- 2*

Mt. Robert's Tram-4*

Mendenhall Glacier-3*

Salmon Hatchery-3*

Fishing Ketchikan w/ Northern Lights-5*

Capilano Suspension Bridge Vancouver-5*

Grouse Mountain Vancouver-4*

I will go into further detail on anything of asked :)

[Terpnut]

Were you on the northbound or southbound Radiance?

[fiveparty]

Teach345 - thanks for the ratings - very helpful. One question though, you rated Mendenhall Glacier a 3* - did you do a helicoptor ride to it or did you go to the visitor centre?

 

Terpnut - you're leaving for Alaska on the Serenade Aug. 5th - is this correct? I'm on the Serenade to Alaska leaving on Aug. 6th :confused:

[Terpnut]

double post

[Terpnut]

Teach345 - thanks for the ratings - very helpful. One question though, you rated Mendenhall Glacier a 3* - did you do a helicoptor ride to it or did you go to the visitor centre?

 

Terpnut - you're leaving for Alaska on the Serenade Aug. 5th - is this correct? I'm on the Serenade to Alaska leaving on Aug. 6th :confused:

Typo in our ticker--we're actually sailing Radiance one-way out of Vancouver--not Serenade roundtrip. We were sailing Serenade last year but had to cancel so I must've had "Serenade" on the mind! Have a great trip!

[cruising dfl]

Thanks for the ratings! Do you mind sharing more about the F.I.S.H.E.S. tour at ISP? I was considering booking this, and would love to know more about your experience and why it didn't get a high score. Also, if you had ISP to do again, what would you have chosen in place of this tour?

 

Thanks!

[krolgat]

Teach 345

Thanks for your post. It seems you had a great time in Alaska. I'm from Mexico I'll be on the southbound radiance next september. I have some questions coz you do some things i want to, hope you can help me.

 

First...Do you take the kenai tour after arriving to Seward or do you spend a night over there? I'll take the ARR and i want to know if it's possible to take the kenai tour before embarking.

 

At Skagway does it take a lot of time to get off the ship if you dont have a cruiseship excursion? I have a reservation for an independent tour at 10:30 and the ship will arrive at 9:00..do you think it's enough time?

 

Just one more :p Did you take a tour to Capilano and Grouse Mountain or you did it by your own? If you took a tour did you have a reservation or booked it after disembarking? I've been looking for a tour over there but i haven't decided yet :confused:

 

Sorry if there's a lot of questions but this will be my first cruise ever and although this website has helped me a lot, i'm still having some doubts.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Caro

[Teach345]

1)We went southbound

2)At Mendenhall we did not do a flightsee as we had done one out of Talkeetna. By the time we got to Mendenhall we had seen Hubbard Glacier, and many glaciers on the Kenai Fjords tour. The Kenai Fjords tour glaciers were by far the best. Excellent show(which is hit or miss) and we got really close.The sounds the glacier made were amazing!

3) I booked through FISHES through advice from CC. We were booked to go whale watching and fishing.All 3 couples booked with this company due to cruise critic so we were all pretty confident in our choice.

When we arrive at dock and were on boat ready to go the owner Floyd informed us that one of his engines were broken so we would only be going 1/2 speed. Which was fine -we were in no hurry as our ship didn't leave until the evening.We went out to a spot where Floyd said there was a pod of whlaes that had been bubble feeding at for over 3 weeks. There were no whales. We drove around for quite while(in the same area)

and found nothing. We then suggested we start fishing. We then found out there were 2 poles for 6 people. Fishing was poor. Now I want to be clear that I know whale watching is hit or miss and fishing even more. But because of the fact that we could only go 1/2 speed we were only able to cover 1/2 as much area. People who took the ship tours saw dozens of whales. And people who went fishing had great and I mean great luck.

So we paid almost $350 to go on a slow boat ride. Now again I want to state that I know whale watching and fishing are hit or miss.But I really think a good business man should have given us the choice to cancel when he knew his boat was broken or given us more time to fish. We got our alotted time only even though there was no tour after us. We paid $150 for whale watching $20 for a fishing license and he waved the $25 for fishing since only 2 people even got to touch a pole.

The owner even stated that most of his business came form Cruise Critic. So why won't he want to make us happy knowing we share info with each other? I know with the price of gas some tours aren't moving around as much but there were 6 of us so that's over $800. I think he should have charged us the same but given us more time. We all stated we were in no hurry and had no tours booked after his.He returned us to the ship about 1pm and we didn't need to be back until around 5:30pm.

4)When youtake the train form Anchorage - have your cruise tags on your luggage and it will get taken straight to the ship. I didn't know this and was very happy and surprised.RCCL sends people to pick up all luggage- it doesn't matter if you bought a cruise tour or transfers. When you get to the station they will take your bags and say next time you see them they will be in your cabin.Renown was waiting for us as soon as we got off and we were on the boat within minutes.It was a great tour! The owner takes great pride in his company(he was our captain).

In Skagway we were off the ship very quickly- you will have plenty of time.

When we got to Vancouver we did self-assist luggage. Which meant if we carried our own bags we could leave the ship first. We were at our hotel by 8am.(Westin Bayshore)

We were going to take the trolley but the tour desk suggested the WESTERN SPECTACULAR by Grey Line Bus. It was wonderful and well wotrhn the $ because it included your entrance to Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Bridge. It had many other stops and was very informative.Also when you're on this tour you get VIP entrance- so we never waited in any entrance lines.It was $109and you can get on the tour from many downtown hotels

[SP Cruiser]

Teach345, thanks for the great post. This is very timely for us-- we leave tomorrow and have significant overlap with your itinerary! The RCCL luggage pickup at the Seward train depot was news to me and solves quite a few timing headaches for us. A few questions:

1. We are staying at Comfort Inn ShipCreek. I did not know about Ship Creek fishing-- is there shore fishing near the hotel?

2. We have a trip booked with Captain Ken of Northern Lights in Ketchikan. Sounds like you had a good fishing experience? Any problems/delays with tendering?

3. Regarding the Toursaver excursions with Talkeetna Air Taxi and Denali Whitewater Rafting, did you book those in advance? Which rafting trip did you take?

 

Thanks again

[dderm]

First- thank you to all the people who gave me advice and shared their opinions. It had a definite impact on our trip.

I'm going to list all the things we did and where we ate and stayed and give everything a rating 1*-5*.

(1*-I probably wouldn't do again /5*I'd do again in a minute.)

Please ask questions on specific activities for more info

 

Fishing Ketchikan w/ Northern Lights-5*

 

Can you give more information about fishing with Northern Lights (Ken)? I see you rated it highly :D . Were you met at the pier? Are there "facilities" on the boat? Were you able to actually fish or did you have to share rods? Did you have a chance to do any "wildlife" viewing like eagles, seals, etc.? -Thanks

[Teach345]

1) Yes, there is fishing right behind Comfort Inn Shipcreek. There is alittle shack on the other side of the creek that rents poles and sells licenses. It is called the Red Shack I beleive.When we where there we had licenses but needed king stamps and they were all out. So make you have all you paperwork before you go back and fish We got ours at Walmart.Alot of fish were being snagged but I saw alot bite also. There were quite a few people there but there was room for everyone and it was fun to see what everyone caught.Most of the people we met were locals.There were some HUGE fish going down that creek that I spotted while on the bridge.

[Teach345]

2) Fishing with Northern Lights was great. Ken picked us up on time and got us back in time. This man knows what he is doing and where to go. He really wants you to catch fish.He finds you by holding up a sign with your name on it.I beleive he only takes 4 people at a time so everyone gets their own pole. When someone catches a fish they back off and let someone else get the next one etc... This was fine and fair. Almost all hits came on my husband's line and it wouldn't have been fair to others. And it was just as exciting watching and cheering on others as it was catching your own.There is a bathroom on board and sodas. Take some snacks off the ship with you though because we were very glad we did.

We saw many many eagles. At one time we counted 38 on the beach and in the air above beach. Also- wear sunscreen on your face-we got crispy :)

[Teach345]

OOPs forgot the other question

We booked the Canyon Run for our whitewater rafting. I booked it ahead of time but I'm almost positive you could call or when you get there and get a spot. they had alot of workers. You pick up the tickets at the McKinley Chalet hotel right in the middle of toen. Go to the front desk (same place you would check-in) they print pout tickets. I booked the flightsee way ahead of time but give them a call- they were very nice and it was a great excursion and a great price.

By using the Toursaver we saved over $800 and didn't have to cut things out because of cost. I actually felt sorry for people on our excursions who I know paid full price.

[cuzn999]

"When we got to Vancouver we did self-assist luggage. Which meant if we carried our own bags we could leave the ship first. We were at our hotel by 8am.(Westin Bayshore)

We were going to take the trolley but the tour desk suggested the WESTERN SPECTACULAR by Grey Line Bus. It was wonderful and well wotrhn the $ because it included your entrance to Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Bridge. It had many other stops and was very informative.Also when you're on this tour you get VIP entrance- so we never waited in any entrance lines.It was $109and you can get on the tour from many downtown hotels"

 

Did you take a taxi to the Westin Bayshore? Hard to find a taxi at the cruise terminal?

 

I'm considering the Grey Line tour as well....is there alot of walking? My mom can walk, but not long distances.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Paul

[Teach345]

We took a taxi to Bayshore, it was $10 and easy to get since there were about 20 waiting.On the tour you could do as much or as little walking as you want. Once you were off the bus you were on your own and met back at bus at a certain time.

[cuzn999]

Teach,

 

Thank you so much for your help! We'll definitely take the Grey Line trip.

 

Paul

[krolgat]

Teach, thanks a lot for you help, especially on the tip about the self-assist luggage.

 

Caro

[dderm]

2) Fishing with Northern Lights was great. Ken picked us up on time and got us back in time. This man knows what he is doing and where to go. He really wants you to catch fish.He finds you by holding up a sign with your name on it.I beleive he only takes 4 people at a time so everyone gets their own pole. When someone catches a fish they back off and let someone else get the next one etc... This was fine and fair. Almost all hits came on my husband's line and it wouldn't have been fair to others. And it was just as exciting watching and cheering on others as it was catching your own.There is a bathroom on board and sodas. Take some snacks off the ship with you though because we were very glad we did.

We saw many many eagles. At one time we counted 38 on the beach and in the air above beach. Also- wear sunscreen on your face-we got crispy :)

 

Thanks so much for the information. This just makes us anticipate the fishing trip all the more.