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DIY+Radiance review with pics 18/7-3/8


alaskawdw12
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Chag sameach! Ani ohevet sufganiyot! Ta'im m'od! Anachnu ochlim harbay l'vivot b'hanukah!

 

So far, we have booked:

Ketchikan - Misty Fjords floatplane, lumberjack show

Icy Straight Point - whale watching boat tour

Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier helicopter tour, sled dog summer camp

Skagway - White Pass Summit train

Seward - Kenai Fjords boat tour

Seward - SeaLife Center mammal encounter, Exit Glacier

Anchorage/Whittier - Prince William Sound Surprise Glacier boat tour

Talkeetna - McKinley flightseeing

Denali - ????? shuttle/tour bus, Cabin Nite dinner theater

Denali - Canyon Run rafting

Fairbanks - Riverboat Discovery, Gold Dredge No. 8

Anchorage - ?????

 

I actually do have a question for you. Why/how did you decide to do the Eielson shuttle bus in Denali? Did you consider doing the Wonder Lake shuttle, Kantishna shuttle, and/or Kantishna tour? This is the only decision that we're struggling with.

 

You're going to have such an amazing time!!!! And you really are doing a lot of the same things we did, even the excursions that I haven't gotten to yet! :)

 

We LOVED the lumberjack show!!! It's so much fun!

Our whale watch in ISP was so incredible I actually had tears in my eyes... :rolleyes:.

Mendenhall Glacier is gorgeous!

We also did something with dogs in Juneau, our's was called Alaska Sled Dogs and Musher's Camp. I'm not sure if it's the same one you're doing? If so, this excursion was Lior's favorite excursion :)

The train ride in Skagway was beautiful.

We really loved Exit glacier. Don't forget your mosquito repellent there!! The mosquitos there were huge and aggressive!

About the mammal encounter, we did that too. It was very nice, but not exactly what they say it will be, since you don't interact with the animals at all, and we were a little disappointed. I'll be getting to it in my next post (hopefully:)), so you'll be able to see what it's all about.

I'm totally jealous you're going rafting!! So much fun!

 

As for the shuttle in Denali, I thought about this A LOT! lol...

It was actually the one activity I was most stressed out about, because of Lior's back (he fell off a mountain in an ATV accident 6 and half years ago. He broke his spine and now has a metal vertibra and metal cages and bolts in his spine). He doesn't do well on long drives, and reports on this board about the bumpy road and not-so-comfortable seats were making me very nervous, and I was even considering us not doing the bus at all.

However, we both really wanted to see bears, and aren't willing to get on a floatplane to do it ;) so we said we'd give it a shot. So then it was a matter of what was the minimum length shuttle that will give us what we're looking for. I searched this board, and the answer I got was Eielson.

After reading up on it, I really wanted to make it out to the Eielson visitor center, because I really like visitor centers and I wanted to go on the walk with the ranger, since that was a good way to go on some sort of an easy guided adventure in the park.

 

So, in short, Wonder Lake just wasn't an option for us because of the length of the trip. But I have to say that personally for me, I really had enough by the time we got to Eielson. I was happy we made it already, happy we didn't have any longer to go, and very happy that now we were going to be spending a couple of hours off of the bus. Don't get me wrong, we were having a great time, but we were both at that point where - right now, we're having a good time, but if we have to stay on the bus longer we'll start getting antsy.

When we were done doing everything we wanted to do in Eielson, we were ready to head back. So for us, back problems or not, that was just the right choice for us. But that's just us! For us, the Eielson shuttle was perfect :)

 

But we met many people who had done the Wonder Lake shuttle and loved it!!! (bring mosquito repellent if you're going there).

We also met people who had done the Kantishna shuttle and loved it!!! They showed us some amazing pictures and you could tell what a great time they had had.

 

So you just really have to read up on what each shuttle offers, do a search on this board to see what people say and pick what's best for you.

I definitely recommend the shuttle over the tour, because it's a third of the price and you have the flexibility of getting off the bus. So that way, if you decide you want to take the Wonder Lake shuttle, you can get off at Eielson, check it out, maybe hike one of the trails, and then continue. Or you can do it the other way around. But if you're on a tour bus, you're locked in. You can't switch buses, or stay in one place longer or change your mind because you suddenly got car sick. You're stuck. That makes me nervous!!! lol.

 

(Just FYI, we thought the seats were fine and the road was fine too, no need to worry about that).

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You're going to have such an amazing time!!!! And you really are doing a lot of the same things we did, even the excursions that I haven't gotten to yet! :)

 

We LOVED the lumberjack show!!! It's so much fun!

Our whale watch in ISP was so incredible I actually had tears in my eyes... :rolleyes:.

Mendenhall Glacier is gorgeous!

We also did something with dogs in Juneau, our's was called Alaska Sled Dogs and Musher's Camp. I'm not sure if it's the same one you're doing? If so, this excursion was Lior's favorite excursion :)

The train ride in Skagway was beautiful.

We really loved Exit glacier. Don't forget your mosquito repellent there!! The mosquitos there were huge and aggressive!

About the mammal encounter, we did that too. It was very nice, but not exactly what they say it will be, since you don't interact with the animals at all, and we were a little disappointed. I'll be getting to it in my next post (hopefully:)), so you'll be able to see what it's all about.

I'm totally jealous you're going rafting!! So much fun!

 

As for the shuttle in Denali, I thought about this A LOT! lol...

It was actually the one activity I was most stressed out about, because of Lior's back (he fell off a mountain in an ATV accident 6 and half years ago. He broke his spine and now has a metal vertibra and metal cages and bolts in his spine). He doesn't do well on long drives, and reports on this board about the bumpy road and not-so-comfortable seats were making me very nervous, and I was even considering us not doing the bus at all.

However, we both really wanted to see bears, and aren't willing to get on a floatplane to do it ;) so we said we'd give it a shot. So then it was a matter of what was the minimum length shuttle that will give us what we're looking for. I searched this board, and the answer I got was Eielson.

After reading up on it, I really wanted to make it out to the Eielson visitor center, because I really like visitor centers and I wanted to go on the walk with the ranger, since that was a good way to go on some sort of an easy guided adventure in the park.

 

So, in short, Wonder Lake just wasn't an option for us because of the length of the trip. But I have to say that personally for me, I really had enough by the time we got to Eielson. I was happy we made it already, happy we didn't have any longer to go, and very happy that now we were going to be spending a couple of hours off of the bus. Don't get me wrong, we were having a great time, but we were both at that point where - right now, we're having a good time, but if we have to stay on the bus longer we'll start getting antsy.

When we were done doing everything we wanted to do in Eielson, we were ready to head back. So for us, back problems or not, that was just the right choice for us. But that's just us! For us, the Eielson shuttle was perfect :)

 

But we met many people who had done the Wonder Lake shuttle and loved it!!! (bring mosquito repellent if you're going there).

We also met people who had done the Kantishna shuttle and loved it!!! They showed us some amazing pictures and you could tell what a great time they had had.

 

So you just really have to read up on what each shuttle offers, do a search on this board to see what people say and pick what's best for you.

I definitely recommend the shuttle over the tour, because it's a third of the price and you have the flexibility of getting off the bus. So that way, if you decide you want to take the Wonder Lake shuttle, you can get off at Eielson, check it out, maybe hike one of the trails, and then continue. Or you can do it the other way around. But if you're on a tour bus, you're locked in. You can't switch buses, or stay in one place longer or change your mind because you suddenly got car sick. You're stuck. That makes me nervous!!! lol.

 

(Just FYI, we thought the seats were fine and the road was fine too, no need to worry about that).

 

Thank you so much! That is extremely helpful!

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I've signed up for the octopus encounter at the SeaLife Center in Seward so I'm interested to hear your opinion of it. I'm having doubts now and might change to the puffin encounter.:confused:

 

NO!!!! YOU HAVE TO DO IT!!!! lol...the octopus encounter was amazing! It was the one thing I was most looking forward to on the whole trip, and I wasn't dissapointed :) It was exactly what they said it would be. I fed an octopus and touched 2 of them for a good amount of time. It was SO awesome!

I'm going to try to post the rest of our day in Seward today or tomorrow, so you'll be able to read in depth what it was all about, but definitly do it!! I was disappointed by the mammal encounter, but the octopus encounter was worth every penny!

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Yeish li od sh'eilah. For Skagway, did you book the White Pass Summit excursion directly through the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway or through Royal Caribbean? We always book all of our shore excursions privately. We never book any of our shore excursions through the cruise lines. We've attempted to book this with WP&YR. However, they are strongly encouraging us to book it with RCI instead. What did you do? Todah!

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I thought I'd start out by quickly answering some FAQ that I was also wondering about before the trip:

 

How cold is it? and what should I pack?

The answer to this question REALLY depends on where you're from. Before we left, I saw that people on these boards were saying that July isn't so cold, and not to pack a lot of what we packed. Now, that's true if you're from Michigan or Boston, where you're used to that kind of weather, but if you're from Orlando or Israel, it's going to be cold! My point is, don't rely on what other people are packing or what other people think about the weather. You know yourself, you know what you're used to. Go online and check out the the average tempratures and pack accordingly. I can tell you we were freezing our butts off, while other people were talking about how comfortable the weather was, in there light jackets and 3/4 length pants!

 

PACKING LIST

Here's what we packed. We used everything we brought.

- long underwear tops and bottoms

- T-shirts

- light weigt fantastic fleece

- 2 in 1 waterproof jacket with a light weight fleece that could be taken apart and worn seperately.

- jeans

- water proof hiking boots (made all the difference in the world)

- wool socks

- fleece hats that could cover the ears too

- gloves

- scarf

- $15 waterproof nylon pants (didn't take up much space, worth it!)

- 2 pairs of water proof binoculars (Bushnel 8x25 H2O LOVE them!! great binoculars, compact and easy. Bought them for a great price on Amazon)

 

We wore all of these things everyday once we left Fairbanks (except for the waterproof pants). But we were also the warmest dressed people we saw other people had much less on, and weren't nearly as cold as we were. The only other people we met who were cold were from Florida and Texas. So, in short, it depends what you're used to. And remember - layers, layers, layers!

 

Will I get sea sick? Rough seas??

I'm prone to sea sickness, so I read every thread there was on this subject. Don't be fooled by the people who have been on one or 2 cruises to Alaska and had water as smooth as glass. That's great for them, but it doesn't mean that's what you'll get. Since Budget Queen repeated over and over that you can definitly get rough seas on an Alaskan cruise, I knew that we should be prepared. We had a rocky voyage! The night we left Hubbard Glacier the ship was rocking and rolling. I heard a bunch of people at dinner get food for their spouses who were in their room sea sick. And the worst was actually in the inside passage, making our way from ISP to Ketchikan. Oh my gosh! People were actually leaving the show because it was so bad (the rocking, not the entertainment :) ), and walking back to our room was funny, with the ship swaying back and forth, really rocking! Lior also got sea sick on those 2 nights. But me? I had on the magic wrist bands, LOL, I felt great.

 

As for whale watches, we did 2 of them, one in Juneau and one in ISP. In both the boat was bobbing up an down, not calm at all. In juneau the boat was actually moving so much that I was hesitant to get on it, since I normaly get sick on smaller boats. But the amgic wrist band saved me :)

 

If you suffer from sea sickness, come prepared! Maybe you'll be lucky, and you won't won't feel the motion of the ocean at all. Or you might get a more exciting cruise experience, and know that you're on the water all the time! lol.

What are your options?

Non drowsey Bonine - they say to take this the night before you get on the ship, so that it's in you system already. Lior took it the night before, and it completely zonked him out the next day. He was not himslef, falling asleep all over the place, feeling out of it...drowsey. Last time I was on a cruise, I took non drowsey Bonine, and it had the same effect on me, which is why I didn't take it again. So we decided we wouldn't take that again. I know that it's weird that something that's called NON DROWSEY has that effect on us, but what can I tell you...it did. But you should bring it with you, because probably most people don't react that way, and just know that if you do - you're not alone :)

Ginger pills - we took ginger pills everyday. You're also supposed to start taking it before you leave port. I don't remember how often you're supposed to take it...sorry about that. I think it helped.

Sea Bands - these were a life saver for me!!!!!! After dinner, on the way to the Welcome Aboard show, I felt terrible. You could really feel the ship moving, and I was so dizzy and nauseous, thinking "what was I THINKING getting on a ship??". We stopped at the general store onboard on the way to the theater and bought Sea Bands for $16, got in line behind another woman looking green purchasing the exact same thing. The friendly cashier told me not to worry and that I'd be feeling better in no time. I'm telling you, 10 minutes after putting on the sea bands - I was a new person! And even on the 2 night when lot of people were sea sick - I felt great!! I'm sure just like anything else, these may work for me and not for eveyone, but they're definitly worth a shot. I swear by them now. They really saved me and our vacation.

Ginger Ale - it helps, or at least it helped us :)

 

How do I pick which cruise to go on?

Itinerary is key! Being the huge Disney freaks that we are (I've been to every Disney park in the entire world, and to WDW 25 times...Disney freak all the way) we originaly planned on taking DCL to Alaska (I've been on 2 Disney cruises before, and they're, well, magical! lol). But then when we really looked into it, we noticed the DCL is twice the price of the other cruiselines, and their itinerary isn't so great...they just don't spend as much time in each port as other cruislines. So we started shopping around (with a heavy heart, since I felt like I was cheating on the mouse).

The best itinerary for you depends on what you're looking for - more glaciars? more scenic cruising? more ports? more time in ports?

For us, the southbound Radiance itinerary was the best one out there - 4 ports instead of the standard 3, and the most hours spent in each port. We wanted to have as much time to explore places on land as we could, and that's what we got! I can tell you that we fell in love with RCCL, and will definitly cruise with them in the future. Everyone on board was so nice, the food was great, our room was great, the ship was beautiful, there were sooo many activities, it was like being at summer camp! it was perfect! We are now loyal to Royal when it comes to cruising. ok...Royal and Disney...lol

 

Will I see wildlife from the ship?

maybe, maybe not. If wildlife is a priority for you, you should book an activity that revolves around that (whale watch or bear expedition). On 2 seperat occasions, we were sitting in a public area next to the huge windows, and the people next to us were looking at a whale. We couldn't see it!!!! They're going "wow! amazing!" and we just can't see it! So maybe you'll see wildlife, but even if you do, it won't be close up like on a whale watch. We didn't see any wildlife from the cruiseship, other people did. other people right next to us, lol.

 

That's it! Next post I'll start the review. Here we are on our 32 hour journey from Tel Aviv to Fairbanks!!

 

Really appreciate your review. I like the looks of your hiking boots--what brand did you buy?

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Yeish li od sh'eilah. For Skagway, did you book the White Pass Summit excursion directly through the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway or through Royal Caribbean? We always book all of our shore excursions privately. We never book any of our shore excursions through the cruise lines. We've attempted to book this with WP&YR. However, they are strongly encouraging us to book it with RCI instead. What did you do? Todah!

 

Hi!

I booked all of our excursions through Royal Caribbean (except for the Mendenhal glacier shuttle), just because it's easier and less stressful for me, so I'm on the other side of that debate :)

 

However, I just looked up the prices for WP&YR, and the difference between booking through Royal and booking on your own is just $5, and when you book through Royal you get on the train right off the ship, whereas if you book directly through the train company you have to walk over to the station (not a big deal, ten minutes walk tops, but why not just board the train right next to the ship? :)).

 

Make sure you sit on the left side of the train on the way up, and for that you should be in line about half an hour before boarding time.

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Really appreciate your review. I like the looks of your hiking boots--what brand did you buy?

 

Thank you so much!

I love those hiking boots :) They're The North Face.

I don't remember which model, so I just did a search and I'm pretty sure the model is The North Face Vindicator Mid GTX Hiking Shoe. Mine are a men's shoe :cool: it just worked out that way...lol. I loved them! Super comfortable and totally water proof.

 

Lior's shoes are Merrell, and he loved his shoes too. They're apparently really popular, since we ran into 6 other people who had them, including Marry Shields :)

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Hi!

I booked all of our excursions through Royal Caribbean (except for the Mendenhal glacier shuttle), just because it's easier and less stressful for me, so I'm on the other side of that debate :)

 

However, I just looked up the prices for WP&YR, and the difference between booking through Royal and booking on your own is just $5, and when you book through Royal you get on the train right off the ship, whereas if you book directly through the train company you have to walk over to the station (not a big deal, ten minutes walk tops, but why not just board the train right next to the ship? :)).

 

Make sure you sit on the left side of the train on the way up, and for that you should be in line about half an hour before boarding time.

 

Todah rabbah! Did you take the train in the morning or afternoon? Any issues with fog?

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Todah rabbah! Did you take the train in the morning or afternoon? Any issues with fog?

 

bevakasha! :)

 

We took it in the afternoon and it was a beautiful fog-free trip.

From the research I did, the morning train is the one that's more prone to fog problems, so I made sure too pick the afternoon one. Plus, that fit in anyways with the rainforest bicycle ride in the morning (which was one of our favorite excursions!)

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At about 9:30 AM we were hungry (don't judge us, we had been up since 4:30! lol), but we just wanted a snack since we were going to be having lunch in a couple of hours. So we went over to the Wilderness Cafe'. This car is actually a really nice space, you should check it out. If you're traveling in a group with kids, you can send the kids over to the Wilderness Cafe to sit around one of the big tables and play cards (there was a group of kids playing cards in there, otherwise it was empty, and I'm sure their parents were enjoying some quiet time with the amazing views :)).I got a yogurt parfait, which was YUMMY!!!! Lior got an ice cream cone and we went back to our train car and were very happy campers.

 

One last thing about the train - like I said, all the seats in the Alaska Railroad Goldstar car face forward. But if you are traveling in a group and want to be facing each other, you can just flip the seats around, so that 4 people are facing each other around a small table.

 

Oh! Also, I don't remember if I've said this yet, but on all the train rides you should have your binoculars with you and ready, incase there's a bald eagle up in a tree or some gorgeuos scenrey in the distance you'd like to see more up close.

 

The second we pulled into Seward I was in love. Seward is so charming and special, it was Lior and my favorite place that we visited on the whole trip. It's a tiny little town, about a mile long, from the Sealife Center to the train depote and Safway across the street, and it's just a couple of blocks wide, sitting between the ocean and a green mountain range. The streets are charming and made up of small buikding with all kinds of different shops. I was in love! Here's what you see when you pull in: the ocean, behind it green mountains with white snowey caps. Does it get any better than that?? The scenery is constantly changing as the clouds and fog come and go, every second more beautiful than the one before. I could have stayed there for a month.

 

We got off the train at the tiny train station, and were so happy that we didn't have to get our luggage, and that we could just walk right over to the Holiday Inn Express, which is the closest hotel to the train station, and about a three minute walk away (maybe 5, depending how fast you walk...). We were shocked by how close the hotel was to the train station!! I knew it was close, but I'm telling you, it was right there!!

 

We went into the hotel, and of course our room wasn't ready, since check out is at noon, and it was now about 11:15. They had us (and everyone else from the train) put our carry on items that we didn't want to carry around town with us in a room which they kept locked (however, keep in mind that other people are going in and out of that room, so I wouldn't leave anything valuable in there). When you walk into the hotel, you see the beautiful harbor. Don't worry, I have great pictures of the view from the lobby, but there's a surprise in them that I don't want to ruin yet!

 

We out in search of food. We went over to The Train Wreck, which is right next to the Holiday Inn Express. It gets mixed reviews on TripAdvisor, butu I wanted to check it out, since it's cool that it's a train car turned into a restaurant.

 

2012156_zpsc8803e01.jpg

Check out those mountains in the background! Oh Seward, I love you :)

 

They have seating inside and outside. Although it was a beautiful sunny day, we were freezing!!!! So we opted to sit inside. The sweet waitress informed us that breakfast was over and now they're serving the lunch menue, which was fine by us. HOWEVER, warning to all vegetarians!!! lol...their lunch menue is VERY limited. They mainly serve pork dishes and maybe also some sea food dishes, I don't remember. But they didn't even have a salmon dish on the menue. Really mainly pork. They did offer one vegetarian dish, but it was called the spicey something or another, and the explination said that it was covered in hot sauce. I have zero tolerance for spicey food...so there was just nothing for me to eat. We appologized to the waitress and decided to just walk down the street and a find a different place, but we had to do it quickly, since I had a 1 PM appointment with an octipus!

 

Ok, I gtg, to be continued later today!

Edited by alaskawdw12
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bevakasha! :)

 

We took it in the afternoon and it was a beautiful fog-free trip.

From the research I did, the morning train is the one that's more prone to fog problems, so I made sure too pick the afternoon one. Plus, that fit in anyways with the rainforest bicycle ride in the morning (which was one of our favorite excursions!)

 

Yeah. That's what I was thinking. But we also want to do a Glacier Bay flightseeing tour and I'm worried about fog being a problem for that. Hmm . . .

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Yeah. That's what I was thinking. But we also want to do a Glacier Bay flightseeing tour and I'm worried about fog being a problem for that. Hmm . . .

 

I think you should post a question about it! All the Alaska experts on the board will help you out for sure :) I don't know anything about the flightseeing tours, since I hate flying so I didn't look into it at all. But everyone we met who had done flightseeing anywhere REALLY loved it. You should definitly post a question :)

 

OMG you're such a TEASE!!!!!! waiting for that octopus!!!! :)

and i hope you have some more pictures of the seward scenery!!!! even that little bit behind the train wreck looks gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

LOL! I'm getting there! ;)

 

Seward is spectacular!! It's such a special place!

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So we walked down the street, past our hotel, and pretty much right across the street was a fish restuarant that was pretty full, so we decided to give it a try. Vegetarians - like I said, you have to plan ahead...there are places that serve things that aren't fish, but you have to come prepaired.

Anyways, the place is called Terry's Fish and Chips.

 

2012180_zps16d04feb.jpg

 

The food there was AMAZING!!! Really great, but I do agree with the remarks on TripAdvisor that it's a little on the pricey side. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our meal so much, we considered returning to the same place for dinner.

 

The view from our table

2012158_zpsc4cf1bda.jpg

Like I said, the clouds kept on moving, so the scenery was changing every minute!

 

And for some food porn

2012163_zps76c45908.jpg

 

2012162_zps22a589fe.jpg

Sorry, I was so hungry I ate a little before remembering to take a picture...this was the salmon fillet. It was mouth-watering good!! I finished everything on the plate.

 

After a fantastic lunch, we started heading over to the Sealife Center on the otherside of town.

Now, here's where we made a HUGE mistake.

Yes, it's a very nice walk, and definitly worth it, but if you have a tour set up that you need to be at by a certain time, you will not enjoy the walk, because you have to make it on time!

There's a free shuttle in Seward during the summer, that crosses the whole town. My suggestion is to take the free shuttle to the Sealife center and then walk back at a nice leisurely pace, so that you can enjoy the sights, maybe stop in different local shops, sit by the harbor...

 

Anyways, back to us...we even saw the shuttle pass by, but decided to walk it. We were enjoying ourselves and meeting locals along the way, but the more we walked the more we realized how far away we were and how little time we had to get there! At a certain point, we decided the only way I was going to make it on time was if I ran ahead and he'd catch up with me. So I ran like a crazy person!! The whole time thinking "you idiot!!! This was the one thing you were waiting for! the ONE THING! and now you've done it...you're going to miss it and it's just because you just HAD to walk, didn't you?!?!?"

 

I finally made it and I was on time (meaning, ten minutes b4 the time the tour was supposed to start). Yay!! I walked up to the counter and signed in for both of the encounters and was told to go wait at the benches. When you sign in they give you something to attach to your shirt that says which encounter you're there for. I was sweating like crazy, so again, for the second time in one day, I was a local in a tank top. Lior made it, signed in for the mammal encounter and sat down next to me.

 

I had cooled down and even had time to go to the bathroom, and then it hit me - what if this tour will let me down? I'm ussually pretty good at keeping my expectations down, it's a necessity for working in the music business and staying sane. But this octipus encounter was the one thing I had been looking forward to for half a year. Everytime someone asked me "what are you going to do in Alaska?" my imidiate response was "I'm going to touch an octipus!" Suddenly I was terrified of being disapointed and how heartbreaking that would be...

 

Luckily, this was a non-issue, since the tour lived up to my very very very high expectations!!!!!

 

I went on this tour alone, because Lior is totally creeped out by octipuses. So $75 for someone who is grossed out is a lot of money to spend. Instead, he sat at the cafateria and drank a cup of coffee, while I had the experience of a lifetime!

 

Our tour guide ended up being the head aquarist of the whole sealife center (there's a name for it, but I don't remember) since the people who normally give the tour were all busy. So we were already off to a great start! This guy knew everything about everything! We were a full group - max. 4 people per group, which is great! So it was 2 grandparents with their little grand daughter and me.

 

Please note, if you want to take one of the tours, you should sign up in advance, since last year they only had the mammal and octipus ones twice a day.

 

First, our guide explained everything about octipuses, while we watched the huge octipus in the exhibit. It was fantastic! He really wanted us to ask questions and made sure we had all the info we wanted.

Then it was time to go behind the scenes!!

IMPORTANT - it's VERY cold back there! If you're going on any of the tours that take you behind the scenes make sure you bring something warm with you or you'll suffer. I had my fleece jacket and I was very cold.

 

We were taken over to a tank with a young octipus in it and given something to feed her! (I don't know if it was shrimp or prawns or something like that...something I've seen on Top Chef but never in real life). It was so cool!! He also had explained to us that the brain is a hard box between the octipus's eyes, and he had us touch it! Then we went over to the huge tank, which is actually the top of octipus exhibit, where the biggest oldest octipus was sleeping. At this point I understood that the Sealife center has a regiment for feeding the octipuses. They don't get fed everyday. So since the group the day before had fed the huge one, we couldn't feed her. Bummer!! I mean, the younger octipus was cool, but obviously it's a different experience with a bigger one. We continued walking around, and our guide showed us an octipus beek, which we also got to touch, and he showed us how they reproduce. Then we walked over to see the baby octipuses and all of the rest of the clan. Like I said, the guy was a fountain of knowledge and we were so lucky to have him as our guide.

 

It was almost the end of the tour, and we were talking over a tank of an almost mature female octipus, who was hiding in her den (half of a trash can). All of the sudden - BAM!! She was "staring" right at us!! (Scientists aren't sure how much they see or hear. She probably was following the sound vibrations from us talking). It was so amazing!!!!!!!!!!

 

2012174_zps4fd5497b.jpg

 

2012173_zps148d6334.jpg

 

And here's where our guide went above and beyond my expectations. It was already 2 PM. Our tour was over. But he was so excited by her behavior and how she'd come right up to us, he said "well, the tour tomorrow is going to be feeding her, so we can't feed her, but this is too good an oppratunity to pass up!" and he lifted the net from the top of the tank! I was so grateful!

The second he popped the top - smack!!! The octipus swung her arms out of the tank! Octipuses taste through the suckers on their arms, so they don't want to hurt you, just get a sense of who you are. The guide and his assisntant watch everything that happens, so with such a small group that has 2 guides, nothing can go wrong.

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2012166_zps0291a326.jpg

She's trying to steal my engagement ring!!!! lol...just kidding

 

2012167_zps588a1adb.jpg

A dream come true!!!

 

2012171_zps22d887f4.jpg

 

 

Her skin even changed textures and colors while we were with her!

It was more than I could have asked for...just the most fantastic experience, worth every penny! I would do it again in a heart beat!

 

At 2:30 PM, half an hour later than it was supposed to end (that's real value!), I skipped out to Lior. I was glowing! I was so happy. I showed Lior my pictures (which grossed him out...lol) and told him all about the tour.

 

That's it for today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to finally finish our first day in Seward...coming up: mammal encounter, Sealife Center exhibits, stroll through Seward and trying to make it to Safeway in a safe way!! :)

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Soon enough, it was time for our 3 PM mammal encounter.

We were both super excited about this encounter!

The wording online for this encounter was that you get to interact and play with the mammals, so we were sure we were going to...well..interact with the mammals! And so was the sweet woman who joined us, making our group a party of 3. The reason we signed up for the encounter was to have the once in a lifetime experience of interacting with a sea lion! And we were really really really looking forward to it. However, it turned out that sea lions and harbor seals don't like being touched by humans...so no touching or interacting. Until we found this out, all three of us were waiting for the magical moment when we get to touch a sea lion, and when we got up to where they live, the trainers told us we wouldn't be touching them, so we were very disapointed, and even a little annoyed that they had advertised one thing and then supplied another.

 

Now, I just checked out the current wording for this encounter on the Sealife Center's website. Interestingly enough, it has changed, and is now MUCH more accurate, so I guess they saw that the wording was misleading. If you like what it says now, and the tour sounds good to you - go for it! Because now the wording is pretty correct.

 

Anyways, except for the dissapointment of no interaction, the tour was great and very educational. First they told us all about the Sealife Center and the amazing work they do. All the animals in the center have been rescued and they put the animals that are capable back into nature. They have wonderful rescue stories. It's really a very special place, that deserves our praise and support for all of the amazing work they do.Then we went over to an area where 2 new big steller sea lions live, and got to observe them up close (from behind a glass partition), while our guides told us everything there is to know about steller sea lions. Then we went over to an outdoor area, where we saw a HUGE male steller sea lion. It turns out, he's so huge that even the staff members don't go into his area, because he slides back and forth, and if he slides on someone, that person will be crushed! It was cool to be standing so close to such a huge animal.

 

Then they opened up an area where 2 young steller sea lions were swimming around, and called one of them over for a short training session. This is when our guide explained that all of the training is so that the animals allow the trainers to touch them and check if they're ok. Otherwise, they are not interested in being touched or hanging out with humans.

 

Here's a video of the training session. You can see how close we were to him and he's with us for a nice amount of time.

th_2012177_zps611e602a.jpg

 

The walrus she's talking about in the video is a baby walrus that was left behind and rescued by the Sealife Center. Unlike steller sea lions and harbor seals, walruses do like to be touched. We were fortunate enough to be there shortly after he was rescued, and we got to see the staff hugging him. It was so precious.

Here's a link to an article about them (this baby was one of 3 that were rescued). There's a video at the end of the article, and you can also search on youtube, there are lots of videos of them.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/10/10/171117/orphaned-walruses-cared-for-at.html

 

From there we walked over to the back of the harbor seals exhibit. They told us that harbor seals are esspecially shy, so they don't know how long the one they try to work with will be willing to stay next to us, out of the water, and we had to be quiet.

 

2012175_zpsb63ba078.jpg

 

Here's a very short video. It lasted longer than that, this was just all we got on tape.

th_2012176_zps6b896129.jpg

 

It was a great tour, we learned a lot about these animals and we got to be very close to them. Like I said, we were disapointed because it wasn't as advertised and I'm not sure we would have spent the extra money on it had we known we wouldn't be interacting with the animals. They have a sea lion training show during the day for free, so I don't know...maybe we would maybe we wouldn't. Now you know exactly what happens on the tour, so you can make an educated desicion.

 

When the tour was over, it was time for us to finally check out the Sealife Center itself. This place is fantastic!!!!! The exhibits are phenomenal. You can easily spend a couple of hours in there. They have one exhibit where you can touch different types of starfish and other sea creatures only divers get to touch. My favorite exhibit was the big display about the big oil spil. You can pick which animal you want to hear about, and then you learn how the oil spill affected its population and how (if...) they've recovered since. It's so interesting, heartbreaking and uplifting, all at the same time.

 

After walking around for about an hour, we were tired and ready to call it a day. We decided to walk back to the hotel, and this time actually get to enjoy the walk! lol. We stopped at a local ice cream shop and got delicious ice cream and fudge. Seward is made up of charming little buildings, it's like something out of a movie. We loved our stroll through the city! I love Seward...lol.

 

Since Seward is right on the water, it was hurt in the big earthquake of 1964 by a tzunami and is in an area that can be hit by one again, obviously. On every street corner, there's a sign showing which way to go in case of a tzunami warning (run up the mountain! There's nowhere else to go...).

2012164_zps21ec1b74.jpg

 

We got back to the hotel, got the card key for our room (and a freshly baked chocholate chip cookie! yummy!! They have complimentry baked goods, coffee, tea and yogurts out all day) and went to get our stuff from storage. All of our luggage was already waiting for us in there, so it was perfect.

 

Our room was HUGE!! We were blown away by how big it was (not as big as our room in Anchorage, which was enormous, but still much bigger than your standard hotel room). Just like in our hotels in Fairbanks and in Anchorage, this hotel includes free wifi in the room and a complimentry breakfast. There's a microwave and a fridge in the room. We had a view of the mountain from our window, the other side of the hotel has a view of the harbor.

 

2012183_zpsfbb23ee7-1_zps8dbde938.jpg

What you don't see in this picture is a desk, couch and coffee table.

 

2012184_zps8584b4c3-1_zps417267ae.jpg

 

We were hungry, but exhausted, so we didn't feel like going out to eat. I had planned for us to have dinner at Ray's Waterfront, which gets good reviews on TripAdvisor, and is also right next to the hotel, but that would have to wait for another time...

We decided to go over to Safeway to get some bottels of water and microwave meals. It was only thanks to Cruis Critic that I knew what Safeway was, so thanks!!

Like I said, it's located right at the entrance of town, across from the train station. You can't miss it. To get to it, though, was somewhat of a challenge for us...lol. You have to cross the highway, with no cross walk! Now, I know, it's not much of a highway with only one lane in each direction and not-very- heavy traffic. But there was a constant car presence, and it really freaked me out! Everytime we attempted to cross, I chickened out...other people kept running across, but I was just freaked out about it! I could see the headline - "young Israeli couple gets run over the day before their honeymoon cruise. Police say 'they never saw it coming'". We started making fun of ourselevs, saying we're like little kids who need to wait for grown ups to come and help them cross the street...then we decided that that's exactly what we'll do! We waited until the next group of adults came and ran across with them!! It was just not safe!!! Running across a street? crazy...Anyways, it turned into our little joke. Whenever we saw a Safeway the rest of the trip, we said "Safeway? Safe my a$$!". I guess you had to have been there for it to be funny...lol.

So we picked up some water and microwave meals (BTW, obviously, there are lots of vegeterian options in there...), and we also bought some raspberries and blueberries!

 

We got back to our room after a LONG day, that began at 4:30 AM, and had a wonderful night in, veging out with The Office and Project Runway. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

 

If you remember, we had bought Bonine at the Walmart in Fairbanks. I learned from the Cruise Critic boards that you should take one the night before you get on the cruise, so that you have it in your system. Because of my bad ear, I sometimes have vertigo, which usually gets worse when I'm tired. I have medicine I take against it when it hits me, and it can't be taken together with Bonine. I had taken my vertigo medicine that day, so I couldn't take the Bonine as well. So Lior took the Bonine, and I planned to take it the next day.

Years ago, when I was on a Disney cruise with my family, I took a non drowsy Dramamine and it totally knocked me out! I was completely out of it and falling asleep all over the place. So I stopped taking it, because I couldn't enjoy the cruise. I decided this time I'd give Bonine a try. I didn't tell Lior that the non drowsy Dramamine had made me...well...drowsy, since I didn't want it to have a psychosomatic effect on him.

 

The next morning, he woke up all weird. He was totally out of it, tired and he felt like he had OD'd on codine. He was very unhappy about how weird he felt, so I quickly told him that that's exactly how I felt on the Dramamine, and not to worry, it's just because of the medicine and it will wear off. I felt bad for him! So after he reacted that way to the Bonine, we both decided we weren't going to take it, and hoped that the ginger pills would be enough. If not, my mom had told me we could buy the wrist bands at the general store onboard the ship. Let me tell you, I ended up buying a pair, and I now swear by them!!! They're amazing!!!! More on that later.

 

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Coming up next: Exit glacier and the beautiful Radiance of the Seas!

Edited by alaskawdw12
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thanks for the updates!!!!

and thanks for posting that video!!! the sea lion is ADORABLE!!! even if he couldn't care less about us!! :)

 

i can't wait for your cruise and cruise excursion updates!!!!!

 

thanks again for the the updates!!! great stuff!!! (so you didn't ask the "adults" to hold your hands in your run across the street? - actually, what i keep picturing is frogger!! :D)

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Soon enough, it was time for our 3 PM mammal encounter.

We were both super excited about this encounter!

The wording online for this encounter was that you get to interact and play with the mammals, so we were sure we were going to...well..interact with the mammals! And so was the sweet woman who joined us, making our group a party of 3. The reason we signed up for the encounter was to have the once in a lifetime experience of interacting with a sea lion! And we were really really really looking forward to it. However, it turned out that sea lions and harbor seals don't like being touched by humans...so no touching or interacting. Until we found this out, all three of us were waiting for the magical moment when we get to touch a sea lion, and when we got up to where they live, the trainers told us we wouldn't be touching them, so we were very disapointed, and even a little annoyed that they had advertised one thing and then supplied another.

 

Now, I just checked out the current wording for this encounter on the Sealife Center's website. Interestingly enough, it has changed, and is now MUCH more accurate, so I guess they saw that the wording was misleading. If you like what it says now, and the tour sounds good to you - go for it! Because now the wording is pretty correct.

 

Anyways, except for the dissapointment of no interaction, the tour was great and very educational. First they told us all about the Sealife Center and the amazing work they do. All the animals in the center have been rescued and they put the animals that are capable back into nature. They have wonderful rescue stories. It's really a very special place, that deserves our praise and support for all of the amazing work they do.Then we went over to an area where 2 new big steller sea lions live, and got to observe them up close (from behind a glass partition), while our guides told us everything there is to know about steller sea lions. Then we went over to an outdoor area, where we saw a HUGE male steller sea lion. It turns out, he's so huge that even the staff members don't go into his area, because he slides back and forth, and if he slides on someone, that person will be crushed! It was cool to be standing so close to such a huge animal.

 

Then they opened up an area where 2 young steller sea lions were swimming around, and called one of them over for a short training session. This is when our guide explained that all of the training is so that the animals allow the trainers to touch them and check if they're ok. Otherwise, they are not interested in being touched or hanging out with humans.

 

Here's a video of the training session. You can see how close we were to him and he's with us for a nice amount of time.

th_2012177_zps611e602a.jpg

 

The walrus she's talking about in the video is a baby walrus that was left behind and rescued by the Sealife Center. Unlike steller sea lions and harbor seals, walruses do like to be touched. We were fortunate enough to be there shortly after he was rescued, and we got to see the staff hugging him. It was so precious.

Here's a link to an article about them (this baby was one of 3 that were rescued). There's a video at the end of the article, and you can also search on youtube, there are lots of videos of them.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/10/10/171117/orphaned-walruses-cared-for-at.html

 

From there we walked over to the back of the harbor seals exhibit. They told us that harbor seals are esspecially shy, so they don't know how long the one they try to work with will be willing to stay next to us, out of the water, and we had to be quiet.

 

2012175_zpsb63ba078.jpg

 

Here's a very short video. It lasted longer than that, this was just all we got on tape.

th_2012176_zps6b896129.jpg

 

It was a great tour, we learned a lot about these animals and we got to be very close to them. Like I said, we were disapointed because it wasn't as advertised and I'm not sure we would have spent the extra money on it had we known we wouldn't be interacting with the animals. They have a sea lion training show during the day for free, so I don't know...maybe we would maybe we wouldn't. Now you know exactly what happens on the tour, so you can make an educated desicion.

 

When the tour was over, it was time for us to finally check out the Sealife Center itself. This place is fantastic!!!!! The exhibits are phenomenal. You can easily spend a couple of hours in there. They have one exhibit where you can touch different types of starfish and other sea creatures only divers get to touch. My favorite exhibit was the big display about the big oil spil. You can pick which animal you want to hear about, and then you learn how the oil spill affected its population and how (if...) they've recovered since. It's so interesting, heartbreaking and uplifting, all at the same time.

 

After walking around for about an hour, we were tired and ready to call it a day. We decided to walk back to the hotel, and this time actually get to enjoy the walk! lol. We stopped at a local ice cream shop and got delicious ice cream and fudge. Seward is made up of charming little buildings, it's like something out of a movie. We loved our stroll through the city! I love Seward...lol.

 

Since Seward is right on the water, it was hurt in the big earthquake of 1964 by a tzunami and is in an area that can be hit by one again, obviously. On every street corner, there's a sign showing which way to go in case of a tzunami warning (run up the mountain! There's nowhere else to go...).

2012164_zps21ec1b74.jpg

 

We got back to the hotel, got the card key for our room (and a freshly baked chocholate chip cookie! yummy!! They have complimentry baked goods, coffee, tea and yogurts out all day) and went to get our stuff from storage. All of our luggage was already waiting for us in there, so it was perfect.

 

Our room was HUGE!! We were blown away by how big it was (not as big as our room in Anchorage, which was enormous, but still much bigger than your standard hotel room). Just like in our hotels in Fairbanks and in Anchorage, this hotel includes free wifi in the room and a complimentry breakfast. There's a microwave and a fridge in the room. We had a view of the mountain from our window, the other side of the hotel has a view of the harbor.

 

2012183_zpsfbb23ee7-1_zps8dbde938.jpg

What you don't see in this picture is a desk, couch and coffee table.

 

2012184_zps8584b4c3-1_zps417267ae.jpg

 

We were hungry, but exhausted, so we didn't feel like going out to eat. I had planned for us to have dinner at Ray's Waterfront, which gets good reviews on TripAdvisor, and is also right next to the hotel, but that would have to wait for another time...

We decided to go over to Safeway to get some bottels of water and microwave meals. It was only thanks to Cruis Critic that I knew what Safeway was, so thanks!!

Like I said, it's located right at the entrance of town, across from the train station. You can't miss it. To get to it, though, was somewhat of a challenge for us...lol. You have to cross the highway, with no cross walk! Now, I know, it's not much of a highway with only one lane in each direction and not-very- heavy traffic. But there was a constant car presence, and it really freaked me out! Everytime we attempted to cross, I chickened out...other people kept running across, but I was just freaked out about it! I could see the headline - "young Israeli couple gets run over the day before their honeymoon cruise. Police say 'they never saw it coming'". We started making fun of ourselevs, saying we're like little kids who need to wait for grown ups to come and help them cross the street...then we decided that that's exactly what we'll do! We waited until the next group of adults came and ran across with them!! It was just not safe!!! Running across a street? crazy...Anyways, it turned into our little joke. Whenever we saw a Safeway the rest of the trip, we said "Safeway? Safe my a$$!". I guess you had to have been there for it to be funny...lol.

So we picked up some water and microwave meals (BTW, obviously, there are lots of vegeterian options in there...), and we also bought some raspberries and blueberries!

 

We got back to our room after a LONG day, that began at 4:30 AM, and had a wonderful night in, veging out with The Office and Project Runway. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

 

If you remember, we had bought Bonine at the Walmart in Fairbanks. I learned from the Cruise Critic boards that you should take one the night before you get on the cruise, so that you have it in your system. Because of my bad ear, I sometimes have vertigo, which usually gets worse when I'm tired. I have medicine I take against it when it hits me, and it can't be taken together with Bonine. I had taken my vertigo medicine that day, so I couldn't take the Bonine as well. So Lior took the Bonine, and I planned to take it the next day.

Years ago, when I was on a Disney cruise with my family, I took a non drowsy Dramamine and it totally knocked me out! I was completely out of it and falling asleep all over the place. So I stopped taking it, because I couldn't enjoy the cruise. I decided this time I'd give Bonine a try. I didn't tell Lior that the non drowsy Dramamine had made me...well...drowsy, since I didn't want it to have a psychosomatic effect on him.

 

The next morning, he woke up all weird. He was totally out of it, tired and he felt like he had OD'd on codine. He was very unhappy about how weird he felt, so I quickly told him that that's exactly how I felt on the Dramamine, and not to worry, it's just because of the medicine and it will wear off. I felt bad for him! So after he reacted that way to the Bonine, we both decided we weren't going to take it, and hoped that the ginger pills would be enough. If not, my mom had told me we could buy the wrist bands at the general store onboard the ship. Let me tell you, I ended up buying a pair, and I now swear by them!!! They're amazing!!!! More on that later.

 

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Coming up next: Exit glacier and the beautiful Radiance of the Seas!

 

We are signed up for the mammal encounter. We just thought that these animals would be more interesting than the octopus or the puffins. Do you know anything about the puffin encounter? I'm wondering now if we should switch our encounter.

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Just sent my sister in law your list of must have clothing for Alaska trip. She is already in the prepare mode for our June 29 to July 12 trip. I am anxiously awaiting your info on Exit glacier as this is what I would like to do in Seward prior to boarding the Radiance on July 5. Thanks for continuing your review.

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We are signed up for the mammal encounter. We just thought that these animals would be more interesting than the octopus or the puffins. Do you know anything about the puffin encounter? I'm wondering now if we should switch our encounter.

 

We met nice people from CC on our cruise who did the puffin encounter and they really liked it. I've also read a bunch of reviews by people who had done the puffin encounter, and the majority of them liked it. I know you get to feed them. The sea lions and harbor seals ARE very interesting :) you just don't interact with them at all.

 

Just sent my sister in law your list of must have clothing for Alaska trip. She is already in the prepare mode for our June 29 to July 12 trip. I am anxiously awaiting your info on Exit glacier as this is what I would like to do in Seward prior to boarding the Radiance on July 5. Thanks for continuing your review.

 

I'm so glad I can help! You guys are going to have such an amazing trip...

Exit glacier was great, we really had a good time there.

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thanks for the updates!!!!

and thanks for posting that video!!! the sea lion is ADORABLE!!! even if he couldn't care less about us!! :)

 

i can't wait for your cruise and cruise excursion updates!!!!!

 

thanks again for the the updates!!! great stuff!!! (so you didn't ask the "adults" to hold your hands in your run across the street? - actually, what i keep picturing is frogger!! :D)

 

i just watched the walrus video (at the end of that article you linked)..

they are so cute!!! the way they suck the thumb of the keeper....that's adorable...

that's really amazing rescue work the center is doing!!!

 

Thank you so much!!

Yeah, they're cute beyond belief! :) You just stand there melting inside because they're so adorable.

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Thank you so much!!

Yeah, they're cute beyond belief! :) You just stand there melting inside because they're so adorable.

 

i can't decide which is more beautiful, the stellar sea lion or the harbor seal...

they're both gorgeous....

that's interesting that they don't demand touching the way dolphins do....dolphins really really want to be touched (by those whom they pick for that honor!!)

 

i still think i would want to take the mammal tour, even though there's no physical interaction....they're so interesting...

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