Review: Radiance Alaska Northbound - August 2015 plus DIY land

Great review and wonderful pictures!! Glad you had such an awesome time! Can't wait for more!

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Great review and wonderful pictures!! Glad you had such an awesome time! Can't wait for more!

 

 

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Thank you! More is on the way.

Monday, August 10, 2015 – Icy Straight Point

When I was originally planning our excursion for Icy Straight Point, I was going to book an all-day halibut fishing trip for the guys and the girls were going to do a whale watch. I booked my sister-in-law and me on a whale watch and then I called a vendor who had all day halibut fishing in September but he told me that he wasn’t accepting reservations until January. I thought he would take my name but he did not. When I called in January, he told me he was booked. Really? In the meantime my sister-in-law decided she would rather do halibut fishing so I canceled the whale watch. I then proceeded to call every vendor and could not get any halibut fishing charters. When I called F.I.S.H.E.S., Marjorie told me that they only did fishing when the cruise ships were not in. She was very helpful and gave me a few more names to try. They were all full as well. Now we had to figure something else out so it was back to whale watching for everyone. I contacted Marjorie and they had an opening and so we booked the first one of the day.

ISP is a tender port and I had never tendered before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It went smoothly and it was a very short ride to port. We walked around the back of the buildings and found Marjorie right away. There was one other couple going with us from our ship. FISHES takes a total of 6 people so it is very comfortable. We got into her van and took a ride into Hoonah where their boat is docked. It was a pretty cloudy day with rain showers.

First we spotted some sea otters floating in kelp beds. They’re so cute!

We sailed along the coastline looking for brown bears but had no luck. Then we spotted our first whale.

Monday, August 10, 2015 – Icy Straight Point

We saw quite a few whales.

Captain Floyd told us about the whales and area and was very interesting. He was the only person we met on our whole trip who was a native Alaskan. He was born in Juneau. Most of the people we met came from elsewhere. Many were from Colorado. Floyd gave and envelope from Marjorie to both Jennifer and me. They each help a card and hand painted rock that was shaped like a whale tale. Marjorie had made us a 30th anniversary gift. This was so sweet!

We saw some more whales and then some Steller sea lions.

Monday, August 10, 2015 – Icy Straight Point

On our way back, the water started getting choppy so Captain Floyd had everyone come inside. They had hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. Once we made it back to dock, we were wanted to get some lunch. We really wanted fresh crab and Marjorie suggested the Office Bar. She dropped our group of four there and we told her we would walk back and then she brought the other couple back to the ship.

They were selling fresh Dungeness crab which they cleaned outside but served whole for $25 per crab which included their homemade chowder.

These crabs were very filling. I was really glad we had a long walk back to the ship. Once we returned to the port, Doug went back to the ship and Jennifer, Kenny and I decided to look around at the shops. My DH is not as shopper as you probably noticed. I walked around a little but then left the others and went to walk down to the beach area. It was very rocky with pretty big rocks which we not easy to walk on. They had a fire pit set up which looked nice and I also had a good view of our ship.

When we got back to the ship, Jennifer called over the balcony divider that their cabin steward had left a surprise. It was Kenny’s birthday and they got a bottle of champagne and 4 glasses. We all sat on our balcony and enjoyed the surprise.

That evening was 70’s night in the Centrum. Since we knew it would be loud in our room, we went early and got a seat to watch. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. It was fun. The activities crew dressed as the Village People. Then two of them went into the glass elevators and were dancing on the railings with two passengers while the elevators went up and down.

We did not do any of the evening shows. With how active our days were, we didn’t want to do too much. We did love our afternoons in Schooners. I am a trivia lover so we always did the 5:00PM trivia when we were on board just like we would do every night on our Mediterranean cruise. We enjoyed all of the musical acts that played in Schooners and the Centrum. I thought Ned Gray did a good job as well as Zig Zag. There were also two guys, Rosario Strings who played guitar and violin which were just beautiful. Every time they were playing, I was headed to something so I never got to hear a full set but what I heard was so pretty.

Tomorrow is Juneau!

I'm enjoying your trip report. Can't wait for more!

Loving your review, thanks for sharing.

Loving your review, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for reading!:)

My room was 8088. My sister-in-law had 8086 which was slightly smaller but still a good size.

I would definitely fly with Michelle again. We had a great experience with her and Tim and Shona. Very nice people.

 

Definitely best seat ever! It pays to be short.:D

Thanks so much for the cabin information, I appreciate it.

Love your bear pictures --- I have a Nikon 5100 as well and used my 75-300 for the entire trip. What size is your lens?

Wow I know it's hard to get such clear photos of the whales. I may have to resort to video. :-)

As luck would have it I have a college friend on her honeymoon in Juneau today on Radiance and my cousins are on Jewel of the seas also in Juneau today. Weather not cooperating. Tomorrow they are all scheduled to be in Skagway.

Denise

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Thanks so much for the cabin information, I appreciate it.

 

Love your bear pictures --- I have a Nikon 5100 as well and used my 75-300 for the entire trip. What size is your lens?

For the close ups I used a 70-300 and for regular use the lense that came with it the 18-55.

Wow I know it's hard to get such clear photos of the whales. I may have to resort to video. :-)

As luck would have it I have a college friend on her honeymoon in Juneau today on Radiance and my cousins are on Jewel of the seas also in Juneau today. Weather not cooperating. Tomorrow they are all scheduled to be in Skagway.

Denise

 

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It's really hard getting whale photos! The boat is going up and down and the whales are going up and down. I just braced myself against the side of something stable and hoped for the best.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015 – Juneau

The excursion today was with Coastal Helicopters and this was the excursion I booked last. I didn’t even book it until May of this year because we were not sure we wanted to spend that much money. My husband just wanted to do the helicopter on the glacier without the dogsledding. I really didn’t want to spend that much money either. But the more I kept thinking about it, the more I would feel upset about missing it. We happen to have a Siberian Husky (I know, not the same thing as Alaskan huskies). She is our second one and we got her soon after our other one passed away last year. I love these dogs. They have such joy for living. So even though they are not quite the same, I wanted to see what their kind was capable of. Long story short, we booked it.

We arrived in Juneau to rain. Lots and lots of rain. I called Coastal to double check when I got cell signal and the person at the office said it hadn’t been decided and to go meet our driver. When we got off the ship, we walked past the vendors and one of the girls asked if we had a tour. We said yes and that it was with Coastal and she told us where to find them. She said if we were unable to go, to stop back and we could book something different with her. We were not feeling too optimistic at this point. We met the driver who had a van full and off we went to the airport. Once we got there, they said it was a go. I forgot to mention that we were doing the Dogsled with Extra Landing. The dogsledding is held higher up in the snowier area of the glacier. The pretty bright blue water shots are further down. The extra landing was around an additional $75 per person and at that point what’s a couple dollars more? They fitted us with boots with grips to walk on the glacier. You leave your shoes and anything large there in a locked box. You can only take what you can carry in your pockets or around your neck. I decided with how bad it was raining to not take my good DSLR. I had bought the Nikon Tough prior to vacation. BEST IDEA EVER! I would not have had any pictures without this. The rain never let up and when you were moving, it blew straight into the lens.

We were weighed and then told the number we would be in line for our helicopter. There were the four of us plus a gentleman from Norwegian. Here is my only complaint. Four people in the helicopter were enough. One person rode up front next to the pilot and they crammed four of us in the back. We could barely get our arms out. My SIL got shotgun and I sat between my BIL who had the left window and the guy from Norwegian. My DH got the other window. The helicopter ride itself was awesome! I loved the way it lifted off and just sort of glided along. You can tell how much it was raining from the pictures.

The first glimpse of dog camp.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015 – Juneau

After the sledding was over, we got to meet the puppies!!!! I was ready to bring my Anya home a little brother.

After playing with the puppies, we got back into the helicopter and headed over to the glacier landing.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015 – Juneau

We landed near a cliff with waterfalls cascading down. The blue glacier water was gorgeous. I know some people have tasted the water but the spots where you could see the water were kind of deep and the glacier was really hard to walk on. It was harder to walk on than I expected. I guess one good thing about the pouring rain was they say the colors are better when the sun isn’t shining.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015 – Juneau

When we got back to port we were hungry but soaked. We all went back to put on something a little dryer and then headed back out again. I wanted to try Tracy’s Crab Shack. We already had Dungeness crab, now we needed King Crab.

A nice view with lunch. Too bad it was so foggy because the waterfall coming down the side of the mountain would have been nice to look at.

Doug and I split the combination and I upgraded the soup for the biggest size. We got a soup, crab leg, 4 crab cakes and some bread. It was expensive but very good.

My original plan for Juneau when we got back from the dogsledding was to go to Mendenhall Glacier and walk up to the waterfall. We were in port until 8:00PM so it would not have been a problem. However, it was still pouring and no one felt like getting wet again and we had just seen a glacier so we decided not to go. I was disappointed because I really wanted to see it but I didn’t feel like getting wetter either. We decided to check out the Red Dog.

Soon the guys left to go back to the ship and Jennifer and I checked out a couple stores. I got some glacier silt soap for my Mom and co-workers. Once we were back on board, we relaxed. We did some trivia in Schooner Bar and just hung around and listened to music and then got ready for dinner. Next up Skagway!

I'm enjoying your trip report. Can't wait for more!

Thank you! More on the way.

Taking Notes...

Pack Rain Gear...check

Get Chowder...Do they have "To go" cups?:D

That Beer looks good too.

Denise

I'm enjoying your review.

We've been on 4 Alaska cruises and can attest that you did all of the BEST excursions. The dog sled with Coastal was one of our favorites of any cruise!! Eating crab at The Office is fantastic. Watching the bears eat salmon was wonderful…our excursion had us standing on the bank of the creek with no protection…which we loved.

Loving this review, can't wait for more!!:)

Taking Notes...

Pack Rain Gear...check

Get Chowder...Do they have "To go" cups?:D

That Beer looks good too.

Denise

Definitely rain gear!

You can order Tracys crab soup online and have it shipped to you. It was really good.

I'm enjoying your review.

 

We've been on 4 Alaska cruises and can attest that you did all of the BEST excursions. The dog sled with Coastal was one of our favorites of any cruise!! Eating crab at The Office is fantastic. Watching the bears eat salmon was wonderful…our excursion had us standing on the bank of the creek with no protection…which we loved.

Hi Beach Native! You were on my Bermuda cruise on Grandeur last year.

I think I see another Alaskan cruise in my future. There are so many things to do there. No wonder you keep returning. Which bear excursion did you do?

Enjoying your report. Your pictures are beautiful. I am worrying about my camera now with all the rain.

Loving this review, can't wait for more!!:)

Thank you!

Enjoying your report. Your pictures are beautiful. I am worrying about my camera now with all the rain.

I did use my good Nikon in the rain a few times. I took a plastic bag and wrapped it around the body to keep it as dry as possible. I know they make protective gear for them but I didn't have any.