Bmorecruiser021

Your review , summary and photos made me anxious to use the Radiance. Our 3 generation family had planned to go to London and Paris but since the trouble in Paris we decided to stay stateside.

 

 

 

But, you did such a great job, and I am starting to plan too late, our TA is having difficulty finding us a balcony cabin for this summer. Today, I told her to start in Anchorage not Vancouver. I hope to get good news tomorrow.

 

 

 

If we get the cruise we will definitely want to go on a tour similar to yours. We will plan on starting a day early since our trip to the Galapagos had so many airline problems (every plane was 6 to 24 hours late, lost our luggage and also got stranded in Ecuador for 2 days on the way home) and we don't want to be exhausted before we start.

 

 

 

You captured the beauty of Alaska, the rugged activities and the ship's finest features. Thank You.

Thank you so much for the kind words. Good luck! Hope you have a wonderful vacation!

There are two aboard... one in the Windjammer and the other on deck 5 close to coffeeshop.

Radio is right, there are two machines in the windjammer, port side, and one on deck six between coffee chop and picture gallery

Thank you! (confidential? really? lol They are so funny)

Also talked to Andre today and he told me he is being transferred to the Explorer in 2 cruises, so it looks like you will have a new CD and AM

Can you find out the date in March that Paul Rutter will be handing CD duties over to John Blair?

According to front desk it is "confidential" but i asked one of the staff and they told me final sailing in March

Thank you we are cruising in under 2 weeks on the Grandeur. If you have the time to answer I would like to know who the Captain is? Also if they offered a package for dinning which included the Chef table? Enjoy your cruise

Captain is Mattias Persson and yes for 200 for 2 people you get chefs table chops and Italian

I have internet in key west till 4:30ish, anybody want a picture of something or information, if you post before 4 I'll try to post today, if not I'll post on Sunday when we get back to Baltimore.

earliest we ever got on board was 1030. most of the time it was closer to 1130

Same here

what was the name of this hotel? It is really pretty and i love the view.

Hey Robin, which hotel? I don't see a picture [emoji1]

That IS indeed sad that you missed Hubbard which is not to be missed and was the favorite of our whole cruise...so....another chance for you to repeat! Do her again just the cruise part from Vancouver and back. So you can experience this natural wonder.....we loved glacier day so much we wished the ship would've stayed hours longer.

 

 

 

Great review and pics.:D

Thank you so much! Yes we want to go back and see Hubbard really bad. We heard from other cruiser that was an incredible experience.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with the Alaskan Cruise/Cruise Tour.

 

Looking into it for Summer 2016 and interested to explore before or after the cruise and it seemed like the easiest path to take. Pictures, comments, etc are all welcome!

Here is a review I wrote after doing a cruise tour on Radiance this past summer. Hope it helps :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246535

Hi all...total newbie here. I have been reading a lot but I only have so much time, so I hope I could ask a few questions. We are in the process of booking an Alaska cruise on Radiance for next July.

 

1- how are the balcony rooms for a quad (two parents plus 12yo boy and 15yo girl)? My ideal is a balcony for us parents and a nearby inside for the kids but according to RC's website that is now an impossible set up (who knew people booked cruises so early!?...not me, I'm a newb as stated...) so I'm thinking I will call RCI direct or find a local agent who might have more info and be quicker about it. I had two adjoining ocean views on 24 hour hold on the 3rd deck aft (going southbound) which I thought could work but the husband really wants a balcony. And the hold is now over...boo.

 

2- cruisetours....for land, worth it? We hoped to be in Alaska for the 4th of July and the cruise in questions leaves the 8th. Husband has an independent streak and wants to go it on our own but I hear the cruise tours can be a good deal...mainly want to see Denali.

 

3-excursions...independent or on board?

 

4- DD and I are prone to sea sickness and neither of us have cruised. Husband has and insists we won't feel a thing. He's not prone though and doesn't quite understand...lol...scopolamine patches or other aids recommended for this cruise?

 

Thanks for any input and advice!

1) 4 will be a little tight, but budget wise it might be worth it. My parents and 23yo brother shared a balcony room last july on the Radiance in alaska and were fine

2) definitely recommend the cruise tour (if budget allows)….and do it first! We LOVED our cruise tour…..even more then the cruise itself honestly…..if you have time read a few reviews…..here is a relatively short one I did of ours: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2246535

3) Depends on what you want. We did through the cruise line, but other family did independent fishing excursions and loved it.

4) other then the first and last day, the ship goes so slow, because the ports are so close, you really don't feel any movement (in my opinion) but the first and last day you are crossing open seas / ocean so if can and did get rocky

Hope that helps!

Hi! My family (ranging in ages from 12-78) are going on our first Alaska cruise this summer! It's a "bucket list" item for my dad so we're very excited and want to make the most of it!

 

 

 

We have already reviewed and booked our excursions during the cruise portion of the trip; however, when we looked at the Land Tour excursions we were a little disappointed at the limited selection (especially considering the wide age range we're trying to accommodate). We did find a few we'd like to do; however, we aren't able to reserve those. From what I'd told, those are managed by the "Adventure Specialist" we meet at the hotel.

 

 

 

Our concern is that if our flights to Anchorage are later than others - we may not be able to do the Land Tour excursions we want. Has anyone been on the combined land/cruise tour? Any experience you can share? Do these actually "sell out"?

 

 

 

Thanks!

Sometime they sell out, but very rarely. You are more likely to have the excision cancelled due to weather. My family was the last ones to the hotel and we got to go on all the excursion we wanted too :) minus weather related cancelation

Thanks so much for such a detailed review; we are leaving in a few days for a self guided pre-cruise trip and then spending two nights in Vancouver. It is too bad more people do not take in Vancouver; it is such an amazing town surrounded by water with (I think) four bridges. So much to see and do - I've never even made it to Whistler! (my youngest daughter lives there and works in the film industry).

Thank you :) yeah I wish we could have had more time in Vancouver. More of a reason to go again ;)

Hello there, Could you tell me if you and your wife used waterproof shoes or boots when you went out on your tours. Thank you in Advance, Paul

Good Evening,

No, no waterproof shoes, just closed toes sneakers. When we went on the glacier they gave us snow boots that slipped right on over our sneaker. And if we had gone on the white water rafting, they give you a dry suit with feet, I was told. Hope that helps :)

I got totally immersed in your review! In fact I was late for an appointment. hehe We're going next week. I enjoyed narrative & photos. I felt I was there with you. I also appreciate you letting us know costs I wasn't even thinking about. You answered questions I couldn't find answers to. We're bringing layers & rain gear. Is there anything y'all over or under packed? We're only taking 1 suitcase each, so we won't have one to leave on bus. Thanks for the tips about talking to locals too. Oh, what camera did you use? You also kept good notes to make such a comprehensive review. Great job! I can't believe this is your first review! Awesome!

Thank you so much for all the kind words! The only thing I really overpacked was T-shirts, and that's because I always buy so many when we go on vacation. I get one from each port (or city in this case) and then I end up wearing them, before the vacation is finished, so I ended up not wearing about 5 shirts I brought. I under packed pants. Brought plenty of shorts, it being summer and all, but not enough jeans. I also didn't realize that there were 2 formal night and only packed one formal outfit. Same with Ali, she only packed one dress. My camera is a simple Sony Cyber Shot I got at Walmart a few years back. Hope this helps :) Have a great cruise!!!

This report was very helpful. I am a newbie and will be doing the 1b cruisetour. I appreciated the estimates for money needed for food on the land portion. I am going to reread and take notes for which places need cash and which will take credit.

 

I was a little confused about the luggage during the land part. Do we only get to take one suitcase?

 

Thanks so much for your insights.

Good evening :)

Arizona is right, you can take as many suitcases as you want. When the land tour start you get to decide which of the suitcases you brought you get to see daily and which ones go directly to the ship. Everyone does it differently. For example. Ali and I brought 2 suitcases, and 2 carry on's on the air plane (1 suitcase each 1 carry on each). That way we did not have to pay for extra bags. The way we pack, 1 suitcase is mine and one suitcase is her's, so we had to have all the suitcases delivered to our hotel rooms each night (those suitcases got a purple tag, but the color varies). My in-laws packed the same number of suitcases, but one had a weeks worth of clothing for both of them, and so did the other, so they were able to tag one of their suitcases with a purple tag, and see it every night in all those hotel rooms, and then they tagged the other with the white tag and did not see it again until boarding the cruise ship. This allowed them to have more space in their hotel rooms each night (not a big priority for us personally) also Ali packed an additional, folded, duffel, in her suitcase, that we filled with souvenirs. That also got a purple tag (and we had to pay extra on the flight back). So it's all up to you on how you want to pack and how much you want to bring. Hope I was helpful :)

Kraig.

 

Bob and I loved the review and photos!

 

This was by far the best vacation we have done' date=' even though we did this same cruise 5 years ago. Yes a 7 night cruise was too short but overall it was spectacular. I still find myself remembering little things out of the blue - like in staff meetings a work!

 

All the best to you and Ali and wishing you blue skies and calm waters on future sailings.

 

Thanks for starting the roll call. It was a pleasure running in to you daily! :)

 

Diane and Bob[/quote']

 

The pleasure was all ours Diane! Hope to see you again someday on another cruise :D

Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone! Glad I could help and entertain!:D

Sounds like you didn't spend much time in that bonus port of Vancouver.... Need to budget a few extra days next time to enjoy it better.

 

That post check-in/US customs procedure is US requirement. They do this to screen trouble makers before they get a chance to board a plane and get into the states. If you took a cruise to Alaska from Vancouver... you'll see the same lengthy procedure as they pre-screen for trouble makers before getting on the ship.

 

Yep, there is so much to do... many of us make multiple repeat trips to enjoy it all.

I know. Ali and I wish we could have made a weekend out of Vancouver. Unfortunately it was not to be. Beside our day jobs, Ali and I have a small horse farm in Maryland. It is hard finding care for the horses (and other animals) for extended periods of time. Our care giver could only watch the property till the 7th so we had to head home. O Well, next time for sure!

Well we finally caught a bus and made the 45 minute drive to the airport. Arriving a little after 11am. Plenty of time, or so we thought.

The line to check in our bags and get our boarding passes took a good half hour. All clear to the gate we assumed, just had to go through security. We were wrong. After passing through airport security, we found out that if your plane was going directly back to a U.S. stop, you had to pass through U.S. customs right then and there. And since our connection to Washington DC was through San Francisco we had to go through customs. Well that took another half hour. But once we finished, we walked through big doors that said "Welcome to the United States" It was very interesting how they did that. But finally no more hoops to go through. We ran to the gate and were the last passengers to board the plane. Just in time!

We took off without incident and headed for San Francisco.

The flight was an uneventful 2 and a half hours. We landed in San Francisco, and had a short 90 minute layover. We boarded the plane and headed home.

Another uneventful flight. About 5 and a half hours long. We landed at Dulles around 1am.

We grabbed our bags, the van, and drove on home. What an excellent cruise vacation. Cant wait to do it again!

I want to thank you all who followed along and enjoyed the review. It has been wonderful sharing my families experiences with you. I hope I didn't do too bad my first time writing a review. If anyone has specific comments or questions, I'll be more then happy to answer what I know. I also have all the cruise compasses and plenty more picture if anybody want anything specific like room configurations or Latte-Tude prices. Any and all help I can be to the CC community that has helped me and my family SO MUCH, I will definitely try my best to oblige. Thank you all, and goodnight

We did one last check in our cabin to make sure we didn't forget anything then headed to our meeting spot.

Our disembarkation spot was the theatre.

We waited, not long, for our number to be called. We gathered our things and headed off the ship.

Canadian customs was very easy. We just handed them our paperwork and walked on through. Catching the bus to the airport, on the other hand, was not so easy. Very unorganized, and one staff member was not talking to the other. They had us stand in lines for a cab or bus transfer, but one staff member would pull from one end of the line and the other would pull people from the other end. This made it so the people in the middle never got a taxi or bus and the people at the ends were seen right away. Made us very nervous as time was ticking away for our 12:30 flight.

I agree I hardly ever do 7 day cruises. Did a few Cunard crossings some of those were even less than 7 nts. I have done several really long ones like 14nts and more. Those are really nice especially the sea days. Good if they are spaced in nicely with the port days.[emoji7]

Denise

 

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Completely agree! Ali and I have an 8 nighter, 13 nighter, and 12 nighter booked within the next 2 years. All with 3 or more sea days. Very important, as those are great days to relax and rejuvenate :D I know not everyone likes sea days but Ali and I love them!

Friday ~ August 7 2015 ~ Vancouver to Home

The sun rose on our last morning without a cloud in the sky. Absolutely breathtaking. We pulled into Vancouver's harbor and prepared to dock. It hit us that our adventure was coming to a close.

My parents and brother were going to be one of the first groups off the ship so we said bye to them the previous night. But we still had to say bye to Ali's family. We made our way up to the windjammer to eat breakfast and say goodbye. It was very sad. We only get to see them once every few years due to distance and our busy lives. One last picture, then we headed to our disembarking spot.

We got some pictures on the balcony before it got too dark.

Then put our bags out in the hallway, very sad.

We walked down to the centrum and met Joey at his favorite bar with our favorite bartender!

We sat and talked for a while before walking around and saying goodbye to friends we had made over the past 2 weeks. It was such an amazing vacation and experience as a whole. One we will never forget. One last picture of the centrum before bed. Beautiful!

Ooh the last day. I call it "Depressed day". Usually save at least a half bottle of wine for DWP. That's drinking while packing.

Denise

 

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SO TRUE! Ali kicked me out of the cabin so she could pack in piece:rolleyes: This was actually our shortest cruise to date, we've only ever been on 8 and 9 day cruises. I can definitely say a 7 day cruise is too short! :cool:

We relaxed some more. Took a nap. Then met up with the family for our last dinner. On a side note, all this relaxing was very necessary today. This had been a very busy vacation. From sleeping in a new hotel room and doing multiple excursion every day at first, to all the extended family that wanted to spend time together, this was the perfect way to end the cruise and vacation!

Dinner was great! We got the anti pasta and scallops to start and Ali got the lamb while I got the seafood mash for dinner. The seafood mash was ok, but the lamb was delicious!

We celebrated Ella's tonight. She loved all the attention!

After dinner I played some darts at the pub with my dad and brother while my mother watched and Ali packed.