BoPeep7

We are leaving from Vancouver and headed towards Seward. :). I'm so looking forward to it… But also as it gets closer all these questions are coming up, especially with kids. But I know I'll have a fantastic time. We have wanted to go for years!

Bo Peep ~ If you are doing MTD, and have made reservations, you are pretty much guaranteed to be seated at your time. You do not have to wait in line with others who have not made a reservation.

 

I love the Radiance class of ships - it has a great flow. There is a frozen yogurt station in the Windjammer but I don't believe there is a cupcake place.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!

Thank you! Glad to know about the frozen yogurt :). I just realized the Windjammer has a lot of options and am looking forward to trying it out :)

Hi, we're on an Alaskan cruise on Radiance of the Seas in June. We haven't been on a cruise since our children were born 10 years ago, and we've never been on Royal Caribbean. I've been trying to read and find out all the dining options, so please tell me if any of this is incorrect.

We are doing the my time dining because I'm not 100% sure when we'll get back on port days. We are going to do reservations, and hopefully will be on time for all of them. If we show up a few minutes early or late, we may or may not have to wait a few minutes for a table from what I understand. I was contemplating doing specialty dining but wondered if it was worth it or not. Especially with children who can be a little picky. Although the older girl does love steak :) Is there a preferred specialty dining experience on Radiance? Also, we like our desserts. From what I understand, there is an ice cream place on the ship… and possibly a cupcake place… Although that might be on other Royal Caribbean ships. Are there any other places that are quick to get in and get out where you can get something sweet? Thank you!

:rolleyes: Well I started stressing again about it, but I'm just praying things will work out. We are flying internationally to Vancouver from Nashville. Were using Southwest for the trip out, and flying back from Anchorage on Alaskan Airlines for the trip back. I wouldn't think flying into Canada would be as strict as most other places but if someone knows differently, let me know. I have read different situations, with most of the time it working out fine. I will surely know better next time .

Sorry, that was supposed to say WestJet, not Southwest!

:rolleyes: Well I started stressing again about it, but I'm just praying things will work out. We are flying internationally to Vancouver from Nashville. Were using Southwest for the trip out, and flying back from Anchorage on Alaskan Airlines for the trip back. I wouldn't think flying into Canada would be as strict as most other places but if someone knows differently, let me know. I have read different situations, with most of the time it working out fine. I will surely know better next time .

Thanks all. I called the airlines and made sure they had the info even though it doesn't show on my tickets. I thought they'd have to reissue and charge me. They said I'd have no problems, and hopefully they're right! Thanks again. :)

I know that this has been asked 1 million times, but I'm only seeing answers from 4-9 years ago or maybe even older. When I made the reservation for Royal Caribbean, I accidentally used our middle initials. But our full names are on all of our passports. I have two middle names, as do both of my daughters. All our first and last names match exactly. Will this be an issue? I keep reading differing opinions. When I spoke to Royal Caribbean today, they said just to change it at the check-in. I'm hoping that will suffice. It has been years since I have cruised or flown (since the kids) and I definitely don't want to be turned away at the port..., or the airlines for that matter. I have read some people have a problem ( the minority i believe).

Thank you, Mapleleaves! I am definitely going to that link and getting the visitor's guide. Thanks for the heads up on the bus.

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I think, now that I know Seward is so small, I will just walk or possibly use the shuttle if it's raining. I'm going to let my family decide if they want to take the train or the bus into Anchorage where we'll rent a car and go from there. Thanks so much for the itineraries and the mention of places to stay and vendors. it is such a help. Just for the record, I do know how to use Google maps. I meant it was literally broken as in not working on my iPad anymore.

Whittier is about 70 miles from Anchorage. You have to go thru a tunnel just before whittier .....its shared with the train so only open once an hr in each direction. Takes about 1 1/2 hrs to get to the tunnel from anchorage.

 

The PWS cruises leave noon-ish, so no early morning rush to get there. And with the long days you can stop at the wildlife center and other places afterwards.

That is intriguing about the tunnel LOL. I guess I'll have to find out when they open it because I'd hate to sit there for 45 minutes. :D That is very good that they're not early. Hard to drag kids out of bed super early.

How much time will you have post cruise to see the area? We were on the NCL Sun June 5-12. The cruise line had an excursion and took took train to Anchorage, there we picked up our rental car for 5 days. There are several bus transfers that will also get you to Anchorage fairly reasonable. We picked up a Jeep Grand Cherokee from Alamo for $382 for the 5 days we had. We were in the Mat-Su valley for a couple days traveling as far north as Talkeetna for a day, then drove down to Seward and spent 2 days before heading back to Anchorage to catch our evening flight. We used the Kenai Fjord Tours company and had an incredible trip.

I haven't book air travel yet since I was kind of trying to get a feel for how long I'd need to see my few "must-dos". I was "guessing" I'd need four days and then fly out of Anchorage. That's a very decent price on the rental. I'd be very happy with that. Thank you for your recommendations! I'm really thinking about going on to Talkeetna now.

Its about 125 miles from Seward to Anchorage, 2 1/2 hrs plus stops.

Seward itself is quite small......the small boat harbor is at one end and downtown is at other, maybe 1 1/2 miles between. There are hotels and b&b's at both ends and scattered in between. A $7 cab .

You dont really need a car in seward, unless you stay out of town. The kenai cruises leave from the small boat harbor.

To reach anchorage, you could take the evening train, or Park Connection Bus, or one of the transfers. Rent a car when you get there. Then drive to whittier if you want a PWS Cruise plus make a stop at the wildlife conservation center and a few other fun locations.

Rusts Flying Service is a vendor who flies to Denali. There are others....look at the city w eb site. Or drive 2 1/2 hrs north to talkettna where flightseeing is very popular.

P.S. $400 sounds like a one-way fare. Theres only one car vendor so they've got you.

Thank you - that's excellent news about not needing a car in town. I had originally thought for some reason Prince William Sound was a Seward excursion, because I see a lot of comparison of Kenai and PWS, but I see you are certainly right that I'd need to get to Whittier. Where would I find out more about the Park Connection Bus? Is that something the Visitor's Center in Seward would tell me about? Thanks so much for the note on the conservation center. I will add it to my list and look around for more attractions in the area. I will definitely look into Talkeetna. I thought it was further than that from Anchorage. Thanks a bunch! :)

Our ship will dock on June 8, 2018 in Seward, and I wanted to spend a couple days in the area before heading home. I'm having a lot of trouble figuring it out. Here's a minimum of what I'd like to do: check out Seward itself, explore or take a tour of Kenai Fjords, explore or take a tour of Prince William Sound, and hopefully go to Anchorage for the purpose of taking a flightseeing trip to Denali. Please help me figure out how to get around, whether bus, taxi, rental, RV, train (if there's train service here) or just hope that the tour picks us up! :)

I checked into Hertz, and surely it must be wrong - perhaps because the date is so far out?? Their website quoted me $400 a day for a compact. Can that possibly be right? On the other hand, there's an RV rental place by the airport. I guess I could take a taxi there from the dock. I have no idea how far it is. I don't know their prices for next year, but right now they have a special for $199 a night. It's hard to judge on maps and I've apparently broken Googlemaps so I really don't know how far/long it is between these destinations. I'm assuming that Seward is too far from Anchorage to take a cab. I haven't seen any flightseeing to Denali out of Seward either. If you have a favorable or unfavorable review of a flightseeing from Anchorage to Denali, I'd love to hear it. I've figured out most of the trip (kind of) but this land portion is making me want to give up. We didn't want to have to drive or take the train all the way to Denali and then deal with the very long bus ride inside because we have two younger children. Thanks for any and all help!