Just returned from Radiance OTS nortbound Vancouver-Seward! AMAZING!!

We travelled as a multi-generational group of 6 including my husband and I (40-ish years old), my mom (aka Nana) who is in her mid 70's, our b/g twins age 10 and our youngest child age 6. Our daughter uses forearm crutches to walk short distances, but otherwise requires a wheelchair. There was a lot of organizing and logistics to sort out because of this, especially for transportation and excursions. Our oldest son has celiac disease, and that was another layer of planning difficulty. Nana had sailed RT from Seattle on the Inside Passage with Princess in the past, but it was 11 years ago. We chose a one-way route to have more time in port and to skip the short port time in Victoria that is required on Seattle sailings. It DID make airline transportation a little more difficult, but it was worth it for us.

We arrived in Vancouver 2 days before we sailed and stayed at Lord Stanley Suites on the Park. They have condos available to rent and we split the family up as Nana and twins in one condo, hubby, me and youngest son in the other. (We did the same thing for the cruise cabins.) Each condo had a small bedroom (basically the queen sized bed, a nightstand, a small closet, and that's it), a small office with a sliding glass door where we kept our suitcases, a basic bathroom with tub/shower combo, a tiny kitchen with some basic dishes and cooking utensils, and a living room with a pull-out sofa. One condo had a deck, the other had a sunroom. While the location isn't "centrally located" we liked being near Stanley Park and in a residential area. Starbucks and Safeway were each 2 blocks away. The property has FREE breakfast every day and that was very helpful. It included a place to make waffles, pastries of all sorts, bread and bagels, a toaster, 2 kinds of cereal, yogurt, and some fresh fruit. Also coffee, hot tea, juice and milk. There were no eggs, bacon or sausage but we didn't miss them. Our son with celiac disease ate yogurt and fruit, and we provided instant oatmeal and/or granola for him. We ate a big breakfast the first day, then had snacks during the day and had dinner at Red Robin. Admittedly, we can eat at Red Robin back at home, BUT we know they have good food and they are celiac safe. On embarkation day, we had breakfast at the condo and then ate lunch once on board.

In Vancouver, we walked around Stanley Park and Granville Island, Canada Place, and went on Fly Over Canada. If you've ever been on Soarin' at EPCOT in Orlando, FL it's basically the same thing but you watch a movie about Canada instead. We used a lot of taxis to get around Vancouver, but with the ages and abilities of our group, it was just easier for us. We really enjoyed Vancouver and would like to go back again.

After breakfast on embarkation day, we packed up our stuff and headed off to Canada Place. We got in a taxi about 10:30 and were on the ship and finding a table in the Windjammer before noon. It was really slick. Rooms were scheduled to be open at 1pm, so it worked well to eat lunch first. I think they actually announced rooms were ready a little before 1pm, so we checked out our rooms after we ate, and then wandered around the ship to explore and registered the kids for Adventure Ocean.

CABINS: We had cabins 7108 and 7110. We really enjoyed the long balcony in 7108. Yes, there is some white cover from the lifeboats below so you cannot look straight down to the water, but it didn't bother us. It does not cover the whole width of a lifeboat, it's a sort of triangle shaped piece of lifeboat cover, so it didn't block our view very much at all. It only bothered us a tiny bit that we couldn't see forward (around the Centrum elevators) and basically only mattered to us when we were sailing in and out of port. On the upside it DID block much of the wind. At night, we did hear some music floating up from the Centrum, but we were so tired it never bothered us.

Nana and the twins stayed in 7110, which is the neighboring accessible balcony room. It was great to have them next door and the accessible room (and bathroom) were HUGE. There was plenty of space for a roll-away bed for one of the kids, and still lots of floor space. Having an accessible room meant a nice big bathroom with a small "ramp" to avoid the usual step up into the bathroom. There was also a short ramp to get on to the balcony. The white lifeboat covering is wider in 7110 as it covers the width of a whole lifeboat. Nana said she likes to look straight down at the water, but would rather have the extra space in the room and didn't care after she got used to it.

DINING: We had MTD at 5:30 every night. We typically eat dinner closer to 6:30, but Nana prefers to eat early, so that's what we did. It worked out fine, especially after a day in port when we were all hungry. Our Head Waiter was Stanley and Assistant Waiter was Florencio. They were EXCELLENT all around. Good at remembering what everyone liked to drink, personal and friendly with all of us, very good with the kids too. After the first night, our celiac son looked at the menu for the following night and selected what he wanted to eat. Then when we got to dinner, Stanley confirmed that was still what he wanted. Our son is fairly adventurous and tried several new to him foods including French onion soup (without the bread), prime rib, creme brulee, and lobster. He ordered from the regular menu all nights except one. After having chicken breast, potatoes and veggies a couple of nights, he really didn't want to have it again and didn't want any of the foods labelled gluten free on the regular menu either. After consulting with Stanley, he asked for gluten free pasta and marinara sauce. Stanley quickly went to his boss, who then came over, happily confirmed the order with our son, and gave Stanley a "special request" order form of some sort. Not only was it NOT a problem at all to make that special request, the resulting pasta was delicious!

We enjoyed all the MDR food. My older kids willingly tried new foods and liked them. There wasn't any food we tried that we did not like.

We ate one night at Samba Grill and were not impressed. We have an expensive Brazilian Steakhouse near where we live and my husband and I have been there a few times. We really enjoy going there as a special date night for our anniversary or birthday. The food at Samba Grill was not as good as in the MDR (or what we have had near home), and the service was nowhere near what Stanley and Florencio provided for us. It wasn't horrible food, but none of the adults felt it was worth the extra cost per person. We would have enjoyed the MDR more.

Windjammer Cafe had plenty of variety each day, but from day to day it didn't change much. Finding a table was tricky on sea days, especially when we needed a big round table and space for a wheelchair. Hubby and I have sailed on Celebrity and Carnival in the past. We think Celebrity had a better buffet, RCCL was in the middle, and Carnival was at the low end.

For breakfast, we had room service once, ate in the MDR 3 times, and ate the other 3 days in Windjammer.

EXCURSIONS: Given the physical abilities of the people in our group and our desire to save money, we booked all our excursions independently.

Ketchikan: Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour (booked through Alaska Shore Tours). Super fun, educational, interesting, and it didn't rain a DROP when we were in Ketchikan! We actually had SUN most of the day. Our kids had a great time seeing how they operate a crab boat and haul pots. We are Deadliest Catch fans, but the kids haven't seen it much on TV. The highlight of the trip was when they put our daughter right up front next to the rail, then announced they were going to throw fish out so we could watch the eagles. She was right in front of the action and we were next to her or right behind her. They made sure all the kids on board could see well. There were about 30 eagles swooping and diving for fish and it was incredible. Sure, we have eagles at home and see them on our lakes and rivers (we live in MN and have lots of water for them), but we are lucky to see one eagle, never mind 30 all in one spot. Grade: A+

We did a little souvenir shopping after the excursion, but didn't explore in the town as there just wasn't enough time.

Icy Strait Point (Hoonah): whale watching with Glacier Wind Charters and Captain Casey. Their small boats hold 6 guests and a captain. It was perfect for our family of 6. Captain Casey was super patient with all the kids' questions, and made sure to tour the boat so our daughter could see the action without having to walk/stand on board. (We had her walk to get on board, and left her wheelchair in the van used for transportation to/from the dock). We saw 15 orcas in 2 pods (including a calf!), and 9 humpback whales bubble net feeding. It was unreal, and such a fun and exciting experience. I actually got tears of happiness while watching them and knowing that we were able to share the experience with our kids and my mom made it even better. Grade: A++++

While booking this excursion, Theresa of Glacier Wind Charters told us it would be easier for our daughter to transfer to the boat when the tide was coming back in, and suggested the 12:30 charter. It worked great. We had a couple of hours to explore Icy Strait Point, wander the shops, the cannery, and the museum and get back to the ship for lunch before disembarking again for the excursion. We all really enjoyed the cannery and museum part of Icy Strait. The older kids actually read signs and learned about the fire that wiped out Hoonah and how they rebuilt, learned about the salmon cannery, and more. We really liked the port area, not just the excursion, and would happily return.

Juneau: rented a minivan from Juneau Car Rental Company. Pick up and drop off were slick. The vehicle was big enough for all 6 of us and our daughter's wheelchair. We drove to Mendenhall Glacier and explored. We did not walk/hike to Nugget Falls based on the limitations of our group. Then we drove to Eagle Beach, but the tide was really low and we didn't see any eagles or other wildlife other than seagulls and albatross. The kids enjoyed walking on the beach and climbing and taking photos on a huge tree stump. We stopped at the DIPAC Salmon Hatchery on the way back into town and although we were expecting more of a "tour" for what we paid, it was informative and neat to see and hear how they operate. The kids especially enjoyed seeing the salmon jump up the salmon ladder and the 4 huge tanks with over 1 million baby salmon total. We wanted to do the Mount Roberts Tram, but it was foggy and cloudy all day, so we skipped it. GRADE: B

Skagway: Skagway-Yukon Custom Van Tours with Tom Pickerel (booked through Alaska Shore Tours). Just our family of 6 in a van (plus our daughter's wheelchair). We drove north into British Columbia, then into the Yukon to Emerald Lake which was very pretty, but a lot smaller than we had expected it to be (Tom said everyone expects it to be big). We also stopped at Caribou Crossing Kennels (Musher's Camp) just north of Carcross, were we went on a sled dog cart ride and then learned what it takes to train and care for a team and how they participate in races. Our Musher was Magnus Feren Kaltenborn (originally from Norway) and he has raced in the Iditarod and Yukon Qwest several times. It was a really fun thing to see and do, and the dogs pull that cart FAST like it weighs nothing! Tom said he was at our disposal and could do what we wanted, so when the kids asked to have ice cream, he took us into Carcross for ice cream at his favorite place. He also knows all the good bathrooms which is important when you have kids, especially one that needs a handicapped stall to do it safely. Throughout the drive, Tom explained the history of Skagway and the mountains and glaciers. He clearly knew his stuff and has explored the area a lot. Super friendly, excellent tour guide, overall nice man. When we got back to Skagway, he dropped hubby, me and the kids off in town to shop, and took Nana back to the ship. Grade: A+

Hubbard Glacier: we were scheduled to be at Hubbard from 8-10am. It was foggy and overcast with a couple of peeks of sun. While the weather wasn't perfect, we didn't think it's was too horribly cold and it wasn't raining. We got quite close to the glacier and the captain turned the ship back and forth 3 times so we could see it from many angles. We saw and heard quite a bit of calving. The kids thought it was neat, and liked watching it calve, but didn't stay interested very long and asked to go to Adventure Ocean. The rest of the day we relaxed, napped and packed to go home.

Seward: Disembarkation day. We were given tag #10 and an estimated call time of 9:25am. Our oldest son noticed the monitors changed about 8:45 and we could disembark, so we did. It was super easy, and our bags were easy to find.

We used PJ's Taxi to get from Seward to Anchorage. The driver is Renee and she owns the company. She was nice enough, but a little too chatty for us. She told us several times about how much she likes to play Bingo and travel to Vegas. My kids were bored most of the ride (daughter slept at least half of the time), but we saw beluga whales in the ocean during the drive which was unexpected for us and really neat. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center mostly to use the bathrooms. It cost our group $49 to get in as apparently Renee gets some sort of "deal." We didn't think much of it overall, but the bear area part and the bathrooms were very nice. Then I noticed a sign that the bear exhibit and restrooms were provided by Princess Cruises, so that explains a lot. Overall it was a $49 pit stop. Some of the animals there are not even native (according to our driver Renee). Renee dropped us off at our hotel in Anchorage around noon. Grade: B

Glad to hear your trip was so successful. A lot of great family memories were made!

I know you put a lot of time and effort into the planning, so it's doubly nice that everything worked out so well.

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I enjoyed reading your review, especially about Glacier Wind Charters & Capt. Casey. I hope we have as good of sightings next week as you did on yours.

Thanks for reporting back; I was wondering how you guys had managed with your various mobility and dietary needs. Glad to hear you were well-catered to throughout.

Especially good that the the whale watch folks thought to recommend a slot based on tide times for less-steep ramp to the boat - seeing Orcas and bubble-netting is blind luck (and both in one trip - you guys must have awesome karma!), but the timing thing shows both good sense and customer service!

I enjoyed reading your review, especially about Glacier Wind Charters & Capt. Casey. I hope we have as good of sightings next week as you did on yours.

The whales will go where they want of course, but Captain Casey was amazing. He kept in contact with Captain Shaun (his dad) and a very good friend of his to make sure all of their guests could see some whales. I asked him about it and he said keeping in touch with other captains saved him lots of time from searching and instead could allow him to focus on getting us to a place for watching. That in turn means a better experience for his customers.

Everything about that charter was perfect, but their customer service especially. I hope you have an amazing time!!

Thanks for reporting back; I was wondering how you guys had managed with your various mobility and dietary needs. Glad to hear you were well-catered to throughout.

 

Especially good that the the whale watch folks thought to recommend a slot based on tide times for less-steep ramp to the boat - seeing Orcas and bubble-netting is blind luck (and both in one trip - you guys must have awesome karma!), but the timing thing shows both good sense and customer service!

Luck was really on our side that day! Captain Casey also said going on the later tour meant they had already found the whales that morning and could go back out to the same/similar area to find them again, instead of starting blindly (so to speak). I think that helped too.