Bit of a blog - Radiance of the Seas – Alaska Cruisetour – July/August 2010

[nurseone]

So enjoying reading your blog = really makes me want to go back. We did the same cruisetour end of May and it was wonderful. Weather was outstanding.

[NorbertsNiece]

Linda , if you go to the SeaView Cafe they offer a dish called Fins & Feathers. I believe it's the fins that are the drumettes. My husband will order a double portion of the fins because he loves them so much. You can order them and take them back to your cabin.

 

Hi....... oooooooooooh.... good idea..... thanks!!!

 

Enjoying your trip reporting! Have you come across the Portofino/Chops lunch menu yet? If so...details, please! :)

 

Enjoy!

 

Still awaiting a call back to see if they're doing lunch this trip..... am in Schooner bar right now..... will pop in once I've logged and see if they've decided..... thanks for reminding me!

[NorbertsNiece]

Dinner last night : smart casual. Savoury bites of course. I started with scallops and risotto followed by garlic king prawns…. I substituted the rice with mashed potatoes. Darran had anti pasti (?) which was presented exactly like the picture in the cookery book, followed by chicken marsala. We both finished with tiramisu. Best meal I’ve eaten so far.

I didn’t sleep well last night so I’m up and dressed before the alarm went off. FYI the room phone has an alarm call option….. I’ve read on the boards about someone complaining about the lack of a clock in the room. It’s right there on the phone. We head for the Windjammer. It really is perfect for our style of help your self. I’m too excited to eat much more than a bowl of frosties as I have internet access and want to post a quick note on Facebook for my kids that we are having fun and then I could post the last few days blogs for you guys.

Captain Bjorn hasn’t announced that we can debark and I see people on the quay already. We head off and there is a little shuttle cart provided as a courtesy for those less able. Major sigh of relief as we are behind Rhapsody. I have taken images from the webcam over the past weeks of just this set up and now I’m here! The train is in. The shuttle drops us off and Dyea (pronounced dye – ee) Dave is there in his stove pipe hat. He won’t shake hands as he has been coughing for a few days and is not well enough to take us on the tour but Becky will be. That is really sad but clearly he is thinking of us and he needs to rest up before taking others out later in the day.

Becky drops us off at the Visitors Centre in town to watch a film about the Gold Rush. 20 minutes later we are back on board and headed off. She drives around town so we can see the residential areas too. Broadway is reminiscent of those western movies with wooden sidewalks and quaint shop fronts. We head off out of town up the mountain to follow the route taken by the prospectors. Thousands died in the quest for gold; their story is compelling, their commitment to the task of dragging themselves out of the depression all inspiring. Their goal is Dawson City. There are no roads at that time to get there from Skagway. In order to be allowed over the border into Canada they have to carry a year’s supply of food…. Means they have to do the arduous trip 20 – 30 times, on foot, in stark, bleak and sub zero temperatures. Hundreds of horses were abandoned as the trail ran out. Stories of criminal activity abound and have created legends and millions for the movie industry.

The train is running on a track on the other side of the gorge to us. We catch a photo of it crossing a little bridge over a waterfall. We head up the mountain, pass the cloud layer, and eventually stop at the ‘Welcome to Alaska’ sign. The scenery is fantastic, sand dunes, waterfalls, a bridge that only one vehicle at a time travels on (seriously). Border controls on either side are actually 8 miles apart due to the snow level in the winter. We are stopped by Canadian border police and our passports given a cursory look. There is a D-I-Y counter with a stamp. I have never been to Canada before so this is another first.

Next stop is Carcross…. Not to be mistaken for Caribou Crossing which is where the tourist buses go. Becky, who by the way gives a brilliant commentary throughout, says that she and Dave are very keen to avoid the tourist stops and to take visitors to places off the beaten track. Every so often she stops so people can go and have a short hike over the rocks to see something. I sit here and write up so I don’t forget. Darran takes pics and shows me on his return.

Carcross is home to some 200 inhabitants. During the height of the Gold Rush the way to Dawson City was frozen over and Carcross (originally called Caribou Crossing) was created on the side of the water whilst they built their boats and waited for the ice to melt. It now has the appearance of being largely deserted. The train line reaches up to Carcross and was built after the gold rush by enterprising entrepreneurs as a means to get people away. It’s a very slow journey by train up from Skagway. There is a sign that says ‘Free Coffee’; the stand offers hamburgers and the neighbouring one sushi. We have decided to lunch further on down the road at Spirit Lake. Becky phones ahead to let them know how many she is bringing in. The soup (chilli bean), sandwiches and home made apple pie are ready when we get there.

Darran goes to take pictures of the lake. He returns and shows me pictures of a beagle and a border collie. Chuckle. We miss our dog.

Becky offers to extend our trip to Whitehorse; means we would be back in Skagway around 5/6pm. I say that I would prefer to have the time in Skagway to visit and the others agree. All aboard is 8pm. We head on just a short hop up the road to Miracle Lake. Absolutely amazing. The sun is out and the colours that are reflected in the lake are stunning.

Currently typing at the rest stop at the border. I’ve just noticed we’ve been in a different time zone! Whilst we were sat at Spirit Lake there was an unsecured internet connection! Managed to log in and read your comments from this morning. Saw that someone asked if I had any major complaints about anything. The answer is : not at all. (It’s 130 paces back to the aft rooms….. if you take the wrong turn at the lifts and start working forward it can be one hell of a walk back to the room again!)

However: I did notice this morning, when I went to count how many bottles of water we have left, that 6 cans of soda, 2 red bulls, a couple of bottles of perrier and 3 boxes of snacks have appeared. For one brief second I thought my kids were on board! I’ve left Gerald a note to ask him to empty it again. I am NOT going to run the risk of having a miscellaneous charge on our bill. I have no idea when they appeared in there or why.

Someone else wrote that they will be in room 1104 soon. We were in 1104 on Jewel. Exactly the same layout with occasional noise from Windjammer but nothing to write home about.

Now back in room charging up laptop. Snacks are still in minibar. Have removed them and put them on shelves and put my water in there. Have left yet another note and will raise this at Guest Services later (I need to get some cash for tomorrow’s excursion in Icy Strait Point with F.I.S.H.E.S).

We’ve had an amazing day. On our way back Becky took us to a lookout over Skagway; we could see the whole town and Radiance and Rhapsody in the harbour. I’d asked about the possibility of visiting the Gold Rush Cemetery and everyone else wanted to go too so that’s what we did next, passing a street called ‘Lois Lane’…. Those who know me will know why this has a connection to my DDs.

The cemetery was amazing. Many many graves dated 1898. Some had what looked like cot surrounds; these were for babies or mothers who had died with their babies or children. Becky told us a story …. Too long to tell here…. I’ll see if I can find it and post the link here on my return. It was those 2 graves I particularly wanted to see…. The result of a gunfight where one deceased was buried outside the cemetery grounds and the other lauded and given a very inspiring memorial.

We then went by Becky’s back garden where we were invited to pick raspberries from her heavily laden plants. She is a gem and I can’t recommend her highly enough. We were then dropped off in town. I wanted to purchase some local jewellery but it turned out that the stones in a pair of earrings I liked were not Alaskan, so I passed.

There was a $2 ride back to the pier and then the assisted shuttle back to Radiance, through security and back to coffee, hot chocolate, cookies and cake in our room.

The Compass for today shows the Love & Marriage show is early, 745pm, with an adult comedy show in the theatre at 1045pm. We booked dinner for 730pm so we could have Octovian serve us again. That’s a shame we’ll miss the show…. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing L&M the last 2 trips.

Just had dinner. Casual night. Went to Guest Services to raise the issue of the minibar. Checked our account to date. $35+ has been charged to the account. I stay calm. Bar services apparently go into the room tocheck the bar and restock. They clearly didn’t get the message about leaving it empty. Then I see erroneous charges for internet access. Whilst I bought the package on their PC it is only applied to their PC use. So they will have to refund that amount and I have to purchase a package from the Netbook. GS keep the printed off bill. I will be back tomorrow after our excursion for round 2. Sigh.

[SweetpeaOne]

Very nice review. Can't wait to read more... Have a great trip.

[Lynne95]

These photos are going to be awesome!!!!

[unberwoob]

Thanks for the great review on Dyea Dave. So glad now that we have booked his tour for next year.

 

Question about your departure from Alyeska. I guess the train was an option(normally you would go to Seaward by bus)?

Did RCI offer the Kenai Fjords option or was it only because you took the train?

 

Thanks

[ddean52]

Linda,

Enjoying every word! Your putting in a lot of work for us:eek::eek: and it is appreciated! Have a great day!!!

Dean:cool:

[MJN]

Linda, so enjoying the review of your trip. It is us who have 1104 booked for Serennade in a couple of weeks out of San Juan and then again next July on Radiance to Alaska. Just got lucky to have the same cabin on both ships. Was the balcony really a nice size as we are hoping? We leave in about 10 days and are so excited.

So you booked a private tour for Skagway then and not through the ship? Have you talked with anyone who did the fly in for the salmon dinner out of Juneau to the private lodge on a seaplane? We are considering that tour when we go next year. Are all of your excursions private tours (not with the ship)? Have enjoyed seeing the Radiance at each of the ports on the webcams. Keep up the great reviews, can't wait to see your pictures....

Have fun!

[NorbertsNiece]

Thanks for the great review on Dyea Dave. So glad now that we have booked his tour for next year.

 

Question about your departure from Alyeska. I guess the train was an option(normally you would go to Seaward by bus)?

Did RCI offer the Kenai Fjords option or was it only because you took the train?

 

Thanks

 

Hi everyone,

The RCCL transfer to Alyeska would leave around 130pm and not get into Sewarduntil around 430pm/ 5pm. I decided ages ago that haveing read the 'to do' in Sewrad recommendations that in order to see Kenai Fjords we would have to get there under our owns team. There was no Kenai Fjords option throuh RCCL on this particular tour route. It may be on others.

 

Linda, so enjoying the review of your trip. It is us who have 1104 booked for Serennade in a couple of weeks out of San Juan and then again next July on Radiance to Alaska. Just got lucky to have the same cabin on both ships. Was the balcony really a nice size as we are hoping? We leave in about 10 days and are so excited.

So you booked a private tour for Skagway then and not through the ship? Have you talked with anyone who did the fly in for the salmon dinner out of Juneau to the private lodge on a seaplane? We are considering that tour when we go next year. Are all of your excursions private tours (not with the ship)? Have enjoyed seeing the Radiance at each of the ports on the webcams. Keep up the great reviews, can't wait to see your pictures....

Have fun!

 

Hi,

Didn't get to speak to anyone regarding the salmon dinner. Sorry. The Husky Homestead tour was one offered by RCCL during the land portion as an extra to be paid for. We didn't do any private tours during the land portion. So Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour, the Native Heritage Centre and the animal reserve outside Anchorage were included in the land portion.

[NorbertsNiece]

Last night Captain Bjorn came on the tannoy to say we would be passing a seal colony on the port side so we head back to the room after I’ve posted yesterday’s blog. The sky is cloud covered so there isn’t enough light to see them and the wind is in the wrong direction to hear them. Captain Bjorn apologises. He has steered Radiance really close and slowed down to a snail’s pace to no avail. Rhapsody is behind us. In the dark she looks so pretty all lit up. Yesterday Darran met some people from Rhapsody who have been having an unhappy time with the service and food on board her.

We have had a lovely day. Currently writing today up sitting at the Lattetudes coffee bar in the Centrum on deck 5. It’s formal night again and we’re passing on that. I need to call the MDR to let them know. All the walking I’ve been doing has been quite tiring and despite having a nap on our return from our land excursion my hip is aching….. I’ve also been forgetting to take my pain meds….. I’m delighted that I’ve managed a day or so without. I’ve had a call from GS. They have fully refunded all Internet charges so far. As the remote control on the TV is now on the blink I still can’t check on the screen whether or not our bill is now accurate. She assures me that the mini bar charges have also been removed (Gerald, our room steward has also made a point of apologizing). We have a lovely little chat and part as friends. If I’ve had all internet so far free of charge to date I’m not complaining at all. As I can’t currently log in however this may be a whilst before it gets posted!

We’ve had afternoon tea in Portofino’s but barely 20 Brits (out of 80 they were catering for) have shown up. They’ve laid on a lovely spread, cucumber sandwiches amongst a whole array of other fillings, scones with cream etc, chocolate covered strawberries and other mini cakes. Really lovely. Tony Fitzsimmons comes over to each table to have a chat and invites us to one of the two galley tours. I don’t have the nerve to ask for the 2nd one so I can have a lie in on our last sea day!** Tony (note the first name terms lol) assures me that lunch WILL be served in Portofino on Thursday! Wooohooo! I met some Brits in one of the shops on ISP. They are on a B2B. Not quite sure that I would 2 weeks of the same stops. Much prefer to spend the time inland as we have done.

So, today. VERY early start. Darran had suggested asking room service to deliver breakfast around 630am however delivery doesn’t start until 7am according to the door hanger. When we leave the room around 615am there is a room service waiter pushing a trolley groaning with plates. He shows me a door hanger where they’ve written 615-630 and says if they ask for it that’s what they get. Hmmmm.

Windjammer is still closed when we get there but they have a ‘to go’ service and we get cereal. All the pastries have gone already. I ask a waiter if he can get some more. They then open WJ up early! Darran rushes in and gets himself a full hot breakfast which he scoffs at an alarming rate (he knows I want to be on the first 7am tender ashore). Knowing my tendency to sea sickness on small boats I stick with just cereal. We are first on the tender. Ride ashore is only 5/10 minutes long. We are met by Floyd of FISHES and we head off through Hoonah to the docks. We have companions from our M&M joining us so we are 5 passengers in total. His boat can only seat 5 inside. We head off out and immediately see a humpback whale. This may be the same one we saw from Windjammer during breakfast.

The next couple of hours we spend on relatively calm waters seeing Orca (killer) whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters and bald eagles. The bear which he has seen each trip, evades us. I stay inside throughout as it isn’t warm out and it’s raining off and on. Darran, however, goes outside with the camera when sightings made and gets some lovely tail fin shots.

Floyd gets a call from someone called Sean to say he’s broken down and has passengers on board. We are already on our way back so we head off to rescue them. Some of our M&M are on board. They were on their way out and have been promised a full refund. When we get ashore they are met and are offered an alternate trip but they decline. They are also invited to partake of crab and they decline that too. Sean will lose 3 trips today. As we get off another group is ready to board. As soon as we leave ISP a Celebrity ship pulls in and there will be a 3rd trip going out with Floyd today too.

I do recommend FISHES. Floyd and his Mrs are very nice welcoming people. Coffee and hot chocolate and cookies were available on board for us to help ourselves with. The boat ride is what it states on the tin and you get a sense of supporting a local Alaskan too. We have passed much larger vessels with tourists on. I will always prefer the smaller group.

We walk around the tourist sheds at the dock and wander over to the base of the Ziprider. It’s a very expensive 90 second ride. Had it been a sunny day I may have been tempted. There are fishing rods for hire and there are BBQ stands for the catch to be cooked on I guess. There are a couple of totem poles near an open fire on the beach. Very pleasant. The whole town comprises of maybe 800 people. This is an island so the only way off is to fly or take a boat. 70% of the inhabitants are native Alaskans. I am recognizing a difference between the Athabaskan totems from the Lower Central part of Alaska and these.

We head back to the ship. Then straight up to Windjammer to take snacks back to the room. That’s when I have to nap again. My sleep patterns are still so disrupted it’s ridiculous. As we leave ISP Darran gets some wonderful pics of a seal (?) following the ship. Wonderful.

I had tried to post some pics yesterday taken from my mobile phone but I pushed the wrong button and all my hard work was deleted! That’s what happens when I’m tired! Wish I’d spent the time doing it again now that the charges have been refunded… lol ;) I did manage to load them all up to Facebook so maybe I can link the whole lot to you here next time I’m on and you can just browse them. There are a couple of Darran’s in there but his will all be officially linked to in my sig when he’s done processing them. They are incredible.

Currently in Windjammer. I have possibility of connection up here so once I’ve finished eating I will give it a go. We have Sushi!!!

 

PS Try this link to my cell phone pics (one or two of Darran's included) I've not had a chance to label a lot of them yet : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=467622&id=617355351&l=f3c082f6f1

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Fabulous review, sounds amazing. Thanks.:)

[ddean52]

Last night Captain Bjorn came on the tannoy to say we would be passing a seal colony on the port side so we head back to the room after I’ve posted yesterday’s blog. The sky is cloud covered so there isn’t enough light to see them and the wind is in the wrong direction to hear them. Captain Bjorn apologises. He has steered Radiance really close and slowed down to a snail’s pace to no avail. Rhapsody is behind us. In the dark she looks so pretty all lit up. Yesterday Darran met some people from Rhapsody who have been having an unhappy time with the service and food on board her.

We have had a lovely day. Currently writing today up sitting at the Lattetudes coffee bar in the Centrum on deck 5. It’s formal night again and we’re passing on that. I need to call the MDR to let them know. All the walking I’ve been doing has been quite tiring and despite having a nap on our return from our land excursion my hip is aching….. I’ve also been forgetting to take my pain meds….. I’m delighted that I’ve managed a day or so without. I’ve had a call from GS. They have fully refunded all Internet charges so far. As the remote control on the TV is now on the blink I still can’t check on the screen whether or not our bill is now accurate. She assures me that the mini bar charges have also been removed (Gerald, our room steward has also made a point of apologizing). We have a lovely little chat and part as friends. If I’ve had all internet so far free of charge to date I’m not complaining at all. As I can’t currently log in however this may be a whilst before it gets posted!

We’ve had afternoon tea in Portofino’s but barely 20 Brits (out of 80 they were catering for) have shown up. They’ve laid on a lovely spread, cucumber sandwiches amongst a whole array of other fillings, scones with cream etc, chocolate covered strawberries and other mini cakes. Really lovely. Tony Fitzsimmons comes over to each table to have a chat and invites us to one of the two galley tours. I don’t have the nerve to ask for the 2nd one so I can have a lie in on our last sea day!** Tony (note the first name terms lol) assures me that lunch WILL be served in Portofino on Thursday! Wooohooo! I met some Brits in one of the shops on ISP. They are on a B2B. Not quite sure that I would 2 weeks of the same stops. Much prefer to spend the time inland as we have done.

So, today. VERY early start. Darran had suggested asking room service to deliver breakfast around 630am however delivery doesn’t start until 7am according to the door hanger. When we leave the room around 615am there is a room service waiter pushing a trolley groaning with plates. He shows me a door hanger where they’ve written 615-630 and says if they ask for it that’s what they get. Hmmmm.

Windjammer is still closed when we get there but they have a ‘to go’ service and we get cereal. All the pastries have gone already. I ask a waiter if he can get some more. They then open WJ up early! Darran rushes in and gets himself a full hot breakfast which he scoffs at an alarming rate (he knows I want to be on the first 7am tender ashore). Knowing my tendency to sea sickness on small boats I stick with just cereal. We are first on the tender. Ride ashore is only 5/10 minutes long. We are met by Floyd of FISHES and we head off through Hoonah to the docks. We have companions from our M&M joining us so we are 5 passengers in total. His boat can only seat 5 inside. We head off out and immediately see a humpback whale. This may be the same one we saw from Windjammer during breakfast.

The next couple of hours we spend on relatively calm waters seeing Orca (killer) whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters and bald eagles. The bear which he has seen each trip, evades us. I stay inside throughout as it isn’t warm out and it’s raining off and on. Darran, however, goes outside with the camera when sightings made and gets some lovely tail fin shots.

Floyd gets a call from someone called Sean to say he’s broken down and has passengers on board. We are already on our way back so we head off to rescue them. Some of our M&M are on board. They were on their way out and have been promised a full refund. When we get ashore they are met and are offered an alternate trip but they decline. They are also invited to partake of crab and they decline that too. Sean will lose 3 trips today. As we get off another group is ready to board. As soon as we leave ISP a Celebrity ship pulls in and there will be a 3rd trip going out with Floyd today too.

I do recommend FISHES. Floyd and his Mrs are very nice welcoming people. Coffee and hot chocolate and cookies were available on board for us to help ourselves with. The boat ride is what it states on the tin and you get a sense of supporting a local Alaskan too. We have passed much larger vessels with tourists on. I will always prefer the smaller group.

We walk around the tourist sheds at the dock and wander over to the base of the Ziprider. It’s a very expensive 90 second ride. Had it been a sunny day I may have been tempted. There are fishing rods for hire and there are BBQ stands for the catch to be cooked on I guess. There are a couple of totem poles near an open fire on the beach. Very pleasant. The whole town comprises of maybe 800 people. This is an island so the only way off is to fly or take a boat. 70% of the inhabitants are native Alaskans. I am recognizing a difference between the Athabaskan totems from the Lower Central part of Alaska and these.

We head back to the ship. Then straight up to Windjammer to take snacks back to the room. That’s when I have to nap again. My sleep patterns are still so disrupted it’s ridiculous. As we leave ISP Darran gets some wonderful pics of a seal (?) following the ship. Wonderful.

I had tried to post some pics yesterday taken from my mobile phone but I pushed the wrong button and all my hard work was deleted! That’s what happens when I’m tired! Wish I’d spent the time doing it again now that the charges have been refunded… lol ;) I did manage to load them all up to Facebook so maybe I can link the whole lot to you here next time I’m on and you can just browse them. There are a couple of Darran’s in there but his will all be officially linked to in my sig when he’s done processing them. They are incredible.

Currently in Windjammer. I have possibility of connection up here so once I’ve finished eating I will give it a go. We have Sushi!!!

 

PS Try this link to my cell phone pics (one or two of Darran's included) I've not had a chance to label a lot of them yet : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=467622&id=617355351&l=f3c082f6f1

 

Linda, can you hear it???? The standing ovation, from all of us, to you!!:):)

Dean:):cool::cool:

[islandgirls]

Going on the 14 night Alaska on the Radiance on September 10! Counting the days. your blog is wonderful!

Is the casino open in the evening?

[mpbmark]

Going on the 14 night Alaska on the Radiance on September 10! Counting the days. your blog is wonderful!

Is the casino open in the evening?

 

Please join the extensive roll call for this cruise. This is the first page. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=951907

 

I would love to add you to our group.

[Beach4me]

Going on the 14 night Alaska on the Radiance on September 10! Counting the days. your blog is wonderful!

Is the casino open in the evening?

 

Be sure to join our roll call! We have a very happy, fun group. Welcome to the cruise. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=951907

[islandgirls]

Hi

I saw your thread and then lost it. We are on the Radiance September 10 as well for my husbands birthday (September 19) and he will be 65 as well! What a coincidence!

:)

[ddean52]

Hi

I saw your thread and then lost it. We are on the Radiance September 10 as well for my husbands birthday (September 19) and he will be 65 as well! What a coincidence!

:)

 

Happy your on our cruise!! Come join us at our roll call!!;)

Dean:cool:

[MJN]

Linda, how did you find "fishes". Did you do a google search or find it through the Alaska ports threads? What is the total # of passengers they normally take on their boat, cost if you don't mind sharing for 2 people? Thanks so much for your wonderful info.

The Kenai Fiords tour is part of our land package for next July so your description was wonderful. It will be the first thing we do when we depart the Radiance because we are doing a northbound cruise and then the land tour. Sounds fantastic.

Keep up the good job with your "trip of a lifetime". I know it will be for us!

[mpbmark]

Hi

I saw your thread and then lost it. We are on the Radiance September 10 as well for my husbands birthday (September 19) and he will be 65 as well! What a coincidence!

:)

 

That is really spooky. :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Look about half way down this page for a roll call. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=25578879&posted=1#post25578879

 

Love to have you add your comments and join us for the fun. :D

[pspercy]

MJN:

Scroll down for FISHES: http://www.visithoonah.com/tours_charters.html

[negc]

Going on the 14 night Alaska on the Radiance on September 10! Counting the days. your blog is wonderful!

Is the casino open in the evening?

We were on Radiance southbound in June and the casino was open every evening and during the day when we were at sea (cruising by Hubbard Glacier and cruising the Inside Passage).:) I actually came away with more money than I went in with (not something that happens very often. LOL)

[NorbertsNiece]

We were on Radiance southbound in June and the casino was open every evening and during the day when we were at sea (cruising by Hubbard Glacier and cruising the Inside Passage).:) I actually came away with more money than I went in with (not something that happens very often. LOL)

 

OK smartypants. We had a visit to the Casino last night..... and left lighter than we went in.... the only thing lighter about this cruise ;)

[NorbertsNiece]

I’m in a seriously bad mood and it’s all RCCL’s fault.

 

They have decided to convert the currency for me despite my having crossed out that portion on the setsail pass and highlighted the part that say let my CC co do the conversion. I am furious. I have had a wonderful day ashore and have been almost in tears at Guest Services on our return. Waiting for soup and a burger to be delivered by room service. Will feel better after that. But still. What GS have offered to do is to pay the 3% charge for withdrawing cash from the casino and pay the bill with that. Initially she suggested I go ashore to an ATM….. yeah right…. End of long day and I have to find an ATM that won’t charge me for withdrawing $ let alone the CC company charging for cash withdrawal. Anyway, she then offered the casino route. Clearly this isn’t the first time this has happened where this particular employee is concerned. She did her best to support this near histrionic woman in front of her…. I am an unpleasant sight when riled.

 

So. Back to today. Breakfast in WJ which has become my favourite space for eating. Last night we met up with some people, actually I have no idea how we met them originally at the start of this whole adventure. And we sat and ate and chewed the fat way after the WJ had shut for dinner. I was too tired to headf back up to WJ at 1145pm for a ‘Sweet Temptations’ hour….. Darran went up there to try and use his laptop but returned almost immediately as it was packed to the rafters with people queuing to get in!

 

We head ashore early this morning to do some scouting around. There are 3 other ships in town and the place is busy. We meet up with Shona at the Island Wings desk in the visitors centre and she drives us to the office and dock where we meet Michelle, our pilot of the float plane. There are 2 other couples; neither are from cruise ships but are independent travelers. Darran gets to sit shotgun. The flight to Traitor’s Cove took 20 minutes or so; we flew over some breathtaking scenery and Michelle narrated along the way.

 

At the landing dock she handed us over to Dan, our guide. Knew I would forget to mention this…… when descending the ‘plane steps Darran took a tumble and brave Michelle clung on to him, both of them careering into the floating dock as opposed to splashing in to the water! How she managed that I will never know! Back to Dan - He was packing a can of pepper spray and a Smith & Wesson, loaded, with spare ammo. He drove us 10 minutes in the temperate rain forest to a look out point. There was another tour there including a couple with a baby I had met on board. We waited and looked, and looked and waited for about an hour. Not one bear. On the trek to the lookout we had seen loads of bear poop; in the rushing water we saw plenty of huge salmon swimming determinedly upstream; there was plenty of dead fish who failed to make the journey and the carcasses of fish that had been abandoned after eating; but not one bear; we saw bald eagles; but not one bear. Despite visiting 2 other lookout spots, which were all stunning regardless, we saw a total of nil bears. Dan was quite despairing. But nature is what it is. They weren’t about to come out today. The group before us at one of the alternate sites had seen one.

 

We returned to the dock to await Michelle’s return to pick us up. She took us back another way; phenomenal valleys with lakes bordered by towering mountains. She offered us a follow up tour to Misty Fjords as a gesture feeling bad at the no bear situation. I thought that was very sweet but we were tired and hungry and declined her generous offer (she told us her De Havilland plane costs $200,000 per year to maintain!) Fell in love with Shona’s dog Unari (means lion in Tlingit). At 520pm I saw her plane come in to land….. we’d have been the very last board if we’d made it (all aboard being 530pm!)

 

At GS I hand over a pair of child’s shoes which I found at Traitor’s Cove believing them to belong to the couple I had recognized. As I describe them I hear a shriek behind me and it’s the mum…. She was just about to ask GS to call their tour company to see if they had them. At least they have a happy ending to the day eh?

 

Currently after dinner and typing live..... lobster tail night. I am so tired I can barely enjoy it. Have done so much walking today I just want to zzzzzzzz. It's Quest night tonight too.......

 

Final day tomorrow....sea day.... I plan to tour the ship (finally) and spend time in the solarium...... still no news on lunch in Portofino....will chase up. Sweet dreams all.

[windjamming]

Linda, it's inexcusable that they did not honor something you specifically noted in your SetSail pass. For what purpose would they even give the choice if they're going to ignore it anyway? I'm glad you stood your ground!

 

I am so enjoying your blog thus far- you present the good, the bad and the ugly, and it's so much more than a cruisetour review. Thanks so much for sharing. Have a wonderful sea day!!

[Tanderra]

Linda :)...I have spent the last hour and a half reading your entire blog...thankyou thankyou thankyou !!!!!! :D. I have enjoyed every word of it.

I always wanted to go to Alaska and now I have....with you and your DH.

Coincidentally, I have just read a book about an English brother & sister from Liverpool, who emigrated to America in the 1800's. They met another English man on the ship and another when they stayed in the...then...slums of NYC. Eventually they make their way to Toronto and overland to make it to Skagway....and their emotional journey to Dawson City. It is just as you described.

Like 'Tony' I am also a Liverpool supporter :D :D...having been born near there many moons ago.

I look forward to reading about your last day onboard...and once again, thankyou for a great write-up :)