AK Vision of the Seas Member Cruise 8/18/06 - Review

[Alaska06]

This is a review/summary of our entire experience (except the flights, but that's another story). It does not really focus on the ship, which we thought was wonderful, but on the trip as a whole. I am an RCI C&A member and have not travelled on other lines, so I cannot compare them. I have not yet had reason to travel on ther lines.

 

The Alaska trip was great. We sailed from Seattle on a seven-day trip up through the inner passage and back. Our ports were Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), and Victoria. We would recommend it to anyone. Sailing along the inside passage is too beautiful for words. To enjoy the beauty that God has created is someting that one can only experience for oneself.

 

Our trip was a member’s cruise, which I heartily recommend. From what I can tell, the difference between a member's cruise and a regular cruise is that on the member's cruise RCI provides gifts in your room each evening and there are special events throughout the week exclusively for C&A members. The higher level C&A members have a few more options and bonuses. We attended a class on digital photography headed by one of the ship’s photographers and a cooking class/exhibition taught by the executive chef of the ship. There were too many events available to attend them all. Gifts for gold members included field glasses, scarves, and blankets. There are some somewhat nicer gifts for Platinum and Platinum Plus members.

 

We had an ocean view cabin and late dinner seating. I was initially disappointed in the late dinner seating. However, for this cruise it worked out great. This is a port intensive cruise. With an early dinner seating, we would have had to get back to the ship earlier that we would have liked or eaten dinner more nights in the Windjammer. I say more nights, because we did eat there two nights. Once because we went in for a snack before dinner and to meal and service was so good we decided to just have dinner there. Another time because we wanted to watch the whales from the front windows of the ship as we ate (our dining room table was not near a window).

 

The food in both areas was great and we had a wonderful waiter - Salihd. We did have a disappointing experience with breakfast in the main dining room. One of the waiters asked one of our tablemates to hold onto hs muffin so that he could take his plate.Breakfast in the the dining room took about 1/2 hour to 45 min to arrive.

 

We had two other couples at our table for dinner. One was a couple from New York. The other was a couple from Phoenix. The couple from Phoenix has a daughter who is a dancer on the entertainment staff of the ship. She sat with us, as did her boyfriend. He is part of the ship’s staff also. He sold excursions and helped the cruise director with some of the events. It was interesting to discuss the cruise and hear the perspective from the other side.

 

Alaska cruises have a lot of excursions that can significantly add to the cost of the trip. In Skagway, you can save some money by booking in town when you arrive, not so much in Juneau, and not at all in ISP. We did not look into excursions in Victoria.

 

The weather was cool, about 60 degrees or so most days. We had a somewhat miraculous occurrence in that Juneau and Skagway had not had sun in 21 days and the sun was out all day for each of the days we were there. It was light at about 6 am and did not get dark until about 9:30 pm. From what I understand, June is a better month to go through this area: there is more of a chance of sunny days; the temperatures are a bit higher; there are more hours of sunlight (though we had 15 or so), and the snow and ice has not yet melted most of the mountains as you go up, resulting in a more picturesque view.

 

Juneau has a lot of excursions, ranging from $25 trips on the Mt. Robert’s Tram to $500+ for dog sledding on the glacier. We did the Mt. Roberts tram on our own and the price is the same as booking it on the ship. We also did a whale watching tour through Captain Larry and Orca Enterprises. It is not available on the ship and is about the same price as whale watching tour offered on the ship. The difference is that Orca is a 40-passenger boat (we had 22 on our trip) and the trips run by the cruise lines have 100+ passenger. We had personal access to the naturalist and it was a more intimate excursion. We also went to Mendenhall Glacier. This excursion was provide free of charge by the cruise line due to an itinerary change. I would recommend it anyway. In Juneau, several companies offer a bus to the glacier for $6 each way. If you go this route, ask about the bus in advance. Some of the companies use school buses; others use coaches. The zip-line through the canopy tour came highly recommended by our tablemates (Phoenix), as did the dog sledding (NY). I don’t think they realized that you can dogsled for under $100 in many parts of the US and Canada (http://www.dogsledrides.com/dogsled-price.php). I was surprised to find that five hours of sledding and overnight accommodations can be had for $150 in Maine - http://www.katahdinvalley-outfitters.com/dogsled.html

 

We did not do any excursions in Skagway. We were pretty worn out from Juneau and Christine wanted to do some shopping. We needed to get to the library so that Christine could log-in to her class at school. By the way, you probably know this (but, I didn't realize it), you can spend a lot more money per hour shopping than you can on excursions. As we walked through Skagway, I saw some of the tour companies offering discounted trips on the White Pass Railroad, some of them advertising 50% off the cruise ship prices.

 

Icy Strait Point was hard for me to research before the trip. I found out on the tip that this is because it really isn’t the name of the town. It is the cruise ship’s name for the village that they created in the town of Hoonah. There is no place for the ship to dock, so we were tendered to the ISP by lifeboat. Because the area is pretty much only an RCI destination, they are the only people offering tours. As we disembarked the tender, we entered into a reconstruction of an old salmon cannery. This was a very interesting self-guided tour and there is no cost involved. We were going to do the bicycle tour of the town, but decided against due to the damp weather. A lot of people walked into the town of Hoonah, we followed suit. Upon returning to ISP, we decided to take the nature walk. This is a nice path through a second growth forest and along the beach. During dinner on the ship, we found that our tablemates had done the ATV exploration and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

In Victoria, we took the shuttle into town and found the motorcycle rental shop that I had previously researched (BC Cycles). We rented motor scooters and took most of a two-hour tour along the beach of Victoria that the rental shop suggested. We took three hours, but made several more stops and spent more time at those stops than some people might have. This was easy to do. Victoria is a beautiful place.

Upon returning, we walked around town and did more shopping. Christine has a sister named Victoria so we had to find a “Property of Victoria” shirt for her husband. Part of the reason for not doing an excursion in Victoria was the short scheduled port time. If we went to the gardens or had an “Afternoon Tea”, we would not have had enough time to see any of the city.

 

Overall, I would heartily recommend an Alaska Cruise. I think we will go again, most likely on a longer, one-way, cruise that goes further north. We would go earlier in the year, probably late June. Other than that, I don’t know that we would change anything.

[Yukon]

Having been on the Vision in May ( http://www.explorenorth.com/articles/alaskacruises2006/ ), I'd like to offer a different perspective. I had a specific reason for being on that sailing, but the Vision's itinerary is the worst in Alaska due to the combination of Seattle departure (so less Inside Passage travel) and no glacier day at all (while others go to Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay, College Fjord or Tracy Arm). I also found the Vision to be getting quite worn and in need of at least a minor refit compared to the Radiance of the Seas which I was on last year and the week following my Vision cruise. With no basis of comparison it would have been great, as any Alaska cruise is (it was for my Dad, who was with me), but there are far better options.

 

Murray

[Alaska06]

Having been on the Vision in May ( http://www.explorenorth.com/articles/alaskacruises2006/ ), I'd like to offer a different perspective. I had a specific reason for being on that sailing, but the Vision's itinerary is the worst in Alaska due to the combination of Seattle departure (so less Inside Passage travel) and no glacier day at all (while others go to Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay, College Fjord or Tracy Arm). I also found the Vision to be getting quite worn and in need of at least a minor refit compared to the Radiance of the Seas which I was on last year and the week following my Vision cruise. With no basis of comparison it would have been great, as any Alaska cruise is (it was for my Dad, who was with me), but there are far better options.

I am sorry that you did not enjoy your Vision experience as much as I did mine. Saying that the itinerary is the worst in Alaska is somewhat subjective and inflammatory. While it may be the worst (which is definitely an opinion, and it may even be shared by others), I think that is like saying that XYZ brand is the worst luxury car. The fact is that this cruise is a great cruise for many people. No vacation is great for everyone.

For the time and money spent and what we received, I believe that this trip was a great value.

[Yukon]

That's precisely why I said "With no basis of comparison it would have been great, as any Alaska cruise is..." - places such as CruiseCritic, though, allow people to find out what the options are. The majority of people, if they do some research and know that there's a choice, will go for more Inside Passage sailing, and some glacier cruising - otherwise, why go to Alaska rather than the Caribbean?

 

Murray

[NancyIL]

Thanks for your review. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, and how fortunate you were to see some sun!

 

I agree with Murray about Vision's itinerary this summer - it was the worst of the lot. However, most reviews I've read from those who cruised on Vision were positive. Those folks made the best of what they got. It's obvious from some of the posts here that plenty of people book cruises and are clueless about where they are actually going, so the lack of a glacier may not have bothered them - as long as they were on a cruise.

 

Vision of the Seas is advertising basically the same itinerary for 2007, except maybe they'll actually go to Tracy Arm next year! But given the fact that RCI dropped Tracy Arm from the itinerary early in 2006, I wouldn't trust them to keep it next year.

[Alaska06]

BTW - No disrespect meant to Murray. He is a wealth of information on these boards regarding Alaska.

[jrmende63]

Bill and Christine,

I noticed your home town of Mt. Pleasant SC...We live in Huger SC just up hwy 41!We went to Alaska this past May and LOVED it...We will go back again! Julie and Randall, Huger SC