We enjoy Royal Caribbean ships and cruises, so we decided to sail on the Radiance of the Seas, southbound from Seward to Vancouver. We had sailed on Serenade of the Seas, one of the other Radiance class ships, and we loved it. It seemed a perfect choice for the beautiful landscape of Alaska, with its expansive glass for viewing and classy spaces. (And it was.)
I booked as soon as the itineraries were available, about 15 months out, to be able to snag a balcony cabin on the stern of the ship. These balconies are larger than those on the sides of the ship and quite sheltered from the wind and weather, plus the view to both sides was stunning. We spent a LOT of time out on the balcony watching the scenery and looking for wildlife.
Although we would have loved to spend a week or more exploring some of inland Alaska before the cruise, we were not able to take that much time off, so a couple days would have to do. Our philosophy has always been to enjoy what we can do and see, and not worry about what we might miss. We flew to Anchorage, toured the area for a couple days, then took the train to Seward to tour there then board the ship.
I have written illustrated trip reports on Cruise Critic in the past (HERE, HERE, and HERE), but I decided to blog this one instead, for several reasons. I LOVE a good CC trip report, but sometimes it is difficult to find specific information on a long review thread - What camera did she use? What did they do in Anchorage? Which hotel did they use in Vancouver? Which page had those whale pictures? Hopefully this format will make everything easy to find.
I have included general links to the right, and links to the specific excursions, hotels, restaurants, and other activities are included on the page for each port, within the narrative (look for the different color text) and at the bottom of each page. Please comment if there is any info I have forgotten to include.
Since this is our first trip to Alaska, I am FAR from an expert! There are many more experienced and very helpful Alaska travelers on the CC and Tripadvisor forums linked to the right. They certainly helped me immensely in my planning!
On all of our cruises, we have preferred private excursions over cruiseline sponsored ones, and that held true for this trip as well. There is often a cost savings to doing so, and more important to us is that they tend to have smaller groups and a more personalized experience. We make sure to do plenty of research to ensure we are using reputable companies. For many of these tours, it is important to reserve tours early, as they do fill their schedules. Most of our tours were reserved in December or January.
I have created this mostly to be able to reminisce about our fantastic vacation in the years to come. If it also helps anyone else in planning a trip to Alaska, all the better!
PHOTOS
I enjoy photography as a hobby, and I found Alaska to be incredibly photogenic! I mostly used my Nikon D5000 DSLR, with a Sigma 18-250mm 1:3.5-6.3 lens. It would have been nice to have a longer zoom in several situations, but it was a good compromise since I only wanted to carry one lens. I also used a Nikon P770 when I wanted something smaller, mostly around the ship. There are also a few pics included that I took on my iPhone.
I've included many of the photos on the destination pages, but even more are posted HERE.
PACKING
Advice for packing for an Alaska cruise will vary from "bring everything you would need for an Arctic expedition in January" to "throw a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers in your bag". Since most people are flying to get to a cruise, a point somewhere in the middle of those two extremes is ideal.
Early summer 2013 in Alaska has been very warm - up to the 80s and even 90s inland - but that is unusual, to say the least. And even though we had mostly warm and dry weather during our visit, there were still times it cooled into the 50s, and we had a few sprinkles here and there. So here is what worked for us - your mileage may vary.
- JEANS - Perfect for most excursions. We did bring inexpensive rain pants (which we will use at home for wet football and soccer games) to wear over the jeans if necessary, but we never needed them.
- HIKING BOOTS - This a personal preference item. We have Merrell boots that are not too heavy, waterproof, and were perfect for scrambling over glacier silt and alpine trails. Good walking shoes or even sturdy sneakers would work, too, but I felt much more confident and comfortable wearing the boots.
- FLEECE JACKET - We already had these, living in Ohio, and they are great on their own on cool, dry days, or as a layer under a jacket on colder or wet ones.
- WATERPROOF (NOT WATER-RESISTANT) JACKET - Big enough to layer on top of the fleece. Although we never had a soaking rain, we used these on the Kenai Fjords boat trip, when it was quite cold out on the water, and also on the outdoor viewing platform on the train. They worked well as windbreakers.
- GLOVES and HAT - Not always necessary, and we only pulled them out once, but they extended the time we could stay out on deck in Kenai Fjords. Worth throwing in just in case since they take up so little space.
- BINOCULARS - A must have! We have a Zen-Ray pair that worked out great.
- ALASKA CRUISE HANDBOOK - I highly recommend this book by Joe Upton. Not so much as a planning guide, although there are some great tips; but more as a way to get a glimpse into what Alaska is all about. And the map that is included is fantastic. We had it out on our balcony often, checking the latitude and longitude from our navigation channel on our stateroom tv and using the map to learn so much about where we were.
I hope you enjoy my travelogue! Use the tabs at the top of the page to "travel" with me.
