The Cruise; Radiance of the Seas Day one
Day One: On Board
Ok, we are finally up to the last stretch of the summer
holidays; our cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage Alaska and the three day
ground tour.
Before I launch into this description of our adventures,
here’s a disclaimer. Owing to my general reluctance to go cruising and any
perceived bias it may cause, Chelle was going to author this part, but
unfortunately a little thing called work has got in the way. So it’s me again.
Before I get a chorus of “I told you so’s, and I knew you
would like it” let me state I am still not entirely sold on the concept of
cruising. I accept the advantages, such as being able to unpack your bags and
the great food served up etc, etc. But until someone comes up with a cruise
liner that can fly from place to place I’m not convinced. I don’t have the time
to go puttering from port to port; especially on something that induces motion
sickness. I’m a busy man; lots to see and do, I haven’t got the time to sit
around on a boat and do nothing. I can do that at home!! Lol.
Anyway enough waffle. Friday the Nineteenth of August at
12:00 on the dot, we boarded the Radiance of the Seas at Canada Place in
downtown Vancouver. Once aboard we headed off to our stateroom; a small box with
a balcony on deck ten. We were literally only four cabins back from the bridge;
we could and did wave to the crew as they went about their business (how do the
bridge crew have time to wave to passengers?) After dropping our bags off, we headed
to the pool deck to find Helen (who had a cabin on deck three). For the early
birds on board a welcome aboard was happening around the pool, this consisted
of some of the crew getting up and dancing and inviting passengers up to have a
go also. Guess who was one of the first up on stage??? Yep, my lovely wife.
Michelle was up there shaking her booty and doing the Macarana, much to the
embarrassment of her daughter. Leaving the dance floor we then went and had the
first of many meals at the Windjammer restaurant. Ryan’s eyes lit up when he
realised it was an ‘all you could eat buffet’.
After lunch it was back to the pool so the kids could have a
swim and Chelle and I had Pina Coladas, which cost us another ten years on the
mortgage. From the pool, we then took the kids to check out Adventure Ocean,
the place they would be spending most of their waking hours while aboard, then
up a deck to the climbing wall, where the kids and I had a climb. After that I
left the kids with Mum and went off to explore the ship. This took me less than half an hour. So that
was it! We had done it all before
leaving port. It was time to get off. That was money well spent Lol. (Bah Humbug!!! Ken did enjoy the
experience, but is very reluctant to admit it due to the obligatory “I told u
so, etc etc!!!)
Four in the afternoon we set sail from Vancouver and made
our way up through the channel between Victoria Island and the mainland.
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see a lot as the weather set in. Up until we
left we had had beautiful weather, now it started to turn grey and overcast and
would remain this way until we reached Anchorage (typical).
Next up, dinner in the main dining room! The ship has one
main dining room that is paid for as part of the cruise and a number of
specialty restaurants that are an added cost. I wouldn’t have minded trying the
others out, but honestly they would have to have been really good to beat what
was on offer in the main one. After dinner the kids went off for their first
night at Adventure Ocean and Chelle, Helen and I went off and had drinks in one
of the bars.
Day Two; Cruising and
Ryan’s Birthday
Ryan had said the night before he didn’t want a fuss for his
birthday so we let him and Tash head off to Adventure Ocean. While he was out however, we had our state
room attendant decorate the room, when he came back later he was not as amused as
we’d hoped, but later warmed to the idea (especially as the colours happened to
also be those of Parramatta Eels.
Chelle and Helen went off to a 90 min seminar that they
thought was going to be about our ports of call along the way and which turned
out to be more about the shopping. Both agreed it was a waste of time and
Chelle was especially vexed as she could have been off doing a Salsa class.
While this was going on I went off to play trivia (very badly) and listen to a talk
on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Midday we picked the kids up and had lunch, then they were
off again. The first day of the cruise being at sea, we were going to all dress
up and go to the formal dinner in the main dining room that night, until that
is we realised I had brought a suit and tie but hadn’t packed a shirt. So then
we planned to take Ryan out to the Italian Restaurant but couldn’t get a
booking. This turned out just as well because Natasha was feeling under the
weather. So while Chelle, Ryan and Helen went off for dinner at the buffet,
Tash and I stayed in the cabin. After a nap, Tash felt well enough to have a
feed and go back to kids club. Not much of a celebration for Ryan, but he
didn’t seem to mind as he had lots of things to do.
While the kids were enjoying themselves and most people were
at dinner, the three of us decided to take advantage of the fact there was no
one around and went for a relaxing dip in the spa and pool in the solarium.
When we got back the kids had signed themselves out of kids club and returned
to the cabin. There are some advantages to cruising.
Day Three; Ketchikan
Ketichikan: the salmon capital of the world. The ship docked
about seven so we were up, had an early breakfast and made our way ashore. As
we docked we also noticed we weren’t the first ones there, there were at least
another four ships already alongside, when you consider each ship probably had
more than 1500 passengers aboard it made for a very congested town. Once you
step off the gangplank the first thing that confronts you is an endless array
of tour booths offering shore excursions. Skirting these we made our way into
the town, where we hit the second thing to confront you; rows of jewellery
stores. As part of their shopping seminar the day before, the girls got conned
into buying a travel wallet that was supposed to have heaps of free bargains at
these stores. So still being annoyed at having wasted the time and money going
to the lecture the girls determined to at least get what they could, but once
again it was another con, the intention being to get you in and then give you
the hard sell. A word on the towns of Alaska and jewellery stores; because of
the climate and the isolation most of the towns on the coast are very seasonal,
having only a small all year round population, but when the cruising season
opens the population quadruples and most of those people are employed either in
tourism or the jewellery stores, which we found are owned by the cruise lines,
they ship their people from region to region depending on the season. I mean
how can one store support a staff of over forty people? Any way while the girls
were looking around I got conned into buying a Swiss watch (or rather two watches,
his and hers) which in the end turned out to be not too bad a deal when the price of similar watches back
home and the exchange rate was taken into account (at least that’s what I keep
telling myself).
Another lesson learned we had used up most of the morning walking
around the shops; time that could have been better spent seeing the sights.
Thankfully we left the kids aboard. Come lunch time, Chelle headed back aboard
to grab the kids and take them to lunch, while Helen and I booked ourselves on
a tour of the town and a wildlife excursion hoping to see some bears. The
weather unfortunately was heavy overcast with frequent downpours. We first headed outside of town to a creek
where the salmon were spawning and bear frequent, but not today. We did however
see the first of many Bald Eagles we would see on our travels and on the way
out and back we got to wave to Clint Eastwood (or at least his boat) Apparently
he makes the trip every year for the fishing. Nice boat with a nice helicopter
on deck. After the fruitless bear watching we went to the Local Native village
to view the largest collection of standing Totem Poles in the world. The rain
at this time was bucketing down so we didn’t get to stay long or get any great
pictures, on the return into town we were supposed to have been dropped off in
the historic district and make our way back but if we had done that we would
have been soaked to the skin, so we headed straight back to the ship.
While Helen and I had been off on our travels Chelle went in
the other direction looking for a mall to get Ryan a shirt that would fit him
for dinner. Then she returned to the ship to make use of the gym. Around four
in the afternoon, we cast off and made our way up the Inside Passage to our
next destination.
Day Four: Icy Strait
Point
Icy Strait Point is an old fishing village that has been
revived by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and is exclusive to them. Each of the
lines seems to have a similar thing, so they can charge exorbitant prices to
their captive audience for any land tours. At this time it doesn’t have a dock
large enough to allow the ship to moor, so getting ashore is through the use of
tenders. Thankfully the journey is only a couple of minutes so not much time is
wasted. We had decided that today the kids would spend some time ashore with us
much to their displeasure. So off the boat and ashore to see what was
available; Helen booked herself on another bear watching tour hoping that this
time she might see some and so off she went, while the kids, Chelle and I went
off walking to the nearest town, we never made it, turning back just on the out
skirts so we could be back in time to take a guided nature hike instead. Unless
you go on an organised excursion there isn’t really a lot to do at Icy Strait.
The nature tour was pretty good but that was it. So once that was over we
headed back aboard so the kids could go off and do their own thing and Chelle
and I went off to different activities. Helen met us back on board after having
a successful day bear watching. Again in the evening we tried out a couple of
the bars and I believe that night was Disco night at kids club.
Day Five: Juneau
Arriving in Juneau the capital of Alaska, along with four
other ships the weather hadn’t picked up any. Juneau is a small city on an
island completely surrounded by mountains, there are no highways connecting it
to the rest of the country, to get there you have to come either by plane or
the Maritime Highway, a ferry that plies the Inside Passage. I had wanted to go
on the cable car that goes from the dock up to Mount Robert which overlooks the
harbour but there wasn’t much point paying for a ride up into the fog. So
instead we booked a trip out to Mendenhall Glacier, a large Glacier just
outside of town.
Finally at the Glacier we got to see our first Black Bear up
close! This one was fishing next to the boardwalk that goes over a nearby
stream. From the trail of half eaten
salmon, he wasn’t doing to badly either. Mind you, I don’t know how he could ignore all
the Japanese and Koreans chattering away and screaming at him at full volume
(they might have been a tastier meal??) In a tree not too far away, the girls
also spotted a bear cub.
The Glacier itself was spectacular and worth the trip out to
see. Leaving the Glacier we then went back into downtown Juneau or the tourist
part of Juneau. I don’t think the locals would go near it. The girls took the
kids back on board for lunch and then packed them off to kids club, while I
went out on an errand and bought a shirt.
Our last tour for the day could only be described as creepy.
We had booked this as an addition to the
Mendanhall Glacier and it was supposed to be a sightseeing tour of the city. It
looked bad when our guide turned up looking like the bikey from the village
people. We were his only passengers and
when he found out we were Australian and that my sister was single, it got
really weird. Chelle and I disappeared
off his radar and the tour became mostly about him and whether he could come to
Tasmania and get a wife. Apparently he already had three native wives!! We
drove around Juneau but didn’t get much of a commentary and he didn’t seem to
know what to do with us or show us, so we saw a stream with some salmon and a
hatchery and that was about it. Later in the tour when the talk came around to
the master race and the final solution (no kidding) we were just anxious to end
it and get out of the van!
That night we went off and watched a show in the theatre,
the only one we caught the whole trip. It was titled The Piano Men and featured the music of Elton John, Billy Joel and
Stevie Wonder among others; it was a really entertaining and professional show.
Luckily we caught the first session as the second session was hijacked by
Pirates!! Tonight was Pirate night at kids club, so the kids got all dressed up
in make-up and made bandanas and paraded through the ship singing pirate
shanties at the tops of their lungs, before finally winding up on stage in the
theatre prior to the second show. Of course one little performer we know was
lapping up the spot light.
Day Six: Skagway
Skagway was the only shore destination where we had booked
ahead for a tour. Skagway is associated with gold and the US and Canadian
goldrush and is the terminus for the White Pass and Yukon railway which heads
up to the goldfields. Michelle has been teaching Canadian history this year and
learnt about the Klondike and taught
gold as a unit of Australian history, so she really wanted to see the area. Ryan
would miss out on a trip to the Bathurst goldfields back home this year and
Chelle really wanted the kids to experience gold
fever. So having booked a trip on the train, followed by gold panning, we
headed off into Skagway. Chelle really
had been looking forward to this trip as the scenery looked stunning in the
brochures, with deep gores and towering waterfall, but once again the weather
sought to spoil our plans. The gorges were shrouded in fog and the waterfalls
were hidden and when we finally made it up into the Yukon across the border it
was blowing a gale and everyone was frozen. Anyway, the journey back was by bus
and the fog had lifted a little so we did see a little of the scenery in the
end. Back in Skagway, we then went off to do some gold panning, which the kids
found fun as they found a few specks of gold in their first pan which they got
to keep. Funny how their patience disappeared when subsequent pans turned up
nothing! We did tell them that the only
people who made it rich on the goldfields were the ones who supplied all the
equipment !!! .
After the gold panning we then took a tour around Skagway
which took less than ten minutes, as it’s only a town of a couple of hundred
people with a main street that stretches eight blocks and that’s it outside of
tourist season -it doesn’t even have it own doctor. There are more passengers
on one cruise ship than people in the town and the day we were there, there
were four ships in.
Back aboard ship dinner that night was formal, so we made a
vow to go to this as Chelle and Helen had packed dresses that they wanted to
get some wear out of. This however left
Natasha in somewhat of a dilemma as this same night was also a pyjama party and
we told the kids they could stay with their new friends and go to dinner. But
Tash also wanted to get dressed up in the pretty dress she had brought along
for the occasion so what was she to do? The problem was solved by her mother
dressing her up so she could go to dinner ( she was the best dressed kid at
dinner with Adventure Ocean that night) then picking her up afterwards racing
her back to the cabin and changing Tash into PJ’s and taking her back up. This
meant that Michelle, Helen and I had a nice relaxing meal without kids.
Day Seven: Hubbard
Glacier and cruising
Our last day aboard ship and a day spent cruising. We woke
up in the morning to the ship nestling in as close as possible to Hubbard
Glacier. Hubbard is one of the most active glaciers in the world with bits of
it calving off every few minutes. As the approach to the glacier was fairly
free from pack ice the Captain got us in close enough that you could hear the crack
as a sheet of ice peeled away from the face of the glacier. We spent a couple
of hours watching this in which time I saw at least three or four large pieces
come away. Because we were a long way north in Alaska and it was still overcast
the temperature was cold, the coldest we had felt in a couple of months
everyone was out on deck rugged up in their warmest clothes and the crew were
out brewing up mugs of hot chocolate and coffee. Leaving Hubbard, the ship
headed out into open water to make its way to Seward, with a warning from the
Captain to expect heavy seas!! In the morning we had the kids with us so we
went and played a trivia game with questions based on animated movies in which
we came a creditable second. Ryan and I
played chess, Chelle went off and did a dance class, Helen learned to make
jewellery and Tash was off playing with her friends. After lunch, the seas
started to pick up and it became evident that there were less and less people
visible around the ship. In the afternoon the kids had their last play at kids
club, but the motion of the seas was starting to get to Natasha so she went off
with Aunty Helen to have a lie down while Chelle and I started to get the bags
packed so we could put them outside our door that evening. Ryan and I later
went and had a game of table tennis which was amusing and hard trying to play
on a table that kept rolling through ninety degrees. In the evening I braved
the weather on deck and went and got some photos of the pool where some kids
were trying to surf the waves. No kidding the water moving from side to side
was that big.
So ended our last day aboard ship, not a great ending, ships
would be very pleasant places if they didn’t have to put to see. As for
cruising I would recommend it to anyone who has kids and wants the hassle taken
out of their vacation. Will I do another one? Probably, if Michelle and the
kids get their way, it will just depend on the location. One last word; the
staff on board were fantastic, they were all very pleasant, we had a great
State room attendant who couldn’t do enough for the kids and hopefully may
contact us next year when the Radiance of the Sea gets to Sydney. The dining
room staff were always very attentive and aware of the kids allergies, one of
our waiters couldn’t wait to show the kids magic tricks each time we saw him.
Before we booked the cruise I had done some research to find out which would be
best for the kids and Royal Caribbean didn’t disappoint.
