The Trip of a Lifetime to Alaska – Land and Sea – Trip Report - COMLETE!! 4/13/12 - Page 22 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I just read you're whole TR. You're definitely tipping my personal scales for a return trip to Alaska. We went on a cruise in August of 2006. I thought it was beautiful and neat to see everything once, but not some place I needed to see again. Part of the reason I felt that way could have been because I was 5 months pregnant with our daughter. I just make a miserable pregnant woman. So far you had beautiful weather, overall. I felt like we got drizzled on every day.
Love all the pics. There's nothing like the color of glacier water. It kind of reminded me of the color of the old Coke bottles. I can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip. Keep up the great work!
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I can not wait to read more about your ship and your ports of call. I am afraid to cruise on any other line (well I better get ready - May will be here before I know it) - cause I don't want to be "Disney does X better, Disney does Y better...."
I just happened to stumble upon your TR...I miss so much around here...and now I'm finally all caught up! Amazing is all I have to say about your pictures and what you've seen. My favorite so far was the pictures of the whales...something on my bucket list. I can't wait to read more!
Day 8 – Saturday July 2nd – Day at Sea (Cruising Hubbard Glacier)
My notes say we were up around 8 AM. Breakfast was in the Windjammer Café (buffet). I think we were hard pressed to find a seat, but eventually tracked one down. We had the muster drill at 9:15 this morning. Since we left port so late last night (9 PM) the muster was scheduled for the following morning. We didn’t even have to bring our lifejackets with us! I guess I’ll have to give props to RC on the muster since we weren’t uncomfortable. We were actually sitting at a table at Giovanni’s (the new Italian eatery). They did check that each child (under 12) had a wristband on, which had their muster station on it. So if the child was in the kids club or somewhere else if an alarm went off, someone could take them or direct them where they needed to go and you didn’t have to run all around the ship trying to find them.
Muster done, we headed up for a round of mini golf and rock climbing. It was a tad breezy up on deck with the boat moving, and it was overcast today as well. And chilly! The kids played some ping pong, and then I had a Meet & Greet that was set up thru Cruise Critic. For all RC sailings you can sign up for a M&G, and if you get 25 people, RC will supply munchies and drinks, and some free giveaways. I dragged Alexa with me (under protest) and Matt too Colin to the kids club and went to take a nap. Well, good thing I went, because they had a raffle and I won a RC baseball cap and a bottle of white zin! I never win anything! There can be 2 prizes for 3 people and I’ll still end up losing! I didn’t stay long to mingle since Alexa wanted to go swimming in the Solarium pool (open for family swimming from 10-12 and 2-4 everyday). I checked with Colin in the club, but he wanted to stay there and not swim, so I told him we’d be back to pick him up for lunch at 12:15 (we were eating at Izumi (Japanese)).
The pool area wasn’t too overly crowded, so I found a seat and Alexa swam for a bit. This is also where they had the complimentary drinks (iced tea, coffee, tea, lemonade) and the Park Café was in here as well (where I ended up eating lunch most days).
I took Alexa back to shower and get dressed for lunch, and then we picked up Colin and headed to Izumi (which was at the back of the Windjammer on Deck 11). We were one of 3 or 4 tables there (I guess word hadn’t gotten out yet). I was disappointed to learn that at lunch you are only offered to order sushi rolls, they don’t have the full menu. I didn’t see any of that on RC’s website, as I think they only had one menu. Sigh. I would have booked dinner had I known that. Oh well. We made the best of it. Colin and I ordered California Rolls, Matt had a salmon lovers roll, and Alexa had the crispy shrimp roll.
Colin was still hungry, so he ordered another California Roll, and Matt ordered a spicy shrimp roll. Pricing here is a la carte. You pay $10/pp for lunch, and I think $7 goes toward food ($3 towards tip) and then you pay extra if you go over your allowance. Our total was $49 with tip, but they didn’t realize I had prepaid online (remember this was a brand new restaurant) so it ended getting all squared away on the room charge anyway.
Tummies full, we headed back to the room to get ready for Hubbard Glacier viewing. I was all layered up (raingear included) and had my hats and mittens. We went out to the helipad and at that point it wasn’t too busy and we were able to get a good spot on the starboard side. I’ve got to hand it to the captain. We approached the glacier at about 10 miles away, and there was a huge ice field between us and the glacier. Matt and I just assumed that was going to be it, and good thing we had taken the fjords cruise two days earlier and gotten up close to glaciers then. Well, the captain was going for it, and we puttered right thru the ice field. There were some pretty big pieces of ice, some of which when we hit rocked the boat, but heck, we didn’t sink so I guess it was okay! He ended up getting us less than a mile from the face, and by the time we had got to the glacier, the sun came out, the wind died down, and it was just amazing weather! Get ready for lots of pictures!
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As we left the cove of Hubbard Glacier and headed back out to the ocean, it got more cloudy, more windy, and it started spitting. So much for sitting out on the balcony any longer! L At least I got to enjoy a mojito and a glass of wine in the beautiful sunshine!
It was formal night for dinner, so hung out in the cabin and then got changed. I found it odd that our stateroom attendant actually called the room to see if we were leaving. He should have know that we had late seating. He did his job thru the week, but wasn’t overly friendly. Oh well. We headed out to dinner a bit later than yesterday so we wouldn’t get caught in the huge line. Dinner tonight was the Captain’s Dinner. Joao already had a fruit cup sitting on Colin’s plate! Alexa had escargots for an appetizer, duck for her entrée and lemon cake for dessert. Matt had lobster bisque for an appetizer, filet mignon for dinner, and lemon cake for dessert. I had shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, filet mignon for dinner, and the chocolate soufflé for dessert (as good as Palo’s). And Colin had chicken tenders for his meal, and Jello for dessert.
After dinner we went to the gift shop to buy a few things, and then it was back to the room, where we had our first towel animal waiting for us. Lights out around 11.
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The Glacier photos are just breathtaking!! I love the blue of the glacier ice. And The up close Matt shot of the seal looking at him looks like it was taken in a zoo... OMG I am loving these pictures!
Great pictures! The ship really does look lovely. The captain really did a fantastic job getting you up close! The seals are just so adorable!
I love that dinner menu! Great job Alexa on eating so well! How do the meals work at the regular seatings? I remember reading a DCL TR a while ago where someone mentioned they were able to get seconds on all their entrees. Is that the way it is for other cruise lines as well? If I wanted another lobster bisque or filet mignon, could I get it without an additional charge?
Can't wait to see more!
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Incredible! The Radiance seems more suited to Alaska Cruises than the DCL ships because of the covered pool. So much space is dedicated to pools on DCL that would just go unused I'd think on these cooler cruises. I like that they had the muster location on the kids wristbands--smart. I never thought you'd see so much wildlife up close. The kids look like they're having the time of their lives!
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So far you had beautiful weather, overall. I felt like we got drizzled on every day.
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That's exactly what it looked like! Thanks for reading along! 
I guess I’ll have to give props to RC on the muster since we weren’t uncomfortable. We were actually sitting at a table at Giovanni’s (the new Italian eatery). They did check that each child (under 12) had a wristband on, which had their muster station on it. So if the child was in the kids club or somewhere else if an alarm went off, someone could take them or direct them where they needed to go and you didn’t have to run all around the ship trying to find them.
I never win anything! 
I didn’t stay long to mingle since Alexa wanted to go swimming in the Solarium pool (open for family swimming from 10-12 and 2-4 everyday). I checked with Colin in the club, but he wanted to stay there and not swim, so I told him we’d be back to pick him up for lunch at 12:15 (we were eating at Izumi (Japanese)).
He ended up getting us less than a mile from the face, and by the time we had got to the glacier, the sun came out, the wind died down, and it was just amazing weather! Get ready for lots of pictures! 
the ones with the seals lounging on the ice.
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