twangster Posted May 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 With the next break in the rain I walked past the harbor heading towards the National Park. I made it just before more rain came down so I stayed inside for a bit. The displays do a good job of explaining the various parts found on a totem pole. Guy Gadwa, Skigoofy, KristiZ and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 After the next rain break I ventured along the nature trail into the forest. There are more totem poles spaced out along the trail. Weather radar showed a larger line of showers heading our way so at this point I decided to start heading back. It was about 20 - 25 minutes to the shuttle bus stop from here. RWDW1204, Guy Gadwa and Lovetocruise2002 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 4, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 Near the harbor I spotted some Eagles in the trees so naturally I had to stop and take some photos. This stop threw off my timing and it started to rain down pretty good. Fortunately I had my raincoat on but the last five minutes of this walk was pretty miserable. Totally worth it to get some nice Eagle photos. FionaMG, RWDW1204, Guy Gadwa and 11 others 10 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted May 4, 2022 Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 As always, I love the pictures but the ravens with the little fireball bottle (what it looks like to me) is making me laugh. Ampurp85, MaryCanadian and BeachGal 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted May 4, 2022 Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 Those eagles look so striking........and even with somewhat crap weather, Alaska looks breathtaking, or it could be the photos that captured it. WAAAYTOOO and MaryCanadian 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 4, 2022 Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 19 hours ago, twangster said: The Raven is very symbolic in Alaskan native culture. These two were fighting over a small discarded liquor bottle. Is that you @Big Dawg Ron? Big Dawg Ron and JC Pats 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanaC Posted May 4, 2022 Report Share Posted May 4, 2022 How was the walk from the shuttle stop and the "downtown" area to the park? We're planning on doing that walk too, and from what I can tell it's not too challenging or long. What did you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 2 hours ago, ChanaC said: How was the walk from the shuttle stop and the "downtown" area to the park? We're planning on doing that walk too, and from what I can tell it's not too challenging or long. What did you think? Sidewalk all the way. Pretty level, not challenging at all. Nice walk. ChanaC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 The shuttle bus back to the ship was loading as I walked up so I hopped on. By this point it was raining pretty hard so a lot of people held back at the cruise terminal. I took advantage of that to beat the crowds back on to the ship. From my balcony I heard an incoming helicopter. USCG was checking us out. The rain had subsided. Across the water I could see the occasional water spout indicating whales were in the area. Of course Eagles were circling overhead as well. I also spotted this Harbor Seal poking around the docks of the local marina. Juvenile Eagle. Quite a few Eagles, to the point I stopped taking pictures. The seal over by the docks was still hanging around the area. The rain passed and the sun tried to poke through briefly. However that was short lived and another large wave of heavy rain moved in as we departed. That pretty much ended any pictures. Lovetocruise2002, Sweety, FionaMG and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Day Four - Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier & Juneau Last night the Captain announced we would return to the Pacific briefly before entering the Alaskan Inside Passage on our way to Tracy Arm and after that Juneau. Our arrival to begin the trip into Tracy Arm would commence at 5am. This entrance off the Inside Passage is common to both Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm which is featured on many Seattle based cruises on Quantum and Ovation. To the right or starboard is the way to Endicott Arm. We will be going straight and turning left into Tracy Arm. It was of course raining making picture taking not the best. As we turned I noted the distinct shape of another Royal Caribbean ship behind us. Radiance of the Seas. I assumed Radiance would be heading into Endicott Arm. Skigoofy, Matt, Sweety and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 I set my time lapse on my balcony and headed forward to enjoy Tracy Arm It started raining pretty good and with the wind channeling down Tracy Arm towards us combined with our forward motion it was raining sideways. At just 4°C the rain felt like ice pellets which explains the low turn out on the helipad. It was pretty miserable and cold. Despite that I was determined to photograph the experience. We turned deeper into the arm and continued on our way while the wind and rain was merciless. MaryS, Guy Gadwa, KristiZ and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 The thing about Alaska weather is that it can change in a heartbeat and thankfully today it did. Plenty of waterfalls on both sides. With the improved weather the helipad saw more guests. Glaciers are cool and all but the sights in these arms is breathtaking. It's not just about seeing a glacier, the trip up Tracy Arm is worth the price of admission on its own. foxrunner, Lovetocruise2002, DDaley and 6 others 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 More sights from our journey into the Tracy Arm. I always find it striking when the ship is in such close proximity to the towering mountains all around us. This is so different compared to Caribbean cruising. MaryS, Guy Gadwa, Skigoofy and 5 others 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Soon enough the Sawyer Glacier appeared in the distance. To be clear, the ship doesn't get very close to the glacier which is beginning to recede into the mountains where the ship can't get into. Bring binoculars or a telephoto lens on your camera. DDaley, Skigoofy, Sweety and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 I headed back to my aft balcony to take in the retreat back down Tracy Arm with an aft view. I also needed to warm up. I was chilled to the bone. Sweety, RWDW1204, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Much to my surprise Radiance of the Seas appeared and passed us. You think these channels are very tight but she passed us with ease and well away from us. It's not too often you get to take close up pictures of a ship in fjord like this. Skigoofy, Guy Gadwa, DDaley and 3 others 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 The rest of the trip out was pretty spectacular. As we approached the entrance shared with Endicott Arm heavy rains started again which was pretty fortunate timing. Sweety, Guy Gadwa, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Here is the 3 minute time lapse of the trip. Guy Gadwa, Matt, KathyC and 3 others 3 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Here is a 4K video of our morning in Tracy Arm and seeing Sawyer Glacier. Matt and Guy Gadwa 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Juneau More rain on and off. I'll be back next week on a different ship so I decided to make a game day decision and stay on the ship for this visit. It wasn't conducive to going up the Mt Roberts tramway today or even walking around in the rain. To be fair it didn't rain all day so I'm sure fellow guests have some awesome experiences today. We docked at the pier that uses shuttle buses for the short trip to the downtown transportation area. Lovetocruise2002 and Guy Gadwa 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeachGal Posted May 5, 2022 Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Just stunning, and so much snow. Both times I've been to Alaska have been in August, and although the scenery is still incredible, it is much more summer-like. I might have to rethink my next visit there for the start of the season. ellcee and twangster 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted May 5, 2022 Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 We're scheduled to dock at that same Juneau dock area, when we are there on Radiance in a couple weeks. Only two ships in port that day, us and Ovation that comes later. Not sure why we are stuck so far out when there are a lot of empty berths, plus with gas prices running the shuttle buses must be expensive. I saw elsewhere online that there was a charge for those buses, if you didn't want to walk. I know you didn't get off, but did you hear from any of the other passengers that there was a fee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 20 minutes ago, KathyC said: We're scheduled to dock at that same Juneau dock area, when we are there on Radiance in a couple weeks. Only two ships in port that day, us and Ovation that comes later. Not sure why we are stuck so far out when there are a lot of empty berths, plus with gas prices running the shuttle buses must be expensive. I saw elsewhere online that there was a charge for those buses, if you didn't want to walk. I know you didn't get off, but did you hear from any of the other passengers that there was a fee? There's never been a fee before when I've docked here. Maybe they were thinking Skagway where there is a bus service that does a loop to a few places beyond just "downtown" and the cruise pier. That service does have a nominal fee. KathyC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 10 hours ago, BeachGal said: Just stunning, and so much snow. Both times I've been to Alaska have been in August, and although the scenery is still incredible, it is much more summer-like. I might have to rethink my next visit there for the start of the season. There is no bad time to visit Alaska but there are two reasons why I like the early season. The first are the longer days since the longest day of the year is June 21. In Alaska that is amplified so days are really long in the early cruise season compared to August or September. The second reason are the snow capped mountains that are more photogenic in the early cruise season. ellcee, BeachGal, KristiZ and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2022 Day Five - Hubbard Glacier After departing Juneau at 7:30pm we spent most of our time in the Inside passage in darker hours. This morning we find ourselves back in the Pacific Ocean on our way North to Hubbard Glacier with an 11am schedule arrival. Our progress: Weather report: Overcast with periods of rain. Voom has been pretty slow on this sailings. Here are some speed tests: May 2 May 3 May 5 Obviously we have something more than zero upstream bandwidth but not much more than zero. I compress my pictures down to around 300kB-400kB each and if I get greedy by trying to upload more than three at a time they fail. Sometimes like this morning I can only upload two at a time. This is normal for Alaska Voom. The geostationary satellites are positioned over the equator which works okay from the Caribbean but this far North it becomes a challenge. Combined with rain and overcast conditions makes for a bad satellite internet experience. We still have several hours until we get to Hubbard Glacier so I'll be off to breakfast soon before gathering my gear to get ready for Hubbard. YOLO, WAAAYTOOO and SpeedNoodles 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLH Posted May 6, 2022 Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 On 5/2/2022 at 6:00 PM, twangster said: Suite Lounge drink menu for the nightly cocktail happy hour in the Concierge Club. I guess they didn’t get the memo that this list is no longer used on most of the ships suite lounge. We have been on 6 ships since the restart with no list in view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 Hubbard Glacier As we approached we were treated to increasing blue skies. There were still some lines of rain clouds we had to push through but the approach to Yakutat Bay is slow and takes time so a few lines of rain didn't concern me. In the distance i could begin to see Hubbard Glacier. The blue skies in the distance near Hubbard were a welcome sight. Lovetocruise2002, PPPJJ-GCVAB, ellcee and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 I've always considered Hubbard Glacier to be one the premier tidewater glaciers in Alaska. Once we past the rain the crowds began to form. The scale of Hubbard Glacier and the mountains behind the glacier make it seem like it takes a long time to approach but that's only because it is pretty massive and farther than it looks. On each side of the entrance to Yakutat Bay are soaring mountains. Matt, PPPJJ-GCVAB, RWDW1204 and 7 others 9 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 The face of the glacier soars 350' above the waterline so it's taller than you might think from a distance. The entire area beyond the glacier itself is breathtakingly beautiful. On this occasion Captain Stig kept the bow towards the glacier with only small turns to port or starboard. On other occasions the Captains have done complete circles. So if you are thinking about staying in your balcony you might rethink that plan. There was minor calving but it wasn't as dramatic as it has been before. Nonetheless you could hear the glacier creak and moan with almost a thunder like sound. As we inched closer we sailed through fields of ice from sections of the glacier that have recently broken free. Some of the bergy bits are quite large. KristiZ, PPPJJ-GCVAB, ellcee and 6 others 7 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 I like to move around quite a bit, taking in the sights from different areas of the ship. Another nice feature of Radiance class are the panoramic elevators with fantastic views outside. Here are some photos from around the ship. MaryS, WAAAYTOOO, KristiZ and 4 others 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 One of the peaks near Hubbard. Some glacial close ups. After an hour or so we turned and began our retreat. From this point I went down to my aft balcony to watch it from there. KristiZ, Skigoofy, MaryS and 5 others 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 Over the sounds of our wake I could hear a group of sea linios making a racket. Some more non-glacial photos of the area. Sea lions were active today. Some rather large chunks of glacier floated past. RWDW1204, MaryS, Lovetocruise2002 and 6 others 7 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 This corner aft balcony has been a fantastic choice. The views have been amazing. I had my 360 camera set up on a telescoping pole capturing a time lapse that I'll upload once I'm on cellular give the large file size but the balcony has been really nice this trip. YOLO, MaryS, Matt and 7 others 7 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 Time lapse video from my aft balcony Matt, KathyC, foxrunner and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 6, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 A video of our experience at Hubbard Glacier in 4k. RWDW1204, D Alt, YOLO and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted May 6, 2022 Report Share Posted May 6, 2022 Darn, I wanted those post slots for snarky responses. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted May 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2022 After our time at Hubbard Glacier we started sailing South down the Alaskan coast towards our next stop in Ketchikan. I've always enjoyed this stretch due to the near continuous mountains that line the coast. From my first Alaskan cruise I've always had fond memories of this area. It started with a rainbow. Continuing down the coast there were some clouds between us and the coast but there were these occasional break in the clouds where you could see the mountain ranges that line the coast. There was some not so fair weather between us and Mount Fairweather. There were still whales arounds us. Right after a dinner break I stepped onto my balcony for a crystal clear view of an Orca very close to the ship before I had my camera setup. It didn't stop with that, there were many all around at times. Sunset was just after 8:30pm tonight and here in the open Pacific is was pretty great with some clouds to make it just a little dramatic. Lovetocruise2002, DDaley, WAAAYTOOO and 8 others 8 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPPJJ-GCVAB Posted May 7, 2022 Report Share Posted May 7, 2022 I am enjoying this post immensely. Your photos are breathtaking and capture every essence of what an Alaskan cruise includes. Thank you for starting my day off with beauty and majestic elegance! BeachGal, YOLO, ellcee and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 7, 2022 Report Share Posted May 7, 2022 I'm here for the photos KristiZ, ScottishRobbie, PPPJJ-GCVAB and 9 others 8 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YOLO Posted May 7, 2022 Report Share Posted May 7, 2022 1 hour ago, Matt said: I'm here for the photos @twangster Me too !!! Awesome photos... twangster and KristiZ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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