Alaskan Cruise
Vision of the Seas (RCCL)
June 2006
Day 1 (Thursday, June 22)
We woke up at 5 am to get ready for our 7:50 am flight. The kids were woken up at 5:30 and dressed quickly and then brought immediately to the car. Breakfast consisted of Quaker bites and disposable cups of milk while enroute to the airport. We managed to make it to our gate with 30 minutes before boarding: just enough time for a walk around the airport and potty trips for everyone. We took off on time and arrived a few minutes early into Seattle. We quickly found our shuttle and were downtown before 10 am. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and took off for the Seattle Center which was only a few blocks away. The kids had been lagging a bit but at this point we showed them the Space Needle and told them that we were going up there. They were very excited, especially upon hearing that it was a "space" tower. Anything "space" gets them excited!
Despite the outrageous admission fee we enjoyed our ride up the tower and the view above the city. Our son in particular enjoyed watching a news helicopter landing and then taking off from the roof of a nearby television station.
By this time we were all hungry so we stopped for lunch at the Seattle Center food court and took a look at the Children"s Museum. It seemed like fun so we all went in. That pretty much eliminated any other plans we had. The place was so good and so enthralling that we were there almost until they closed, If anyone is looking for something to do with small kids in Seattle for a day I highly recommend it. Essentially they have all kinds of play areas for kids that teach about various topics (nature, other countries and cultures, music, theatre, commerce, mechanics/engineering, construction, etc.). There is also an art room where there are 3 or 4 independent art projects kids can do at any time.
After the museum we had dinner and although it was still a little early we were all tired so we went back to our hotel. We had booked a KidsSuite at the Holiday Inn Downtown and it was terrific! Dave and I had a room to ourselves and the kids had a room to themselves with bunk beds, their own TV and activity table. My only complaint was the SpongeBob bedding. Ah well, nothing is perfect.
Day 2 (Friday, June 23)
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (gotta love those "kids eat free" places!) and then took a shuttle to the pier. We arrived a little before boarding began but it was a short wait and then we were on the ship! We were sailing the Vision of the Seas, which is a Royal Caribbean (RCCL) vessel. We had never sailed RCCL before although we had sailed their more upscale sister line, Celebrity. Having done my research and booking far in advance I had managed to secure us a fabulous cabin. We were sailing in what RCCL calls a "Junior Suite" which basically means a bigger room and a bathroom with a tub instead of just a shower. While the room was nice, it was not as nice as the similar room we had booked on the Sapphire Princess last January. Most notably there was no separate upper bunk and the kids had to share a pullout sofa. This lead to a few kicking sessions in the mornings. Here is the cabin during the day.
And here is the cabin turned down for the evening.
Notice how bright it looks behind the curtains. In Alaska it was dark from about 11 pm to 4 am so we basically did not see darkness for almost the entire week!
What made this cabin special (as compared to other Junior Suites) is that it was on the back corner of the ship so we had an extra-large wraparound balcony.
The balcony was fabulous and we used it many times. It was worth booking a year in advance to have access to this!
We immediately had some lunch at the buffet and then jumped into the pool! Vision is not one of the "mega"ships but it is reasonably big: about 2,100 passengers at double occupancy and this cruise was extra full: nearly 2,500 passengers. There are two pools: one indoor and one outdoor. Both pools have hot tubs.
To our dismay we discovered that the indoor pool was for adults only. There were exceptions for "inclement" weather but the hours kids were allowed even then were limited. On this cold cruise we were very annoyed that the kids could not swim indoors much of the time when the outdoors was much too cold. This one issue alone may cause me to re-think another RCCL cruise as apparently all RCCL ships have this pool setup (one indoor pool exclusively for adults).
We were cruising with my parents and we met up with them while in the pool and discussed our plans for the week.
We wanted to put our three year old down for a nap, but unfortunately the muster (emergency drill) was at 4:30 pm: right in the middle of his naptime. It is mandatory to attend this drill so we did and ended up with a cranky boy at our 6 pm dinner. After that we made sure that he had a nap every day for at least 2 hours and things went much more smoothly.
Leaving Seattle.
That evening there were two welcome aboard shows. One was for the majority of passengers and one was for kids and their families. We went to the latter. There was an organized presentation for about 30 minutes where the counselors introduced themselves and gave an overview of what they would be doing during the week. Then we all went up to the children"s areas of the ship for parent/child activities including setting off baking soda and vinegar volcanoes.
The kids" welcome aboard show.
Day 3 (Saturday, June 24)
The next day was spent at sea. We went to the kids" club (called Adventure Ocean) and signed in the kids.
On port days the Adventure Ocean was more structured than we have seen/heard of on other lines. There was a full schedule of activities planned (rather than just having free play and movies all day as other lines do) and for the most part it was a drop in service (parents did not have to sign up in advance). If parents wanted, they could drop their kids off at 9 am and not get them again until 10 pm on port days. We brought the kids with us so this didn"t matter as much for us but it was nice to know that it was an option.
Each day at the Adventure Ocean there are art projects (RCCL has a program going with Crayola) so there were many opportunities for crafts and painting/drawing. There are also science segments (learning about sea life, local land animals, weather, etc.) and story time. There are also organized games (e.g. Duck Duck Goose) and contests (e.g. most creative Lego structure). Every evening there is a theme and all activities are organized around that theme. One night it was movie night and the kids dressed in pjs and made popcorn before watching. Another night there was a pirate parade and the kids spent a couple of hours preparing pirate costumes before storming the ship and "taking over" various public areas.
Overall we were very pleased with the availability and variety of children"s activities, however we were a little underwhelmed with the staff. While they tried hard to keep the kids happy, they didn"t really seem to connect with or care about the kids as individuals. On our January Princess cruise the activities were a little more "sloppy" but the counselors really seemed to try to bond with the kids IYKWIM. We had a couple of moments where we felt the staff didn"t really consider our kids" feelings when they did certain things and that soured us a little. But when all is said and done, the kids were sorry to be leaving and I guess that is what is important.
Dave and my Dad went to try out the famous Royal Caribbean rock-climbing wall. Neither of them made it up to the top.
In the evening we had our first formal night. I call this my "Titanic shot" since my son is looking pensively at the life preserver in his tuxedo. I"m thinking maybe I should have it printed in sepia tones. :-)
Day 4 (Sunday, June 25)
We docked at Juneau. The weather was miserable: 50 F and raining. If it had been in California it would have been a terrible winter storm. As it was, it was simply summer in Alaska. We took a ride out to the Mendenhall Glacier. While it was beautiful, the outdoor weather dampened our spirits and we weren"t much interested in other touring. We made a quick stop in town to see Wyatt Earp"s gun (it had been deposited at the US Marshall"s office 100 years ago and he left town without claming it) and then went back to the ship for some hot tub action.
Day 5 (Monday, June 26)
We arrived in Skagway and while there was scattered rain there was also scattered sun. It was still in the 50s but the sun made us much more optimistic. We had purchased tickets on the White Pass & Yukon Railway which took us from Skagway up into the mountains and across the Canadian border into the Yukon. The scenery was beautiful and it was sunny and clear most of the trip. It was wonderful to see it all again coming back down! The kids enjoyed this, but I think the best part for them was just being on a "real" train!
This is some of the scenery on the trip.
After the train ride we went into Skagway to see the downtown area. Skagway has been described as "Disneyland Alaska" and I can see why. They have preserved the original "Gold Rush" look on their downtown buildings and it reminded me a lot of Frontierland in WDW/DL.
Shortly after the ship left the captain spotted a colony of sea lions on the shore. We went up to take a close look.
Day 6 (Tuesday, June 27)
On this day we docked in Icy Strait Point. You have probably never heard of this place and that is because it was "manufactured". Icy Strait Point is next to the village of Hoonah which depended entirely on the logging industry. When the logging died out they created a tourist spot that showcased the local Native American culture and scenery/nature. We actually had a lot of fun here, including seeing some whales up close spouting into the air and coming up to say Hello!
Fresh-caught crab on the dock.
The 'beach' is very rocky, and since it was low tide, the "ocean ecology" was exposed. These are live oyster colonies and sea plants on the beach.
We also stopped to throw cedar chips into the spirit fire and make ourselves part of Icy Strait Point.
Day 7 (Wednesday, June 28)
We spent this day at sea but the highlight was cruising through the Inside Passage. We spent much of the day on our balcony enjoying the view. Here is what it looked like.
Day 8 (Thursday, June 29)
On this day we docked at Victoria, Canada. I had been here briefly as a teen and had always wanted to go back. We booked our own city tour that took us to Craigdarroch Castle. Everyone enjoyed touring the castle that was 100 years old.
On the way back the kids fell asleep but our daughter in particular got very cranky when we woke her up to get off the bus. She and my Mom went back to the ship while Dave, our son, my Dad and I walked around downtown Victoria for awhile. To get back to the ship we decided to be touristy and take a horse-drawn carriage.
Day 9 (Friday, June 30)
This was disembarcation day but we had one more afternoon of fun planned. We got picked up by Avis and rented a minivan and explored some more of Seattle. First we went to Pike Place (a famous fish market).
The kids enjoyed a park next to the water. Then we drove through Pioneer Square and up to the Queen Anne neighborhood and then over to the Chittendon Locks. My son"s favorite part was getting to walk on real train tracks outside the Locks.
We did see a few salmon going up the salmon ladder at the Locks but it was hard to get pictures as they moved so fast.
After a late lunch we headed out to our hotel at the airport and vegged out for our last couple of hours of vacation. The next day we headed home.