Radiance Southbound Aug. 14-21 (Compasses Attached)

I can't do justice to a full review, given that so many excellent ones already exist and my photography skills are woeful :o. I'm hoping that I can make a small contribution by posting the Compasses, which some may be interested in, even so late in the season.

We approached this trip differently than most do as Alaska was never a "dream destination" for us. We were more interested in the on-board experience and I'd like to give some thoughts about the Radiance of the Seas.

Firstly, if you are crowd-averse, this is the ship for you! We sailed at full capacity and promptly dubbed it the "ghost ship". I have no idea where all the passengers were - other than during peak meal times and on the helipad on Hubbard Glacier day, we rarely ever saw many of them. Without exaggeration, we never once waited for an elevator (even on disembarkation morning), a spot in the hot tub, failed to get a good seat in the theater or had the room service phone ring busy. These were all new experiences for us. A+ for a spacious, relaxed environment.

We were also extremely surprised by the passenger demographic. We had expected "senior city" and instead found there to be very, very few elderly people on board (I only saw 1 mobility scooter all week). There also seemed to be very few children, although this could be due to great programming in Adventure Ocean. The weather also could have contributed as we did not ever see any youngsters in the kid's pool (very nice by the way), at mini-golf or on the rock wall. Most everyone appeared to be exactly like us - couples between the ages of 40 & 65.

Overall, we did not love ROS, it was our first cruise on this class of ship and it would be our least-favorite to date. A brief synopsis of our opinions follow (questions welcome if you want more specifics):

Embarkation 5/5 - obviously Seward is not a typical port, people arrive in very staggered numbers and there is little to no wait to be processed. We also had extremely good luck with our RCCL airport-to-pier transfer although it was 2x the price of booking it independently.

Cabin 1/5 - the cabin itself was fine (inside GTY on Deck 3) but the bedding was so excruciatingly uncomfortable that it really did impact our enjoyment of the trip. The mattress was rock-hard (no egg-crate available), there was nothing other than the mattress pad and sheet to hold the two beds together and the pillows were stiff and over-stuffed. Our cabin steward simply said she was "unable to do anything" about either the mattress or pillows.

Common Areas 3/5 - nice in general and pretty well-kept but soft-goods need replacement. Certain areas seem very under-utilized and that makes for a bit of a desolate feeling. The worst of these is the new Boardwalk Dog House; so undecorated and unappealing.

Food 2.5/5 - our dislike of MTD in general and how poorly it was handled on this ship (compared to our last cruise on the Liberty) taints our impression here. The MDR food was adequate, but preparation and presentation seem to decline with each subsequent cruise. The specialty venues are now not near good enough to merit the prices, unless as a direct contrast to the MDR. They would not compete favorably against land-based restaurants. The Windjammer is about as good as an Old Country Market, but I suppose one can't really expect anything else. We only eat there when there aren't any better options. As for the new Park Café, everything there besides the roast beef sandwiches is pre-made (and they microwave the Panini's instead of pressing them - boo!).

Entertainment 4/5 - I love an evening show, it's a major part of the cruise experience for me. All of the headliners were very enjoyable on this cruise and the House Orchestra is excellent. The RC Singers and Dancers, on the other hand, were woeful; the only Production Show during the week (Piano Man) was practically cringe-worthy actually. The weather unfortunately made watching outdoor movies impractical and the Cinema schedule didn't jibe for us but we would have definitely watched some if we'd had the chance.

Service 2.5/5 - very hit and miss, mostly because there just seemed to be so few crew members around. Bar service was slow and not very enthusiastic even though they were never busy. (There were next to no bar servers around; we got all of our drinks directly which would have irked me if we'd paid for a drink package.) We got lucky with a very nice pair of waiters in the MDR and have nothing but compliments for them - can't think of a thing more we would have wanted. Our cabin steward was adequate but unable to assist with the only things we actually needed, which was some relief from the uncomfortable sleeping bedding. Crew in general were polite and semi-friendly if you managed to make eye-contact but not effusive in any way. Maybe we're just expecting too much based on a cruise history rooted in the "good old days".

Disembarkation 5/5 - we had late travel arrangements so our tags were for 8:45, much later than we've ever had before. We were able to catch the tail-end of breakfast after the early rush and had no wait to depart around 9:00. The Vancouver terminal is extremely easy to navigate and did not require the usual stop at Customs. Luggage was easy to find as much of the bulk of it had already been claimed. From leaving the ship to getting in a cab took all of about 8 minutes.

Sorry - here they are.

Day 1 - Seward.pdf

Day 2 - Hubbard Glacier.pdf

Day 3 - Juneau.pdf

Day 4 - Skagway.pdf

Day 5 - Icy Strait.pdf

Day 6 - Ketchikan.pdf

Day 7 - Inside Passage.pdf

Thank you so much for both the review and the .pdf's. My husband and I are going on our first cruise next March and I am one of those people who like to research everything new to the Nth degree haha. Being able to spy as it were, on another cruise is invaluable to me.

Kudos.

Thank you so much for both the review and the .pdf's. My husband and I are going on our first cruise next March and I am one of those people who like to research everything new to the Nth degree haha. Being able to spy as it were, on another cruise is invaluable to me.

 

Kudos.

Very welcome - I wasn't sure anybody would still be interested as we sailed so near the end of the season. If you have any specific questions about the Radiance, please let me know.

Thank you very much for kindly posting your compasses in your review. I am new to cruising and look forward to my first cruise next summer in Alaska. Your compasses give me a good idea about what to expect once on board. Extremely helpful.

Thank you very much for kindly posting your compasses in your review. I am new to cruising and look forward to my first cruise next summer in Alaska. Your compasses give me a good idea about what to expect once on board. Extremely helpful.

If you have never cruised before and are excited about Alaska, no doubt you will have a wonderful time! We really enjoyed "people-watching" on Hubbard Glacier day where many of them were clearly fulfilling long-held dreams! I hope you fulfill yours too!

Thanks for this! We'll be on the Radiance next June!

I read you took a tour from the docks in Icy Strait Point -- do you mind giving me more info about that? We're thinking about doing the same. What company did you end up with? Can you remember the cost and how long your tour was? Would love to hear the details :)

I read you took a tour from the docks in Icy Strait Point -- do you mind giving me more info about that? We're thinking about doing the same. What company did you end up with? Can you remember the cost and how long your tour was? Would love to hear the details :)

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=IC01&DestinationCode=

This is the tour we took, which was for sale at the Visitor Center on-shore for a substantial discount (can't exactly remember but it was less than $300 for both of us). Hoonah & Icy Strait is such a fascinating place because the port basically "belongs" to the local native residents who have developed it and contracted with various cruise lines as a port stop. They've done, IMO, a wonderful job and all of the tours there are run through them and available at the port (the discount is obviously the margin RCCL is taking). NOTE: The only reason you might want to book in advance is if you're super-concerned about a tour selling out. They are in the process of building a pier so that in future this won't be a tender port and that will make getting out there in the morning quicker. We were also told by the lady at the Visitor Center that each morning local residents with suitable boats (private operators, if you will) are present on the pier to sell charter tours (smaller capacity; the boat we were on held 100 or more).

FWIW, though - we didn't have the greatest luck with whales the day we went. There were a good number of them (humpbacks only) but we saw no full-breaches at all and only a couple of tails. Apparently the tours out of Juneau saw lots more active ones including a pod of Orcas. If I had it to do over again I'd whale-watch in Juneau and take the Wildlife Tour to the bear habitats in Hoonah (which also can be purchased at the port).

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=IC01&DestinationCode=

 

This is the tour we took, which was for sale at the Visitor Center on-shore for a substantial discount (can't exactly remember but it was less than $300 for both of us). Hoonah & Icy Strait is such a fascinating place because the port basically "belongs" to the local native residents who have developed it and contracted with various cruise lines as a port stop. They've done, IMO, a wonderful job and all of the tours there are run through them and available at the port (the discount is obviously the margin RCCL is taking). NOTE: The only reason you might want to book in advance is if you're super-concerned about a tour selling out. They are in the process of building a pier so that in future this won't be a tender port and that will make getting out there in the morning quicker. We were also told by the lady at the Visitor Center that each morning local residents with suitable boats (private operators, if you will) are present on the pier to sell charter tours (smaller capacity; the boat we were on held 100 or more).

 

FWIW, though - we didn't have the greatest luck with whales the day we went. There were a good number of them (humpbacks only) but we saw no full-breaches at all and only a couple of tails. Apparently the tours out of Juneau saw lots more active ones including a pod of Orcas. If I had it to do over again I'd whale-watch in Juneau and take the Wildlife Tour to the bear habitats in Hoonah (which also can be purchased at the port).

Thank you so much -- very helpful!!

THank you for posting the Compasses. Does anyone know if they are basically the same (in reverse) for the Northbound route? We are going Northbound next Aug.

TIA