Radiance of the seas Alaska northbound and 8a Cruise-tour

[bwest the man]

We had a fantastic time aboard radiance of the seas on the northbound cruise and the 8A cruise-tour afterward. But in the greatness of the trip it did start horribly. A lot of people always ask why you fly in a day before the cruise well this is the reason why. We, 9 other family members and me, were scheduled to fly from Nashville to Dallas Fort Worth and then on to Vancouver with an arrival time of 1:10. We were scheduled to depart at 8:10 from Nashville but we received a call around 3 in the morning saying our plane was delayed and that we would miss our connecting flight and that we could take a 6:20 flight to make it. So we sat out to make the 6:20 flight and arrived at the airport around 5 or a little after. One would think that would be plenty of time but no we had to stand in line for 2 hours just to check in with American airlines who wouldn’t do anything to help people and several others missed their flights due to waiting. They only had one line open for international flights and for people needed full check in service. So we proceeded to take our original flight, which didn’t leave until around 11. During this time we learned that American knew the plane was broken down the day before and did nothing to repair it or send a replacement during that time. So we had a nice layover in Dallas until our 6 o’clock departure time. 6 o’clock comes around and our plane landed in San Antonio due to apparent bad weather even though all other planes were landing and taking off. So we finally departed to Vancouver around 8:30.

 

You might of thought that, this story cannot possibly get worse but you unfortunately would be wrong. After boarding the plane and preparing for departure the captain comes on the PA and says that no luggage is aboard the plane and that we would be taking off without any. So we arrive in Vancouver with a plane full of angry passengers and no luggage. The baggage claim people at Vancouver had no idea that the whole plane didn’t have any luggage and was totally unprepared for the bombardment they received. They only had 2 employees on hand to deal with the situation, and said that the luggage should arrive within the next 3 days. This was unacceptable as most of the people were leaving on cruises or going elsewhere. This was made even wore by not having any clothes or care products and American would give you nothing but a little bag that consisted of a tooth brush, toothpaste, and a tiny stick of deodorant. This will conclude the bad portion of the trip, needless to say we will never fly American airlines again, and will continue to fly in the day before at least before the cruise. So we unfortunately didn’t get to see Vancouver as we finally arrived at the hotel at 1:30. But it was now cruise day and a new day.

[bwest the man]

We arrived to the port extra early to see about our lost luggage, which was supposed to be delivered to the pier. We were told that it should make it aboard if it arrived at the airport as scheduled. But taking no chances we went to buy a few things just in case. Check in was a breeze and extremely quick. The waiting area to board was a little lackluster though. Getting through Canadian customs seemed to go a whole lot faster than US customs in my opinion and was a very fluid and easy process while boarding. Upon boarding the ship at around 11 we went and had lunch at the windjammer, which I will say, is the nicest windjammer I have been in on any Royal Caribbean ship. It is extremely spacious and cozy. After a great lunch with the famous honey stung chicken, we went to guest services to file the paperwork about the luggage. Sebastian was great and very helpful here. After this we went to make sure we indeed have a table for 10 and we did it was even a window table. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the ship.

 

We did receive our luggage the first night and were extremely thankful for that. A few other people on the ship were not that fortunate and did not receive their luggage until the 3rd day of the cruise.

[bwest the man]

About the ship: this section will be dedicated to the ship and its spaces. The ship is beautiful and in great shape besides the exterior of the ship which could use some new paint in places. I can see why this is a lot of peoples favorite ship. There is glass and windows almost every place you look, and the centrum is an incredible space and the glass elevators are magnificent. One problem with the elevators are that several elevators could be on the floor empty and you hit the button to go down and none of them will open, they just set there and you have to hit the button several times for it to open. Also the floor buttons are in a bad place because is someone leans against the wall by the buttons they always hit the hold open button and the doors stay open until someone tells the person to move off the wall. Having the indoor solarium is a great feature especially on an Alaskan cruise. This area was rarely used however throughout the week and if you went at night you had the area all to yourself. One note about the pools is that they are saltwater and not freshwater and they are nice and warm, even the outdoor one. My favorite area on the ship however is probably the Colony Club. The self-leveling pool tables are a lot of fun if you get a chance to use them and the area is nice and cozy with great sea views.

[bwest the man]

Food: the service in the main dinning room was very good as usual but the new menu in my and several others in my group is not as good as the previous menu. The windjammer was also very good, and the best on any ship I’ve ever been on. The waiters were always going around clearing tables and very willing to help. The park café was also good but the service was a little slow there even when there was no one there. The food was really good though.

Specialty restaurants: a couple people in our group went to Rita’s cantina and said it was horrible and nothing like Allure. It also doesn’t open till 2 everyday and it has been getting several bad reviews and they are thinking of closing it. The highlight of the restaurants however was Samba Grill. It was fantastic with over the top service. You better go hungry though as they bring you endless amounts of food. The bread they have is the best on the ship and not hard as a rock like most of the other bread. They really need to work on the bread as the toast and biscuits in the morning could be used as weapons as they are so hard.

overall the food is still really good and I wish they would replace Rita's with a Johnny Rockets or bring the seaview cafe back