Radiance in Alaska questions

[GoldenRose]

We are seriously considering booking a cruise on the Radiance to Alaska for next summer. We had planned to wait until our daughter was a little older, but some friends of ours are going next summer and we are tempted to join them. I have never been on the Radiance, although we've been on many RCCL ships. (I have done one inside passage cruise from Alaska 25 years ago, when I was a teen, but I only remember a few highlights.) We'd be traveling with our kids, ages 4 and 10. I have a handful of questions.

 

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool? I can't imagine the outdoor pools would be very pleasant in June while one is cruising Alaska, although if I'm wrong, please feel free to enlighten me.

 

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only?

 

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good?

 

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard...

 

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ?

[Clarea]

The specialty dining is open to children now, except for Chef's Table.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We are seriously considering booking a cruise on the Radiance to Alaska for next summer. We had planned to wait until our daughter was a little older, but some friends of ours are going next summer and we are tempted to join them. I have never been on the Radiance, although we've been on many RCCL ships. (I have done one inside passage cruise from Alaska 25 years ago, when I was a teen, but I only remember a few highlights.) We'd be traveling with our kids, ages 4 and 10. I have a handful of questions.

 

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool? I can't imagine the outdoor pools would be very pleasant in June while one is cruising Alaska, although if I'm wrong, please feel free to enlighten me. The solarium pool was warm enough to swim in. I think they will let children in a few hours in the morning or afternoon.

 

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only?

 

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good?

 

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard... There were a decent amount of kids on our Alaska cruise. Not the amount that is on a typical Caribbean cruise, but your kids will not be the only ones.

 

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ?

 

Some answers above in red.

[steveru621]

We are seriously considering booking a cruise on the Radiance to Alaska for next summer. We had planned to wait until our daughter was a little older, but some friends of ours are going next summer and we are tempted to join them. I have never been on the Radiance, although we've been on many RCCL ships. (I have done one inside passage cruise from Alaska 25 years ago, when I was a teen, but I only remember a few highlights.) We'd be traveling with our kids, ages 4 and 10. I have a handful of questions.

 

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool? I can't imagine the outdoor pools would be very pleasant in June while one is cruising Alaska, although if I'm wrong, please feel free to enlighten me. We went in late May it was 60-70 degrees everyday. Both pools were used but not like a Caribbean cruise. The Solarium was open to children for a few hour each day.

 

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only? N/A

 

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good? I wasn't looking for any. Don't know.

 

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard... Since it was late May, there wasn't many children. Those that were on the cruise were not school age. Adults enjoy the scenery not sure if school age kids would enjoy.

 

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ? Icy Strait Point is a privately owned tourist destination just outside the small village of Hoonah, Alaska. It is a very small port that many people use as a spot to whale watch.

 

The Radiance Alaska cruise is excellent. Take some time and visit Denali.

[lovelife]

We are seriously considering booking a cruise on the Radiance to Alaska for next summer. We had planned to wait until our daughter was a little older, but some friends of ours are going next summer and we are tempted to join them. I have never been on the Radiance, although we've been on many RCCL ships. (I have done one inside passage cruise from Alaska 25 years ago, when I was a teen, but I only remember a few highlights.) We'd be traveling with our kids, ages 4 and 10. I have a handful of questions.

 

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool? I can't imagine the outdoor pools would be very pleasant in June while one is cruising Alaska, although if I'm wrong, please feel free to enlighten me.

 

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only?

 

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good?

 

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard...

 

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ?

 

The first week in June there was not a large number of children, but plenty enough to find a friend.

 

Icy Strait Point is a quiet and peaceful spot that I absolutely love. I think of its serene beauty often.

 

 

[tahqa]

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool? I can't imagine the outdoor pools would be very pleasant in June while one is cruising Alaska, although if I'm wrong, please feel free to enlighten me.

 

The Solarium pool is heated and will have family hours each day where children are permitted.

 

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only?

 

Specialty dining is open to families.

 

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good?

 

On my sailing there was a retired Canadian Mounty and a 'glacier' expert. The Mounty was really interesting and gave really good talks. The glacier 'expert' (also the expert on the ports of call) was really just a retired woman that had been on this itinerary a lot and thought she was an expert. She was not so interesting.

 

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard...

 

There were plenty of children on board.

 

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ?

 

Icy Straight Point is the port for the town of Hoonah. Hoonah is an old cannery port and is the largest community of Tlingit Indians in Alaska. It's a tender port but is limited to one ship per day so it doesn't get very crowded. It's a great port for wilderness excursions (saw humpback whales and many bald eagles from the ship and the port) and also has an awesome zipline. However, excursions that tour the town of Hoonah aren't worth the time since there isn't much to the town. It reminded me of any other small town in the country. If you stick with the active excursions you should do great.

[Hoopster95]

I've been on Rhapsody twice in recent years to Alaska, so hopefully my answers are legitimate to Radiance.

 

1. Is the Solarium pool on the Radiance heated, or at least warm enough to swim in, during Alaska cruises, and do they permit children in the area at times since it is the only indoor pool?

Yes, they post times that kids are allowed in. I understand this was/is the case on Radiance as well.

 

2. I know there are now specialty dining venues around the ship. Are these adults only?

No, have had specialty dinner beside tables with kids in the past on several ships.

 

3. How does RCCL do with naturalists on board and talks about the region and the wildlife? Do they have any, and are they any good?

Yes, they have lectures on board. I have never attended as I have always researched what I wanted to do pre-cruise.

 

4. Do people take many (any?) young children on the one way sailings that the Radiance does? Would my kids be just about the only kids on the sailing? (Our son wouldn't care. Our daughter loves having other kids to play with.) I assume they still have a decent number of kids club activities even with very few children onboard...

On Rhapsody there were quite a few kids (it's summer, out of school so no problem there). I have pictures of the Adventure Ocean area of Radiance Class ships in my current Serenade review, which will look exactly the same as Radiance. I was actually impressed, I would assume a kid would never want to see their parents with the activities and friends they would make there! Scroll down to post #55 for the pictures

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2108833&page=3

 

5. What is Icy Straight Point port? ?

Answered excellently by prev poster :)

 

Have an awesome cruise! :D

[GoldenRose]

Thanks for the responses! Our school age son will be 10 by the time by the time of the cruise. He is a serious animals, nature, and wildlife fan, and is begging us to do the cruise. He fly fishes, he reads science and nature books for fun, and the highlight of his summer this year was a whale watch day cruise out of Boston. He doesn't care if there are other children around; he wants to see wildlife.

 

Our daughter will be 4.5, and we are hoping there will be other kids on the ship for her to play with. She is a kids club junkie. (She will be disappointed there are no princesses on the ship, but we're doing another Disney cruise later in the year, and we like the Radiance's route (and the fact that it has an indoor pool), although we are still slightly considering the Disney Wonder Alaska cruise.) As long as there are a few kids her age, she will be happy. We hope she will have a great time, and we plan to do everything in our power to help her have a great time, but this trip isn't designed for her, if that makes sense. (She is the reason we've considered doing a Disney Cruise to Alaska, but that would mean we would miss doing a land tour.)

 

We want to do this while my mother is still able to really enjoy it and participate. (She's coming with us, as well.) We were planning to wait until our daughter was old enough to do a lot of the activities, but many of them have an 8 year age limit, and I don't know how much my mother would be able to do 4 years from now.

 

We are definitely planning on Denali if we do this trip. The best memory of my teenage Alaska trip was seeing more than a dozen grizzly bears in Denali, including one with triplet cubs.

 

Those pictures of Icy Straight Point are gorgeous. Looking at shore excursions for it, there aren't many our little one could do. She could do a whale watching one, but not much else. Is it a good port to just wander around in, or do you really need to take an excursion?

Edited October 13, 2014 by GoldenRose

[steveru621]

Those pictures of Icy Straight Point are gorgeous. Looking at shore excursions for it, there aren't many our little one could do. She could do a whale watching one, but not much else. Is it a good port to just wander around in, or do you really need to take an excursion?

 

There is not much at the actual tendered port. All of the excursions are away from the dock. It's a very small area.

 

We did an excursion on a whale watch boat that offered inside and outside viewing area.

[Hoopster95]

Thanks for the responses! Our school age son will be 10 by the time by the time of the cruise. He is a serious animals, nature, and wildlife fan, and is begging us to do the cruise. He fly fishes, he reads science and nature books for fun, and the highlight of his summer this year was a whale watch day cruise out of Boston. He doesn't care if there are other children around; he wants to see wildlife.

 

Just my 2 cents... a suggestion for you to look into:

 

Ketchikan: The Aleutian Ballad - Bering Sea Crab Fishing excursion is an absolute must do if this is the case for your son... eagles, huge crabs (which you get to hold), various sea life (hold hermit crabs octopus, starfish, etc etc). This is in the top 10 excursions I have ever taken in all my cruises and was extremely highly rated on Tripadvisor... I didn't know why at the time but it was true, a totally fun day which I still vividly remember today over a year later :D:D

 

Scroll down to post#16 for just a few sample pictures of this excursion

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41432231#post41432231

Edited October 13, 2014 by Hoopster95
wrong URL reference and post#

[LeeW]

On both of our trips we went on the whale watching tour in Juneau with Orca Enterprises with naturalists from both the RCI and Princess ships assisting and discussing the whales and other animals. This is a family-run business and has far fewer passengers than the cruise-line tours. Jet powered boats, so they do not have to turn off the engines when whales are near. They are located upstairs in the two story building across from the gondola. Call before Jan 15 for a discount.

 

In Denali the Tundra Wilderness Tour is far better than the Natural History Tour but it is 8-9 hours on the bus. Might be a bit much for the 4 year old. Bring a Subway sandwich - the box lunch is pretty sparse.

[tahqa]

 

The Radiance Alaska cruise is excellent. Take some time and visit Denali.

 

steveru621... could you please put a space in between each of your countdown tickers? They're all jammed together and that causes them to render as one huge (wide) banner and it prevents me from seeing the whole page.

 

Thank you. :)

[Sharkb8]

We love Hoonah, did two excursions there with a tour company (check the Alaska board for recommendations). We did a bear tour in the AM, because it was July/Salmon season the bears had already had their fill but we did get to travel a bit and see salmon. In the afternoon we did a whale watch. Small boat, great captain, got out on the water and saw quite a few. Second tour of Alaska, you will love the ship. All other answers were great ... enough kids, plenty to do. And if you fly in early to Fairbanks you can all catch the train from there to Denali (we spent a night at a cabin there and saw Moose) and then down to Anchorage. He can certainly find plenty of opportunities to fly fish.

 

 

Thanks for the responses! Our school age son will be 10 by the time by the time of the cruise. He is a serious animals, nature, and wildlife fan, and is begging us to do the cruise. He fly fishes, he reads science and nature books for fun, and the highlight of his summer this year was a whale watch day cruise out of Boston. He doesn't care if there are other children around; he wants to see wildlife.

 

Our daughter will be 4.5, and we are hoping there will be other kids on the ship for her to play with. She is a kids club junkie. (She will be disappointed there are no princesses on the ship, but we're doing another Disney cruise later in the year, and we like the Radiance's route (and the fact that it has an indoor pool), although we are still slightly considering the Disney Wonder Alaska cruise.) As long as there are a few kids her age, she will be happy. We hope she will have a great time, and we plan to do everything in our power to help her have a great time, but this trip isn't designed for her, if that makes sense. (She is the reason we've considered doing a Disney Cruise to Alaska, but that would mean we would miss doing a land tour.)

 

We want to do this while my mother is still able to really enjoy it and participate. (She's coming with us, as well.) We were planning to wait until our daughter was old enough to do a lot of the activities, but many of them have an 8 year age limit, and I don't know how much my mother would be able to do 4 years from now.

 

We are definitely planning on Denali if we do this trip. The best memory of my teenage Alaska trip was seeing more than a dozen grizzly bears in Denali, including one with triplet cubs.

 

Those pictures of Icy Straight Point are gorgeous. Looking at shore excursions for it, there aren't many our little one could do. She could do a whale watching one, but not much else. Is it a good port to just wander around in, or do you really need to take an excursion?

[Spurschick]

We did similar cruise with DD around the same age.

 

Can't remember exactly how many kids were on board but she didn't complain about AO.

 

We did a few excursions with her. Took the train in Skagway, also did gold panning with her in one of the ports. She thought it was brilliant even if our hands were frozen:D

 

Only downside was she can't remember much about it now she is 13 so have to do again next year;):D

[Ashland]

We just went on Radiance northbound Alaska the end of May...we had our 18 month grandson with us for his first cruise...There were actually a lot more children than you would think at that time...More and more families are cruising with kids to Alaska regardless of the timing.

 

Your children will enjoy the wonderful children's program (age appropiate) RCI offers on ROS..it was wonderful...even though we only used the Nursery we took note of the older groups..knowing we would eventually be using them as our grandchildren grow. We all have been cruising for many years with RCI and love that they now offer such great options for families.

 

I know someone above mentioned the Bering Sea tour..we have done that one before also and loved it...and so would you older child..unfortunately the younger one is too young for this tour.