49th state via Radiance, May 15-22, 2015

[LMKakaThing2]

Hello everyone! I have unfortunately been back from my first Alaskan cruise for 2 weeks now :(...wish I was still there. I was on Radiance of the Seas first Alaskan sailing of the season, May 15-22. This was a northbound cruise out of Vancouver visiting Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Hubbard Glacier, and disembarking in Seward.

 

On this cruise, it was me, Lisa (28) and my mom (54). I had booked us in June 2014 when Royal had their BOGOHO. The cruise fare was $2500 for balcony 7108, which I felt was a great deal. After starting a new job, I decided to splurge on my mom's birthday and surprise her with the cruise.

 

I will admit, I didn't do much research when looking at cruises. I knew I wanted to try and get a good price. When I booked, Royal wanted $3000, but I had heard that sometimes those membership club warehouses had better deals. I went to Sams Club's site and got a larger balcony for $2500...$500 less than Royal! I did end up with an unexpected $75 obc when I entered my cabin.

 

We flew out of the Akron-Canton airport instead of Cleveland due to the price difference. By driving little over an hour south, I saved about $800 in airfare. I highly recommend looking at surrounding airports if you live near more than one. I had booked back in July just to get the airfare out of the way. We ended up flying United since they were the cheapest. The downside to booking so early was the limited amount of flights. At the time, United was only offering a few flights out of Akron because it is a small regional airport. We ended up flying out at 1:20pm and had a 6 hour layover in Chicago :eek:. We didn't arrive into Vancouver until 9:45pm. It was roughly a 12 hour travel day. I have flown on regional jets before, but having to walk up stairs to get on the plane was a new experience for me.

[LMKakaThing2]

Just as a heads up. I may not post every day due to work. I only tend to go on the computer on the weekends. I promise I will do a better job and be on during the week. Also, if I'm making multiple posts about a port and I go MIA for a while, it's due to my computer freezing/rebooting.

[LMKakaThing2]

Before I go anymore into detail about flights, I want to touch on a subject I was debating on bringing up. I am a bigger person and was terrified of flying because I didn’t know what to expect. The last time I had flown was 8 years ago.

 

A few months ago, there was a thread on here about being bigger and needing seat belt extenders and where to buy them. I looked into buying an extender but after reading that they’re illegal to use your own due to FAA regulations, I decided I would just ask for one.

 

On two of my flights, I didn’t need an extender but for the other 3 I did. I was lucky that the 3 flight attendants were very sly about passing me the extender. All 3 times, the belt was 2 inches or less too small. My other 2 flights the seat belts were several inches bigger than I needed.

 

As far as the seats went, I only experienced issues with the 2 regional planes. The first regional plane the seat was tight and uncomfortable but I made do. I had chosen a seat in the single row so I wouldn’t feel like I was encroaching on anyone. The second regional plane it wasn’t so much the seat but the leg room. The side of the plane cut into your leg room making it slightly uncomfortable, but tolerable. I was quite surprised how comfortable I felt in the other seats on my 3 other flights.

[LMKakaThing2]

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post more. Was in the middle of adding a picture when the internet decided to stop working.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I can use my phone to reply.

[alaska_planner]

getting on board for your alaska/radiance review! :)

Edited June 7, 2015 by alaska_planner

[js4rq]

Looking forward to reading your review!! :D

[beccaf1970]

Thanks for starting this report! I'll be on Radiance southbound in July, and I'm eager to hear about your trip!

[LMKakaThing2]

When we got off the plane in Chicago, we had to go several terminals over. In order to get to our terminal, we had to take an underground tunnel. I was mesmerized by the lights on the ceiling. The lights were putting on a "show" as you walked through the tunnel. They have something similar at the Anchorage airport to/from the car rental counters.

 

If you’re flying United or Delta, keep your eyes peeled for charging stations at O’Hare. Everyone seemed to congregate by them. In the regional flight area, they even had tables setup with outlets. Even the Akron-Canton airport had the charging stations. I'm assuming Denver had these as well, but we literally got off one flight and ran to our connecting flight which had already started boarding.

 

Finally at 6:50pm, they started the boarding process for our flight to Vancouver! Since we had a longer flight, I upgraded our seats to Economy Plus. We were fortunate that no one sat between us. I had purposely booked mine and my mom’s seats with a seat between us. Having the extra leg room and the empty seat between us meant we had space to spread out! I highly recommend getting seats with extra leg room.

 

Our flight arrived 30 minutes early which was good because we had had a long day of traveling. When we arrived at customs, we literally walked right up to an agent and in 2 minutes were getting our luggage. Had we arrived earlier in the day, I’m sure it would have easily been an hour wait. Within an hour of landing in Vancouver, we had checked into our hotel…the Pan Pacific Vancouver.

[LMKakaThing2]

After doing research and finding out that we would be docking at Canada Place because they were no longer using Bellantyne for cruise ships, I started looking at hotels. Since I like to get a good deal on everything I buy…there are a few exceptions, I researched hotels on just about every site I could think of. Knowing this was the trip of a lifetime and that we would be arriving into Vancouver late, I wanted to make sure I had a great hotel. It didn’t take me long to decide on the Pan Pacific. With it being right on top of the cruise terminal made it very convenient for us. I thought it would allow us to sleep in a little and not have to rush to get ready. After price comparing on several sites, I went with one of the sites that will give you a hotel at a discounted price if you buy without knowing the hotel. I knew it would be risky and that I may not end up with what I wanted, but I gave it shot. After comparing the information they were giving to that of the Pan Pacific, I pulled the trigger. It took less than a minute for me to pull the trigger because it was the only hotel on their site in the specific area I wanted. I saved about $60 by booking that way and an additional $100-$150 compared to Pan Pacific’s site.

 

I had read several recent bad reviews on the Pan Pacific and how outdated it was. I went there expecting the place to need some updates, but was blown away by how nice it was. I’ve stayed in high end hotels before and this came in second place as to being the nicest. Since I didn’t book the cruise package I didn’t receive a harbor view room. I got a view of the pool, which didn’t bother us since we were just spending one night. As part of the cruise package, they will take your luggage for you down to the terminal. I found out, that if you mention you are going on a cruise, they still offer you the service when you check-in free of charge. Also, you can book a harbor view room minus the cruise package and get a better rate.

 

Below are some pictures of our room. Please disregard the jeans on the floor and the open suitcase on the bed. Taking the pictures was an afterthought. I thought I took a few of the bathroom, but I'm guessing I forgot to. The beds were super comfy and just what we needed after a long day.

 

[LMKakaThing2]

Thanks for starting this report! I'll be on Radiance southbound in July, and I'm eager to hear about your trip!

 

If you get a chance, stop by the Champagne Bar and tell Edna and Rebecca that Lisa and her mom said hi! I'm sure they'll remember me...lol

[beccaf1970]

If you get a chance, stop by the Champagne Bar and tell Edna and Rebecca that Lisa and her mom said hi! I'm sure they'll remember me...lol

 

 

LOL, will do!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[LMKakaThing2]

We woke up about 5:30/6am. I had been hoping to be able to sleep in, but I could tell it was not going to happen. I didn’t even get to sleep in once while on vacation. I was happy and very surprised to see that they were broadcasting the Seattle news channels. That was great for us because our basketball team, the Cleveland Cavaliers were playing in the playoffs! Unfortunately, they didn’t talk about any national sports and I needed to know what had happened! Finally, Good Morning America came on…and what do you know? The Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls! We were going on to the next round. It definitely made for a great start to the day.

 

After getting washed up and luggage situated, we headed outside to walk around Canada Place. Since we don’t have float planes by us, we watched several float planes take off and land.

 

 

Was going to post a few pics of Canada Place, but I don't seem to have any. I remember taking a few pics...but I can't seem to find them :(.

 

But, here are a few of Vancouver.

 

 

 

[LMKakaThing2]

Here is a video of a float plane landing.

[YOUTUBE]uiXU1QFgCRo[/YOUTUBE]

 

Wish we would have had more time to spend in Vancouver. Maybe one day I'll get the chance to visit Vancouver for more than a few hours.

[LMKakaThing2]

Radiance had docked on her port side which meant we could walk along her and get our first glimpse of our balcony! We had 7108 which is the first balcony to the right of the elevators and the lowest balcony level. I was stoked to see that we had a lounger, but was disappointed to see that it was gone when we boarded. However, my mom did point out, that we probably wouldn’t want to be lounging on our balcony.

 

 

[mimmy52]

Thanks for doing a review. I'm so glad you're including photos. Can't wait to read the rest.

[EMED2010]

How did you like your deck? We are booked in 8088 which is one deck up on the left of the elevator. I've seen loungers in pictures so I was hoping we would have one.

Edited June 7, 2015 by EMED2010
Sp

[LMKakaThing2]

After the bellhop showed up around 9:45am, we headed down to the ship. Since they hadn't opened up check-in yet, we got in line. There was about 45 people in front of us. Finally about 10:15/30 they opened up check-in. I do believe I was on the ship by 11am. We walked around the ship since there was hardly anyone else on board.

 

We then headed up to the Windjammer. We grabbed our food and headed out back to the open seating area. Not sure if I would have known about this area if it wasn't for Cruise Critic.

 

Here's a few pics from around the ship.

 

[LMKakaThing2]

How did you like your deck? We are booked in 8088 which is one deck up on the left of the elevator. I've seen loungers in pictures so I was hoping we would have one.

 

We loved our deck! We only ever heard noise from the Centrum once and even then it was pretty muted. I would book the same room again in a heart beat.

[mlmalone3]

We loved the Radiance in 2007 and giving it consideration for 2015! Enjoying your review thus far!

[EMED2010]

We loved our deck! We only ever heard noise from the Centrum once and even then it was pretty muted. I would book the same room again in a heart beat.

 

That's good to hear! We have been near the elevators before on Grandeur and Explorer (even though we take the stairs 90% of the time) and we never heard any excess noise. I like the convenience.

[EMED2010]

Duplicate post - sorry I can't delete it!

Edited June 7, 2015 by EMED2010

[bluebeard39]

We loved our deck! We only ever heard noise from the Centrum once and even then it was pretty muted. I would book the same room again in a heart beat.

Love the review so far. Following along.:)

[alaska_planner]

loving the review and the pictures!!! :)

[LMKakaThing2]

Thank you everyone! Hoping to be able to squeeze in another post or two tonight.