Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Review with pics - Radiance of the Seas Northbound Alaska May/June 2015

azmaui

By azmaui,
in Alaska

 Share

Recommended Posts

azmaui

azmaui

Posted
Posted

Hi Everyone,

 

I just came back from an awesome trip to Alaska. The advice here has been really great so here is my review. I will focus on activities but if you have questions about ship - happy to answer them as well! Might take me a few days to complete the review...

 

About us:

Me - 40 yrs old female, very adventurous, cruised only on Disney with my kids before. This time it's just me and my senior parents on their first cruise and first visit to Alaska.

 

Itinerary

May 28 - fly to Vancouver, stay at Pan Pacific (parents), Fairmount Vancouver Airport (me)

May 29 - meet at Pan Pacific, board Radiance of the Seas

May 30 - Sea day

May 31 - Ketchikan - fishing charter through KCBI (dad), Ketchikan tour with Potlatch Totem Park and Lumberjack Show through RC (mom and I)

June 1 - Icy Strait - Bear Search through Misty Bay Lodge (mom and dad), Zipline (me)

June 2 - Juneau - Bus to Medenhall Glacier (all) then Taku seaflight and salmon feast through RC (mom and dad), Extended Helicopter and Glacier Trek through North Star Trekking (me)

June 3 - Skagway - Bus/train Fraser combo through Chilkoot Transfers

June 4 - Hubbard Glacier (CANCELED because of the storm)

June 5 - Seward - Bear Glacier Kayaking through Liquid Adventures (CANCELED because of bad weather) - went to Sea Life Center, lunch and Exit glacier. Gold star service train to Anchorage. Stay at Westmark.

June 6 - fly home

Link to comment
Share on other sites
azmaui

azmaui

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Day 1

My parents flew in from Europe in the early afternoon so I booked for them Alaska package through Pan Pacific. It includes breakfast and luggage transfer to the ship. They made it there via taxi and had a nice day in Vancouver.

 

I was very happy I stayed at Fairmont - I arrived almost at midnight, grabbed my luggage and after 5 min walk I was at the hotel. Didn't even had to go outside the terminal. Hotel was really nice, room comfortable and what a view!

 

18688512151_300ca284d3_z.jpg

 

Day 2

When I woke up I realized that I left all my tours confirmations etc at home! I went to business center and was able to use computer and printer (free) to reprint everything. Then after the advice of the hotel i took rail to the city (got off really close from Pan Pacific). There I've seen the ship for the first time.

 

18065527723_cac4a8d84d_z.jpg

 

We called the bell desk around 10:30am to pick up our luggage and take it to the ship. Around 10:45am we went downstairs to the cruise terminal. There were no lines at the customs, we went straight through. We had to wait maybe 10 min to check in with RC. Then to the waiting room (there were coupe hundred people waiting there). The ship wasn't open for boarding yet so we had to wait another 15min or so. Overall boarding process took around 45min and we were on the ship! Went straight up to windjamer to grab a bite. It was a beautiful day to eat outside and admire the views.

 

We walked around the ship (really impressed, looked great!) and headed to our rooms. We had 2 mid ship ocean view cabins, was extremely happy with the choice. Perfect location and didn't miss balcony at all - lots of great viewing spots on the ship.

 

Here is my room:

18065527533_a4032605aa_z.jpg

 

We departed after 4:30pm and had a great views of Canada Place and Vancouver

18498496890_55326b7de3_z.jpg

 

and shortly after - first snow!

18686213355_03eb8ee529_z.jpg

 

Great first afternoon on the ship! I'll continue with the rest of the review later this week :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gforce454

Gforce454

Posted
Posted
Just noticed you were on the same cruise as us last week :)

 

If anyone is interested I put together this short videogram of our overall trip on Radiance, Vancouver and Alaska last week.

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...&linkid=link13

 

Great photos.! Really enjoyable to watch. Thanks for sharing.

Looked like you had great weather.

DH & I sail in 5 weeks. Really excited now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mochi

mochi

Posted
Posted

 

Day 2

There I've seen the ship for the first time.

 

18065527723_cac4a8d84d_z.jpg

 

I'll continue with the rest of the review later this week :-)

 

Love this picture! We were on the same cruise. This brings back memories of our excitement upon seeing the Radiance for the first time. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
weatherboy80

weatherboy80

Posted
Posted
Great photos.! Really enjoyable to watch. Thanks for sharing.

Looked like you had great weather.

DH & I sail in 5 weeks. Really excited now.

 

Thanks everybody for the warm comments!

 

Weather was great except for the last 2 days including our scheduled Hubbard Glacier Day (listing event with extremely rough seas and wind) and our day in Seward (departure).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cynalan

cynalan

Posted
Posted
Just noticed you were on the same cruise as us last week :)

 

If anyone is interested I put together this short videogram of our overall trip on Radiance, Vancouver and Alaska last week.

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...&linkid=link13

 

We leave in 4 days for our Alaska/Yukon trip. Your videogram has whet our appetite for the beauty of nature. Thanks for sharing. Great photographs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
azmaui

azmaui

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Sorry for a break, had to catch up with my life post cruise! But here is the rest of my story

 

Day 3

What a relaxing day at sea. I spent it at the gym (really enjoyed some classes there). Then had the most amazing hot stone massage. I had many massages before but hot stones made it really special. But really expensive, it's much better to wait for spa specials and not to book on sea days.

 

Rest of the day was really nice and relaxing, had a great chopped salad for lunch at MDR, took a much needed nap and explored the ship some more.

 

I went to champagne bar to try martini of the day (and was hooked, had it every day from now on).

 

18509753938_ecfd99c317_z.jpg

 

Then to the show and captain's reception (free unlimited champagne!). And formal dinner. Was wonderful but don't have any pics or details because of the amount of champagne I had prior to our meal ;-)

 

After a party at centrum I went to bed anxious for the first Alaska port day.

 

Day 4

Ketchikan greeted us with a bit of a misty weather. My dad left the ship before 7am to go fishing. We had a bit of a later start. I originally wanted to take a bus to Totem Bight and explore ourselves but decided to make it easy for my mom and booked Ketchikan highlights and Lumberjack show. Bus was waiting for us right outside the ship and we had a great guide. Potlatch Park was not exactly what I expected, I liked the totems and stories behind them but I expected bigger area, more of a sight.

 

18511290359_e8b6e19085_z.jpg

 

18693300482_d86cc94788_z.jpg

 

They also have an old car collection there in case you are interested in it

 

18692839582_228ff92ba8_z.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
azmaui

azmaui

Posted
  • Author
Posted

After about 1.5 hrs in the park we headed towards town. Sun came out and it was gorgeous. I wish I had more time just to walk around but after a tour we headed to Lumberjack show. It was fun and entertaining. Lumberjacks were awesome. It was a competition type of show with two teams and individual as well as team challenges.

 

18699970281_a4dd737d2c_z.jpg

 

18074619854_5f7c991965_z.jpg

 

18074628094_a046f5f3fd_z.jpg

 

After the show we decided to walk around (shuttle was provided but we wanted to stay as long as we could) and had a great time exploring Creek St and downtown.

 

We had an early departure and amazing views

18510152188_e9f038b5fa_z.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
azmaui

azmaui

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My dad gave me a full report of fishing charter and wasn't very happy about it. He has been fishing for years and said that this was just a cold boat ride, captain mounted several fishing poles and was telling stories. They didn't catch any fish, didn't see any. Didn't even touch any fishing gear. No one in the harbor they met caught anything either.

I felt a bit misinformed by fishing charter company who assured me it was a pink salmon season.

 

We made up with martini of the day and nice dinner. Speaking of dinners - I was actually nicely surprised. I was planning on 4 specialty restaurants thinking that the quality of the food there will be much better but MDR was really good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...