Have you done RCCL to Alaska?

[sadiwest]

...and if you have, did you do a cruise tour? 

Just booked for 2024 as a surprise for dh to give him for our 15th.  I figure I can pay little bit at a time till our anniversary in August lol. Then we'd travel the following June. 

 

Wondering about anyone's experience in Alaska with RCCL. I went in 2001 on Princess solo.   Neither dh nor dd have been. Also booked tour 1b for prior to the cruise. I did learn that coming home I would prefer to do so from Canada, so Southbound it is!

 

How is RCCL in Alaska?  It's Radiance I believe.   This itinerary seems to touch all of the major points I'd want to see and includes rail segments, which I wanted to include.  Anyone care yo share their experiences and thoughts? 

 

 

[taglovestocruise]

5 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

...and if you have, did you do a cruise tour? 

Just booked for 2024 as a surprise for dh to give him for our 15th.  I figure I can pay little bit at a time till our anniversary in August lol. Then we'd travel the following June. 

 

Wondering about anyone's experience in Alaska with RCCL. I went in 2001 on Princess solo.   Neither dh nor dd have been. Also booked tour 1b for prior to the cruise. I did learn that coming home I would prefer to do so from Canada, so Southbound it is!

 

How is RCCL in Alaska?  It's Radiance I believe.   This itinerary seems to touch all of the major points I'd want to see and includes rail segments, which I wanted to include.  Anyone care yo share their experiences and thoughts? 

 

 

Just did a  7 night on Ovation, really crappy weather for all 7 nights. Ship was very nice.

[erinsmom03]

5 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

...and if you have, did you do a cruise tour? 

Just booked for 2024 as a surprise for dh to give him for our 15th.  I figure I can pay little bit at a time till our anniversary in August lol. Then we'd travel the following June. 

 

Wondering about anyone's experience in Alaska with RCCL. I went in 2001 on Princess solo.   Neither dh nor dd have been. Also booked tour 1b for prior to the cruise. I did learn that coming home I would prefer to do so from Canada, so Southbound it is!

 

How is RCCL in Alaska?  It's Radiance I believe.   This itinerary seems to touch all of the major points I'd want to see and includes rail segments, which I wanted to include.  Anyone care yo share their experiences and thoughts? 

 

 

 

We've done two cruises with Royal to Alaska, but never a cruise tour (yet lol). We sailed on Ovation out of Seattle in 2019 and just sailed on Serenade out of Vancouver in July. Both our cruises were roundtrip, although I hope to do a north or south bound in the future. Loved our cruises to Alaska! Each port city offered a little something different to enjoy. 

[neverbeenhere]

Cruises to Alaska many times. Royal is good. But Princess cruises that go to Glacier Bay beat all. (Also the Princess Alaska experience onboard is better)

[sadiwest]

8 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Just did a  7 night on Ovation, really crappy weather for all 7 nights. Ship was very nice.

Yes. Well, having been there once and read much about it, I can confirm that every picture of Alaska with a sunny blue sky you see were all taken on the same day. The weather does tend to be quite gloomy more often than we like.

 

Can't blame RCCL for that but I hope you enjoyed seeing Alaska anyway!

[neverbeenhere]

wring thread

Edited November 27, 2022 by neverbeenhere

[sadiwest]

Just now, neverbeenhere said:

Cruises to Alaska many times. Royal is good. But Princess cruises that go to Glacier Bay beat all. (Also the Princess Alaska experience onboard is better)

It's been a lot of years and I don't have much to go by. What about Princess makes their experience better?

 

Honestly less worried about the ship than I am the ports, sights and organization of it all. 

[reallyitsmema]

Just now, neverbeenhere said:

@Galveston Cruiser ???

 

Wrong thread

[neverbeenhere]

Onboard speakers and presentations. Many love the dogs aboard. 

[wreckem2013]

Weather and animal sitings in Alaska are a crapshoot. I’ve been fortunate to have two cruises on Radiance where there was no rain and most days were sunny and warm but that is not typical. 
 

Radiance cruises are cruises for the ports not the ship as it is older but intimate and well maintained. It doesn’t have all the things newer ships but does allow for other options like pre or post cruise tours. Those are on my to do list as B2B on Radiance.

[wreckem2013]

9 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

It's been a lot of years and I don't have much to go by. What about Princess makes their experience better?

 

Honestly less worried about the ship than I am the ports, sights and organization of it all. 

The main thing is Princess has access to areas RCL doesn’t because RCL doesn’t have the permits.

[sadiwest]

4 minutes ago, wreckem2013 said:

The main thing is Princess has access to areas RCL doesn’t because RCL doesn’t have the permits.

Which areas? 

[barbeyg]

1 minute ago, sadiwest said:

Which areas? 

Glacier Bay.

 

Weve done AK several times now, and LOVE AK. All our sailings have been on RCI. We do our own before/after cruise tours.  I love to plan, so we choose what we want to do ourselves, and rent a car.

[sadiwest]

7 minutes ago, wreckem2013 said:

Weather and animal sitings in Alaska are a crapshoot. I’ve been fortunate to have two cruises on Radiance where there was no rain and most days were sunny and warm but that is not typical. 
 

Radiance cruises are cruises for the ports not the ship as it is older but intimate and well maintained. It doesn’t have all the things newer ships but does allow for other options like pre or post cruise tours. Those are on my to do list as B2B on Radiance.

I originally booked with NCL simply because their itineraries were posted earlier.  However, the land options for RCCL were posted sooner.   In addition , i felt I was going to pay similar amounts when all was said and done and we've recently been sailing with RCCL above others.  As much as I like Princess their itineraries weren't available either.  I guess I was most eager to get something pinned down and start paying. Lol

 

That being said, the pre cruise tour was one of the key factors here.   So that makes me feel good about the choice I made. 

[CynBeth6]

We did our first cruise on Royal for Alaska many years ago around Memorial Day and loved it! It was 7 days from Vancouver to Seward on Radiance and then the land tour we saw some of Denali and took the train to Fairbanks.  

[sadiwest]

2 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

Glacier Bay.

 

I KNOW this will be an unpopular opinion but I found that once in Alaska, I couldn't distinguish between mountains or between glaciers at all. What I mean by that is, I guess I'm assuming my dh and dd will experience Alaska via RCCL, but probably wouldn't know there's anything to miss by doing so. 

 

I do appreciate that information, though.  Ty. 

[paylady]

18 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

It's been a lot of years and I don't have much to go by. What about Princess makes their experience better?

 

Honestly less worried about the ship than I am the ports, sights and organization of it all. 

RCL doesn’t have access to Glacier Bay.  Other theme type things Princess does that Royal doesn’t:

- Cruise Director staff dress as lumberjacks

- Puppies in the Piazza one day

- Iditarod champ onboard one day

- park rangers onboard on Glacier Bay day

- Alaska naturalist onboard throughout the cruise

 

Only you can decide the best fit for you and your family.  Radiance is a great ship for Alaska.  I’ve been on six RCL Alaska cruises and one on Princess.  I was very impressed with the Princess theming and GB.  

[barbeyg]

11 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

I KNOW this will be an unpopular opinion but I found that once in Alaska, I couldn't distinguish between mountains or between glaciers at all. What I mean by that is, I guess I'm assuming my dh and dd will experience Alaska via RCCL, but probably wouldn't know there's anything to miss by doing so. 

 

I do appreciate that information, though.  Ty. 

We loved our trips to AK without cruising Glacier Bay, so I agree with you. The breathtaking beauty of AK always bowls me over, whether visiting a glacier, or viewing the waterfalls coming down the sides of beautiful mountains. We took my oldest sister and aunt with us this past May, and every time I speak to them now, they still talk about how beautiful it is. 🙂

[Kathscof]

We did Radiance this year and LOVED IT.  I don’t think that the precruise tour takes advantage amazing things in Seward before the cruise.  We did the ididaride tour with the Iditarod champion Seavey family (and the family who invented the race) and a 6 hour tour to the Kenai Fjords Park and got very close (closer than the ship excursion and for longer) to the glacier there.  It all depends on what your want to do though, the precruise tour can be great too. 

 

My my parents are coming with me next year.  

[sadiwest]

47 minutes ago, Kathscof said:

We did Radiance this year and LOVED IT.  I don’t think that the precruise tour takes advantage amazing things in Seward before the cruise.  We did the ididaride tour with the Iditarod champion Seavey family (and the family who invented the race) and a 6 hour tour to the Kenai Fjords Park and got very close (closer than the ship excursion and for longer) to the glacier there.  It all depends on what your want to do though, the precruise tour can be great too. 

 

My my parents are coming with me next year.  

I'm considering flying in two days before the tour and doing some stuff ourselves BUT I think we leave for the precruise tour from Anchorage, so ill need to check.   

 

Suggestions for self-guided sights anywhere are appreciated.  

[reallyitsmema]

7 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

I'm considering flying in two days before the tour and doing some stuff ourselves BUT I think we leave for the precruise tour from Anchorage, so ill need to check.   

 

Suggestions for self-guided sights anywhere are appreciated.  

 

We did 4B then southbound Radiance cruise.  We flew into Anchorage two days before our cruisetour and rented a car.  We did a two day DIY tour of the area, including driving down the Seward highway along Turnagain Arm, stopping at many overlooks, waterfalls and even a bird sanctuary along the way.  There is a app with mile markers that helps you know where to stop.  We then flew the morning of our tour to Fairbanks to start our tour.  We also added a couple of days in Vancouver after the cruise since we love that city.

[LeeW]

Did Radiance up and back this year (cruises 5/6 to Alaska).  The ship has good viewing areas and an enclosed solarium with some good loungers.  Rained most of trip up (Hubbard Glacier fogged in) and very little on trip south.  Ship is fine for this - you spend most of your time in ports so you don't need all the fancy shows in Alaska.  Lots of the entertainment is in the atrium, so can get a bit noisy if your cabin is near there until around 10 PM.  If ship has an excursion to the Eagle Preserve (in Haines but usually get ferry from Skagway) would highly recommend that float trip (did this 3 times).  Train is ok although seats are not very comfortable (did this twice).  Also recommend the whale watching tour with AlaskaShoreTours in Juneau.  You can bundle this with a trip to Mendenhall Glacier if you like.

 

While we prefer Princess for the trip into Glacier Bay, this was also good and we hit ports we had not been to before.

[Tlbecker1]

We have done 8 cruises on Royal around Alaska.  Radiance, Ovation and Quantum.  Loved all of them.

[time4u2go]

5 hours ago, paylady said:

RCL doesn’t have access to Glacier Bay.  Other theme type things Princess does that Royal doesn’t:

- Cruise Director staff dress as lumberjacks

- Puppies in the Piazza one day

- Iditarod champ onboard one day

- park rangers onboard on Glacier Bay day

- Alaska naturalist onboard throughout the cruise

 

Only you can decide the best fit for you and your family.  Radiance is a great ship for Alaska.  I’ve been on six RCL Alaska cruises and one on Princess.  I was very impressed with the Princess theming and GB.  

I wholeheartedly agree with this. If you are going on an Alaskan cruise, Princess is the way to go.

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by time4u2go

[emeraldcity]

I did this trip with my college age daughter. We bucked the trend ... we started in Vancouver and went northbound (on the Radiance). This had the delightful benefit of visiting the Nature Center at Mendenhall before doing any glacier viewing. They do an outstanding job of visuals to help you truly understand the forces that create glaciers and allow them to move. Then, when you see the glaciers as you travel further north, you have a better understanding of the geology.

 

My principal reason for wanting to do the cruise before the cruise-tour is that we are all about the ship! And I didn't want to be looking forward to getting on the ship while I should be enjoying the land portion.

 

As for the cruise-tour, we did a 4-day tour. Alyeska, Talkeetna, Denali, Anchorage. The train was the last leg (Denali to Anchorage-8 hours). The one thing that bothered me about the cruise-tour was that we couldn't book any excursions until after we got on the bus. That really cuts into the concept of pre-planning. Fortunately a cruise-critic member a few weeks earlier posted the list he got on the bus, so I was able to make some early decisions.

 

Step outside your comfort zone and try some really amazing excursions. I'm considerably older than most mothers with a college age daughter, but I still went all-out to experience some amazing adventures. There were three buses on our tour and my daughter and I were the only ones to book a flight out of Talkeetna to land on Ruth Glacier on the slopes of Denali. They'd just had a foot of snow ... it was like landing on a marshmallow. And the last morning in Denali when we would be boarding the train just about noon, we booked the white water rafting on the Nenana River (Class 3 and 4 rapids). It was fabulous fun. Of course, we were the only ones who booked it. The other people in our boat were a couple who were doing a land tour on their own.

 

Once on the ship we did the usual excursions like the train to White Pass and the hike to Mendenhall in Juneau. But in Ketchikan we were among an intrepid group of 12 that booked 4-man zodiac boats (you get to drive) for a guided tour in a chilly rain that visited the tiny islands in the area and learned about the eagles, the seals and life for the locals in the unforgiving environment where 8th graders have to do a survival course and spend 2 nights on one of those distant islands foraging food.  (Google 8th grade Ketchikan Survival for an interesting read)

 

And when we left Alaska, we did the usual thing where we try to pinpoint the highlight of the trip. We couldn't ... in the end, we decided the highlight was ALASKA.

Edited November 28, 2022 by emeraldcity