RCI to Alaska-any enrichment programs onboard?

[olya1972]

We are booking Radiance of the Seas Southbound Alaska cruise ( Seward to Vancouver). Are there naturalists or any Alaska-related programs onboard? Our previous AK cruises were on Princes and HAL and both lines had a lot of AK-oriented staff onboard. Also, we are booking GTY Balcony. Any information on degrees of obstruction is appreciated. Thank You.

[LeeW]

Radiance had a couple of speakers giving presentations up and back last fall.  Nothing like the naturalist that narrated a lot of the days on Princess.  Think they did bring sled dog onboard at one port.

Edited January 13, 2023 by LeeW
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[ILOVESHIPS]

Yes,  there  will be  destination  naturalists on the Radiance in  June  for  sure.  Doing  several programs and  narrating in  Hubbard  Glacier.  Be sure to come to the presentations.

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, LeeW said:

Radiance had a couple of speakers giving presentations up and back last fall.  Nothing like the naturalist that narrated a lot of the days on Princess.  Think they did bring sled dog onboard at one port.

They do this on Princess (the dog visit).  Are you sure that you saw this on RC?????

[olya1972]

These are good news. I am reluctant to book RCI in Alaska, but needing particular days and it’s sailing from Sewards kind of tips the scale.  There is a lot of port time on this itinerary. So even if they only have couple of lectures, that will be good enough. I was worried that there will be nothing at all as I picked up from some comments here and there on CC. Thank You all for responding.

[olya1972]

What about the ship itself? Last few sailings prior to Covid we did on new ships. They are all beautiful, though we don’t use “ bells and whistles”, but decor itself, cabins furnishings, restaurants - all were wonderful. That said, we did sail on their oldest ship, Grandure, in 2015 and I loved it, found it to be more “marine time “ type of experience then on newer ships, that are resort-like. How is Radiance? 

[welshrich]

3 minutes ago, olya1972 said:

What about the ship itself? Last few sailings prior to Covid we did on new ships. They are all beautiful, though we don’t use “ bells and whistles”, but decor itself, cabins furnishings, restaurants - all were wonderful. That said, we did sail on their oldest ship, Grandure, in 2015 and I loved it, found it to be more “marine time “ type of experience then on newer ships, that are resort-like. How is Radiance? 

We did a b2b on Radiance in June last year from Vancouver, she is older but we loved it as there are so many places to sit and look at the scenery when sailing, we also found it seemed more informal as it was such a tiring itinerary.

[Kathscof]

1 hour ago, olya1972 said:

What about the ship itself? Last few sailings prior to Covid we did on new ships. They are all beautiful, though we don’t use “ bells and whistles”, but decor itself, cabins furnishings, restaurants - all were wonderful. That said, we did sail on their oldest ship, Grandure, in 2015 and I loved it, found it to be more “marine time “ type of experience then on newer ships, that are resort-like. How is Radiance? 

I sailed radiance last May (and am doing it again this May, same trip, Seward to Vancouver).  I had never been on a cruise, and I very much enjoyed myself.  There were definitely not many bells and whistles, but enough activity to keep me entertained, great staff, MANY ways to see the scenery, and we had an awesome time!  We did a guarantee last year too, and we LUCKED OUT on getting a forward balcony on 7, it’s in front of the lifeboats, so we have an extra 1.5 feet or so of balcony which seemed very spacious to me in comparison to the ones above us.  I made sure to select the same for this one. It’s such a great itinerary and the one way lets people do pre and post cruise visits, and we are heading to Denali beforehand this year.  Be sure to stay in Seward the night before!  Take the train on Thursday and do a Kenai Fjords tour! (Last year we did the tour on Friday, but we were one of the last few people on board before 8pm departure, but this year it has moved to 7, so we have to do the Fjords on Thursday.  I now get sad for people who don’t fit in the Fjords tour before or after the cruise)

Edited January 13, 2023 by Kathscof
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[Tin can]

From researching an Alaska cruise its seems there were no enrichment programmes or naturalists on board Ovation. I have read a few compasses from the last season so maybe this is only for the one way cruises.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Tin can

[olya1972]

2 hours ago, Kathscof said:

I sailed radiance last May (and am doing it again this May, same trip, Seward to Vancouver).  I had never been on a cruise, and I very much enjoyed myself.  There were definitely not many bells and whistles, but enough activity to keep me entertained, great staff, MANY ways to see the scenery, and we had an awesome time!  We did a guarantee last year too, and we LUCKED OUT on getting a forward balcony on 7, it’s in front of the lifeboats, so we have an extra 1.5 feet or so of balcony which seemed very spacious to me in comparison to the ones above us.  I made sure to select the same for this one. It’s such a great itinerary and the one way lets people do pre and post cruise visits, and we are heading to Denali beforehand this year.  Be sure to stay in Seward the night before!  Take the train on Thursday and do a Kenai Fjords tour! (Last year we did the tour on Friday, but we were one of the last few people on board before 8pm departure, but this year it has moved to 7, so we have to do the Fjords on Thursday.  I now get sad for people who don’t fit in the Fjords tour before or after the cruise)

Thank you for great reply and your suggestions. We did Major Marine Fjords cruise last May also, and stayed in their hotel Harbor 360 from which the fjord's boats depart. We just did land last May as DIY type of tour. This year we are sailing with our friends and it will be their firs visit to Alaska. We already booked the Alaskan Railroad from Anchorage on that morning, the 26th, the day of the cruise, so will just explore Seward itself without outside trips. I wanted to see Sea life Center last time, but it didn't work pot. So maybe this trip.

[olya1972]

3 hours ago, welshrich said:

We did a b2b on Radiance in June last year from Vancouver, she is older but we loved it as there are so many places to sit and look at the scenery when sailing, we also found it seemed more informal as it was such a tiring itinerary.

Sounds wonderful. Thank You.

[olya1972]

9 minutes ago, Tin can said:

From researching an Alaska cruise its seems there are no enrichment programmes or naturalists on board Ovation. I have read a few compasses from the last season so maybe this is only for the one way cruises.

Someone responded on Alaska board that there were couple of lectures on Radiance. That will have to do. And as Welshrich mentioned above, it's a busy itinerary with a lot of port time. Thank You for your reply.

[LeeW]

14 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

They do this on Princess (the dog visit).  Are you sure that you saw this on RC?????

Had it on one half of Radiance B2B in September but was during port stop and not sure of which port.  Thinking Juneau but Skagway would make more sense.  Would have to dig out the Compasses to see which day.  Princess cruises seemed to do this several times during a cruise but last we did theirs was 2016.

[Kathscof]

9 hours ago, olya1972 said:

Thank you for great reply and your suggestions. We did Major Marine Fjords cruise last May also, and stayed in their hotel Harbor 360 from which the fjord's boats depart. We just did land last May as DIY type of tour. This year we are sailing with our friends and it will be their firs visit to Alaska. We already booked the Alaskan Railroad from Anchorage on that morning, the 26th, the day of the cruise, so will just explore Seward itself without outside trips. I wanted to see Sea life Center last time, but it didn't work pot. So maybe this trip.

Yay! So glad you were able to do it!  We are going to the sea life center before we get on this ship this time too!  Doing the Ididaride tour after arriving on the train, and the Kenai Fjords tour the day before the cruise 🙂