Cruise Ship: Radiance of the Seas
Cruise Destination: Alaska
Cruise Dates: July 10-17, 2009
Guest Contributor: Carol
I cruised with my family, a party of 8 with ages from 12 to 82. It was fantastic. I never had the desire to go to Alaska, but now couldn't have imagined missing it. The ship was very nice, you have to get a room with a balcony if you go on the Alaska cruise. So much scenery to see, a balcony is a must have. Windjammer cafe is a great place for casual breakfast/lunch/dinner. We did the dining room a couple of times and the food was good and the service was good, the waiter was playful with my niece, very cute, gave her a lot of special attention. Never saw the Captain at the captains dinner and probably wouldn't do that again. The cruise is very casual, which is nice.
Excursions were pretty good, pricey but worth it. The glacier helicopter ride where they land on the glacier is a great trip. Also in Juneau, "Whale Watching with Orca Enterprises" is another must do. Captain Larry has been doing this for many years (I think he started the whale watching in the area), the boats only hold 15-25 people, snacks, a lot of one on one attention and information. So much better than the big party boats with hundreds of people, definitely worth the money, we saw so many whales and it was a highlight of our trip.
We did the Skaguay Tour in Skagway. Modern small buses, with a great guide. You'll be tempted by the Duck Tours in Ketchikan, but skip it, a total waste of time. But if you feel you must, at least they're cheap at only about 38 dollars. Salmon fishing for the guys was disappointing. On the boat for hours with no snacks or drinks offered. If you do the fishing, take yourself a cooler.
Icy Straight Point is okay, one family member did the zipline, a long wait for us at the bottom of the hill. It's a 45 minute bus ride for him up the mountain, then we waited another hour for him to come down, there really isn't anything to do while you wait and you have no idea when your relative is coming down, so if you're filming, you have to keep deleting because you can't tell who it is until they get pretty far down the line. The haddock fish and chips are good there though.
Hubbard Glacier is amazing. The captain got within 500 yards of the glacier, it was a sight to behold. We had orcas swimming in our ships wake, very exciting.
Our stateroom attendant learned our names on the first day and called us all by name the entire cruise, it was impressive. The entire staff on the ship were so friendly, each and everyone, it must be the culture of Royal Caribbean, because it was constant.
Lots to do on the ship, bingo was expensive, but fun, casino is sort of small, but it worked out fine. Lots of planned activities if you want to participate. The shows were okay, the comedian David was hilarious, he was on 2 nights.
None of us wore half the clothes we took, way over-packed. When you get on board you're given a book about the ports and shops. We didn't pay any attention to it until we found out all the shops have freebees with coupons in the books. Took us 2 ports before we realized it and missed out on a bunch of free stuff - t-shirts, hats, etc. Good freebees. Overall, I'd give this cruise 5 stars. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Nutrix55@aol.com. I live in Daytona Beach and did a lot of research on this cruise, but until you get there, its hard to realize how great it is. Thanks for reading!
