Radiance of the Seas Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,235 reviews

Alaska northbound followed by southbound - great 14 days

Review for Alaska Cruise on Radiance of the Seas
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grandmamlw
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: May 2012
Cabin: Interior Stateroom
Traveled with children

This was a very nice vacation and our second time on the Radiance in Alaska. We booked back to back cruises as I find 7 days is just now enough. Although this one seemed a little long because we all caught colds probably from a sick person on the flight to Vancouver. I find the Radiance to be the perfect size ship for me. It has plenty of activities, and entertainment on board to keep all ages occupied when not in port. Of course the shows were repeated from the first week to the second but there was plenty music and dancing venues.

The first week we had traditional dinning at 6:00 which we very much enjoyed. We were seated to a table for 10 and out dinning companions were friendly and we had some lively conversations. The wait staff was very friendly and did an excellent job. The food and selection was good to great and only one night I didn't see anything interesting. They have an always available menu of 4 more selections where I opted the NY strip steak. It was a little overcooked but not bad. The waiter would have gladly brought me another one if I wanted. On the night we had lobster, everyone at our table opted for it. When we had finished out lobster the waiter came with another plate of lobster tails and started passing then out to anyone who wanted seconds. Yea didn't even have to ask. One night several people at our table asked for 2 deserts plus ice cream. The waiter just laughed and complimented my DGS on his apatite. After that if DGS on ordered one desert the waiter gave him double portions.The second week we did My Time Dinning. We reserved for 7:00 every evening. We found some short waits to be seated and the meals to be rushed, to get you out to make room for those waiting. The wait staff was again friendly and did an excellent job but the experience just wasn't as enjoyable as before. We were always seated by ourselves and would have perfured some companions. We did some of the specialty dinning the second week. Chops was by far the best and well worth the money and we will do again. Sambas was good an the experience was nice but I think once is enough. We also did Giovani's for lunch the food was good but not great. If you are thinking about booking a dinning package ahead of time - don't. They had better priced dinning packages onboard and the restaurants were only about half full, so you could get in when ever you wanted.

The only negative about the cruise was that some of the excursions were cancelled due to weather or not enough people books. It would have been really helpful if the excursions desk had let us know in time to book something else. If really upset my daughter when she put on her wetsuit she had brought from Hawaii so she could co kayaking and was told on the pier a 1:00 that it was cancelled.

Cabin Review

Interior Stateroom

Cabin K

Great size. Easy to get a wheel chair or scooter around in. Closet space was fine for 3 people for 7 days, but was tight for us as we had back to back cruises and had packed for 2 weeks. Beds had very good mattresses but beds were narrow. The pull down berth had a thin mattress and 14 year old grandson complained every night. Room was in a great location near elevators and was quit which was a surprise being we were directly under a public bathroom next to the theater.

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